Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-12-02

chiefs share-which no doubt was
also the lions"
It Is apparent from Captain Butler s
essay that the medicine men, besides
welding a powerful influence, were
also cognizant of a developing situa-
ton in which white men were pressing
hunting grounds. The Indians were
! attracted to the advantages gained
through trading with palefaceS and
became destroyerS of the buffalo.
when a market for furs was Gre
ated by the settlement of the country,
the Indians had an additional incen-
tive to the pursuit of the chase. They
discovered that they had 2 money
making business which enabled them
to indulge their appetites for articles
of foreign production. The introduce
ton of firearms increased their de-
Structive power, and the slaughter OF
urIbearing animals was mremitting
Indians have killed hundreds of thou
sands Of buffalo for the robes in sea-
sons when the flesh was not good
for food" he wrote.
It was when the bearing animals
began to disappear that the Indians
cupidity and improvidence sacrificed
his supply of food, and his squaws and
children starved In the winter. Land
without game was valueless to the
Indian"
out of this situation wherein was
created uncertainty and confusion, the
influential medicine men began to re-
wise their philosophy. Labor was de-
graduation to the Indian. The supply
of trinkets and firewater brought in
by white traders was inexhauStible.
but as the hunting grounds Of the In
dams became exhausted they tres
passed on the grounds of other tribes,
thus exciting intertrtbal wars, bloody,
cruel, relentless and interminable. Or
he moved further into the wilderness,
and. If he were strong enough, boldly
invaded the territory Of other tribes,
disposseSsed them by force and occu-
pied their country.
Many and bitter complaints have
been made by the American half
breeds of the Red river country of the
destruction Of the buffalo on the
American side of the line by British
Indians and half-breeds who hunted
on our territory in the spring and fall. |
The British half-breeds killed from
$4,000 to 10000 buffalo in a season on
United States territory
From the Red river Of the north |
to the headwaterS of the Missouri, |
British Indians, renegade Sioux hos |
tiles, the fugitive Nez PerceS, ETC., came /
south Of the line to kill buffalo on
the reservations of their American red /
brethren. Hundreds of thousands were
killed by them annually and the robes |
traded to British traders.
THE buffalo is for the strong Indian, |
and the weak must take what he /
leaves. In 1876-1877, when the hostile |
Sioux we're on their way to Canada, !
they sent runners to the Assinniboines,
Yanktonais, eros Ventures, Piegans |
avaH Ofhnv- TvIfor4c yr0rsf11 of tho Ng3c
souri, warning them not 10 hunt buff I
falo until the hostile bands had had /
three runs II they began hunting be- |
fore the Sioux had obtained the supply |
of meat and robes they required, the /
latter would attack and kill them, OF,
as 1t was tersely put In the message, /
would Soldier them.
"They were actually prevented from |
hunting buffalo and driven from the /
Milk river country whittier they had |
gone for that purpose, by the hostile |
Sioux
sThe glorious freedom OF Indian life
Is a mirage of poetical imagfnations |
The Indian is not free even to kill |
game on his own hunting grounds, If |
1t for himself" was Captain Buffers |
In a look into the future of the In
dams, at the time OF his writing In |
1880, Captain Butler was not only /
hopeful, but optimistic.
"The hope Of ultimate civilization |
Is with the children" he wrote. MAN
l1al labor schools can be multiplied; |
good and wise teachers adequately (
paid-can be provided for them. And |
here is a channel through which the
poetic regard of the cultured wealthy
for the Indian may be given q more /
practical shape. Donations and requests
for the education OF Indian children /
are rare. Perhaps many sympathizer
Ia the abstract owes the wealth which /
enShles him 30 iuxur1ate IN lettered
ease TO q lucky purchase Of Indian
land by some pioneer ancestor Of q
pest century. Here rs an opportunity
ln equity"