Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1941-04-26
Sioux Kill 5000 Crow Indians $$:$:: $::
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and BGckfeet Where Warriors Lot Was Death and WOme

No tribe of American Indians IS
more surrounded by mystery than
the Crows, whose hunting grounds,
when white men FIRST INVADED tne
far west, stretched from the yell
IOwStone river In what Is today
Montana southwark to the North
Platte river A century ago the
Crows were noted for their hand
some women and fine horses, and
for the fact that some members Of
the tribe had blue or gray eyes
and brown hair. 1t was this that
caused much speculation concern
ing their origin, for no other prat-
RE tribe Of American Indians pos
Sessed this popularity.
All manner of theories we're put
forth concerning the early history OF
the tribe. Many people firmly believed
that the Crows were the descendants
of a band Of WelShmen, who left their
native country in ITO under the lead
ership Of Madoe, 9 prince OF wares,
mouth of the Mississippi river and was
supposed to have assembled that stream
to the upper Missouri regions.
Intermarry With Indians
There. in the course of centuries, ac-
cording to these antiquarianS, the
Welshmen intermarried with indian
tribes and finally took on all the ap-
pearance and characteristics OF the red
men of the plains, excepting Tor the
presence In the tribe of occasional in
dividuals with light eyes and hair.
Several persons who claimed to have
visited white tribe OF Indians" on
the upper Missouri wrote learned vol
unes supporting this theory, but In
vestigation proved in each case that
the alleged travellers and discoveries
had never visited that region. No
,nf1 casv,nNrrf the legend that
grew Ip around this vague tale.
1t is not certain when the Crows
were first visited by white men, but
the earliest authenticated report Of a
white man going among them was the
visit of John Golfer IN 1905. He had
been a member of Lewis and Clarks
party, but having become enamoured
of the wild life Of the west, ne pro-
cured his discharge from the explora-
ton expedition on its return from the
Pacific coast and remained on the
upper Missouri for some time as a
hunter and trapper. Captain Clark
passed through their country IN 1906,
but encountered no members OF the
tribe, although it is probable that they
saw him as his horses were stolen, and
the thieves were undoubtedly Crows.
Emigrated From Southeast
The traditions of the tribe make 1t
DIQndUlC blldJ blACy ObNI A~CAA tN~~
southeast, and there is good reason for
believing that they once dwelt beside
the waters of the Gulf of Mexico or
along the Atlantic coast in Georgia or
South Carolina There Is no doubt that,
at some early period of their history,
they received considerable adnixture
of white blood. A hundred years ago
the Cherokee Indians OF Georgia had
q tradition Of having in former times
expelled a tribe of white" Indians
from that country. The tale handed
down was to the effect that these
hght-skinned people fled to the MIS-
siSsippi and then up the Missouri
where they yet dwelt. Among the other
evidences of their southeastern origin
are the traditions that they once dwelt
In a land of perpetual summer where
they grew corn and their oldest men
and women had dim knowledge OF
the alligator, concerning which they
had heard their RTandfathers talk. The
story has been handed down among
them that they once dwelt upon
great water so broad that they did
not know its extent, and that 1t was
out Of this water that the white men
first came, as well as the first horses
they ever saw. Many students Of the
Grow tribal history believe that they
thus dinly preserved the remembrance
of some one Of the Spanish expeditions
to the southeastern American coast In
the 18th century.
Lived Near Kansas River
1t Is considered certain, however,
that the last migration Of the tribe
was from what they termed the Flint"
river In Kansas. This, it is believed, is /
the Kansas river. Almost all their
Evolutionary history is embraced IN the
years after that migration, which took
place about 1850, all that Of earlier
date being caught only in transient
CLEANS. 1t is known that, IN the year
1874, there resided upon the head
waters of the Kansas river powerful
band of Indians known to the French
as the Paducas, who dwelt In several
villages and could take into the field
about 1000 warriors. From that region
they suddenly disappeared, and history
contains no trace of their movements
thereafter. Captain Lewis, writing in
1905, says they appeared to have re-
moved to the upper Platte and there
TO have dispersed into various bands
that took different names. The North
Fork Of the Platte was once called
Paducas fork, probably after that tribe.
The best informed historians express
the conviction that the lost Paducas
are to be found In the present tribe
OF Crows.
Continually at War
The Crows were continually at war