557
The Indian view from the Cutbank trail. The top of one of our tipis is seen through an opening in the trees, and shows the distance of our camp from the old trail. The snow-covered forest of fir and pine in the distance.

557a
Here the last of the great storm clouds are seen disappearing over the mountains. As the sun rose in the heavens, the tips of the branches dripped with drops crystal clear and glistened like diamonds in the bright sunlight.

558
The historic Cutbank trail, the Cutbank trail in foreground - with a view of the valley and distant snow-covered mountains. I took the picture from the summit of a high ridge, where the trail ran close to a precipice which overlooked the valley.

559
A view of Cutbank taken after the storm, looking towards the divide at the head of the valley.

559a
The same view taken before the storm, showing the autumn colors along the shore.

560
Scene from the Cutbank trail, after the blizzard when the sky was cloudless. Showing the snow-covered forest and distant mountain range. Taken in the early morning.

560a
Same view from the Cutbank trail, but taken before the storm, to show the extent of the unbroken forest across the valley.

561

The frost of the cold night, froze the quiet pools and the borders of the stream. The white of the forest heathy with snow, contrasted with the bright color of the willow thickets along the shore and the red and gold stratifications of mountain cliffs.

Out

Oie 556

A stream in the forest, where the firs and pines were heavy with snow. Boulders and fallen trees had smoothly rounded caps.

562

It was interesting to see the tracks of coyotes and timber wolves which crossed and recrossed the trail. I saw the footprints of a snow-shoe rabbit (Lepus Americanus), —They were like snow-shoe tracks because of the long fur on its feet. The tiny tracks of mice and their tunnels in the snow. Where rabbits had played and a squirrel left his cone. Tracks of willow ptarmigan, of a little "crying-hare"; and then splay footprints of a wolverine, called "Mountain Devil" by the Blackfoot, because of its meanness and wonderful cunning.

562a

I saw the large footprints of a pair of Rocky Mountain lions, with marks where their long tails dragged in the snow. And tracks of two large grey wolves overtaking a buck deer; where the deer turned at bay and tried to drive them off. Then the snow red with his blood.

Snow Shapes in the Forest.

563 Snow cap on a stump, with outlines of a face.

563a Shape of a couch on a fallen tree, with a reclining figure as if covered with a shroud.

563b Another view of the couch on fallen tree.

563c A small pine tree which looked like a little animal with its snow covering.

563d Shape of a dragon on a fallen tree.

563e A fallen tree with a snow-covering which looked like a casket lying in state.

563f A snow-cap in the form of a puckish head.

563g The tall stump of a tree covered with light and feathery snow which took the form of the head and bust of a noble knight, with fine profile brow and beard. This was the most wonderful and beautiful of any snow shape I saw in the forest.

563h A leaning tree, with its now-covering in the shape of a serpent.

564

Bull elk, which the Blackfoot called "ponokaistamik", on a
snow-covered ridge. They had a legend about a monster bull-elk in
a lake at the head of Cutbank. When he flapped his ears, the wind
blew hard; and when he sank beneath the waters, the wind went down.

564a

Herd of elk in the snow. The Blackfoot had an Elk tipi whose
supernatural power to heal the sick came from the elk.

565

A deer on snow-covered ridge. In connection with deer hunting,
the Blackfoot had a Black Tail deer dance that was a sort of cult. Its
chief function was to charm the game and make the capture of game easy.
The dance was held before a hunt, so the members might dream where the
game could be found. The ceremony was introduced from the Kutenai who
were mountain Indians. Its regalia included deer-hoofs and tails,
and a pair of rabbit ears which were worn on the head to give the hunter
speed and endurance. An interesting feature of the ritual was the use
of hypnotic power.

566

I took this view at the head of Cutbank valley, from a high
altitude near the summit of the pass, to show the snow-covered forest
eastward towards the plains and the mountain range on the north side
of the valley.

567

When the weathered was settled, we broke camp and left the
mountains, returning to the prairies on the east side of the range by
the old Indian trail. The storm had been heaviest in the Rockies.

An antelope in the foothills, called by the Blackfoot "kòrkskí" (corner-face), also "saukyáuakási", meaning prairie-trotter. Their name for spider was "ksiuáuakási", meaning literally: earth-trotter, or earth-antelope.

A band of antelope on the crest of a ridge in the foothills. After the heavy blizzards on the plains, November 1896, I saw great herds of antelope which had drifted before the storms from the north into the Blackfoot country. They were easy prey for the Indians in the deep snow.

The prairies outside the foothills, showing the distant Rockies covered with deep snow. On the exposed ridges outside the mountains, the snow lay in patches and drifts after heavy winds.

A herd of wild range horses on their way to a lake for water. The ridges of the plains were clear of snow from the wind, with drifts here and there and lying deep in the coulees. The distant Rockies glistened with their covering of snow.

Kit-fox (sínopá), a small prairie fox. They had an ancient age-society called Sínópáiks (Kit-foxes). Fox, coyote, and wolf, were trapped in a kind of deadfall covered with sticks and snow - it was used only in winter. Snares were sometimes used for these animals, but not effectively because of their strong teeth.

571 Camp of Spotted Eagle, the medicine-man, with his family on the plains. He stands in left foreground, dressed in winter costume with otter-skin cap and blanket about his waist. For winter caps men sometimes used the strips of old robes, also of thenskin of some large bird - duck, owl, or swan. But for winter, men generally used caps made of thenskin of some animal - badger, coyote, wolf, antelope. The ears were often left on, making a strange looking headdress. The lean-to in this picture was supported by a tripod of poles. The family of Spotted Eagle are in the background, the men with the horses and women smoking and gossiping under the shelter - strips of meat drying on poles.

571a Spotted Eagle and his wife inside their tipi. She was a plain looking woman. but industrious and good natured. It was hard to understand how they happened to be the parents of a family of very pretty daughters.

571b Spotted Eagle was of the old generation of Blackfoot and a friend of Chief Mad Wolf, my father by adoption. He had a merry wrinkled face, liked to joke and have repartee. He told humerous stories to make me laugh, especially about Napi (Old Man), a mythical character, a trickster who played evil pranks.

572 A camp of six tipis. Thus the Blackfoot were accustomed to camp together in bands of blood relatives. A hunter arriving at sundown and meat drying on poles. After a successful hunt, the women went after the meat, and brought it back to camp on their travois. They cut the meat into strips and placed it on poles to dry in the sun and wind. They mashed the leg-bones and backbone; they put them into the pot and boiled them and skimmed off the grease; mashed up choke cherries and thus made pemmican - One of their chief articles of diet. (When the buffalo were far and no grass for their horses, they moved camp, even in winter when the weather was very cold.)

Children outside the camp playing with their dog-friend.

My Pine Tree tipi on the plains before the storm. That fall the good weather lasted until late on the plains. Heavy wind clouds hung over the Rockies which were white with snow. But on the plains the sky was clear overhead and a warm wind came from the east. Then a great halo appeared round the sun, of orange tinged with blue, and large sundogs or crosses of light on both sides of the sun - a wonderful sight but ominous weather signs. I roped my tipi down with lariat # around the poles and fastened to a stake driven into the ground. The pins were driven down and lodge-cover weighed down with stones and heavy firewood. The wing-poles were crossed in front and smoke-hole closed ready for a heavy wind.

This shows the look of the sky and storm clouds, just before the blizzard struck. I took the picture on the plains outside the foothills and facing the Rockies which are seen in the distance.

The storm signals were the heavy cloud banks hanging level with the horizon along the entire Rocky Mountain chain from north to south - the clouds just touching their highest summits. Overhead the sky was a leaden color, and the mountains seen through a sort of haze. At the right and overhead a low bank of seething and angry clouds were rolling down from the north. They spread out and trailed along the plain and reached upwards towards the zenith.

The blizzard about to break and my Pine Tree tipi roped down towards the north. A big change would come suddenly with cold and snow. Now lying in advance of the blizzard already I felt the chill air.

The blizzard struck from the north, with a blast of cold air, sleet and snow and a whirling wind. The Blackfoot called it "The Charge Storm." My tipi was roped down towards the north and securely pitched. I slept in warm blankets and had an inside-fire. I wakened to the roar of the storm and beating of snow and sleet.

Arrival of Bull Plume, a visiting chief from the North Piegans. On the horse with him, were three children - a small girl wrapped in a blanket, a boy of eight riding behind, and a daughter of six in front. His firewood was gone, and his small traveling-tipi he said, a poor shelter for women and children in a blizzard. Three women of his family followed on foot, coming through the drifts. His pretty young wife with a baby on her back.

Mistina, the aged mother of Bull Plume. She was wrapped in blankets.

Itomina, an old woman with a loaded dog-travois in the storm. The Blackfoot had dogs for beasts of burden before horses. Horses were used as early as 1784. Before that they walked and carried things on their backs.

Bronchos fighting in the blizzard. On the open plains Blackfoot horses had no shelter from winter storms. They took care of themselves. Note the broncho on the left with a mean look - lip curled, teeth showing, and ears flattened to his head.

Great drifts of snow were piled around my tipi, with the ground swept clear in spots. I took this snap-shot during a lull in the storm. Then came the blizzard from another direction (with greater force).

This picture was taken when the air was thick with whirling snow. It drifted against the lodge on all sides, according to the direction of the wind - north, south, east, and west - also northeast, northwest, and southeast. I changed my lariat around the tops of the lodge-poles according to the wind. It was a whirling storm.

My Pine Tree tipi in a winter storm, with the low-lying buildings of an Indian ranch in the background.

Front view of a Blackfoot ranch, after a blizzard, showing the great depth of the snow.

Rear view of ranch buildings covered with snow drifts in a winter blizzard.

Horses feeding after a blizzard, uncovering the grass with their forefeet. Inured to hard living, these Blackfoot horses thrived under conditions where a city-bred horse would starve. In buffalo days, the Blackfoot said they looked well after their horses. Mares with foals they did not ride hard. And they did not break their stallions to work, so they have good colts. They smoked their horses in the nostrils for distemper with the root of the "big turnip" (omuckas) it belonged to the carrot family. In summer they did not ride their male horses hard, but chased buffalo with them in winter. Other horses they called "hard-dogs," meaning strong-horses (miomita). These were the work horses or pack-horses, and were used for carrying the heavy lodge-covers, dried meat and camp equipment.

Hungry cattle wandering after a storm, looking for grass.
After the bad blizzard of November, 1896, I saw cattle dying of starvation.
And at night heard grey wolves and packs of coyotes at their carcasses.
Then I saw great herds of antelope in the Blackfoot country, driven by the
storm from the plains farther north.

My Pine Tree tipi after the blizzard. Little Natoya and her dog,
and Mistina her old grandmother. Blackfoot children liked to coast on
snowdrifts, down their steep slopes on a sort of toboggan made of animal
ribs lashed to cross-sticks. They also sat on pieces of rawhide and held
up the front with their hands while they coasted. Boys spun tops on the
soft snow, driving them over the surface with whips; and they had a game
on the ice, using smooth stones like tops; they played in pairs, spinning
the stones by whipping them and driving them together.

Women butchering an animal on the snow. They said it was
customary for the men to butcher any game killed when they were off on a
hunt; but if near camp, the women took a hand. The skin of an animal was
cut from the breast down and worked loose. The choice parts of the buffalo
were - the tongue, boss-robs (hump), the back-fat, the ribs, flank parts,
and unborn calves - these choice pieces were given to the chief.
Sometimes after a successful hunt, a begging young man would hold a stick
into the chief's lodge for meat. And the chief's wives would give him
some of these choice parts. They placed it on his stick and he would eat
it that way.

A near view of the women at work, and a small girl intently watching the skinning and cutting up. Thus they were trained from childhood in women's work - tanning skins and making them into clothes and lodge-covers, cooking and #&# care of the tipi, and information as to the herbs and wild vegetables used both for eating and healing.

Interior of lodge with three friends of Chief Mad Wolf seated - White Grass, the medicine-man (center); Horn the hunter and trapper (left); and Black Weasel leader of the Grass Dancers at the extreme right.

Horn at the left was a dried up little man who was seldom seen in the camps. But he liked to come to Mad Wolf's lodge to go with him into the sweat-lodge. Men used the sweat bath even in winter; they rubbed themselves with snow after the sweat for the reaction. Horn as a hunter and trapper spent most of his time in the mountains and among the foothills after game. But, as a rule the Blackfoot did not frequent the forests and mountains. They said they were happier and felt more at home on the open plains.

In hunting buffalo on the plains, they found them very tame in midwinter (January), but in the early summer, the rutting season, the bulls were dangerous.

This is an inside view of tipi, to show the interior arrangements
and the way Chief Mad Wolf and his friends sat about a central fire.
The chief and his wife as the owners, at the back and in center. The
men sat on Mad Wolf's left, their wives on his right. The door of the
tipi always faced the east. So the men were said to sit on the north
side of the fire, the women across from them on the south side. Certain
social conventions were observed in Mad Wolf's lodge. No one should
talk loud and people should enter without speaking. It was rude to ask
a man his name before a company of people; and a breach of etiquette
to ask a leading question about one's personal charm or medicine, or
their religious experiences. Dogs were not allowed inside because of
Mad Wolf's Beaver Bundle. And the word "bear" was taboo, because the
Medicine-Pipe bundle was also inside the tipi. The supratural power
of the Medicine-Pipe came from both the thunder and the bear. If some
one had to speak about a bear, it was referred to indirectly by taboos
substitutes might be used as "sticky-mouth" (paksíkoyi), or "big-bobtail"
(ómachkitsís), or "the-one-who-prowls-at-night."

In former days, when the Blackfoot wandered as nomads and hunters,
they spent the winter far down the Marias river, away from the mountains
and out on the plains, where the weather was not so cold. The lodges
were placed in protected places - in river valleys under the shelter of
high cutbanks, groves of trees. Snow was piled high about the tipi to
keep out wind and cold - open spaces around the bottom chinked with
grass and sod - bags of personal effects were kept beside the couch,
to help weight down the edges of the lining-wall and keep out the wind.
The inside-fire was kept burning, which made a lodge dry and comfortable
in all kinds of weather. Cottonwood was preferred for fuel, because its
coals retained the heat and its smoke had a fragrant odor.

During long winter days of storm, Mad Wolf and his friends passed their time by the lodge-fire, singing, drumming, feasting, gossiping and talking about their daily life - horses and cattle, hunting, and religious ceremonies. Winter evenings was the best time to hear the Indians of the old generation tell tales by the lodge-fire. They said legends should not be told in daylight, but after dark and in the winter time. And when they were in the mood, they were great talkers, going into minute details and giving vivid descriptions of adventures.

On a stormy night by a comfortable lodge-fire, Mad Wolf told the origin legend of his Winter or Snow tipi. It was known as a Painted tipi with pictures and decorations on its cover. Inside the lodge, hanging from the poles was its sacred bundle. It came to its founder in a dream, and was believed to have protective power for the family of its owner. And a ritual for healing the sick went with it. Sacred Otter was the name of the founder. He was hunting buffalo in winter. He had killed a buffalo bull, when the blizzard came so quickly he had no time to get away. With the green hide he made a rude shelter behind the carcass. It was soon covered by a deep drift, so that he had a shelter under the snow from the cold. He fell asleep and had a wonderful dream; he was traveling on the plains and came to a strange tipi decorated with pictures. It was the Winter or Snow tipi of Estoneapesta, the Maker of Cold Weather and Blizzards.

596 K This was Mad Wolf's Snow Tie.

Its top was painted yellow for the color of the western sky at sunset. On the north side a cluster of seven green discs for the seven stars in the north (Great Bear), from whence the blizzards come. On the south side a cluster of six stars for the Bunch stars (Pleiades). Round the bottom a yellow band with green discs, the ice-color, and the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. While Sacred Otter looked at the pictures, a voice bade him enter. Inside the tipi a large fine-looking person was seated at the back. His hair white from the snows of many winters. For a while the stranger smoked in silence. Then said:

"Behold! I am Estoneapesta, the maker of cold weather and this is my snow tipi. It is I who sent the snow and cold from the north - and it was my power that brought you here. I am going to pity you and spare your life from the blizzard. When you get back to your people, make a Snow tipi like this one. I now give it to you with its pictures and this snow ritual, and my power goes with it."

597
(880)

Then Sacred Otter awoke under his snow drift. He looked outside and saw the blizzard was going down. The Cold Maker kept his promise. Sacred Otter returned to the Blackfoot camp and made a model of the Snow tipi with its pictures and decorations, just as he saw it in his dream. And in the spring, the time the Blackfoot made their lodges, Sacred Otter made the Winter or Snow tipi and gave its ritual for the first time. After that it was hauled down.