NO. 7 SOHON S PORTRAITS OF INDIANS EWERS 23 



"live altogether by the hunt, and do not manifest any disposition 



to agricultural pursuits or fixed residence They have at the 



station a village of log houses, but notwithstanding generally prefer 

 their own lodges." (Report of Explorations, etc., i860, vol. i, pp. 415- 

 416.) 



In 1855 Governor Stevens found many of the Flathead still un- 

 friendly toward Indian Missions. After the conclusion of the Flat- 

 head Treaty on July 16, 1855, he wrote to the Commissioner of 

 Indian Affairs : "Much difficulty was experienced in bringing the 

 Tribes onto the Reservation in consequence of the dislike of the 

 Matheads for Mission Establishments." (Partoll, 1938a, p. 312.) 

 Gradually Flathead opposition subsided. In 1866, at the Indians' 

 own request, the Catholic Mission of St. Mary's was reestablished 

 among the Flathead. 



Like most intertribal peace treaties of the pre-reservation period, 

 Father De Smet's Flathead-Blackfoot treaty of 1846 was short-lived. 

 Within a few months the aggressive P.lackfoot were harassing the Flat- 

 head again, both on the plains and in the Bitterroot Valley. Flathead 

 losses again mounted. \\'hen the members of the Pacific Railway 

 Survey parties visited the Flathead in 1853, they found Blackfoot 

 aggression was still the greatest threat to Flathead tribal welfare. 

 Governor Stevens estimated Flathead population at 60 lodges and 350 

 people, but many of the lodges were said to have been inhabited by 

 widows and their daughters. (Report of Explorations, etc., i860, 

 vol. I, p. 150.) Dr. Suckley reported that "but few pure Flatheads 

 (are) left, the race having been almost exterminated by the Blackfeet. 

 The mass of the nation now consists of Kalispelms, Spokanes, Nez 

 Perces, and Iroquois who have come among them, together with their 

 descendants." (Ibid., p. 295.) 



As were the traders and missionaries before him. Governor Stevens 

 was attracted by the fine qualities of the Flathead. Doubtless he 

 was familiar with the writings of some of the earlier fur traders and 

 of Father De Smet. Before he had met the Flathead, he wrote of 

 them as "the best Indians of the mountains or the plains — honest, 

 brave, docile — they need only encouragement to become good citi- 

 zens." (Ann. Rep. Comm. Ind. Aff., 1853, p. 463.) He employed 

 the authority of his office and his personal persuasive powers in an 

 effort to bring about Flathcad-Blackfoot peace. In 1853 he exacted 

 promises from a number of the Blackfoot chiefs to cease their attacks 

 on the Flathead. The Flathead leaders agreed to fight only in self- 

 defense. However, the PWackfoot chiefs were powerless to restrain 



