NO. 7 SOHON S PORTRAITS OF INDIANS — EWERS 53 



land problem existed. The whites and Indians could live peaceably 

 side by side. He pointed with pride to the fact that his people had 

 never spilt blood of the white man. Why then should there be a 

 treaty? He attributed the continued friendship between his people 

 and the whites to the fact that white traders had furnished guns 

 and ammunition to repel their powerful enemies, and for this his 

 people continued to be grateful. However, he resented the fact that 

 the whites also traded these things to the Blackfoot who used their 

 weapons against whites as well as Indians. He referred to Governor 

 Stevens' promise to put an end to Blackfoot depredations. He pointed 

 out that since the Blackfoot promised peace in 1853, they had broken 

 it many times. They had stolen one of his horses the previous winter, 

 and his own daughter had been set afoot when they stole two horses 

 that very spring. He had kept his promise not to retaliate against 

 the Blackfoot, not because he was afraid of them, but because the 

 white man had asked him to keep the peace. To Big Canoe this matter 

 of Blackfoot hostility was the only important problem for discussion 

 at the Council. 



Governor Stevens made no direct reply to Big Canoe. He guided 

 the discussion back to the subject of the choice of a reservation for 

 the Indians. Big Canoe remained silent through the remainder of 

 the Council. At its conclusion he signed the Treaty. (Partoll, 1938a, 

 pp. 291-294.) 



At the Blackfoot Treaty Council, Big Canoe spoke briefly in support 

 of Alexander's claim of the right of the Pend d'Oreille to hunt buffalo 

 on the plains north of the Musselshell. He spoke bluntly, 'T am glad 

 now we are together. I thought our roads would be all over this 

 country. Now you tell us different. Supposing we do stick together, 



and do make a peace Now you tell me not to step over that 



way. I had a mind to go there," Later he concurred in the expressed 

 desire for peace of the Piegan chief. Lame Bull, saying "Don't let your 

 war parties hide from me. Let them come to our camps as friends." 

 (Ibid., 1937. P- 8.) 



Big Canoe was a strong character. Although a war leader, he had 

 a sincere desire for peace. To his mind peace seemed to promise 

 unrestricted freedom of movement. He could not reconcile his idea 

 of peaceful relationships with the whites and other Indians with the 

 talk of separate tribal hunting grounds and restricted reservations 

 that was current at the Councils. 



Big Canoe died at the Flathead Agency in 1882 at the advanced 

 age of 83. He was buried in the Indian Cemetery at St. Ignatius 

 Mission (Ronan, 1890, p. ']2). 



