86 



'Oh, Ranger!" 



is also one of the best places to go to see modern Indians, but how much 

 more interesting is a place like this park where one can see the civiliza 

 tion and culture of tribes that have disappeared, as well as that of those 



who are still in the flesh ! 



Just as the parks and monuments of the 

 Southwest offer the best opportunity to see 

 the desert Indian at home, so Glacier Na 

 tional Park is the place to see the Plains 

 Indians in real life. Here the visitor sees 

 the picturesque and colorful tepees of the 

 Blackfoot Indians, one of the outstanding 

 tribes of Plains Indians. They were mighty 

 hunters and valiant warriors, tall, proud, 

 dignified, the very personification of the 

 redskin of story-book fame. The Plains 

 Indians ranged over the vast, gentle eastern 

 slope of the Rockies, living almost exclusively by hunting. Many were 

 the wars they fought with the white pioneers, even resisting the troops 

 sent to conquer them. 



The Plains Indians lived an entirely different life from that of the 

 Southwest natives. Of the arts and crafts of civilization they knew 

 nothing. They neither wove baskets nor made pottery. On the other 

 hand, they were fine physical specimens, tall, slender, athletic, and hand 

 some. Their food they garnered by killing animals. The skins and hides 

 served to make clothes and to provide shelter. They were more or less 

 nomadic, each nation by common consent or superior prowess control 

 ling vast hunting grounds. The men hunted the animals, the women 

 dried their flesh so that it kept all winter long. The men had captured 

 and tamed the wild horses, descendants of those loosed on the plains by 

 the early Spaniards. The warriors were skilful riders. 



Of all the Plains Indians the Blackfeet, so called because their moc 

 casins were often black from walking on the burned prairie grass, were 

 the most distinctive. Bound together by a strong racial pride, this nation 

 was deeply concerned in resisting not only the invasion of the white 

 man but the introduction of his ways into Indian life. Warlike, preda 

 tory, and inconsiderate of their neighbors, the Blackfeet were possessed 

 of a strong sense of destiny. They were noble and handsome in appear 

 ance. Their features were more finely carved than those of the neigh 

 boring Indian tribes. It was the profile of Two-Guns-White-Calf, pres 

 ent chief of the Blackfeet, that was used for the reverse side of the 

 buffalo nickel. Their complexions were lighter than those of other 

 Indians, the men being almost tan, the women often so fair they were 

 very nearly white. The noble bearing of their old men was extraordi- 



