"Indians!" * * * * * * 87 



nary, the object of much admiration and wonder on the occasion of the 

 visits of the Blackfoot chieftains to Washington to see the Great White 

 Father. There were many orators among the Blackfeet. They loved to 

 harangue their people and urge them to resist the white man's ways. 



It is a happy circumstance that this fine nation of Plains Indians 

 should live still on the border of Glacier National Park. The ancient 

 hunting grounds of the Blackfeet included the eastern half of the park. 

 Within the park is a great cliff over which the Blackfeet were accus 

 tomed to drive herds of bison in their annual hunts. The buffaloes were 

 killed by crashing to the rocks below. This cliff was a prized asset of 

 the Indians, who otherwise were forced to ride among the buffaloes in 

 stampedes and kill them with bow and arrow, or by the hazardous ex 

 pedient of thrusting knives into the great beasts while riding at full 

 speed. The Blackfeet are no longer allowed to hunt in the park, since it 

 is a game refuge, but they still pitch their picturesque tepees near the 

 hotels and lodges and camp there during the summer. Their summer 

 villages are of tremendous interest to Dudes and Sagebrushers, who love 

 to gather about the Indians, both at the villages and in the hotel lobbies. 



The Blackfeet, while usually quite solemn and dignified, have in fact 

 a good sense of humor. Frequently they elect distinguished visitors to 

 honorary membership in their tribe, bestowing the honor with fitting 

 ceremonies and giving the new members appropriate Indian names. 

 Sometimes, however, the naming of the honorary tribesman is the oc 

 casion for a practical joke. Once they decided to take into the tribe a 

 guide who had been friendly to the Indians but who was known as a 

 great liar because of the extravagant stories he told the Dudes whom he 

 escorted over Glacier Park trails. When his Indian name was trans 

 lated it was found to mean literally "Sits-Up-Straight-in-the-Saddle- 

 and-Lies." 



The Blackfeet have always been proud of their mountains. They 

 claim that they had names for all the principal features of the park area 

 that formerly belonged to them. The translations of many of their 

 names have been given to Glacier Park peaks, lakes, and waterfalls, such 

 as Going-to-the-Sun, Almost-a-Dog, Four 

 Bears, Rising Wolf, and Little Chief Moun 

 tains, Two Medicine and Red Eagle lakes, 

 Morning Eagle Falls, and so on. The Black- 

 feet assert that the white man has taken 

 from the mountains, lakes, and rivers many 

 of their best and most cherished names and 

 has put on white men's names that do not 

 sound so well and do not belong in the park. 

 Back in 1915, three distinguished Blackfeet, 



