PREFACE 



This manuscript is entitled "A Report to the Hon. Isaac I. 

 Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory, on the Indian Tribes 

 of the Upper Missouri, by Edwin Thompson Denig." It has been 

 edited and arranged with an introduction, notes, a biographical 

 sketch of the author, and a brief bibliography of the tribes mentioned 

 in the report. 



The report consists of 451 pages of foolscap size; closely written 

 in a clear and fine script with 15 pages of excellent pen sketches 

 and one small drawing, to which illustrations the editor has added 

 two photographs of Edwin Thompson Denig and his Assiniboin 

 wife, Hai-kees-kak-wee-lah, Deer Little Woman, and a view of Old 

 Fort Union taken from ''The Manoe-Denigs," a family chronicle. 

 New York, 1924. 



The manuscript is undated, but from internal evidence it seems 

 safe to assign it to about the year 1854. 



The editor has not attempted to verify the statements of the author 

 as embodied in the report; he has, however, where feasible, re- 

 arranged some portions of its contents by bringing together under 

 a single rubric remarks upon a common topic which appeared in 

 various parts of the report as replies to closely related but widely 

 placed questions; and he has attempted to do this without changing 

 the phraseology or the terminology of Mr. Denig, except in very rare 

 instances, and then only to clarify a statement. For example, the 

 substitution of the native term for the ordinary English expression, 

 the Great Spirit, and divining in the place of "medicine" in medi- 

 cine man. practically displacing medicine man. by the word diviner. 



In his letter of transmittal "To his Excellency, Isaac I. Stevens. 

 Governor of Washington Territory," Mr. Denig writes: "Being 

 stimulated with the desire to meet your wishes and forward the 

 views of government. I have in the following pages endeavored to 

 answer the 'Inquiries' published by act of Congress, regarding the 

 'History. Present Condition, and Future Prospects of the Indian 

 Tribes' with which I am acquainted. * * * Independent of my 

 own personal observation and knowledge acquired by a constant 

 residence of 21 years among the prairie tribes, in every situation, I 

 have on all occasions had the advice of intelligent Indians as to the 

 least important of these inquiries, so as to avoid, if possible, the 

 introduction of error. * * * 



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