.,362 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 6, 1883. 



She M^ ar ^ m H^ n $£ouri$t. 



LIFE AMONG THE BLACKFEET. 



BV .1. WTPLAJiD StfflOLTZ. 

 SIXOND IWfEB. 



IN ancient times the Blaekfeet USfed dogs to transport their 

 households goods tv hen moving camp. But the people 



were not then very migratory. In those (lays Ihe dwellings 

 were made of stones, sticks, mud and grass. Tradition, 

 however, does net Mention tile size or shape of them. With 

 the advent of (he horse (Bhickfoot Po-uo-knh -mela, /. c, 

 elk dog) all this was ohnugi d 1 hstead of building stai iona ty 

 dwellings the people made portable lodges of tanned buffalo 

 oowskins; and, mounted on their strong ponies, roamed at 

 will all over their vast domains. The first horses the Black 

 feel possessed were stolen from the South. It is said that 

 "those who made stone arrow points saw not horses." So it 

 must have been at about the close of the last or the beginning 

 of the present century that thev first possessed them. 



BefoiO the days of trading posts the Blaekfeet made kettles 

 of earth, cups ami ladles of mountain-sheep and buffalo 

 horns, howls of wood, fleshers and tanning implements of 

 flint and hone, and awls and needles of hone. Knives were 

 made of flint, bows of mountain-sheep horn or wood, backed 

 with sinew and sometimes with snake skin. Arrow and 

 spear points were of flint, long, narrow and slightly barbed. 

 The ancient dress of the men consisted of a cowskin shirt, 

 breech-clout, bell and leggius, and a toga of cowskin or a 

 buffalo robe. 



The women wore a short-sleeved gown of cowskin, short: 

 leggins of some kind of fur. and a cowskin or buffalo robe 

 toga. 



MoCcflfiins were made in winter of buffalo robe. In sum- 

 mer of cowskin with pfulleehe* soles. Necklaces, bracelets 

 and earrings were made of animals' teeth and claws and 

 birds' claws. White, yellow and reddish earths were used 

 for paint. 



The Indians are represented as being a silent, sullen Pace 

 seldom speaking and never laughing or joking. Howevei 

 true this mav be of some tribes.it is certainly not true ir 

 regard to the Blaekfeet. The social customs of these peopli 

 are an interesting study. Let us imagine ourselves in tin 

 midst of them for a day and see how ihcy live. It is just 

 sunrise and the tires are bring kindled; vast quantities of 

 smoke are rising from the smoke-holes of the lodges and 

 ascending in thin columns in the still morning air. Ev' 

 where women may be seen carrying water and food for 

 morning meal. Here, close by, is a large, plain lodge. Let 

 us enter it. As we push aside the curtain and enter will 

 much difficulty through the small oval hole, we are greeted 

 by the owner of the lodge with the salutation, 'Enter, 

 frieud; sit," and with a wave of his hand our host motions 

 us to a seal on his left. While he is preparing a pipe full of 

 tobacco, let us examine the interior of the lodge. The seats 

 or more properly lounges, are each about seven feet long 

 At either end of them are inclined frame works of willows, 

 on which as also along the entire length are spread buffalo 

 robes. Behind, brightly painted oowskins are hung to more 

 effectually keep out the cold air. Between the lounges, in 

 the little triahgulaj spa< i -, are piled vaiious sacks of painted 

 parflecke, which contain dried meat, dried berries, and dif- 

 ferent articles of genera] utility. Our host's seat is directly 

 opposite the doorway; on Irs right arc the seat> of his wives; 

 onhis left, where we are silting, are the visitors' seats. Sus- 

 penned from a lodge-pole behind a long row of drying 

 meat is a baby. 1 1 is swathed in a huge roll of furs and only 

 its head is visible Like most all Blackfoot babies it never 

 cries, but restlessly rolls its great black eyes about as if 

 seeking to understand wiiat is going on about it. For the 

 first year of its life the baby is' kept in this roll of cloth, 

 incapable of moving either hands or feet. At the end of 

 that time it will be released, a straight, well-formed child. 



While we arc smoking the pipe, we hear the owner of an 

 adjaccut lodge shouting~ont for a ''feast," that is, giving out 

 the invitations. He says:; 

 MSk -ot-sS-pg-tsin ki-tiim-Ok-o-wak Ntit'-o-wap-ah ki-tGm- 



Hed Eagle you wilt eat Bttutl iledieiae you 



Sko-wah Ap'-pE-kun-ny ki-tflm-ok-owah 

 WtJl eat White Spotted Robe you will eat 



and so forth through a long list of names, and at the close 

 adds: 



Ne'-oks kOm ki-toks-o-tehfs-i-po-wai. 

 Then you will smoke and they. 



He has mentioned our names in his shouted invitations, so 

 of course we must attend. As we enter the lodge we find we 

 are Ihe first arrivals, but the other guests soon come in and 

 take their places, according to their rank, near the host or 

 near the doorway. ' 'Medicine" men sit nex t the host. Next 

 to them come the chiefs, waniors and old men. The young 

 unmarried men are seldom invited to a feast. Before each 

 guest is placed a plate of food, which is all hemay have. If 

 he does not eat it all, he may carry the reuiainderhome with 

 him. No food is set before the host, however; he does not 

 eat in the presence of his guests. Every one eats slowly, and 

 ageueral conversation is carried on. Sometimes the talk is 

 about the success of a war party, or again one may tell of 

 some funny incident, at which there is a general laugh. 

 When all" have finished eating, the great stone pipe is filled 

 with a mixture of "larb" and tobacco, and handed to the 

 guest on the extreme right, who lights it. after which it is 

 smoked in turn to the extreme left and then handed back to 

 the one who lighted it, and thus kept going around the circle 

 until it is smoked out. After three pipeful [Sot tobacco have 

 been suioked, the host ostentatiously knocks out the ashes 

 and says, "KylT whereupon the guests arise and file out of 

 the lodge. All day this feasting is kept up, and often far 

 into the night. 



While the men thus while away the hours in feasting and 

 smoking, the women may lie seen steadily at work, tanning 

 robes or skins, drying meat or berries, or making moccasins. 

 The children pass their time iu mimic warfare and danc- 

 ing, or making mud images of men and animals. If in win- 

 ter, they may be seen sliding or spinning tops on the ice. 

 The tops are made of hulls' horns, and are kept in motion 

 by whipping with pliable thongs. These children may be 

 seen in the middle of t he winter, playing on the ice and snow 

 without clothing or moccasins. If they become sick nature 

 is their only physician, but nature's work is hindered by the 

 incessant drumming and singing which is kept up until the 

 patieut either dies or recovers. (July the very strongest con- 

 stitutions can successfully buffet the ills of Blackfoot child- 



•RawhiUe. 



hood. Is not this a good illustration of the survival of the 

 tillestV 



Gambling is a favorite amusement. On pleasant days the 

 men have an outdoor game which is very popular. The 

 small wooden wheel used is about four inches iu diameter. 

 It has five spokes, and on these are strung ditlerent sizes and 

 colors ot beads. At each end of a level space logs are placed 

 about thirty feet apart. The wheel is rolled back and forth 

 between these logs by two players, who throw arrows at it. 

 Whichever first succeeds iu bringing his arrow in contact 

 with a certain spoke which has been agreed upon wins the 

 game. 



The only other game the Blaekfeet have is what we call 

 "kill the button." It is played by both sexes. When only 

 men play, a large lodge is cleared, and an equal number of 

 players take their places on each side of the lodge. In front 

 of them are placed rails on which time to the gambling song 

 is beaten with sticks Each man bets with the one directly 

 opposite him, and the stakes are piled up in a heap on the 

 ground. Some skillful player now lakes two little hones, 

 one white ami the other painted red. As the song is begun 

 he deftly tosses the hones from one hand to the other, tubs 

 his palms together and filially holds out both hands for the 

 one opposite to guess which contains the red bone. The 

 winner then takes the bones, and thus (lie name is kept 

 going, first one side losing then the other, and sometimes it 

 is kept up for a night ami day. The bets vary iu value from 

 a necklace to two or three 'horses. This gambling song is 

 ihe most weird tune Ihe writer ever heard. At first it is a 

 scarcely audible murmur, like the gentle soughing of an 

 evening breeze, then it increases in volume and reaches a 

 pitch unattainable by most voices, sinks quickly to a low 

 bass sound, rises and" falls like waves and finally dies away. 



But when the sun has gone down, and darkness spread her 

 sable mantle over the laud, then the Blackfoot camp may be 

 said to have tnirlj waited up. Bright fires are kiudl«d in 

 every lodge. The sound of drum/song, and laughter fills 

 the air. The Indian dogs, which have dozed on the sunny 

 sides of the lodges during the day have also waked up. and 

 mock their brethren in the darkness beyond with long drawn, 

 melancholy howls. In one lodge may lie seen a group of old 

 men, smoking tWfi great stone pipes, and telling of the 

 "deeds of other days." In several lodges, professional story 

 tellers are entertaining large audiences with tales of the past 

 aud stories of the adventures of Ihe ancient men and animals. 

 As Ihe speakers become interested in the stories they are re- 

 lating, they rise to their feet, and with wonderfully perfect 

 gesticulation and voice, imitate the movements ami speech 

 of the characters iu their legends. Grouped about them sit 

 the dusky listeners, never moving nor speaking.excepl to 

 laugh at some funny part of the story. So spellbound arc 

 they at the rhythmic voice and movement of the speaker that 

 the men forget to keep the pipe lit, and the women drop ihe 

 half sewed moccasin from their motionless hands. 



There, iu another lodge, a party of young men are going 

 through a war dance preparatory to a raid on the horses of 

 some neighboring tribe. In another lodge a parly of men 

 and Women are having a social dani'*. Near the' doorway 

 sit the musicians, who beat time, to the dance song on drums 

 made of rawhide stretched over a hoop. On one side of 

 the lodge stand the men, on the other Ihe women. As the 

 drumming begins all sing anil dance. The "step" is a double 

 bending of the knees. Occasionally a woman will dance 

 over to one of the men, and deftly throwing her toga over 

 both their heads, give him a hearty kiss, whereupon there is 

 a general burst of laughter. For 'this favor the man is ex- 

 pected to make the woman a present of some little article of 

 finery. Standing by the fire are huge bowls of food ol 

 which ihe dancers partake at intervals. Such was ihe life of 

 the Blaekfeet w hen the writer first knew them, With plenty 

 of buffalo meat for food, and plenty of buffalo robes feir 

 elothiug, no people were happier than they. But now, sur- 

 rounded by a strange race which is driving the game from 

 their land and depriving them of their means of sustenance, 

 what wonder that they are silent and sullen'.' 



[TO T.K CONTlNlJliD.] 



EGERIA PARK. 



FIRST PAPEH. 



I IMAGINE that few of your readers know much about 

 such a place as Egeria Park, or have heard of the won 

 ders and the beauties of the Rabbit Ear, Gore and Flat-Top 

 ranges of mountains surrounding this most attractive of all 

 the Colorado parks. I call it attractive because its scenery 

 is both charming aud grand: and I also use the word in a 

 sporting sense lot the reason that within aud immediately 

 iqiou its borders game and fish are found iu such abundance 

 and variety as to fairly startle and finally satiate the boldest 

 and hungriest of sporismen. 1 think its merits in this re 

 spect were first written about by Sir Geo. Gore, for whom 

 the lovely range of mountains that encircles it on the south- 

 west was named, and who raided this Rocky Mountain 

 country on a grand hunting expedition with a retinue that 

 old trappers say "looked like a circus and menagerie eara- 

 van," in 1842. He calls it the gem of the mountains, and 

 says he could find it in his heart to make a home there were 

 the advantages of civilization a little nearer. 



Since ids day civilization has come, with all its blessings, 

 to the surrounding Stale; and year by year immigration is 

 changing the wilderness and utilizing 'its thousands of acre-, 

 Of luxuriant grasses for the nourishment of vast herds of 

 horses, cattle and sheep. Last year a post-office was estab- 

 lished in the Park, and since the removal of the Ute In- 

 dians perhaps twenty ranchmen have settled within its limits. 

 The tourist or hunter can now ride on the rail to withiufifty 

 miles of Egeria, and can have a roof over his head and a 



hunk" iu some stockman's cabin every night, if he desires, 

 while making the trip from the present terminus of the rail- 

 road to the west side of the Park; aud it is probable that by 

 this time next year the "antlered monarohs of those glens" 

 will some morning "start from their heathery couches ' in 

 such hasteas they 'never before manifested, on hearing that 

 most devilish of all shrieks, the whistle of a locomotive. 

 When that day comes it will lake but a year or two to rob 

 this now delightful hunting ground of its glory, and make it 

 first a pot-hunter's paradise and then a place that "used to 

 he" famous for its herds of elk and deer; its hands of ante- 

 lope, and its waters alive with trout and grayling, unless the 



:l tiers who "stick their stakes' there be of' Ihe right stripe 

 and take the trouble to enforce the laws for the preservation 

 of fish and game. With a little help of nature it might, be 

 made a huge "preserve" for all time, and furnish reasonable 

 sport for half the hunters in America for a hundred years lo 

 come, 



But let me give my reader some idea of its extent, its loca- 

 tion, principal features, and how to reach it. It is located 



in Routt county, iu its southeast corner and directly east of. 

 and adjoining, thg northeast corner of the old Ere Indian 

 Reservation. Its extent is thirty -five miles north to south, 

 aud about twenty-eight miles east and west: or. betweenHie 

 foothills of the Gore and Flat Top ranges. The streams 

 that "bead" in these mountaius aud flew into the !■ 

 Grand, and through the Park, are almost numberless, and 

 not, one lhat I have east ;i line into bet is a good trout strerm. 

 I cannot name them all, but the principal ones are Pass 

 Creek, Fish. Black-Tail. Ro, k, Roaring Fork (or Sarvis), 

 ('rooked and Brush. 



Follow me in my iiist hip then (in 1872) and wc will soon 

 be there. ^ Of course, at that lime (he rail went no further 

 in thai direction than Denver; now you can go by Steam 

 io Empire via the Colorado Central, or to Dillon,' in the val- 

 ley of the Blue, by the Denver and South Park extension, or 

 Denver and Rio Grande. In ihe former case you will have 

 a wagon or hoiseback ride of seventy-two miles, and in lie 

 latter of nearly fifty miles, before you strike tin- Eastern 

 foothills of tin- Gore where Pass Creek falls into the Muddy, 

 aud which we will make, our starling point. The wagon 

 road. is good from cither of the towns I have mimed, and 

 there need be no fears on the pail of the sportsman of tak- 

 ing a good load of everything necessary to make his stay 

 comfortable, provided lie has a. Fairly good team that will 

 not, "balk" at a "sharp pitch." The pass is not over 8, OOP 

 feet above sea level, and Ihe grade of the road is very easy. 

 From the Muddy to the first crossing of Pass Creek — half 

 way up the mountain — is about eighl miles, one and a half 

 of which may he cut off if the party travels on horseback, 

 by taking an Indian trail at Ine firsi. crossing of the creek, 

 When I first went over, we stopped for noon, and 1 have 

 always, in subsequent trips, turned lo do likewise, for here is 

 abundance of grass for your horses: a splendid spring, flow- 

 ing a stream that would turn a mill wheel, breaks out of the 

 hillside, at the very roots of an enormous pine, and the view 

 of the Muddy valley,' that further up the mountain is cut 

 off by Ihe dense pine forest, is here magnificent. 



Two Or three hundred yards up or down the creek from 

 Ibis point you will find a succession of beaver dams, where 

 fifteen minutes' attention to your business will reward you 

 With a Lood siring of trout. Don't take any "fancy rod" 

 up there among the willow brash. Catch a handful of 

 grasshoppers, crawl in to the edge of Ihe first dam you come 

 lo through a deer trail, cut a six or eight foot .willow for 

 your rod— less than that length of line will do— drop a 

 "hopper" where you see the foam and bubbles under the 

 dam, and if you don't hook n half-pounder yon deserve to 

 go without your supper. I have caughl sixteen pounds 

 here under one dam in three-quarters of an hour, and it was 

 not a good day either. By going half a mile further up 

 the creek to where the aspen thickets aud the pines come 

 together you may jump a deer almost any Summer day and 

 have venison for supper, lull we generally leave lhat part of 

 the business till we make night camp on 'the other side. 



After lunch we "hook up" and a couple of miles stead\ 

 up-hill pnlliug. brings us to the upper crossing of Pass 

 Creek — a beautiful spot where once lived Albert Weber, 

 half ranchman, half hunter and trapper. He had a nice, 

 cozy, comfortable log house, with substantial stable and 

 corral, forty or fifty fine cows; made butter in the summer, 

 trapped and hunted in the Winter and was "getting ahead" 

 finely when (here is the old story, I could tell you of a hun- 

 dred" of my acquaintances) one day he went to the store at 

 Hot Sulphur Springs for his winter "provisions. On his 

 return he found of. his "improvements" a heap of smoking 

 ashes. A band of Lies had come along: killed three of his 

 cows for the hides, of which they make bow-cases and gun 

 covers, confiscated such household goods as took their fancy 

 aud then fired the buildings. I saw him afterward and laid 

 his case before the Department, bill he never tot a cent. 

 The Indians wouldn't swear they did it, and iu these oases a 

 white man's testimony isn't worth a ' cuss." 



From Weber's to the summit the grade is easy and Ihe 

 road good, passing through a pine forest of perhaps fifty or 

 sixty years' growth, with now and then a pretty Utile park 

 of a tew acres luxuriant with wild oals, fox tail and blue- 

 joint grasses, and bright with flowers from June until Octo- 

 ber. These little openings that are such beautiful features 

 in the mountain landscapes of Colorado are also favorite 

 spots for those who still-hunt, the deer and elk, for these 

 animals, which generally lie hidden in the thickets during 

 the summer days, seek the openings toward evening to 

 graze, and the butter who can command a view of one of 

 these miniature meadows at sundown will almost surely get 

 a shot before dark unless lie has m approaching it given the 

 same the "wind" or startled it l.y a cough, a sneeze or n 

 heavy footfall. 



Well, here wc are at the summit, aud we drive out of the 

 shadow of the dark pines into the sunlight of Echo Park, KB 

 oblong opening on the crest of the mountain three-quartere 

 of a mile by 'a quarter, and iu the very center a clump of 

 willows, with a spring, the head of Pass Creek. Stop here 

 a moment, lift your voice so as to be heard distinctly .-. couple 

 of hundred yards, and your words come back to* you with 

 the same distinctness with which they left your lips. The 

 Utes say it is "bad medicine," aud with alfiheir traditional 

 love for picturesque and convenient halting places no Indian 

 camp-fire was ever lit here, though this trail has been traveled 

 by them for nearly fifty years that we know of. Within 200 

 yards of the spring 1 have just mentioned we cross a tiny 

 rivulet flowing the ether way, west; and now we are on the 

 down grade, and two miles more of tolerably rough travel 

 bring us to ihe western fpot of Ihe pass, on 1.0 the banks of 

 jolly sparkling Black-Tail Creek. Turning the horses' heads 

 to the right and splashing through a little branch— without 

 a name— wc find ourselves in one of the mountain meadows, 

 where we will make the night camp, although it is but 8 

 o'clock P. M., for before nightfall we must have a deer, so 

 if you will wait, and imagine that it has taken a week for us 

 to 'lariat our horses, pilch our lent, chain our shepherd dog 

 lo ihe front pole, aud with shouldered rifles start up the 

 mountain, I will tell you in my next lei ler of Ihe deer we 

 started, missed, crippled, killed: of the elk we heard, but saw 

 not, and how I killed my first hear. Yamp-vu. 



llKNVKIt, Col., Sovclaher, 1--.:. 



Dean; at Sea.— Portland, Me., Nov. 29.— The British 

 schooner Howard came in yesterday with one of Howard 

 Knowdlon's deer on boards, 'which had been picked up about 

 five miles out at sea. The animal escaped from the garden 

 on Peak's Island last, summer, and bad not been seen since, 

 probably having kept in the woods at the lower end of the 

 island. * This is the. biggest feat of capturing deer iu the 

 water on record. The Adirondack lake deer killers are 

 nowhere. 



