20 



RECREA T10N. 



head ducks. All considered, we were well 

 satisfied with our trip. 



We both used Dupont smokeless powder 

 with number I shot for geese, and 5's for 

 ducks. My companion shot a Greener, 

 while I used a repeater. 



When the geese were dressed, we found 

 some of them had been hit with as high as 

 13 shot, many going through the bodies. 

 This speaks well for the penetration secured 

 with smokeless powder. 



A GOOD INDIAN. 



NELSON YARNALL. 



Chief Washakie was born in the Flathead 

 valley, Montana. His mother was a Flat- 

 head, but ihis father belonged to the Sho- 

 shones. The old chief has always been 

 reticent about his age. 



" The Indian," he would say, " has no 

 means of keeping the snows that have gone, 

 as the white man has. My years have gone 

 with the snows." 



However, judging from his early asso- 

 ciations with the once famous guide and 

 scout, " Jim " Bridger, he was probably 

 born about the year 1810. 



Of his earliest recollections, he says: 

 " The first white man's money I ever had 

 I earned when a young man, herding ponies 

 for a party of trappers. I worked for those 

 men one snow and until the water was high. 

 Then they started in the direction of the ris- 

 ing sun. They said they would return when 

 the leaves began to fall. I agreed to meet 

 them at the place where we parted. 



" My father tried to persuade me not to 

 go with the white men again; but my first 

 experience with them was so pleasant I had 

 determined to go. I had learned to eat the 

 white men's bread, and drink their coffee, 

 which I liked very much. Then they had 

 promised to bring me a gun. 



" The trappers returned and I met them 

 at the place appointed, which was on the 

 Green river. They brought my gun; and 

 I liked them so well I promised them 

 never to go on the war path against white 

 men, and to try to prevent my people from 

 doing so. This promise I have always 

 kept. 



" The trappers also brought a lot of 

 beads, needles, thread, calico, paint, pow- 

 der, caps, and a few guns, to trade with the 

 Shoshones. Most of the work I did that 

 winter was to bring in parties to trade with 

 the trappers. This I liked very much, as I 

 had a good gun, and the trappers had given 

 me a pony to ride and one to pack. 



" When I told my people how good my 

 new friends were, some of them, who had 

 never seen a white man, visited the trappers 

 with me." 



It seems the Indians looked upon Wash- 

 akie as a leader, even when he was a young 

 man. From this time he made war against 

 other Indians — principally the Blackfeet 



and Grosventres. He says, in connection 

 with his first attempts at war: 



" I had a good gun, and all the young 

 men of my tribe followed me, because I 

 could shoot farther than they." 



CHIEF WASHAKIE. 

 From a photograph kindly loaned by Mr. Chas. F. Fish. 



In speaking of the trappers again, he said: 

 " When they went away and returned 

 again, there came with them a young man, 

 about my age, who could ride and shoot 

 well. We were soon good friends, and 

 were together most all the time. He loaned 



