152 l.N'Dl a.\> OF nil. PLAIN8 



mounted Long before L700. Both D<' Soto and( loronado 

 brought many horses into the Plains, some of which 

 escaped, starting wild herds, and the Spanish settle- 

 ments in New Mexico gave the Indian ample oppor- 

 tunity to learn their use. Once the Indians of the 

 extreme south came to use horses, their spread north- 

 ward from tribe to tribe would not be Long delayed At 

 least all the tribe- west of the Missouri had horses when 

 the French and English explorers first met them. 



It is worth noting that most of these tribes became 

 horsemen before they saw Europeans, or were other- 

 wise influenced by traders. Thus Plains horse culture 

 though introduced by Europeans, was self supporting. 

 The Indian made his own saddles, etc., while his herds 

 increased by natural laws. Had connection with the 

 Old World been broken, it is safe to assume that horse 

 culture would have flourished indefinitely. This is in 

 contrast to the other European traits introduced to the 

 Plains after 1700. The Indian never learned to make 

 guns, powder, cloth, kettles, knives, etc.: hence, these 

 never became a part of his culture in the same sense as 

 the horse. For this reason we characterize the historic 

 period in the development of the Plains Indians as the 

 period of horse culture. 



During the long interval from 1540 to 1850, or there- 

 about, these horse-using Indians roamed the plains at 

 will except as intertribal hostilities and occasional 

 white intrusion prevented, but from 1850 to 1880 

 settlers began to crowd into the territory, occupy the 

 lands, and exterminate the buffalo. Then followed 



