THE CHRONOLOGY OF PLAINS CULT1 i:i I 53 



a period of Indian wars, the establishment of reserva- 

 tions and the gradual subjection of all tribes to white 



control and close confinement to their reserved lands. 

 By L880 these methods had completely exterminated 

 the buffalo and all but brought the typical culture of 

 the Plains Indian to an end. Now he sends his child- 

 ren to school, supports churches, cultivates the land, 

 and acquires citizenship. 



The establishment of reservations for the Plains 

 Indians began about 1855, but it was not until 1880 or 

 later that all were settled and confined to definite tracts. 

 The first Europeans to visit America treated the 

 Indians as independent nations and their chiefs as the 

 equals of kings. The same attitude was taken by the 

 United States under President Washington so that the 

 chief of each little tribe was recognized as a ruler and 

 treaties were made with him by all succeeding Presi- 

 dents until the time of Grant, when in 1871, Congress 

 declared all Indians subjects of the United States. 

 This was the first important step to the assimilation of 

 the Indian, a process which has now progressed so far 

 that all Plains Indians will soon be citizens and their 

 reservations disappear. This not far distant event will 

 mark the close of the last period in the history of Plains 

 culture. Yet the memory of this culture during the 

 horse period, will long remain as a source of inspiration 

 for art and literature. No other culture is so picturesque 

 as this, and certainly none holds a higher place in mod- 

 ern art . 



