S82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



TO THE WALLED-m LAKES. 



1.— UP MILE RIVEB VALLEY. 



jTT was in the early days of September that, we left the 

 Piegan agency for the Walled in Lakes. So the Piegans 

 have named the bodies of water which form the source of 

 the St. Mary's River. 



Our party was not a lai-ge one. It consisted of Appekunny, 

 Yellow Fish and the writer. Mr. J. W. Schultz is well 

 known to the readers of Fobest and Stbkam as the author 

 of the extremely interesting and scientifically valuable series of 

 papers on "Life Among the Blackfeet, " published in Forest 

 AND Stream a year or two ago. Yellow Fish—also known 

 as Rose—is a French half-breed, but one who has always 

 lived with his mother's people. He is thus in manners, 

 education and feeling a thorough Indian, and can speak 

 only a very few words of English. We were starting on a 

 short trip to the St. Mary's Lakes, which are distant less 

 than one hundred miles from the agency. Our wagon held 

 a fourteen-foot skiff, for use in case the one left on the lakes 

 by Appekunny the previous autumn had heen stolen or 

 destroyed. A boat is a necessity on these large lakes, where 

 much of the fishing must be done in deep water, A 10x10 

 wall tent and a sheet iron cook stove, with our bedding and 

 provisions, completed the load in the wagon. Our arms 

 comprised a rifle apiece, and Mr. Schultz had also a shotgun 

 with which, at various times during the trip, he did remark- 

 ably good execution. I had a light split bamboo fly-rod. 



For the first forty-five miles of the distance from the agen- 

 cy to the lakes there is a wagon road, but at Milk River it is 

 necessary to tiirn off from this and follow up the stream for 

 some distance toward the mountains, and then, leaving it to 

 the south, to travel northwest toward the St. Mary's. Six 

 miles from Badger Creek the road crosses Two Medicine 

 Lodge Creek, on which the Indians have built some houses, 

 now temporarily deserted. The bottom is level and covered 

 with good feed, and is intersected by many sloughs, from 

 several of which little flocks of mallards rose, quacking 

 noisily, as we rattled by. A few plover were seen, and one 

 brood of sharp-tailed grouse, from which we killed a couple 

 that did not rise with the main body. Just after passing 

 over the hill beyond Two Medicine we came to two shallow 

 prairie lakes, on which were a multitude of ducks and 

 grebes. The shores are low and sloping and without cover, 

 and we did not stop to shoot. 



At Cut Bank Creek, about eighteen miles from the agency, 

 is a house occupied hy two Indians, VFiiom I know only as 

 John and Billy. They have a well-built cabin of four or 

 five rooms, a bam and corrals, and quite a patch of culti- 

 vated ground, on which they raise wheat, potatoes and a 

 variety of vegetables. A good-sized stack of hay will fur- 

 nisli food, in case the snow should lie deep during the win- 

 ter, for a dozen cows and about a hundred head of horses 

 that are on the ranch. John, the elder of the two brothers, 

 is a marvel of energy, always at work about the ranch, and 

 is thus very unMke the ordinary Indian. He is contented 

 only when he is busy, and seems likely, with the start he 

 now has, to make a successful farmer. 



So far we had driven in the wagon which contained our 

 outfit, but at Cut Bank we were to get a couple of saddle 

 horses. Mine was an old buflialo horse, tough and wiry, and 

 steady imder fire, and Appekunny's was a little blue, quite 

 spirited, but somewhat run down by hard work. After 

 turning out the team horses I set up my rod, and with Appe- 

 kunny, who carried his shotgun, strolled off up the creek, 

 and began to cast for trout. The boys keep the creek pretty 

 well fished, and we had gone half a mile before I had any 

 rises. At length, however, we reached a deep hole where 

 the narrow stream sweeping around a rocky point had bur 

 rowed in under the vertical bank. Here through the green 

 water could be seen indistinct moving forms, which might 

 he fish and might be shadows, or perhaps were only the play 

 of the ripples. As the fly fell lightly on the water on the 

 further edge of this pool, there was a simultaneous move- 

 ment on the part of several of the shadows, which made it 

 certain that they had life, and a second later a fine trout 

 was fast to the tail fly, and making the rod bend as I tried 

 to keep him out from the sunken root which he at once tried 

 to reach. Here we took half a dozen fish, none of them 

 over a pound in weight, and, as is so often the case with 

 fishermen, lost one which we imagined was larger than ail the 

 rest. He had made a noble fight, and thinking that he was 

 about tired out 1 had led him up to a gravelly har, Appe- 

 kunny had the leader in his hand, and was just about to 

 slide him out of the water, when the fish gave a side wrench 

 and snapped the snood off just where it joins the hook. 

 There was a flash in the water, and the big fish had disap- 

 peared. 



During our stroll along the river, Appekunny killed a 

 couple of young hooded mergansers and we saw several 

 kingfishers and one or two specimens of Butso hormUs ealurm. 

 Just before the sun set the clouds lifted for a moment, and 

 we had a brief glimpse of Chief Mountain. It was, even at 

 the distance of seventy miles, very impressive, looming up 

 grandly through the mist. Its shape was that of an enor- 

 mous truncated cone rising out of the plain, and.it reminded 

 me somewhat of the so-called Liberty Cap at the Mammoth 

 Hot Springs in the National Park. 



Near John's house were a couple of lodges occupied by 

 two Indians named Bear Paw and Curly Bear. The former 

 had been rather successful in his hunting, and we saw the 

 8ki»s of four antelope and two beaver which he had killed 



within a few days. That night we dined on boiled beaver 

 meat. 



The next morning we made a fairly early start, and by 

 7 o'clock the wagon was climbing the high bluffs which 

 border the bottom of Cut Bank. The road follows up a 

 little creek, which at this season of the year consists of a 

 series of water holes and sloughs withoiit current, in which 

 a great many ducks were feeding, and here enousjh of 

 these birds were killed to serve us for several meals. 



The utter dearth of large game throughout the plain country 

 is remarkable and shows how thoroughly the country was 

 hunted by the Piegans during the starvation period of 1884 

 Everywhere one may see the white bones of the buffalo, but 

 scarcely a four-footed living creature will be observed in a 

 day's journey— even the jack rahbits and cotton-tails seem 

 to have been all killed off, and there is hardly a prairie dog 

 or a ground squirrel to be seen. 



Leaving the McLeod road we turned off to the west about 

 five miles before reaching Milk River, The South Fork of 

 this river is a considerable stream, flowing through a wide 

 bottom. To the north rise bluffs, low at first, but gradually 

 increasing in height imtil they form the high divide known 

 as Milk River Ridge, which separates the waters flowing 

 into the Gulf of Mexico from those which run into Hudson's 

 Bay. The bottom is flat and damp, and is intersected by 

 many sloughs, on which, during the spring and autumn 

 migrations, great numbers of ducks pause to rest and feed. 

 There are also many sharp-tailed grouse to be found there. 

 There is no timber in the valley, and only here and there is 

 found willow brush large enough to be used as fuel. It is 

 therefore not a very desirable place to camp. We had no 

 dtfiiculty in finding a very fair road for the wagon, and 

 crossed the stream a mile or two above where we came to it, 

 following the north bank for the rest of the day. 



About the middle of the afternoon several large animals were 

 seen hurrying down the bluffs a mile or two above us on the 

 river, and we were unable to determine what they were. 

 Evidently they were not buffalo, for there were none in the 

 country, and besides they were not the right color, so we con- 

 cluded that they must be either elk or horses, and probably 

 the latter. Ten minutes later a band of about twenty horses, 

 herded by two men, burst out of the brush about half a mile 

 ahead of us and dashed across the wide bottom and up the 

 bluffs on the north side of the valley. There were no packs on 

 any of the horses, and it was very apparent from their desire 

 to avoid observation that the herders were two horse thieves. 

 We could very easily have captured the band, but if we had 

 done so it would have been necessary to turn hack at once 

 and give up our projected trip. To have taken the horses 

 would have been one thing, to have kept them quite another. 

 The horse thieves would undoubtedly have followed us, 

 and would have attempted to steal the captured animals the 

 first night. Very likely they might have succeeded in doing 

 so, and might have taken our stock with the rest. We 

 watched the band out of sight, therefore, and then rode over 

 to the camp of the thieves. They were white men, as we 

 could easUy tell, and had evidently been out a long time, for 

 they had little or nothing to eat. In fact they were poorly 

 provided in all respects, for they had no blankets except 

 those under their saddles, and had built themselves a little 

 shelter of willow twigs, like a sweat house. In this they 

 slept on the bare ground. They had had no bread or coffee. 

 When we came in sight they were just cooking their dinner. 

 This was part of some small black animal, either a bear or 

 a dog. Bits of the hide with the hair singed off were found 

 about the fire, and on one piece were the stumps of the ears, 

 the ends having been burned off'. 



About 4 o'clock we found a place where there was some 

 dead willow brush large enough to burn, and camped there 

 on the north side of the river opposite a high sandstone 

 bluff, the face of which was curiously painted toward the top 

 with a red lichen, which gave the rocks the appearance of 

 being colored with oxide of iron. The stone is soft and has 

 weathered out into holes and crannies, with here and there a 

 projecting point or a narrow ledge. Such places are occu- 

 pied by hawks as nesting places, and soon after we had 

 pitched the tent several of these birds ( ArcMbute^ifemigmeus 

 saneii^'jofMnnw) came in from the prairies and perched on the 

 rocks, whence they watched our preparations for dinner 

 with an air of some interest. They must have been young 

 birds, or else very much attached to the spot, for one or two 

 of them sat still while the Indian fired half a dozen rifle shots 

 at them, and even when at last frightened away they would 

 return again and again. 



For several days the air had been very thick and hazy and 

 the sky overcast, but it rained a little during the night, 

 and the next morning, while we were getting breakfast, the 

 clouds lifted and the smoke had so far cleared away that for 

 a few moments we had a fine view of the mountains lying 

 beyond the St. Mary's Lakes. They are extremely bold and 

 impressive, with square faces and occasional patches of 

 snow. Some of them appeared very high. This height, 

 however, is more apparent than actual, for it must be re- 

 membered we were still upon the prairie, and probably not 

 more than 8,500 or 4,000 feet above the sea level; so that, 

 while the highest of these mountains might seem to us very 

 lofty, its actual altitude above the sea level was not neces- 

 sarily very great when compared trith the highest peaks of 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



Our road still lay up the valley of Milk River, and the 

 numerous little Streams which flowed down from the bluffs 



and cut steep-walled channels through the soft bottom 

 •bliged us to pass as close to the hills as possible, so as to 

 find easy places to cross these tiny tributaries. We had 

 traveled only four or five miles up this stream when 

 we turned off to the right over some low ridges and into 

 another valley, overgrown with willows, which ran directly 

 up to the mountains. In this valley there were many broods 

 of sharp-tail grouse, and in the stream some ducks, while 

 the soft soil among the willows showed a few fresh elk. 

 tracks. We killed several of the grouse as we passed along, 

 but saw no four-footed game whatever. In fact, a big gray 

 wolf trotting along the hillside five or six hundred yards 

 away was the only quadruped seen during that day. After 

 following this stream up nearly to where the pines came 

 down from the mountain we struck a broad and heavy trail 

 made by lialf-breed carts, and taking this, climbed a ridge 

 and passed down into the valley of a nameless creek which 

 is the north fork of the south branch of Milk River. When 

 we were within a mile or two of this it began to rain with a 

 violence that bade defiance to all attempts to keep oneself 

 dry. We had carelessly left the trail on the right, and the 

 two men on horseback now began to ride up and down the 

 creek to try and find a place where the wagon could drive 

 through the dense alder thicket which filled the stream bot- 

 tom. It took twenty minutes or half an hour to discover a 

 crossing which was practicable, and by the time the wagon 

 was on the north side, and a spot had been selected for the 

 camp, the cold storm had thoroughly drenched us all. It 

 did not take long to get the tent up and a fire going in the 

 stove, and after this was accomplished and the preparations 

 for dinner were under way, we all felt more comfortable. 



That night after dinner we loaded up a lot of shells for 

 the shotgun, and after that was done, stretched out on our 

 blankets we smoked many pipes, and I tried to start the 

 half -breed to talking. It was not a diflicult matter to do 

 this. Yellow Fish inherits something of the volubility of his 

 father's race, and before long was chatting away glibly 

 enough. 



One subject on which he spoke was very interesting. He 

 .said that the Pegunny have a tradition that somewhere 

 away to the southward there is a tribe which speaks their 

 language. Once, long ago, the Pegunny were traveUng 

 southward in winter when they came to a large river which 

 they began to cross on the ice. In those days the tribe was 

 very numerous, and where there are now hundreds of them 

 there were then thousands. Part of the tribe had crossed 

 the river, but the greater number were still on the north 

 bank, when a child saw a pretty buffalo horn frozen in the 

 ice, and cried for it. Some one began to knock it loose, and 

 while this was being done the ice broke up and went out, 

 carrying away many of the Indians and separating the tribe 

 into two portions. Neither party could cross the swollen 

 stream, and the Piegans on the south bank were never .seen 

 again by the tribe. It was long supposed that they had all 

 perished, but now it is thought that they still exist as a tribe 

 off somewhere to the south. For once, when the Piegans 

 were visiting the Crows, they met a man there— also a 

 visitor— who spoke a language nearly like theirs, so that 

 they could easily xmder stand him. 



It is of course impossible to say what foimdation there 

 may be for this tradition, but to me it was extremely in- 

 teresting, because there are known two authentic cases of 

 tribes having been separated by accident, and having 

 remained apart for so long a time that they have come to be 

 regarded as distinct nations. One of these cases is that of 

 the Oros Ventres of the Prairie, a tribe located on the same 

 reservation with the Piegans. They are a part of the 

 Arapahoe tribe, and long ago became separated from the 

 main body of that people, and were driven on to the Upper 

 Missouri. Several times they attempted to go south again, 

 but the Mountain Crows, who were at war with the Ara- 

 pahoes, but had no quarrel with the Gros Ventres, told the 

 latter that if they tried to join their tribe they would kill 

 them all. The attempt was never made. 



Much more full is the account of the separation of the 

 Arickarees from the Skeedees or Pawnee Loups. This tale, 

 which I heard years ago from the lips of an old Ree, and 

 which was afterward confirmed and enlarged upon hy 

 several Skeedees, is substantially as follows : 



The Skeedees were once out buffalo hunting and had made 

 a great surround. One day they had killed many buffalo. 

 Many fat cows were lying on the ground and the women 

 were taking off the robes and cutting up the meat. While 

 they were thus engaged they were unexpectedly attacked hy 

 a large war party of Sioux. The Skeedees made a good 

 fight, but the enemy were too numerous for them. They 

 became separated, a part retreating toward the village, and 

 others drawing off toward the north. This party the Sioua: 

 followed; constantly fighting and harassing them and driving 

 them farther and farther away from their home, until at 

 length they reached the Missouri River near where the town 

 of Mandan now stands, at the mouth of Heart River. Here 

 their enemies left them, and here the Skeedees, worn out 

 with much fighting, spent the winter, for it was now too latfr 

 in autiimn to attempt the long march back to the village. 

 They have never gone back, and tlie small remnant of the 

 tribe which still survives have for years been located at Port 

 Berthold on the Missouri. If we could but learn the history 

 of the many similar, but now forgotten, migrations that have- 

 taken place among our western Indians, how much the 

 problem of their ethnology would be simplified, and how 



