148 
INDIANS ON THE ROUTE. 
The latter subsist on fish and berries, raising some potatoes, but owning few horses or cattle. 
They are debased in character, and are rapidly reducing in numbers in consequence of their 
vices and their penury. The mountain Indians, including all east of the Cascades except those 
of the lower Columbia, own horses and cattle, have small crops of wheat, as well as potatoes, 
are moral in their habits—polygamy having been abandoned by a majority of the tribes—and 
for subsistence depend in part upon the chase, resorting to the plains east of the Missouri for the 
meat of the buffalo. Large numbers of them are expert hunters, particularly the Flatheads, Nez 
Perces, Coeur d’Alenes, Pend d’Oreilles, and Spokanes. Nearly all the country, indeed, east of 
the Cascades, is a good grazing country, and most of it is well adapted to agriculture. My own 
personal observations were quite considerable in this respect, including the country occupied by 
the Flatheads, Coeur d’Alenes, Spokanes, and the country thence to Colville, and that occupied 
by the Wallah-Wallahs. Actual settlers invariably speak well of the country occupied by 
them—the St. Mary’s, Colville, Spokane, Wallah-Wallah valleys, and the region near the valleys 
of the Yakima and its tributaries. The desire of the Nez Perces and Spokanes for a grist-mill 
in their territories, towards which each family has offered to contribute a horse, is the most 
significant exemplification of their desire to till the soil. Some of the same Indians east of the 
Cascades are very poor, especially the Ivootenaies; and the project of introducing salmon into 
the upper Columbia by blasting a race-way, suggested by Dr. Suckley, is worthy of special atten¬ 
tion. The Pend d’Oreilles and Coeur d’Alenes subsist much upon deer, the former taking in one 
hunt, in the winter of 1852-’3, eight hundred, and the latter four hundred and fifty. The straits 
to which these Indians will be reduced in two years, by the entire disappearance of game, is 
referred to by Dr. Suckley, and measures ought not to be put off to provide for them. Several 
of these tribes are rich in horses and cattle, and are famous for their rapid movements. A 
Blackfoot brave, “the white man’s hare,” told me, on the Big Muddy river, that he stole the 
first Flathead horse he came across—it was sure to be a good one. They own still many good 
horses, though their number and quality have been reduced in consequence of their losses. The 
Nez Perces are rich, both in horses and in cattle ; and the hospitable reception they extended to 
the members of the exploration passing through their country, taking care of a man lost from 
Lieutenant Macfeely’s party, binding up his wounds, and giving him the means of reaching the 
nearest settler, Mr. Craig, and receiving into their lodges for some days the members of Mr. 
Tinkham’s part 3 r , after their arduous winter examination of the snows of the Bitter Root, show 
that they are still the good Indians of the time of Lewis and Clark. 
The Assiniboins, east of the Blackfoot nation, have been steadily improving in character since 
the treaty of Laramie, and now sustain an excellent reputation; they previously were considered 
incorrigible thieves. M} r express to Fort Union were hospitably entertained by them, provided 
with a lodge, their horses, saddles, and other heavy articles placed in safe hands ; but they were 
advised to look after their smaller things, as the little children might not be able to keep their 
hands off them. 
I met the Assiniboins in council at a large camp about one hundred and fifteen miles east 
of Fort Union, and received the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition. They com¬ 
plained of their hunting-ground being restricted by the Red river half-breeds, against whom they 
asked the protection of the government; and that, in consequence, they found difficulty in getting 
game for their subsistence through the entire year. The Assiniboins range from the Mouse 
River valley to the Big Muddy river, or probably to the mouth of Milk river. 
The Red river half-breeds range in the country from east of the Red river to the Mouse River 
valley, and going in large parties, they severely restrict the means of subsistence of the As¬ 
siniboins and the Sioux. They are generally accompanied by small numbers of friendly 
Indians—Chippewas, Crees, and occasionally an Assiniboin. They were met on the large 
bend of the Shayenne river, that rises south of the Miniwakan lake, between the Mouse 
river and the-. 
