650 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[April 27, 1907. 
we were determined to have it double shotted. 
J. V. Cochran, who lives in Billings, Montana, 
had charge of the cannon. He was and is as 
game as a war eagle, and if called upon, would 
have fired the cannon if it had burst in a thou¬ 
sand pieces. 
We had rifle pits dug at different points of 
vantage and there were forty-five white men to 
defend them. At the fort the Northwest Fur 
Company had twelve men, all of them in the fort 
with the gates locked. No assistance could be 
expected from them. 
I mounted Dick and with Little Dog and Jack 
we paid a visit to the Gros Ventres. They had 
already been warned, had their lodges pitched in 
a circle, their ponies corralled and rifle pits dug 
all around the village. All the warriors were 
stripped to the breech clout, and many of them 
were painted, as demons are supposed to paint. 
Famasi and Star Robe, the chiefs, met us 
outside. Little Dog informed them that he 
would try to prevent the hostiles from attacking 
them, and advised them not to shoot first if the 
hostiles came. He declared that he and his peo¬ 
ple would be their friends, and bidding them 
goodby we returned. After looking over the 
ground and seeing that everything was in order 
for defense in the town, I went with Little Dog 
and Jack to the village of the South Piegans. 
The young men were busy putting their arms 
in order for action, for they expected a fight. It 
must be remembered that at this time bad blood 
existed between many of the North Piegans and 
the South Piegans, and though things were out¬ 
wardly peaceful enough, a war between them 
could easily have been precipitated. Leaving the 
South Piegans, I rode around to the other vil¬ 
lages and notified all the chiefs that they must 
control their young men, must not permit them 
to commit any overt act, and must keep them 
away from the Gros Ventres village or half of 
their warriors would be killed. Jack confirmed 
my assertion, adding much more to it. The 
chiefs used their utmost endeavor to control 
their young men and they partially succeeded 
with many. 
The day after the Indians left, the boys joked 
me about forty-five men going to kill half of 
1,500 warriors, saying, “Bill had more gall than 
the devil, and could out-bluff six.” 
About 11 o’clock 500 naked warriors in their 
war regalia, painted and mounted on their best 
ponies, which were also painted, went down the 
bottom toward the Gros Ventres village, yelling 
and uttering their war cries. The ground fairly 
trembled under the horses’ feet. Everyone ex¬ 
pected that the fight was on. Little Dog had 
sixty warriors at the upper end of the town. I 
remained with him, and we carefully watched 
the proceedings below, expecting every moment 
to hear shots. The Indians rode around the Gros 
Ventres camp, some 200 yards distant from it. 
If one shot had been fired by either party, a 
bloody fight would have followed, as those In¬ 
dians who were now held back by their chiefs 
would then have joined their friends. The 
whites could not have left the town to give as¬ 
sistance to the Gros Ventres nor could the Gros 
Ventres leave their village to help the whites. 
I think that if it had come to the point, Little 
Dog would have joined the whites. It was be¬ 
lieved by many experienced Indian men present 
*Little Dog’s son, also Little Dog, is now living on the 
Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northern Montana. 
that our visit to the Gros V entres village pre¬ 
vented what might have been a massacre, or at 
least would have been a hard fight. There were 
many hot-headed and brave young Gros Ventres, 
and it may have been that our warning kept them 
from some rash acts. 
Little Dog notified all the hostile bands that 
if they attacked the whites they would have him 
to fight. They were all of them afraid of him, 
and I know that his stand had a moral effect. 
The hostiles rode around the Gros Ventre 
village many times, yelling, calling names and 
sending forth challenges to the Gros Ventres to 
come out and fight; but the Gros Ventres re¬ 
mained quiet in their rifle pits. I learned after¬ 
ward that it was all their chiefs could do to 
keep their young men from accepting the hos¬ 
tiles’ challenges to fight. After a great deal of 
this verbal defiance, the hostiles rode back to 
their camp on a run, firing off their guns in the 
air. When opposite the town they halted and 
formed a half circle and began to sing their war 
songs. After the songs a few approached within 
two hundred yards of the agency building call¬ 
ing the whites dogs and women, all of which 
names were understood. The interpreters were 
directed to tell the Indians to stop their talk or 
we would kill them, and presently they rode 
back to their company, gave a yell of defiance 
and left for their villages. 
This lull gave us all an opportunity to eat 
dinner. I took Little Dog, Jack and three other 
chiefs with me to dinner, and just as we had 
finished eating a fearful yell was heard. The 
chiefs j umped up and mounted quickly, making 
signs to the whites to remain in the houses. I 
mounted Dick and went with the chiefs, though 
many of the men called out to me, “Don’t go, 
Sheriff.” My mind was made up what to do 
in case of a rupture. If the hostiles attacked 
the town, and Little Dog attacked, the hostiles, 
I would remain with him, for there I would be 
of more benefit to the town than I would be 
in the building. If on the other hand Little Dog 
failed to' act, I could return to the town. 
The yell was given by some .1,200 painted 
savages, each of whom had tied from five to 
twenty yards of calico to his horse’s tail and 
started out on a run all over the bottom. Calico 
of many colors was flying in all directions, and 
each Indian was trying to make his pony step 
on the calico tied to the horse next in advance. 
They were yelling and firing off their guns in 
every direction. It was a wild orgie, such as 
neither I nor anyone else had ever beheld, and 
we had witnessed many a wild scene. It was 
something for a Rembrandt or a Remington to 
paint; the first scene of the kind, and I believe 
the last ever seen in the United States.* We would 
all of us have been glad to have had the Com¬ 
missioners see in what contempt the valuable 
presents that their Great Father had sent them 
were held by the Indians. 
That night the Gros Ventres, like the Arabs, 
silently moved their village, without being dis- 
*A scene somewhat similar to the one described took 
place two years after this in southern Nebraska, when 
the Cheyennes ditched a freight train on the railroad 
then being constructed across the continent. Indians 
who took part in the wrecking of this train have de¬ 
scribed to us how the freight cars were broken open, the 
goods taken from them and scattered over the prairie, 
and how the young men in sport knotted the ends of 
bolts of calico to their horses’ tails, and then galloped 
wildly in all directions, the cloth streaming behind them 
in the wind. The story of this train wrecking—the only 
one, we believe ever committed by Indians—is an inter¬ 
esting one. and may some day be printed in Forest and 
Stream.—Editor. 
covered by their enemies. The next morning a 
the Indians except Little Dog’s band left fo 
the north, to go to their own country. Befot 
they left, two war parties had been organize 
to raid upon the miners and ranchmen in dit 
ferent sections of the Territory. Such was th 
result of this great treaty. 
Before they moved out a few of us visited th 
Indian villages. As many Indians were di. c 
satisfied with the treaty, they looked on 1 
with distrust, and hatred was plainly visible i 
their faces and their actions. We assumed th 
authority to notify the chiefs that they mu 
control their young men, and keep them froj 
stealing from the whites, or war on them by tlj 
whites would continue. In part the treaty wl 
successful. As a whole it was a failure, for 
chronic state of warfare continued for years. 
A Fur Trader’s Opinion. 
The following comments on what was recent 
said in Forest and Stream anent buffalo ar 
wolves in the north and west were printed 
the Bulletin, Edmonton, Alberta, April 4: 
An article in a recent issue of Forest ai 
Stream anent additional protection for the her 
of buffalo that still roams the north country, h 
produced considerable discussion among the E> 
monton traders. 
It will be remembered that early in Februa; 
a deputation waited on the Government askin 
for an increase in the bounty from $5 to $1 
which request was granted. Certain oth 
changes in the regulations with reference to i 
payment were also asked, which will also like 
be made. 
Forest and Stream argues that no matter he 
liberal the bonus paid, the system is all wroi 
to' secure the destruction of the wolves, and su 
gests that the proper way to get rid of them 
to “destroy the wolves, old and young, at t 
time when the young are born.” 
A Bulletin representative discussed the matt 
with one of Edmonton’s best known traders 1 
cently. He admitted the plan of killing t 
wolves at the time of their birth was a capi 
one, but, unfortunately, the breeding grounds 
these animals were not much easier to loci 
than the North Pole. 
After long experience with the Indians in t 
north he was convinced the wigwam peoj 
would go in for the wholesale destruction of t 
wolves if the reward was ample. This winl 
the wolves are so thick and active that on th< 
runways the snow has been worn down a def 
of fully twelve inches, and trappers find sno 
shoes unnecessary when traveling these trails 
As the wolves increase numerically the me 
dangerous it becomes to hunt them, and not ev 
a $10 bounty has proven attractive enough 
start the Indians upon an extensive campai 
of slaughter. 
The trader saw nothing for it but another 
crease in the bonus to at least $20, though 
favored $25. After many years’ dealings w 
the Indians he felt confident the doubling 
the price on each wolf’s head would get the 1 
men busy in a hurry. 
The suggestion to set out poison should i 
be considered. Fur bearing animals were sea: 
enough now without taking chances of materia 
reducing their numbers. 
The buffalo, he estimated, would nuinl 
slightly over 400, but the herd was gradually 
the decrease. The wolves were able to desti 
the young buffalo, and when supplies failed 
this direction the older ones suffered. The ro 
producing animals feed over a territory of ;j 
miles between Peace Point north to Buff 
River. The former place is nearly 70 miles no 
of Edmonton. 
