Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 8

Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri 8

SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY.—The whole country occupied by the Assiniboin

is one great plain, hills and timber only occurring where rivers

run, in the valleys of which good land for cultivation is found, but

the general feature appears to be sterile as regards arable land,

producing, however, grasses of different kinds, some of which are

very nutritious, and particularly adapted to raising horses, cattle,

and sheep. The prairies may be said to be interminable and destitute

of the least particle of timber except along the banks of the few

streams before mentioned, and even these but thinly wooded. Water,

however, can always be found in the small lakes and rivers spoken of.

The Assiniboin do not cultivate the soil in any way, though the Gros

Ventres and Arikara raise corn and pumpkins to some extent on the

Missouri bottoms. By experiments made at or near Fort Union, we find

that oats, potatoes, corn, and all garden vegetables grow well if the

season be favorable. The soil, being light and sandy, requires frequent

rains to produce good crops, which happens about one year in three;

the others fail from drought and destruction by grasshoppers, bugs,

and other insects. The natural productions of the country are few and

such as no one but an Indian could relish. A wild turnip called by them

teep-see-na, and by the French pomme blanche, when boiled is eatable,

is found in quantity everywhere on the plains, will sustain life alone

for a great length of time either cooked or in its raw state, can be

dried and preserved for years, or pulverized and made into passable

bread.

 

Wild rhubarb is found and eaten either raw or cooked. It has rather a

pleasant sweetish taste. Artichokes grow in quantities near marshes.

Chokecherries, bullberries, service berries, buds of the wild rose, red

plums, and sour grapes are the principal fruits and are greatly sought

after by the Indians, preserved, dried, cooked, and eaten in various

ways, and considered by them great luxuries. Wild hops are in abundance

which possess all the properties of the cultivated hop. These are all

of any note the country produces.

 

FACILITIES FOR GRAZING.—These Indians raise no stock of any kind,

though judging from that raised at Fort Union it is one of the best

grazing countries in the world. The supply of grasses of spontaneous

growth is inexhaustible and very nutritious. The only difficulty is the

severe cold winter and depth of snow, though if animals were provided

for and housed during the severe cold we know that a hardier and better

stock can be raised than in the States. As yet, however, no market

being open for surplus stock and but few raised for the use of the

fort, our attention has not been much directed to that business, but

have no hesitation in advancing the opinion that horses, horned cattle,

and sheep would thrive and increase well with proper care. We are not

able to say whether water could at all times be had by digging on the

high prairie and in the absence of springs or creeks, never having

tried the experiment, though the country abounds in small lakes, cool

springs, and creeks where good localities for grazing purposes could

always be chosen. In the winter animals appear to want very little

water and generally eat snow in its place.

 

EFFECTS OF FIRING THE PRAIRIES.—We presume there must be some mistake

that any of the tribes residing on the plains set them on fire to

facilitate the purposes of hunting. It has the contrary effect, driving

the game out of their own country into that of their neighbors. Buffalo

may pass through a burnt country covered with snow, but can not remain,

and travel until they meet with suitable grazing. Consequently the

greatest precautions are used by both Indians and whites to prevent

their taking fire in the fall, when the grass is dry (the only time it

will burn), and the most severe penalties short of death are imposed on

any person, either white or red, who even by accident sets the prairie

on fire. A good thrashing with bows and sometimes tomahawking is in

store for the poor traveler who has been so forgetful as not to put

out his camp fires and they extend to the plains. These fires are made

mostly by returning war parties, either with the view of driving the

buffalo out of their enemy’s country or as signals to their own people

of success in their expedition, though sometimes they originate in

accident or petty malice of individuals. With regard to its injuring

the soil it has no such effects; on the contrary, the next crop of

grass is more beautiful than the other, as the undergrowth and briars

are by that means destroyed. The same, unfortunately, is not the case

with the timber. There are no forests on the plains to burn, though

where the fire passes through the bottoms of the Missouri it consumes

and kills great quantities of timber, which dries and decays and is

only replaced in time by younger saplings. Fruit bushes are also

destroyed, though they recover its effects in three or four years.

 

WASTE LANDS.—In this section there are no deserts or barren land

of any extent; though there are some marshes, pools, and swamps

which, however, are not so close together or extensive as to form any

formidable obstruction to roads. Even if they could not be drained or

otherwise disposed of, they could be left on either side of the way.

Neither do these appear to affect the health of any of the Indians more

than being the cause of producing hosts of mosquitoes, which are very

annoying to man and beast.

 

EFFECTS OF VOLCANIC ACTION.—We are not aware of any remarkable

appearances of this kind,[4] neither are there to be found extensive

sand plains or other tracts entirely destitute of herbage. The cactus

is found everywhere, but not in such quantity as to destroy herbage or

be a hindrance to animals traveling. A mile or two may occasionally

be found where herbage is comparatively scarce. Still, even in these

places there is sufficient for animals for a short time.

 

[4] There are portions of pumice stone and other things occasionally

picked up that have undergone volcanic action; also burning hills, but

no eruptions.

 

SALINE PRODUCTIONS.—We do not feel ourselves competent to state

the properties of the mineral springs so common throughout all this

country. Some of them no doubt contain Glauber salt, as they operate

as a violent cathartic; others have the taste of copper, sulphur,

etc. What the country would produce in the way of gypsum, saltpeter,

etc., we can not say, never having witnessed any geological or mineral

researches and being personally completely uninformed regarding this

branch of science.

 

COAL AND MINERAL PRODUCTS.—Dr. J. Evans, who lately traveled through

this country, can enlighten you on this subject. As for us, we must

plead unadulterated ignorance.

 

 

CLIMATE

 

The climate is pure and dry and perhaps the healthiest in the world. In

the months of May and June, when east winds prevail, much rain falls,

but during the rest of summer and fall the season is generally dry and

moderately warm, except a short time in July and August, when intensely

hot. There are occasionally severe thunderstorms accompanied by rain or

hail; not more, however, than three or four in a summer, and these in a

few hours swell the smallest streams so as to overflow their banks, but

with the ceasing of the rain they fall as suddenly as they rise, and do

no damage, as there are neither crops nor fences to injure. Tornadoes

we have never seen here, although they do happen on the Missouri far

below this place. Severe gales are occasionally met with, lasting but a

few minutes. With regard to temperature and other natural phenomena I

refer you to the accompanying tables.

 

 

WILD ANIMALS

 

The most numerous and useful animal in this country is unquestionably

the buffalo, both as regards the sustenance of all the Indians and

gain of the traders. Any important decrease of this animal would

have the effect of leaving the Indians without traders, no returns

of smaller skins being sufficient to pay the enormous expense of

bringing supplies so far and employing such a number of people. Buffalo

are very numerous, and we do not, after 20 years’ experience, find

that they decrease in this quarter, although upward of 150,000 are

killed annually throughout the extent of our trade, without taking

into consideration those swamped, drowned, calves frozen to death,

destroyed by wolves, or in embryo, etc. It yet would appear that their

increase is still greater than their destruction, as during last winter

(1852-53) there were more found in this quarter, and indeed in the

whole extent of our trade, than had been seen for many years before.

 

The buffalo is the Indian’s whole dependence. It serves him for all his

purposes—meat, clothing and lodging, powder horns, bowstrings, thread

and hair to make saddles. In the winter season the hides are dressed,

made into robes and traded to whites, by which means they are able

to buy all their necessaries and even some luxuries. Robes are worth

about $3 each, and although the number sent to market is great, yet the

high price paid for them to Indians and the danger of transportation

is such that fortunes are more easily and often lost than made at the

business. Beaver were formerly numerous and valuable, therefore much

hunted by whites and Indians, but of late years the price of that fur

being greatly reduced, and the danger of hunting considerable, does

not induce either whites or Indians to hunt them. This animal has

been trapped and killed to such an extent as to threaten their entire

extinction, though for the last 10 or 12 years, since beaver trapping

by large bodies of men has been abandoned, they have greatly increased,

and are now to be found tolerably plentiful in all the small streams

and in the Missouri and Yellowstone. These Indians do not and never did

trap them much; though the Crow and the Cree still make good beaver

hunts, they do not rely much on this either as a source of profit or

food.

 

Elk, deer, bighorn, and antelope are numerous and afford a means of

living and profit to the Indians although they are not hunted to any

extent except in a great scarcity of buffalo. From this circumstance

they do not diminish and are found now in much the same numbers as 20

years back.

 

Wolves are very plentiful and of three kinds, the large white wolf,

the large grayback wolf, and the small prairie wolf, all a good deal

hunted and many killed, though they continue to increase. They follow

the buffalo in large bands, waiting an opportunity to pounce upon one

that has been wounded or mired. They also destroy a great many small

calves in the month of May when they are brought forth. The skins of

the larger kind are worth 70 cents to $1 each; the smaller about 50

cents each.

 

Red and gray foxes, hares, badgers, skunks, wild cats, otters, ermines,

and muskrats are found and killed when opportunity offers. Of all these

the red fox appears to be the only one that has diminished in numbers.

We are not aware that any animals have disappeared altogether, nor of

any perceptible decrease of any except the beaver and red fox. The

Indians kill only as many buffalo as are wanted for meat and hides.

Taking only as many hides as their women can dress, they do not destroy

them wantonly to any extent; consequently the destruction is limited,

and that not being equivalent to the increase, but little diminution,

if any, is perceptible, and the trade as long as this is the case can

not have the effect of exterminating them. It is different as regards

the beaver and fox. Their skins require no labor except drying, and

being slower to increase must of course be the first to disappear

if hunted. Grizzly bears are tolerably numerous on the Missouri and Yellowstone and are not hunted often, although killed occasionally. The animal being ferocious is not much sought after by the Indians.