Indians of the Great Western Prairies

Crow Indian

Upon the Yellowstone, and about the headwaters of the Missouri, the most noted tribes are the Crows and Blackfeet. Bordering upon them at the north and northeast are their enemies, the Ojibbeways, Knisteneaux, and Assinaboins, of some of whom brief mention has been made in former chapters. In 1834 the Blackfeet were computed to number over thirty thousand, but when the small-pox swept over the western country, in 1838, they were frightfully reduced. By the returns of 1850, they were represented as amounting to about thirteen thousand. As these Indians are among the farthest removed from the contaminating influence of … Read more

Treaty of October 17, 1855

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the council-ground on the Upper Missouri, near the mouth of the Judith River, in the Territory of Nebraska, this seventeenth day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by and between A. Cumming and Isaac I. Stevens, commissioners duly appointed and authorized, on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs, headmen, and delegates of the following nations and tribes of Indians, who occupy, for the purposes of hunting, the territory on the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, and who have permanent homes as follows: … Read more

Treaty of July 16, 1855

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the treaty-ground at Hell Gate, in the Bitter Root Valley, this sixteenth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by and between Isaac I. Stevens, governor and superintendent of Indian affairs for the Territory of Washington, on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs, head-men, and delegates of the confederated tribes of the Flathead, Kootenay, and Upper Pend d’ Oreilles Indians, on behalf of and acting for said confederated tribes, and being duly authorized thereto by them. It being understood and agreed that … Read more

Jocko Reservation

Charlot's band on the March

Flathead Agency Report of Special Agent Horatio L. Seward on the Indians of the Jocko reservation, Flathead agency, Montana, December 1890, and January 1891. Names of Indian tribes or parts of tribes occupying said reservation: Bitter Root, Carlos band, Flathead, Kutenay, Lower Kalispal, and Pend d’Oreille. The unallotted area of this reservation is 1,433,600 acres, or 2,240 square miles. The reservation has been partly surveyed. It was established, altered, or changed by treaty of July 16, 1855 (19 U. S. Stats., p. 075). Indian population 1890: Pend d’Oreilles, Pmt nays, and Flatheads, 1,608; Carlos band and Bitter Root Flatheads, 146; … Read more

Condition of the Idaho Indians in 1890

U.S. Indian Agent and Party on Fort Hall Reservation

Early the summer of 1877 troubles arose in regard to the occupancy of the Wallowa valley by white settlers, it having been withdrawn in 1875 as a reservation under treaty of 1873, because of the failure, of the Indians to permanently occupy it. An Indian belonging to a band of non-treaty Indians under Chief Joseph was killed by some settlers; then the Indians insisted upon the removal of the settlers and the restitution of the valley to them. Upon the refusal of the government to do this, and after further efforts to compel all the non-treaty Indians to come into … Read more