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012 - Puht-o-muk-si-kim-iks The Lakes Inside St Mary's Lake · Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park

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  Speaker 1: Section twelve of Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park by
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  Speaker 1: James Willard Schultz. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Section twelve Puto Muxi kimmicks the lakes inside Saint Mary's Lakes.
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  Speaker 1: August tenth. We left Little River on the fifth, crossed
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  Speaker 1: the Big Ridge dividing the Arctic and the Atlantic waters,
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  Speaker 1: and made camp here on the Big Prairie at the
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  Speaker 1: foot of the upper Saint Mary's Lake. In the old days,
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  Speaker 1: this great valley, hemmed in by gigantic mountains was my
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  Speaker 1: favorite hunting ground after the buffalo were exterminated and there
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  Speaker 1: was no more sport to be had upon the plains.
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  Speaker 1: Human Row or Rising Wolf, was, of course, the first
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  Speaker 1: white man to see these most beautiful of all our
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  Speaker 1: northern Rockies lakes with the Pagan Blackfeet. He camped at
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  Speaker 1: them in eighteen sixteen, and long afterward with his growing
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  Speaker 1: family of hardy sons and daughters. This became his favorite
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  Speaker 1: hunting and trapping ground. When in the eighteen thirties that
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  Speaker 1: valiant and much beloved missionary father De smet S j.
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  Speaker 1: Was visiting the various tribes of this Northwest country, Monroe
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  Speaker 1: was engaged to take him to a conference with the
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  Speaker 1: North Blackfeet, then camping on the Saskatchewan River. En route,
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  Speaker 1: they camped at the foot of the lower of these lakes,
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  Speaker 1: and there erected a large wooden cross and named the
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  Speaker 1: two sheets of water Saint Mary's Lakes. Later on, the
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  Speaker 1: Stephens expedition named them Chief Mountain Lakes, but that name
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  Speaker 1: did not last. Monroe and his brother trappers were all Catholics,
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  Speaker 1: and they continued to use the name that the great
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  Speaker 1: priest had given them, and on the maps they are
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  Speaker 1: Saint Mary's Lakes to day. During my long friendship with him,
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  Speaker 1: Monroe told me many stories of his adventures here in
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  Speaker 1: us early days. This was his favorite mountain resort on
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  Speaker 1: account of the great numbers of moose that inhabited the
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  Speaker 1: heavily timbered valley and mountain slopes, and of the great
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  Speaker 1: variety and numbers of fur animals that were found here.
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  Speaker 1: The valley swarmed with elk and deer, there were countless
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  Speaker 1: flocks of big horn and goats on the mountains, and
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  Speaker 1: herds of buffalo everywhere along the Lower Lake and below it.
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  Speaker 1: But Monroe liked best of all the flesh of moose
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  Speaker 1: and killed large numbers of them every season that he
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  Speaker 1: camped here. His method of catching wolves was simple and unique.
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  Speaker 1: He would build an oblong pyramidal log pen about eight
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  Speaker 1: by sixteen feet at the base and eight feet in height,
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  Speaker 1: the last layer of logs being placed about eighteen inches apart,
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  Speaker 1: easily climbing the slope of this. The wolves would jump
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  Speaker 1: down through the narrow aperture at the top to feed
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  Speaker 1: upon the quantities of meat that had been placed inside
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  Speaker 1: to decoy them, but they could not jump out. Often
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  Speaker 1: of a morning the trapper and his sons would find
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  Speaker 1: ten or more big wolves imprisoned in the trap, and
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  Speaker 1: powder and ball being very costly, they would kill them
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  Speaker 1: with bow and arrows, skin them and drag the carcasses
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  Speaker 1: to the river and cast them into it, then take
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  Speaker 1: the hides home and peg them on the ground to dry.
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  Speaker 1: In this manner, they would often in the spring have
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  Speaker 1: several hundred wolf pelts to pack in to Fort Benton
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  Speaker 1: for sale, and prime pelts sold at five dollars each
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  Speaker 1: in trade. Their catch of beaver, otter, mink, marten, and
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  Speaker 1: fisher was also large. Monroe always camped at the foot
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  Speaker 1: of the lower Lake, near the outlet and was there
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  Speaker 1: more than once attacked by roving war parties of a Sinebwans, crows,
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  Speaker 1: and even they Yanketinize. The horses were kept at night
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  Speaker 1: in a strong corral just back of the lodge, and
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  Speaker 1: in the daytime were watched by some member of the
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  Speaker 1: family while they grazed on the rich prairie grasses. All
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  Speaker 1: the family, John and Francois, the sons, Millie and Lizzie,
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  Speaker 1: the daughters, and even the mother had guns, flintlocks, and
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  Speaker 1: a good supply of powder and ball. Early one morning,
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  Speaker 1: a large war party was discovered approaching the camp, sneaking
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  Speaker 1: from bush to bush, some crawling on all fours through
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  Speaker 1: the high grass. Lizzie opened fire upon them and killed
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  Speaker 1: her man, and then the fire became general on both sides.
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  Speaker 1: But the Monroes in their trenches surrounding the lodge had
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  Speaker 1: the best of it from the start and eventually made
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  Speaker 1: the enemy retreat with the loss of five of their number.
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  Speaker 1: Late the following night, the Assinobons crept in to make
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  Speaker 1: another attack, but the Monroes were expecting them, waiting for them,
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  Speaker 1: and in the bright moonlight could take fairly accurate aim.
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  Speaker 1: They again drove them off with the loss of two
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  Speaker 1: or more of their number, and and that time they
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  Speaker 1: kept going. Nothing more was seen of them, but for
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  Speaker 1: some days the Monros did not venture far from their camp.
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  Speaker 1: I first saw the Saint Mary's Lakes in October eighteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty two, in company with Charles Femister, James Rutherford, Charles Carter,
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  Speaker 1: and Oliver Sanderville, all old plainsmen, good company and best
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  Speaker 1: of hunters. We outfitted for the trip at the old
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  Speaker 1: agency on Badger Creek, Blackfeet Reservation, and started northward. There
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  Speaker 1: was no trail after leaving the crossing of Little or
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  Speaker 1: Milk River, and we struck up country toward the big
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  Speaker 1: gap in the mountains in which we knew the lakes
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  Speaker 1: must lie, and that evening camped on the shore of
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  Speaker 1: a large prairie lake that was black with ducks. I
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  Speaker 1: shot a dozen or more of them as they flew
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  Speaker 1: over a long point, and to my surprise and delight,
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  Speaker 1: found that they were all canvas backs and redheads, and
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  Speaker 1: very fat from feeding upon the wild celery beds of
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  Speaker 1: the lake. I named the Sheet of water Duck Lake.
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  Speaker 1: The next day we made a trail down the long
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  Speaker 1: hill and camped at the foot of the lower lake
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  Speaker 1: close to the outlet. Then began two weeks of most
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  Speaker 1: glorious sport. We shot elk deer and several grizzlies in
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  Speaker 1: the valley and bighorn on a mountain that I named
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  Speaker 1: Flat Top, and combed to that mountain from one end
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  Speaker 1: to another and on all sides for an animal known
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  Speaker 1: to us as the rocky mountain ibex. We had seen
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  Speaker 1: several skins of them, bought from the Sony Indians by
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  Speaker 1: Captain John Healy of Fort whoop Up and Fort Benton Fame,
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  Speaker 1: but none of us, nor any man of our acquaintance,
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  Speaker 1: and we knew every trapper and trader in the country,
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  Speaker 1: had ever seen one of the animals alive. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: we found none, as this sub Arctic animal, which we
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  Speaker 1: later learned as a true antelope and not an ibex
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  Speaker 1: or goat, seldom leaves the high Cliff mountains for the
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  Speaker 1: outer and lower ones of the range. When later we
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  Speaker 1: did find them, we, in our ignorance, named them rocky
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  Speaker 1: mountain goats, and that is the common name for them
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  Speaker 1: to day, despite the fact that they are antelopes. On
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  Speaker 1: this first visit to the Saint Mary's Lakes country, I
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  Speaker 1: was impressed by the grandeur of its mountains, the beauty
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  Speaker 1: of its many lakes, and its plenitude of game, that thereafter,
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  Speaker 1: for many years it was more than anywhere else my home.
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  Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty three I brought out to the lakes
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  Speaker 1: a good boat that I had built for me at
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  Speaker 1: Fort Conrad, and with it learned that both lakes were
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  Speaker 1: alive with whitefish and mackinaw, dolly varden, and cutthroat trout.
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  Speaker 1: During the summer of this year I named Red Eagle
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  Speaker 1: Mountain and Red Eagle Lake after my uncle in law,
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  Speaker 1: Read Eagle, owner of the Thunder Medicine Pipe, and one
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  Speaker 1: of the most high minded, gentle hearted Indians that I
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  Speaker 1: ever knew. In the autumn of this year, doctor George
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  Speaker 1: Bird Grinnell joined me and we hunted around the lower
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  Speaker 1: lake and went up swift current far enough to see
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  Speaker 1: what we thought would possibly prove to be a glacier.
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  Speaker 1: We had not then time to learn if our surmise
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  Speaker 1: was correct. During our hunt, Doctor Grennell killed a large
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  Speaker 1: ram at long range off hand with one shot from
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  Speaker 1: his old sharp's rifle on the mountain next above Flat Top,
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  Speaker 1: and I therefore named it single shot Mountain in the
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  Speaker 1: summer of this year. I also named Divide Mountain because
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  Speaker 1: it is the outermost mountain on the Atlantic Arctic Watershed.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time I named Kutenai Mountain also for
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  Speaker 1: a very good reason. Some members of that tribe were
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  Speaker 1: encamped beside me at the foot of the upper Lake.
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  Speaker 1: I noticed often that they would ride out of camp
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  Speaker 1: at daylight and return at noon or a little later
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  Speaker 1: with all the big horn or go boat meat that
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  Speaker 1: their horses could carry. And finally I asked them where
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  Speaker 1: they went to make their killing, So quickly come with
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  Speaker 1: me tomorrow and I will show you something. One of
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  Speaker 1: them answered, and the next morning I rode with him
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  Speaker 1: up Red Eagle Valley and part way up a mountain,
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  Speaker 1: where we tied our horses and went on a foot
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  Speaker 1: for a couple of hundred yards. Then, looking down into
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  Speaker 1: a coolie, we saw a dozen or more big horn
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  Speaker 1: in the bottom of it, and killed four of them.
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  Speaker 1: They had been eating salty clay and drinking from a
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  Speaker 1: salt spring that oozes from the ground there. So I
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  Speaker 1: named the place Kuteney Lack, and also gave the mountain
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  Speaker 1: the name Kutenae. Thereafter I knew where to go for
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  Speaker 1: bighorn when I wanted one. In eighteen eighty four, I
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  Speaker 1: named almost a Dog Mountain after one of the few
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  Speaker 1: survivors of the Baker massacre, which took place on the
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  Speaker 1: Marias River January first, eighteen seventy. At that time, Colonel E. M. Baker,
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  Speaker 1: with a couple of companies of cavalry from Fort Shaw, Montana,
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  Speaker 1: was trying to find the camp of Owl Child, a
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  Speaker 1: pigin blackfoot and murderer of a settler named Malcolm Clark,
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  Speaker 1: and arrest him. By mistake, he struck the camp of
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  Speaker 1: Heavy Runner and his band of friendly Indians, and although
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  Speaker 1: the chief came running toward him, waiving his letters of
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  Speaker 1: recommendation and his Washington medals, Baker ordered his men to
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  Speaker 1: begin firing, and a terrible massacre ensued. The Indians firing
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  Speaker 1: not one shot in defense, as about all the able
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  Speaker 1: bodied men were at the time on a buffalo hunt.
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  Speaker 1: When the firing was over, two hundred and seventeen old
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  Speaker 1: men and women and children lay dead and dying in
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  Speaker 1: their lodges and in the camp. The soldiers then shot
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  Speaker 1: the wounded, collected the lodges and property of the Indians
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  Speaker 1: in great piles and set fire to them and departed.
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  Speaker 1: In the autumn of eighteen eighty five, Doctor Grinnell, J. B.
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  Speaker 1: Monroe and I made a trip up Swift Current River
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  Speaker 1: and discovered and roughly measured the Big Glacier at the
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  Speaker 1: head of its middle fork. Doctor Grennell killing a big
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  Speaker 1: ram on the ice while we were traversing it and
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  Speaker 1: avoiding its deep crevasses. That evening, Monroe and I named
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  Speaker 1: the glacier in honor of doctor Grennell, and also named
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  Speaker 1: the mountain to the north of it after him. On
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  Speaker 1: the following day we were joined by Lieutenant now Major J. H. Beakham,
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  Speaker 1: third Infantry, and he gave my Indian name Apukuni to
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  Speaker 1: the high mountain between Swift Current and the south fork
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  Speaker 1: of Kennedy Creek. Upon our return to Upper Saint Mary's Lake,
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Greanell named Little Chief Mountain, Monroe gave Citadel Mountain
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  Speaker 1: its name, and I named Yellowfish Goat going to the
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  Speaker 1: Sun and Four Bears Mountains. Yellowfish Otocomie was an Indian
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  Speaker 1: who often hunted with us and Four Bears. Nissukayeyo was
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  Speaker 1: the Blackfeet camp crier and a most amusing man. It
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  Speaker 1: was in eighteen eighty six. I believe that we three
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  Speaker 1: and my old time friend William Jackson, one time scout
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  Speaker 1: for General Custer and General Miles, cut a trail to
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  Speaker 1: the head of the Saint Mary's Valley and discovered the
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  Speaker 1: great sheet of ice, which we named the Blackfeet Glacier.
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  Speaker 1: We at the same time named Gunsight Pass and named
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  Speaker 1: the peak just west of the glacier mount Jackson. It
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  Speaker 1: should be Sika Kaiwan Blackfeet man, Jackson's Indian name. He
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  Speaker 1: was a grandson of Human Roe, a real plainsman, and
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  Speaker 1: one of the bravest men I ever knew. Going to
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  Speaker 1: the Sun has been climbed this day, and a flag
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  Speaker 1: has been planted upon its summit by Paul E. Walker,
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  Speaker 1: Esquire of Topeka, Kansas. Owing to a high cliff upon
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  Speaker 1: its upper shoulder, the mountain has always been considered unclimbable,
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  Speaker 1: but after long search and with no little risk, mister
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  Speaker 1: Walker finally worked out away up the wall and out
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  Speaker 1: upon the extreme crest, and was undoubtedly the first man,
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  Speaker 1: white or red ever to stand there. He reports that
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  Speaker 1: a magnificent view of the mountains and plains is to
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  Speaker 1: be had from the great Height. August twelve, we have
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  Speaker 1: more real meat in camp. Yesterday black bull went up
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  Speaker 1: under the north point of Flat Top Mountain, which is
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  Speaker 1: on Indian reservation, and killed two fat young rams. I
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  Speaker 1: went fishing, and in the first pool of the river
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  Speaker 1: below the upper Lake, caught several two and three pound
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  Speaker 1: cutthroat trout. We had a great feast in the evening,
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  Speaker 1: roast big horn ribs, broiled trout, a quantity of blueberries,
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  Speaker 1: and so on. After the feast was over came story
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  Speaker 1: telling time, and we heard this man and that man's
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  Speaker 1: experiences in hunting in this vicinity in other days. Tail
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  Speaker 1: feathers coming over the hill relating a hard experience that
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  Speaker 1: befell him when, once wintering here with me, he was
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  Speaker 1: chasing a wounded elk on the slope of Single Shop
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  Speaker 1: Mountain and stepped upon a sharp snow covered knot that
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  Speaker 1: pierced his foot through and through and kept him laid
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  Speaker 1: up for two months. Yellow Wolf then related an old
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  Speaker 1: time tale which incidentally gave the reason for naming these
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  Speaker 1: two sheets of water the inside Lakes. He called it,
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  Speaker 1: he said, the story of the first horses. End of
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  Speaker 1: Section twelve.