among whom are many noble specimens of humanity, who have the commendable pride in their ancestry common to all humanity.

IDEAL INDIAN HOMES

When first visited by the whites, these Indians were living in ideal Indian homes. Their circular earth-covered huts were comfortable in summer and sheltered the old and infirm in winter. Of food and the means of clothing there was an abundance. They were strong and fleet, and as the sun "arose from his bed in the dark" to adopt an Indian figure of speech-it gave warmth and gladness, and when it "dropped below the light," they slept, with none excepting the Sioux to make them afraid. Their women laughed in their hearts, and the light sparkled in the eyes of their children, like the sunshine dancing on the waterfall. The Great Spirit made their hearts good, and there was no one to tell them lies, until the white man went among them, carrying the blighting curse which has always followed, and always will follow the introduction of intoxicating liquor as a beverage among an ignorant people.

The Mandans, Arikaras and Gros Ventres having spent the summer raising their crops of corn and vegetables, prepared secure places for caching their surplus, lest marauding Sioux might capture the camp during their absence. Only the old and infirm, and the young and helpless, were left at the summer home, the active force retiring to the Bad Lands for the winter.

This winter exodus usually occurred in October. The Indians having credit with the traders were trusted for the supplies of ammunition or other things necessary for their winter equipment, while some deposited their war bonnets of eagle feathers, or other valuables, as a pledge that they would pay when they returned from the chase. Many left valuables consisting of drums, rattles, lances, not required in the winter camp, in charge of the trader within his fort, feeling that they would be safe in case the ever-feared Sioux should make an attack upon their village during their absence.

During the winter absence the summer camp was in terror lest the Sioux attack them, and great anxiety prevailed in the winter camp, lest their loved and helpless be attacked while defenseless.

The independent traders usually made it a point to accompany the Indians. to their winter camps, and gather the fruits of trade in the field, leaving the. established traders to glean whatever might be left.

During the hours of preparation, the women would patiently await their turn to sharpen knives and axes on the grindstones furnished by the trader for that purpose, while the young men dressed in their finest trappings, and painted in the height of Indian fashion, would ride their gaily caparisoned horses pell-mell about the camp, or engage in horse racing or games. The old men organized, and the "Soldiers" took charge, and then the duly appointed haranguer announced the orders governing every step in the preparation for the move, commencing with "Pull down your tepees and get ready to move!" Their lodges were quickly pulled down by the women and the poles either tied in bundles for convenience or used for the travois. The women did all of the labor; they saddled the ponies, harnessed the horses and dogs to the travois, packed and loaded the goods, and, if necessary to cross the Missouri or other stream, paddled the men across in

"bull-boats"; their horses, fastened by long lariats, made from strips of buffalo skins, swimming in the rear.

The march being taken up, the head of the family took the lead, followed by his horses, dogs, women and children,.household effects, and camp equipage; the very young children and puppies being strapped on the travois.

No chief was so great that he dared disobey the warriors, or head men of the tribe called "Soldiers," who were in absolute command. They directed the march, selected the stopping places, lingered at the rear to prevent loitering, and none could hunt without permission, or separate in any manner from the column.

The winter camps were in the Bad Lands, formed by erosion, usually 200 or 300 feet below the general level of the prairie. They were cut by numerous gullies and ravines, called breaks, giving small valleys, affording shelter, excellent winter grazing, and an abundance of timber for fuel and for erecting their temporary homes. There was also an abundance of game, consisting of deer, mountain sheep, bear, beaver, wolves, and as the winter advanced in severity, buffalo came in for shelter. The grasses matured before frost, and when winter came they were in the condition of hay, and the animals quickly learned to paw away the snow, and feed as contentedly on the sun-cured grasses thus exposed, as the stock in the eastern farmer's barnyard at the hay or straw stack, though on food of much better quality.

It was these features which led Theodore Roosevelt in 1881 to become a citizen of North Dakota, establishing a cattle ranch at Chimney Butte, near Medora, in the very heart of the Bad Lands.

To guard against storm, or in preparation for surrounding the buffalo, when there might be no time or opportunity for grazing, the women stripped bark from the young cottonwood trees, or the limbs of the last year's growth, which made good food for the Indian ponies.

The place having been selected for the winter home-which was liable to change at any time if conditions did not prove satisfactory-the skin lodges were erected, and then the women felled the timber and erected temporary cabins covered with poles, rushes, reeds or long grass and earth. The chimneys were built of sticks and clay. The buildings stood in a circle opening at the rear into an open space, covered in the same manner as the houses, used in common for the horses.

SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS

Notwithstanding the manifold duties of the women, they found time to attend the meetings of the several societies, or clubs, to which they had become attached. Some of these societies, organized much after the plan of the women's clubs of the present day, were known as the "White Cow Band," the white buffalo being a sacred animal; one was the "Goose Band," and still others were distinguished by names descriptive of some esteemed game, such as the "Black Tailed Deer," etc. Indians having several wives, each belonging to different societies, found it rather strenuous sometimes, as it was customary for each to entertain with feasting and dancing in turn. Some of their defenseless husbands made that an excuse for gambling, but when their losses of the necessaries of life became

unbearable, their wives seldom failed to break up the game, and teach their husbands a much-needed lesson.

The men spent most of their time hunting, watching the stock, visiting, gambling and telling stories, until the buffalo made their appearance, when all was hurry and bustle.

Thus the seasons would pass, several "surrounds" of buffalo happening each winter, and in the spring they would return to their permanent camp, where the women would prepare the ground and plant and harvest the crop; the men, as before, devoting their attention to visiting, gambling, hunting and war.

CHAPTER VII

GRAFT IN THE INDIAN TRADE

ETERNAL VIGILANCE THE PRICE OF LIBERTY-THE COUNTRY OVERRUN BY INDIAN TRADERS-THE UNITED STATES AS A FACTOR-ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY-THE LORDS OF THE LAKES AND FORESTS-FORT WILLIAM-THE SELKIRK PURCHASE AND COLONY-THE SEVEN OAKS MASSACRE-SELKIRK VISITS THE RED RIVER COLONY-THE CHURCH AND SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED.

"It is the common fate of the indolent, to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition, if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."—John Philpot Curran, Speech upon the Right of Election, 1790.

GRAFT IN THE INDIAN TRADE

The use of public office for the purpose of gain to the individual is now called "graft," and those who prey upon and mislead the people for their own personal advantage, are called "grafters," but it is no new thing in the world. In 1804 Captain Lewis commented upon this system then in vogue in Louisiana, under Spanish rule. The governor had assumed to himself the exclusive right to dispose of trading privileges among the Indians, selling licenses for personal gain. They were offered to the highest bidder, varying in value according to the extent of the country they embraced, the Indian nations occupying that country, and the period for which they were granted. They yielded all the income to the authorities the trade would bear. The traders at this period supplied the Indians with arms, ammunition, intoxicating liquors, and, indeed, anything they wished to buy, charging them exorbitant prices, and the governor profited by the excess.

OTHER LINES OF GRAFT

But graft did not end with Spanish rule, nor with the retirement of the British traders. The history of the fur trade, and the development of the West is full of instances, and it is well for the people to remember, even yet, that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

Joseph Rolette, an early Pembina trader, was too successful in the estimation of his rivals, and too popular with the Indians to suit their purposes, and so they elected him to the Minnesota Legislature, and by that means got him out of the way for a time at least.

Gen. William H. Ashley, who was one of the most successful of the early traders, was disposed of by being sent to Congress, and it was charged that at the end of his term he was paid a large salary to stay away from the Indian country.

When Indian treaties were made for the alleged benefit of the Indians and to promote the interests of trade, the "grafter" was on hand to claim his share from both the Indian and the traders. The Minnesota massacre was largely the

result of his work.

When the Indian traderships ceased to be attractive, attention was turned to the military traderships. It was freely charged at the time of the impeachment proceedings against United States Secretary of War William W. Belknap, that the Fort Buford, Fort Abraham Lincoln and Fort Rice traderships paid $1,000 per month each for the influence that controlled the appointments. Lesser sums were paid by the smaller posts. It was also charged that the Indian traderships contributed to a fund that paid a salary of $5,000 per annum to the one whose influence secured the appointment of the trader.

When the Indian lands were opened to settlement the "grafter" very frequently claimed, for his influence, 50 per cent of the contract price for surveys. When the mail routes were established, and the transportation routes opened, he was still there, and when counties and cities were organized, he lingered near, and he is sometimes found about legislative halls.

around St. Louis.

COUNTRY OVERRUN BY TRADERS

Traders, both Spanish and American, were operating in 1805 in the country British traders had overrun Minnesota and the Dakotas, and the Spanish authorities had equipped galleys to patrol the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, in order to protect the interests of licensed traders and prevent the occupation of the country by others.

The Indians, themselves, had no objection to traders, for the opportunity to trade gave them the means to buy the essentials to Indian happiness. They were generally friendly to the British traders and unfriendly to the Spanish, and would frequently lie in wait to destroy the galleys, or to attack the Spanish traders making their way up the rivers. Occasionally they would be incited by one trader to make war upon another, and they were quick to recognize the advantage in trade held by the British over those of the United States, by reason of the high duties the latter were compelled to pay on the leading articles the Indians desired

to buy.

There was little, if any, attention paid to the international boundary, and goods were being shipped into the United States territory without the payment of duty by the British traders. Rival British traders occupied the whole of the Canadian boundary; the British flag was flying over their fortified posts at almost every available point for trade, and when the hour of national distress came, they led the Indians as their allies in the War of 1812.

Although the Hudson's Bay Company claimed the Red River Valley and had made an attempt to occupy it, the aggressive force was the North-West Company, which was occupying every available point for trade.