Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National ParkSchultz, James Willard
History
Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park
Schultz, James Willard
Glacier National Park (Mont.); Indians of North America -- Folklore; Siksika Indians -- Folklore
"And then, at last, after many, many days of worried watching, she saw
two riders coming from the south across the plain, and, sure that they
were those she had been praying for, ran to meet them. They were the
missing ones. They sprang from their fine horses, and she kissed
first her brother and then clung to New Robe: 'I am right now your
woman,' she cried, and kissed him again. 'And I am proud to be your
woman,' she went on, 'so take me up behind you and we will all ride
home!'
"She got up behind him on his prancing war horse, and as they rode in
he quickly told her of his adventures, and how, at last, he had fought
and killed the old war chief, and for that had been given the two
horses and all the weapons and fine war clothes she saw. So it was
that, coming into camp, she had the tale of his brave deeds to shout
to the people, and they, gathering close around, honored his name and
gave him a chief's greeting. Yes, the poor orphan had within the
length of one moon become a chief, and had made a mourning father and
mother happy. That very night he and Red Cloud Woman were given a
lodge of their own, and their happiness was complete."
IV
PUHT-O-MUK-SI-KIM-IKS (THE LAKES INSIDE): ST. MARY'S LAKES
_August 10._
We left Little River on the 5th, crossed the big ridge dividing the
Arctic and the Atlantic waters, and made camp here on the big prairie
at the foot of the Upper St. Mary's Lake.
In the old days this great valley, hemmed in by gigantic mountains,
was my favorite hunting ground after the buffalo were exterminated and
there was no more sport to be had upon the plains.
[Illustration: CAMP NEAR LOWER END OF UPPER ST. MARY'S LAKE]
Hugh Monroe, or Rising Wolf, was, of course, the first white man to
see these most beautiful of all our Northern Rockies lakes; with the
Piegan Blackfeet he camped at them in 1816, and long afterward, with
his growing family of hardy sons and daughters, this became his
favorite hunting and trapping ground. When, in the 1830's, that
valiant and much beloved missionary, Father De Smet, S.J., was
visiting the various tribes of this Northwest country, Monroe was
engaged to take him to a conference with the North Blackfeet, then
camping on the Saskatchewan River. _En route_ they camped at the foot
of the lower of these lakes, and there erected a large wooden cross,
and named the two sheets of water, St. Mary's Lakes. Later on, the
Stevens expedition named them Chief Mountain Lakes, but that name did
not last. Monroe and his brother trappers were all Catholics, and they
continued to use the name that the great priest had given them, and on
the maps they are St. Mary's Lakes to-day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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