BLACKFEET INDIAN CAMP.—The Blackfeet were at one time the most powerful rivals and antagonists of the Sioux, even surpassing them in cunning, bravery and the slight advances which they had made in the art of constructing their villages. The wigwams in this photograph are more artistically erected than those of the Sioux on page 283; they are also arranged with more order and regularity, and seem to possess a larger degree of comfort, all of which are to be accepted as evidences of advancement along the lines of civilization and superiority in manhood. But the Blackfeet, as well as the Sioux, have been driven to their reservations, and they will never again appear as a powerful and independent tribe. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: GIANT, CATFISH, AND YOUNG FAITHFUL CONES.] When we pass Jamestown, coming east, we enter the wheat belt of Dakota and pass fields of growing grain like that of Dalrymple’s, which is fifty thousand acres in extent. Here we come in contact with farming on a gigantic scale, and see the application of steam, not only for threshing, but for plowing, hauling and various other uses in which horses are generally employed. Thence on to Minneapolis the route is through a level country, crossing the Red River of the North at Fargo, and by many pretty lakes to Brainard, where the road branches, one division leading to Duluth, and the other taking a southwest course to St. Paul. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: PRAIRIE HOME OF A CREE INDIAN, NORTHERN MINNESOTA.—The Cree Indians are a small and constantly decreasing tribe. They have no record as great warriors, like the Blackfeet and the Sioux, but they seem to have held a secondary position throughout their entire history, so far as we have any information concerning them. Their villages were never so large and populous as those of other tribes, and their existence seems to be a dreary and unprofitable one. A more desolate home than the one photographed on this page could hardly be imagined. Even the dogs seem to regret that they were born. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: