OCR Text |
Show River Crows .............................................................. 1,240 Mountain Crows .......................................................... 2,700 Flatheads ................................................................. 460 Pend dJOreiUea ............................................................ 1, QUO Kootenays ................................................................ :Y%I Shoshones, Bannooka, nnd Sheep-Eaters .................................... 677 Roving Sioux, commonly celled Teton Sioux, ioohding those gathere4 during 1872, at and near Fort Peck, (largely estimated) .......................... -8,000 Estimated total ..................................................... 30,419 The number of Northern Cheyeunes and Arapahoes roaming in Montana, who, it is believed, have co-operated with the Sioux uuder "Sitting Bulln in their depredations, is not known ; it is probably less than 1,000. The BlackfeGt, Bloods, and Piegins, (located at the Blackfeet agency on the Teton River, about seventy.five miles from Fort Benton;) theGros Ventres, Assiuaboines, the River Crows, about 1,000 of the Northern Arapahoes and Obeyennes,* and the. Santee and Yanktou Sioux, (located at the Milk Xiver agency, on the Milk River, about 100 ~nilesfr om its mouth,) occupy jointly a reservation in theextreme northern part of tbe Territory, set apart by treaties (not ratified) made in 1868 w~th most of the tribes named, and containing about 17,408,000 acres. The Black-feet, Bloods, and Piegans, p;trtioularly the last-named band, have been, until within about two years, engaged in depredating upon the whit8 * settlers. The Indians at theMilk River agency, with the exception of the Sioux, are now, and have been for several years, quiet and peaceable. The Sioux at this agency, or most of them, were engaged in the ont-break in Minnesota in 1862. On the snppression of hostilities they fled to the northern part bf Dakota,, where they have been ronol-ing until, in the fall of 1871, they went to their present location, wit11 the avowed intention of remainin-n there. Although thev hxd been at ~ ~ ~. \vnr f i ~pr a r s with the ludinns propt>rlyb elougi~~tgo rile bilk l{i\.t.r agency, J-nt, bg jutlieious manageuhent un tlhe ynrt of tho X ~ V I uI f~ r ile Gorenlment srntio~~erlttlr re. and the infloeuce of ronw of thr ihroz;t IIO\\.. erfnl chiefs, the former feuas and difficultiea were amicably arrariged, and all parties have remained friendly to each other during the year past. The Indians at neither the Blackfeet nor the Milk River a,gency show 'ny disposition to engage in farming, nor have they thus far manifested any desire for the education of their children. The,g rely entirely upon the chase and upon the b o u n t~of the Government for their support. They, however, quite scrupulously respect their obliga-tion to preserve the peace,and no considerable difficulty has of late been experienced, or is anticipated, in keepiug them in order. The Blaak-feet, Bloods, and Piegans have an anilual appropriation of $50,000 made for their benefit ; the Assiuaboincs, $30,000 ; the Gros Veutres of the Prairie, $35,000; the River Crows, $30,000. These funds are nned in furnishine the res~ectivter ibes with eoodn and subsistence. aud - ' The Cheyennes and Arapahoes of the sout,h have been noted in the review of the tribe8 found in the southwestern portion of the Indian Territory. The Chegennas and Ampnhoes of Montana have, in comluun with still other members of those tribes roaming principally in the eastern part of Wyoming, a treaty with the Govern-ment, by the terms of which they may accept for their homo a portion of the coontry set apart for the Southern Arepili~ues nud Chsyenoos in the Indian Territory sont,h of Kansas, or of that set apart for the Sioux by the treaty of 1868, or may attmh them-selves to the Crow agency on the Yellowstoca River. All effort8 on the pert of the Department to iodnce them to select one of the three places named, and settle perma-nently thereon, have thus farfailed. These efforts ma being oontinued, and it is hoped they may at an early day prove ~~~cesafill. |