This week, I begin the story of Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot. He witnessed the great days of the buffalo hunt as a young many, but also saw his people’s way of life vanish as white men flooded the plains, the buffalo disappeared, and disease and alcohol ravaged the people of the plains. I also talk about ongoing work to reduce the mortality of bears and other wildlife along the Canadian Pacific mainline through Banff and Yoho National Parks.
Crowfoot
The First Nations of the plains were a diverse and powerful collection of Tribes that were often at war with one another. Wars over territory, the best hunting areas, the theft of horses, and many other grievances kept the borders of various nations constantly in flux.
One of the most powerful groups were the Blackfoot Confederacy of southern Alberta and northern Montana. The Confederacy was formed by three nations, the Siksika or Blackfoot, Piikani or Piegan, and the Kainai or Blood Nation. The Piegans are further separated into their Canadian and American counterparts with the Northern Piegan or Pikani and the Southern Piegan known as Piikuni.
Later, they allied with the Tsuut’ina or Sarcee nation of Alberta, and the Atsina or Gros Ventre’s from Montana.
Early life on the plains was centred around the bison. European contact across the American West changed the life of the Plains Indian dramatically. As horses and guns made their first appearances in the 17th and 18th centuries, those nations with larger quantities of each could alter the balance of power between tribes.
The Blackfoot Confederacy became masters of the horse and gun and used this to control large areas of southern Alberta and northern Montana. Their territory stretched from the North Saskatchewan River to the Yellowstone in Montana. East to west, they occupied areas from the Great Sand Hills in Saskatchewan to the Continental Divide.
Their alliance became incredibly powerful, but they were often at war with the First Nations that surrounded their lands. The Blackfeet also controlled the trade of guns to their enemies on the British Columbia side of the Continental Divide. Back in Episode 53, I shared the stories of David Thompson trading with the Kootenay or Ktunaxa in British Columbia and running for his life when the Piegans discovered he was violating their prohibition of trading guns. You can listen to that story at www.MountainNaturePodcast.com/ep053.
Into this landscape was born one of the most influential leaders of the Blackfeet, a man that would later take the name of Crowfoot and who would be one of their greatest leaders at a time when they needed him most. Hugh Dempsey, in his book Crowfoot, offers an intimate glimpse into the world of this amazing leader.
The year was 1830. The buffalo were still plentiful on the plains, and while smallpox had decimated the Cree of eastern Saskatchewan, it was still unknown to the Blackfoot Nation.
In a tipi somewhere in the Piegan nation, a Woman known as “Attacked Towards Home”, the wife of Piegan warrior “Packs a Knife”, gave birth to a healthy little boy they named “Shot Close.” In these First Nations, a child may have several names throughout their life as major events prompted a new identity. Shot Close was simply the childhood name of Crowfoot.
Names in Blackfoot culture were transient affairs. They changed with maturity, experience, and significant accomplishments. They were family possessions and had value. Great names could only be claimed by someone achieving something worthy of claiming the name.
At this time, white men were of little concern to the Confederacy. They avoided the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, especially since David Thompson had narrowly escaped after trading with the Kootenay on the west side of the Divide. Additionally, a member of Lewis and Clark’s expedition had killed a Blackfoot and so this also led them to exclude white men from their territory.
At the same time, the Blackfoot did want the guns and horses that trade with the whites provided. And unlike most of the other native groups, the fact that the Blackfoot had plentiful bison meat to trade meant that the whites didn’t try to coax them into trapping as had been done to many other nations.
Crowfoot’s father died when he was still an infant after joining a raid on the Crow Nation of Montana. Crowfoot was raised by his mother and his grandfather, “Scabby Bull.” Crowfoot learned the history of his people and the skills needed to be a great warrior.
After a long period of mourning, Crowfoot’s mother Attacked Towards Home married a Blackfoot known as “Many Names”. Crowfoot, his younger brother and grandfather all joined their mother and they left the Piegan to became a part of the Blackfoot Nation.
With a new nation, Crowfoot was given a new Blackfoot name, “Bear Ghost.”
Soon after Crowfoot’s family arrived in the Blackfoot camp, the nation was introduced to the ravages of diphtheria. Crowfoot was just 6 years old, and this terrible disease spread from child to child throughout the camp, taking many of the youngest, but somehow Crowfoot and his brother survived.
Diptheria was followed by the Blackfoot’s first experience with smallpox in 1837. The disease arrived on a steamer owned by the American Fur Company. First, it ravaged the Mandan, almost wiping them out, then it spread to the Assiniboine, and finally to the Blackfoot after a member of the nation was allowed to board the diseased steamer.
Smallpox hit the Blackfoot camp in a way never witnessed by them before. Before long, white traders noticed a lack of Blackfoot at Fort McKenzie on the Upper Missouri River. Chief Trader, Alexander Cuthbertson went to look for them. Dempsey shared:
“After travelling for a few days, he found a camp of about sixty lodges from the Piegan tribe. There was no sound and as he approached, a horrible stench permeated the air. When he came to the first tipi, he saw the grim results of the white man’s disease. ‘Hundreds of decaying forms of human beings, horses and dogs lay scattered everywhere among the lodges,’ he recorded. ‘Two old women, too feeble to travel, were the sole living occupants of the village.'”
The Blackfoot had been a proud people who had fought for the right to hunt buffalo for generations. In the course of a single year, some two-thirds of the nation, or six-thousand people, perished from this deadly plague. That’s like the population of Calgary dropping from 1.2 million people to just 400,000 people in a single year.
For the Blackfoot, it was a population apocalypse from which they never fully recovered. Sure, those that survived and recovered continued on. Somehow the people close to Crowfoot survived, but they were one of few families left directly untouched by this pestilence.
In time, as Crowfoot grew into a young man, he was drawn to be a part of a war party heading out to challenge one of their enemies. With this raid, he earned the right to claim a man’s name, and he immediately the name of his father: “Packs a Knife”.
It took him little time to demonstrate his bravery in battle. To the nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy, brave acts were retold around the campfire. Counting coup was one of the greatest signs of bravery in many First Nations. It involved heading out into battle and instead of trying to kill your enemy, you simply try to touch them or their defences and then escape alive.
In the case of Crowfoot, the Blackfoot attacked a camp of Crow Indians along the Yellowstone River in Montana. In the camp, they recognized a Piegan tipi by its markings and realized that it had been captured in battle.
In Dempsey’s account, the Blood Chief leading the raid said:
“See that painted lodge? Whoever gets to it and strikes it will be the future leader of his people in hunting and in war.”
Crowfoot took this challenge to heart and when they attacked, he ran straight towards the camp, straight past numerous Crow warriors who fired at him. One of the balls hit his arm and, despite stumbling, he continued on.
He managed to touch the tipi before anyone else, and in doing so, gained great prestige among the warriors.
With this achievement, he chose a new name. “Crow Indian’s Big Foot”, which was later shortened to Crowfoot.
This was indeed a great name. Only one man had previously used it. As Dempsey put it:
“According to tribal tradition, only one person had previously held this honoured name. He was a relative of Many Names, perhaps an uncle or older brother, who had been a victim of treachery two years before the young Crowfoot was born. The first Crowfoot had been a brave man whose exploits had made him a chief. One day he and his companions in a war party found a camp which recently had been abandoned by the Crows. Prowling into the clearing, the Blackfeet saw a large footprint in the mud near the edge of a stream. Curiously, each of the other Indians placed his own foot within the imprint, but in each case his foot was too small. Then the chief tried. To the amazement and delight of his comrades, his foot fitted perfectly in the large imprint made by the unknown Crow Indian. Because of this incident, he took the name Crow Indian’s Big Foot.”
In 1828 though, as the original Crowfoot travelled to a peace summit with the Shoshone, he was ambushed and killed. His bravery as a man, when coupled with the deceitful way in which he was killed, left a name that could only be claimed by a great man.
During his lifetime, Crowfoot was a part of nineteen battles and was wounded 6 different times. He showed his bravery, but more importantly his leadership. To lead raids, you need to muster followers and he always had plenty of men willing to follow him into battle.
In one battle, Crowfoot was shot in the back, and while he recovered, it was a wound that stayed with him throughout his life as the ball was never removed.
Crowfoot gained a reputation as a formidable warrior. During the 1840’s, it seemed that there were enemies in every direction. As Dempsey put it:
“To the north were the Crees, to the east the Assiniboins [sic], to the south the Crows, and across the mountains the Kutenais [sic], the Shoshonis, Nez Perces, Flatheads, and the Pend d’Oreilles. Other battles were fought from time to time with the Sioux, Ojibwas, and mixed-blood buffalo hunters.”
The Blackfoot were wealthy and controlled some of the best Buffalo hunting grounds. They also had access to European trade goods and plenty of horses.
The Cree and Assiniboine usually had few horses and the Crow, along with the nations on the far side of the mountains, usually had few guns. Access to both horses and guns made the Blackfoot the most powerful nation on the plains.
As missionaries made their way onto the plain, Crowfoot didn’t oppose them bringing their message to his people, although he never paid much attention to it. This tolerance for the whites helped to strengthen his reputation with them. He took every person, native or white, at their word. If you are true to your word then you had little to fear from Crowfoot.
During the 1850s there were three principal chiefs of the Blackfoot, each with a large number of followers. Crowfoot was led by Three Suns. The others were Old Sun and Old Swan. Time took their toll on these great men and gradually they passed away.
As each man’s rule ended, they were succeeded by others. First, in 1858, Old Swan died and soon after, Old Sun also passed away. They were both replaced by much more warlike chiefs who saw white traders as enemies.
The forts of the prairies began to see more and more attacks from the Blackfoot. The Chief Factor of Fort Edmonton wrote in 1861:
“…the Blackfoot have been un-bearable [sic] for the last 3-years or more, always getting worse and worse destroying our crops, stealing our horses, and doing everything they could to annoy us, in order to provide a quarrel so as to kill us. They now threaten openly to kill whites, half breeds, or Crees wherever they find them and to burn Edmonton Fort…”.
When Three Suns died, Crowfoot succeeded him. Unlike the two other high chiefs, he had built relationships with the traders and knew that his people needed the trade goods that the whites provided. To Crowfoot, as long as you are true to your word, you had nothing to fear.
Crowfoot did not care what colour you were. If you were a benefit to his people, you were a friend. You didn’t want to be his enemy.
Crowfoot was fearless in battle but wise in his council, and these traits made him beloved by his people and respected by white traders. Crowfoot became so welcome at white trading posts, that he was treated as though he was the principal chief, regardless of his actual rank in the tribal hierarchy.
Over time, Crowfoot amassed a large herd of horses, making him a man of means among his people. At the same time, he was a man who was “one of the people”. He was generous with his wealth and was always willing to help those in need.
This would be critical when smallpox once again visited his people in 1869. In an almost identical story to the outbreak that hit Crowfoot’s camp when he was just seven years old, the disease arrived with an American steamer. The boat docked at the mouth of the Milk River and a Piegan crept aboard.
As a Montana newspaper wrote:
“to purloin a blanket from the couch of one of the smallpox patients, while the steamboat discharged its freight at the mouth of that turbid stream…the dreaded disease broke out among the copper-colored [sic] devils, and spreading like wildfire from tepee to tepee and from camp to camp, has made a great havoc in their strength and numbers – sending them to perdition in quicker time than bullets and bad bread could do the work. “
Once again, smallpox ravaged the camps of the Blackfoot. The death toll was unimaginable. As bands split up in a futile attempt to outrun the trail of death that followed them, one after another they fell to the dread disease.
Trading forts closed their doors to keep out the pestilence and neighbouring tribes were warned to stay far away lest they be routed as well.
The death toll began to wane the following spring and the three tribes of the Confederacy began to tally their losses. Hugh Dempsey described the devastation:
“The Piegans, who were the most severely affected, counted more than a thousand dead, the Bloods and Blackfeet over six hundred each, and the tiny tribe of fifty Sarcee lodges was reduced to only twelve.”
Somehow, Crowfoot once again escaped the disease. But he lost a quarter of his camp. The Blackfoot were never the same. Their undisputed rain on the plains had been dealt a mortal blow. In time, perhaps they could recover, but time was not a luxury they were afforded.
The plains were changing, white settlers were moving in and their ability to stem the tide of incursions into their territory were never the same.
In the following years, while some Blackfoot continued to wage war on their enemies, Crowfoot tried to remain a largely peaceful man.
One of Crowfoot’s sons died when out on a raiding party, but his wife Cutting Woman told him that she had met a young man that looked almost just like their lost son. While he was a few years older than their boy, as soon as Crowfoot met him, it was obvious that the similarities were remarkable.
Crowfoot had suffered so much loss in his life that he invited the young man named Poundmaker to visit his camp. While Poundmaker was a Cree, he became Crowfoot’s adopted son. As was the way on the plains, before long the Blackfoot and the Crees were at war again. Eventually Poundmaker had to return to his people but before he left, Crowfoot gave him horses and gifts, but more importantly, he shared the importance of wisdom.
On the plains, so many wars were caused by tempers and emotion when wisdom could have brought peace instead. Crowfoot always seemed able to see beyond the emotion and look towards what was best for his people.
In 1867, the nation of Canada was created. Up until this time, the plains had been under the purview of the Hudson’s Bay Company whose forts had provided the only semblance of white rule to the west.
By 1869, negotiations were in place to turn over these western lands, formerly known as Rupert’s Land, to the fledgeling nation of Canada. As the fur traders vacated the territory, it left a vacuum in terms of British control over the west.
Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and whiskey traders in Montana began to cast envious glances northward. The state had prohibited the sale of alcohol and so, if there was nobody there to patrol Canada’s prairies, then they would take advantage of the opportunity.
Forts with names like Fort Whoop-Up began to open and sell whiskey to the members of the Blood tribe within whose territory it was built. Now when I say “whiskey”, there was a bit of whiskey in those barrels, along with turpentine, strychnine, red ink, and red pepper.
Within a short time, the fort had grossed $50,000 and more posts began to open in other areas. Infamous forts like Slide Out, Standoff, and Robber’s Roost spread the liquor to Blackfoot country. Along with whiskey, they also offered repeating rifles for trade.
As alcohol spread through the camps, fights between both friend and foe broke out. Even Crowfoot was not immune to the draw of whiskey. He visited forts at Blackfoot Crossing as well as Spitzee Post on the banks of the Highwood River.
The missionaries that witnessed the illicit whiskey trade urged the fledgeling government of Canada to do something…and so they did…they created the Northwest Mounted Police, the precursor of the mighty Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The march west of the Mounties is a story I’ll share in another episode, but suffice it to say that the word of these red-coated policeman riding westward travelled far in advance of the columns.
When Reverand John McDougall met with Crowfoot to tell him of the impending arrival of the Mounties, he assured them that, although they would be building forts in Blackfoot territory, the Mounties were here to protect them from the whiskey. He also assured Crowfoot that white-man’s justice would treat all people fairly, regardless of whether they were Indian or white.
Crowfoot replied:
“my brother, your words make me glad. I listen to them not only with my ears, but with my heart also. In the coming of the long knives, with their fire water [sic] and their quick-shooting guns, we are weak, and our people have been woefully slain and impoverished. You say this will be stopped. We’re glad to have it stopped. We want peace. What you tell us about this strong power which will govern with good law and treat the Indians the same as the white man makes us glad to hear. My brother, I believe you, and am thankful.”
Crowfoot had earned enough respect that the other chiefs supported his words. The first red-coats arrived in the fall of 1874. Colonel James Macleod was in charge and Crowfoot developed a strong relationship with him. Prior to meeting Macleod, Crowfoot sent his foster brother, Three Bulls to test the truth of Rev. MacDougall that the policemen were here to help them.
Three Bulls told Macleod of the whiskey trading post at Pine Coulee and then led the police to the fort. The traders were arrested and from the first time Crowfoot met Macleod, he saw in him an ally. It was at this time that Crowfoot the warrior had to transition to Crowfoot the politician and peacemaker.
The presence of the police meant that the debauchery associated with the whiskey trade quickly waned and the powerful Blackfoot began to grow in numbers again. Instead of whiskey, valuable buffalo hides were traded for horses and within two years the Blackfoot had purchased more than 2,000.
Yet all was not rosy on the horizon. Crowfoot saw that with the police, more white men were moving onto their lands and, at the same time, the buffalo were becoming more and more scarce. When Crowfoot spoke to Rev. MacDougall, he was told that First Nations in other parts of the country had treaties that set down the rights of the tribes and the lands that belonged to them.
Crowfoot could not understand the implications of what a treaty might mean, but he did appreciate the fact that some form of accommodation would be made for them. He could also see how rapidly things were changing and that the lives of the Blackfoot would never be as they once were.
Next week, I’ll look at how the expansion of white men and police, along with the loss of the buffalo, forever changed the Blackfoot Nation.
Next up…tracking track bears
Trains and Bruins
For decades, train tracks have been graveyards for black and grizzly bears, as well as many hoofed animals unlucky enough to be struck while wandering the tracks. The area surrounding train tracks offers a number of benefits for both bruin and herbivore alike.
Train tracks mean openings in the forest canopy. Openings in the canopy mean opportunities for plants to grow. New growth attracts animals looking for forage. In the winter, train tracks offer easier travel corridors than walking through deep snow.
For bears, the area around tracks can be very attractive. In July, the open area allows buffaloberry bushes to thrive. These bushes are one of the key summer foods for black and grizzly bears. In the spring, dandelion blooms offer a similar enticement.
Trains all too regularly cost animals travelling them their lives. Their carcasses serve to attract other bears, coyotes, and other carnivores looking for an easy meal – unless they too don’t recognize the danger that the tracks represent.
Canada’s railroads have a single track running coast to coast with periodic sidings to allow opposing trains to pass. The longer a train sits on a siding, the more opportunity there is for grain to leak out of hopper cars. For bears, after meat, seeds and nuts represent the next most nutritious food source. This makes grain spills an irresistible attraction for bears and serves to attract bears back to the tracks after experiencing these easy calories.
Back in Episode 19, I mentioned a study that has shown that as much as 110 tonnes of grain are spilt along the tracks within Banff and Yoho National Parks annually. That’s enough to supply the annual caloric needs of 50 grizzly bears.
With numbers like this, it’s easy to see that bears would find the tracks to be an enticing place to explore. In Episode 46, I described a study that showed that while not all of our bears regularly use the tracks, those that do, like the Boss, use them a lot. Researchers satellite collared 21 grizzlies and they found that only 4 were regular users of the tracks, but they popped by the rail line on 20% of the days they were being monitored.
They also found that bears used the tracks much more in the fall. During autumn, 85% of scat samples near tracks contained grain as compared to only 14% in the summer and 17% in the spring.
This likely reflects the seasonal availability of other food options at other times of the years. Now, just because scat samples don’t include grain, the bears that left these samples were still hanging out near to the tracks. They may have been looking for elk and moose carcasses or feeding on dandelions and buffaloberries that are also plentiful near the railroad right-of-way. In fact, this same study found that scat found near tracks had a much higher likelihood of containing the hair of elk, deer, or moose.
Banff’s most famous bear, Bear 122, also known as “The Boss”, is the current king of the tracks. His reign was almost cut short in 2010 when he was clipped by a passing freight train and somehow survived.
The Boss is one of the heaviest users of the major transportation corridors in the park, spending much of his time around the train tracks and the Trans-Canada Highway – often munching on dandelions along the highway fences in the spring.
He also spends time wandering near Highway 93S, through Kootenay National Park. This is another high-risk place to hang out, especially with cars exceeding the speed limits in some cases by as much as 30 or 40 km/h, all in a race to get to cottage country in the Columbia Valley.
More than 1,200 large animals have been the victim of train impacts in Banff and Yoho since 1982, and since 1998 they have represented the number one cause of death for grizzlies in both parks. In just one 80 day stretch over the winter of 2015-16, 26 animals were killed along the tracks through Banff. This included 14 white-tail deer, six elk, two moose and four mule deer.
During the last week of May of this year, two black bears died in separate incidents within Banff National Park.
Parks is also looking into particularly dangerous spots for bears along the tracks. Morant’s Curve, near Lake Louise, along with Five Mile Bridge west of Banff are two of the worst.
Five Mile Hill represents a straight stretch after a series of curves have slowed the trains down. Here they begin to accelerate and this has resulted in at least 7 deaths. Three more grizzlies have died on Morant’s Curve.
Parks is building additional travel corridors away from the tracks to encourage bears near these danger zones to take advantage of other convenient trails. The trails at Five Mile are finished and work is currently underway at Morant’s Curve.
Fire is another tool that Parks staff will take advantage of this year, with an 800 ha burn planned for the Baker Creek area this fall. Numerous studies have shown that forest fire sites provide excellent forage for bears and the open canopy makes for a perfect home for buffaloberry bushes.
Canadian Pacific Railway has been working very closely with Parks Canada in terms of redesigning the areas adjacent to tracks in order to give animals more options to escape when they see an oncoming train. Hopefully, with this ongoing collaborative effort, we will see the numbers of fatal strikes of bears and other animals begin to diminish over the next decade.
And with that, it’s time to wrap this episode up. Next week, I’ll carry on with the story of Crowfoot and his people as the Blackfoot Nation signs Treaty Seven is settled onto reserves and struggles with the disappearing buffalo.
As always, be sure to check out the show notes at www.MountainNature.com/ep062 for links to additional stories, as well as for a convenient way to subscribe to the show so that you never miss an episode. If you’d like to reach out to me directly, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron, or drop me a line at info@wardcameron.com. Don’t forget that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for step-on, hiking, photography, and nature guides in the mountain west. Why not give us a call for your next mountain experience. We’d love to hear from you…and with that said, the sun’s out and it’s time to go hiking! I’ll talk to you next week.