The golden west boys, "Injun" and "Whitey": a story of adventure

A Story of Adventure
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MORRIS H. PANCOAST
BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge
Copyright, 1919, by WILLIAM S. HART
MADE IN U. S. A. All Rights Reserved
TO MY BOY FRIENDS
TO MY BOY FRIENDS ALL OVER THE WORLD
The first fifteen years of my life were spent in the Dakota Territory. The great West mothered me during the shaping of my boyhood ambitions and ideals. Therefore, I know by personal experience much of the actual life of our frontier days.
Let me relate a few unusual stories of early environment which will show why a man brought up in the West never forgets its history, traditions and life.
While boys of my age in the East were playing baseball, football and the various school games, I was forced through environment to play the more primitive games of the Indian. I lived on the frontier. White settlers were scarce. Naturally, I had but a few boy companions of my own race. A boy is a boy no matter what race or country; therefore, we played with the Indian youths.
In this way, I learned to ride Indian-style as well as with the saddle; I learned to shoot accurately with rifle or six-gun; I learned to hunt and track with the wisdom of my red friends; and I learned to play the rugged, body-building games of the native Americans, which called for the greatest endurance and best sportsmanship. In short, I was a Western boy.
For instance, we used to sail primitive Indian ice-boats on the upper Missouri river. This sport was the chief joy of my winter days. With our Indian boy friends we would construct the ice-boat in this fashion: