Intermarriage with Whites
The prairie tribes have not been much affected by intermarriages with Europeans except the Cree. Most of the Red River settlement of half-breeds are of Cree and Chippewa extraction, who though not generally having the advantage of education, are, however, a bold, hardy, and fearless people, invariably good-looking, active, and brave. They unite hunting with agricultural operations but prefer the former, the indisposition to work showing itself equally in the descendant as in the original stock. Their parents and the Cree Nation generally have been, if not benefited, much instructed by these people, and are superior in intellectual acquirements to any of the other tribes. The history of this settlement is no doubt well known to all, so that we need not describe it here.
As far as these other tribes are concerned the only intermixture has been of the fur traders and engagees of the fur company. Of these, all that can afford it take their children to the States to be educated, who usually make intelligent and respectable men. If it were not for the popular prejudice existing, or if it were possible, we would advise amalgamation of the races as the most efficient means for saving the remnants of the Indian tribes.