In the year 1803 the government of France sold to the United States the vast tract of land then known as the country of Louisiana. This included the region in which now lie the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, two parts of Idaho, and Colorado and the territory of Oklahoma.
At the time this vast tract of land was acquired by our government almost nothing was known of it. Few white men had ever travelled the trackless plains or scaled the frowning ranges of mountains that barred the way across the continent, and in its great unknown land there lived many tribes of Indians who had never looked upon the face of a white man. The government sent explorers to find out about the strange, new possessions, and, hard upon their trails, followed the advancing tide of civilization. And every step of the settlers’ advance was bitterly contested by the savages, who fought with desperate fierceness. New factors entered into this warfare with the savage tribes. This territory, unlike the forest lands, was flat and barren and stretched thousands of miles across the middle of the United States from the Missouri River to California, with here and there a huge range of mountains running north and south, guarded on either side by long lines of foot-hills. In rare instances there were stretches of forest, but generally there was nothing but flat plains covered with a tall rough grass, and many other parts were alkali plains so dry that they were totally unfit for human habitation.
In his battles with the red foe the white man had up to this time been used to the cover of the thicket and the forest. Now with little natural protection he was called upon to advance against some of the most crafty and bloodthirsty of the Indians.
These Indians comprised several nations divided into tribes. They were a wild, untamed race and, unlike the forest Indians, had horses which they managed with great skill in battle and in the hunt.
A BLACKFOOT CHIEF
A Western Indian on foot was out of his element, but the moment he laid his hand upon his horse his face became handsome and he sped gracefully away—a different being. No imagination can ever truly picture the beauty and wildness of the scenes in this romantic country. In the chase and on the war-path these Indians were gorgeous pictures of barbaric splendor and manly development.