CHAPTER XIX
DESCRIPTION OF FORT MC KENZIE AND THE ENVIRONS, AND OF THE INDIAN POPULATION LIVING THERE
Fort Mc Kenzie—The Blackfeet; their Appearance, Head-dress, &c.
Fort Mc Kenzie, which, at the time of its first establishment in 1832, was called by Mr. Mitchell, its founder, Fort Piekann, is designed for carrying on the fur trade with the three branches of the Blackfoot Indians, and several other neighbouring nations, as the Gros Ventres des Prairies, the Sassis,[77] and the Kutanas, or Kutnehas.[78] As I have already said, the American Fur Company concluded, in the year 1831, a commercial convention with those tribes, and sent for that purpose the interpreter, Berger, a Canadian, who was pretty well acquainted with the language of the Blackfeet, who brought seventy Indians of those nations to a conference at Fort Union.
At his first meeting with these dangerous people they were going to kill him, and he was saved by a certain chief, after many disputes. The convention which Mr. Mc Kenzie concluded with the Indians, after those negotiations, will be found in the Appendix.[79] As soon as it was agreed to by both parties, Mr. Kipp was sent with a keel-boat laden with goods to Maria River, and Fort Piekann, now in ruins, was founded. The sight of the numerous assemblage of different {243} Indian nations collected here on that occasion is said to have been highly interesting. As the situation of the fort was subsequently found to be unfavourable, Major Mitchell, who succeeded Mr. Kipp, transferred the trading post to its present situation, where an extensive prairie was better suited to the meeting of numerous Indians. When the Company's people landed at this place in 1832, the present fort was erected in a few days. While the work was going on, they lived in the keel-boat, and were actually blockaded by at least 4000 or 5000 men; and, on the whole, by an Indian population of 10,000 or 12,000 persons, extremely dangerous, in whom no confidence could be placed, and whose perfidious, sanguinary, and predatory character was sufficiently known. In fact, some insignificant disputes nearly produced a breach of the peace, which would have inevitably led to the destruction of the crew of the boat, and was prevented only by the decision and resolute conduct of Mr. Mitchell. The Indians had already cut the rope which held the keel-boat, the only hope of the Americans, to the bank, whose situation at this time was extremely critical, as the Blood Indians in particular had always been the declared enemies of the Whites. As soon as the traders got into the fort, which was quickly completed, their situation was much changed. They were secure from the attacks of the Indians, and had sufficient provisions, powder, and ball, for a considerable time. The Indians were no longer admitted indiscriminately; suitable precautions were adopted; and the Piekanns, who were the principal tribe inhabiting the surrounding country, and some families of whom are found here at all seasons of the year, set up their tents in the vicinity.
The present fort is 120 paces from the north bank of the Missouri, which a little below makes a large bend. From this to the highest chain of the Rocky Mountains is about 100 English miles; but to the beginning of the mountains, not more than fifteen or twenty miles, and a good day's journey to the Falls of the Missouri.
The fort itself is built in the same manner as the other trading posts already described; it forms a quadrangle, the sides of which are forty-five or forty-seven paces in length, and is defended by two block-houses, with some pieces of cannon. It is much smaller than Fort Union, and worse and more slightly built. The dwellings are of one story, and low; the rooms small, generally without floorings, with a chimney, a door, a small window with parchment instead of glass, and a very flat roof covered with green sods, where the inhabitants post themselves, when, in case of being attacked, they have to fire over the high pickets. The flagstaff stands in the centre of the court-yard. The gate is strong, double, and well protected; and, when the trade with the Indians is going on, the inner gate is closed: the entrance to the Indian store, between the two gates, is then free, a strong guard being stationed at the store. We had brought with us the glass windows, and other necessary materials, for the proposed new fort. Before our arrival, the inhabitants of the fort were twenty-seven white men, and several Indian women, married to them, to whom our arrival made an addition of fifty-three persons. All these people, excepting the {244} first table for six persons, lived entirely on meat, so that we may assume that two buffaloes daily were required for their consumption. When we consider the generally very good appetites of the Canadians, of whom it is proverbially said that two of them will nearly devour a whole side of a buffalo, it is evident how necessary it is to have good hunters, and also to purchase large quantities of meat from the Indians. They generally receive twenty balls and the necessary powder for all the flesh of a buffalo cow, or even less when these animals are numerous; but as many as forty charges for a gun are paid them when the buffaloes are at a distance.
A level prairie surrounds this fort; and, about 800 paces beyond it, the chain of hills, about 80 to 100 feet high, runs in the direction from south to north, and about 2000 paces above the fort reaches the Missouri, and then runs along its bank. The banks of the river, and the low islands on it, are here and there bordered with wood and bushes, and some islands are entirely covered with them. On ascending to the top of the chain of hills, you look over a level dry prairie, in which, at a small distance, are the pretty deep beds of two rivers, Maria River, and Teton River, called, by Lewis and Clarke, Tansy River.[80] The latter, which is a small river, flows through a beautifully verdant valley, the bottom of which is covered with tall, shady poplars; there is good pasture of high grasses, and other plants. It falls into the Maria not far above its mouth, after having flowed for some distance almost parallel to the Missouri, to which it approaches so nearly, at between three and four miles from the fort, that the piece of land which separates the two rivers, is not more than 500 or 600 paces broad.[81]
Below the fort, in the first bend of the river, is an island, called Horse Island, where the horses belonging to the fort are sent to graze in the winter. They never have any other food than grass in summer; and in the winter, the bark of poplar trees, which they gnaw off. They never enter a stable. The south bank of the Missouri consists of high clay walls, in which there are doubtless strata of sand-stone, because numbers of beautiful impressions of shells are found immediately at the edge of the bank. These high walls must be very dangerous to the fort, in case of an attack by the Indians, because an effective fire may be made from them into the internal quadrangle of the fort. This dangerous position was one of the causes which led to the resolution of founding a new settlement further up the river.[82]
The Missouri itself does not abound in fish in the neighbourhood of Fort Mc Kenzie, yet soft shell turtles are sometimes caught, as well as cat-fish, of the two species already mentioned, one of which we obtained during our stay, and which, as proof of the voracity of these animals, had in its stomach a stone polished by the action of the water, five inches long and four and a half broad. A sturgeon, of a species which, we were told, is not found in the Mississippi, was caught here, and universally considered as an extraordinary rarity.
{245} The prairie of which I have already spoken was now animated, in the vicinity of the fort, by the camp of the Piekanns, which was set up in four divisions at about 400 paces from the pickets. The grass was trodden down or fed off by the people and numerous horses, and on every side were horsemen, groups of pedestrians and dogs, besides the horses belonging to the fort, which were brought out in the morning, under the care of four well armed horsemen, and conducted back in the evening at sunset. As we shall have frequent occasion in the sequel to come in contact with the Indians of this part of the country, this may be the best place to speak of the Blackfeet, who are the original population of the prairies.