The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
375
INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI
By EDWIN THOMPSON DENIG
EDITED WITH NOTES AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
By J. N. B. HEWITT
Forty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology tothe Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1928-1929, GovernmentPrinting Office, Washington, 1930, pages 375-628.376
377
PREFACE
This manuscript is entitled “A Report to the Hon. Isaac I.Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory, on the Indian Tribesof the Upper Missouri, by Edwin Thompson Denig.” It has beenedited and arranged with an introduction, notes, a biographicalsketch of the author, and a brief bibliography of the tribes mentionedin the report.
The report consists of 451 pages of foolscap size; closely writtenin a clear and fine script with 15 pages of excellent pen sketchesand one small drawing, to which illustrations the editor has addedtwo photographs of Edwin Thompson Denig and his Assiniboinwife, Hai-kees-kak-wee-lãh, Deer Little Woman, and a view of OldFort Union taken from “The Manoe-Denigs,” a family chronicle,New York, 1924.
The manuscript is undated, but from internal evidence it seemssafe to assign it to about the year 1854.
The editor has not attempted to verify the statements of the authoras embodied in the report; he has, however, where feasible, rearrangedsome portions of its contents by bringing together undera single rubric remarks upon a common topic which appeared invarious parts of the report as replies to closely related but widelyplaced questions; and he has attempted to do this without changingthe phraseology or the terminology of Mr. Denig, except in very rareinstances, and then only to clarify a statement. For example, thesubstitution of the native term for the ordinary English expression,the Great Spirit, and divining in the place of “medicine” in medicineman, practically displacing medicine man, by the word diviner.
In his letter of transmittal “To his Excellency, Isaac I. Stevens,Governor of Washington Territory,” Mr. Denig writes: “Beingstimulated with the desire to meet your wishes and forward theviews of government, I have in the following pages endeavored toanswer the ‘Inquiries’ published by act of Congress, regarding the‘History, Present Condition, and Future Prospects of the IndianTribes’ with which I am acquainted. * * * Independent of myown personal observation and knowledge acquired by a constantresidence of 21 years among the prairie tribes, in every situation, Ihave on all occasions had the advice of intelligent Indians as to theleast important of these inquiries, so as to avoid, if possible, theintroduction of error. * * *378
“It is presumed the following pages exhibit a minutiæ of information,on those subjects not to be obtained either by transient visitorsor a residence of a few years in the country, without being, as isthe case with myself, intimately acquainted with their camp regulations,understanding their language, and in many instances enteringinto their feelings and actions.
“The whole has been well digested, the different subjects pursuedin company with the Indians for an entire year, until