Census of the Blackfeet, Montana, 1897-1898

Description

It is believed that the Blackfeet people abandoned the Great Lakes region for the West more than 300 years ago| probably in reaction to the arrival of Europeans. Once on the Plains| they rid themselves of their woodland habits and adopted the nomadic lifestyle of their Plains counterparts. By the winter of 1882| however| faced with the disappearance of the buffalo| the Blackfeet were compelled to take up residence on an ever-shrinking government reservation. In 1895| for example| the Blackfeet sold what is today Glacier National Park to the U.S. government| which was acting on behalf of the mining industry.The Blackfeet occupy four different reservations in North America: the Piegan Agency| the Blood Agency| and the Blackfoot Reservation| all in Montana; and the Canadian Blackfeet Agency in Alberta. (The Piegan| the Blackfeet| and the Bloods all speak an Algonquian dialect and| in the aggregate| are all confederated as Blackfeet.) Browning| Montana| is the seat of the Blackfeet tribal government.This groundbreaking book is a transcription of microfilm copies of a census of the Piegan Indians of Montana| taken by George B. McLaughlin and Thomas P. Fuller| U.S. Indian Agents| in 1897 and 1898 respectively. Tribal members are arranged by household| and for each person the information provided consists of English name| sex| relationship to head of household| and age. More than 2|000 persons are identified in all. The comprehensive name index makes it easy to find any person listed in the census| while Mr. Bowen’s brief Introduction puts everything into context.