"13 or 14 bands, each under it's own chief, aggregating over 7,000, made up of about the same variety of character that would be shown by a similar number of whites, and with many superstitions among them, that of not occupying a dwelling where a death has occurred, which sometimes upsets attempts at permanent residence, the change from living by the chase to location and raising crops in a climate where irrigation and much labor is required, must necessarily be a work of slow growth. With proper encouragement and protection, there is no reason why these Indians may not in a few years, become self-sustaining and prosperous."
Blackfeet famine 1881-1885
By the end of summer, 1881, both the Texas cattlemen, who were trespassing on the reservation and the Army, were concerned that if the Indian Office did not provide adequate rations, there would be violence from the starving Indians. The Fort Benton contractor T.C. Power, the favored contractor for the Indian Office, delayed the delivery of government rations, but the Indian Office did little to prosecute his peculations.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.30-31
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