The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau pg.111

Senator Lane found the condition of the Indians in the Heart Butte district “pitiable.” “There were families consisting of six to eight persons living in a one room shack, and in some cases the beds were made down on the floor with insufficient bedding, such as they did have frequently consisted of old rags and sacks or scraps of coverlets. In all cases they were dependent on the aid of stoves in order to keep from freezing and in consequence the cabins are superheated and insanitary. The Indians are not to blame for this latter condition for the reason that the winds that sweep down off the mountains in winter is piercing and cold and in order to exist at all with an insufficient supply of clothing and a meager food supply, it is necessary that they herd together and exclude the penetrating cold air as best they can. This condition is bad for them and will eventually result in their entire destruction, no doubt for the reason that if one member of the family becomes infected with a contagious disease, such as tuberculosis or trachoma, both of which are quite common among them, or any other contagious disease, every condition is favorable for the disease to spread to all members of the family, and to other visiting Indians, the Indians being fond of visiting one another. At one place I found that a mother of a family of six children had given birth the day before and was up and around, but she had fled to her bed of old rags on the floor on our arrival. There was no food in this house and how the family sustained itself I do not know. Two of the smaller children from four to six years were almost entirely without clothing. One little boy had on nothing but a man’s sack coat, unbuttoned from his neck to his bare feet.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.111