rents of the next generation. Thus a process of selection was constantly
going on, the effect of which was no doubt seen in the general health of
the people.

With the advent of the whites, came new conditions. Various special
diseases were introduced and swept off large numbers of the people. An
important agent in their destruction was alcohol.

In the year 1845, the Blackfeet were decimated by the small-pox. This
disease appears to have travelled up the Missouri River; and in the early
years, between 1840 and 1850, it swept away hosts of Mandans, Rees, Sioux,
Crows, and other tribes camped along the great river. I have been told, by
a man who was employed at Fort Union in 1842-43, that the Indians died
there in such numbers that the men of the fort were kept constantly at work
digging trenches in which to bury them, and when winter came, and the
ground froze so hard that it was no longer practicable to bury the dead,
their bodies were stacked up like cord wood in great piles to await the
coming of spring. The disease spread from tribe to tribe, and finally
reached the Blackfeet. It is said by whites who were in the country at the
time, that this small-pox almost swept the Plains bare of Indians.

In the winter of 1857-58, small-pox again carried off great numbers, but
the mortality was not to be compared with that of 1845. In 1864, measles
ran through all the Blackfoot camps, and was very fatal, and again in 1869
they had the small-pox.

Between the years 1860 and 1875, a great deal of whiskey was traded to the
Blackfeet. Having once experienced the delights of intoxication, the
Indians were eager for liquor, and the traders found that robes and furs
could be bought to better advantage for whiskey than for anything else. To
be sure, the personal risk to the trader was considerably increased by the
sale of whiskey, for when drunk the Indians fought like demons among
themselves or with the traders. But, on the other hand, whiskey for
trading to Indians cost but a trifle, and could be worked up, and then
diluted, so that a little would go a long way.

As a measure of partial self-protection, the traders used to deal out the
liquor from the keg or barrel in a tin scoop so constructed that it would
not stand on a flat surface, so that an Indian, who was drinking, had to
keep the vessel in his hand until the liquor was consumed, or else it would
be spilled and lost. This lessened the danger of any shooting or stabbing
w