Show indian protest to the great father tather parties up from the north furnish us with a copy of what purports to he be a protest of the blood and bleg piegan m indians against the provisions of the act of congress approved april 15 1874 to establish a reservation for certain indians in the territory of dion nion montana tana the act complained of is that based upon the petitions of very many citizens of this and neighboring counties who strongly favored a change in the boundary lines of tb ere on as originally set off by order of president grant by the act of april 15 the tho reservation limits were contracted even more than was asked by the citizen peti tio ners which act the indians do not appear to look upon with complacency ency j judging by their address or protest printed below great father grant we your red children the blood and piegan tribe of indians who dwell far north and toward the setting sun unite in sending you greeting we want some of our chiefs an I 1 white men to meet and talk with you about the great wron vron wrongs s v aich threaten us but the distance isso is so great we cannot go culess unless you send for us we hear ilear it in in th the wind that comes from the east tiit clat another groat portion of our country is to be taken from us this i is s the country in which cur tribes and our anc arc ancestors estors have lived since a time when no man can remember our country was watered by the rivers now known as the sun river biver tho the teton and marlas marias the dearborn and blackfoot away to the missouri river eat east cast and the tho mountains west and to the north beyond the british line in this country our families have been reared and taught the traditions of our great w warriors ar r lors many seasons before the white man malvas was heard of by us and here our ancestors are buried the valleys of the dearborn the and sun stin rivers you have taken from us we have given them up audave and we areat aro are at peace with co our lir uit white brothers our hearts are warm our words are true this country between the teton and marlas marias rivers is very dear to us here we pasture our horses in winter and hunt the tho buffalo for meat to feed our families this is our winter hunting ground and in the name of justlee justice we now offer our united protest protea against being driven from this into the tho deep and frozen snows north of the marlas marias or still further away to starve neither our wishes nor ilor our rights have been consulted in this new and gunj unjust scheme to tair take e our best country from us our children are gradually learning the ways of civilized life and wo we have no country remaining but this so suitable for them to engage engage in farming or raising cattle and horses the object in taking this country from us is to satisfy the cupidity of not exceeding twenty men none of whom now live here but who want to turn their herds in upon our rich pastures there aro are abundance of vacant w pastures elsewhere while wo love peace we iove love love iove to be justly dealt by should we bo be compelled to forsake this fairest portion of our country remaining to us loud wallings wai wal lings of despair will bo be heard from our tents great father this robbery will cause our hearts to bleed and our hopes to fly away our young men will he be desperate despera e and hard to restrain great father fathe r 8 save av eustrom us from this fearfully unjust scheme of robbery let lot us livo ilvo in peace on tle the north bank of the teton river and net not be removed hence our sun is low our word is spoken melena melera aron Alon montana tana herald aug 15 |