Description
Book SynopsisWith an abundance of buffalo, other game, and lodge pole pine, the hills straddling the Alberta/Saskatchewan/United States border were a natural gathering point for First Nations and Métis peoples. Their presence drew the Hudson Bay Company and American free traders, whiskey traders, and wolfers, resulting in a clash of cultures culminating in the 1873 Cypress Hills massacre, an armed ambush of a Nakoda camp by a group of drunken wolfers and whiskey traders. This event brought the Northwest Mounted Police to maintain peace in the west, and led to the creation of Fort Walsh, today a national historic site. Hildebrandt and Hubner uncover the history, stories, and people to establish a historical narrative of this significant region.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. The Cypress Hills and their People
The Hills
The People
2. The Buffalo and the Fur Trade
The Buffalo
The HBC and the Fur Trade to 1870
Indian Women in the Fur Trade
3. Whoop-Up Country
The American Traders
The Trading Cycle
4. The Cypress Hills Massacre
The Personalities
5. Fort Walsh and the NWMP
The Fort Established
The Life of the Mounties
6. Treaties and Reservations
The Prairies in Transition
The Downstream People and Treaty 4
Sitting Bull and the Dakota in Canada
7. The Nakoda
The Nakoda and the Hills
The Nakoda and Treaty 4
The Cypress Hills Reserve 1879-82
The Relocation of the Nakoda from the Cypress Hills
The Indian Head Reserve
8. The Modern Age
Reserve Life
The Nekaneet Band
Aboriginal Women on the Reserve
The Ranching Era
Fort Walsh National Historic Site
Notes
Bibliography
Index
