Book
The old north trail: or, Life, legends and religion of the Blackfeet Indians
University of Nebraska Press • Lincoln • Published In 1968 • Pages:
By: McClintock, Walter.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This travelers account, written by Walter McClintock, a member of the U.S. Forest Service, presents a first-hand descriptive report on the Blackfoot Indians. The data were collected during the first four years (1896-1900) that McClintock lived and traveled among the North and South Peigan, Blood and Northern Blackfoot divisions of the Blackfoot Tribe. Through directed and informal interviews and participant observation, information was gathered on Blackfoot inter-divisional contacts (including the formation of large camps for ceremonials), history, subsistence activities and religion (including a number of the medicine ceremonials), as well as life-histories of several prominent chiefs and medicine men and numerous texts of legends, songs, prayers, myths and stories. McClintock became the adopted son of Mad Wolf, a prominent chief; this position facilitated participation by the author in tribal and inter-tribal activities. The concluding chapter, written after observing the Blackfoot 14 years after the author's first visit, discusses the rapidity and extent of culture change resulting from, in part, White contact and the U.S. government's policy. The appendices include Blackfoot music, explanation of terms used by the author and terminology for and uses of various plants.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Spirits and gods
- Eschatology
- Sodalities
- Prayers and sacrifices
- Sacred objects and places
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Organized ceremonial
- Literary texts
- Ethnometeorology
- Magic
- Structures
- Norms
- Culture summary
- Observation in research
- Mythology
- Animism
- Property
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Blackfoot
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1999
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Plains and Plateau
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Traveler
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah T. Bridges ; 1974
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1896-1910
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- northwestern Montana, United States; southern Alberta, Canada
- NotesAdditional notes
- Walter McClintock
- 'A Bison Book'
- Reprint of the 1910 ed.
- Includes unacc. melodies
- Includes index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 68013651
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Siksika Indians