James Willard Schultz

The Blackfeet were people of the buffalo. They originated on the plains of today's southern Alberta, western Saskatchewan, and central Montana. In the 1830s famed artist and explorer George Catlin called the Blackfeet "the most powerful tribe of Indians on the continent." Fur trader, hunting guide, and later, acclaimed chronicler of Native American culture, James Willard Schultz lived with the Blackfeet for many years from the 1870s to the 1930s. The tribe named him "Apikuni" (Spotted Robe). Schultz said the purpose of writing this book was "to integrate the activities of the life of the Blackfeet tribes, in the days of the buffalo, and including certain of their ceremonials of the present time." The Sun God's Children describes the Blackfeet as they lived before the coming of the fur traders and their customs, traditions, and religious beliefs, as told to Schultz by the Blackfeet themselves.

In 1901, almost a century after Lewis and Clark toiled along the same route, noted writer James Willard Schultz and his Blackfeet wife Natahki (Fine Shield Woman) made a float trip on Montana's Missouri River from Fort Benton to the mouth of the Milk River, a distance of more than 200 miles. In a small boat, they passed through what is now the Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River, the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. On one level, this book is an entertaining travelogue about the river's extravagant scenery, its plentiful wildlife, and the joy of drifting day after day through wild country. On another level, it is a remarkable record of the vanishing American frontier. Each tributary, island, rapid, and geological formation was the scene of some notable event to Indians or white men, including Schultz himself, who had lived in the area since 1877. Schultz relates those events with verve and dialog as if they happened yesterday. The result is an extraordinary book for travelers and historians alike. Schultz wrote the acclaimed Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park and dozens of books about Indians and the American West. Floating on the Missouri includes an authoritative introduction to Schultz, his writings, and the historical significance of this book, by Montana historian Eugene Lee Silliman.

In 1877 Schultz went to Montana for the summer to buffalo hunt. He ended up staying and joining the Blackfeet tribe. He wrote stories that faithfully recorded their culture. These great legends of the Blackfeet will leave you wanting more.