THE PLAINS AREA
The Great Plains of central North America is a vast area of rolling prairie, level plains, -and
semi-arid desert occasionally broken by deep river gorges and rocky promontories. In the north the plains taper climatically into the vast sub-arctic wastelands and tundra, The whole area is characterized by light precipitation, abundant sunshine, and extremes of temperature. The Canadian portion of this area, and the region covered in this album, extends from the Rocky Mountains eastward to Lake Winnipeg and includes the three prairie provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

During the past 20,000 or 30,000 years, perhaps longer, successive waves of migratory peoples have poured into the region from Asia crossing the narrow Bering Strait which separates Asia from North America. Some authorities are also studying the possibility of supplementary migrations from the Pacific islands. However this
may be, the predominant physical and psychological make-up of Indian America is Asiatic. Recent migratory peoples like the Northwest Coast Indians have been shown to have definite affiliation with Siberian groups through their arts, music, and language. Whether the plains peoples constitute a separate migration, are remnants of several migrations, or are offshoots of other civilizations has not been established. However, it would be safe to assume that the plains afforded easiest access to all parts of the continent and that many
groups traveled over the comparatively smooth terrain before settling in their chosen areas. Eventually the whole Eastern Hemisphere was occupied, from the Arctic to the tip of South America.

Where conditions were favorable and permitted a comparatively easy sedentary life, these peoples evolved high civilizations of great material wealth and social complexity as studies of the Aztecs and Incas have shown. But in areas where game had to be chased over great distances, where there were no trees, where there was little to recommend one location over another, they settled in small family groups and moved frequently. In this way, small nomadic and semi-nomadic groups like the Eskimos and Plains tribes evolved with little material culture to show for their efforts. However, this precarious existence had its compensations. It gave them an unusual insight into the mysteries of nature and the nature of man which might well be the envy of more favorably endowed peoples.

THE PLAINS PEOPLES
Considering the nomadic aspects of Plains life one might conclude that the region was inhabited by innumerable small bands who met often in their travels and spoke the same language. Such is not the case. They are not one people, but several. The list of different languages and dialects is formidable, and can be explained in at least two ways.

First, our notion of their nomadic habits may be grossly exaggerated. Before the horse eventually arrived from Spanish Mexico they traveled about on foot using dogs as beasts of burden. Though they moved often, the area covered was probably very small. Contact with other groups would be rare. The introduction of the horse created a major revolution and, incidentally, created our picture of Plains Indians. Just as contemporary improvements in communications have helped to create and sustain world tension so the horse transformed the Plains into a gaudy arena for mounted gladiators. Horse-stealing became a game and a fine-art. Warfare became a way of life. However, this did not mean wholesale carnage and rapine as Hollywood movies perennially suggest. Contrary to popular opinion scalping did not often result in death. As a sort of bravado braves would flaunt a certain portion of their scalp, the hair neatly braided and ready for the knife if the enemy dared to get so close. This scalp-lock was about the size of a half dollar. Braves with their scalp-lock removed proudly bore the scar of honor. Moreover, it was considered a much greater feat to touch a man than to kill him especially with a bow and arrow at a safe distance. Special ornamented sticks called coup-sticks were used to touch an enemy. In their waning years old braves would get together to tell and re-tell the histories of their many coups. All this was made possible by the swiftness and agility of the horse which in one or two generations had created a dynamic new culture, or rather, heightened dramatically the culture already in existence. But what of the older culture? Is isolation and slowness of foot travel adequate enough to explain the diversity of languages?

The only other explanation possible is that the different language groups came at different periods or were refugees from other cultures. In this connection it is interesting to note that in the vast territory of the Eskimos only one language exists from Alaska to Greenland, with one or two regional dialects. Obviously only one group originally settled in the Arctic. But at the present time so little is known of early migrations that it is impossible to trace the origins of the many Plains tribes with any certainty. Theories have been offered from time to time but have been abandoned for lack of more concrete evidence. One man has even claimed that similarities exist between the Welsh Celtic dialect and the Kootenay language (a Plains tribe that moved into the Rockies).

Despite their language differences the Plains tribes of Canada and the northern United States display a surprising similarity in their general cultural characteristics. The greatest single event in their lives is the festival of the Sun Dance, a great religious celebration which each year brings together the scattered remnants of once-thriving nations to renew their faith in the ancient wisdoms of God, nature, and man. Formerly, the Sun Dance was a clearing-house for all sorts of ceremonies and events connected with tribal life. There the young braves could take their vows of honor and manhood in painful initiation ceremonies. They dragged buffalo skulls behind them with thongs attached to the skin of their backs, or danced around the sacred center pole of the Sun Dance lodge pulling on the rope until the skewers in their chests broke through the flesh. At the insistence of shocked missionaries such un-Christian practices have been deleted from the ceremony. Indeed, the Sun Dance itself has been officially banned in Canada, but now that it has become fashionable for political figures to be made honorary chiefs at Sun Dance celebrations the government has lessened its vigilance.

The traditional Plains dwelling is the tipi, a large conical hut of long poles covered with sewn buffalo hides. Nowadays canvas is used and is painted with bright symbolic designs. In the buffalo days tipis were seldom painted. Inside they are surprisingly large and comfortable even in cool weather, possessing a double wall for several feet up from the ground. Beds are arranged around the wall with a slanting back rest at either end, giving a zig-zag effect as the eye travels around the room. The rest of the floor is covered with animal hides except for the center where the fire is built. Smoke escapes through an adjustable opening in the roof. The tipi now serves only a ceremonial function and is stored with great care until next summer's Sun Dance.

As in most Indian tribes the traditional marriage laws countenanced polygamy if the husband had attained sufficient material and spiritual stature. But now that Christianity is universally tolerated, if not fervently embraced, the ideal marriage is monogamous, just as it is on the remainder of the continent.

For the past six or seven decades the Plains Indian reserves have felt the growing pressure of the white world around them and many Indians are experiencing a hopeless paralysis as their cultural islands diminish in power and insight. Others are more active in accepting the white man's ways but underneath they feel that something irretrievable is being lost. It is useless to tell the Indian that the best in our culture compares favorably with the best in his, for he never has the chance to experience it. The hostile and often brassy towns adjacent to his reserve reveal nothing of the higher values we hope our civilization is based on. They merely offer the opportunity to get drunk. Yet in those few areas where he is given greater responsibility for his own future -- a situation brought about by the efforts of an enlightened agent, not by legislation -- in these areas he is again coming into his own and may yet find the means to express his ancient values so that all may understand.