Ample food supplies, blankets, clothing and cheap fancy articles
were furnished by the Government for the subsistence, comfort and
pleasure of the Indians on the reservations, and for a short time
they seemed to be contented, and to enjoy the novelty of their
new mode of life. The young, able-bodied men were put to work
assisting in clearing, fencing and cultivating fields for hay
and vegetables, and thus they were partially self-supporting. A
large portion of them, however, soon began to tire of the
restraints imposed, and longed for their former condition of
freedom, and many of them sickened and died.
Old Teneiya, chief of the "Grizzlies," was particularly affected
by the change in his surroundings, and by the humiliation of
defeat. He suffered keenly from the hot weather of the plains,
after his free life in the mountains, and begged to be allowed to
return to his old home, promising not to disturb the white
settlers in any way, a pledge which he did not break.