The Blackfoot country probably contained more game and in greater variety
than any other part of the continent. Theirs was a land whose physical
characteristics presented sharp contrasts. There were far-stretching grassy
prairies, affording rich pasturage for the buffalo and the antelope; rough
breaks and bad lands for the climbing mountain sheep; wooded buttes, loved
by the mule deer; timbered river bottoms, where the white-tailed deer and
the elk could browse and hide; narrow, swampy valleys for the moose; and
snow-patched, glittering pinnacles of rock, over which the sure-footed
white goat took his deliberate way. The climate varied from arid to humid;
the game of the prairie, the timber, and the rocks, found places suited to
their habits. Fur-bearing animals abounded. Noisy hordes of wild fowl
passed north and south in their migrations, and many stopped here to breed.
The Blackfoot country is especially favored by the warm chinook winds,
which insure mild winters with but little snow; and although on the plains
there is usually little rain in summer, the short prairie grasses are sweet
and rich. All over this vast domain, the buffalo were found in countless
herds. Elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, and bear without number were
there. In those days, sheep were to be found on every ridge, and along the
rough bad lands far from the mountains. Now, except a few in the "breaks"
of the Missouri, they occur only on the highest and most inaccessible
mountains, along with the white goats, which, although pre-eminently
mountain animals, were in early days sometimes found far out on the
prairie.