Distinctly Montana Magazine

44 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 - 2 0 2 6 fee table book called Wilder- ness Kingdom in 1967. This French mis- sionary had traveled with the famous Black Robe Fr. Jean Pierre De Smet from Coeur d'Alene Mission, on the west side of the Bitterroot Mountains, to the Mus- selshell Country and on to the new American Fur Company post called Fort Lewis, on the Missouri River, across from what later became Fort Benton. The priests pros- elytized among the Blackfeet that August, before De Smet headed down the Missouri to St. Louis, leaving Father Point behind to teach and baptize. Point made friends with many tribal leaders through his artwork. He would sketch their portraits and allow the men to keep them as tokens of friend- ship. They, in turn, invited him to visit their camps, scattered throughout the area, where he could teach them more about his religion. One of these men was a middle-aged leader of the Blood (Ka- inai) Tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy named Peenaquim, "Seen From Afar," who was part of a family that was quite influential among the Americans. He was the brother of Na- tawista, "Medicine Snake Woman," the wife of the head trad- er on the Upper Missouri, Alexander Culbertson. Peenaquim and Natawista were the children of Two Suns, Chief of the Fish Eaters band, with a following of some 2,500 people. Peenaquim, whom Point called Panarquinima, insisted that Point visit him at his camp and the missionary assured him that he would. Howev- er, the invitation was stymied by various obstacles until, finally, in late December, he grabbed the op- portunity to travel with the fort's very young chief inter- preter, who was to carry a message from the post to the Fish Eaters. They traveled a distance of "three or four hours of trotting and gal- loping" to arrive at Peenaquim's camp of 100 tipi lodges. The warmth of the fire in the middle of Peenaquim's tipi was like a welcoming embrace, after their bone-chilling journey. The wind glided past the conical form, much like a stream flowing around a boul- der, and with its thick hide cover, the lined lodge stayed warm enough to keep water drinkable for the men as they ceremoni- ously greeted each other by passing the pipe that day. Peenaquim rested atop a bed of rich furs in the place of leadership across from the east-fac- ing doorway. Apparently Point was highly success- ful in communicat- ing his intentions for them to adopt Catholicism, for he was allowed to con- duct over 100 bap- tisms of children. On his final day there, he baptized the last children "in the open air, as the lodges were being folded up" in preparation for moving to a new loca- tion. With no protection from the cold, he report- ed conditions so intense that the baptismal water froze between his fingers as he attempted to apply it to their little heads. We don't know just where the Fish Eater camp was located be- cause Point had little geographical sense. We do know that their return A FRENCH TRAPPER WHO HAD BEEN IN THE AREA FOR SOME TWO DECADES, TOLD OWEN "HE NEVER SAW THE LIKE."

• Cover