The Red River cart used by the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and Metis was capable of carrying nearly a thousand pounds of cargo.  It could transport this weight faster and several times more efficiently than a horse travois, especially when linked together into a wagon train of several dozen carts.  A historical example describes the amazing construction and capacity of the Red River cart:

"The carts composing the train were of uniform make, and of a species called “Red River carts”.  They are constructed entirely of wood, without any iron whatever, the axels and rims of the wheels forming no exception to the rule.  Although this might at first sight appear a disadvantage, as denoting a want of strength, yet it is really the reverse, because in the country traversed by these vehicles, wood is abundant and always to be obtained in quantities sufficient to mend any breakages which might take place.  The only tool necessary, not only to mend but to construct a cart, are an axe, a saw, a screw-auger, and a draw knife. . .Each cart is drawn by an ox, and in cases where speed is an object, a horse is substituted. . .[with] the wiry little “Indian ponies”, one of which, with a load of four or five hundred pounds in the cart behind him, will overtake from fifty to sixty miles a day in a measured, but by no means hurried, jog trot.  The common rate of progress made by heavy [ox] freight carts is about twenty miles a day, of traveling ten hours, the load averaging about eight hundred pounds per cart." (Hargrave 1871: 58-59) 

​This new technology allowed the Chippewa and Metis to carry massive amounts of buffalo meat and hides, which was not previously possible.  With the Red River cart the Turtle Mountain Chippewa were able to rise above the loss of the beaver trade of the early 1800s and were no longer confined to hunting for mere subsistence with the extras serving as trade fodder. Instead, a cultural revolution had begun.

In terms of sheer yield, the buffalo hunts that followed were almost beyond reason in terms of the amounts of meat and hides taken by the Chippewa and Métis, and the economic ramifications were astounding in terms of human organization. Unlike tribal-level organization, the cart-driven buffalo hunts were coordinated to include hundreds of people to maximize yield:

"The operations connected with these buffalo hunts give employment to somewhat over one thousand men and twelve hundred Red River carts.  The people go to them with their families, who are employed in preparing the meat after the animals have been killed.  The whole of those connected with the [hunting] business may be divided into two sections, of which one leaves the [Red River] settlement by the road leading to Pembina, and the other. . .[on] White Horse Plain." (Hargrave 1871: 169)

Christmas is a time for traditions and being with family. It is a special time when we express our culture and our love of family.  Below is a short response about Christmas from 1936, where Christmas celebration at Turtle Mountain is described.

In 1879, it was reported that there were numerous hostilities happening between settlers and the Indians of Montana.  Many depredations were committed, and it was reported that a large number of the hostiles were “half-breeds and foreign Indians from British Canada, including some Indians under Sitting Bull”.

While some of the attacks against settlers were done by the half-breeds directly, they were mainly accused of providing weapons and ammunition to the hostile Indians forces. Because of this, in July of that year, Col. Miles was sent from Fort Keogh, Montana, with a military force that was intent on breaking up the half-breed camps and forcing them to return to Canada.

Fur trader Alexander Henry described a personal hunt that he took with J.B. Desmerais, a Metis hunter employed by the North West Company. The hunt took place near present-day Drayton, North Dakota, on the Minnesota side of the Red River in Marshall County:

"On approaching the Bois Perce, we found immense herds of buffalo, which appeared to touch the river and extend westward on the plains as far as the eye could reach. The meadows were alive with them. On the east side of the river we now for the first time saw buffalo; they appeared to be fully as many as there were on the west side. This is the first place we have found in coming up the river where the plain on that side comes down to the water and forms an open communication with that of the west side. It is from this circumstance that this spot derives its name of Bois Perce.  As we did not wish to raise the buffalo, we tied our horses on the spot where I wished my people to camp."

​In his book, Indian Boyhood, Charles Eastman recounts a Metis bush dance that he witnessed as a young boy.  According to Eastman, after a successful winter buffalo hunt, his band of Dakota Sioux were invited to attend the half-breeds' dance. Eastman didn't realize that the new year begins in mid-winter, as the Sioux counted that the year starting when the winter ends.

The dance took place in a log cabin along the Souris River, near Sawyer, North Dakota. According to Eastman:

"I thought it was the dizziest thing I ever saw. One man sat in a corner, sawing away at a stringed board [fiddle], and all the while he was stamping the floor with his foot and giving an occasional shout. When he called out, the dancers seemed to move faster". 

​"The men danced with women--something that we Indians never do--and when the man in the corner shouted they would swing the women around. It looked very rude to me, as I stood outside with the other boys and peeped through the chinks in the logs. At one time a young man and woman facing each other danced in the middle of the floor. I thought they would surely wear their moccasins out against the rough boards; but after a few minutes they were relieved by another couple". 

Eastman continued: "Then an old man with long curly hair and a fox-skin cap danced alone in the middle of the room, slapping the floor with his moccasined foot in a lightning fashion that I have never seen equaled. He seemed to be a leader among them. When he had finished, the old man invited our principal chief into the middle of the floor, and after the Indian had given a great whoop, the two drank in company. After this, there was so much drinking and loud talking among the men, that it was thought best to send us children back to the camp". 

Adapted from Indian boyhood, by Eastman, Charles Alexander, 1858-1939, (1911)

A family of moose was sitting in their lodge when a calumet pipe appeared and came floating in through the door. The pipe floated towards them and passed near each of the Moose, who ignored it in turn. When it reached the youngest of the bull moose, he brazenly grabbed the pipe and smoked it.

The old moose yelled and tried to stop the young bull, as he knew that the pipe was the prayers of the Metis who were smoking to ask the spirits for success in their hunt. "Now, tomorrow, they will find us!!" the old bull said. But the young moose was not afraid. He was fast and young and believed he could outrun puny men on their two legs.