James Willard Schultz – författare

A fur trader from 1878 to 1904, Schultz married a Pikuni (Blackfoot) woman, became a member of the tribe, and was given the Blackfoot name Apikuni. With the disappearance of the buffalo it was as difficult for Schultz to adjust to the new way of life as it was for the other Blackfeet. He took to the mountains and explored the eastern slope of the Rockies, hunting game and guiding other hunters and explorers, including George Bird Grinnell, the Baring brothers, and Ralph Pulitzer. He named mountains, glaciers, and lakes; he was the first to identify the mountain goat; and through his and Grinnell's efforts the northern portion of the American Rockies was set apart as Glacier National Park.

This is a true story of a float trip down the Missouri. It compares, in some ways, to the most famous float trip in American literature, the one that Huck Finn took down the Mississippi.At the end of his trip, young Huck says, ""…I reckon I got to Light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.""That young escapee, to extend the comparison, is epitomized in James Willard Schultz. Just expelled from military school, the seventeen-year-old Schultz goes West, stays, grows up and lives among the Indians, marries into the Blackfoot tribe, and lived the kind of life he loved.In the fall of 1901, Apikuni and his Piegan wife, Nataki, took a long float trip down the Missouri. They camped out and lived off the land for the entire trip, from Fort Benton to the juncture off the Missouri and Milk rivers. The account of that trip is presented here in book form for the first time.Like Huck's adventure, this was something more than a simple float trip. It was a trip through space and time through memories of early experiences along the river, of friends and enemies (Assiniboines, Crees, Sioux, and others), of early white trappers and traders, of carefree days of the buffalo hunt, of a naturalist's dream world populated with the deer, eagle, antelope, fish, bear, wolf, and animals known only in Indian mythology.This idyll was nostalgic trip that could not be repeated, for the river and world were changing, Apikuni and Nataki knew first-hand the many changes of the past and sensed the momentous changes coming.With the advance of the white man's world, with the dams and reservoirs, it would be impossible for today's adventurer to duplicate the trip described here. But, for the armchair adventurer, it is still possible, though the account that has been left for us, to take this remarkable trip.

James Willard Schultz first encountered the Blackfeet Indians in Montana Territory in 1877, when he was seventeen. In time, he married a Blackfoot woman, formed close friendships with many in the tribe, and lived with them off and on for the next seventy years until his death. Why Gone Those Times? is based on his experiences among the Blackfeet, who gave him the name Apikuni. Apikuni's adventures include taming a wolf, raiding in Old Mexico, and stalking a black buffalo. Although Schultz was neither historian nor ethnologist, he filled his stories with Indian history and detailed descriptions of Blackfeet daily life and culture.

At the turn of the twentieth century, James Willard Schultz wrote a series of tales centering on the adventures of a Blackfoot Indian boy and his Anglo friend in the days just prior to the end of the buffalo era on the western plains. All the tales appeared between 1910 and 1927 in the pages of the popular family weekly The Youth's Companion. The stories featured the sort of spirited adventure popular at the time, but Schultz was more conscientious than other writers of the day in his depiction of American Indian life.Schultz first encountered the Blackfeet in Montana Territory in 1877, when he was seventeen, and he lived among them for the next seventy years until his death. These tales are based on his experiences with the Blackfeet, who gave him the name Apikuni. Apikuni plays a role in many of the stories, usually under the name Spotted Robe. Although he was neither a historian nor an ethnologist, Schultz filled his stories with history, and with detailed descriptions of the Blackfoot daily life and culture.David C. Andrews has gathered these tales, the last of Schultz's to be published in book form, and arranged in the order in which they were written.