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8 Chapter I History The history of a people such as the indian race is a thing of very difficult to procure; for centuries the indians of North America, have been living in a secluded, and in a measure isolated condition as distinct clans, each at bloody war with the other and slow, very slow to coalesce, if in fact they ever did unite. Some writers have held that the indian has a common origin, and the different natives are but ramifications of the parent stock, how far that may be true it is impossible now to determine. The indian is preeminently wild and in that condition he has wandered over this continent for no one knows how long. Columbus in 1492, in his search for a western passage to India, found land and natives on it, of a red color, and supposing he had reached his ultimatum named these peoples, "Indians", from which circumstance all the native people of the American continent are today known as "Indians", be they descendant of the ancient "Toltec", "Aztec", Chinese or Japanese races. The best evidence that can today be obtained seems to point to the former existance of at least four parent stocks from which have sprung the present races and tribes. Two probably from the east, and two from the west. In those of eastern origin, we are now most interested, and will consider them together as the Dakota, or Sioux and Ojibway (or Chippeway) of today. The Dakotas as they present themselves to us at this day, are a people whose life has been passed in a nomadic state; they have for many years roamed over the treeless prairie. The spot