Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1880

Date Range To

1910

Materials

FEATHERS, GLASS BEADS, FUR, FLANNEL

No. Pieces

1

Height

29.2

Length

41.0

Description

SIZE 6 1/2. CROWN CONSTRUCTED OF BROWN VELVET AND LINEN STITCHED WITH SMALL "PIPESTEM" BEADS. DYED OSTRICH PLUMES AND EAGLE BREAST FEATHERS ATTACHED TO TOP OF CROW- EAGLE FEATHERS (21 OF THEM) ARE ATTACHED TO THE CROWN RIM IN A STRAIGHT-UP STYLE. EACH FEATHER IS WRAPPED AT THE BASE IN RED FLANNEL WITH WHITE CORD WRAPPINGS. EACH FEATHER TIP HAS A TASSEL OF WHITE HORSE TAIL HAIR GLUED ON. TASSELS ARE MISSING FROM 7 FEATHERS. A BUCKSKIN LACE IS THREADED THROUGH THE FEATHERS AT MID HEIGHT TO MAINTAIN THEM IN THE "STRAIGHT-UP" POSITION.-SIDE TASSELS HANG DOWN FROM EITHER SIDE OF THE CROWN, CONSISTING OF BROWN & WHITE FUR, PLUMES AND A BEADED BRASS CHAIN. A HEART-SHAPED TASSEL IN RED, BLUE, YELLOW GLASS SEED BEADS HANGS FROM THE RIGHT SIDE. SOME BEADS ARE MISSING. THE FOREHEAD OR FRONT OF THE CROWN IS TRIMMED WITH GREY RABBIT FUR.

Subjects

INDIGENOUS

PERSONAL SYMBOL

CLOTHING-HEADWEAR

Historical Association

ETHNOGRAPHIC

History

BLACKFOOT, KAINAI OR PIIKANI. PURCHASED, OR RECEIVED AS A GIFT, BY DONOR FROM INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WORKING OR STOPPING AT THE RANCH. THE HEADDRESS IS OF THE MORE TRADITIONAL, OLDER BLACKFOOT STYLE. "STRAIGHT-UP" EAGLE FEATHER HEADDRESS. *UPDATE* IN 2015 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, INCLUDING A DRUM DONATED BY DOROTHY BLADES, ALSO THE DONOR OF THIS OBJECT. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE DONOR AND HER FAMILY'S RANCH, THE ROCKING P, WAS FOUND IN LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES FROM 1931 AND 1953, THE BOOK 'COWBOYS, RANCHERS AND THE CATTLE BUSINESS: CROSS-BORDER PERSPECTIVES ON RANCHING HISTORY' BY SIMON M. EVANS, AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON AMERICASHORSEDAILY.COM, AND THE GLENBOW ARCHIVES. RODERICK RIDDLE MACLEAY WAS BORN IN 1878 IN DANVILLE, QUEBEC. IN 1898 HE CAME TO ALBERTA AND BEGAN RANCING A SMALL HERD OF CATTLE ON LAND WEST OF HIGH RIVER. IN 1904, MACLEAY PURCHASED THE 40,000 ACRE BROOKS RANCH, AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR MARRIED LAURA STURTEVANT. THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERS, DOROTHY AND MAXINE. DURING THE SEVERE WINTER OF 1906/07, MACLEAY LOST 90% OF HIS HERD , AND A FLAGGING CATTLE MARKET DEVASTATED HIS PROFITS. ONLY TWO YEARS LATER HOWEVER, MACLEAY ENTERED INTO A PARTNERSHIP WITH ROCKING P RANCH OWNER GEORGE EMERSON, AND IN 1914 MACLEAY BOUGHT OUT EMERSON WITH THE AGREEMENT TO MAINTAIN THE ROCKING P BRAND. OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS MACLEAY EXAPANDED Y ACQUIRING THE ADJACENT WILLOW CREEK, BAR S, AND LIVINGSTONE RANCHES. IN THE 1930S, MACLEAY HIRED ERNEST BLADES AS A COWBOY, AND BLADES MARRIED DOROTHY MACLEAY IN 1940. ROD MACLEAY DIED IN OCTOBER 1953, AND HIS LAND WAS LEFT TO HIS DAUGHTERS. DOROTHY AND ERNEST BLADES ASSUMED OPERATION OF THE ROCKING P, MANAGING IT ALONG WITH THEIR OWN RANCH, THE 3VS. THEIR SON, MAC BLADES, BEGAN WORKING FULL TIME ON THE RANCHES IN 1965 WHEN HE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL, AND BY 1973 WAS RANCH MANAGER. IN 1996 THE PROPERTY WAS DIVIDED AMONG DOROTHY AND ERNEST'S FIVE CHILDREN, AND AT THE TIME OF THIS SURVEY, MAC BLADES OWNS AND OPERATES THE ROCKING P RANCH. OF PARTICULAR NOTE TO THE FIRST NATIONS ARTIFACTS DONATED BY DOROTHY BLADES TO THE GALT MUSEUM IS THIS SHORT EXCERPT FROM ROD MACLEAY'S LETHBRIDGE HERALD OBITUARY FROM OCTOBER 30, 1953: "[AN] INTEREST WHICH ENGROSSED [MACLEAY] WAS THE CAUSE OF THE STONEY INDIANS LIVING A NOMADIC LIFE AWAY FROM THE MORLEY RESERVATION. HE HAD MUCH TO DO WITH IMPRESSING SUCCESSFULLY ON THE GOVERNMENT THE NEED FOR A SUB-RESERVE." THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE NAKODA (FORMERLY CALLED STONEY) FIRST NATION AND THE EDEN VALLEY RESERVE WAS SOURCED FROM ROCKYMOUNTAINNAKODA.COM. THE NAKODA "MOUNTAIN PEOPLE" HISTORICALLY TRAVERSED THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS IN SMALL, NOMADIC GROUPS, WITH EACH GROUP BEING LED BY A HEAD CHIEF. IN 1877 AT THE SIGNING OF TREATY 7, THE NAKODA WERE REPRESENTED BY THREE HEAD CHIEFS, WHO WERE ASSURED THAT THE NAKODA WOULD RETAIN THREE LARGE TRACTS OF TRADITIONAL HOMELAND, ONE FOR EACH NOMADIC GROUP. HOWEVER, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ALLOTED THE NAKODA ONLY ONE LAND ENTITLEMENT, NOW KNOWN AS THE MORLEY RESERVE, LOCATED WEST OF CALGARY. THE LAND ALLOTMENT WAS FENCED IN BARBED WIRE, PREVENTING THE NAKODA FROM THEIR NOMADIC MOVEMENTS. DURING THE 20TH CENTURY, TWO SMALLER SATELLITE RESERVES WERE ESTABLISHED FOR THE NAKODA FIRST NATION: THE BIG HORN RESERVE (KISKA WAPTADN "BIG HORN RIVER"), 265KM NORTHWEST OF MORLEY, AND THE EDEN VALLEY RESERVE (GA-HNA "ALONG THE FOOTHILLS"), 120KM SOUTH OF MORLEY. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR HARDCOPIES OF SOURCE MATERIALS.

Catalogue Number

P19790237000

Acquisition Date

1974-05

Collection

Museum

Less detail