The Powder River (28 page)

Historical Note

The Unites States government, perhaps in shame, gave the Cheyenne people the reservation they asked for, in their home country. They live there today, many of them in the way taught them by Sweet Medicine and Buffalo Calf Woman, honoring Maheo.

Afterword

The story of the flight of the northern Cheyennes from the agency in Indian territory to their homeland in 1878 and 1879 is well known to the world. I have tried here to recreate the flight, its events, and principal personages like Little Wolf, Morning Star, and Little Finger Nail, with scrupulous fidelity.

Likewise I have presented the culture and history of the Cheyenne people, whom I admire, as faithfully as I can.

The story of my imaginary characters, Smith, Elaine, Sings Wolf, and the others, takes place within this historical and cultural framework. They did not exist, but people like them did.

Powder River
is the sequel to my novel
The Yellowstone
, the first book of the RIVERS WEST series. Readers can find there the story of Smith’s father, the Scots trader Mac Maclean, and his attempt to create a fur empire for his half-breed wives and children.

—Winfred Blevins,

Jackson, Wyoming

May, 1989

Acknowledgments

My valued guides to the intriguing world of the Cheyenne people and the Plains Indians generally are Murphy Fox of Helena, Montana, and the Honorable Clyde M. Hall of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, Fort Hall, Idaho. My deepest gratitude to them both. A salute as well to Gustav Mahler, whose First Symphony was my constant companion as I wrote this book.

About the Author

Win Blevins is the author of thirty-one books. He has received the Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature, has twice been named Writer of the Year by Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers, has been selected for the Western Writers Hall of Fame, and has won two Spur Awards for Novel of the West. His novel about Crazy Horse,
Stone Song
, was a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Blevins is of Cherokee and Welsh Irish descent. He received a master’s degree from Columbia University and attended the music conservatory of the University of Southern California. He started his writing career as a music and drama reviewer for the
Los Angeles Times
and then became the entertainment editor and principal theater and movie critic for the
Los Angeles Herald Examiner
. His first book was published in 1973, and since then he has made a living as a freelance writer, publishing essays, articles, and reviews. From 2010 to 2012, Blevins served as Gaylord Family Visiting Professor of Professional Writing at the University of Oklahoma.

Blevins has five children and a growing number of grandchildren. He lives with his wife, the novelist Meredith Blevins, among the Navajos in San Juan County, Utah. He has been a river runner and has climbed mountains on three continents. His greatest loves are his family, music, and the untamed places of the West.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this book or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Winfred Blevins

Cover design by Mimi Bark

978-1-5040-1286-7

This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

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