The Pikunis Indians faced much adversity in the mid to late 1800s. The increasing amount of white contact with these native people drastically changed the way that they lived. It led to many terrible things, such as disease, loss of land, and loss of food sources. It also brought about more trade affecting the Pikunis' economy in good and bad ways. Yet through all these challenges they faced, some of the Pikunis were able to survive. White contact had a major affect on the Pikunis way of life.
             The Pikunis, or Blackfoot, had a major restriction imposed on them in the mid 1800s through a treaty. It stated: "The parties to this treaty agree and consent, that the tract of country lying within lines drawn from the Hell Gate or Medicine Rock Passes, in an easterly direction, to the nearest source of the Muscle Shell River, thence down said river to its mouth, thence down the channel of the Missouri River to the mouth of Milk River, thence due north to the forty-ninth parallel, thence due west on said parallel to the main range of the Rocky Mountains, and thence southerly along said range to the place of beginning, shall be the territory of the Blackfoot Nation, over which said nation shall exercise exclusive control, excepting as may be otherwise provided in this treaty. Subject, however, to the provisions of the third article of this treaty, giving the right to hunt, and prohibiting the establishment of permanent villages and the exercise of any exclusive rights within ten miles of the northern line of the common hunting-ground, drawn from the nearest source of the Muscle Shell River to the Medicine Rock Passes, for the period of ninety-nine years..." This treaty gave the Pikunis a definite area which was theirs. This treaty restricted the movement of the natives. It was breached as many white people continued to settle in the west. The Pikunis territory shrank as the settlers continued to move west and brought their cattle,...