James Willard Schultz

James Willard Schultz
File:JamesWillardSchultz1889.jpg James Willard Schultz, age 30
Born	(1859-08-26)August 26, 1859 Boonville, New York
Died	Wind River Reservation, Wyoming
Resting place	Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Montana
Other names	Apikuni, Appekunny

James Willard Schultz, or Apikuni, (born August 26, 1859, died June 11, 1947) was a noted author, explorer, Glacier National Park guide, fur trader and historian of the Blackfoot Indians. While operating a fur trading post at Carroll, Montana and living amongst the Pikuni tribe during the period 1880-82, he was given the name "Apikuni" by the Pikuni chief, Running Crane. Apikuni in Blackfoot means Spotted Robe. Schultz is most noted for his prolific stories about Blackfoot life and his contributions to the naming of prominent features in Glacier National Park.

Early life

Schultz was born August 26, 1859 in Boonville, New York to well-to-do parents, Frances and Philander Bushrod Schults [as it was spelled at the time]. The house where he was born is marked with a plaque as a New York State Historic Landmark. Young James enjoyed the outdoors and his father ensured he was mentored by experienced outdoorsmen and hunters in the Adirondacks during camping and hunting trips. He became an experienced shooter at an early age.

Early years in Montana

As a young adult, Schultz moved to Fort Conrad, Montana, on the Marias River. He stayed at Fort Conrad from 1877 to 1885, and established a trading post there in 1880. During that time period he traded with the Pikuni and Bloods and established another trading post at Carroll, Montana on the Missouri River where he also traded with the Crees.

Glacier National Park

In the mid-1880s, Schultz began to spend more time in the Two Medicine and Saint Mary Lakes region of what is now Glacier National Park guiding and outfitting local hunters. In 1885 he sent an article on the St. Mary Lakes to Forest and Stream, one of his first literary efforts. At the time George Bird Grinnell was the magazine's editor and he became intrigued with Schultz and the Glacier region. Grinnell solicited Schultz to outfit and guide him on a hunting trip in Glacier in September 1885. Although the trip was not a great success for Grinnell, he did kill a Bighorn ram on a mountain near the Upper Saint Mary Lake with a single shot. Schultz promptly named the mountain Singleshot Mountain to honor Grinnell's feat. Thus began decades of Schultz naming features in the Glacier regions for clients, friends and to honor traditional Indian names. Montana State University Library has a digital library of papers and photographs documenting Schultz's time in Montana and Glacier National Park.

Glacier features named by Schultz

• Divide Mountain
• Flattop Mountain - : 8,356 feet (2,547 m)
• Grinnell Glacier
• Grinnell Mountain
• Grinnell Lake
• Going-to-the-Sun Mountain - : 9,642 feet (2,939 m)
• Singleshot Mountain
• White Fish Mountain, originally named Yellow Fish Mountain by Schultz

Glacier features named for Schultz

• Apikuni Creek - , el. 4,793 feet (1,461 m)
• Apikuni Flat - , el. 4,869 feet (1,484 m)
• Apikuni Falls - , el. 5,522 feet (1,683 m)
• Apikuni Mountain - , el. 8,989 feet (2,740 m)

Author

James Willard Schultz started writing at the age of 21, publishing articles and stories in Forest and Stream for 15 years. He did not write his first book until 1907 at age 48. The memoir: ''My Life as an Indian tells the story of his first year living with the Pikuni tribe of Blackfeet Indians East of Glacier. In 1911, he associated himself with publishers Houghton Mifflin who published Schultz's subsequent books for the next 30 years. In all, Schultz wrote and published 37 fiction and non-fiction books dealing with the Blackfoot, Kootenai, and Flathead Indians. His works received critical literary acclaim from the general media as well as academia for his story telling and contributions to ethnology. Sometime after 1902, while living in Southern California, Schultz worked for a while as the literary editor of the Los Angeles Times.

Family

File:James Willard Schultz and Lone Wolf, 1920.jpg

Schultz and Lone Wolf, 1920

Schultz's first marriage in 1879 was to a Piegan Blackfeet Indian woman named Natahki—with whom he had a son named Hart Merriam Schultz, or Lone Wolf (1882–1965). Hart Merriam was named after Schultz's boyhood friend Clinton Hart Merriam. Natahki died in 1903. Schultz's second wife, Jessica Schultz Graham, helped publish some of Schultz's works posthumously, such as Bear Chief's War Shirt.

Death

James Schultz suffered from ill health for most of his last 30 years. Guiding in the rugged Glacier area took its toll physically. He suffered from incapcitatiing lung and heart infections. In 1931 he injured his spine. In 1942, he fell breaking his left leg and right arm. In September 1944, a fall at his home in Denver broke his hip and required major surgery to repair. His deteriorating health severely impacting his ability to write and concentrate. After moving to the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to be close to the native Americans tribes he grew up with, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died on June 11, 1947. He wanted to be buried in Montana and was laid to rest on the Blackfeet Reservation near Browning, Montana in the old burial ground of the family of Natahki, his first wife.

List of works

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Books by Schultz

• (published posthumously)
• (published posthumously)

External links

• Works by James Willard Schultz at Project Gutenberg
• Works by James Willard Schultz at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Butterfly Lodge Museum
• National Park Service's Man in Glacier, article with mention of Schultz's various contributions