On the reservations conditions were often deadly. Between 15 and 25 percent of the Piegans starved and died on their Montana reservation during the winter of 1882 and 1883. It was hardly noticed. Indians discerned things that whites did not. They knew that Western boundaries could be firm for Indians while porous for whites. Reservations and Indian Territory were supposed to be havens for Indians, a remnant of their land not subject to white entry, but they were subject to constant pressure from whites who wanted them opened up for white settlement, or for their resources—from grass to
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