Winter is the season of trial for the Sioux, especially for the women and children.

The incursions of the English half-breeds and Cree Indians, into the Sisseton country, have caused their buffalo to recede, and so little other game is to be found, that indescribable sufferings are endured every winter by the Sissetons.
Starvation forces the hunters to seek for the buffalo in the depth of winter.

Their families must accompany them, for they have not the smallest portion of food to leave with them; and who will protect them from the Chippeways! However inclement the season, their home must be for a time on the open prairie.

As far as the eye can reach, it is a desert of snow.

Not a stick of timber can be seen.