Stoney

Both the Mountain Stoney and the Wood Stoney lived in western Alberta. Their footwear was frequently made of moose hide and featured the heavy beading and high cuffs common to the northern Plains. The Stoney preference for a rounded toe on their footwear is shared by the Assiniboine, to whom they are closely related. The diagonal beadwork along the border of the footwear is typical of the Stoney.

Assiniboine

By the 19th century, the Assiniboine ranged from Manitoba across Saskatchewan and into Alberta. Their traditional homeland also descended into Montana and North Dakota. Assiniboine shoes, like other northern Plains footwear, features very tight Crow stitching across the upper with a band of lane stitch around the bottom of the upper. The Assiniboine also shared the northern preference for expanses of pink, white or blue beads.

Plains Cree

The Plains Cree emerged as a separate group in the late 17th century across Saskatchewan and into Alberta. Their late 19th century footwear tends to be side seam moccasins with extensive beading on the entire upper and distinctly wider imprint borders.

Crow

The traditional homeland of the Crow, also called the Apsaroke encompassed what is now Montana, Wyoming, and parts of North Dakota. Related to the Hidatsa to the East, the Crow were intermediaries, transmitting aspects of Upper Missouri culture to people to the north and the west. Famed for their tight "Crow-stitch" beadwork, they created footwear with a wide range of decorative styles. They also produced excellent quillwork.

Blackfoot

The traditional Blackfoot territory extended across Alberta and down into Montana. Blackfoot footwear of the 19th century is typically a separate-soled shoe with either highly beaded vamps or a false apron decoration. The false apron refers to appliqués of trade cloth that are embellished with beading. This style was perhaps inspired by, or related to, the more northern Athapaskan moccasin construction.