Tent of Many Voices: 07090604

that has been following the Lewis and Clark Trail since January of 2003 started in Jefferson's home in Montello the same place the dream for a western Journey began went through the eastern states then to St Louis from St Louis up to the Mandan villages in North Dakota then from North Dakota all the way to the Pacific Ocean and now it's 2006 and we're on the return Journey just as Lewis and Clark were 20 years ago All Along on this journey Lewis and Clark were meeting many different people they had different languages different cultures and different backgrounds and they met them with graciousness they showed them the way they often guided Lewis and Clark across a difficult terrain they gave them directions and they traded them for transportation as well so as you look at the Lewis and Clark Story realize that it is not just a story of Lewis and Clark or the just a story of the men who went with them or the young woman who carried her small child and went across country but it is also a story of the people they met along the way so with that said at this time I'd like to introduce our next presenter this is George heavyrunner he is black feet and he has been in charge of getting this exhibit right here to the black feet reservation he's been a wonderful host thank you very much George we're enjoying our stay here and let's all please make him welcome can you hear me thank you very much and good afternoon and uh as she said uh this has been a work in progress we're least a couple years to uh put this uh event together and and um and see where we go from here my job today is to offer some perspectives if you will uh from the at least from the black feet on the lwis and Clark expedition and um talk a little bit about perspectives and basically that's what uh we have in respect to the expedition's uh a trip up here they first with Lewis decided to explore a little further north here I think they were trying to expand the northern boundary and so they moved up and followed the the the river up there to the site down here on the on the camp disappointment and it rained and it was terrible weather for them and they realized that they could not uh do any northward expansion uh but we soon found out later they were going to certainly work on the westward expansion and um and and so they decided to uh pack up their bags and um head back down and and which culminated in uh in another encounter not another encounter at least a encounter with uh some some members of our tribe there uh Tanya if you could hand out that that handout there in in terms of perspectives a lot of our history is oral history and of course on the other side when you talk about what happened up at Camp disappointment or at the fight site the encounter with some of our young blackbeat men we have nothing but the journals the memories of those men who were were asked I guess or in some respects uh required to do to do journals for posterity purposes but as I was putting this thing together we also did our our own accounting if you will and we did it through a process called winter counts and so we had people our I guess our historians who over a period of times would would uh would would write if you will in our our own way about important events of that particular year so as we talk about 1806 and coming up here you'll notice there's nothing about loose and par there and I and and again I think that's a interesting note in terms of perspectives as we have been going over the three years of this event and it's been all over the country people have been really asking the black Beed well what's your perspective was this an important thing that it uh uh you know and to to what I have read and others have researched uh it did not uh maybe it was just a small blip on the radar screen and and so it but it did have some some impact as other uh historians have noted uh as a result from the uh two medic and fight there and so I I want to offer that to you to at least know that in terms of perspectives we we had our way of of recording our history and our we really were strong in the oral side of it and and um and can you imagine uh these guys coming up the river and just imagine those three young men after they left uh the camp disappointment side and started to head down on to medicine and they're looking there and they saw Oh Captain Ls I'm sorry this isn't as clear as as it could be because it's a real poed picture of the of the river here and and checking it out and I imagine there was a lot lot of tribes along the way that were up there on the bluff or on the banks and saw the Expedition coming up the river and said just who the heck what the heck's going on here and who are these guys and what are they dragging that big KB around for but some of our people back then in in terms of their and again I wish this is a great picture of of of of our of our uh mindset back then our culture our our worldview and places that that we lived in our our neighborhoods if you will and the and the type of interactions we had as as as as communities and just all those type of things that uh that were going on on then in about 1806 there we we were having our ceremonies you'll see across if you've been over to the to the uh campgrounds over there and watch some of the dancing it's more than just the dancing a lot of the things that are going on prior to the contest dancing there's ceremonies going on there's there is uh remembrances there is acknowledgments of people who passed away there are all these type of things that we that that we still hold on today uh 200 years years later and uh and and we'll continue to do that this gentleman here was named wolfcat and I'm I'm getting over to the area about the fight site when Lewis encountered eight young men down there and they were quite as a few uh yesterday a gentleman named Curly bear Wagner described it quite well in terms of the of the encounter and and how they were pretty much scared of each other at the time and they were eyeballing each other but this gentleman here name was wolfcat and there was an interview that was done with him and he was 102 years old in 1895 he was one of the young blackbeat men that uh that that were part of the uh party and so that's our kind of uh U Central Point in looking back to our people to this uh gentleman about what uh took place down there uh from that interview this particular site there is a and for and again perspectives is is this this area here that that uh this sign that was erected by the Boy Scouts down in Cut Bank and they built the FRS around this area you can't see it very well but the signs over there is this the actual site perspectives if you will you know there's there seems to be if you read Lewis's Journal how he describes the site and you go down there it's it's a makes me wonder sometimes too and so there's other historical sites where again we put in the idea of perspective was that the real site or or not we we didn't have no GPS at the time the GPS was in the brains and the Stars if you will there but he described that this encounter these these U kids are if you will were the 12 to 15 years old and they were as as curly bear Wagner said and I say curly bear Wagner because we have other historians Daryl Kip you've heard Daryl Kip's presentation John Murray a gentleman named BOS we seing have looked at the history and and looked at uh what was written and the stories they've heard and they've offered their perspectives and according to curly bear they were just back from a a raiding party of hes probably from The Crow and they they they run into them and they got together and that night to sit down and uh and they were talking about stories about where they were from and and they were talking about a camp up here of of their people a large Camp there as I read the journals one thing that fascinated me they told Lewis and he wrote it in his journals there was a white man amongst them up near the mountains about 1806 and I can only assume that was a fur trapper from from up North but I always wondered that if this encounter didn't happen what would have happened if they would have took him up here and they would have uh uh had that meeting with that guy or if they would have found out that the Mariah path over here in terms of easier path to get across the mountains and whether we'd even be here today uh telling you this this history or perspectives about this area so there there's a lot of whfs in in terms of of perspectives and the thing that struck me as I as I researched and went out to monello the first event they had out there there was a professor named James Ronda that talked about this encounter and what struck me the most was as he described in in his own perspective of the event that happened and the young man that got stabbed and the other one that was shot by by Lewis was as they were getting ready to leave according to James Ponda they they put one of the uh peace medals the medallions around uh the uh uh Dead uh person's neck and he's called it a calling card and I really agree with him because he said it was it was to show whoever Came Upon him of just of just who who these people were and I call it it was a calling card of inevitability of things to come of things that that that were going to happen there and I think that's that was a uh a real uh moment for me as as we had people like Alexander Culbertson that started to come up through through the uh through the Missouri up through Fort Bon to start setting up the Fords to trade and then to marry into our tribe and a lot of the fur Trappers and people decided to do that in order to get in if you will and and and not be traced and chased out because the way our people were if you married in we accepted you and and so there was it was a process there a lot of the people that that have the non- indan names around here that also came up to Fort Bon or from Canada they're married into our tribe there and as a result their their ancestors are are still around here today and we start to move into that inevitability of change here uh uh over 200 years of of uh town starting to be built here on the blacker reservation this this this old place called Sherburn Mercantile one of the first uh Traders on on the reservation here him and another gentleman started setting up shop because they knew uh that our our people uh needed all kinds of goods and they started shipping things up through Fort Bon and just just what have you and change did start to happen it it just was a a matter of of of time for for us and we went through a tumultuous time in the middle 1850s up to the 1900s with a starvation winter that happened in uh 1883 where we had hundreds of our people that starve down here at the old agency site because the federal policies was the agent for thought that we could do pretty good on growing potatoes uh I don't think this is Idaho or a place to grow potatoes but policies like that had uh implications uh in terms of that we had uh all kinds of things that start to happen to to our our people there so this Le and Clark was was was done and was gone and what we were dealing with was with the inevitability of Westward Expansion the times were changing if you will and and there was nothing I think if that didn't happen and out of Counter eventually it was going to happen we were so far north we were one of the last tribes if you will that really start to feel the brunt the brunt that we felt was through the invisible brunt and that was through small poxes and diseases that we couldn't see but it was decimating our our our population and we're more worried around the time when you're starving and when you're sick about just trying to survive and um and so that's in in terms of of the change in our perspectives and then so you may talk to George heavyrunner about the Lewis and Clark experience and you can go talk to John Murray but it'll it'll be quite different but it'll have some some uh same uh threads there and it was a I just want to share one more experience about this inevitability I don't know if you've ever seen the national L and CLK exhibit have you that's been going all over the country there well if you get near the end there's this one panel and uh it it talks about the encounter we had with those young men and in that panel there's a pistol a replica pistol that Lewis supposedly had that shot the uh young man and then there was amulet that uh was what they said in in the in the panel was similar to what Lewis took from one of the young men and then there was this um a shirt that uh was was full of uh of scalps and it was really interesting to see on on some of the shirt with the blonde hair there was red hair and uh and that that was given to a museum uh many years ago by a gentleman that I think they met in Fort Union or somewhere and he he gave that and they this Museum had it there but it was interesting and quite emotional to see that amulet there and and then as I remember back in reading about uh about that encounter because Lewis's rationale was that they were sleeping and the guys were trying to steal their horses or their rifles so they had to defend themselves but but after I read what Lewis did in terms of that after they they killed the person and the person was injured they took their horses and some other stuff they said so I wonder who stole from whom at that particular point there because it turns out as they headed out and they were figuring some of our people are after them they did take their horses and some some other things there which were part of the uh collection that they that they took back there but that's not talked about too often so uh I I think we in terms of perspectives uh we should think about that one in terms of the rationale of why uh they uh decided to kill those young men now there was another story that I heard from up here is that it really didn't happen that any stealing was going on is that one perspective was that we're gambling people and they probably sat down and did some games of chance and these young men were beating them and they got angry about it because they were probably bartering for horses or for or for what have you and this other person perspective is that they were winning and uh they didn't want to give them up so that's another not that's another perspective I was interested when I when I heard that and I thought about it because I was interested the way Lewis wrote his journals about that inent he was very careful to lay out that they were using all restraint possible that they were they were not going to shoot tell to see the whites of your eyes and that kind of uh perspective if you will and I Al thought it was a little shaky or suspect the way he was careful about how they uh did that encounter but he and it it sounds Ed a little a little nebulous if you will because the way they described how they got the hell out of there I mean they they did they covered 80 miles all the way and just so they must knew something was up there because again our our reputation was preceding us about the uh running into the black feet we had this this reputation if we will as pretty mean people we defended our our territories and and we did I did more research about that and in fact we uh we were probably some probably the Bad Dudes if you will uh around that time there and it's uh and it's it's interesting because as we as the uh core two came here to the black reservation I've enjoyed the encounter I've had with the park rangers who are representative of the government just like the Expedition huh and so they've been a little those bad boys on on the planet if you will there but uh you know and so it's it has come to and when you talk about the Expedition you just can't just talk about that particular moment for us and in in my view as things changed here and uh and in 1895 when they interviewed uh uh wolfchild there was another event going on and that was the creation of Glacier National Park or as as as one gentleman called The First theme park in America they started them they had if you go up to manyi Glaciers you'll see it's kind of the Swiss Swiss atmosphere there so it was interesting as as those things were changing in 1895 we were signing another treaty called the seed strip where that land was was being taken and there's controversy today about the Border where the Border stops and uh in terms of our reservation boundary line so maybe there's always been this kind of a little nebulous relationship with Glazier National Park but that's not going to be our point at on on the last Pres presentation we're going to talk about a form relationship as as a government toover relationship there but uh I thought it was kind of interesting to uh to hear that uh our good friend Mr morous has his his canoe over there and the other morning we came here to see how things were going and he was checking it all out and part of his one of his ropes or several of his ropes got cut and and he was feeling kind of bad why he told him well you just got to remember where you're at you're in black feet country there was probably a young kid come by he uh needed a rope probably cut it and one of our our uh security people saying they have to chase some kids out they were trying to rope a cat so probably just took the Rope it looked handy and uh and uh then this morning he thought he lost some more items but uh what one of the park rangers saw the the stuff there and and put it away for him but uh I was trying to remind you they were probably just counting coup on you and you should be honored but uh but that but that was uh not the way he felt this this morning um I've got to move into this this other area about um this other perspective um when I went this thing got over at 6 and went over to the uh opening ceremonies of our dance there they had the grand entry if you have you all seen the grand entry yet it's it's quite awesome you get there and the people all come in the different dancers and their and so I was standing there and I saw all well there there was a lot of you out there that were taking pictures they had your movie cameras and there's people I was just looking around and checking out the non- indans because we see every year they're just ODed by all the beautiful pageantry if you will and and all that and and I kind of chuckled to myself about that and cuz we see that all the time and so after that was all over I went home and uh one of those seaspan junkies first thing I turned on was seaspan and I was kicking back was tired it a long day and they were doing a series on the nation's capital and all the buildings in Washington DC and they had uh Senator Frist who the majority leader for the Senate he was talking about his office they had Ted Kennedy talking about his room called the Hideway above above uh uh the majority leaders office and the corridors and all the things and it was interesting to hear the gentlemen talk about the fireplace or the chair or the book and all all the objects to us what are have no life in them they will and they were marveling that they were 200 years old and it was good to hear the history because I I like our American history as well where where uh Thomas Jefferson might have stood or Aaron Burr or or where the um House of Representatives and and were about the very foundations of our government and everything but they're all referring to chairs and and and I'm telling you this because when we when we refer to our we're we're we're a living history and what you see over there has been going on a long time I was just reading an article before I came here where a gentleman was describing how we had dancing Arenas where we had several of them the black people were dancing here and our Crees had theirs then they had this big one and uh when we'd have our celebration then they'd get together together so if you're at those dances you hear uh in tribal you know there's some some some reason for that all going on there but I want to share that with you because that look I saw in those people's eyes and the pictures it it was to me it was like a yearning to to to witness uh living history that is go that is going on like that's going on we just don't do it just for four days or uh some of you are missing there's ceremonies going on there's people that are getting like I said getting honored for for coming back from from from my from Iraq I mean if you want to talk about patriotism you're talking to people that that are the true patri every time one of our people come home and proportion as far as Native Americans uh we probably have the largest number of people that have been involved in the wars there so we're we're very proud of that that goes back to our our history and culture about about our Warriors who we we we uh we hold up high there so a lot of things uh go on during these four days because it's an opportunity for families to to get together you walk around the camps you see people laughing and talking and they're remembering uh last time that that they got together and as I was telling uh T there that you have the tent to many voices well you got the T to many voices over there and and and it's alive and so you don't have to walk through the panels here and and and visualize you can just go over and and see that uh uh In Living Color if you will H and so these it was it must have been tough imagine people that in the 1900 there that were 70 or 80 years old that were that were our tribe was at the lowest point in terms of our population of of starvation and all that was going on and and there must have been some disparity going on the the feeling that uh that will things uh ever get any better I want to share with you if I could I want to I I come across this prayer this gentleman named George bird grenell who kind of one of the historians uh uh recorded this prayer and it was a prayer made by an older black feet to the CH the chief Mountain the chief mountain is this last Mountain over here and that's very important to us and to me and it was done about 1903 and it to me it really reflected this this uh the results of the inevitability all the federal policies of at a pretty much low point in our in our time as a tribe and I'll just share this with you this is what this this gentleman was saying he says here now you chief of mountains you stand foremost listen I say to the morning of the people now are the days truly become evil and are not as they were in a ancient times but you know you have seen the days under your Fallen garments the years are buried then there were days full of joy for the Buffalo covered the Prairie and the people were content warm dwellings had they then soft Robbers for coverings and the feasting was Without End here now you you Mountain Chief listen what I say to the mourning of the people their dwellings and their Rems now are made of strange thin stuff and the long days come and go without Feast for our buffo are gone warm dwellings had they then oh no excuse me unless indeed the drum for who would sing and dance while hunger gwed within him like an old blind man your people feel their way along falling over unseen things for the gods are angry in vain the usual offerings to the son wear now the hund tongues the Snow White robes which always were his share and because we cannot find them he turns away his eyes making our medicine and useless so then we fail and die and even as old men who cannot see the way here now who stand among the clouds are you who stand among the clouds pity I say your starving people give back those Happy Days cover once more the Prairies with our real food that your children may live again here I say the prayer of your unhappy people bring back those ancient days then our medicine will be strong then you will you be happy and the age die content and I I I was really struck by that in terms of a kind of reflection of of how our people were feeling and I kind of want to end with that but I don't want to end with that in in terms of a of a sad note because one of the things in our culture and the way we believe and we have people to come visit us that we always like to show our respect for them and we like to to uh give them a gift and as this thing was was over and I was over at the uh over at the camps there waiting for the uh Opening Ceremonies I was talking to Tanya and I said you know we ought to get uh some of those Park Rangers and those people over there a gift that's our way to do it and that's an an an enduring trait in us to all is share and I think you've seen that all along the river as Lewis and clart came up and went back of our people that that opened their arms if you will and and help them out the best they could and so I went to U this sta here cuz I was this gentleman dick Basher who's the American Indian Lason and I was explaining to her that he's been going up along the up along the trail and back and works with the tribes to ensure that when we put on an event that is done with respect that we're not doing a celebration we're doing a commemoration we're doing a opportunity for us to to have some reflection on these last 200 years and you you're probably hear that and continue that and and uh he's been doing a good job so I explained to this l that I was going I'm wanted to buy something from her but I couldn't buy it I have have this budget and I was doing this purchase order deal and she was just listening to me and she she's a member of our tribe I believe Tanya is she a member of our tribe and her name is Three Rivers she has a a stand there so she well what are you looking for so I saw this knife here I said well that's not bad it's pretty nice there it's had a bone handle and I asked her how much that was and she said she was kind of looking at me she said oh $75 and uh oh I said really okay and I said well then she turned around and she T if you can just dick could you you come up and I'll finish this story Antonio could you bring that up please and so this yeah that that one there and uh then if we can get is is Kevin around by any chance or Okay Kevin then you can go up but anyway I I was talking to the lady about that and so I was and she she had this behind her if you could just maybe hand that to me or come up T if you want and uh and uh I was explaining to her and I she pulled it off and then I said oh boy how much is this going to cost and she looked at me and she said you know I I listened to your story about this man he must be a good man and she said here I'll give it to you she said that that's our way and and uh dick I'm going to give you this on behalf of this lady or uh she has a a stand there I'm going to give you her card uh because there's a little quid pro quo there she wants you to uh uh make sure you do a little bit of she gave me just one if you will and if I if I can't find it really quick here I make sure I'll I'll I'll I'll get it to you but I thought that was really nice I thought it was really a a a reflection if you will of of uh of where our people at today and and and that and so dick uh that's from that lady there and I I'll give you the card there and uh and she was really nice I was just blown away by her her generosity and and we in turn uh repaid the kindness uh not too long AG well Tanya and I went over there and and gave her some some gifts there and and it was all good and she she just wanted you to to have that and want you to keep up the good work and Kevin if you could come up we have some things we'd like to give to to your Rangers here um uh and uh I think they were worried that the black people are going to get the revenge and we're were going to burn down the kbo and I think all the Indian Country would have cheered but uh we decided not to do that but we we have some uh uh we wouldd like to give you this here this is one of the pouches that uh that the uh Bicentennial uh did over the last three years they uh contracted tribes to do a lot of these pouches to put the ls and Co cork commemorative coin in and so we had a few left over and uh we just can pull that out you can put whatever you you think you might want one in there that's uh you can show that to the audience there and that's our way and we and we have some other ones now you're going to be the the leader here and you're going to have to make the determination of giving these to your staff and so if you've been good to Kevin you you'll probably get a good one if you haven't uh that that might not happen and also back there and we'll just give you your staff Tanya made out some some some bread there and we're going to just just share with you and that's the way we are and I imagined as the Expedition came up they uh gave them things gifts were exchanged if you will and and they gave him something to eat or they showed him the way there and and and so I just kind of want to want to end with that and we'll open up some questions so getting back to the thema of P perspectives uh basically that that's that's my perspective if you will so we may have the next time you run into one of our tribal members they'll they'll have their different perspectives but I think there's some truths that uh run through this this uh this whole thing and that's generosity uh just Humanity treating people good as as you would want to be treated there and after 200 years maybe we didn't get uh we got the short stick of all that but can you imagine after 200 years who would have thought the bsh should people still have their Homeland their language their history and and their culture and that's their strength and you and and and you you people come here to see that because you know I don't uh you have St Patrick's Day uh Columbus Day you have your days but we we have those 360 some days out of the year in terms of our history and remembering and and if you listen to darl Kip's presentation a couple hours ago he was talking about the language our language immersion schools where our young people now are being immersed in our language to hold on to our language and they're and they and they're they're building schools now they're talking about building a high school so we're very pleased that that uh our endurance our persever is is going to uh let us continue on and thank you very much so get open for questions thank you very much George heavyrunner and audience if you have some questions that you would like to ask please raise your hand I'll come around with the microphone and feel free to ask questions this is your chance yes ma'am this morning Daryl referred to the the black foot tribe and uh I've always thought it was the black feet uh how do you um how do you use black foot and black feet in your speaking well we have uh A Confederacy called the Blackfoot Confederacy we have sister tribes up in Canada and at one time and when we were this this huge group if you will our organization we we were our land base we was from the Saskatchewan River down to the Yellowstone in order to have something like that you have to have a an organization and so we're a lot of like in our language in our culture what have you and so that's a blackoot Confederacy now the the the black fet and why are we called the black Creet getting back to perspectives again there are some that say they somebody saw us walking out of a out of a forest recent forest fire and our moccasins were black huh and then there there there's other other other perspectives and I've been uh looking at them if you will but that's the English word in in our own Lang language we know each other in in in our our own uh native tongue if you will there so black feet and there's other tribes mostly all the other tribes have have the have the English version and do the fragile government and those type of things when they started to form reservations and all the Conformity and stuff there so so Blackfoot there you know to to to us is is all our tribes again that's my perspective you might there might be somebody come up here and say no you're wrong here how it's done there so so there you know so there you go right we have another question right here what can you tell us about the peani black feet the what p piani is that am I saying that right p piani p p i i a n i p piani piani uh I don't know what book you was reading well uh something we're familiar with but well well we're we're the Pani you're you're you're talking to one of them but I don't think I've ever talked to a piani uh I'm not sure unless somebody else knows in the audience I've never heard of a of of that so maybe it's just a spelling that was was was a little little different there some other questions for Mr heavyrunner with that thank you all very much for coming let's please give George heavyrunner a a show of appreciation e