Tent of Many Voices: 07180604

feel good okay well here we go then all right I'd like to welcome everybody to the Ten of mini voices and just to let you know we are of course adding one more voice to our story today part of our traveling exhibition here in the crow agency area is to bring many folks from the local area to share and so today is my great pleasure to introduce Sharon stand over Bull and Patrick stands over bull um tell you a little bit about our presenters today they're going to be talking about Crow history and lore and Patrick right here to my left he has been a past co- tribal chairman he um has his Bachelor of Science and secondary education and has taught for many years at the ply coup High School um at the high school he taught history social studies and Crow studies he's also an ordained minister of the or of the Aro Creek Christian Center and so um it's real honored to have you here Patrick today and then I'll let you know a little bit about Sharon uh Sharon stands over bu has her Bachelor from eastern Montana college she also has a master's from Montana State University in Boseman and School administration and she has been a teacher and principal uh she currently is working at plenty coup State Park um with the friends of Chief plenty coup Association she is also an ordained minister so we have um some wonderful folks here that wear many hats here today and attended many voices and without any more time we want to welcome both of you to the tent and we'll give you a little round of applause and let it let you speak Patrick so thank you thank you I guess I can start right off by uh you did all the introduction pretty well and I don't think there's any further need to talk about myself I will be talking a little bit about TR history and my wife Sharon will tell some stories so without without further Ado you know I'd like to uh well first of all I guess the CR history is so vast that I have about 15 minutes to talk and and it it be be well if I just kind of condense it into one area of History uh one of the things that important in our history is that the crow reservation one of our travel Chiefs way back in 1500s name was no intestines no vitals he's the one that kind of found a place is here and he called it the great spirit put this in the right place and at the right time and so one of the things that kind of interesting to know is that uh the Cru tribe of Indians have never been prisoners of War there's only two Indian tribes and the Nations that have never been prisoners of war and that's the part of the Cal Indians now in Florida and during the Great Indian removal of 1828 under President Andrew Jackson the the the Trail of Tears SoCal took place and part of the simal tribe went and hid in the Everglades and they were there until always was quiet and they come out so they never really they never really had a a treaty or a uh relationship with the tribe where the with the government where they were prisoners of War you look at the other tribe uh that were fight especially the the the PLS Indians Chief like stinu and Red Cloud and S crazy hordes and the rain in the p and all those uh shant and Sue chiefs were famous but at the same time what happened to them eventually they were all CAU and they become prisoners of War uh down in Southwest tribe the the hicoria and the patch San car inded you've got the gerano and those uh leaders down there that were resisting the the westw movement of the white man the Europeans they eventually were caught all those Indian trap that resisted down especially down in Arizona the theore and the tribe they were put under the stock car they were captured and put in a stock car on the Railroad and they shipped them back e and that the last they heard of that that Bunch sbu eventually was killed by his own people in in South Dakota so you see that Chief uh Jo Chief Joseph of the next p also he was famous for his speak I will spe I will fight no more forever but he was caught resisting the movement but the Crow Indians never have resisted they were friendly with the the Europeans our leaders told us way back then their advice was that there's a group of people coming and and they're just like the ants there's so many of them they're blueeyed and blond haired don't try to fight them be friends with them they will never be able to stand against those people and that was the advice of our people probably by by no intestines and no vitals uh that was their advice that we had so ever since that time the crws have been a a friendly uh tribe of Indians we were never a big tribe but we were we were very uh able to maintain our our uh our people and our way of life uh the westm movement of the 1825 the goal was discovered in 1849 in San Francisco go was discovered in P Peak uh go the Black Hills and it was a large movement of miners coming from the West it pushed uh the Su and those uh those engines in that area Westward they were they were losing their hunting ground and so the crows on the other hand they turn around and they they help those wagon trains that would move to the west of the homesteaders and they would protect them against the cheyen and the sus and the the black beets and the rabbit holes and so as a result we have been good relationship we have a good land if you look at our reservation we have three mountain ranges we have excuse me three uh three valleys the the the little Horn Valley here the pig Horn Valley the next Ro the valley and and then the prior Creek Valley and the arrow Creek and uh we have three Mountain R the prime mountains the big horns and the Wolf mountains and so we have a very very good land here because of our relationship with the government uh we have some leaders that are not feisty so to speak but they have good advice that gives to us and even today we are still uh very much uh uh at peace with the government the the first treaty we had was in 1825 and that was called a CR friendship treaty and that treaty didn't really stipulate any special Provisions but it just required that that the crows made a commitment to protect the white man in the movement West down the years we uh come along in 1851 with the first Fort laramy treaty and this Treaty of 1851 one provided 39 plus million acres of land for the cro Indians that's a lot of land and the south southern boundary it goes all the way down to L Wyoming the northern boundary goes up to up up to uh popular Montana and then the eastern boundary is up the Potter River and the Black Hills so we have a big area with the 1858 51 treaty when that treaty was made there was never any any uh uh I get fence or anything reservation boundary set up and 11 years later I believe it 16 years later in 1868 that would be what 7 16 years later the Congress of the United States said hey we're going to look at this line that we give to the crows uh they were press by the basically the Sue Indians and those people in that area because of The Westward Movement they were being pressured for by the white man with with a hunting area and when they look this way in the Plains Indian the crows had all that land with all the Buffalo and elk and plenty of berries and a lant of Plenty so the S and the RAB holes and the ton the black feet they canif and they got together and they tried to Wi out the crws and this is the result of this battle you're going to see this afternoon Battle of the arrow Creek and that was one of the results of the the plan's movement uh the plane Warfare the PLS Indian and and Congress look at that the pressure from the sus the sus are a big nation they convinced the government that hey look at the crews got too much land they've got too much hunting ground why don't you cut some of it off and give us someon and they were already talking treaties at that time in the 1850s and so they went back to call the second Ford ly treaty and they called all the Indians down there and our chief was sit in the middle of the landine or cheap black foot he took a delegation they went down there and they cut from 39 million Acres they cut our land back to 9 million Acres it took 30 million Acres away and what the what's really amazing about this story is that the chief Blackfoot and his delegation did not really understand what was going on their interpreter was a Frenchman named CH I forgot what his first name is CH and he was a half breed french man interpreting for us and he was the one that wrote all the provisions in that 18568 treaty 18633 that 17 years after 1851 Congress said that it never ratified to 1851 Treaty so we're going to take 30 million Acres away to provide more agage hunting ground for the other tribes well they came back and about four or five years later the crows had a meeting and they begin to it wasn't supposed to be there but it was too late 5 years after the larmy treaty and by the way Fort ly treaty was not in the town of Fort ly Wyoming Fort laramy is over at by torington Wyoming where they was a fort laramy there that's where they called these two treaties in the 1850s and 1860s and so as a result of that 9 million Acres we have this landine here and it's still quite a few acres and if you look at the 1851 Treaty the northern sh reservation was on our was was in our reservation boundaries so that reservation they have belonged to the crow by the 1851 treaty and so a lot of arguments can be put up today but it's a lot of water under the bridge also the 9 million Acres they start giving away to the white settlers as they come in around the turn of the century 1890s through 1900s a the line was seated for a minimal amount of money the Western area the West the West uh uh portion portion of our reservation was given away for from Roseman Montana all the way to Hundley proy Montana all that was given from the middle part of the Yellowstone River was given away for as Homestead for non Indian I think they got about a million dollars for it and then over here on the North side the the tarpet Creek area where we have our gold Co mine that was given up called a seated trip that was given up for about $900,000 and that money were used to build this canal uh they were they were already projecting to build the ill Dam and up there they built that canal and they paid the crow they took their own money and they pay them 25 C an hour using horse teams to build that canal and when you think about those things it's kind of It kind of uh feel that you know it's not a right thing when you sell your land you seated you get the money they use that money to pay you 25 cents an hour to build a ditch and today you go over to the the born bench over there there's a the Big Horn Valley there's that big Canal that comes from the Yellow Tail Dam and that that land is fertile and we call that the Bre Bre basket of the croon reservation and all that is up there used to be the world's largest wheed farm one track cam Corporation died by the name of Cam developed the open field mining called the the uh dry line farming technique he developed that technique to to create wheat in that area and it was from the big hornn put Big Horn all the way down 50 60 Mi below pass Harden that ought to be what used to be one track of wheat Fields even the Russians and the Chinese would come and listen I me look at that place and they wanted to know how to develop agriculture in their land in Russia and China so you see there's a lot of good things it was the blessings of the great spirit when we see these things happen no vital was probably a prophetic Chief when he said that this land is in the right place it became that way today you look at it we have our eastern part of reservation is underling with coal there's a lot of from B Montana to the Sheran the B of the the ground is covered with natural gas we have a few spots of reservoirs of oil within our reservation we have our sarber Creek oil field that's been producing for many years but see this is why when the chief said it the great spirit put it in the right place we were we were blessed I guess but by by saying that we listen to our Chiefs that time even to this day we we still listen to those chief of I was going talk about Chief penuse one last chief of the crows but time is running out and uh we are a blessed people here we have coal we have water abundance of water we have all kinds of minerals underlaying this reservation all we have to do is develop it but we have a hard time agreeing with one another of how we're going to do it it's been 30 years that we talked about developing we only developed one coal mine and that's over at sing Creek and that was done under my Administration but nothing happened since then for over 30 years this reservation stagnated no development nothing going on no water compact but see this is a blessing that we're we're not taking advantage of the blessing of the great spirit we have very rich land we have agricultural land that is that is all over the wheat and alala and all over that's why we call it the breast basket of the crow reservation the Big Horn Valley Big Horn Ben and so you look at history of the crows we are very very fortunate people I think it's 1730s the membership the crew trap was only about 600 down in up to 1930 we got up to 8 8,000 today there's about 12,000 crows approximately today on the crow travel membership so we're growing but we're still a very small uh people you look at that you're going to see this battle of the pr Creek that battle that was one of the results of the The Westward Movement of the Plains Indians where the Su and the shines and the rabal hols and and the black feet got together they were going to wipe out the Crowes completely annihilated from the face of the earth when they came to that battle at PR Creek it was 20 to1 so the numbers that I hear was 20 to1 for everyone crow that were 22 Warriors but the men held on and that's why today we have our we're still a people that are still blessed we are still enjoying the fruits of the blessings of the great spirit and that's about and con condensing from of the the history that I can give you and Sharon's going to talk about some some some stories of the crows some are legendary some are fiction but I believe that these stories have taught us our young people a lot like I said I taught high school for 20 years and a lot of these Indian stories and uh allures have been a great benefit of our young children children to learn about their history uh old man coyote I was going to talk to you about uh the star Boy A guy by the name of kab a Grandma's kid or he's also known as IU and he was a guy he was a young boy that was raised by his grandma and eventually he originally originated from from the from up where the star people and she's going to talk you about it it's a good story remember that name IU you don't hear that much there's a lot of crow storytellers on this reservation but I don't hear too much about IU you could hear about k b or Grandma's Boy but she'll tell you about it there's also stories about little people with the pr mountains I'm going to be talking about these when I speak over at pomp Spiller this coming weekend I'll be speaking there on Saturday and and Friday at pom pillar and I will be speaking on some of these stories about the little people and uh and uh the Big Horn how the big horn Ripper is name a story about the little boy that was thrown over by his stepfather and he survived he was hanging on the cliff for many days and some bornn sheep came and rescued him and they gave him the medicine and the name of the big horn the from that episode of History The Story Goes that if the crows every lose the born River that's the end of The Crow people so there's a lot of stories to tell to share with the people America thank you I'll turn it over to my wife to her story it's kind of warm here I appreciate the invitation and I am privileged today to share a little bit of what I know thank you good afternoon we are surely in a a time a season of Summer it is very very warm but but this is what summer is all about and it's a privilege for me to come and have the opportunity to be a part of this Lewis and Clark Gathering core of Discovery 2 we as a crow people over the years have been known to be a a a people where the women are very important they um do a lot of the um decision making and we as a people have um been a nomadic people in the past and the Warriors back there they would be out hunting and uh fighting enemy tribes and it was the women's responsibility to be at the camp taking care of all the necessary uh I details that needed to be done such as child rearing such as food Gathering as with berries and roots and setting up a teepee and keeping the inside neat and clean and providing for their family be Shing be sure uh to have everything ready before the sun came up so that their husbands would have some good to eat something healthful something that would give them strength before they would leave for the day as they went out to either hunt or to uh fight enemy tribes and so we as a crow people the women uh make a lot of the decisions and uh today we always talk about how the woman uh in the home is the one who takes care of the household the finances and uh the other day we were talking about that and one man thought well he didn't know if that was really true but I believe for the majority of crow households it's the woman who is in charge of many of the things in the home and so today I just wanted to uh tell you about a story that my husband just touched on very briefly uh we were on our way to uh Boseman Montana many years ago and as we were going through uh on the highway my mother looked to the left she and I were together and she said those are the Crazy Mountains and I'm going to tell you a little story about the Crazy Mountains and so as I listened she told about the time that the crows were camped around the Yellowstone River we as the crow people know Yellowstone River as the Elk River Asha that's the name of Elk River to us Crow Indians and there's an encampment uh that was always held right on at the edge of the river in a certain area near living Stone Montana and every year the crows would end up there for a period of time and they would would Camp there and I imagine the times that they were there were uh in times of Summer well on this particular summer day uh one of the men of the village decided Well he was going to go on a Vision Quest and so preparations were made and he went in a sweat bath and got himself cleansed and the elders prayed with him and so he made ready to go and finally I believe it was the next morning he left and he went up towards the Crazy Mountains not taking anything with him just as he was and he continued and he walked for I don't know how many days without food or without water but he was seeking a vision he was seeking uh the great spirit to lead him to a place where he could come back and tell his people what he had heard and so as he went and continued on up toward uh the preves of the mountain and continued on for some days he became so faint that one that he finally just killed over and fell into uh the a crevice with a o a rock overhead and so he lay there for some time and while he was in in that area under that rock he uh was in a trans and he then had this vision and a voice came to him and the voice said uh uh I want you to listen closely and what I tell you you take back to your people who are camped there uh along Al River and so as he listened The Voice told him there are many many people that are coming people that you have never ever seen before they are coming and they are going to be so numerous that you will not be able to withstand them and so my advice to you is when they come that you will be a friend to them and he gave him uh an illustration like it today it must have been a hot day like today and this voice said when you see a buffalo carcass out on the pr Prairie and the meat is just there in the hot sun uh there will be flies that will be flying around this Buffalo carcass and pretty soon as the Flies are just swarming over this Buffalo carcass pretty soon these uh fly will lay eggs and they will turn into worms and then pretty soon this Buffalo carcass will be overflowing with worms that is exactly what's going to happen to your land these people are coming from afar and they're going to come just a few at the very beginning just a few but they're going to keep continue to come they're going to continue to come and you're going to know that as they come the Buffalo is going to be gone the Buffalo is is going to be wiped away and they are bringing another animal that have white faces some are black some have spots but they are not the Buffalo they do not look like a buffalo they are smaller than a buffalo but these people are coming with their animals so I want you to go back and tell your people these people are coming they have a different color skin than you do their hair is a different color even their eyes are different but when you go back back you be telling them that we can you cannot be fighting against this people that's coming because they're going to overtake this whole land that is now yours and so the man woke up from this trans this vision and he got up and he found enough strength to finally get back to the crow Village and he had to Fort the Yellowstone River the Elk River and as he came to the river he must have just been so thirsty and so warm out he no undoubtedly jumped in and was refreshed and as he crossed and got back to the other side that evening uh the as the Tepe fires were burning and um Elders of the crow encampment came together he then related this story that there is a people coming and we have to get along with them because there are going to be too many of them for us to go against and so we must always remember that we have to do whatever we can to live together on this land because this is what's going to happen the Buffalo are going to vanish and our way of life is going to change and so this was the advice given to him on his vision quest he came and told his people and I believe that may be one of the reasons today that we as the crow people The Crow Nation have never been at war with the US government and I believe maybe that's why today we live in a beautiful area we have three mountain ranges we have a Blue River uh River Blue Water uh filled with fish that many come from all over the world to fish at and truly what Chief PLU said we are in the right place and so that's the story that I have of the time that my mother and I motored to Boseman and I've never forgotten it and it all has come to pass and so as I mentioned we are a matrilineal so Society we women take uh take uh the lead in many things and even today that is the case I believe it's us mothers that try to uh push our our children on to get higher education to do what they can to that they would be successful in this time in this world in which we live I know that happened in my own family my grandmother U didn't have an education but she worked as much as she could and so she finally was able to send her children to go and get an education and so they went on and got college degrees and so today this is what we need to do is to encourage our young people to go and become skilled that they will have a cable skill that they can be employed and be a contributing member of society in the society in which we live today uh another story I just wanted to share was uh way back in the days when uh we were still a nomadic people and uh the people would move they'd follow the Buffalo and they didn't all stay together there was the river Crow and there was the mountain Crow and in this particular story this is the story of a mountain Crow woman and she was a woman that was very uh um very exceptional everything she did she did to the best of her ability if their lodges were all there and you went in her Lodge it was was so neat and even the Buffalo uh shoulder blades that were used for cooking or for eating as plates they were so white and so clean she did everything meticulously well as they moved one day it was a time of berry picking like it is right now our people out in the prior Valley are going out berry picking and I believe this is happening throughout this reservation for service berries and so it was at that time and so they finally I got moved to another place and people were setting up camp and uh this woman was setting up her camp and getting everything together and one of the women was woman was so anxious to get to the berries oh she just hurried and she just put up her Camp just halfhazard and as quickly as she could because she needed to get to the berries and uh this uh Other Woman put everything up the way it should be and did things in border and but this woman she just put her Lodge up and put things in threw things in there and off she went over to where all the berries were they were just hanging from the bushes just purple and um so inviting and she was over there and as uh they were still working and this woman was over there trying to get uh as many berries as she could she uh she heard the women at the camp heard a scream they heard someone crying and yelling for help Big B and so here a bear had come a bear had come and so this woman that was so anxious to go and not waiting for the others went and she was already very much injured and eventually lost her life and I believe the uh the message to this story is that we need to do things decently in order and wait for others not always to be the first one to run and get as much much as you can and so that's the uh the story about uh the berry picking at that time I do have other stories that I plan to share when we get to Pomp's pillar but at this time I believe we have 10 minutes and if there are any questions and answers I mean questions will uh attempt to answer them is what I should say and again I want to thank all of you you have any questions do you have any questions for Sharon or Patrick well I just feel that this is um beautiful Endeavor the ls and Clark expedition uh came and as a result I believe that we as native people have had uh a change in our lifestyle and today uh we are out in uh American society being a part of this great nation and uh we are so happy that things are going well for our people people have jobs we live in dwellings not tepes like we did back there and it's wonderful to go and on a cold winter morning just turn up the thermostat and uh house gets heated up and warm and to turn on the faucet and to uh get running water we have all the niceties that all Americans have and that's a privilege to all of us I also would like to thank him the the group here for inviting us uh I think we come from a special place that I should mention prior and we got the name prior from this group that came in 1806 when they were camp at pomp pillar one of the members satday Nathaniel prior came and explored prior Creek and all the way up to uh PRI mountains and as a result it's PRI Creek and PRI mountains and PR Montana so when I was when we were looking at this in our youth history class uh some of the kids don't even know where the name prior came from and uh when I begin to tell them you know they they learn to appreciate that there is an ownership of this Expedition for us prior people you know we uh we uh got our name from it again I want to say thank you very much and and uh appreciate the time and effort thank you all right well uh with that um we too would like to thank you guys both Patrick Stan and Sharon Stan oful for coming and speaking in attended many voices today um it's been a real privilege and it's been really nice to hear what you've had to say and the stories You' shared and I'm sure we all look forward to next week at pompy's Pillar where um we'll get to hear a little bit more from both of you it'll be really great um I do want to let everybody