Tent of Many Voices: M08160503TED

afternoon hello welcome to the Lewis and Clark traveling exhibit um we have a very exciting uh day today uh we have presenters every hour and between presenters we also have a keelboat which you're welcome to go on a um Dugout canoe exhibit and an exhibit of many different pictures and you can also take an audio tour in there for 37 minutes so you're welcome to do all of those things and also you're welcome to come here every hour on the hour for different presentations our next presentation we have uh Stephanie Ambrose tubs she is going to um be doing a program called opening our ears researching the Lewis and Clark companion she's a local historian who attended the University of Montana she's the daughter of Steven Ambrose who wrote unded courage and her book researching the Le Lou and Clark companion is available on amazon.com so let's give a warm welcome to Stephanie Ambrose tubs thank you um I will be holding this up throughout my talk but this is called the Lewis and Clark companion an encyclopedic guide to The Voyage of Discovery and it's people places and things associated with the Expedition organized a toz and I'm not sure if there's any place in salmon that is currently selling it but you can get it off of Amazon and usually at bookstores anywhere along the trail you can find it I thought I would speak today about our experiences in writing this book and some of the lessons that we learned as we uh went along the trail of putting it together and I will start with repeating the title which is called opening our ears researching the Lewis and Clark companion when Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to follow the Missouri River to its source and find their way to the Pacific Ocean he first instructed Lewis in June of 1803 quote in all of your intercourse with the natives treat them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which their own conduct will admit allay all of their jealousies as to the object of your journey satisfy them of its innocence make them acquainted with the position extent character Peaceable and Comm commercial dispositions of the US of our wish to be neighborly friendly and useful to them end quote in order to implement these instructions they would need to as historian James Ronda points out tread carefully or in the vernacular spoken by both parties have their ears open and not listen to what they sometimes called the crowing of bad birds as we study the journals and the writings about the expedition it becomes clear that in certain circumstances the men of the core of Discovery did have their ears open especially when the respect for their hosts was as its peak as with the Mandan and Nees Pur tribes they did appreciate native sensibilities on some occasions when it came to the Practical the core was listening on other occasions however their hearing seems to be blocked some bad crows seemed to be distracting them from Clear understanding they were not not able to come to terms with or hear the Indians when it came to the native emphasis on Spirits or medicine and the transference of that medicine from one culture to another their prejudices combined with pre president Jefferson's limited understanding of Indian beliefs and established trading systems sparked a misunderstanding then that is still with us today part of the reason for compiling the Lewis and Clark companion was to faret out a Cent understanding of what they missed what they overlooked and what they did not hear while working on the Los and Clark companion we paid attention to the people who provided a sharper Focus to Native sensibilities we referred to reference reference guides and encyclopedias that described individual Indians as heroic historic figures remarkable in their own right they contained accounts delineating Indian tribes as distinct Nations as different from each other as white cultures were from them we tried to shed light on some of the people who called the Northern Plains and coastal regions home after years of lying dormant in the landscape of the story of the Expedition we tried to pull them out wake them up and share them with an Ever growing audience of interested readers of Lewis and Clark's scholarship the reader can see how the complicated relationship between the two cultures ensured a series of misunderstandings and how the override in prejudices of the Virginia and Kentucky army officers sons of the American Revolution affected every single interchange between themselves and the natives if you read the journals you know that early in the journey one wise arika leader asked Lewis and cl Clark why their father would present them with a liquor that would make them fools the captains noted the question but were too busy following orders to realize its ramifications for future diplomatic efforts they did not hear the underlying question how can we trust you when you we see you are so willing to lower us from men to fools just so that you can laugh at us part of Jefferson's mandate for Lewis and Clark was to send back tribal members for a visit and negotiations with himself and Secretary of War Henry Dearborn Lewis sent Chiefs of the oage Missouri Kansas Oto pany Iowa and Sue tribes during this VIs visit in January 1806 Jefferson naively promised the delegation quote in establishing a trade with you we desire to make no profit we shall ask from you only what everything costs us and give you for your Furs and pelts whatever we can get from them again be assured you will find advantage in this change of your friends end quote his intentions were good but his understandings as to the intricacies of tribal trading p patterns already established on the Northern Great Plains was lacking in their answer to the president the delegation foreshadowed the tone of Native American Indian relations with the United States government for many years to come not only were they skeptical about the ability of a distant federal government to control individual actions they doubted white promises to affect a positive change fathers you say that you are as numerous as the stars in the skies and as strong as numerous so much the better fathers though if you are so we will see you airong punishing all the wicked Redskins that you will find amongst us and you may tell your white children on our lands to follow our orders your orders and to not do as they please for they do not keep your word our brothers who came here before told us you had ordered good things to be done and sent to our Villages but we have seen nothing and your waged men think that they that the the truth will not reach your ears but we are conscious that we must speak the truth truth must be spoken to the ears of our fathers and our fathers must open their ears for the truth to get in one aspect of the complexities of the interchanges between the United States government representatives and the native populations can be glimpsed in the story of Shah shot the Mandan Chief known as white coyote who agreed to return with the expedition in 1806 six and go to Washington to meet with the great father Shah journeyed with his wife yellow corn and their children along with his translator Jess s and his family to St Louis Charlottesville and eventually to Washington City although his return was hampered by several incidents related to intertribal Warfare he finally arrived back in his homeland in 1809 it is less known that Shah's homecoming was not a joyous one when he tried to relate the technological wonders he had observed in the Eastern cities his fellow Mandan called him bag of lies and refused to believe him According to some Legends he died a shunned man amongst his own people in the course of researching the Lewis and Clark companion we obtained information on the shishoni guide Toby hired by the captains at Chief Kam's suggestion from the voice of trader John Reese who lived among the lemi Shon in the late 1800s according to Reese Toby's name translated to furnishes white man with brains but his real name was swooping Eagle because of his reputation as a fierce fighter sakagawa or sakuya's brother's name kamit translates to not inclined to go or he who never walks although his real name was fires the Black Gun Reese explains that the way whites viewed names and the way the natives viewed names do not correspond for the shason names originated at the spur of a moment usually related to some incident occurring at a given time hence camea was not inclined to go because that was the message he was trying to give Lewis when they first met they were hesitant in revealing their real names because that meant revealing something that could lessen their power or expose them in some way a stranger would have to earn the privilege of hearing their real names the lwi and Clark companion contains entries on several artists associated with the ls and Clark expedition and their native contacts in a long list of characters some men stand out such as George Catlin catlin's fascination with native peoples led him up the Missouri In 1832 and his art is closely associated with the Expedition because he painted some of the same people the captains mention in their journals his talent was viewed with Awe by the Mandan who believed he could capture a person's Spirit by painting a portrait of them one young girl whose name translates to the mink whom he had painted and persuaded to allow him to keep her portrait became violently ill when he started back down the rim River with her image her relatives sent a messenger who told him quote she is dying the picture you made of her is too much like her you put so much of her into it that when your boat took it away from our village it Drew part of her life with it she is bleeding from the mouth she is puking up all of her blood you are drawing the strings out of her heart and they will soon break we must take her picture back and then she will get well again and quote catlyn heard and understood this request he reluct reluctantly agreed to return the portrait but learned later that she died anyway no doubt because of this experience and others like it catlyn came to realize and respect the Indian notion of spirit and how it encompassed every single element of their lives we tried to explore and explain what the natives meant by medicine as opposed to what the core viewed as medicine whenever they felt that it would help relations or improve symptoms the captains used their medicine or science by treating the natives with eyewash or eye water as they called it the captains found they could exchange their services for things they needed they recognized that even though they were not curing the natives they were alleviating their symptoms as long as they were not consciously hurting their patients Lewis and Clark Justified the treatments and he continued to administer them as long as they could or needed to excuse me following Jefferson's instructions they collected plants and described the medicinal applications as used by the natives Trader Hugh Haney gave Lewis the top of a purple cone flower plant or ignaa that he said the natives used to quote cure the bite of Mad Dogs snakes Etc and he explained that the patient should apply the plant to the bitten part twice a day the bitten person is not to chew or swallow any of the roote for it might have the contrary effect the journals noted while following Jeff 's instructions in collecting the cures of the tribes the captains failed to appreciate that for the natives the meaning of medicine was much more complex for anglo-americans medicine involves strictly scientific applications for Indians medicine as Lewis interpreted their definition meant quote that in which the power of God is Manifest by its incomprehensible power of action end quote so for example Sergeant gas could comment on the superstitious credulity of the Mandan when they presented food to a buffalo skull with the belief that it would hasten the arrival of the Buffalo for whites medicine involved scientific reason for Indians it involved the spirit of divine energy which they could access through ceremony and ritual one example found in the journals the night ANZ purse woman was possessed by her wakin or Guardian spirit an explanation for this Behavior came much later in 1979 from the NZ purse historian Alvin josei who wrote quote the wakin belief reflected a nesp Pur Universe filled with individual spirits that existed in dreams and in real life and to which the nesp could appeal for assistance thunder lightning a Soaring Eagle a grizzly bear and so forth each Spirit could harm or protect a man according to its power and inclination each man or woman had a personal wakin with him warning him protecting him and assisting him through his life on earth end quote now this notion seemed foreign and strange to sergeants Ordway and to Sergeant Ordway and Captain Clark but to the people of her tribe it was not such an unusual occurrence and could be incorporated into what they saw as their medicine in much the same way we would acknowledge someone making the sign of the cross on the breast as acceptable to our worldview in the Lewis and Clark companion we cite a concept related by a historian of ideas Morris Burman that the Expedition carried a quote disenchanted mindset into a world that was seen by the Indians as Fully Alive with Spirit an example of this sort of medicine can be seen in the gruesome end of interpreter George du yard's life after the Expedition Drew yard or dryer as he is sometimes called in the journals um the part shaune part French sign talker for the core returned to the headwaters of the Missouri to trap Beaver despite the threatening presence of the nearby black feet duard kept going out to set up his traps he said he was too much of an Indian to be caught off guard by the Indians when the black feet Warriors found him out by himself they attacked and finally killed him after a hard-fought battle during which Drear distinguished himself through his bravery and refusal to give up the Warriors then decided to eat him according to contemporary Alex Henry Alexander Henry Parts raw and parts boiled probably so that they could capture some of his Spirit bravery and medicine for themselves now along with sharing forms of entertainment like music dancing and playing games sharing food was another important way of exchanging and of listening to each other the core learned that the N how the natives gathered Wild Roots like the cous or cow's root cus and WAP and they tasted them and ate traditional Native Foods like the bitteroot breadroot yelon Jerusalem artichokes ground beans pkin and they all except for Clark acquired a taste for dog the core discovered that while some tribes raise dogs for meat others like the shishoni for example refused to eat dog meat because of its similarity to one of their holy creatures the coyote they also learned that some tribes to some tribes the idea of eating horse flesh was repulsive Lewis appreciated the yelon or anchovy fish as prepared by the Indians quote I find them best when cooked Indian style which is by roasting a number of them together on a wooden spit without any previous preparation whatsoever they are so fat they require no additional sauce and I think them Superior to any fish I ever tasted even more delicate and Luscious than the white fish of the Lakes which heret for formed my standard of Excellence among fishes I have heard the fresh anchovy much extolled but I hope I shall be pardoned for believing this quite as good and quote he wrote that on February 24th 1806 now regarding shelter Lewis came to enjoy sleeping on Buffalo robes so much that when he returned to civilization he could not sleep in a bed he preferred to lie on his robes on the ground during the Expedition the captain shared what they called the leather Lodge or Tepee of sharbono sagoya and their child when they were on the river and they continued to use it until May of 1806 when it wore out when he was paid sharbono received extra pay for his lodge as it had been put to public use it's hard to imagine the United States government paying rent on a teepee one of the Lesser known discoveries or lessons of the expedition was the wide variety of shelter used among the different tribes during their travels they came across earth lodges matte houses shelters made from rushes cedar plank houses among others the core adapted native styles of clothing to suit their needs they took to moccasin making fashioning 358 pair during their winter at Fort classup and you can just imagine they counted every single pair as they were making it making them Lewis and Clark both admired the coastal sea aotter robe they asked sakaia to give up her blue bead belt so that they could purchase one they also favored the conical hats worn by the classs of Indians and measured their heads and ordered one for each member of the party during that rainy winter on the Pacific coast excuse me Lewis took such pride in the tippet given to him by Kamia waight that in 1807 he deposed wearing it in a painting by St mimen and that's kind of the famous painting of Lewis holding his rifle he's kind of got his hand on his hips he looks a little bit fem in that picture but it's he loved it um Lewis also recognized okay wait the journals note traditional items of trade such as blue beads dentalium ER Tails yelon oil sea otter and other pelts Lewis also recognized the superior craftsmanship of the bows made by the natives from the big horn sheep horns and the market potential in Combs made from these horns quote I have no doubt but it would be elegant and useful hair combs and might probably answer as many valuable purposes to civilized man as it does to the Savages who form their water cups spoons and platters of it notice Lewis's language here when we think of water cups spoons and platters we do not usually associate the word Savage with such sophisticated table wear several times the party had to acknowledge their hosts had Superior methods of manufacture or animal husbandry for example the captains admitted the nesp method of gilding horses was Superior to their own in that the wounds healed quicker and tended not to bleed as much they also adapted the nesp way of burning out rather than hacking out the trees for a canoe because it was less labor intensive some things puzzled the core why would the Mandan Indians dismantle a perfectly good corn Mill which the captains had given them in the winter of ' 04 and 05 1804 and 05 excuse me the explanation is a simple one they wanted to use the iron parts for their weapons and hide scraping tools they already had their own perfectly acceptable way of grinding corn on the Columbia River Sergeant Patrick gas the expedition's carpenter noted on March 30th 1806 quote the natives of this country ought to have the credit of making the finest canoes perhaps in the world both as to service and beauty and are no less expert in working them when made as a Craftsman he acknowledged the talents and abilities of the coastal Indians in the critical skill of boat making many times it seems the core was in too much of a hurry to listen carefully although they did take the time to record elements of Indian beliefs or religion many times the captains dismissed these beliefs as mere Superstition as readers we wish they had taken the adequate time or given more Credence to the ceremonies and traditions involved in sacred animals like the Buffalo calling dance or the nesp first salmon of the Season ceremony as Lewis wrote on April 19th 180 6 at cilo Falls quote there was a great joy in Camp with the natives last night in consequence of the arrival of the salmon one of these fish was caught this was the harbringer harbringer of good news to them they informed us that those fish would arrive in great quantities in the course of about 5 days this fish was dressed and being divided into small pieces was given to each child in the village this custom is founded on the superstitious opinion that it will hasten the arrival of the salmon as authors Dan landine and Alan pum point out the NZ Pur believed that if they performed the ceremony correctly a good fishing season would result they believe they were related to the salmon that their deceased relations were in fact the salmon Lewis and Clark had no way of understanding this or of placing it into any other context than Superstition the men on the and Clark expedition did not hear the corn singing songs of the Ora woman women likely because they were with the Ora at the wrong time of year but also because as visitors they assumed the riaru women were drudges not controllers of the means of wealth for the whole Community they certainly would not have understood that for the women planting crops was regarded as highly and as a much a part of their being as giving birth they sang to the corn like they sang to their own children the core did not see the offerings the shishoni women would make to mice in exchange for harvesting ground beans from their nut stashes and likely would not have understood such an offering made to the mice that they recognized as relatives and not Vermin to understand the importance of these symbols and beliefs you have to do your own digging you must examine accounts from native sources which explain why these beliefs retain validity in the past and continue to do so to this day excuse me for instance if we look at the Buffalo calling dance simply from the eyes of the explorers in the early 1800s we see only part of the picture the men were glad to take part in a ceremony which for them was all about the strangers being Big Medicine which would be transferred to their Hunters if the core slept with their wives granted if you read the journals and look at catelyn's paintings of these strange dances it is an intriguing part but it remains only one ingredient to the overall meal authors like Virginia Roberts Peters in her book women of the earth lodges help us to understand that offering young women to visitors or older members of the tribe as bed Partners was a complicated tradition and one that involved the women not just as pipelines to power as one Professor calls them but as sources of power in their own right some some see the Buffalo calling dance as a transmitt ceremony where for many of the women it meant a step up in status amongst their Clans and one in which they themselves played a crucial and active part one way to open your ears is to open your mind and see yourself as a part of nature not removed from it when the tribes acknowledged that connection through the Buffalo calling dance or the first salmon ceremony the Euro Americans did not understand that connection they always viewed themselves as apart from nature separate or even above nature indigenous peoples tended to see their place in the world as of the same value as the tiniest creature part of the fun of doing this book has been the friendships and acquaintances struck up along the way excuse me one such friendship I feel lucky to have made is with Amy moset of the three affiliated tribes she helped me to understand things I probably would have never considered except for her insight for example she recently spoke at a conference about the Damage Done to her Culture by the building of the Garrison Dam in 1953 the dam caused the further disintegration of her people because it separated so many of them from each other in speaking with her later she told me of a centuries old prophecy that said that when the Missouri River flowed backwards it signaled the end of the world if you think about it in many ways this is true the river meant life to these peoples it was the center of their creation stories not just a means of transportation or a way of getting to the other side Amy and the rest of the tribes along the river are not surrendering however they are more determined than ever to proceed on and to tell the stories of their ancestors encounter with the Expedition and white culture to anyone who will listen I think we have finally gotten to a place where our ears are open or at at least they are semi unplugged and we are not as much distracted by the crowing of bad birds we are at a point in our history where we can see the connectedness of man and nature we know the impact man makes on his environment the story of Lewis and Clark and the people they encountered becomes much more richer and more enlightening if we remember there is more than one way of telling and of hearing a story thank you thank you very much Stephanie um if anybody has any questions I'll come around with the microphone and can ask them I understand you enjoy the West better than the East uh yeah yes I do I'm I live in Helena Montana so I guess that proves that point yes I do we miss you in the office but uh anyhow um are you accepting the changes on L high pass you know I can't say that I am it breaks my heart to think that there's going to be a p that I guess there is a paved Road up there now um I haven't been up there in probably 15 years uh my father made the mistake of telling people that we would spend every 4th of July up there so one year we actually got a call from some people saying we're here where are you you know and so we we did do that a lot uh more in my younger days I guess you would say is go up there every fourth of July but now we've kind of we've broadened our Horizons and we do other sites on the 4th of July but those memories that we um that he writes about in The Book of us having a celebration up there still are very precious to me so that's part of the reason I can't you know it's hard for me to go back up there but I will be headed that way soon and and um you know I just hope that the people people who live around there make sure that it's well taken care of and that we don't have people taking you know rocks out of there and picking up pieces of uh leftover whatever other than trash I I would like them to pick up the trash but I wouldn't I would just say leave the rest of it and take only pictures when you go up there but I'm sure you already know that so any other questions well thank you very much for coming out on this hot and Smoky day and um I look forward to to meeting you all somewhere along the trail thank you thank