Here’s an interesting and uplifting story about a new camp that brings the youth of two nations together to keep traditions alive:

By Laura Lunquist, of the Ravalli Republic:

Sometimes one critical grant can bring different people with similar ideas together.

The culmination of one local set of ideas and grants started Wednesday when 21 seventh-graders from the Bitterroot and Flathead valleys came together in Hamilton for the first Salish-Bitterroot Summer Camp and Cultural Exchange.

Camp coordinator Steve Archibald welcomed the campers at Hieronymus Park, saying they were the first of many to reach across the Clark Fork River to celebrate both the Salish and the recent history of the Bitterroot Valley.

“This is the place the Salish called home. The park is one of the campgrounds of the Salish, so we decided to start here,” Archibald said.

After introductions, nine campers from the Bitterroot and 12 from the Flathead Indian Reservation intermingled and split into two teams to learn the traditional Native American game of shinney, which is similar to field hockey.

“I expect those of you who know the game to help those who don’t,” said Marie Torosian of the People’s Center in Pablo as she taught the basics. “It used to be the duty of the youth of the tribe to teach the younger children because it taught teamwork and the fact we need to look after each other.”

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There are few in the world of higher education who aren’t holding their breath as Congress and state legislatures talk cuts, cuts, cuts. And tribal colleges are no exception.

The Missoulian’s Vince Devlin examines what massive funding shortages could do to Salish Kootenai College, on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

SKC, arguably the most successful tribal college in the nation, could face up to $1 million in cuts, which would mean laying off faculty, and see a steep decline in student assistance funds.

There’s been much talk about how proposed cuts at the federal and state levels will affect Montana’s university system, including its community colleges, SKC President Luana Ross says.

But she’s seen little discussion about the potential effects on Montana’s tribal colleges.

SKC is facing the loss of almost $500,000 in direct state and federal funds. If that happens, says Lon Whitaker, vice president of business affairs on the Pablo campus, the fallout – including higher tuition, which could lead to a drop in enrollment – could double the impact on the school, and take away job training and educational opportunities for people who need it most.

. . .

“The way out of poverty is education,” SKC’s president says. “That’s almost a no-brainer.”

Jenna Cederberg

It was a time to share tradition – how things were done in the “old days.”

Bernie Azure of the Char-Koosta newspaper on the Flathead Indian Reservation chronicled the activity at the four-day event during a visit to the third annual Salish hunting camp at the Agnes Vanderburg Camp last week. The camp brought together youth and elders to showcase the necessary tasks and teamwork used by tribes in the past to prepare for winter.

Originally conceptualized by Salish elder Johnny Arlee, this year’s coordinator Charlie Quequesah said the event helps recognize the importance of passing hunting traditions down to kids, to ensure the future generations too are connected to the culture.

The days at the hunting camp begin with a morning wake up song. The boys and hunting guides then take a quick dip in Valley Creek to clean up. Following a quick breakfast the males and guides split up in teams then hit the trail in search of game. A traditional blessing of thanks is performed for each animal felled in the field. Once animal is field dressed it is taken back to the hunting camp for the women to prepare.

Each year the traditional hunting camp has a special Indian elder guest who gives the keynote speech. This year, Dr. Joe Medicine Crow from the Crow Nation was chosen. The 97-year-old Medicine Crow is a World War II hero, Chief of the Crow Nation for life, an educator, historian and writer. He is a member of the Bozeman-based American Indian Institute’s Circle of Elders. The Institute was the main financial sponsor of the camp.

Jenna Cederberg

Bittersweet story by Kim Briggeman of the Missoulian in Montana:

STEVENSVILLE – It’s been nearly 120 years since the Bitterroot Salish left the Bitterroot Valley, but the roots remain strong.

“My great-grandmother, my grandmother and my mother were all on the march,” Virginia Fyant whispered in the back of the tiny St. Mary’s Mission chapel as Catholic Mass wound down Sunday afternoon.

The march of October 1891 was the final removal of Chief Charlo and 200 of his followers, who left their homes and walked down the valley, across the Higgins Avenue Bridge in Missoula, and up to the Jocko Reservation agency near Arlee.

An embittered Charlo never returned to the Bitterroot. But in 1911, the year following his death, the citizens of Stevensville sent an emissary to the Flathead agency to invite the Bitterroot Salish back for a visit to mark the 20th anniversary of their banishment.

According to historian Ellen Baumler, the resulting event was three days of feasting, dancing and storytelling. The Salish have been making the pilgrimage back to St. Mary’s Mission every third weekend of September for the 99 years since.

“We always come back … to reconnect not only with our ancestors but with a way of life that ended back over 100 years ago,” said Tony Incashola.

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Here’s how Keila Szpaller of the Missoulian tells the tale, via Johnny Arlee:

When the Salish people first saw horses, they weren’t sure what they were seeing, said Johnny Arlee, a spiritual and cultural leader of the Flathead Reservation: “They thought they were monsters, half human and half animal.”

The Shoshone Tribe had raided a Salish hunting party, and the survivors returned to camp and formed a group to retaliate. Instead of descending on the Shoshone right away, though, the Salish observed them.

They noticed their enemies tending horses and leading them to water. Arlee, vice chairman of the 2010 Arlee Celebration Committee, said a plan for revenge emerged: “Instead of wiping them out, let’s go steal what they like.”

The Salish did, and on their way walking back to camp, someone suggested the group could get away from the Shoshone faster if people rode the horses, as they had witnessed.

Scouts at home saw the men astride the horses and at first mistook them for monsters. Salish people at camp nearly fled until the riders signaled their identity, said Arlee, who told the story. Then, the Shoshone arrived in pursuit of their animals.

“The Shoshone came and begged for their horses back,” Arlee said.

The Salish said no and explained they had taken the horses to retaliate for the deaths of their own people. Eventually, though, the parties came to an agreement, and the tribes became allies. The bond had formed over the horses.

Want to read more? Click here, where you can see a video, too. And enjoy!

Gwen Florio

Happy Father’s Day!
Jim Boyd’s song, “Father and Farther,” was featured in “Smoke Signals,” the movie based on Sherman Alexie’s short stories. Meanwhile, in Carroll County, Ark., the annual Father’s Day Powwow is going on this weekend, according to this Carroll County News story. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

Sounding off on New York’s latest cigarette tax plan aimed at Native Americans
Managing editor Eric DuVall of the Tonawanda News does not think much of New York’s plan to tax tribes’ cigarette sales. Of the complicated plan, he says here: “Either system would be surely subjected to a court review, and considering either system does mean that Native Americans will be taxed on sales to fellow Native Americans, it’s likely to be struck down. And if it isn’t, I sincerely hope they go back to burning tires on the Thruway.”

Deadline extended in Keepseagle suit on behalf of Indian farmers and ranchers
Shades of Cobell – the deadline to settle a lawsuit on behalf of Native American farmers and ranchers denied access to USDA loans has been extended until July 29. A tentative agreement in a similar case involve Hispanic ranchers reportedly has been reached, Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Today writes here. A report in the Keepseagle v. Vilsack case estimates Native farmers and ranchers were denied about $3 billion in credit, resulting in between $500 million and $1 billion in damages.

Salish language camp attracts students of all ages
Last week’s Salish language camp on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana was a blend of old and new, B.L. Azure writes here in the Char-Koosta News. Part of the Salish Language and Culture Camp held by the Salish Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee involved lessons by Shirley Trahan, who used a MacBook Pro computer loaded with the Salish language font.

Wisconsin tells school to dump Ho-Chunk chief logo
The state of Wisconsin wants the Osseo-Fairchild high school to ditch its nickname — the Chieftains — and logo of a Ho-Chunk chief. Local parents Harvey and Carol Gunderson filed a complaint about the logo. “It’s about a matter of psychological harm to students. Research has found that it lowers the self-esteem of American-Indian students, but it raises the self-esteem of European-American students,” Harvey Gunderson tells WQOW, here. The state agrees, but a school board member is fighting the order. A hearing is set for June 28.

Gwen Florio

Quilting project honors Native children who died in boarding schools
Jamestown, N.D., resident Ellen Pfeiffer first learned about Indian boarding schools from her former husband, a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe whose grandmother was taken from her family and sent to the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. She found the story heartbreaking, and began to study the era. Barbara Landis, Carlisle Indian School biographer, reports that nearly 10,000 Indian children went to Carlisle in its 40-year-history. Of those, nearly 200 children died, most of them of respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

Pfeiffer believes the schools, whose purpose was to assimilate Indian children, did a disservice to Native Americans. Now she’s making quilts to honor the children who died so far from their families. The project involves 186 quilts, according to this Jamestown Sun story distributed by the Associated Press.

Connecticut tribes blast state’s plan to add keno games
Connecticut is looking at adding keno games to help close a $1.3 billion budget shortfall. But tribal casinos – which already offer it – are crying foul, saying it could cut into their profits, Indian Country Today’s Gale Courey Toensing writes here. Jackson King, general counsel for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, says that if the state launches keno, the tribes could stop making payments to the state based on their own earnings, because of a violation of the compact.

Navajo Nation plans five casinos within two years
Despite a drop in gaming revenues around the country, the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise says it has secured the funding for five news casinos, and plans to build them within the next two years, according to the Navajo Times. Investment Committee members say gaming looks like more secure route than the stock market these days.

Seneca Nation stops effort to ban mail-order smokes in New York
The New York Times has this story on how the Seneca Nation turned around a bill designed to halt the shipment of mail-order cigarettes. The bill was approved by the New York House of Representatives and a Senate committee, before the Seneca Nation, which sees more than $1 billion annually in gambling and cigarette revenues, launched a full-scale lobbying effort to stop it.

Nunavut to substantially cut polar bear harvest quota; hunters object
Over the next four years, the annual hunting quota for Baffin Bay polar bears will gradually be reduced from 105 to 65, according to the Nunatsiaq News. Biologists are worried the bears are being overhunted, and Greenland has already reduced its quotas. But some hunters are demanding compensation for their communities.

Salish Kootenai College honors lifelong Salish language teacher Sophie Mays
Last month, family and friends on the Flathead Indian Reservation gathered at Salish Kootenai College to dedicate Sophie’s Room. It honors Sophie “Supi” Quequesah Mays died last year at the age of 56, the Char-Koosta News reports. Mays, who grew up with parents who spoke only Salish, dedicated her life to preserving the Salish language. She was the first Salish teacher when the college was founded.

Gwen Florio

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have decided not to participate in a centennial commemoration of homesteading on their reservation.

The issue of commemoration was always a touchy one – the U.S. government opened the reservation in western Montana to nontribal homesteaders in 1910 after the death of Chief Charlo, who had long oppposed it.

Nontribal people quickly snapped up homesteads on Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille tribal territory, as this Missoulian story by Vince Devlin recounts.

More than a year ago, Lois Hart, head of the Polson Flathead Historical Museum, sought to involve the tribes in the commemoration.

“I told them it would be called a commemoration, because it’s not a celebration,” she said back then. “But I also said we would do nothing unless they wanted to be a full partner.”

As Devlin writes:

With the allotment and homesteading, the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille people quickly became a minority on their own reservation and have remained such for a century now.

Some residents, of course – both tribal and nontribal – can trace some or all of their roots here back to the first homesteaders. While it pales in comparison to the thousands of years that Indians were here before the United States was formed, the last 100 years remains a considerable chunk of U.S. history, and an even bigger chunk of the state’s. Montana was just 21 years old when the reservation was opened to homesteading.

“It’s a complicated history,” [CSKT spokesman Rob] McDonald said, “and it’s further complicated when small factions pop up and want to add their own spin to it.”

Hart says the tribes’ decision will significantly change the commemoriation.

Gwen Florio

With apologies to Joni Mitchell for that tortured reference. But if you read one story today, please read make it this one, about the love-hate relationship that tribes in what is now Montana and Canada have with “The Anchor of All” – known on maps today as Glacier National Park. Here’s how this beautiful piece of writing by Michael Jamison of the Missoulian starts:

WEST GLACIER – They used to dance here.



Woody Kipp, a Blackfeet teacher, protects himself from the wind blowing out of the mountains as he tries to light a cigarette outside Browning. “Don’t curse the wind,” he says. “It’s the breath of our ancestors to keep us fresh.” (Kurt Wilson/Missoulian)

Back before the tourists and the motor inns, before roadways and boat ramps, before blacktop and gift shops and bus stops.

They danced in the winter, when the year was young, to the song of water, the song of chickadee, nuthatch, wren and raven. They danced for health and wealth and for food, danced the circular trail of the seasons to come, danced songs given by spirit helpers, at the beginning.

“For 10,000 generations, the Kootenai people danced there, and it became known as The Place Where They Dance,” said Vernon Finley. “It was our home.”

Now, that place is known as Apgar, on the shores of an ancient waterway known today as Lake McDonald, shining like a sapphire in a mountain vastness known as Glacier National Park.

Those new names are about a century old now – as is Glacier Park – but there were older names, Finley said, names tangled in stories of other times.

Some of those names are spoken in the Blackfeet language, some in Salish. Finley’s names are spoken in Kootenai, and he’s a keeper of those words.

To read the rest, and view Kurt Wilson’s stunning photography, as well as historical photos, click here.


Gwen Florio