Lifeways of Montana’s First People · Book: Keeping the Spirit Alive 6 Postcards 13 Historic...

User GuideProvided by The Montana Historical Society

Education Office(406) 444-4789

www.montanahistoricalsociety.org

Funded by a Grant from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation

©2002 The Montana Historical Society

Lifeways ofMontana’s First People

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Lifeways of Montana’s First People

Table of ContentsI. Introduction

Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Footlocker Use—Some Advice for Instructors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

MHS Educational Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Primary Sources and How to Use Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Standards and Skills for Lifeways of Montana’s First People . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

II. Background Information

Historical Narrative for Fourth Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Historical Narrative for Instructors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Outline for Classroom Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Amazing Montanans—Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Vocabulary List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

III. Lessons

Lesson 1: The Staff of Life: Buffalo (Apstani), Blackfeet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Lesson 2: Kinship System and Clothing Styles, Crow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Lesson 3: Horse Power, Nez Perce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Lesson 4: Seasons of the People, Salish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Lesson 5: A Valuable Trade, Shoshone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

IV. Resources and Reference Materials

Worksheets and Independent Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

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Borrower: ___________________________________________ Booking Period: ____________________

The borrower is responsible for the safe use of the footlocker and all its contents during thedesignated booking period. Replacement and/or repair for any lost items and/or damage (otherthan normal wear and tear) to the footlocker and its contents while in the borrower’s care will becharged to the borrower’s school. Please have an adult complete the footlocker inventorychecklist below, both when you receive the footlocker and when you repack it forshipping, to ensure that all of the contents are intact. After you inventory the footlockerfor shipping to the next location, please mail or fax this completed form to the Education Office.

1 Infant-size Elk Tooth Dress

1 Boy’s Breastplate

1 Woman’s Breastplate

1 Woman’s Choker

1 Horse model with beaded martingale

2 Display Cases Containing Decorative Items

1 Packet of DyedPorcupine Quills

1 Piece of Bison Hide

1 Dentillium Sample

Mounted Hair Pipe (2)

1 Trade Token

Pink Conch Shell (1)

1 Parfleche

Sinew (1),Buckskin (1),Rawhide (1) Scraps

Inventory

ITEM BEFORE AFTER CONDITION OF ITEM MHSUSE USE USE

(continued)

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1 Confederated Salish& Kootenai TribalFlag

1 Beaver Pelt

1 Horse Hair Fob

1 Horse Hair Belt

1 Skein of Horse Hair

1 Bitterroot Heart (Fragile!)

26 Paper Tokens

Deer (1), Elk (1), Bison (1) Toe Nails

CD Rom: Bison: A Living Story

DVD: Brain Tanning

8 Reservation Maps

Audio CD: Little Ax: Live at Napi

Audio CD: Among My Blackfeet People,The BlackfeetVolume I

Book: Running Eagle

Book: Montana: Old Places-New Faces

Book: NativeAmericanLiterature: Montanaand NorthcentralRegionalPublications

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleInventory (continued)

(continued)

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Education Office, Montana Historical Society, PO Box 201201, Helena, MT 59620-1201 Fax: 406-444-2696, Phone: 406-444-9553, [email protected]

Inventory completed by Date


Book: Eagle Feathers The Highest Honor

Coloring book: Gifts of the Buffalo Nation

Book: Keeping the Spirit Alive

6 Postcards

13 Historic photos

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleInventory (continued)

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Footlocker Contents

Right: Boy’sBreastplate and

Choker

Below: Bitterrroot Heart,Dyed Porcupine Quills,Dentillium, Trade Tokens,Pink Conch Shell, Hairpipe

Left: Horse Hair, Braided HorseHair Fob, Braided Horse Hair Belt

(continued)

Left:Woman’sBreastplate

Below: Display Casesof Decorative Items

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Below: Videos and CDs

Below: Books

Below: Beaver Pelt,Elk Tooth Dress

Right: Flag, Book, Parfleche

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleFootlocker Contents (continued)

Right: Deer, Elk, and BisonToenails; Buckskin;

Rawhide; Sinew

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Footlocker Use–Some Advice for Instructors

How do I make the best use of thefootlocker? In this User Guide you will find many toolsfor teaching with objects and primary sources.We have included teacher and student levelnarratives, as well as a classroom outline, toprovide you with background knowledge onthe topic. In section one there are introductoryworksheets on how to look at/read maps,primary documents, photographs, and artifacts.These will provide you and your studentsvaluable tools for future study. Section threecontains lesson plans for exploration of thetopic in your classroom—these lessons utilizethe objects, photographs, and documents inthe footlocker. The “Resources andReference Materials” section contains shortactivities and further exploration activities, aswell as bibliographies.

What do I do when I receive the footlocker? IMMEDIATELY upon receiving thefootlocker, take an inventory form from theenvelope inside and inventory the contents inthe “before use” column. Save the form foryour “after use” inventory. This helps uskeep track of the items in the footlockers,and enables us to trace back and find wherean item might have been lost.

What do I do when it is time to sendthe footlocker on to the next person?Carefully inventory all of the items again asyou put them in the footlocker. If any itemsshow up missing or broken at the next site,your school will be charged for the item(s).Send the inventory form back to:

Education Office, Montana Historical Society,Box 201201, Helena, MT 59620-1201 orfax at (406) 444-2696.

Who do I send the footlocker to?At the beginning of the month you received aconfirmation form from the Education Office.On that form you will find information aboutto whom to send the footlocker, with amailing label to affix to the top of thefootlocker. Please insure the footlocker for$1000 with UPS (we recommend UPS, asthey are easier and more reliable then the USPostal Service) when you mail it. This makescertain that if the footlocker is lost on its wayto the next school, UPS will pay for it andnot your school.

What do I do if something is missingor broken when the footlockerarrives, or is missing or brokenwhen it leaves my classroom? If an item is missing or broken when youinitially inventory the footlocker, CONTACTUS IMMEDIATELY (406-444-4789), inaddition to sending us the completed (beforeand after use) inventory form. This allows usto track down the missing item. It may alsorelease your school from the responsibility ofpaying to replace a missing item. Ifsomething is broken during its time in yourclassroom, please call us and let us know sothat we can have you send us the item forrepair. If an item turns up missing when youinventory before sending it on, please searchyour classroom. If you cannot find it, yourschool will be charged for the missing item.

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Footlocker Evaluation Form____________________________________________________________ ______________________Evaluator’s Name Footlocker Name

____________________________________________________________ ______________________School Name Phone

___________________________________________ ________________ ______________________Address City Zip Code

1. How did you use the material? (choose all that apply)■■ School-wide exhibit ■■ Classroom exhibit ■■ “Hands-on” classroom discussion

■■ Supplement to curriculum ■■ Other___________________________________________

2. How would you describe the audience/viewer? (choose all that apply)■■ Pre-school students ■■ Grade school—Grade____ ■■ High school—Grade____

■■ College students ■■ Seniors ■■ Mixed groups ■■ Special interest

■■ Other____________________________________________________________________________

2a. How many people viewed/used the footlocker?______

3. Which of the footlocker materials were most engaging?■■ Artifacts ■■ Documents ■■ Photographs ■■ Lessons ■■ Video

■■ Audio Cassette ■■ Books ■■ Slides ■■ Other______________________

4. Which of the User Guide materials were most useful?■■ Narratives ■■ Lessons ■■ Resource Materials ■■ Biographies/Vocabulary■■ Other____________________________________________________________________________

5. How many class periods did you devote to using the footlocker?■■ 1-3 ■■ 4-6 ■■ More than 6 ■■ Other________

6. What activities or materials would you like to see added to this footlocker?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

(continued)

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7. Would you request this footlocker again? If not, why?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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8. What subject areas do you think should be addressed in future footlockers?

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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9. What were the least useful aspects of the footlocker/User Guide?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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10. Other comments.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleFootlocker Evaluation Form (continued)

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Montana Historical Society Educational ResourcesFootlockers, Slides, and Videos

FootlockersStones and Bones: Prehistoric Tools from Montana’s Past— Explores Montana'sprehistory and archaeology through a study of reproduction stone and bone tools. Contains castsand reproductions from the Anzick collection.

Daily Life on the Plains: 1820-1900— Developed by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, thisfootlocker includes items used by American Indians, such as a painted deerskin robe, parfleche,war regalia case, shield, Indian games, and many creative and educational curriculum materials.

Discover the Corps of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Montana—Investigates the Corps’ journey through Montana and their encounters with American Indians.Includes a Grizzly hide, trade goods, books, and more!

Cavalry and Infantry: The U.S. Military on the Montana Frontier— Illustrates thefunction of the U. S. military and the life of an enlisted man on Montana’s frontier, 1860 to1890.

From Traps to Caps: The Montana Fur Trade— Gives students a glimpse at how furtraders, 1810-1860, lived and made their living along the creeks and valleys of Montana.

Inside and Outside the Home: Homesteading in Montana 1900-1920— Focuses on thethousands of people who came to Montana’s plains in the early 20th century in hope of make aliving through dry-land farming.

Prehistoric Life in Montana— Explores Montana prehistory and archaeology through a studyof the Pictograph Cave prehistoric site.

Gold, Silver, and Coal—Oh My!: Mining Montana’s Wealth— Lets students consider whatdrew so many people to Montana in the 19th century and how the mining industry developedand declined.

Coming to Montana: Immigrants from Around the World— Montana, not unlike the restof America, is a land of immigrants, people who came from all over the world in search of theirfortunes and a better way of life. This footlocker showcases the culture, countries, traditions,and foodways of these immigrants through reproduction artifacts, clothing, toys, and activities.

(continued)

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Montana Indians: 1860-1920— Continues the story of Montana’s First People during thetime when miners, ranchers, and the military came West and conflicted with the Indians’traditional ways of life.

Woolies and Whinnies: The Sheep and Cattle Industry in Montana—Looks at thefascinating stories of cattle, horse, and sheep ranching in Montana from 1870 to 1920.

The Cowboy Artist: A View of Montana History— Over 40 Charles M. Russell prints, aslide show, cowboy songs, and hands-on artifacts are used as a window into Montana history.Lessons discuss Russell’s art and how he interpreted aspects of Montana history, including theLewis and Clark expedition, cowboy and western life, and Montana’s Indians. Students will learnart appreciation skills and learn how to interpret paintings, in addition to creating their ownmasterpieces on Montana history topics.

The Treasure Chest: A Look at the Montana State Symbols—The Grizzly Bear, CutthroatTrout, Bitterroot, and all of the other state’s symbols are an important connection to Montana’shistory. This footlocker will provide students the opportunity to explore hands-on educationalactivities to gain a greater appreciation of our state’s symbols and their meanings.

Lifeways of Montana’s First People—Contains reproduction artifacts and contemporaryAmerican Indian objects, as well as lessons that focus on the lifeways of the five tribes (Salish,Blackfeet, Nez Perce, Shoshone, and Crow) who utilized the land we now know as Montana inthe years around 1800. Lessons will focus on aspects of the tribes’ lifeways prior to the Corpsof Discovery’s expedition, and an encounter with the Corps.

East Meets West: The Chinese Experience in Montana— The Chinese were one of thelargest groups of immigrants that flocked in to Montana during the 1800s in search of gold,however only a few remain today. Lessons explore who came to Montana and why, the customsthat they brought with them to America, how they contributed to Montana communities, andwhy they left.

Architecture: It’s All Around You— In every town and city, Montana is rich in historicarchitecture. This footlocker explores the different architectural styles and elements of buildings,including barns, grain elevators, railroad stations, houses, and stores, plus ways in which we cankeep those buildings around for future generations.

Tools of the Trade: Montana Industry and Technology— Explores the evolution of toolsand technology in Montana from the 1600’s to the present. Includes reproduction artifacts thatrepresent tools from various trades, including: the timber and mining industries, fur trapping,railroad, ranching and farming, and the tourism industry.

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleEducational Resources Footlockers, Slides, and Videos (continued)

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SLIDESChildren in Montana— presents life in Montana during the late 1800s and early 1900sthrough images of children and their written reminiscences.

Fight for Statehood and Montana’s Capital— outlines how Montana struggled to become astate and to select its capital city.

Frontier Towns— illustrates the development, character, and design of early Montanacommunities.

Jeannette Rankin: Woman of Peace— presents the life and political influence of the firstwoman elected to Congress.

Native Americans Lose Their Lands— examines the painful transition for native peoples toreservations.

Power Politics in Montana— covers the period of 1889 to the First World War whenMontana politics were influenced most by the copper industry.

The Depression in Montana— examines the impact of the Depression and the federalresponse to the Depression in Montana.

The Energy Industry— discusses the history and future of the energy industry in Montana.

Transportation— describes how people traveled in each era of Montana’s development andwhy transportation has so influenced our history.

(continued)


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VIDEOS Capitol Restoration Video— shows the history, art, and architecture of Montana's StateCapitol prior to the 1999 restoration. Created by students at Capital High School in Helena.

“I’ll ride that horse!” Montana Women Bronc Riders— Montana is the home of a richtradition of women bronc riders who learned to rope, break, and ride wild horses. Their skilland daring as horsewomen easily led to riding broncs on rodeo circuits around the world. Listento some to the fascinating women tell their inspiring stories.

Montana: 1492— Montana's Native Americans describe the lifeways of their early ancestors.

People of the Hearth— features the role of the hearth in the lives of southwestern Montana'sPaleoindians.

Russell and His Work— depicts the life and art of Montana’s cowboy artist, Charles M.Russell.

The Sheepeaters: Keepers of the Past— When the first white men visited Yellowstone in theearly nineteenth century, a group of reclusive Shoshone-speaking Indians known as theSheepeaters inhabited the Plateau. They had neither guns nor horses and lived a stone-agelifestyle, hunting Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep for food and clothing. Modern archaeologyand anthropology along with firsthand accounts of trappers and explorers help to tell the storyof the Sheepeaters.


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Primary Sources and How to Use Them

The Montana Historical Society Education Office has prepared a series of worksheets tointroduce you and your students to the techniques of investigating historical items: artifacts,documents, maps, and photographs. The worksheets introduce students to the common practiceof using artifacts, documents, maps, and photographs to reveal historical information. Throughthe use of these worksheets, students will acquire skills that will help them better understand thelessons in the User Guide. Students will also be able to take these skills with them to futurelearning, i.e. research and museum visits. These worksheets help unveil the secrets of artifacts,documents, maps, and photographs.

See the examples below for insight into using theseworksheets.

ArtifactsPictured at left is an elk-handled spoon, one of 50,000 artifactspreserved by the Montana Historical Society Museum. Here are somethings we can decipher just by observing it: It was hand-carved from ananimal horn. It looks very delicate.

From these observations, we might conclude that the spoon wasprobably not for everyday use, but for special occasions. Furtherresearch has told us that it was made by a Sioux Indian around 1900.This artifact tells us that the Sioux people carved ornamental items, theyused spoons, and they had a spiritual relationship with elk.

PhotographsThis photograph is one of 350,000 in the MontanaHistorical Society Photographic Archives. After looking atthe photograph, some of the small “secrets” that we canfind in it include: the shadow of the photographer, therough fence in the background, the belt on the woman’sskirt, and the English-style riding saddle.

Questions that might be asked of the woman in the photoare: Does it take a lot of balance to stand on a horse, is ithard? Was it a hot day? Why are you using an English-style riding saddle?

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DocumentsThis document is part of the MontanaHistorical Society’s archival collection.Reading the document can give us a lot ofinformation: It is an oath pledging to catchthieves. It was signed by 23 men inDecember of 1863. It mentions secrecy, soobviously this document was only meant tobe read by the signers.

Further investigation tell us that this is theoriginal Vigilante Oath signed by the VirginiaCity Vigilantes in 1863. The two things thisdocument tell us about life in Montana in the1860s are: there were lots of thieves inVirginia City and that traditional lawenforcement was not enough, so citizens tookto vigilance to clean up their community.

MapsThis map is part of the map collection of the Library of Congress. Information that can begathered from observing the map includes: The subject of the map is the northwestern region ofthe United States—west of the Mississippi River. The map is dated 1810 and was drawn byWilliam Clark. The three things that are important about this map are: it shows that there is noall-water route to the Pacific Ocean, it documents the Rocky Mountains, and it shows the manytributaries of the Missouri River.

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeoplePrimary Sources and How to Use Them (continued)

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How to Look at an Artifact(Adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration Artifact Analysis Worksheet.)

Artifact: An object produced or shaped by human workmanship of archaeological orhistorical interest.

1. What materials were used to make this artifact?

■■ Bone

■■ Pottery

■■ Metal

■■ Wood

■■ Stone

■■ Leather

■■ Glass

■■ Paper

■■ Cardboard

■■ Cotton

■■ Plastic

2. Describe how it looks and feels:

Shape ____________________________________

Color _____________________________________

Texture ___________________________________

Size ______________________________________

Weight____________________________________

Moveable Parts ____________________________

Anything written, printed, or stamped on it

__________________________________________

■■ Other_______________________

Draw and color pictures of the object from the top, bottom, and side views.

Top Bottom Side

(continued)

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3. Uses of the Artifacts.

A. How was this artifact used? __________________________________________________________

B. Who might have used it?_____________________________________________________________

C. When might it have been used?_______________________________________________________

D. Can you name a similar item used today? _____________________________________________

4. Sketch the object you listed in question 3.D.

5. Classroom DiscussionA. What does the artifact tell us about technology of the time in which it was

made and used?

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

B. What does the artifact tell us about the life and times of the people who made and used it?

____________________________________________________________________________________

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleHow to Look at an Artifact (continued)

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How to Look at a Photograph(Adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration Photograph Analysis Worksheet.)

Photograph: an image recorded by a camera and reproduced on a photosensitive surface.

1. Spend some time looking at the whole photograph. Now look at the smallest thing in the photograph that you can find.

What secrets do you see? ____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

2. Can you find people, objects, or activities in the photograph? List them below.

People _____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Objects_____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

Activities ___________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

3. What questions would you like to ask of one of the people in the photograph?

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

4. Where could you find the answers to your questions?

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

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■■ Stamps

■■ Other _________________________

■■ Letterhead

■■ Handwriting

■■ Typed Letters

■■ Seal

2. Which of the following is on the document:

How to Look at a Written Document(Adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration Written Analysis Worksheet.)

Document: A written paper bearing the original, official, or legal form of something and which can beused to furnish decisive evidence or information.

1. Type of document:

■■ Newspaper

■■ Letter

■■ Patent

■■ Journal

■■ Map

■■ Telegram

■■ Press Release

■■ Advertisement

■■ Diary

■■ Census Record

■■ Other__________________________

3. Date or dates of document: ________________________________________________

4. Author or creator:__________________________________________________________

5. Who was supposed to read the document? ________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

6. List two things the author said that you think are important:

1. __________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________

7. List two things this document tells you about life in Montana at the

time it was written:

1. __________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________

8. Write a question to the author left unanswered by the document:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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How to Look at a Map(Adapted from the National Archives and Records Administration Map Analysis Worksheet.)

Map: A representation of a region of the earth or stars.

1. What is the subject of the map?

3. Date of map: _______________________________________________________________

4. Mapmaker: _________________________________________________________________

5. Where was the map made: _________________________________________________

6. List three things on this map that you think are important: ______________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

7. Why do you think this map was drawn? ___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

8. Write a question to the mapmaker that is left unanswered by the map.

_____________________________________________________________________________

■■ Compass

■■ Date

■■ Notes

■■ Scale

■■ Key

■■ Title

■■ Name of mapmaker

■■ Other ______________________________

2. Which of the following items is on the map?

■■ River

■■ Prairie

■■ Stars/Sky

■■ Town

■■ Mountains

■■ Other ________________________________

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Standards and Skills

State 4th Grade Social Studies Standards

Lesson Number: 1 2 3 4 5

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Students access, synthesize, and evaluateinformation to communicate and apply socialstudies knowledge to real world situations.

Students analyze how people create and changestructures of power, authority, and governanceto understand the operation of government andto demonstrate civic responsibility.

Students apply geographic knowledge and skill(e.g., location, place, human/environmentinteractions, movement, and regions).

Students demonstrate an understanding of theeffects of time, continuity, and change onhistorical and future perspectives andrelationships.

Students make informed decisions based on anunderstanding of the economic principles ofproduction, distribution, exchange, andconsumption.

Students demonstrate an understanding of theimpact of human interaction and culturaldiversity on societies.

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Skill Areas

Lesson Number: 1 2 3 4 5

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✔

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✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

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Using primary documents

Using objects

Using photographs

Art

Science

Math

Reading/writing

Map Skills

Drama, performance, re-creation

Group work

Research

Music

Bodily/Kinesthetic

Field Trip

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleStandards and Skills (continued)

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The BlackfeetThe Blackfeet call themselves “Pikuni,” whichmeans “The Real People.” However, settlerscalled them Blackfeet because the bottoms oftheir moccasins were black. The Blackfeeteither dyed their moccasins black or theywere darkened by ash from fires.

The Blackfeet considered the buffalo theirstaff of life, as it provided everything theyneeded to live. Although they hunted otherlarge animals and also gathered vegetablesand berries to eat, the buffalo was their mainsource of food. They used every part of thebuffalo for everyday items such as their tipis,cooking pots, spoons and blankets.

While the Blackfeet are famous for theirhorsemanship, they did not always ownhorses. Before horses, the lived in what isknown as the “Dog Days.” During most ofthe year, Blackfeet hunting bands, made upof families and relatives, traveled aroundfollowing and hunting the buffalo. Dogs wereused to help the band move, includinghelping to drag the families’ tipis and otherthings. During the dog days, the Blackfeethad to hunt buffalo by foot using buffalojumps, surrounds, and pounds. (See “DogDay Buffalo Hunts.”)

When the settlers came west, they tradedwith the Blackfeet. Blackfeet traded buffalohides for horses (which they called the elk-dog) and guns. These items changed how theBlackfeet lived because it made it easier forthem to travel and hunt. The chase becamethe preferred way of hunting buffalo. (See“Buffalo Hunting Using Horses.”) They alsotraded for iron pots, iron arrowheads, metalknives, paints and beads which made moretime to enjoy family and friends as well as artand beadwork.

However, as more and more pioneers andsettlers moved into their territory for land,gold, and railroads, the buffalo begandisappearing and the Blackfeet had to adaptto a new way of life without hunting andchasing the buffalo.

The CrowThe Crow name for their tribe is“Apsaalooka” meaning “Children of the Big-Beaked Bird.” Extended family was veryimportant to the Crow people. Groups called“clans,” that included their grandparents,parents, uncles, aunts, cousins and brothersand sisters, related them. In these clans, an

Historical Narrative for Fourth Graders

Bad Horse, wife Ursula and child—Crow Indians.

continued

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleHistorical Narrative for Fourth Graders (continued)

aunt was considered a mother, an uncle wasconsidered a father, and cousins wereconsidered brothers and sisters. Because theclan was the family unit, a Crow child hadmany people she considered a part of herprimary family.

Each Crow person was a member of theCrow tribe and also belonged to a clan. Eachperson also lived with a “band,” which wassimilar to several villages living together.Because there were so many people wholived across a large territory, each band livedin a different geographical area. Once a yearduring the summer, the entire tribe (all of thebands) would gather together for religiousceremonies and to visit each other.

Each village band had a Council of Chiefswho was led by a Head Chief, who was called“The Good Man.” Each village and band alsohad other “officials” such as the camp police,the camp crier (or spokesperson), and theweatherman and medicine man, who wereboth advisors to the chief.

A chief had to earn his position by achievingeach of the four established war deeds:

• Counting coup. This means striking anenemy with your hand, a stick or aweapon without killing him.

• Capturing a picketed horse from withinthe enemy camp. This was a very braveact as the finest horses (usually onesused for buffalo hunting) were picketedright outside the owner’s tipi. Thismeant one had to be very quiet so asnot to wake up the sleeping people, butalso not alarm the horse.

• Taking away an enemy’s weapon. Thiswas a very brave act because it countedon hand to hand combat rather thanusing guns.

• Leading a war party that returned tocamp safely without anybody beingkilled.

If several men had achieved all four deeds,the village or band would consider them part

of the council of chiefs, but only one wouldrank as the head chief. The head chief waschosen not only because of his war deeds,but also because the people respected himfor his leadership ability, speaking ability,personality, medicine/spiritual power,wisdom, generosity and honesty. A headchief only held his position for as long as thepeople had confidence in him.

When the settlers moved into Crow Country,they did not understand that the Crow were ahighly organized tribe that had such astructured family. However, this organizationbrought order to the tribe as well as anindividual’s responsibility to the group.

The Nez PerceThe Nez Perce stories of their history tell oftheir people’s beginning in north centralIdaho at the dawn of time. Archaeologistshave found evidence of the Nez Perce in theirhomelands that dates back over 11,000 yearsago. The name “Nez Perce” is a French term

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Yellow Wolf—Warrior of Nez Perce Tribe. continued

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continued

for pierced nose. The actual tribal name ofthe Nez Perce is Nimiipuu, meaning ‘thePeople”. The homelands of the Nimiipuuincluded a large land base in north centralIdaho, southeastern Washington andnortheastern Oregon.

The Nimiipuu made their living by hunting,fishing, and plant gathering. The Clearwaterand Snake rives provided an abundance offish, and the high plateaus were bountifulwith plants. Fishing was the largest part ofthe Nez Perce economy. Camas was animportant plant the Nez Perce harvested. Ithas a sweet, bulbous edible root that wasbaked in an earthen oven. Some areas wereso plentiful with camas that they looked likesmall lakes or ponds. The Nimiipuu believedthat the land and resources should berespected. This belief was shown throughthe practice of harvesting only what wasneeded and the care taken not to wasteanything. Thanksgiving and prayer were animportant part of hunting, fishing, andgathering.

Newcomers to America brought with themmany different things, including livestock.The Nez Perce acquired the horse in the early1700’s. Horses made several dramaticchanges in the lifestyle of the tribe. Peoplewere able to travel longer distances andtransport large amounts of goods. Horsesalso introduced a new system of wealth inNez Perce society. A person that ownedmany horses was thought of as rich. TheNimiipuu became expert riders and beganbreeding the horse for qualities of strengthand endurance. In 1805, when the NezPerce saved the lives of Lewis and Clark,Lewis later wrote in his journal, “Their horsesappear to be of an excellent race, they arelofty, elegantly formed, active and durable.”

The Nimiipuu had two names for their horse,“Skikum”, and later “Maumin” (a namederived from the tribe’s trading with theMormons). As settlers moved into Nez Percehomelands, they noticed the spotted breed inthe Palouse countryside north of central

Idaho. They began to refer to the horse as a“Palouse horse”, which later became “aPalouse”, and eventually, “Appaloosa”. TheAppaloosa became officially recognized as abreed in 1938.

The SalishThe Salish Tribe of the Flathead IndianReservation in Montana refer to themselvesas the Sqelix – the People. More properlythey would be referred to as Selish, and morespecifically they were called S’Intcistcwtik,People of the Red Willow River, referring tothe Bitterroot River. The Salish tell of havinglived in what is now Montana from the timeCoyote killed off the Natlisqe – the giants.Tribal oral history tells that the Salishspeaking people were placed in theiraboriginal homelands and lived as one largetribe until the land could not support theirpopulation. The tribe then broke into bandsthat could be more easily supported by theseasonal supply of foods. The Salish havealways considered the Bitterroot Valley theirhomeland, even though before the 17th or18th century there were several Salish bandsbased east of the Continental Divide, in suchareas as the Big Hole Valley, the Butte area,the Helena area and the Three Forks vicinity.Salish language place names are stillremembered for numerous sites as far east asthe Sweetgrass Hills, the Milk River, and theBear Paw Mountains.

From the beginning of time, the Salishpeople made their living off the land througha complex pattern of seasonal hunting andgathering activities. The land provided allthat the people needed. Elders say that lifewas hard, but good. Spring would yield aplentiful bitterroot harvest, followed by sweetcamas bulbs in June. The bloom of the wildrose signaled the people that the buffalocalves had been born, and that it was timefor the summer buffalo hunt. Throughout therest of the summer berries and fruits,including serviceberries, huckleberries, andchokecherries would be gathered, dried and

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stored. The Salish regularly harvestedhundreds of different plants for food,medicinal, and utilitarian purposes.

In the fall, hunting began in earnest. Menhunted for large game, which the womenbutchered, dried and stored for winter. Asthe hunters brought home elk, deer, andmoose, the women tanned hides for clothes,moccasins and other items such as aparfleche. A parfleche is a rawhide containerused for storing a variety of things like driedfoods and clothing. Fishing was alsoimportant throughout the year. Bothfishhooks and weirs were used to catch fish.Elders tell of days when the fish were soplentiful that you could almost cross thecreeks walking on their backs.

The winter season involved trapping, icefishing, and some hunting. Cold weatherbrought families inside and women repairedclothing while men made and repaired toolsand weapons. Coyote stories were broughtout with the first snow. This was a sacredand happy time when ceremonial danceswould be held.

This seasonal round continued for the peopleuntil the reservation period. However,certain changes began to take place as tribeswere pushed westward. By the 1800’s bothguns and horses had been introduced, andwith the compacting of tribal populationsresources began to be more intensivelyharvested. Perhaps for the first time sincetime immemorial, the Salish foundthemselves in competition for resources.

The ShoshoneThe Shoshone hunted buffalo for food,shelter and everyday items, like other plainstribes. However, they were also known asgreat fisherman. They built weirs and damsto catch salmon and shared their fishinggrounds with their neighbors, the Nez Perceand Salish. In springtime, they broke intosmaller groups for hunting and in late

summer they traveled to fisheries to fish forsalmon. During the midsummer and fall,they hunted for buffalo and other game.They also collected roots and plants to eat.

The Shoshone began owning horses (theytraded other tribes for them) in the 1700’s.Horses allowed them to travel greaterdistances to hunt, fish, explore and visit. Formost of the year, the Shoshone traveled theirvast territory to hunt the buffalo and duringthe winter, they lived in clan groups forprotection and to share resources. During thespring and fall, each clan would send arepresentative to meetings with other clanleaders where decisions and plans were madefor their tribal governance and annual events.

The Shoshone, like many other tribes, wereextensive traders with pioneers, settlers, andfur-trappers for many things that made lifeeasier for them. They traded buffalo robes,beaver pelts, horses, baskets, artwork, andother types of animal hides for metal pots,guns, metal arrowheads, food, beads andcloth.

The tribe was called the “Shoshone” bypioneers and settlers because of a languagemisunderstanding. The word “Shoshone”means ‘grassy area.’ When the settlersentered other tribes’ territory, the other tribeswould urge them back onto the trail, over thehills and into the next valley by shouting,“shoshone, shoshone” (meaning ‘you will findlots of good grass over there’) and thesettlers mistook the name Shoshone for thepeople living there.

Other tribes called the Shoshone the“Snakes,” because the Shoshone signlanguage for themselves was a zigzaggesture. This gesture explained how theywere basket weavers and, for some, of theirlodges, by weaving them out of grass andbark. Other tribes called them “snake-eaters,” which was probably because theShoshone ate a long fish called the ling,which looked like a snake.


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The BlackfeetThe Blackfeet are a confederacy ofindependent tribes separated by the CanadianBorder (Medicine Line). In Montana, thetribe is called the Pikuni. In Canada, thetribes are called the Blood (or Kainaih) andthe Northern Blackfoot (or Siksika). Thename “Blackfeet” originates either becausethey dyed their moccasins black or theirmoccasins were darkened by prairie fires.Prior to the creation of the Canadian border,the tribes were politically independent butspoke the same language, shared the samecustoms, intermarried, and fought commonenemies. Together, this confederacy was thestrongest military power on the northwesternplains. While the border has affected manyaspects of their relationships, these groupshave remained connected by family, languageand much of the same cultural history andperspective.

Some modern scholars theorize that theBlackfeet, because of their linguistic family,migrated westward over three centuries agofrom the northern Great Lakes Region eitherbecause other tribes growing populationscrowded them out or because they wantedmore country for big-game hunting.However, it is important to remember thatBlackfeet origin stories describe their currentsetting as having been eternally Blackfeet andthis point of view is just as valid as themigration theories.

Before the Blackfeet acquired the horse, theyrelied on dogs to help them travel and hunttheir staff of life - the buffalo. This part ofthe tribe’s history is known as the “DogDays.” During most of the year, Blackfeethunting bands, made up of families andrelatives, traveled around following andhunting the buffalo. Dogs were used to helpthe band move, including helping to drag thefamilies’ tipis, (which were smaller then onesused later because the size was limited byhow much weight the dog could drag).

However, by the early 1700's, the horse(called the elk-dog) made travel and buffalohunting easier for the Blackfeet. Becausethey could hunt more buffalo, they begantrading buffalo hides and meat with pioneers,fur-traders and settlers for many items thatradically changed their way of life. Guns,iron arrowheads, metal knives and axeschanged warfare and these, in combinationwith the horse, helped the Blackfeet expandtheir territory to become the military powerof the plains. Iron kettles, rings, beads,paints and blankets made more time forfamily events and artistic pursuits. However,the continuing stream of settlers intoBlackfeet territory, who came for land, minedfor gold, and built the railroad, soon cut thistime of material comfort short.

The buffalo remained the most importanteconomic resource for the Blackfeet until the1880’s when the buffalo were nearly killed toextinction by soldiers and buffalo hidetraders. This new type of “hunter” did notuse the buffalo for meat or tools and theyonly killed the buffalo for their hides. Thisreduced the numbers of buffalo the Blackfeetcould hunt for their survival. However, theBlackfeet found ways to adapt to a new wayof life and survive.

The CrowThe Crow name for their tribe is“Apsaalooka” meaning “Children of the Big-Beaked Bird.” The Crow were boundtogether, not only by tribal customs andculture, but were also connected to eachother through a kinship system. Theextended family unit was very important to aCrow person and was organized bymatrilineal clans, which were the basic unitsof social organization.

Each clan was composed of a group ofrelated families so it included many morepeople than a nuclear family. There was astrict code of behavior based on their relation

Historical Narrative for Instructors

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to one another and this was reflected in howthey addressed each other. For example, onthe mother’s side of the family, there were nodesignations for “aunt” and “uncle” or“cousin.” Instead, the matrilineal extendedfamily was seen as “mother” for an aunt,“father” for uncle and “brother or sister” forcousins. Social control was achievedprimarily through clan obligations andrelationships such as public ridicule or“teasing cousins” which effectively punishedoffenses against their customs.

A Crow family included many people – bloodrelatives, clan members, and members of thefather’s clan. One clan would also considerother clans, who were allies of theirs, asfamily members. It was considered taboo tomarry your family members, which includedclan family. To allow for marriage, andbecause the clans were so large, not allmembers of a clan lived together andmembers of several different clans traveledtogether.

The Crow tribe was also organized aroundthree bands that were based primarily ongeography, but were also to some extent,political divisions. The “Mountain Crow”band lived in northern Wyoming andsouthern Montana along the BighornMountains. The “River Crow” territoryranged from the Yellowstone River to theMusselshell. The “Kicked-in-the-Bellies”spent the winter in the Wind River country inWyoming and spent summers on the easternside of the Bighorn Mountains.

During the winter, the people split up andlived in individual villages to share resourcesand for better protection. However, for mostof the year, they lived in bands (several clansliving in a common area). Once a yearduring the summer, the entire tribe (all of thebands) would gather together for religiousceremonies and to visit each other.

The Crow also had a highly organized systemof government. While there was not a strongcentral organization that governed over theentire tribe, each village and band did have ahead chief, called “The Good Man,” whoworked with the Council of Chiefs. Duringthe summer gatherings, the most respected of

the three band chiefs would serve as “Chiefof all Chiefs” during the event. Each villageand band also had other “officials” such asthe camp police (the regulators and enforcersof council decisions), the camp crier (thespokesperson of the chief and council), andthe weatherman and medicine man (whowere both advisors to the chief).

Chiefs did not inherit their positions, norwere they elected or appointed. They earnedtheir position through merit. To become aleader, one had to achieve each of the fourestablished war deeds of: counting coup—striking an enemy with your hand, a stick ora weapon without killing them; capturing apicketed horse from within the enemy camp;taking away an enemy’s weapon; and leadinga war party that returned to camp safelywithout loss. If several men had achieved allfour deeds, the village or band wouldconsider them part of the council of chiefs,but only one would rank as the head chief.The head chief was chosen not only becauseof his war deeds, but also because the peoplerespected him for his leadership ability,persuasive oratory, charisma,medicine/spiritual power, wisdom, generosityand honesty. A head chief only held hisposition for as long as the people hadconfidence in him.

When the pioneers and settlers moved west,they did not understand that the Crow were ahighly organized tribe that was regulated byfamily and clan ties; by political, religious andwar leaders; and by customs that all peoplerespected and observed. This organizationbrought order to the tribe as well as anindividual’s responsibility to the group. Thecultural, familial, social and politicaldifferences between the Crow and settlers’cultures often caused misunderstandingsbetween them.

The Nez PerceThe oral history of the Nez Perce tells of theircreation in north central Idaho at the dawn oftime. Archaeological evidence of the NezPerce in their homelands dates back morethan 11,000 years ago. The name “Nez

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleHistorical Narrative for Instructors (continued)

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Perce” is a French term for pierced nose.The actual tribal name for the Nez Perce isNimiipuu, meaning “the People”. Sometimesthe Nez Perce are referred to as the“Sahaptint” people, after their language.Nimiipuu aboriginal territory included a largeland base in north central Idaho,southeastern Washington and northeasternOregon. Culturally, the Nimiipuu are part ofthe Plateau Tribal region. Tribal economywas based on hunting, fishing, and gathering,with fishing being the primary resource. TheNez Perce were skilled fishermen, usinghooks, nets, spears and weirs. Weirs are fishtraps made from woven willow brush.

The Clearwater and Snake rivers, along withtheir tributaries provided an abundance ofsalmon. Edible camas lily was bountiful onthe high plateaus and sometimes in suchvolume that that the meadows would looklike small lakes or ponds. Other plantsprovided sustenance, medicines, andutilitarian items. Game was plentiful and theland provided all the resources the peopleneeded. Cultural and spiritual values wereevidenced in respectful use of the land andplant and animal communities.Toohoolhoolzote, a prominent Nez Perceleader said, “The earth is part of my body…Ibelong to the land out of which I came. Theearth is my mother.”

As the westward movement progressed, tribalpeople began to feel impacts. Prior tosettlers entering Nimiipuu homelands, adifferent newcomer entered, one that wouldforever change the lifeways of the Nez Perce.In the early 1700’s the Nimiipuu acquired thehorse and soon became expert riders andbegan breeding the horse for qualities ofstrength and endurance. The Nez Percecalled their horses “Sikum”, and later“Maumin” (a name derived form the tribe’strading with Mormons). When settlers movedinto Nimiipuu territory, they noticed thespotted breed horses roaming the Palousecountryside north of central Idaho. Theybegan to refer to the horse as a “Palousehorse”. This term eventually changed to “aPalouse”, and eventually to “Appaloosa”.The Appaloosa was officially recognized as abreed in 1938.

The SalishThe Salish Tribe of the Flathead IndianReservation in Montana refer to themselvesas the Sqelix– the People. More specificallywhen the tribe was headquartered in theBitterroot valley they were calledS’Intcistcwtik, People of the Red WillowRiver, referring to the Bitterroot River. TheSalish tell of having lived in what is nowMontana from the time Coyote killed off theNatlisqe – the giants. Tribal oral history tellsthat the Salish speaking people were placedin their aboriginal homelands and lived asone large tribe until the land could notsupport their population. The tribe thenbroke into bands that could be more easilysupported by the seasonal supply of foods.The Salish have always considered theBitterroot Valley their homeland, eventhough before the 17th or 18th century therewere several Salish bands based east of theContinental Divide, in such areas as the BigHole Valley, the Butte area, the Helena areaand the Three Forks vicinity. Salish languageplace names are still remembered fornumerous sites as far east as the SweetgrassHills, the Milk River, and the Bear PawMountains. Aboriginal territory of the SalishTribe included a land base of over 22 millionacres. The Hellgate Treaty of 1855 reducedthat land base to 11/4 million acres.

From the beginning of time, the Salishpeople made their living off the land througha complex pattern of seasonal hunting andgathering activities. The land provided allthat the people needed. Elders say that lifewas hard, but good. Spring would yield aplentiful bitterroot harvest, followed by sweetcamas bulbs in June. The bloom of the wildrose signaled the people that the buffalocalves had been born, and that it was timefor the summer buffalo hunt. Throughoutthe rest of the summer berries and fruits,including serviceberries, huckleberries, andchokecherries would be gathered, dried andstored. The Salish regularly harvestedhundreds of different plants for food,medicinal, and utilitarian purposes.

In the fall, hunting began in earnest. Menhunted for large game, which the women


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butchered, dried and stored for winter. Asthe hunters brought home elk, deer, andmoose, the women tanned hides for clothes,moccasins and other items such as aparfleche. A parfleche is a rawhide containerused for storing a variety of things like driedfoods and clothing. Fishing was alsoimportant throughout the year. Bothfishhooks and weirs were used to catch fish.Elders tell of days when the fish were soplentiful that you could almost cross thecreeks walking on their backs.

The winter season involved trapping, icefishing, and some hunting. Cold weatherbrought families inside and women repairedclothing while men made and repaired toolsand weapons. Coyote stories were broughtout with the first snow. This was a sacredand happy time when ceremonial danceswould be held.

This seasonal round continued for the peopleuntil the reservation period. However,certain changes began to take place as tribeswere pushed westward. By the 1800’s bothguns and horses had been introduced, andwith the compacting of tribal populationsresources began to be more intensivelyharvested. Perhaps for the first time sincetime immemorial, the Salish foundthemselves in competition for resources. Thewestward movement of newcomers brought ademand for Indian lands. When the Salish,Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai Tribes met withIsaac Stevens at the Hellgate Treatynegotiations, they reluctantly ceded theirexpansive homelands and reserved 11/4million acres, and the promise of a land basein the Bitterroot for the Salish. A survey wasto be done to determine the reserved lands inthe Bitterroot. The survey was never donehowever, and the Salish found themselves notonly reduced to a fraction of their aboriginalterritory, but also dispossessed and displacedfrom their beloved homelands in theBitterroot Valley.

The ShoshoneThe “Shoshone” belong to a larger languagegroup, who all speak a dialect of the Uto-

Aztekan language. There were three distinctgroups of Shoshones: the WesternShoshones, in central and northeasternNevada, southeastern California, andnorthwestern Utah; the Northern Shoshones,in southern Idaho; and the EasternShoshones, in western Wyoming.

While the Shoshone hunted buffalo for food,shelter and everyday items, like other plainstribes, they were also known as greatfisherman. They built weirs and dams tocatch salmon and shared their fishinggrounds with their neighbors, the Nez Perceand Salish. During spring, they broke intosmaller groups for hunting and in late springand summer they traveled to fisheries forsalmon. During the midsummer and fall,they hunted for buffalo and other game.They also collected roots and plants. Theacquisition of horses, in the 1700’s, allowedthem to travel greater distances to hunt, fish,explore and visit. For most of the year, theShoshone traveled their vast territory to huntthe buffalo and during the winter, they livedin clan groups for protection and to shareresources. During the spring and fall, eachclan would send a representative to meetingswith other clan leaders where decisions andplans were made for their tribal governanceand annual events.

The tribe was called the “Shoshone” bypioneers and settlers because of a languagemisunderstanding. The word “Shoshone”means ‘grassy area.’ When the settlers wouldenter other tribes’ territory, the other tribeswould urge them back onto the trail, over thehills and into the next valley by shouting,“shoshone, shoshone” (meaning ‘you will findlots of good grass over there’) and thesettlers mistook the name Shoshone for thepeople living there.

Other tribes called the Shoshone the“Snakes,” because the Shoshone sign forthemselves was a serpentine gesture, whichexplained how they were weavers of basketsand, for some, of their own living quarters.Other tribes called them “snake-eaters,”which was probably because the Shoshoneate a long fish called the ling, which lookedlike a snake.


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I. First People

A. Where did they come from?

B. Where did they live while in Montana?

C. What did they do here?1. hunters and gatherers2. cultivators

II. Life in an Indian Village

A. What is a tribe?1. family and relations2. things that work better together

B. How do children learn?1. toys and models2. learn by watching3. sports and leisure

C. Where do Indians live?1. tipi design2. furniture and hearth3. portable qualities

D. What do they eat?1. buffalo hunt

a. horsebackb. pishkunc. use of all body parts

2. berry and root gatheringa. pemmicanb. bitterroot, camasc. berries

E. What do they wear?1. leggings, dresses, moccasins, headdress2. beadwork, quillwork3. leather4. fabric during reservation period

(continued)

Outline for Classroom Presentation

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III. Spiritual Connections

A. What was their religion?1. great spirits2. vision quest3. tribal elders, valued members4. sacred artifacts

B. What happened when the missionaries came?1. magic power of the “Black Robes”2. misunderstanding and suspicion

IV. Culture Clashes

A. Why were there difficulties between white and the native people?1. differences in land values2. philosophical differences3. “ownership”4. alcohol and disease

B. What happened in the end?1. assimilation2. force

V. Reservation Period

A. What is a reservation?1. Dawes Act of 18872. citizenship3. marginal land, not always home land

B. How many reservations are there in Montana?1. seven reservations: Flathead, Blackfeet, Crow, Ft. Belknap, Ft. Peck, Northern

Cheyenne, Rocky Boy2. became farmers and ranchers when able

C. How did reservations affect Native People?1. many impoverished2. loss of language and culture3. few were able to move outside the reservation

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleOutline for Classroom Presentation (continued)

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her a bow and arrow and to teach her how toshoot it. She loved learning the ways of awarrior and soon gave up the work of thehousehold in exchange for hunting buffalowith her father. During one of these buffalohunts, the group of hunters encountered anenemy war party and when they retreated attop speed to escape their enemies, her fatherhad his horse shot out from under him andhe was injured. Although it was very

Running Eagle grew up a typical Blackfeetgirl named Brown Weasel Woman. She hadtwo brothers and two sisters, her mother wasa well-respected homemaker and her fatherwas a well-known warrior. Brown WeaselWoman’s education included learning abouthow to take care of the household, raisechildren, cook and make clothes.

However, Brown Weasel Woman’s life beganto change when she asked her father to make

Amazing Montanans—Biography

Running Eagle (Pi’tamaka),Blackfeet (Piegan) Woman Warrior

Putting up tipi poles, Blackfeet Indians, no date, unidentified photographer.

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dangerous, Brown Weasel Woman turnedback, picked up her father and escaped. Oneof the bravest deeds a warrior could performwas to face the enemy while riding back torescue someone who was left behind. Sowhen she returned to camp, the peoplehonored her for being courageous.

Soon after, her mother became very ill and,because she was the oldest child, BrownWeasel Woman took over the chores of thehousehold to help her mother. Although shewas an excellent home maker, she did nothave any interest in doing any of it. Sheenjoyed the men’s activities of hunting andwar much more. Although many of the mentook an interest in her, she did not have anyinterest in having a boyfriend or becomingmarried.

The turning point of Brown Weasel Woman’slife came when her father was killed during awar party and her mother died soonafterwards. Brown Weasel Woman suddenlybecame responsible for her brothers andsisters. She took on the role as the head ofthe family which meant that she hunted forand protected her family. Because of thisnew responsibility, a widowed woman movedin to help with the household chores and tohelp teach her brothers and sisters.

Brown Weasel Woman’s first war adventurewas against the Crows who had stolen someBlackfeet horses. It took the war partyseveral days to get to Crow country, butwhen they arrived, the Blackfeet weresuccessful at stealing many of the Crow’shorses. Brown Weasel Woman stole elevenhorses by herself. Although the Crowschased them for a while, the Blackfeet gotsafely back to their camp.

On the way back to the camp, Brown WeaselWoman was on watch duty from the top of abutte, while the others rested in a hidden

location. She saw two enemies approaching,and before she could reach the men to warnthem of the danger, the enemies were readyto round up and steal their horses. BrownWeasel Woman ran down the butte with herrifle and grabbed the rope of the herd’s leadhorse to keep the rest from running away.The enemies saw that she was a woman andbegan to close in on her because they did notexpect any trouble from her. Brown WeaselWoman shot the enemy who carried a rifleand forced the other one to turn and run.She grabbed the fallen enemy’s rifle and shotat the one running away but missed him.The men were very impressed by her courageof saving the horses and killing an enemy.

Her second adventure was against the Pendd’Oreille, who lived across the mountains.This time they captured over 600 horses.Although she was shot at when they wereretreating, the two arrows both struck hershield and she was not injured.

During the summer, when all of the Blackfeetgathered to visit and celebrate with eachother, Brown Weasel Woman was asked toget up with the other warriors and tell thepeople about her adventures. She was oneof the very few women to actually go on warparties and hunt buffalo so the people wereexcited to hear her stories and theyapplauded loudly after hearing her. ThenLone Walker, the head chief, honored her ina way that was never done before for awoman. He gave her a new name – RunningEagle – a name carried by several famouswarriors before her.

Running Eagle became very successful at themen’s activities and went on to become apowerful warrior. She has become one of themost famous women in Blackfeet history.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleAmazing Montanans—Biography (continued)

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Shield was like the queen. She was the oneGoes Ahead favored and she was the onethat would always ride his war pony when hereturned form battle. This was a great honorfor a wife – to be chosen to ride herhusband’s war pony through camp.

Both Goes Ahead and Pretty Shield were wellknown healers among their people. Theirknowledge of medicinal plants and healingabilities brought many people to their home.Pretty Shield made a point to teach hergranddaughter about healing plants and the

On the plains of eastern Montana in the year1857, a baby girl was born among the Crowtribe. She would come to be known asPretty Shield, Medicine Woman of the CrowNation. Growing up in a time of turmoil andchange, Pretty Shield saw the first whitesettlers come into Crow country. Though thelandscape and lifestyle was changing dailyaround her, Pretty Shield grew up in thetraditional Crow way and as an adultmaintained the old ways and taught them toothers.

Pretty Shield married a well known medicineman, Goes Ahead, and when they lost a babygirl, she grieved and mourned for twomoons. When she was in the hills mourningfor the death of her little girl, Pretty Shield“went into a visionary trance and little antscame to her and took her to their lodge. Inthe back of the lodge, at the center of theplace of honor, sat a golden eagle. Theeagle did not speak, but the ants told PrettyShield that they were her friends”(Grandmother’s Grandchild, p. 36). Fromthat time on she told people to watch out forthe ants and often gifted them with beads.On one occasion, she used dirt from an antpile to cure a child of a bad spider bite.

Her family arranged Pretty Shield’s marriageto Goes Ahead when she was just a younggirl. Goes Ahead was a handsome and kindman, and Pretty Shield was happy to becomehis wife, which she did at the age of 16.They had five children, but two of them diedat a young age. Goes Ahead had two otherwives who were Pretty Shield’s older andyounger sister. At this time it was notuncommon for a man to have more than onewife if he was a good provider and able tocare for them. Of the three wives, Pretty


Pretty Shield, Crow

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Goes Ahead and Pretty Shield together, c. 1895.

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old ways. She wished that the traditionalCrow life would be preserved and continue. “Ihope I can save my grandchildren. But timeshave changed so fast that they have left mebehind. I do not understand these times. Iam walking in the dark. Ours was a differentworld before the buffalo went away…” (PrettyShield, Medicine Woman of the Crow).

Pretty Shield lost her husband in 1919. Sheremained a widow for twenty-five years, eventhough many men that proposed to her. She

chose to remain faithful to the memory of herbeloved Goes Ahead. At the age of 74, shemet Frank Bird Linderman who was to spendhours interviewing her that he later compiledinto a book of her life. Linderman came toadmire and respect Pretty Shield, along withmany other people. In deep affection hergranddaughter Alma remarked, “She had asong for everything. My grandma had asong for everything” (Grandmother’sGrandchild, p. 54).

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with swollen limbs. She had been left behindby her man, sitting in the sand, weeping. Inkindness and generosity, Catherine put heron her own horse, and walked the rest of theway to the camp. In later years, Catherineentertained her children by telling themstories, including many events that sheexperienced on this expedition with herfather. So familiar with the story, herhusband Angus eventually wrote it down in aheavy ledger. The story is preserved today inthe library of the University of Montana.

Throughout the story Catherine’s attention todetail and description of the natural worldconvey the deep knowledge and naturalistintelligence that was common among Indianpeople during that time. The ability to“read” landscapes was a necessary skill tosurvive well upon the land.

The 1800’s were a time of change for allIndian people in North America. Newcomersto the continent brought beliefs, technology,animals, and diseases that would change thelifeways and future of Indian people forever.One such change was the intermarriageamong Indian people and also betweenIndian people and the newcomers. CatherineBaptiste was a person born of such changeabout 1815. Her father was a mixed bloodMohawk, and her mother was Nez Perce,belonging to one of the leading families ofthe Nez Perce tribe. Catherine’s mother wasdescribed in writing, “as one of the lastroyals of the Nez Perce. She in her age wasstill fine of face and of a decidedlyaristocratic style of speech and conduct.”Catherine’s father, who was known only asBaptiste, had made his way into theColumbia River country during the fur tradingyears. He had taken an active role in theWar of 1812 when the Mohawk and otherpeople of the Iroquois Confederacy tended tobe on the side of the British.

Catherine was quite close to her father andaccompanied him on many of his travels. Ayear before Catherine married AngusMcDonald, Scottish Highlander andemployee of the Hudson Bay Company, shetook an adventurous and dangerous trip withher father. The journey was a trapping andtrading expedition from the Rocky Mountainsdown the Colorado River to the Gulf ofCalifornia. Catherine exhibited extremebravery on this trip when a raiding partycame upon their camp. Catherine was ableto mount her father’s favorite horse in themidst of the enemy party sweeping theirhorses away. Soon after, their leader,Dalpier, standing 10 steps away fromCatherine, shot at the retreating enemy, onlyto be hit himself, falling dead right in front ofCatherine. Their party had to return to therendezvous place to get more horses, andalong the way Catherine met a Pauite woman


Catherine Baptiste, Nez Perce

Catherine Baptiste McDonald

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Quilix, was such a woman of honor andcourage. She chose to take on the role of awarrior. Quilix translates Red Dress or RedShirt. Quilix was a member of the Pendd’Oreille tribe. The Pend d'Oreille are arelative tribe of the Salish and lived close toeach other, speaking the same language. Inthe 1840’s, Nicholas Point, S.J., French artistand college educator came to the Northwestand visited the Salish and Pend d’Oreilletribes. While he was here, he drew somepictures of some of the remarkable peopleand events that he witnessed. Quilix was oneof these remarkable people that he saw.While he was here, he watched her fight intwo significant battles - one with the Crow,and another with the Blackfeet. The battlewith the Blackfeet resulted in the death ofthirty enemy warriors. Impressed with hercourage and strength, Point drew her as shefought hand to hand with the enemywarriors. These drawings have beenpreserved as a historic record anddocumentation of the Indian woman aswarrior. While there is not much of a writtenrecord of Quilix, this we do know - she wasrespected and feared as a warrior. The restis left to our imagination.

Imagine that you are a Pendd’Oreille man or womanliving during the 17thcentury. What would you bedoing each day? Hunting?Gathering food andmedicinal plants and makingand repairing clothing, toolshousehold items andweapons. What talents orskills do you think you wouldbe known for? Would yoube a leader, perhaps ahunting or war chief? Ormaybe you would be knownfor your beautifully tanneddresses, shirts and leggingsexquisitely decorated with dyed porcupinequills and shells. Maybe you are knownamong many tribes for being a skilledartisan.

If you imagined yourself as a woman, youprobably did not think of yourself as awarrior. Men and women had distinct rolesin the past. Though they had differentresponsibilities and duties, they allcontributed to the good of the community, somen and women were both respected. Menand women shared some roles and thoughwe often hear of “medicine men”, manywomen were also powerful healers known tohave great medicine power. So also, womenwere allowed to take on the role of a warrior.You must remember that at this time peopledid not shoot each other from afar. Theywere engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Suchfighting required courage, strength andbravery to confront the enemy face to face.Warriors protected their people with afierceness that enabled them to face theirenemy up close - touching them or tauntingthem as a way of exhibiting your bravery.This was called “counting coup”, and wasconsidered a deed of great honor.


Red Dress (Quilix), Pend d’Oreille

Quilix at War with the Crow. Nicolas Point, S.J. America, ca. 1846-47.

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Continental Divide and ventured intoShoshone country for assistance, sheand her brother were reunited.“Sacagawea” means “Carrying Burden”in Shoshone.

Sakakawea was important to the Lewis andClark expedition because of her knowledge ofIndian Country and because she was fluent inboth the Hidatsa and Shoshone languages.

Her knowledge of the Shoshone territory andits people helped the party. The Shoshonedid not want them going through their area,but Sakakawea told the Shoshone that thegroup did not mean any harm. The groupwas able to communicate with the Shoshone

Sakakawea is best known as the Indianwoman who led the Lewis and Clark journeythrough the west to the Pacific Ocean whenshe was about 14 years old. She waspurchased from the Hidatsa by a Frenchtrader named Charbonneau, who marriedher. When Lewis and Clark were campedwith the Hidatsa, they hired Charbonneau asa guide and interpreter. Charbonneauinsisted that Sakakawea go along with thegroup and she turned out to be the mostvaluable member of the expedition. Sixweeks before the party left Hidatsa Country,Sakakawea gave birth to a son named JeanBaptiste (also called Pompey) and she carriedhim in a cradleboard on her back throughoutthe journey to and from the Pacific.

There are two stories as to her tribal origin.Whichever version is correct, Sakakawea didhave ties to both tribes that helped the Lewisand Clark journey.

1. The Hidatsa believe that Sakakaweawas Hidatsa. They claim she wascaptured and taken by the Shoshone.Later, Sakakawea’s Shoshonegrandmother felt the girl’s sadness andprepared her for her return trip back tothe Hidatsa. On her way home,Sakakawea was befriended by a wolfthat saved her from starvation. She hadother adventures and eventually reachedthe Hidatsa village where her father waswaiting for her. “Sakakawea” means“Bird Woman” in Hidatsa.

2. The Shoshone believe that Sacagaweawas Shoshone. They claim she wascaptured and taken by the Hidatsa.During the Lewis and Clark journey,when Lewis and Sacagawea crossed the


Sakakawea, Shoshone

Sakakawea and son Jean Baptiste.

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camp. Once there, Sakakawea was reunitedwith her brother Ca-me-ah-wait. Because shecould speak the Shoshone language, andbecause Lewis brought Sakakawea home,Lewis was able to use Sakakawea to interpretand negotiate for horses with the Shoshone.The party was able to trade for some horsesand they survived the winter by getting acrossthe mountains. Sakakawea continued onwith the expedition.

Sakakawea contributed to the success ofLewis and Clark’s journey many times. Shehelped them find their way, saved them fromstarvation by showing them plants, roots andberries they could eat and interpreted theirwords to other Indian people. Just the factthat she and her baby, Pomp, were with thegroup, helped other Indian peopleunderstand that this large group of whitemen passing through their territory waspeaceful. Without Sakakawea on thejourney, Lewis and Clark would not havebeen successful in their efforts to reach theocean.

people as Sakakawea would translate theShoshone language into Hidatsa to tellCharbonneau, who would translate it intoFrench, and finally to Francois Labiche whotranslated into English for Lewis and Clark.

Her relationship with the Shoshone alsohelped Lewis and Clark survive the winter of1805. Lewis and Clark were looking forhorses before the winter storms began. Ifthey could not get out of the mountains quickenough, the snow would keep them in themountains and they would starve. Lewis,with a few other men, and Sakakawea, wentin search of the Shoshone Indians, becausethey had horses, to ask for their help. TheShoshone were their only hope to get somehorses in order to get across the mountainsin time. When they did see a few Shoshone,Lewis attempted to communicate with them,but the Shoshone disappeared. Finally, theparty came across a Shoshone woman and alittle girl. Lewis offered them gifts of beadsand necklaces, to show they were peaceful,and the woman invited the party to their


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Aboriginal – Original or first, such as theoriginal animals or plants occurring in anarea.

Appaloosa – A breed of horse developedby the Nez Perce Indians. The name isderived from the Palouse River valley ofIdaho and Washington.

Archaeologist – A person who studies pasthuman life and activities largely through theexamination of such things as fossil relicsand man-made materials.

Bulbous – Referring to a plant that growsbulb-like roots.

Estimate – A rough or approximatecalculation.

Fiction – An invented (made-up) story.

Navigate – To set a course of travel onland, water, or air.

Terrain – The physical features of an areaof land.

Trade Ledger – A book of accountsshowing credits and debits of a trading post.

Trade Token – A metal coin used bytraders, commonly having a beaverengraving on one side.

Treaty – A contract in writing between twoor more political authorities formally signedby representatives and usually ratified by thelawmaking authority.

Turkmenistan – One of 15 union republicsof the former Soviet Union, located north ofIran and Afghanistan. Established in 1925,the country is mainly composed of desertwith greatly fluctuating temperatures duringthe day and the year. In the summertemperatures reach up to 122 degreesFahrenheit and in the winter –27 degreesFahrenheit. Humidity is low and rainfall ismeager. It is believed that the breed ofhorse utilized by the Nez Perce came fromthis area.

Utilitarian – Having the characteristic ofusefulness.

Weir – A fence or enclosure set in awaterway to catch fish.

Vocabulary List

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Lesson 1: The Staff of Life: Buffalo (Apstani),Blackfeet

Pre-Lesson PreparationFamiliarize yourself with Blackfeet narrative and 2narratives about buffalo hunting (dog days and horses).Review the CD Rom and audio CD to determine use withstudents. Review the video to determine use and decidewhich portion to show students. Make student copies ofBlackfeet overview, narratives about buffalo hunting (dogdays and horses), “Piegan Uses of the Buffalo”worksheets, pages from coloring book, and narrativeabout Running Eagle (unless teacher will just read tostudents).

LessonFirst Class Period

1. Instruct students they will be learning about theBlackfeet people and a part of how they lived in the1800’s, particularly focusing on their use of thebuffalo for everyday items.

2. Have students read the Blackfeet narrative anddiscuss their understanding of what life may havebeen like in the 1800’s from a Blackfeet point ofview.

3. Discuss as a large group what students know aboutbuffalo, how they think Blackfeet may have huntedthem and possible uses of the buffalo besides food– chart on board.

4. Continue discussion about how the Blackfeet usedthe buffalo asking “Where do people today obtainsome of these items?” “Where did the Blackfeet ofthe 1800’s get these items?”

• Sewing needles

• Clothing

• Paint brushes

• Utensils

• Glue

• Rope

• Containers

Objective:At the conclusion of this lesson,students will be able to:

• identify the importance of thebuffalo to Blackfeet life,hunting methods and howthey used the buffalo foreveryday items, decorativeitems, and necessities.

• explore changes in huntingmethods over time from the“Dog Days” to hunting onhorseback.

Time:Two 60 minute class periods

Materials:• Footlocker Materials: CD

Rom—Bison: A Living Story;Gifts of the Buffalo NationColoring Book; CD—CurlyBear Wagner: Among MyPeople, The BlackfeetVolume 1; Video—BrainTanning: Bison Robes theNative American Way; Pieceof Bison Hide

• User Guide Materials: teacherand student narratives on theBlackfeet; narratives aboutbuffalo hunting during dogdays and buffalo huntingusing horses; “Piegan Uses ofthe Buffalo” worksheet;

• Teacher Provided Materials:computer, CD player, VCRand TV, colored pencils orcrayons

(continued)

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5. Discuss importance of buffalo toBlackfeet way of life and explain thatmost everyday items the Blackfeet usedcame from the buffalo (because therewere no such things as metal, plastic,cloth, or zip-lock bags).

6. Hand out “Piegan Uses of the Buffalo”worksheet and have students guess theuses of the buffalo under each body partshown on the worksheet (individually,small groups, or large group).

7. Compare their guesses to the teachercopy.

8. Show portion of video about braintanning a buffalo hide - optional.

9. Students can go through portions of“Bison: A Living Story” (computer CDRom). Optional, if there is technologicalcapability, can use computer projector toshow entire class and go throughactivities on CD Rom.

10. Students can color some pictures (fromthe teacher-made copies) from “Gifts ofthe Buffalo Nation.”

Second Class Period1. Review previous lesson.

2. Have students imagine how they wouldhave hunted buffalo if they did not have ahorse and then write a story explainingtheir methods.

3. Read the narrative about buffalo huntingduring dog days and discuss. Havestudents draw the different huntingmethods (pound, surround, buffalo jump)the Blackfeet used when hunting.

4. Discuss with students how technology haschanged the world from the time whentheir grandparents and parents grew upto how they are growing up now (i.e. TV,computers, stereos). Have these new

technologies made things easier to doschool work? To stay in touch with theworld? How would their lives be affectedif these things did not exist? Explain thathistory is full of changes that make lifebetter (or sometimes worse) for people.

5. Read the narrative about buffalo huntingusing horses.

6. Compare and contrast how horses andnew technologies changed the Blackfeetway of life.

7. Students should read about RunningEagle and draw a story board depictingher life (in groups or individually).

Assessment• Have students imagine they are a

Blackfeet (their current age) in the1800’s. Write a story about a day theymight have had while incorporating whatthey learned from the lessons.

Further Exploration• Listen to Curly Bear Wagner’s CD and

discuss stories. After listening and talkingabout it, have students create their ownstories about how (modern) things cameabout (i.e. TV, computers, etc). Usemodern items so students can relate tothem and to keep integrity of storiesintact. Stories: Napi and the Eagles,Why Coyotes Eyes Glow, and The BearWho Stole the Chinook Winds.

• Take a field trip to a buffalo jump in yourarea.

• Research the tribes in your area and theirrelationship with the buffalo.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleLesson 1: The Staff of Life: Buffalo (Apstani), Blackfeet (continued)

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Hair and Tail Internal organs Fat

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Tendons Tongue Hide

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Bones Teeth Rawhide

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Hoofs Horns

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Peigan uses for Buffalo

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Before obtaining the horse from other tribes,the Blackfeet relied on dogs to help themfollow and hunt their staff of life - the buffalo.This part of the tribe’s history is known as the“Dog Days.”

The Blackfeet, a large tribe, divided themselvesinto smaller groups, called bands, made up ofabout 20-30 families, in order to follow andhunt the buffalo. The band was small enoughto travel quickly and share resources, but largeenough to work together while hunting buffaloin order to have enough food for everyone.

The Blackfeet lived according to the movementpatterns of the buffalo since it was their mainsource of food and was necessary to their wayof life. During spring, summer, and fall, thebuffalo grazed grass on the prairie. But duringthe winter, the buffalo moved into valleys toprotect them from the cold, snow and winds.The Blackfeet followed them and their huntingtechniques varied with the seasons.

The most important way of hunting the buffaloduring the dog days was the use of a buffalojump (or pishkun). The hunters would find aplace that had a grazing area leading intosome cliffs, with an area below that was clearand open. The hunters chased the buffaloover the cliff where the buffalo would fall andbe killed in the open area below. Beforechasing the buffalo over the cliff, the hunterswould build V-shaped lanes of brush and rocks(called cairns) to hide behind and make surethe buffalo stayed on course and ran towardthe cliffs.

Another way of hunting buffalo without horseswas the “surround.” Hunters would build asemi-circular fence using poles placed uprightinto the ground and tied together. Twohunters would then run and chase the herdtoward the fence. Other hunters lined up alongthe sides of the route and closed in as the

buffalo neared the fence. As the buffaloentered the surround, the hunters would thenrush in and kill the buffalo.

During the winter, the band moved into morewooded areas for their own shelter andprotection from the snow and cold, and alsobecause the buffalo moved there. In thesemore wooded areas, the hunters used a corral(called a “pound”) to hunt buffalo. On ahillside, they would build a seven-foot highcorral using cross-poles. On three sides of thecorral, the hunters would brace pointed stakesin the ground so they projected at an angleabout 3 or more feet inside the corral and sothe sharp end would kill a buffalo when it raninto it. The open side of the corral extendedoutward, like 2 wings, up the hill. Piles ofbrush were spaced evenly outward from thewings. Women and children would hidebehind this brush and jump out to scare thebuffalo so they would run into the corral. Atthe entrance to the corral, poles were placedon the ground and covered with manure andwater that froze and became slippery so thebuffalo could not escape by climbing back upthe hill. Once the buffalo were chased into thecorral, they were killed by men and boysstationed around the fence.

Although the Blackfeet hunted other animals,the buffalo was the primary animal needed tosupply everything a family would need duringthe year. It was food, tipi covers, clothes(including mittens, caps, and moccasins) andbedding. Shields were made from the thickhide of the buffalo neck. They used rawhide towrap their clubs and knives to woodenhandles. They used skins to sew bags formoving. Buffalo horns served as spoons andcups. The stomach made a tight water bucket.Sinew was used for thread, bow strings andrope.

Dog Day Buffalo Hunts

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When the Blackfeet acquired the horse theirentire way of life changed, including methodsof buffalo hunting. During the summer, all ofthe Blackfeet would gather in large camps tovisit each other, for ceremonies, and to hunt inlarger groups. Large hunting parties wouldhunt the buffalo with bow and arrow, andeventually with guns. During the winter, theyseparated into smaller groups, called bands, tolive in sheltered wooded river valleys forprotection from the snow and cold and toshare their resources. The buffalo was veryimportant to the Blackfeet people and theyconsidered it their staff of life. They usedevery part of the buffalo for their survival.The buffalo provided them meat to eat, skinsfor tipis, skins for their robes/blankets, fat forcooking, sinew for ropes and sinews, andhorns for utensils and ornaments.

The preferred method of hunting buffalo onhorseback was the “chase.” A hunting partywould locate a herd of buffalo and approachthem from downwind so the herd would notcatch their scent and be tipped off they werebeing hunted. When the hunters were as closeas they could get without the buffalo beingalarmed, they dismounted their regular horseand got on a special horse they called their“buffalo runner.” The leader lined up thehunters to give everyone an equal chance atchasing the buffalo, and on his signal, they rantheir horses into the buffalo herd which quicklyran the other way. The hunters would runtheir horses alongside the herd, pick out abuffalo, chase it and kill it at close range, thenchase another one. Although they did haveguns, most hunters still preferred using a bowand arrow, not only because the guns weredifficult to reload while riding a gallopinghorse, but it also let the hunter knew which

buffalo he had killed by identifying marks onhis arrows. The chase, while exciting, wasalso very dangerous. Horses could stumble orbe gored by the buffalo and hunters could bethrown off their horses and injured.

It was also a matter of horsemanship andbravery to hunt in this manner. The key tosuccess in the chase was how well their buffalorunner was trained. A good buffalo runnerwas respected and was worth more to itsowner. For this reason, buffalo runners weretreated better than other horses and wereposted right outside of the tipi instead of thecorral. Buffalo runners had to be fast andlong-winded, able to maintain a fast speedover several miles without stumbling on theuneven ground, be able to respond instantly tocommands, be courageous by running veryclose to the buffalo and also be prepared toavoid the buffalo horns.

After the horse, the Blackfeet used the chaseyear-round, including the wintertime.However, if the snows were too deep, theyhunted by foot using their rifles. Because thehorse made hunting so much easier, theBlackfeet no longer used the pounds, corrals,and jumps. The last Blackfeet buffalo driveover a jump took place in the 1850’s.

Buffalo Hunting Using Horses

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Objective: At the conclusion of thislesson, students will beable to:

• compare and contrast the basicCrow kinship systemto their own.

• Identify componentsof Crow clothing.

Time: Three 30 minute classperiods and one 30 minutehomework assignment

Materials:• Footlocker Materials:

infant size Crow elktooth dress withparagraph explanation;lady’s breastplate;choker; clothingornamental items;postcard of Crowwomen

• User Guide Materials:teacher and studentnarratives on theCrow; Pretty Eaglebiography

• Teacher providedmaterials: none

Pre-Lesson PreparationFamiliarize yourself with Crow narrative and Pretty Eaglebiography. Familiarize yourself with dress, breastplate, chokerand clothing ornamental items.

Day One1. Instruct students they will be learning about the Crow

people and how they lived in the 1800’s, particularlyfocusing on their family structure and clothing styles.

2. Have students read the Crow overview and discuss theirunderstanding of what life may have been like in the 1800’sfrom a Crow point of view.

Lesson 2: Kinship System and Clothing Styles, Crow

(continued)

Crow Maiden Ida Wrinkle Face, married name Ida DayLight—dress decorated with elks’ teeth which werescarce and phony manufactured teeth are often used.Fred E. Miller, photographer.

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3. Have students chart out a family tree fora Crow child of their age according toCrow kinship system (nuclear family,extended family, clan family, tribalfamily) and compare to their familystructure (nuclear family, extendedfamily). Can also venn diagram familystructure.

4. Homework: Students talk with theirfamily and chart out their familystructure (can be done before or afterlesson).

Day Two1. Review student family trees and have

discussions about their extended familystructure. Compare to Crow kinshipchart created day before.

2. Discuss different types of clothesstudents wear today (jeans, baggy jeans,trunks, t-shirts) and how different typesof clothes meet functional uses as wellas reflect group associations andexpress feelings. Discuss accessoriespeople wear (i.e. earrings, necklaces, t-shirts with logos) and what theseexpressions mean to people. Discusshow people wear special clothes fordressing up and special events.

3. Ask students how they think Crowpeople may have dressed in the 1800’swhen there was not sewing machines,denim, etc... What would have beenfunctional? How would they makeclothes? How would they dress forspecial events?

4. Pass around postcard of Crow womenin dress and infant size Crow elk toothdress and discuss how this dress wasused for special events for Crowwomen. (per paragraph explanation)

5. Pass around lady’s breastplate andexplain how it was used for specialevents.

6. Pass around other clothing ornamentalitems and discuss ornamental use.

Day Three1. Students should read about Pretty Eagle

and draw a storyboard depicting her life(in groups or individually).

Assessment• Extend family tree.

• Make a collage from magazine picturesof different types of clothing (everydayand special). Discuss what age groups,gender, social occupations and lifestylesdifferent types of clothing appeals toand reasons for different styles – write acompare and contrast essay about Crowclothing and contemporary clothing.

Further Exploration • More exploration of family tree –

research how their family came toMontana, their region, their town andwrite a story about one of theirancestors.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleLesson 2: Kinship System and Clothing Styles, Crow (continued)

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Lesson 3: Horse Power, Nez Perce

Pre-Lesson PreparationFamiliarize yourself with the background information on theNez Perce by reading the narrative provided and thesupplemental Nez Perce horse registry documents. Displayphotographs in the classroom. Have a U.S. wall mapavailable to locate the homeland and current reservation ofthe Nez Perce, and a world wall map to locate the homelandof the Turkoman horse, Turkmenistan, which is north ofIran. Make copies of the student narrative, Montana map,and the horse icons – they work best if the sheet islaminated first and then the horses are cut out.

ObjectiveAt the conclusion of thislesson, students will be ableto:

• identify the horse theNez Perce bred.

• provide two examplesof how the horseimpacted their culture.

TimeOne Hour

Materials• Footlocker Materials –

photographs, horse,horsehair, horsehairweavings, horse model

• User Guide Materials –Nez Perce narrative,Nez Perce horseregistry documents,template for horseicons, map of Montana,“Catherine’s Story”

• Teacher ProvidedMaterials – U.S. andworld wall map, rulers

(continued)

E-we-tone-my, Nez Perce Indian.

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleLesson 3: Horse Power, Nez Perce (continued)

Procedure1. Arrange students in four groups. Give

each group one of the footlocker items;horse, horsehair, horsehair weavings.Allow about 5-15 minutes for thestudents to explore all of the items.

2. Ask students if any of them have horsesand allow a brief amount of discussion.Tell the class that they are going to belearning about a Tribe’s relationship witha particular horse. Give students a copyof the Nez Perce narrative and allowthem time to read it, instructing themthat their group will select one thingthey learned to share with the wholeclass. When they are finished alloweach group to share.

3. Ask students how fast they think youcould travel by horse. If estimates areextremely inaccurate, guide studentthinking by providing comparative rates– people walking, people running – alsoask students how many hours they thinkyou would actually travel by horse in aday. Support the discussion by talkingabout the types of terrain that would becovered. Ask students how they thinkpeople navigated during the 1800’s.

4. Give each group a copy of the map ofMontana. Instruct each group to plan atrip of significant distance their map.The trip will be by horse. Have groupsplan these aspects of the trip: the routeto take, provisions to pack, estimatedtime for the trip, and stopping pointsalong the way. Have groups plot theirroute with a marker on their maps.

Give groups horse icons and have themtape them at each stopping point. Eachgroup member is responsible fordescribing at least one section of thejourney – the description should includethe geography of the land covered,length and time, and any possiblechallenges they may have faced alongthe way. This writing can be brief andfactual or lengthy and fictionalized. Thewriting should be edited and printed outto be displayed with the group’s map.

5. Display group maps with student writingwith string or something else that showstheir part of the journey they wroteabout.

Assessment• Evaluation of student writing will serve

as an assessment for the lesson.

• An optional assessment could be afictionalized piece of writing based onviewpoint from a Nez Perce tribalmember living in the 1800’s.

Further Exploration• Read “Catherine’s Story” to the class

over a few class periods. Have studentsjournal on each part of the story, andmake their own illustrated book of hertrip. Trace her route on a US wall map.Discuss how people navigated duringthe time period.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleLesson 3: Horse Power, Nez Perce (continued)

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Introduction

The following story is an adapted version of a true journey that took place in 1841. Catherine’sstory was first published in 1930 by The Frontier, a magazine published by the State Universityof Montana at Missoula. The University of Montana has graciously given permission to publishthis story as part of this curriculum unit. Some details and events, as well as archaic wordshave been edited to facilitate appropriate use for elementary classrooms. Catherine Baptistetook this journey to the Southwest at the age of fourteen. Catherine was of mixed bloodancestry of Nez Perce, Mohawk and French. Catherine met and married Angus McDonald, whohad come to America from Scotland in 1838. Angus worked for the Hudson Bay Company,and he and Catherine spent the latter part of their lives on Post Creek in the Mission Valley atFort Connah on the Flathead Indian Reservation. A family cemetery remains there today.Angus and Catherine’s children intermarried with Bitterroot Salish families, some of whom wererelated to Chief Victor, the principal Salish chief at the time of the signing of the Hellgate Treatyin 1855. Victor and Angus were well acquainted and according to historic account, Victor madea gift of a prized war pony to Angus signifying their friendship. Angus and Catherine are mygreat, great grandparents. This curriculum unit is dedicated to their memory and the rich legacyof history they have passed on to us.

Julie CajuneJune 17, 1998

Catherine’s StoryHistoric Navigation

The three peaks of the Rocky Mountainswith their lesser hills head three chief rivers,the Oregon, Colorado, and Missouri. We leftPierre’s Hole on their Colombian side whenthe antelope were fawning in the last monthof the spring and the first of summer.

Bidding farewell to our parent RockyMountain camp, we left for the place ofgathering on one of the chief streams of theNorthern Colorado. Grass of rich growth

was out on every hill. Streams of purestwater ran from green glens. The big valleybelow was full of heat, as the air was withflies. Many different game animals rompedand grazed, near and far. The big and littlecurlew, colored like the fawn, attended totheir young as the mother antelope stood faroff, but always remembering where she hadlaid her young. The coyote, the mostcunning and crafty of sneaks, and the chief

Part One

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleCatherine’s Story, Part 1 (continued)

eagle were the greatest enemy of theantelope’s fawn. Other things of prey fromthe mountain grizzly to the rattlesnake fedwell on the numbers of ground squirrels thatbored into the valleys. One antelope canwhip a coyote but a young kid or fawn ishelpless and often killed by the chief eagle.

The wild striped little bee that hideshis two stands of honey in the cracks of themountain rocks was hard at work as I rodeaside and alone. His moans made me sadderand I wondered if I would ever return. Hewas up from his winter’s sleep. An old andnew life was around me on foot and wing, anold and new life out in leaf and blade. Theearth required more space. The sky grewhigher with the sun. The sun himself lookednot so old. The big splendid solitude of myIndian fathers looked glad, but our friendswho had gone to join the dead did not heedthis at all. No, they would not come back.

The first river we crossed was a swiftstream of about 70 paces broad. The menhad made rafts to carry their little baggage.The women stripped themselves to theircotton shirt and lightened their saddles ontheir best horses. They plunged into thestream with them, having tied their childrenone by one on their backs, and whilst mystepmother swam with her young child, mysister. The water was very cold, rushing fromits parent springs and higher peaks. Ourhands and limbs were red as wild roses fromthe burning chill of the waters, but the airwas healthy and then the sun was cloudlessand strong. We camped at once, makingsoup and roasting venison and sooneverybody was comfortable and joking aboutthe day’s activities.

The second river was a little narrowerand deeper and of a more violent pass.Before crossing the first river on themountain plain we saw a little cloud of dustas far as the eye could discern it. It was anadvance of a much larger cloud which made

us very uneasy. Was it our persistent enemythat never gave us rest or was it somefriendly tribe? Our courage grew afterlooking to our arms, as the clouds andpreceding black points formed of men drewnearer to us and our five Indian hunters saidthat by their motions they must be friends.It’s strange to the white man how far theIndian eye can perceive his enemy anddistinguish him from his friends and how farthat knowledge is conveyed with other signsin return by the motions with his horse.The dusty clouds were soon up to us,following a band of 150 warriors on thepath of blood for their enemy. We smokedheartily with them, as they met us kindly.Their simple story was soon told and theypassed on armed as usual in quiver and bowand shield of buffalo-bull hide with guns andlance and knife and their clothing decoratedwith bits of brass and eagle feathers andrare shells of the ocean and the land madethem look pretty as they passed on in theshining sun. One hundred of them were onhorseback and fifty were on foot.

Upon arriving at the third river, which wasabout 300 paces broad, calm and of a gentleflow, all of us bound our baggage in ourleather lodges, put the children on the top,and swam our best horses ashore, holding thecords in our teeth, whose ends were tied tothe lodges. The buffalo scalp bridle makes asoft, wiry and light cord and is alwayspreferred in this work to any other cords.

As we arrived at the place of gatheringabout 180 men sat and stood in groupschatting on the prospects of the coming trip,as some chewed, others smoked, and nearlyall whittled in earnest anticipation of a voyagewho’s end they could not foresee. Although itpromised plenty of fur, most of their wivesrefused to follow them across. They were leftto await our return. I was bent on followingmy father wherever he went.

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleCatherine’s Story (continued)

Four long summer days and a half-constant riding brought us to a defeatedcamp. All that lived were living. Two menwere killed and all the horses gone. One ofthe men was dragged by the enemy on hishorse for miles, where we found him shot inmany places.

We had of our own and for the defeatedparty about 200 mules and, as they werewild, we spent three days subduing them.We finally packed them with all the meatalready dried and orders were given by thechief hunter, a dark haired Canadian of longthin, delicate features, to move camp nearerthe buffalo. Three more hot laborious days,hunting, cutting, and drying meat broughtus to a stand and the chief hunter cried,“From here we shall return and go nofather.” We camped on a point between afork running from the east into a river thatran into the west.

The grass was already reddening and thewild currants, yellow and black and red,weighed their boughs. Those boughs weretall as long fishing rods and their large redcurrants bent them in places to the ground.Red willows and poplars shaded the stream.A deep ravine led the fork into the river. Ifrequently went up during fine days to lookfrom the brow of the ravine. My father, whowas a brave and cautious man, alwaysadvised me to be on watch, my eyes beingyoung and strong. Mountains and plains,the sky, sun and buffalo and the othersmaller game lost in their masses, like youngchildren with adults in a camp. Six younggirls and I went up the creek for berries afterbreakfast, and having a stroll to half-circlethe camp, struck the river below the mouthof the creek.

After picking berries, we went to the riverto bathe. The side pools were clean and thetrout were thick. Three little boys werebathing and fishing. We found a little dry

floating log. The boys pulled at the end of itand the little girls and I at the other end, allswimming and contesting who would win thelog, when at once the eldest boy, son of theSnake chief said with a clam, steadfast eyewith an apprehension unaccountable, “Let usgo forth. This is not our country. We play inthe enemy’s stream. He may be here.” Athrill of alarm entered us as he spoke and weran towards our camp. Just arriving there Iheard the boy’s yell and war song. Instantlya trembling of the ground and yells of mencommenced and our mules and horsessnorting and sniffing like stampeded elk withmanes and tails up, rattled by us on the otherside of the river. The enemy rushed to turnthe horses back downward and sweep themaway by the lower end. Four strongCanadians took hold each of a mule dragginga long cord and they were dragged by themules all running together scared into thewillows. Dalpier cried thereon, “Rush boys.Rush. We must each have a horse.” And herushed through the river leading five men andI with them, seeing my father’s favoritemoose-colored horse having a long cord onhis neck. I sprang and laid hold of him andled him back to our pack, which was stronglybuilt of logs in case of need. Hastening tocross the river the voice old Dalpier wasagain after me and sang out, “Run fast mylittle girl, run over into the pack. We willdrive these to follow you.” And so they didand saved half of all the animals we startedwith. No shot was yet fired on either side.The enemy was making off with the rest ofthe animals.

Dalpier hereon stood, raising his longblack rifle, its smoke and one of the rearenemy rolled at the same time. A rapiddischarge of many shots missed him and hebounded and waded through the river to ourside of it. He stood loading and discharginghis unerring weapon just 10 steps in front ofme. A distinct crack rang from his body and

Part Two

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he wheeled on his heels once around and felldead on his front. Meanwhile, the enemyhad stampeded buffalo into the camp, andthe brave chief of the Snakes was ridingstraight down a cliff to the camp to try andturn them.

The enemy warrior shot by Dalpier on hisfirst fire moved once, twice, and then notagain. Three of his friends rode by to look athim, and then using a cord, swooped downand took his body, tying it to the bow of asaddle. All they desired was to hide him andreturn his body to his parents.

In these attentions all that simple naturecan do is done. But nature is not dead andthe parent that lives on weeps bitterly as theybring home the body of their lost son.

After a few more discharges in the bushand concealed fighting the enemy resolved toenter our tents and make an end to us byhand-to-hand fighting, there being ten ofthem to one of us. Two of our men wereclose to me, one standing and the otherresting on the ground. He was the mostpowerful man of our party, a large auburn-haired Canadian. An arrow lashed into theair from the other side of the river and struckhim in the side of his backbone. Thewounded man walked about forty steps andfell forward and died.

His friend, a Negro mixed-blood said tome, “You are an Indian. You know theways of the Indian. What do you think?” Isaid, “Say to Baker that if he kills the chiefwho wears the black star on his chest, wemay still live. That is the most effectualway to save us. The combat depends nowon his life.”

The enemy had advanced halfwaythrough the shallow creek. They were within40 paces of us. Baker and his friend leveledtheir rifles and the two shots made onesound. The chief who wore the black stargently fell forward into the creek. Hisfollowers, after seeing him dead, spoke a

little without firing and withdrew. The sunwas going down and the enemy’s shots werefar and retiring.

At night two large fires reddened the skywithin 1000 paces of us. War songs, shots,yells and wails rose as the enemy buried theirdead. In the morning, the half of ourremaining horses and mules were dead byarrows or bullets. We had to retrace our wayto the place of gathering with all our leadersand several of our best men killed. Thecamp and scaffolds of meat were leftstanding. As we wound our way, I cast alook at the unlucky spot. I thought it toosilent to look at. Every little bird that sang ofhis own fate was hushed for the time. Fearand wonder made them quiet their songs.But the mountain lark resumed her story andas we left the serious place forever, Iwondered if these hunters would rise again.The Indian fathers say the living will die andgo to find the dead and stay in gladness withthem forever.

Defeated and chiefless, we started back.I put six bales of dried meat on my onlyhorse and myself on the top. Whencamping, there was no order kept, but everyone for himself as if our bad luck had turnedus all into fools. A poor Paiute woman withswollen limbs was left behind by her man.He had no horse for her nor could he carryher. Coming up to her, all the rest being farin advance, she was sitting in the sand,weeping. Helping her to sit on the top of myload, I walked all the way to camp.

We sent two messengers to the place ofthe gathering to tell of our plight. Havingtraveled by night in the wide and torn sandywaste, they struck the Colorado far below thelittle wooden home (a fur trading post,possibly Fort Bridger) they were aiming for.They lost themselves, but their nativeknowledge and wisdom, even though theyhad never before been in that country, toldthem the cause of their mistakes andcorrected their way. They always chose the

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night to travel for fear of being discovered bythe enemy. The sixth day out from the sceneof our bad luck we camped dry and heartless.

Hearing a shot on a hill to the west whilstlooking with some awe and hope, the cry ofalarm again was raised. A horseman was inview. Soon his motions were too well knownto me to be mistaken and the steady lookagainst the wind and labor of affection in mypoor eyes made them flow freely, as I knewand discerned the motions of my father. Hewas in full war paint with quiver and gun andhis hair all tied up on the top of his head likea Shawnee warrior as he rode dashing aloneinto camp driving five good horses beforehim. His bold defiant aspect sent a sense of

cheer and courage through all ourdisheartened party. My father was a halfMohawk Indian and half American-Scotch.He could speak neither English nor French,but a few broken words of the latter. Thoughnot tall but rather low in stature, he wasrather wiry and clean built, and as brave asany warrior who drew bow on the enemy.He was full of story of the American war withthe British and Americans, how they foughtand ran this way and that, and sometimeshow both ran away leaving the Indiansbehind, and then he would dance and singIndian war songs of the ease, songs of thechiefs long gone to join the dead.

Part Three

In another half-day, five men with morehorses followed him and we were soon atthe wooden house of the fur trader. Uponarrival, a mixed greeting of gladness andwoe was offered to us. That night I sleptwell. Oh, what a comfort to sleep anuntroubled sleep.

In a few days we started, about 150 men,designed to trap the Colorado. Ondescending the hills of the big Salt Lake,some of the tops had large antlers of puresalt. It was very fine and white.

We ascended a muddy little stream sixdays from the Salt Lake. Scattered sage,juniper, nutwood and willow were on ourway. The natives were kind to us. Theylived chiefly on wild fowl, roots, berries, fish,and bowskin and garter snakes. Their greatenemies were the Spaniards of Taos andCalifornia, who always when they could,robbed them of their women and children tobe sold into labor like cattle.

Passing on for five further days, twoIndian women were found digging roots.They were seized and forced to join us. They

wept silently, but the men paid no heed tothem. I was bent on conniving for theirescape. We came upon three forsaken grasstents whose natives fled at our presenceexcept two children, a boy and a girl, whohad no mother and their father was outhunting. The poor motherless things werefrightened and nearly choked from fear, but alittle tenderness and some food relieved themof their extreme emotion and in a few daystheir woeful alarm wore off and they becameplayful.

We were now bearing southwest to westdaily, the country becoming extremely barrenof grass. The sage was sparse and the gravelmore sandy. The prickly pears I counted ineight Tribes were grown to the height of aman. We were two weeks without seeing anIndian, no fowl of any kind, no hare norreptile nor insect, a country that appeared topossess no life; a big solemn silencepervaded the refused waste. I thought theChief of the ages denied it any gladness, yet Isaw now and then a lonely flower, but whoseface I knew not, stand up bravely from thedead looking waste. We at last struck a

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small creek and rested our horses, findinggood grass for two days. At night we hearddistant shots and we fired our guns in return.Four Spaniards came that had been after usfor many days. Seeing our tracks far back,their party dispatched them to invite us towait and trade and travel together. Theyfinally came up to us driving a team of mulespacked with Spanish blankets and on theirway from Texas to California. The menlooked poor and were afoot except themaster, who was well horsed. They weredriving a band of sheep for their food, killingdaily in the evening. With them we traveledtwo weeks and traded some beaver to themfor blankets and a little flour. The womenwere horsed, but all the children that couldwalk walked barefooted and looked indigentand needy. Some girls were going toCalifornia to marry. A large buck goat ledtheir sheep. The strange bearded thing wasto me a great curiosity. Forward he walkedalways alone in advance. When somedistance ahead he would stand, look backand bleat. The Spaniards called him SanJuan. Poor sheep, I thought it was sad totravel behind him to be killed and eatenevery day. The Spaniards had a violin and aguitar and the children, women, and mensang and played every evening. They werehappy. They had three Indian children theyforced from their parents. In such actionscausing the deepest woe on earth, theyappeared to be callous and utterly feelingless.Being young, their women frequently untiedmy hair, which was long and fine, and,stroking it down, invited me to go toCalifornia with them, but my nativemountains and father were too dear to me toheed their invitation.

Next day after separating we campedclose to a high cliff. It was cut smooth andstraight down as if the Chief of Spirits did itwith his own axe. It was a hard salt as whiteas snow. On the top of this cliff there wereseveral caves in which hung heavy limbs ofthe purest salt.

The next day we traveled and found someIndian caches from which we took some cornand squash and melons, leaving in their placesome knives and awls and beads. We weresoon on the Colorado River. It was a drearytreeless stream of about 400 paces abroad.No grass at all on its barren course butmournful and bladeless. It looked like a riverfrom another world; we did not know anoppressive and cursed desolation ran it intoits own firmament. Yet many a fresh andgenerous spring I knew ran there from theirnative hills to lose their identity as my owneyes will lose their light and shape in thebroad stream of all this dust. But there wasthe river and to cross it there was not a bit ofstanding or drift timber wherewith to raft.We killed two horses and made an osierframe for our skin canoe, sufficiently strongfor our purpose.

Next morning at daylight we left the river,which proceeded to our right west, andtraveled all day with our backs to it untilmidnight. It was about the beginning of thefirst winter moon. There was no path or tentor man or tree, but barrenness. It was darkand moonless, yet cloudless, and the starswere close together as buds on the bush ofthe mountain berry. At midnight our guidedismounted and called to us to off saddlesand sleep. Our throats were fevered withthirst but there was no water, not a drop.Our guide was a half-Spanish Indian, a well-formed, muscular man of one eye. His namewas Emmanuel and he was the most notedguide of the noted ones. From the first sightof the star of night I observed and thought hewas as familiar with it and its travels as hewas with all our faces. In the broad pathlesslevel waste he made those silent lights hisroads and the blue between his valleys. Inthe most confusing terrain and when theland’s face was without features, he neverswerved or was at a loss to find his way, andwe followed him with the confidence of amother by night or day.

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleCatherine’s Story (continued)

We slept half the time from midnight todawn and again started traveling until the sunrose to his noonday height. We then saw theColorado River far below us. As we stood onits frowning cliffs, the sight of the river was arelief, for to know that water was there toappease our thirsty heat. From steppe tosteppe of a forbidden ravine, we worked toplace flat stones for every descending jumpour horses had to make in order to reach theriver. Inured as we were to the roads of thestag and Bighorn, we were alarmed at thedizzy height our horses must go down. Ourpacks were light, however, and we got safelydown, man and beast running to drink hisfill. There were some poplar trees here anda camp of Indians but no grass. Here we gotsome melons and beans and corn and set allour traps, the river being crowded withbeaver. In this camp I saw the tallest womenI have ever beheld. A half-aged woman,talkative and clever, told me we were in thelands of a great chief. Soon we were visitedby his two daughters, accompanied by astout Indian carrying a basket of fruits on hishead. The two girls were of an equal height.They were a full fathom high, each of themerect and straight as larch trees. Theirforelocks were cut straight above theeyebrows and the rest of their hair flowingdown, combed over their backs, covered theirknees. Their feet of fine strong heels andlong curved instep, but their toes were largeand muscular, as they never wore a shoe.They wore only a short skirt from the naveldown to their knees. These skirts weretwisted and wove of the hair of the finestscalps, which their fathers took from theirenemies. Their looks were solemn andinquiring and their walk easy and erect.They wore a tasteful collar of seed beads,red, black, white, and green, around theirnecks and pendant figures covered with thesame beads from their ears to theircollarbones. Their calves of their legs werenot highly rounded, being so tall, but the

hairs thereon were few and fine and theirshinbones were clean edged and thin-skinned. As they sat near me on the sand, Ioffered each a handful of dried buffalo meat,at which they smiled gladness and thanks. Iwondered how they were husbandless, but itwas clear that few men could please them.The other women told me they were oftencourted, but they were not interested in anyof their would-be suitors. I wondered howthe common kidnapper, the Spaniard, hadnot found them. But they were always onthe watch, and their father was dreaded evenby the Spaniards. As for the girls, they werehappy to be together as sisters.

This nation is of tall statue and very swiftof foot. They had no firearms but everyIndian had his bow in hand. They werepowerfully built for foot endurance. Theheadlocks were long and straight down.Every man had an eagle feather that playedtied down to his scalp. They ran foot racesof 10 to 20 miles and, in those deep andwarm sands, often beat their horses.

From this camp we followed the riverthree days, trapping it. The country had thesame awful loneliness and desolation on itsface. We came upon a bottom of denseunderbrush that pulled some of our packs offour horses. When least expecting it, wedebauched on a round plain entirelysurrounded by that brush. Here we foundIndians gardening and we camped by themand trapped. Four or five traps were stolen.The trappers were enraged. My father’straps were never touched; he often found anIndian guarding his traps. He used to givethe Indians all the beaver meat he and Icould not consume. The trappers resolved tomake a day of revenge for their five trapsand designed to attack the Indians in theirown camp unawares. My father refused totake part, saying, “I did not come here towar, but to get furs. These Indians mayknow nothing of your traps. They may have

Part Four

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been taken by some distant thieves. Why armto murder these poor hospitable people? Theyhave no arms but clubs and bows. Why doyou take rifles? The poor people. Take clubsonly if you are brave men, but I will not bewith you. Your purpose for five old traps iscruel and bad.” Early the next morning beforebreakfast the party took to their arms andattacked the camp. The trappers killed oldpeople, men, women, and children. TheFrench Canadians did not take part in thekilling, just as my father did not. If the Indianshad been armed and of good courage theycould have destroyed us all, but they had onlybow and club. What a cruel affair of tears.

After this attack we left. We had to passdown a narrow gorge in the vast cliffsthrough which the rivers rushed – a smallpath that barely allowed one horse at a timewas our way. Stones as big as horses andsome as mares and colts strewed the dismalplace. There were plenty of deer here butthey were smaller than the common whitetailed deer of the Rocky Mountain area, butthey were fat. We passed safely down thatgorge and found ourselves out of that realmof rocks, ravines, cliffs, and precipice. Theriver spread out into a flat, broad bottom,lined by two low even plateaus. Much dirtygrass and herb covered that bottom and

several of our horses died. A remedy wasfound however. A rider with a good whipmounted the swollen and suffering animal.He whipped and galloped the horse or muleas hard as he could. A rapid discharge ofwind escaped the horse, perspiration sooncovered him and his bloated belly returned toits right size. Thus they were saved and thedangerous disease mastered. Trapping alongwe caught uncommonly large beaver, beingold and untouched in their ancient dams.Coming to a very poor Tribe near theseashore, we did not know how they lived, aswe ever saw no food or preparations to haveany. They were living in the brush like deer.Emmanuel told me that the Tribe had no landthat would produce anything. They musthave lived on fish and seafowl and game, asthey had bows like their more powerfulneighbors. From there we rode on andlooked at the sea. There it was that bigmysterious thing. That Deep of which I hadheard so much. All the water fowl that ever Isaw were there and numbers more thick asthey could swim. I thought the earth had notso many different bills. The sea was coveredwith them, as a thick shower of hailstonescovers our mountain prairies. They were nodoubt gathered there for winter and about toleave, like ourselves, for their distant homes.When would they all gather there again?

Part Five

We began our return, slowly trapping ourway back, a week’s short march from the sea.Next trapping a long fork that runs to the leftside of the Colorado, we camped withanother Tribe whose men were uncommonlytall. Our tallest white man was one fullfathom and a fist standing in his moccasins.The son of the chief came and standing withour man passed him with something to spareeasily under his chin. This young Indian wasraw boned and well formed, with his longbraided hair and erect bearing was beautifulto look at. Here we found good grass,

poplar, and willow and wild sugar. Thebeavers were not so numerous as on the chiefriver, nor so dark of fur as in the RockyMountains, but they were large and fat.

Emmanuel told me that this stream iscalled San Francisco, after a saint of thatname. One evidence of someone we found inthe large stone ruins within a thousand pacesof the stream and also called after that man.The ruins are of natural and artificial cutstone, in square apartments of six squares,having still five chimneys left standing like the

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big parent stumps of a pine forest. Abeautiful level plain surrounded these ruins.Some being of the past chose it for the site ofhis house. But the ruins were far from waterand I thought he might have a dry wellsomewhere, now silent and closed. I saw abeautiful little bird on the ruins and on abough of the stream. He was about the sizeof a snowbird but a little longer in form. Hischeeks were of a bright yellow, his scalpwhite, his beak black, his wings dipped andedged with yellow. His tail a short span,white in the middle feathers and on the sideones black. He had eighteen different songsof his own, and I listened and listened andlooked at him again and again, and I thoughthow happy he was at home, enjoying his fate,whilst we were ranging the waste andwilderness day and night in eagerness andanxiousness to be rich.

I saw another little bird about the size of aswallow, full chested, round headed and notail. His plumage was of a dawning grey. Hehad a red bar on both sides of his neck fromthe root of the beak around his eyes, andstriping in red the fore quills of his wings tothe root of the fore pinion. This is the secretbird of love. He lengthens his bill straight asa lance while eating. We had one grey hairedSpanish Indian in our party who told me ofhow this bird could be used for lovemedicine.

By the stream and on the sandy pebbledplains around the old ruins of San Francisco,a low fine little herb grew with a flower likethat of the purple bitterroot bud, and its odorwas of the best fragrance. The natives onthat stream used for a part of their diet along broad leaf like a wild cabbage, whichthey prepared in their stone ovens as we doour camas. In passing up and trapping alongfour days from the home of the departedsaint, we came upon some old stone vestigesof former Indians. Some of these were quiteround in form and their walls built of heavystones, stones massive enough to take a bandof men to lift one of them, but no sign of a

chimney. They were also by nature or byman hewn in rocky cliffs, vents for smokewhich yet blackened the rocks, and leadingfrom caverned chambers made by the Fatherspirit or man therein. An abundance of lucidwild grape covered the hills. Emmanuel toldme that here dwelt some of the first Indians.We found the head of this stream quietlybubbling from the earth in a beautiful clearlake fountain of about 100 paces broad andof the purest water.

From this fountain we started again overthe pathless waste, sandy and grassless, buthere and there strewn with juniper. Wetraveled toward the right of the setting sun.Not a vestige to eat for our horses nor a dropof water for us or them. When we camped,hills and mounds of deep sand surroundedus, a starless, windy dismal night covered andblew on us. Our sleep was fitful and bad.

Traveling to the north and west a day anda night from the Indian walls, we camped ona little stream of about one pace abroad. Iwent to cut a little grass for my horse. Therewas a little straight jump the stream made ona bed of rocks and gravel. I took a piece ofyellow rock, the size of a grain of beans andlooked at it. It was heavy and clean yellowiron I thought. I pressed it with my teeth. Ithad a tough touch, and I threw it away.Having since seen purses of gold dust, I amconvinced that it was pure gold I found andin my ignorance threw away.

We left and camped at midnight withoutwater. We slept a little, enough to prepareour souls for more, but the sleeplessEmmanuel called, “Up and off.” We go on inthe dark and he ahead following his stars.On we traveled until noon we came to thefoot of a hill wherefore diverged six beatenfootpaths of the Indians. Sown deep in thetop of the hill in a large cave, we found aspring of grateful waters. We drank from itfour or five times until our men and horseswere satisfied. The country around wasextremely dreary, solitary and of a greyreddish hue. I thought of the many days it

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must have been since the first Indianquenched his thirst at this spring.

For several days previously, turkeys andblack-tailed deer were found. Hereupon aftereating and drinking, Emmanuel told us thattwo more days would bring water. Since weleft the Colorado River near the sea, ouranimals were perishing for want of water andgrass and continuous heavy sands. It was theloss of all our mules, and we proved that amule cannot stand the extreme long barrenjourney that a horse can. We lost twentymules at least to one horse. Wherefore wesaved the most of our horses but perished allour mules. None of our hunters ever boastedagain of their mules or would trust them in alife and death struggle with horses.

We again started in the evening watchand camped at midnight. I had carried somewater and was soon surrounded when knownto have it. Upon sleeping a little we startedout in the dark, Emmanuel ahead and riding,directed by his star. In the noon we came toa hill and camped. Here in a dry gulch I dugin search of water to nearly my own height.Some water oozed at last. We made all ourhorses and men drink. The suffering horseswould lay hold of the moist ground, smell andlick it and neigh and groan and look at me asI dug, as if the Power that made them toldthem what I was doing. In this ground I sawmany bits of yellow. Two old ignorantCanadians told me on showing them that ofsuch were yellow buttons made and kettlesand Indian finger rings. From what I knownow of their ignorance then and my own, Iam convinced it was pure gold.

Again we started in the evening watchand camped at sunset next day after a hard,dreary, wasteless stretch on a little streamabout three spans abroad. This was in thegoose moon. The sky was as bare as my nail

and of a lurid blue red! The heat. The heatwas intense. No dog lived to us. We wouldsometimes take a little water, but our horseswere so exhausted and weak that a handfulof anything depressed them the more, and weforbore every way to load them. The sand,perpetual sand always being deep, makingtheir way exhaustive and foundering. Weslept here at night and started at dawn forthe Colorado. It was entirely barren of anywood save for a few scant osiers or greenwillow. No traces of any people and the riverlooked as if it were traveling like a passingstranger who heeds not man nor gives anyaccount of his way. Again we killed two ofour few horses to make a canoe and wecrossed well. Our trapping was done and wetraveled wearily on and came at last on ourown outward tracks.

Two days after crossing the river wecamped on a small spring and met someSpaniards with a very tall American as theirchief. Their chief was kind and gave us somefood of which I knew not, with dried beef.We traded with them beaver skins for horses,four beaver to one horse. We traveled abouttwo weeks in their company and then parted,and in a few days we were at the Salt Lake.We found a large camp of Indians here onone of the fresh water tributaries that were agood trout fishery.

Traveling on to the place of the gathering,we found in the mountains a lone trapperwith his wife having a large supply of fatvenison, and he generously divided most ofwhat he had with us. In the fifth month ofthe year, which is the camas moon, wearrived at the place of gathering. There wasa good food supply forwarded by theHudson’s Bay Company to meet us. Weremained here ten days, resting and feastingand then we started again for buffalo.

�

— 64 —


Lesson 4: Seasons of the People, Salish

Pre-Lesson Preparation:Familiarize yourself with the Salish narrative and Seasons ofthe Salish video; make student copies of the Salish studentnarrative& calendar narrative; cut calendar narratives intoindividual month strips, make copies of the calendartemplate; display photos in classroom; display Montana map

Procedure:1. First Class Period—Refer to the pictures displayed in

the classroom and ask students if they can shareanything about them.

2. Instruct students that they are going to be learningabout the Salish people and their lifeways during the1800’s. Refer to their historic and contemporary areaon the Montana map. Make a KWL chart on chartpaper. Ask students what they know about the SalishTribe and their traditional lifestyle. Put responses inthe K section. Now ask students what they would liketo learn about the Salish people and fill in the Wsection.

3. Arrange students into four groups. Give each groupthree-month strips of a season, and give them time foreach student in the group to read all of the three stripstheir group was given. Write the headings Spring,Summer, Fall, and Winter on the board. Ask eachgroup to discuss what activities they read about. Haveeach group report what their group found out andrecord under the appropriate heading.

4. Return to the KWL chart and fill in what the class haslearned under the L heading.

5. Tell students that you are going to watch a video aboutthe Salish that includes some historic and somecontemporary information. Instruct them to write theseason headings spring and summer on a piece ofpaper. Ask them to write down any new seasonalinformation as they watch the movie. Show the springand summer section of Seasons of the Salish video.

6. Second Class Period—Read the Origin of the Bitterrootto students. Discuss and refer to the video and askstudents to use their notes to add to the KWL chart.

ObjectiveAt the conclusion of thislesson students will be ableto:

• identify a traditionalseasonal activity of theSalish people forspring, summer, fall,and winter.

TimeTwo 60-minute class periods

Materials• Footlocker materials –

parfleche, bitterrootheart, rawhide pieces,Seasons of Peoplevideo

• User Guide Materials –Salish narrative,bitterroot story,calendar template,Salish calendarnarrative, parflechetemplate, Red Shirtbiography, photos ofparfleche and rootdigger, story maps

• Teacher ProvidedMaterials – map ofMontana, chart paperfor KWL, tagboard orheavy tan craft paper,markers, crayons orcolored pencils, rulers

(continued)

— 65 —

Show students the dried bitterrootsample and give them each a copy ofthe bitterroot plant handout. Explainhow the plant is harvested. Refer to thephotos of the root digger – pése – andthe parfleche.

7. Pass out tagboard or craft paper, alongwith the parfleche template to eachstudent. Pass out rawhide pieces andremind students that a parfleche wasmade from rawhide. Refer to theparfleche picture and tell students thatthe flaps of the parfleche weredecorated using geometric designs.Have students use scratch paper tocreate a design that they will use ontheir parfleche (rulers are helpful). Letstudents make and decorate theirparfleche. Display all of the students’parfleches in the classroom.

8. Ask students to write the headings falland winter on a piece of paper andinstruct them to record new seasonalinformation as they watch the rest of thevideo. Show the video and discuss. Fillin more on the KWL chart

Assessment:• Give students the story map and have

them make a map of the “Origin of theBitterroot.”

• Give students the calendar template andask them to create a seasonal calendarof their life and the place that they live.Calendars should include original monthnames and drawings to depict them.

• Give students calendar templates andhave them write the Salish month nameand create a drawing that matches thename.

• Ask students to use their notes and allof the calendar information to write astory about a Salish girl or boy livingduring the 1800’s. What kinds ofactivities would they be doing?

Further Exploration• Read the Red Shirt biography to the

class. Show them the drawings of herin battle. Ask students to write aboutwhy they think Red Shirt chose tobecome a warrior. Ask students to writeabout the role that they would havewanted if they had lived then, and tellwhy they would choose that role.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleLesson 4: Seasons of the People, Salish (continued)

— 66 —

ParflecheTemplate

— 67 —


The Salish Calendar

*This seasonal calendar information was compiled with information provided by theSalish Culture Committee. It is copyrighted and provided for educational use only.

January – The Shake Hands Month /The Shooting MonthThis is the middle of the winter months. Themonth of prayer and thanks. Stapsqe is theshooting of the rifle in the air. This would bedone at midnight and the people would singthe Shake Hands song. Everyone would forma circle and shake hands with everyone there,in thanksgiving. The celebration would beginwith war dancing for four days, then theywould have Jump Dance. This was done tomake your prayers for good hunting, goodberry crops, and to be able to dig the rootsfor medicines. The people would also prayespecially for their children, that they wouldsurvive the year without harm.

February – The Coldest MonthThe Indian people regarded this month as thecoldest of the year. The weather was oftenbelow zero and the snow was deep. Thismonth was a long hard time for the Indianpeople.

March – The Month of the GeeseWhen the geese were spotted flying in fromthe South, it was a good sign that the wintermonths were coming to an end. It was timeto look ahead to warm weather. During thefirst part of the month, some of the peoplewould go to snag and trap fish in the lakes.Sinew and bone hooks were used forsnagging fish, while fish weirs were used fortrapping them.

April – The Buttercup MonthThe first thunder is heard this month. All thehibernating animals would be coming out.Coyote stories were put away and not takenout until next year’s snowfall. Spring broughtthe buttercup. The Salish used thebuttercups as medicine. Other wildflowerssuch as yellow bells were used as a fruit andsometimes mixed with bitterroot. Thewomen would be checking to see when thebitterroot would be ready to dig.

May – The Month of the BitterrootBitterroot was usually dug in late April orearly May. Women would be sent out tocheck on the bitterroot to see if it was readyto dig. Bitterroot is gathered before itblooms. The roots are easy to peel at thistime, when the plants are young. The firstroots are dug ceremonially for a first feast forthe community. People give thanks for thesefruits of the season and pray for a plentifulharvest throughout the seasons and for futuregenerations. After this feast, individuals andfamilies would go out and harvest largequantities of the roots. The roots would bepeeled, cleaned and cooked fresh with berriesor meat. What was not eaten fresh would bedried and stored in woven root bags or aparfleche. The bitterroot tradition remainstoday.

June – The month of the CamasCamas plants have a bulbous root that isusually ready for harvest in June. Camasbulbs are baked with black moss in earthen

(continued)

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ovens for three days. After baking, the bulbswere dried and stored for later use. Bakedcamas is delicious and has a sweet flavor.During this time, people would also bemaking bark baskets form cedar or birchtees. The baskets would be used for berrypicking. Tipi poles would be cut now as thebark would be easy to peel. When the wildrose was in bloom the people would knowthat the buffalo would be nice and fat. Salishhunting parties would then travel to theplains country for their summer buffalo hunt.

July – The Celebration MonthDuring the middle summer months, thepeople would gather to celebrate and givethanks. Many people would donate items tohelp with the celebration so that everybodywould have a good time. The first day ofcelebrating would be a memorial to honorthose who had passed away, and than all thedifferent dances would begin.

August – The Huckleberry MonthThe Salish gathered many different types ofberries during the summer. Huckleberrieswere usually ripe in August and were afavorite of all the berries. Women would pickthe berries, filling their bark baskets. If thehuckleberries were plentiful, people wouldpick enough to last through the seasons.Huckleberries were also used as a medicine.The bushes would be boiled to make a tea forbackaches and kidney ailments.

September – The Chokecherry MonthChokecherries were gathered and then driedwhole or pounded into patties and dried.Later they would be made into soup. Thebark of the chokecherry tree was also used asa medicine for stomach illness. Oregongrape was also harvested in September. Theroots were used as a medicine and to make abrilliant yellow dye.

October – The Hunting MonthIn the fall, hunting dominated the people’sactivities. The harvesting of elk, deer, andmoose began in earnest. One particularmethod of hunting was to build a type ofcorral out of tree branches. Animals wouldthen be herded into the corral. After enoughhad been killed, the corral would be takendown to let the rest go. Salish huntingpractices included care never to waste any ofthe animal and handling the carcass withrespect.

November – The Storytelling MonthAfter hunting trips were over and enoughfood was stored for winter, the people wouldbe drawn inside by the cold winter season.Clothing and tools would be made orrepaired. With the first snow on the ground,elders would tell Coyote stories.

December – The Trapping MonthDuring the winter months the people wouldtrap martin, weasel, mink, and otter andbeaver. The animal’s furs would be nice andthick now. The pelts were used for manythings both functional and decorative. Thebeaver was trapped not only for fur, but forfood and medicine also.

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleThe Salish Calendar (continued)

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Mon

thYea

r

— 69 —

— 70 —


The Origin of the Bitterroot

It was a time of famine in the land that isnow known as the Bitterroot Valley. An oldwoman, the wife of a medicine man, wasgrieved because her children were hungry.Without meat or fish, they were slowlystarving to death. They had been eatingshoots from sunflower plants, but the onlyones left were old and woody.

"My sons have no food," mourned the oldmother. "Soon all of them will die. I will goto a place where I can weep alone and singthe song of death."

So she went to the stream now called theLittle Bitterroot and sat down beside it.There she bowed low until her face touchedthe ground and her gray hair spread outupon the earth. Bitter tears fell as she sangthe song of death.

The Sun, coming up over the mountainsoverlooking the valley, heard the death song.He saw the grieving woman and called to herguardian spirit. "Your child sorrows for herstarving people," the Sun Father said to thespirit. "You must go to her. Comfort herwith food and with beauty out of deadthings."

The guardian spirit took the form of a redbird and flew down to the weeping woman.Softly he spoke to her.

"The tears of your sorrow have gone into thesoil, and there the roots of a new plant arebeing formed. The plant will have leavesclose to the ground. Its blossom will firsthave the rose of my wing feathers and thenthe white of your hair.

"Your people will dig the root of the plant

and will eat it. They will find it bitter fromyour sorrow, but it will be food for them.They will see the flowers and will say, "Hereis the silver of our mother's hair upon theground and the rose from the wings of thespirit bird. Our mother's tears of bitternesshave given us food."

Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies. Ella Clark, University of Oklahoma Press, 1966.

— 71 —


Bitterroot Digger

Parfleche

— 72 —


Story Map

Picture Panels

NEXT

THEN

FINALLY

Writing PanelsIn the beginning . . .

— 73 —


Cau

se a

nd E

ffec

t M

apC

hain

of

Eve

nts

Pat

tern

— 74 —


Storytelling Map

— 75 —


Lesson 5: A Valuable Trade, Shoshone

Pre-Lesson PreparationFamiliarize yourself with the value of the tokens by readingover the trade ledgers. Read the Shoshone narrative andlocate historic and contemporary homelands of the tribe ona US wall map.

Procedure1. Share background information on the Shoshone.

Remark on them being one of the first Northwesttribes to acquire the horse. Ask students why theythink horses introduced a system of wealth.

2. Put up overhead of the trade tokens and talk a littleabout each item. Arrange students in groups of threeand ask them to rank the tokens from least to mostvaluable. After all groups have done so, have eachgroup share their ranking with the class.

3. Now instruct the groups that they are going to engagein a trading activity as if they were at a rendezvouswith other tribes and possibly trappers and traders.The goal is to try to get the most valuable tokens foryour group. Each group will be given a differentamount of various tokens. Each group will get onetrading opportunity with each of the other groups.Distribute tokens.

4. After all of the trading has been done, ask each groupto make a list of what they have. Write each group’samount on the board. With the whole class, let

students pick which group they think had the mostvaluable amount of tokens.

ObjectiveAt the end of this lesson,students will be able to:

• estimate the time theShoshone acquired thehorse and its critical valueto Northwestern tribes.

• compare the value of thehorse to common tradeitems of the period.

TimeOne Hour

Materials• Footlocker Materials –

Beaver pelt sample, tradetokens

• User Guide Materials –Shoshone narrative, tradeledger inventory, overheadof trade tokens and tradeledger, trade beadnarrative

• Teacher ProvidedMaterials – U.S. wall map,overhead projector

The Standard of Trade, Moose Fort, 1784

Quantity Item Beaver

1 Guns of 4 Feet 121 Guns of 3 _ Feet 111 Guns of 3 Feet 108 Knives 12 Hatchets 11 Blanket, striped 6

5. Share relative period values with studentswith the trading ledgers, and estimate whichgroup really had the most valuable tokens.

Assessment• Give each student several different trade

tokens. Ask them to compare the value ofeach token to a trader at a trading post andthen to an Indian person. Is the value thesame or different and if different ask themto explain why.

— 76 —


Trade BeadsBy Bill Wood & Tonya Courville Decker

Most glass beads were manufactured inVenice, Italy. For nearly 600 years (until the14th century), Venice held a monopoly onglass bead production. Complexly decoratedglass beads have been found byarchaeologists that date back as far as 1,000B.C. Other countries such as Holland,France, Sweden, Belgium, and England didtheir best to lure and steal the Italianglassmakers, along with their secrets andskills. Then too these countries could jointhe vast World Trade Market. In doing so,they could obtain the fine furs, silks, spices,precious metals, and other items that were sohighly sought after by the Europeans, withouthaving to deplete their gold and silverreserves in trade to Italy for glass beads.

The glass trade beads brought into NorthAmerica were traded to Indian tribesthroughout the continent for a variety ofthings such as hides and furs. Indian peopleexhibited skilled adaptation of not onlydecorative items such as trade beads but alsoother items of technology.

History of Glass Trade Beads1300-1600 A.D. - The Venetian glassindustry flourished and Venice became theundisputed capital of glass making in theworld. World trade during this period wasbased on glass trade beads. The Venetianswere extremely proud of their beads,particularly the Chevron. Hundreds of shipsfrom England, Spain, France, and othercountries left Europe for all points of theworld with glass beads as their main barteritem, with the Chevron being the mostdesirable, as it brought the best results fortrading.

The years 1550-1700 were the Golden Agefor Venetian glass bead production.

European countries realized that they weremissing out in the world trade and sent spiesand agents into Venice glassmaking areas tolure away the skilled Venetian glass makers.A few countries such as Holland, France andBelgium were successful and others were not.If spies were detected they were executed.

1613 A.D. - A family of well-known masterglassmakers smuggled equipment intoAmsterdam, Holland. They began producinglarge quantities of Chevron beads for exportby the Dutch East Indies Company. OtherVenetian glassmakers defected during thenext 60 years, causing great alarm within theVenetian government. As the Venetians helda monopoly on glass bead making, they werenot about to allow further detection of theirskilled glassmakers. The Republic of Veniceadopted drastic measures.

1673 A.D. - The Senate of the Republic ofVenice, enraged by the defection of some oftheir glassmakers to Holland and France,issued the following declaration: "If anyworkman or artist transports his art into aforeign country, to the detriment of theRepublic, he shall be sent an order to return.If he does not obey his relatives shall beimprisoned, if in spite of the imprisonment ofhis relatives he does not return, an emissarywill be charged to kill him. After his deathhis relatives will be at liberty." Upon return,the guilty would be held in a private prisonalong with his immediate family. All of theirbasic needs would be met, but they wouldnever be allowed to leave this "home" again.

1791 A.D - the collapse of the VenetianRepublic

1806 A.D. - The organization of glassmakingwas dissolved in Venice and the glassmakingindustry came to a virtual standstill.

— 77 —


Deer Hides

Deer Meat

Buffalo Tongue

Buffalo Robe

Bitterroot

Horse

Trade Tokens

— 78 —

Beaver

Hatchet

Gun

Salmon

Knife

Blanket

Fox Pelt

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleTrade Tokens (continued)

— 79 —

Trade Ledger Inventory

continued

— 80 —

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleTrade Ledger Inventory (continued)

continued

— 81 —

Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleTrade Ledger Inventory (continued)

— 82 —


Flags—Symbols of Our Culture

By, Julie Cajune, 1994

Pre-Lesson Preparation:Make student copies of Montana and U.S. flags and EagleStaff. Hang Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribal Flag onwall; familiarize yourself with all of flag’s symbols and theirmeanings. Eagle Feathers, The Highest Honor gives abrief description of the symbolic value and meaning of eaglefeathers and the Indian Flag. The drawing on the studenthandout was the Eagle Staff of the late John Peter Paul,who was the War Dance Chief until his death in 2000.John was a revered elder who had a deep knowledge ofSalish and Pend d'Oreille culture and history. He allowedme to have this picture drawn to teach students the respectand reverence that Indian people have for the eagle feather.He told me to tell students that his Eagle Staff would onlybe brought out for important events.

Prodedure:1. Give students the flag handouts and the Eagle Staff.

Allow students to discuss what they believe the colorsand symbols mean.

2. The U.S. flag colors are red for hardiness and courage,white for purity and innocence, blue for perseveranceand justice. Stripes represent the original 13 coloniesand the stars represent the 50 states. Montana flagsymbols of the plow, pick, and shovel representagricultural and mineral resources in the state. Thefalls and mountain scenery depict the natural beauty ofthe state. The Confederated Salish and KootenaiTribal flag was designed by tribal member Karen Hale.The symbols signify the mountains and waterways ofthe reservation, as well as the tribe's historicdependence on buffalo.

3. Tell students that you are going to play an honor songand a flag song for them and that traditional protocolrequires that people stand to show respect. After thesongs have been played ask students if there is asimilar American tradition. (Star Spangled Banner andsaluting the flag or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance)

Objective:Students will be able toidentify and interpret a varietyof cultural symbols.

Time:One Hour

Materials:• Footlocker Materials:

Salish Tribal Flag, CD oftraditional music withHonor Song and FlagSong, Eagle Feathers:The Highest Honor book

• User Guide Materials:Montana and U.S. flagtemplates, Eagle Staffdrawing

• Teacher ProvidedMaterials: copies ofMontana State flag, andUnited States flag, blankwhite paper

(continued)

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Lifeways of Montana’s First PeopleFlags—Symbols of Our Culture (continued)

4. Brainstorm with the class all the symbols theycommonly see and discuss their meanings. Give someexamples to initiate discussion - ©, •, +, $, etc....

5. Give students blank pages and have them thoughtfullydesign a “Family Flag”, utilizing symbols and colorsthat might represent their family’s character, values, orbeliefs.

6. Display “Family Flags” in the classroom.

— 84 —


Eagle Staff

— 85 —


MMOO

NNTTAA

NNAA

— 86 —


— 87 —


Bibliography

Age of the Buffalo (video) 14 minutes, color. National Film Board of Canada. P.O. Box 2959,Station M, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 0P3 (403) 420-3010 or Lethbridge Public Library,810-5th Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1j 4c4 (403) 329-3233 [films arerented to schools].

Directed by Austin Campbell and Produced by Nicholas Balla. “A vivid recollection of thefree West of the North American Natives and the vast herds of buffalo that once thunderedacross the plains. Using paintings from the mid-1800’s, the animation camera creates amost convincing picture of the buffalo hunt as both Native hunters and, disastrously, whitehunters practiced it.

Goble, Paul. Return of the Buffalo. New York, New York: Orchard Books, 1996.

Hebard, Grace Raymond. Washakie: Chief of the Shoshones. University of Nebraska Press:Lincoln and London, 1995.

Hungry Wolf, Beverly. The Ways of My Grandmothers. Quill: New York, 1980.

Schultz, James Willard. Running Eagle: Woman Warrior of the Blackfeet, Council for IndianEducation, 1984.

Yellow Bird, Dorreen. “In North Dakota, spell her name ‘Sakakawea.’” Grand Forks Herald,08/20/2002.

www.washakie.net Eastern Shoshone Tribal Website

www.shoshonebannock.com Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Website

See Dottie Susag’s book in footlocker for additional resourses.

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