Closed Captions

Lewis Adams, a Salish elder and historian, recounts his people's first meeting with the Lewis and Clark Expedition near Ross Hole in present-day Montana. He discusses the Salish name for the area, explains the misnomer "Flathead," and describes how his people provided food, horses, and provisions to the expedition. Adams also shares the story of Chief Joseph's flight through Salish territory and his people's assistance during that journey.

Transcript

0:29 sure well good afternoon everyone welcome to the tent of mini voices the tent of mini voices is part of the core of Discovery 2 traveling Lewis and Clark exhibit this is a National Park Service exhibit that's been on the road since 2003 and will continue to be on the road through
0:54 2006 during the four years of the Lewis and Clark expedition by Centennial and what we do here in the tenam Min voices as we travel along the Louis and Clark Trail we invite in a wide variety of speakers to share their perspectives their many voices about the Lewis and Clark
1:17 expedition its aftermath and also about the people that were waiting there when that expedition came along and this afternoon we're fortunate to have with us Lewis Adams of the Salish he's a Salish Elder and historian he formerly spent 14 years on
1:41 the tribal council he also served in the United States Navy during the Korean conflict as a gunner on a destroyer and what he's here to do this afternoon is talk a little bit about when the original core Discovery encountered his people so please give a warm welcome to Lewis
2:04 [Applause] Adams I'm happy to be
2:28 here I'm glad I was invited to say a few words to share what what little I know I'm always willing to share this is uh this area here M our people call it see I'm I'm a saish from today I found out how far away I lived to 245
2:52 miles but our people come over here through the years and this is what they call this place and that means saw houses I guess when they come around here they saw the first the first inhabitants the settlers I guess they uh they built their houses of
3:15 sod so that's what they kind of named this area in our language many years ago whenever whenever this time of the year come when our people still lived in the Bidot up near Hamilton near
3:40 Stevensville this time of the year everybody would would scatter and' go to their favorite hauns a lot of people would go into which is now Idaho some people go down toward the Yellowstone is what our people call the Yellowstone quad Shen the Yellow
4:04 Stone and if they went into Idaho they took the trail around westfork now I see on a map they call that the nepur trail but our people called it Nam shaks all that meant was a trail to move on and that's where where our people went into over the hill from there into net which means deep slow water there
4:28 was a nice Campground back in which is now Idaho many years ago my great grandpa went with some people back there and he died back there but they tried to get him back over into the bitot but he kept sliding off his horse so finally they buried him on top and right now every summer I I I
4:52 make it up to where he's buried at least once or twice a year my lady and I and my grandson my grand son the one that was was here his uh chain e and Greywolf and my ladyes is uh sunflower
5:16 and my aunt named her that on kind of her hair so but anyway when our people would scatter different places cuz they lived in the bit Valley and they lived into the big hole country my grandma was born not too far from where uh where the battlefield is right
5:38 now just down the corner from there just Downstream is where she was born next to this next to the river and there was quite a few of our people that I knew of that were born back there but I just bring this out because my grandma was there but that's
6:00 to our people that big uh big hole country that's where our people lived they they dug a lot of C they got arrow heads spearheads knife knife scrapers and whatever else I go up there once in a while and and look these places over because the the places are still visible if you know where to
6:25 go and uh but anyway it was this time of the year whenever see the the npers have a trail into Buffalo country they call it nimu in their language which means trail to the Buffalo country but our trails to the Buffalo country is right near the Bidot up
6:46 between Hamilton and Darby you come over scalo our people call that I think that's the white where the white man got skelo sko means many trails to the buffalo country and our people use that and this particular time of the year when they come up
7:08 suo that was when they uh they met a strange bunch of people coming a small band of people there was a few of our people though my my great grandma used to say that was not the only white white person that some of our people saw her her dad or her Grandpa I forget which which he said we'd already
7:32 met we they'd already seen a white man from T and to us means the cold country I gu some Trappers from Canada somewhere but they they saw them before but 99% of our people never had seen a white man or white white woman but uh they seen the strange strange people
7:55 coming up they look pretty tired they look pretty ragged they were they were in pretty sad shape looked pale but uh but they they did meet him there at uh Su K that that's uh right by the the head of uh Ross Ross Ross Creek I
8:20 think but anyway when they when they did meet him you know I had a I got a friend not a real good friend he had a friend of mine I met some years go Dale Burke he wrote a book on the the Salish meeting meeting the the Lewis and Clark's band up there by the by the Su K by Ross
8:43 hole but I remember I got up to the city fathers invited me to Hamilton to give a talk and Dale Burke was talking when I got there and he was talking about when the Salish met uh Lewis and Clark he said they call them flatheads but that's a misnomer they're not flatheads they're
9:07 Salish or uh how did he say it I I read his book that's how I I I picked that out Oly shoot he said in the book he said they're either Salish or ooot Indians they're not flatheads so when he got done talking I uh I stopped him I said do you wait here a while I want to I was up next I said I
9:31 won't hold you back very long I said uh I got something for you to hear so when I talked I said Mr Burke is Right Flathead is a misnomer we're not flatheads I said but what he said Oleo is also a misnomer we not that either I said where he got that wherever he heard
9:56 that I looked I looked in his book I said I I I you might say I dissected this word Ute and I I I kind of thought whenever Lewis and Clark met our people he probably there was no communication verbally he probably asked these Indians you know three eagles and
10:19 some of them where do you where do you people live naturally he under the chief all the Indians understood that three eagles just pointed down toward well they were up high up by Ross hole so he probably pointed just down toward a Bidot and said sh that's what that means down
10:42 below so they must have wrote it down that they're Oly shoot Indians it didn't make sense you know so I remember Dale Burke scribbling down some things I I hope he was going to change that someday but uh but after that I told him you can go I that's all I had to say I just wanted to remind you that but anyway when they met these
11:06 people I remember my grandma's stepmom used to say she was she was there she said these strange people didn't concern us too much it was this one individual the black one because through the centuries our people have a medicine dance in the winter time and at these medicine dance ceremonies there's there's sometimes one to a dozen Blue
11:31 Jays and a blue jay will paint himself black for some special ceremony some special reason but there's got to be a good reason when they do that they'll paint themselves black with with ashes and that's what they wondered what what are these people up to what is this one individual up to why do they have a cost clay that's what they call a a blue jay a
11:54 cqu wonder what they're up to they got a Costco with them and through through sign language and through they finally got across that they wanted to they were concerned about this this black man so they told him well go check on him there so some of our people I remember Sophie used to say that they went up there rubbed his face and didn't
12:18 come off well they realized then that that's what he was a black man these people weren't weren't up to something I mean they were but you know but uh but uh at the time they they just that that was their main concern this costly this black man to this day whenever you you you see a colored man or what whatever that's that's how you describe
12:43 him you can tell somebody I saw you know I saw a black person but that's that's the sign for that and a white person just like that when our first when our first people met white people they had uh the bangs on women that's what they that's what that
13:03 is but anyway from from that that encounter they uh they headed down the bid they helped him through the bito they gave him what Provisions they needed if they were hungry and change of clothes or whatever they tried to give them blankets and whatever else they needed uh Buffalo robes but in in a lot
13:26 of cases uh leis leou and Clark band didn't uh didn't know how to accept these things they thought if we accept it maybe maybe we're putting ourselves in into something we can't get out of or whatever this Suspicious Mind you know but anyway they helped them through there right down to uh Tsum down to L
13:49 Tsum are are people's name for l no salmon but they they took him down to napt n shaks and that's that's our our name for the the npers trail that they callu well our name for that is nap shaks cuz it's not a not a one-way Trail
14:11 like a a fish trap no it's a two- ways our people named it many many years ago and this saish is the npers to our people that's why they call it napak not just going to the nesper country going through the nesper country because this Trail went clear to which is the ocean and that was the
14:35 trail that we we established many many years ago but whenever our people used to laugh about I remember the old people used to laugh about when they heard when they heard that this band of people had a leader that was taking them through a young woman they said you know
14:56 conqu why didn't they I'm going to
15:24 say they always said if they really was sincere on going through a Fast Trip they would have hired one of our Salish a young man or a middle-aged man that knew the country he'd have got them through there in two days because they said a young woman she didn't know the country that's why they got lost they got into some inaccessible areas where the snow was deep they had
15:49 to eat their dogs their horses whatever they used to laugh about that they felt sorry for him but they said if they would have hired a middle-aged man he'd have got him through there in two days but that was that was our encounter with Lewis and Clark it wasn't wasn't too much they they helped him there was good to him they helped him with horses and food and Provisions whatever they
16:13 needed and that was that was our our our encounter it wasn't there isn't too much to tell on that because uh like I say they when they met him they treated him good all the way through and when they come back back they met him again for a while and they when they come through I guess the Missoula area and come over and through this
16:37 country but this this place right in right in this area is also where a good friend of our people come through and almost made it to Canada to the Bea UNM musk are people called him and that was Chief Joseph he was a good friend to our people uh do have time to tell you
17:00 people about about our encounters with with with uh Chief Joseph because like I say uh leis and Clark thing wasn't too long but whenever whenever Chief Joseph come from from his country whenever the the Army was following him he got to you've all heard of Fort fizzle he got close there he had a runner ahead of him
17:24 but he come back and told Chief Joseph concluded he said there's somebody waiting for us up ahead so he told her junor we'll wait here you go on ahead you go to to CH am to charlott's camp and get us some help to to to make
17:46 it through here so this young man skirted Fort fizzle and he got to charlott's camp and he told the reason I know this so well John Delaware I heard John Delaware tell about this because he was one of the young men that went back and helped Joseph's people come through but he says when the runner got there he told charot what what was going
18:10 on so he sent John Delaware and two of his brothers back with with this young man he said and when we got back where uh Joseph was where UNM to us that was his name to our people and to this day I I kicked myself on H in for not asking at that time why they call him that it means 8 days but there had to be a
18:35 reason and I never did I thought our old people going to be here forever but I never never found out why but anyway when when John and his two brothers went back with this Runner he said we got back to on musk and we told him where to come through on the two side of this draw and to our people two
18:57 side is the north side the C side so we come on top of The Ridges we said and we come through there and we skirted all them people down there that was even some of our young Renegade Indians down in that bunch and how they got them enticed to join them Whiskey Whiskey the the firew water the poison but John Del we used to laugh about that all these
19:21 guys went over there to for us get drunk so we weren't worried about them so he said we got them back to charlott's camp and he told Charlotte we just we want to we'd like to stay with you a few days and rest our old people are tired our kids are tired our horses are tired and Charlotte told him at that time you can stay any number of your people can stay
19:45 you can all stay if you want to you can live with us but remember we won't help you fight the days of fighting the Su yapi the white man is over if we help you fight we'll all be wiped out so sh Joseph told him no we just want to rest but yet some of his people did stay to this day there's some of our people
20:08 that have ancestry from npers and when they when they left the bito they went as fars medicine tree they Camp close to it and Joseph Joseph sent his medicine man he said you go over to that to that medicine tree and find out what do we have to
20:31 do so went over there and he prayed for a long time he was there for a long time he come back he told Han musk he says we got to pack up we got to leave because and Joseph told him no we can't I I I appreciate what you done I know I know you're you're you mean well but we got to
20:55 rest we have to stay here maybe not as long as we we should since you told us of why we we got to leave he said but we have to rest and he said besides the Army is way behind us they're they're not even close and not told him that's not what I
21:16 mean there's others there's others we've got others that sneaking up on us that's surrounding that's looking at us that's we have to have people out there we got to have our Scouts watch so he said
21:40 well we have to rest anyway so they did they did leave before they had to and here it was volunteers people from Fort Missoula that did close in on Chief Joseph because when he when he went when he went through he talked to some of the other people he said to this day I mean
22:04 to till he died I bet he was sorry because he did talk to some of the settlers in the bitot valley and in near LOL near Victor wherever he had to go through some of the settlers told him yeah you're okay you just go ahead nobody's going to bother you but when he got to the big hole country where where the battle took place he was
22:26 relaxed he let his guard down until he died I bet he wish you to send a couple Scouts back back Trail and to watch but he didn't he took the word of some of the PE the good people he took the word that they wouldn't be bothered he relaxed and that's why there was they were caught up to a lot of his women and
22:48 kids and men were wiped out there but uh this is why the fort nula Fort Benton Fort Shaw Fort Smith Fort anything the dominant Society have a a different name for every fort in the United
23:12 States to our people all forts have one name and all that means is home of the killers because that's what they saw at the time anytime the Army the soldiers come out of there what are they going to do do it was going to kill somebody so that was that was why they called all forts put
23:36 away but anyway that was that was H musk Joseph's encounter with our people they helped him as much as they could let him rest and when they were caught up to hear it in the Bear Paws that's where they was caught up
23:59 to but that's that's what I have to share with you today and when I say my my grandma's stepmom used to say if it wasn't for the good people we wouldn't be here today because at once upon a time there was a move to wipe
24:22 outapi there was a move to sweep us Indians off the face of the Earth but there were too many good people and that's whenever I speak if I go to University of Montana or Montana State in Bosman no matter where I speak I bring this up because if there wasn't good people you people wouldn't be sitting there you'd say hello with I going to go listen to an Indian there's
24:47 too many people in this world they outnumber the bad ones that's why I'm still here my grandkids everybody else is still here and this is what was handed down to me and I lived by that I run on to a lot of prejudice when I was in service but a lot of my white buddies would be here ah never mind don't pay attention them yo-yos they don't know what the hell they're talking
25:09 about so I want to thank you do anybody have any questions let me come around with the microphone so everybody can hear them is it on it's on um it was interesting
25:34 when you mentioned maybe one of your tribesmen might have gone with them to show them the shorter quicker way would they it must been a communication barrier that they couldn't communicate that that would have been impossibility for them wouldn't it either that or they were they were the foregone conclusion that this young lady was going to lead them I don't know
25:56 yeah all right another question uh you grew up in the B root no no I was born in in our Flathead reservation presently see there's uh Ponder kutney and Flathead or Salish that's all thrown in one basket and were called at that time flatheads and we weren't but that's
26:20 our present home now a million and a quarter Acres when they sent us out of the Bidot our our area and that that area was about 22 million Acres so there was even trade according to the amot to the big man whoever he was that do we have any more
26:41 questions all right hold on how come Chief Joseph didn't take what people he had left to Canada what was the question how come Chief Joseph didn't take what people he had left to Canada to escape Chief J take the people he had left to Canada to
27:04 escape well because the Army was after him and he thought if he gets into Canada he was going to be safe after he crossed the international boundary but he didn't quite make it and he I think some people said he thought he was in Canada but he wasn't anyway he was overtaken and that's where he he give it up says from where the sun now
27:27 stands no more will I fight that was it did you guys have any more questions how about some answers no well let's again thank Lewis here for joining us in the tenam voes oh there we do one more [Applause]
27:51 question would you say the name of what you called the fort again this fort here no oh all the fors uhhuh uh-huh and that that means a a
28:11 killer uhhuh all right well thank you and our next program very nice our next program will be just after 4:00 and we're going to hear a program entitled Saga WEA
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Lewis Adams on Salish encounters with Lewis and Clark

Lewis Adams

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Lewis Adams on Salish encounters with Lewis and Clark

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