Closed Captions

Crow community members share cultural narratives and historical perspectives on the Lewis and Clark era and beyond. Topics include matrilineal Crow society, a prophetic vision of European arrival, treaty history and land loss from 1825–1868, the importance of language to Crow identity, and the creation story of the Crow people told by Yellow Breast.

Transcript

0:02 everyone Discovery 2 core Discovery 2 is a national traveling exhibit it's been on the road since January of 2003 traveling along the Lewis and Clark Trail we're actually on our final final leg of the journey we're headed towards St Louis will'll be wrapping up core Discovery 2 in September late September
0:27 we wrapping up core Discovery 2 what we do here in the ten many voices is we invite in a wide variety of presenters to share different aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition but also to talk about the culture and history of all the different American Indian nations along the Lewis and Clark Trail and we have with us this afternoon
0:51 we have a collection of crow storytellers to share some of that Crow history and culture with us and we're start first with Patrick and Sharon Stan over bowl and Sharon is going to start
1:07 with the first story show and good afternoon I would like all of you to uh
1:31 do the sign with me today is a good day today is a good day and so I would just like to share a little bit about being a Crow Indian uh I was raised as a Grassroots Crow I'm proud of my Heritage that's what the uh the great spirit the
1:55 good Lord uh chose me to be was a crow woman and so I've learned many wonderful things over my lifetime from my mother my grandmother and her mother and so I feel I'm very rich in my Heritage and so as we look at our Crow people we are a people that's a matrilineal people the
2:16 woman has a lot of uh uh say in the family life I'm sure it was way back in our Warrior days as it is today we have the responsibility many times that are a little bit overwhelming at times uh during the days of the Buffalo when our men were out in the War uh Waring and uh
2:38 going to get Buffalo and um stealing horses and all the things that it took to be a warrior we the women were at home we were the ones who were the Tepee uh we the ones who kept the Tepee we when the people moved and we were a nomadic Society at the time uh it was the women that put up The Lodges was the
3:02 women that uh reared the children was the women that disciplined them was the women that cooked the food was the women that got everything ready before their men went out to battle one of the uh things that they always made was pikun I don't know how many of you have heard of picun but it was so rich in nutrients and vitamins it would sustain our
3:26 Warriors for many days and so the women played a very key role in the household of the Native Crow people and so um even today that carries on I believe among the crow the women are also very important they make a lot of the decisions sometimes uh I guess we might be a little bit too forward but nevertheless I guess as we look back at
3:50 the time when our great great great grandmothers lived They too had to be strong and they had to go and do all that they could well today I'm going to tell you a story story about a story my grand my mother told me I was on a board for uh at Montana State University of which I'm an alumni in Boseman but one day we were motoring up to Boseman and
4:14 as we went by the Crazy Mountains my mother told me this story and it has stayed with me all these years and she said there was a time when uh the crows camped here and it's um before you get to Livingston there's a kind of a area that is circular and the crows often went encamped right there by the Yellowstone River which we crows know as
4:38 Elk River eash Asha can we say it eash Asha that is the the crow word for the Yellowstone River well we were all camped by the banks of the EG gash Asha and while we were there there were many lodges that were pitched at the Tepe fires were going there was joy in the
5:01 camp people were very busy doing what they needed to do to get the camp uh to a place where it was comfortable as comfortable as they could get and which was um Gathering wood and being sure that they had enough food maybe there might have been some meat out there draw drawing and so as uh we were camped there it was uh a time I believe it must
5:25 have been uh during the warm season because the men were going out and this one man in particular decided Well this was his time to go on a Vision Quest and we must visualize this being the time when there were no people but native people in the area that was all there were and so as this man was going on his
5:48 vision quest uh he crossed EG gash Asha Yellowstone River went across and started up toward the Crazy Mountains and these are the mountains that are are located near Big Timber how many of you know where the Crazy Mountains are okay near Big Timber and he started out and uh of course taking no water no Provisions with him but being dressed
6:11 you know very minimum and then he went and he went for days I don't know how many days but finally he came to a point in his uh Vision Quest where he fell I believe he fell under a crevice of a rock and then he was just there and in the track that he was in while he was there then
6:33 someone came and spoke to him and this person that came and spoke to him said this land that you treasure this land upon which you and your forefathers have lived for many many years I guess as we would sit for eons of time this land that you so dearly love there's going to
6:55 be a great change coming and so then the voice that spoke to this man said uh I'm going to give you an illustration when you're out on a um out hunting for buffalo on a hot summer day it's probably a day like today and you've killed the Buffalo and maybe there's a piece of meat that you've
7:18 forgotten or decided Well I don't really need this piece or maybe you were so busy that it's still there well this meat is there under the hot searing sun and pretty soon the fly are everywhere and they start to get up this piece of meat and the Flies are there and then what happens afterwards you know there's the maggots and then the maggots turn to
7:41 worms well pretty soon this whole piece of meat that's laying out there under the hot Prairie Sun pretty soon this whole meat is going to turn into a bunch of worms it's going to be crawling with worms and that is exactly what's going to happen to your land there's a people that you have never seen before and they are coming and they're going to come but
8:06 there's going to be a very few at the very beginning but they're going to come a little more and a little more and pretty soon you see this meat that's all covered with worms that's what's going to happen to your land and so I'm telling you in advance when these people come they are going to be so numerous that you will not be able to withstand
8:29 them you they will come and they will they will have yellow hair some of them some of them lighter hair they're going to be lighter skinn than you they're going to have eyes that are blue they're going to be people but they're of a different tribe and they are coming and so my advice to you is when you get back to the encampment I want you to tell
8:53 them when they come you need to be friends you need to be a friendly people because it's coming to a time that you're going to be overrun and so the best thing that I would advise you to do is extend your hand of friendship and so the man on the Vision Quest returned and
9:15 returned to his people and that evening they built the fire and all the elders came around to listen to what the man had learned as he went up to the Crazy Mountains and when he uh we got everybody together they all sat down and he said this is what I heard from the voice that spoke to me that there's a group of people coming and they're going to be bringing
9:39 an animal that is not the Buffalo the Buffalo are no longer going to be as numerous as they have been and in time the Buffalo will not be here and that's going to be a very sad day because we have our life in our sustenance from the Buffalo we follow them and wherever the buffalo go that's where we go because back then we were a nomadic people and
10:04 those days are going to be gone but in its place there's going to be a new animal that we have never seen before some of these animals are they're smaller than the Buffalo some of them will be white faced some will be brown brown with spots some will be black but they're coming and so we need to get along with these
10:26 people and so over the years as time went on and of of course um different ones came also Lewis and Clark as what what we're celebrating at this point in time uh well then the people the Europeans started to come and they became more and more and as uh the man was told in the vision our land started
10:50 to dwindle and it became smaller and smaller and so here we are today I believe we started out uh with all the area Yellowstone Park the whole area but finally now today the crow people live on an acreage that is two and a half million Acres compared to what it was many many many years ago but I believe
11:14 that as these men went out and they uh looked for advice by fasting and going and seeking uh I believe as he came back and told his people that our people uh listened and they listened very with a very uh uh with with concentration they didn't just Slough it off but they took
11:37 that advice and I believe today that's why we as a Crow Nation have never had an h a battle with the US Army in fact uh you know there's many times even during the time of the Little Big Horn battle we had some of our Crow men the crow Warriors that were scouts out there and so I believe that crows had a listening ear there are friendly people
12:02 and today I believe just like P Chief plen cou said the last chief of the crows that it is so important that you and I and all the people that are here that we live together in harmony and that we are going to have a life together and we're going to do the best we can to continue this friendship throughout the time that the Lord gives
12:25 us on this place called Earth thank you I'm going to sit down if you don't mind I have a problem with my back and I can't stand too long but uh I want to
12:47 thank the the park service for inviting us here uh to speak what little we know about the crows the crows have no written history everything is oral that's why some stories are a little bit different from another version nevertheless there is a history that we
13:09 have our history I'm a history teacher retired three years ago my information is basically from other guys researchers and what I do research on myself and I finally put up with a a document I'm about so sick which I don't want to carry with me today I pretty much have it up here then I don't have much time time for another reason uh there's so much to talk about
13:33 when uh our culture and our history 15 minutes is such a minimal time to try to explain but I will give you a little bit of History contemporary history and then go back just a few years actually I can go back to 1500s when I when we first recorded the some of the written history that we have some that were
13:58 written and before that you know there was no written history everything was oral and so thank God for uh Joe medicon Crow and uh another forgot what the other guy name they went and got their master's degree and uh rote their Caesar on C culture and Co history some of my information come from there plus what I
14:20 have on my own so I taught uh many years at pentac Cruz High School for history I want to kind of pick up on where Sharon left Shar my wife and she just spoke and she mentioned about the man that had a vision that was told to be friendly with the with the Europeans when they came you see the one of the results I
14:44 can show you today is that of all the Indian tribes in America the crws probably aside from the the SEMO that's down in Everglades in Florida there are only two tribes that have never been prisoned of of war the rest are prisoners of War so many times those Russell means and I have go into round and around arguing about some of these
15:08 things is that the crows the reason we friendly is that look at the land that we have uh no vitals in 1500s said this Crow line is placed by the good spirit in the right place we have three mountain ranges we have three river valleys at one time we owned the largest wheat farm in the world the Russians and
15:32 the Chinese came up there on the on the bench of the heart born River where they come and they learn about dry land farming from the crow land so you see that we have a history that's very very blessed by the great spirit uh we are very fortunate we can hunt you round we can fish year round and uh we live in a
15:54 in a in in peace with Mother Earth so to speak and so I'm going to sit down and continue here uh the crows had three bands there were three bands of Crow tribe one is the kicking abilities they are located from around LOD gr some of you know where LOD grass
16:17 is at that area around up to the brig briger Trail on the other side of the mountains that is their habitat the the the kicking abilities don't tell me don't ask me where they got the name Joe medon Crow has a version for that then I'm a mountain Crow from the Big Horn River this way up through the bman trail around around Prior that to the
16:41 bori up to bman that was where the mountain Crow habitat is then we have the river Crow around croen and black LOD and all the way up to up to the Milk River up North toward toward belnet that was the river Crow habitat so we have three bands my chief was the last chief of the crws his name is Chief penu and he was uh designated the chief
17:05 of all chiefs at one point represent all the Indians in America and so we have a history that is uh uh well I guess blessed it would say and as we come along our reservation being friendly with the with the the the
17:30 the The Westward Movement the the Wagon train and so forth when go was discovered in 1849 and the Pikes Peak Discovery in Colorado the Black Hills and the different areas the goal was discovered there was an influx of miners came and there was a push of the PLS Indian from our hunting area and because of that we uh we had to
17:54 uh uh go back and look at our our treaties our first treaty was in 1825 called a friendship treaty it was with the US government it's no stipulation of a land area whatever was designated all it did was it said that we would protect these wagon trains when they come through on their way to the West Coast that the crows would ride alongside them but PR
18:19 PR them from the black feet and the different tribs around the area the next treaty was 1851 it was comprised of 9 million acres of land the southern boundary went all the way down to land of Wyoming the northern boundary was all the way up to almost by popular Montana the Western the eastern boundary was up to the the
18:42 pow River in Black Hills and the Western is all way up to the national park for we have 39 plus million acres in that Treaty of 1851 okay 17 years later in 1868 the government says hey Congress never ratified that treaty we're going to go back to negotiating tables and talk with
19:05 you ples Indians and the reason for that was it was a great push from the through Indians from the from the Black Hills when Black Hills was discovered they were pushed by the white Miners and there were their hunting grounds were deprived they were depleted and so they looked to the planes and they saw the land that we have plenty of Buffalo elk
19:26 deer and they said hey you know let's take care of those Crews let's take the line from them and so because of that the government are trying to prevent a Warfare which they never have they went back to the negotiating tables and this time they said well we're going to draft up a new treaty new reservation boundaries and this is going to be our
19:49 land and our chief at the time was a chief named chief sits in the middle of the line or a chief black foot they went down there to laramy Wyoming and by the way this laramy is not in the city of laramy Wyoming the laramy is Fort laramy is over by torington on the Southeastern portion of state of Wyoming there was a a fort
20:12 called Fort laramy and that was the treaty all these Plain Indians went down there and they cut our landine by 30 million Acres our delegation came back their line was from 39 million Acres they came back with 9 million Acres and so the majority of the Indians don't even know even our delegation couldn't
20:37 even speak English but there was an interpreter name of by the name of Ching I believe he was a French half that that lived on the cor reservation he was The Interpreter to me this is my personal opinion I believe he was the one that that wrote down all those those uh Provisions in that 1868 treaty depriving us of 30 million
21:00 acres and so we have 9 million Acres when we come back six years later the crows had a had a kind of a Town Council all the people got together and they wanted to reval that treaty that was that was written they went over it and chief sits in the middle of the landine sit there and said I never said that that was never in our negotiation somebody put it in
21:24 there 6 years was too late too much water under the rich those speak and so our reservation was down to 9 million Acres okay and there in Wyoming some from the Wyoming border Montana Border North up to harden today in that area there was 9 million acres and so the influx of the the the
21:48 Pioneers that they headed west the government would come and negotiate with our leaders we're going to need this for Homestead are they call them seated areas for we lost the Eastern the northern part of our resent called the SE strip was given away and then this line right along here from the midle part of ow Stone to bosan was given
22:13 away for about a million dollars around the 1900 and so these lines were given away piece by piece not much of it was we got a claim a while back and they paid us at cents an acre they paid us for the price back in 1800 and so it was a
22:36 very disheartening thing but again there was too much water under the bridge by that time you know the place was settled and everything was all in plays and it was hard to negotiate we made a claim and the government said all I will and so this is a short story and I'm trying to keep it short of the CR reservation history contemporary history that we are
23:00 we are today that we still got the three bands of C we still got a lot of our our uh values that we're trying to keep and people tell me that what is your culture how many can have a let me see how many of you can see or Define what the word culture means anybody want to anybody want to
23:24 take a shot of that what is culture okay people think culture is bunch of feathers and we dance at cow Fair time that's not culture what is culture culture is your language our culture is our only identity that we have and the culture
23:49 that we have if when we speak our language we know who we are self-identification and so it's important that we keep our language when we're losing quite a bit I taught Crow language for 10 years in high school it was hard because a lot of our younger generation are not interested I couldn't get him motivated so I I I taught Crow history to have him an ownership and
24:13 there was a little bit of motivation but in majority the language is 99% gone I would say my family my kids my grandchildren they speak Crow and it's important I I believe to say that who we are is how we speak how we our language you take 10 different PLS Indian tribes tribal members
24:38 together you take a shy you take a sue you take a black feet put them all ATT 10 in a row dressed in an oldtime regalia and they the white man any one of you can say hey tell me which is a crow you can't even tell the difference once you see an Indian you see them all the only way you can tell the difference is their language we all speak a
25:02 different dialect okay with that any questions I'll leave it over for my brother Gran over there any questions all right thank you thank you and thank you to Pat and Sharon STS
25:27 over the bowl we're going to move on to our next set of speakers here and we're going to have with us we're going to have Grant bolale and Linda door bolale to continue with some more Crow storytelling so
25:46 let's give Linda a warm welcome the ten voice good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is Linda Bale and I'm reading this story for my
26:11 husband uh Grand buale the story is called The Creation story of The Crow closer oh okay there I'll start all all over again my name is Linda bolale and I'm reading the story for my husband Grant
26:35 bolale the story is called The Creation story of the crows it's an old story that was told by one of his great great uncles or grandfather's yellow BR the sun looked down on the earth the earth looked blue
26:59 in the distance there seemed to be something special about the Earth the sun the sun kept looking down on the Earth but only saw huge waves of water and storm clouds the whole earth was covered with storm clouds the sun had sensed that there's something was trying to communicate with
27:22 him something was happening at the bottom of the sea the sun came kep looking down toward the Earth but there was only the Sea and the clouds then ever so slowly the clouds parted for a long time nothing happened finally the sun saw a pointed Rock
27:46 standing out of the ocean then ever so slowly the sun saw some being moving about the rock the son wanted to see for himself what was happening under the clouds the sun became per personified that the sun changed the sun changed himself into the
28:08 figure of a man the Sun shaped the front part of his hair into the shape of a tobacco plant he parted his hair in the middle and braided the left side and tied unequal dowy feather dyed red in his braids he wore the right side of his hair loose and a chicken hog was tied to
28:33 the back of his head long stems of grass were stuck on the top of his head he painted his fa forehead in the red paint and yellow for the lower part of his face around his neck he wore a man many strands of necklace made out of bones with large round aalon shells tied to
28:58 the top of the necklace his war shirt was decorated with weasel skins along the sleeves and the front of the shirt the shirt was decorated with dyed porcupine quilts he wore his lakans with stripes of red pain from the front part of his
29:20 waist hug the neck and the head of a wolf at the back of his waist was the back part of the wolf his moccasins were decorated with dyed porcupine quilts from the hills were Fox tailes everything he wore looked bright and cheerful he carried his pipe the sun landed on the flat surface
29:45 of the surface and sat down on a cushion of a buffalo rope he took out his pipe and shouted at some of the at at some ducks in the water he said little brothers come and sit and smoke with me in all the waves there is nothing better to sit and smoke with friends and talk about
30:10 different things there were three Ducks there was a large duck a middle duck and a small size little duck the smaller duck came willingly however the large duck duck was reluctant the large duck said how is it that you came down before when we needed you we were
30:33 calling you you never came the sun said in all the universe one of the good things that we do is that whenever an elder brother is in trouble we dropped everything and came to his Aid the son and a duck sat down and smoked tell me said the son to the ducks in all your wonderings have you ever
30:58 suspected anything being other beings on this Earth the smallest duck answered the sun yes there are some beings under the ocean that wants to live good that's what I wanted to know said the sun with your help I can create life on this water stated the sun if one
31:22 of you go to the bottom of the ocean bring me back some mud I can create land land and living things he said the oldest duck puffed up his chest and said I will go that would be fine it is always to have ceremony in everything that we do said the son the
31:44 son made made the duck stand in front of him and sang a song over him and blessed him the son then told the duck to hold his breath close his eyes real tight on his way down to the bottom the son told the duck to bring back as much mud as he
32:06 could he also told him the dug he also told him that the dug would be able to tell mud by the soft quality the duck Dove Dove down until only the bottom of his wet feet could be seen then the duck disappeared into the murky dead never to be seen again the son waited and waited
32:30 finally he said we must try again then the middle siiz duck went down in the water in the same way the sun waited until the duck floated to the top with a seaweed in his mouth what I suspected was true there are some beans in the bottom of the ocean in all the universe one of the
32:53 good things that that is we we should not attempt anything over four times when we fell on the third at at a temp it is good to stop said the son looking worried the sun began his ceremony again the little dug walked around and Drew in huge gulps of air the duck went down
33:18 into the water and disappeared the dug went down down until he felt something soft the duck knew that he had found mud he took as much as he could and his web foot and his beak the dug went up until he ran out of air and became unconscious
33:41 but the duck floated to the top the sun quickly grabbed him and pulled him out of the water and revived him the duck coughed the water and became disappointed with himself elder brother I found mud but I lost it on the way to the surface stated the little duck come here let me see said the son the son
34:04 examined the little duck and found small amounts of mud on his web feed and on his bead we have enough mud I can create land and living things said the sun the sun rolled up the mud into a ball the sun sang his creation song then he blew on the mud wherever they hid on the
34:28 water became land that is why we have small Islands to huge continents if there was more mud there would be more land than water when the son sang his creation songs immediately to the east he heard a wolf hauling the wolf wanted to live so much it took a little creation power to make
34:53 him come down to life then again they heard a coyote yeling at the distance why that must be a old man coyote sking about said the son oh man coyote would make Mischief when I make my children go and be on guard against him said the son to the
35:18 duck whatever men do in this universe there is always an opposing sight go and be in minister to the old man and coyote said the son the son looked about the land and he said it would be good if there were living things on the land the son suth
35:39 the wolf and he said to him go to the west and create the things that you like then he told the duck to go to the South and create the things that he liked the wolf went to the west and hurriedly create tall mountains large rivers lakes trees grass grasslands then he created large animals
36:02 that could run fast the wolf was in such a hurry that he missed large areas and they became deserts the duck went to the South created an environment that birds like he also created tall mountains and trees rivers and lakes he made mistake of creating ex insects and reptiles so that
36:26 the birds could eat them in the beginning there were only insects and reptiles in the South the sun lighted what the wolf and the Ducks created so he went to the East and created a combination of what the wolf and the duck have created the wolf had finished creating
36:48 the Western lands then he saw that they had forgot in the north he quickly ran to the north and create the same TI of type of land he created in the west but before he could finish the time of creation had passed this is the reason why there is more snow lands in the
37:10 north that is how the land that we live on had been created this is no story told by yellow BR a cousin of my husband's grandmother Grant Bol thank
37:30 [Applause] you L thank you Linda for sharing that uh creation story of The Crow people and the Crow Nation here in the ten many voices thank
37:53 you and let's thank all our storytellers let's thank all our storytellers Pat Sharon Linda for sharing these different aspects of crow culture and history with us here in the ten many voices remember folks that we do have programs each
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Crow Storytellers: History, Vision, and Creation

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