Closed Captions Audio Described

Former U.S. congressman Richard Stallings discusses Chief Tendoy of the Lemhi Shoshone band, focusing on his nearly 50-year tenure as chief and his strategy of maintaining peaceful relations with white settlers and the U.S. government. Stallings traces Tendoy's life from his early years as a warrior through his response to the Nez Perce War, Indian conflicts, and railroad expansion, emphasizing how his diplomacy preserved the tribe's survival and protected the Salmon Valley community.

Transcript

0:29 e good afternoon welcome to the traveling Lewis and Clark exhibit we are the only National Park in the entire country that is a traveling exhibit so we're very
0:54 honored to uh be in your community and to have you come to our tent of many voices I'd also like to tell you some other things you can do besides seeing presentations which are held every hour on the hour we have a keelboat a child-size keelboat which is very interesting you can uh get an example of how Lewis and Clark went up the Missouri in that we also have an exhibit tent which we'll tell you the story of Lewis
1:17 and Clark we have scripts and if you'd like to we have a 37 minute audio tour which is really good the pictures in there are just incredible um what we have uh today um right now is we have a speaker um Richard Stallings he is a former congressman and he's going to be talking about uh Chief tendoy the unsung hero uh Richard Stallings is a um now A city
1:42 councilman and he teaches at Idaho State he teaches Idaho politics and politicians so let's give a warm welcome to Richard Stallings thank you very much it's it's great to be here I just telling the folks it's been a long time since I've been in salmon and I just so pleased
2:07 with with the uh Center here and the and the tremendous tribute that's being paid to uh sakaia and to the limai shonis because this is this is truly an important place in this nation's history because had it not been for this group of Indians the Lewis and Clark expedition probably would have had to turn back or would have perhaps not have survived and so this Valley this group of inhabitants that resided here
2:31 essentially were were pivotal in the success of that great event so I'm deeply honored to be here and to participate in this I'm a great fan of the Lewis and Clark Expedition have read on it uh have followed some of the trails and uh uh just think it's it's such a great story in fact when I see our efforts into space I I think that today's efforts sort of pale by comparison with what the Lewis and Clark expedition were about now one other item
2:56 of business we have a number of members of the uh salmon Rotary Club that are here and uh I'm I'm again I I I appreciate that because I belong to the Centennial Rotary Club in Pocatello and now I'm going to claim this as one of my makeup meetings so thank you very much for that well they've asked me to talk on tendoy uh as we drove up we went through
3:19 the little village of tendoy U one of the really incredible Native American leaders he's been compared with some of the really great people of all time his greatness is somewhat in dispute because to some he sort of sold out to the whites to others he was so very very instrumental
3:42 in in keeping his tribe intact and surviving through some very very difficult times so let me just talk a little bit about his life and then towards the end we can we can raise some questions and and let's you sort of help me with some kind of evaluation as to uh tendo's greatness first of all he was a very very fine warrior in fact he was recognized by some mountain men as one of the
4:07 greatest warriors they had ever known his whole purposes during his chiefship was to maintain peace with the whites to uh get along with them to make sure that uh all problems were resolved with the white Community he was determined against some very very heavy odds to keep his tribe here in this Valley there was great pressure from the
4:29 United States government to move the limh high band to uh Fort Hall down near Pocatello he resisted that in fact he when the tribe eventually went in the first part of the 1900s tendoy had passed away he he did not want to leave this Valley and and you don't have to spend much time here to understand why and finally he was a kin he was a relative to
4:54 Sacagawea and as we talk a little bit about his life I I'll try to tie in this together and and we can bring the Notions of uh his relationships with Sacagawea and her extended family uh into Focus well tendoy was born along the boisei river in about 1834 his his name was Kentake Yak at the
5:17 time or or his family was Kentake Yak his father was a Bannock his mother was from the Shoshone tribes as a boy he was given the name of an Yuen uh uh tendo t n d o i p an tendo and that comes from his eating habits he seemed like you know as you boil meat
5:40 the blood is drawn out and and it comes to the surface and and forms in sort of a gel well he really liked that broth that was sort of his favorite and that's what uh an tendo means he who likes broth it was then shortened by the white man to just tendoy and it's spelled two different ways t n d o y or t n d oi as two
6:03 words as a young man he joins his father who was a war chief under snag now during one of these Hunts uh his father uh was killed in a battle with the black feet and as a result uh tendoy now takes over his father's role as one of the sub Chiefs under snag in fact as I mentioned before his
6:28 fighting ability was was rather significant a noted Frontiersman Lewis mallat said and I quote tendoy was the bravest Indian I ever saw his exploits were renowned he acquired distinction in battles with Flathead Crow and Shoshone and was endowed with an intellect far superior to that of any other member of his tribe tendo was a big man husky man he was taller than the average Shoshone he
6:53 was straight as an arrow with a fine physique he was of light complexion and had a well-shaped brow a Roman nose and large dark eyes he impressed people with his bigness of character as well as his bigness with stature during his lifetime tendo will take three wives in 1857 he marries Kora these by the way the three wives are all sisters so it made it a little easier
7:17 uh 1857 he marries Kora of which they have seven children one dies in infancy uh 11 years later he marries the younger sister Laura in which they have four children which two die in infancy and then Sarah and we're not sure of the date of his marriage with Sarah but they have five children one dies in infancy and two dies uh as young
7:40 children now to tie them into sakaj jia's family um kamwa was Chief when Lewis and Clark arrived the name Cameahwait is essentially means not inclined to go and it is believed that he was given that name because of his relu to cross over the Continental Divide uh at at
8:04 Lewis's request in search of Clark if you remember in the story uh kamwa was afraid that this was some kind of trap that perhaps this was a blackoot or some kind of uh trap in which they'd get him away from the village and and kill him and so he was not inclined to go uh as a result not sure if this is the origin of the name but that's sort of the
8:26 expectation uh after the Lis had CL Expedition leave uh Kam continues to to lead the tribe until he was killed in a Indian battle with the black feed on the bloody dick Creek uh battle over in Montana and about sometime between 1855 because In 1855 the Mormons send an expedition into
8:48 this Valley and when the Mormon uh missionaries and and Pioneers settle around limhi uh snag is the chief and so we know that the power has been transferred I mean with with kami's death snag now becomes the chief snag is the uh son of remember Saka jaa's brother Kam they had another brother and
9:12 snag is the son of of the other brother uh this other brother is not mentioned in the Lewis and Clark expedition because he apparently was not in the area of the time uh but as a result now snag becomes the chief and uh he gets along very very well with the Mormon in fact the relationship between he and the Mormon settlers is is really first class
9:36 um snag name comes from similar battle when Kam was killed snag apparently hides behind a big stump to avoid the bullets from the from the black feet and hence the name snag is is attached to him uh it kept him alive but uh I'm not sure the name was necessarily a blessing or not for
10:01 the 3 years the Mormons settled in this Valley between 55 and and 1855 and 58 snag and and the tribe snag and the Mormons uh get along very well in fact when Brigham Young travels to this Valley in 57 visits with the tribe uh is is deeply impressed with Chief snag and encourages Mormon
10:23 settlers to take Indian wives to try to increase the relationship between the the tribes and and the the church the next year however Mormons are pulled out of the valley and as a parting gift they give Chief snag thousand bushels of wheat which is was really a significant gift snag and a number of the tribal leaders
10:47 then weep at the Mormons leaving and he is uh uh but the good news I guess is that's the Mormons go snag and the limhi tribe pretty well have the ballet them themselves for the next several years until the early 60s when gold is discovered well in 1863 snag and some of his sub chiefs were riding down grasshopper Creek which is over on the
11:10 Montana side saw this nice Cool Spring it's it's it's a hot summer day so he decides to take a bath gets undressed gets into the water and splashing around when this white guy comes by gentleman by the name of buck Stinson he rides into the group sees snag in the water pulls out his gun and shoot shots him kills Chief snag uh shoots at some of the other
11:34 tribe members takes a couple of shots at tendoy who was with them but now it's just a subchief well snag is killed because of this the uh Buck Stenson brags that he had just killed the chief for no other purpose to add another notch on his gun well snag as he was dying
11:57 requests that tendoy be made chief he had some more aggressive sub Chiefs but he thought tendoy was the best man for the job and so now tendoy becomes is elected chief of the tribe before he dies snag says I'm going to have you selected Chief but I want you to promise me something I want you to promise that you will do everything in your power to maintain peaceful relations with the white Community
12:21 because by this time he had discovered some gold in this Valley and the white Community was growing rather substantially tendo agree says I will do what I can now you've got to understand the tribe was very very outraged at the murder of their Chief I mean snag was deeply loved and respected by the tribal members and and they are ready to go on the war path tendoy intervenes says we're not
12:44 going to do that and he avoids Bloodshed now the day after he becomes Chief I almost need my glasses here because there want to read the the these circumstances of this event the day after he is it's like the chief he dresses in his finest regalia rides his War Pony into Bannock Montana He stopped in front of the
13:08 General Store I remember he's surrounded by a number of his sub Chiefs it looks like a pretty ferocious group he he stops in front of the General Store and waits for some of the leading Town's people to gather he then called their attention to the ruthless manner in which they had killed his uncle and of the sorrow of the tribe of what regard what they regarded as a calamity he called their attention to the fact
13:31 that holding the position of Warchief under his uncle he had protected them and all white people within the reach from assault from hostile Indian tribes he told them that he had come to inquire of them now why they had killed his uncle did it mean that they had declared war against the Indians who had been their friends if so he accepted the challenge with deep regret as he much preferred to be
13:56 friendly with the white Community he was a assured by the better class of minors that the past service and friendship were appreciated and that killing of their Chief was the act of a few desperate gamblers who unfortunately had found their way into camp and that they deplored the act the interview was protracted for some time when tendoy withdrew to the camp of the Indians who were determined to avenge the death of
14:21 their Chief tendoy addressed them addressed his followers with an able speech after cond condoning with them of their loss they had sustained he called their attention and this is really the significant part he called their attention to what the war with the whites meant and what the results would inevitably be now as a as a followup to that the next year Buck Stinson and his ally
14:44 Henry plumber who was sort of a guy that was both a Marshall and a bad guy were uh C taken prisoner by a group of Vigilantes and subsequently hung so the Indians found some relief in the fact the white whites had taken care of these guys Now understand this this whole territory was part of the idowa territory and to get any kind of law enforcement over here was from from Boise or from Leon actually where the
15:08 capital was was virtually impossible and so the Vigilantes was really the only way they could go and the Vigilantes took care of of Mr Stimson well from 63 to 1875 tendoy builds the tribe from groups of sheep eaters Shoni and bancks the high point the tribe numbers about five 100 originally known as Tendoy band they
15:32 decided that wasn't politically correct that wasn't wise to be tendo band and so they take the name of the river that they're situated on and that was the Lemhi so they became known as the Lemhi high band of shonis in 1866 gold was discovered and of course the the whites pour in tendoy understands that only by cooperating with whites could the tribe survive and in fact throughout their history this tribe has boasted that not
15:57 one of them had ever shed the blood of a white man they had never shed the blood of a white man in September 24th of 1868 tendo signs a treaty with Virginia City which provided the tra of land for reservation here in the valley unfortunately the US government failed to ratify it in Fall of 1871 tendoy learns that a band of Bannocks from Fort Hall had attacked and had captured a Mule Train
16:21 47 animals and wounded a white man and I quote when tendoy learned of the incident he went in search of the Wounded white man and His companion and plac them under his protection then Gathering his Warriors about him he rode to the Bannock camp and demanded the return of the stolen horses and mules the Bannocks denounced the chief as a traitor and threatened to fight him tendoy thereupon called upon all the Bannocks who were friendly to the whites
16:46 join him as a consequence a large group of under the subchief Major Jim Ab Bannock joined with the Lemhi and forcibly retook the stolen animals tendoy returned the stock and the white man to boisey where the governor of Idaho presented him with a flag and some supplies as a reward for his faithfulness to the cause of peace from this point on that there is attempt to move the Tendoy down to Fort Hall outside of
17:09 Pocatello for variety reasons the government felt that uh it was too costly to to maintain the tribe off the reservation the Bannocks were going through some internal problems of their death of their Chief Targhee had created a bancy and the in the chief ship the son of Targhee was also Targhee but he was only about 16 or 17 and so he was not really suited to run the tribe and so the agents decided here's a way to
17:33 get tendoy down there to take over the tribe that would make everybody happy we'll get him out of the Lemhi Valley tendoy refuses in 74 the Indian commission sent an agent to H her with orders to move the tribe this brings into a play a prominent settler in this Valley a man by the name of uh George Shoup known as Colonel Shoup in the valley because of he he was one of the few people that had some military experience
17:58 and Sh ran between Idaho and Montana a variety of trading Goods he was a very substantial citizen in this Valley and in fact was recognized Statewide as a a great man of great leadership shup eventually became appointed governor of the state of Idaho and then when Idaho became a state in 1890 Shoup was the first elected governor of the state of Idaho and then shortly after that he was appointed one of the
18:23 senators of Idaho and so during this time of of of territorial status Shoup and tendoy become very very good friends when the government tries to move tendoy and the band down to Fort Hall Shoup intervenes and as a prominent salmon Valley resident he uh writes the territorial delegate a main man by the name of Jim Holly Jim Haley excuse me Haley Idaho is
18:48 named after him and uh Haley's a little surpris because most communities they didn't want the Indians around most communities were more than happy to see the Indians go Haley gets a letter from Shoup saying leave Tendoy alone we like him here in the valley he's been very very significant to us we need to keep him here Haley writes back had I known the
19:12 white settlers in the Lemhi were so anxious to have the Indians remain I could have had the appropriation different but knowing that the people of northern Idaho and the people of Southern Idaho were anxious to have the Indians in their part of the country placed on the reservation and kept there I took it for granted that the people of the Lemhi Valley would like to have had the IND moved from that from there to the Fort Hall reservation in this it seems from your letter that I had been mistaken you must certainly have a
19:36 better set of endings in your country than we have in our country or we would have been anxious to be rid of them so Haley was a little surprised by this Valley's reaction to the tribe and and how what kind of friendships they had finally in in February of 1875 the limhi high Indian Reservation was established here in this Valley uh by the presidential order of Ulysses S. Grant and the significance of this was that
20:01 the government spent about $50,000 a year keeping the the tribe going and and boosting the tribe which was significant in this Valley in terms of Economic Development because the tribe would spend the agents would spend the Indians would spend most of their money here in the valley well the real test between the tribe and the valley came first of all in in
20:25 1877 these are the Indian Wars 1877 18 78 and 79 there are three different Indian Wars that will really test the relationships here the first Indian war was the Nez Perce many of you are familiar with Chief Joseph Joseph was up in the wall of a valley in Washington he had been in conflict with the whites in there the tribe had been given some land and the whites had moved in and and and
20:49 some blood had been shed and so Chief Joseph and his sub Chiefs are the government tries to force them on a reservation they refused to go and for the next several months Chief Joseph leads his band of of Nez Perce essentially on a war party but but bringing the entire tribe across Idaho and in the fall actually in in
21:13 June of 1877 this they they they begin their March they arrive or the beginning groups start coming into this Valley in August of 1877 the valley is very very concerned because even in in in tendo's tribe there are a number of people that believe this should be where they make the stand they've been pushed around and abused by the white
21:38 population and many of his tribal members are suggesting they help the Nez Perce and in fact a couple of the Nez Pierce sub Chiefs Looking Glass particularly comes to tendoy and asks for help wants them to help and and the people in the valley know that if this is a sizable force and that this Valley could be just ravished by by Indian Wars if if they're not
22:01 careful tendo's reaction is to tell Looking Glass to take his people and to move through the valley they don't want to any part of them and he will then assign about 40 of his Warriors to work with shup now who's become Colonel shup in the local militia to try to defend us and and there are some pretty tense moments between the NES Pierce and some of the settlers
22:24 here a quote from the local paper said during all this time of stress tendoy stood Faithfully by the whites he was busy with intertribal disputes and some of his own tribe members he was besought by the Waring tribe to join them it was a trying time for him but T tendoy held his forces intact he stood between the settlers and the Waring tribe and he counseled with Colonel Shoup he was ready
22:48 to help defend the settlers he was indeed a friend in need then he goes on to conclude with this statement I think he's probably pretty accurate without his Allegiance and diplomacy the entire Salmon and Lemhi valleys would have been laid waste and their H inhabitants put to the tomahawk so tendoy essentially saves the
23:10 Valley from from a bloody bloody war the next year as you know that that Chief Joseph and Nez Perce cross they go through the ellone country get up into Montana where a military force from uh the dtas come over and intercept them only they they were trying to get to Canada but only a few made it most of them were then captured and Chief Joseph makes his final statement I will fight no more forever and it becomes the title
23:33 of a a book of that fact uh great Chieftain but uh just didn't have the technology and had too many uh women and children and and invalids with him that to really make a the kind of fight out of that he normally would have the next year are the banic wars now this becomes even more critical because as you remember Chief uh tendoy has a number of Bannocks in his
23:56 tribe the Bannock war breaks out when the white man encroached out on the cus Prairie the cus Prairie had been a major food source for a number of tribes in the area is they would go out and dig the cus rout and the tribe would would go out to this country and in four years now there it's somewhat blamed on on government bureaucrats because when the cus when when the Treaty of Fort Bridger
24:20 was signed um the Camas Prairie was spelled Kansas ansas and so they thought well that's the Kansas Prairie and no one knew in Idaho the Kansas Prairie was and it's because was spelled wrong but uh so the whites start moving out on this Camas Prairie and when the tribe goes over there to gather food and they would do it at the same time of the year the Bannocks from Fort Hall with the Shoshones and and the tribe from this Valley would
24:43 go over to the Camas Prairie to gather chroots they found not only the whites that settled but they had pigs out there rooting around digging up these chroots the Bannocks just went nuts they said this is this is outrageous you have just violated all the tenants of our treaty how can we trust you on anything and so War breaks out the Bannocks uh start engaging in violence they they kill a number of people
25:06 tendoy sees what's happening moves his tribe out of the way cajoles threatens convinces his tribe to come with him and they move back to this country make it very clear that they're not part of this battle and uh the violence between the banic and the white is is is very very stuff General Howard the one armed General from from the Civil War is the one that Chas chases down uh Joseph now
25:30 gets engaged in this in this battle defeats the Bannocks and again puts them on her brings them back to the reservation uh badly subdued the third war was the Sheep eater War the following year again there's not much involvement on tendoy in this part but he does have some sheepers in his tribe and again he keeps them out of the war he just spends all of his energy keeping
25:52 these folks not engaged in in in battle and and and safe from from the Whits because he recognizes he has a small tribe four or 500 people they do not have any of the kinds of equipments that are available he sees the Power of the United States government and he recognizes that if you fight these people you're going to lose and so his goal was mainly survival of his tribe now the next series of events in in his
26:16 experience is with the railroad Utah Northern Railroad starts coming out of out of uh actually the Brigham City area in in 1876 they start building the the railroad from Ogden to Brigham City up the Canyon from brigam City to Logan and then from Logan to Franklin Idaho Franklin becomes the first stop of the railroad in Idaho company's about to go bankrupt so
26:40 in 78 the company's reorganized and B begins extending into Idaho now remember this is when the banic wars were fought this creates a great deal of fear not only among the owners of the railroad but also among the workers here to the rescue comes chief dantoy uh he camps in some of the areas he protects the railroad uh he protects the
27:05 workers and a quote uh quote from this time says many and many a Time Chief Tendoy saved the Utah northern from being destroyed by other Indian tribes when his son Wise Tendoy dies there's an obituary notice that states and I quote there never would have been the town of Pocatello except for the work of Chief Tendoy in helping the
27:29 whites through that part of the country and aiding them while so many Indian tribes were hostile so the the whole Southern Idaho was was under Tendoy's protection in fact ta Tendoy camps one whole summer in Beaver Canya averting many attacks and always keeping the background although the workers who were building the line knew that there was some Force protecting them so the the success of the railroad
27:53 is is granted to tendoy in 1880 he is invited to go to Washington the government wanted to close many of the smaller reservations they invited tendo to Washington to sign the treaty in May of 1880 he is he signs the treaty that seeds all of this land that the tribe had here in the valley uh to the government nine years later the government approves it but the catch to
28:16 this was it did not take effect until a majority of adult males in the tribe agreed remember this signed in 1889 the adult Mills don't agree to that till about 196 so for the next 15 years is the tribal still lay stay in this Valley while uh the government is trying to get them out because of his efforts Senator SH now goes to the government and proposes
28:38 tendoy be given a pension he pushes legislation in 1892 that tendoy receive a pension from the government of $30 a month house always being cheaper than the Senate reduced it by 15 and pendo now has given a a pension of $15 a month well the last years of his life there's a certain conf he gets in constant squabbles with the
29:01 Indian agents they resent him he's way too powerful for the Indian agents uh they don't like the fact that they can order the tribe to do something and then tendoy can counterman it and the tribe's going to follow tendoy for example the government wanted Chief Tendoy to send his kids to school uh he wouldn't do it he didn't like to do that uh he wanted the kids to
29:24 go out and hunt and enjoy life as he had government will lock up the agents will lock Indians that are breaking the laws T will go release them from the jails one of the issues was the lack of response to conversation about Christ This is a quote from the uh one of the Indian agents of the time Tendoy says and I quote me no Savvy Christ
29:49 white man Heap smart Indians no see their idea is a happy Hunting Ground where all Indians will go and their real God is their stomach however is less attention was given their body and more to their souls they would be better off so for tendo's so-called lack of understanding was really really bright but the fact that they wouldn't accept Christianity upsets the Indian agents they don't like that they want these they sort of had
30:12 the idea that the tribe should be sort of white people uh and and and ignore their own traditions and Trends the inan agent was unhappy because the tribe lacked interest in farming they say again a quote much depends on their Chief in whom they have implicit Fai faith and has to extend of farming on this reservation his influence is seldom used for the upbuilding of these people all efforts to of the agent are
30:37 consequently greatly counteracted so he's got a a contest here with the with the uh with the tribe it is clear to my mind that these Indians will never be a progressive people and that now this really bothers me but this was the mentality of the late 19th century it is clear to my mind that these Indians will never be a progressive people until their tribal religions and customs which are firmly held intact by the chief are
31:01 broken so the idea is just is to destroy the tradition destroy the religion and make again sort of whites out of them for as long as the Indians recognize his authority confi confide and rely on him and follow his leadership they will never exercise the individual thought and action necessary to become successful Farmers I mean that is just absurd how ignorant these people were of of inan traditions then
31:26 he goes on to conclude their success or fa failure then in a great measure risks on the supremacy of the agent or of the chief in other words who's running the show if it's the agent we can we can make these people into white folks if it's the chief then he will he will continue to have them live with their own Traditions way they finally break the indan resistance in all of these issues
31:50 is by withholding food when the Indi would go to the post for for supplies if they were not behaving as the agent expected them to behave they wouldn't get their food supplies they would be cut off and finally hunger forces the tribe to comply finally the government uh forces the tribe to move to Fort Hall in
32:12 19 the chief is is asked essentially directed by the government to convince his tribe to vote to remove themselves to Fort Hall in line with the treaty that tendo had signed tendo gives a very persuasive speech the the the community the male vote Community votes the REM removal eventually takes place in 1909 now the tribe felt they were misled they were
32:35 lied to probably were deceived tendoy does not make the move but because I mentioned earlier he dies May 9th 1907 Tendoy and his son uh Tup Pompe black hair were riding in the Hills above the reservation with the white man Joseph Jeff well Jeff had brought along the sizable supply of liquor and the
32:58 group gets very very drunk while returning tendoy falls off his horse into one of the streams the son is too drunk to recognize his father's distress or his problem and and continues on down expecting his father to pull himself out the river get back on the horse and come down it doesn't happen next morning they sent out a search party they found that tendoy had got out of the river but had died on the
33:23 bank his death causes a great deal of sorrow in the limh High Valley in commenting upon his the life history of tendoy and this is a quote from the again in the newspaper in in com commenting upon the life history of tendoy we can Overlook his imperfections because his heart was right he had all the virtues of the Indian race but few of the vices of the white race if we were to compare his mode of life to that of the cultured white man he would be
33:47 found wanting but as a member of an untutored race we must conclude to him a place among the heroes of the ages since the Advent of the whites in the salmon Valley he was always been their staunch friend even when it he was importuned by the members of his race to make war when his Services were required for the protecting of the settlers of the valley he was never found wanting tendoy had his faults but who hasn't but he talked
34:12 straight from any standpoint Teno tendoy was a grand old man with a strong personality and an indominable will his influence over his tribe was always for good now there's a number of conclusions you draw from this gentlemen first of all I know of no other indan tribe in the nation and I not do not have an extensive knowledge all the tribes in the nation but I know of no other chief that had the longevity of this guy remember he takes over the tribe
34:36 sometime around 1858 and he dies in 197 that's nearly 50 years as a chief uh it just was very very unusual as I said his his record is somewhat in dispute to many of in the communities I mean in this community he was conceived as one of the really great guys uh a monument to him here in the valley town named after him he was really conceived as as
35:00 one of the truly great among some of the Indians on the other hand among the Native Americans he is conceived by many as as an apple red on the outside but really A white guy that did everything he could to to keep his tribe alive so I think you have to ask the question by whose standard is he great in my opinion he was great because he he fought for the survival of his tribe he s fought for the survival of his way of life and
35:23 for this Valley that he loves so dearly and I think that uh by any standard as time progresses he's going to be one of the truly great tribe Chieftain again there's not a lot written on Tendoy but I think that this man's life Warren's great study because he is truly uh a man who intervened in opportunities that were awkward for him but uh the whole Community benefited from it as a result
35:46 uh he was he was deeply loved when his when he passes his tribe is is devastated and again I don't know if they ever did come up with a chief to follow this kind of lead because tendo was a hard act to follow well as a Carl Professor I am always geared to speak 50 minutes and so I'm rather than do that let me stop at this point and see if there's some questions or some comments or please respond to this idea of I just think that Tendoy has a has a merits they said in the in this
36:11 local newspaper here he could comp with great people of all ages and I I strong believer in that if if you raise your hand I'll come around with the microphone you can speak into that most accounts say that uh he died of blunt force trauma to the Head he was found that way uh I choose to believe that the whole uh story that you related of the drinking and falling off the
36:35 horse that was all a pretense uh the man was actually murdered that's what I absolutely believe and there is good evidence to to to substantiate that that is not I mean that is an an issue that many people subscribe that that we're not sure exactly who was behind it whether it was his son that tried to do it or what the uh motive was but uh there's ample evidence uh that uh would suggest that that he was killed
36:59 that way now the official report was he fell off the horse and that's where you get the blunt force trauma I not sure I disagree with your lady at the back there how do you know if it was his son that was trying to kill him maybe it was the white guy that did it exactly it could be went and got him drunk uh thank you for pointing out my uh assumption that may have not the things that I've
37:22 read was that the sun was the nearest to him that uh if if the sun the sun saw him go off the horse and had he wanted to he could have intervened at that point white guy went to jail Jeff was arrested and and prison for a short time for providing alcohol for the Indians which was illegal at the time but again we don't know which one was responsible I again I I misspoke when I
37:47 said it's assumed that the sun did that black ha other questions or observations please Jeff was just a look the question she asked was who was Jeffrey she's a local Rancher here that apparently had a pretty good relationship with the tribe and uh because tendoy had no fear I mean remember he's a very old man at this point he has no fear of of getting on the horse and riding up into the High Country with this guy so he was
38:12 apparently a friend uh probably had done some business with him over the years and uh we don't have any you know not a lot written on the guy does anyone besides me find it rather incredulous to say the least that this great country was founded on the principle of religious freedom and yet when they would not conform to the
38:36 Christian religion food was withheld and they were abused and misused and everything possible for that reason isn't that incredible it is it is embarrassing I mean you read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and it says you know you have your right of Freedom or religion but at that point we have a very narrow concept of what Freedom religion means and and to these people since it wasn't Christian it probably wasn't true religion and I find that just appalling that they would
39:00 treat these people that way that yeah it's just it's disgusting and and I think we but I think if you look at the whole history of our dealing with the Native Americans it's it's embarrassing we we talk about honor and nobility and yet we did not treat these people with the kind of respect that we would any other people thank you yeah exactly right yes I enjoyed your presentation very much but in studying the Lewis and
39:23 Clark Trail and everything else uh don't you find it it's rather disappointing that our government still subscribes to the same policies that the Indian agents did back then and that as a country still haven't learned to live from our mistakes the past as a historian I find that very troubling that that we've had 200 years or more of of of poor policy dealing with these folks and we still I
39:47 mean you look if you want as a former political type if you want to see an agency that's Rife with corruption it's the Bureau of Indian Affairs I mean they have got probably the longest history of I shouldn't get too harsh because I I find it really sad because no one really watches them and most of the community says well it's just in it it's no big deal and I find that just appalling that somehow this group of people are
40:10 set aside and not given the kind of attention respect they deserve our federal government is still doing that today absolutely government is still doing that today you're right you're right other questions anybody else well listen let me let me conclude with with comment you don't have to spend much time in this Valley to understand why Tendoy want to stay this has got to be one of the
40:34 most pristine beautiful places on Earth uh and I can understand why some of the folks in this Valley resisted this Sacagawea Center because in many ways Idaho is one of the best kept secrets in the nation that uh as long as people don't know you're not going to have a lot of these crazy Outsiders come in here and create problems but folks this is a secret that's going to get out it's going to get out you got to make sure that it's get out to the right way and and so I
40:58 just I'm just so pleased with what's taking place here and the and the beauty of the area and and this Sacagawea Center and to think that 200 years ago that Lewis and Clark expedition came across here and ran into this band of of shonis and were brokenhearted because they looked to the west and thought they would see the down slope into the Pacific they saw about 10 more ranges of mountains and thought God we're not going to make it this is this is
41:21 deadly but what a great Expedition what a great event and and to the park service thank you for doing this great service for the Valley and to the people of salmon and Lim High County thank you for helping Host this because the community is really better off and to to get this secret out thank you stay pretty close to
41:44 time okay ladies and gentlemen that was um Richard Stallings on Chief Tendoy the unsung hero coming up next at 1:00 we have beaten Trail remnants of historic tread along the trail by Steve Wright of the Bureau of Land Management and in the meantime if you'd like to go see our kbo or go see our exhibit tent uh feel free to do that and
42:08 um come back for the 1:00 show so thank you very much