r
News from Indian Country
Meeting of Leaders
Pgge 9
Spi IyQy Tymoo
October 22, 2009
Tribes preserve Okla. battle site
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Na
tional recognition of the Cheyenne and
Arapaho Tribes for their work on the
Washita Battlefield in Oklahoma is just
one more step in a long process toward
accurately portraying the deadly clash
between Native Americans and the U.S.
Army more than 140 years ago, accord
ing to two men who helped develop
the area into a National Parks Service
unit.
The National Trust presented the
Preservation Honor Award to the tribes
last week at the 2009 National Preser
vation Conference in Nashville, Tenn.,
for their work on the Washita Battle
field.
Photo courtesy Councilwoman Aurolyn Stwyer-Pinkham.
The battlefield was the site of the
Nov. 27, 1868, attack launched by Lt.
Wasco Chief Nelson Wallulatum (left) met former U.S. Senator Ben
Col. George Custer on Cheyenne Chief
Nighthorse Campbell at the recent National Congress of the
American Indian. Chief Wallulatum ha§ served on the Tribal Council
Black Kettle's w inter encam pment
of the Confederated Tribes for over 50 years. Mr. Campbell was a
along the banks o f the Washita River.
U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1993 until 2005. For some time
Historical accounts differ on a death
he was the only Native American serving In the U.S. Congress.
. toll, but some say 100 Cheyenne and
21 soldiers were killed and dozens of
others were taken prisoner. The tribe's
lodges, teepees and other belongings
were burned and their herd of 800
horses were shot.
Also last week, the National Trust
N EW TOWN, N.D. (AP) - The Corps o f Engineers will build the
Three Affiliated Tribes are breaking health center and then turn it over to recognized the tribes for their efforts
ground for a $20 million health center the Indian Health Service.
The center will be named for the
on the Fort Berthold Reservation.
Congress earlier this year approved community of Elbowoods, which was
$17 million for the project. The Army flooded when Garrison Dam was built.
to preserve the history of the Battle
of Sand Creek in Colorado four years
earlier, when 100 Cheyenne were killed.
“One reason I worked so hard and
many Cheyenne worked to get the
battlefield as a unit o f the National
Parks Service is we need to understand
the clash of cultures and when people
can't learn to live together and find
peaceful ways out of a dilemma,” said
Bob Blackburn, executive director of
the Oklahoma Historical Society, and
one of the people who worked to pre
serve the site.
Blackburn said the Battle of Washita
River was part of a strategy by the mili
tary to stem the tide of raids by Indian
tribes on westward-migrating settlers.
A ccording to historians, Black
Kettle wanted peace, but some tribal
warriors participated in deadly raids on
white settlements before the Washita
battle.
Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, Custer's
superior, decided to “teach them a les
son,” Blackburn said.
“Custer was assigned to attack the
tribe in the winter camp because they
had such trouble engaging southern
Plains tribes during the spring, summer
and fall,” Blackburn said. “The tribes
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) - A
University o f Michigan advisory
committee will address ethical and
scientific concerns related to the
storage of ancient Native American
remains.
The university says in a statement
that the group will advise Vice Presi
dent for Research Stephen Forrest
on requests from Native American
tribes for the transfer of remains. The
school's Museum o f Anthropology
stores about 1,400 remains that are 800
to 3,000 years old.
The university has declared the re
mains “culturally unidentifiable.” But
Michigan tribes have accused the
school of violating the federal Native
Tribe breaking ground for health center
had horses, they were mobile and knew
the land.”
Some Cheyennes escaped across a
large field toward some hills. One, 13-
year-old Magpie, got away when he
shot a soldier who was trying to de
capitate him and another boy, said
Lawrence Hart, director of the Chey
enne Cultural Center in Clinton.
“Magpie stuck the pistol in the
trooper's abdomen and fired, then he
and his friend got on the soldier's horse
and escaped,” Hart said.
Magpie returned and found the bod
ies of Black Kettle and his wife, Medi
cine Woman Later, in the river. He and
others buried them in unmarked graves,
Hart said.
“We have lots of stories like that in
our oral tradition and we're really glad
that our stories can be told,” Hart said.
H art accompanied Blackburn to
Washington twice to testify before a
House subcommittee about the impor
tance of preserving the area's history.
“When I went to testify before Con
gress the first time, I spoke over their
heads,” Hart said. “When I started try
ing to find a parallel, it was difficult and
so they couldn't understand and had
no concept of a massacre.”
Panel will advise about remains
NCAI appoints new recording secretary
SIOUX; FALLS, S.D. (AP) _ The
president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,
Theresa Two Bulls, has'been chosen
recording secretary o f the National
Congress o f American Indians for the
2009-2011 term.
In a release, the tribe says Two Bulls
was selected during the 66TH annual
NCAI midyear conference in Palm
Springs, Calif.
American Graves Protection and Re
patriation Act (NAGPRA) by failing
to consult with them before making
that declaration.
O ngoing discussions indicate
NAGRA rules will change. Forrest
says he isn't sure how or when that
will happen, and the university wants
to be prepared for any changes.
CoquilleTribe harvesting organic cranberries
CHARLESTON, Ore. (A P)-A im
ing to capitalize on a growing demand
for raw, organic produce, the Coquille
Tribe is taking the hard route to har
vesting cranberries this season.
To harvest deep red berries in the
raw, the tribe will put its back into the
year's bountiful crop through a tech
nique called dry-picking, which hasn't
been practiced in about 10 years.
“The work is much more labor-in
tensive,” said Bill Snyder, manager of
Coquille Cranberries, located in the
heart of the Coquille Tribal Reserva
tion hear Charleston.
Oregon's bumper crop this season
is due to heavy spring pollination and
a long growing season. However, last
year's record harvests in Wisconsin and
Massachusetts, com bined with the
downturn in the economy, has left a
surplus, which will squeeze the market
this year, Snyder said.
The growing demand for fresh, or
ganic produce could help buck the
competition.
“Organic cranberries are a real thin
Slice of the total production in Oregon
and nationally, so there was a niche
there they wanted to maintain,” Snyder
said.
The traditional method would be to
flood the bogs, causing the berries to
float to the surface and corral them so
they can be lifted by an elevator and
dumped into a truck. It's the most effi
cient method if the goal is to produce
a product to be used in juice or jelly.
To harvest the fruit dry, it is impera
tive the berries have no contact with
moisture throughout the harvesting
process.
NEED CASH?
BARGAIN HUNTERS
OLDEST PAWNSHOP IN JEFFERSON COUNTY
“It's literally a dry berry,” Snyder
said. “With water, the fruit breaks down
quickly.”
Berries aren't picked until the sun
burns the dew off the ground.
“We started picking this morning
just after 11 a.m. and we'll pick until
we run out of daylight or until a dense
fog rolls in again,” Snyder said on Fri
day.
The unconventional strategy of dry
picking requires a host of new machin
ery, which the tribe is renting, and more
contract workers, presumably with
strong backs.
Workers guide a mechanic berry
collector, called a furford, up and down
six 10-acre bogs. The device has a ro
tating belt that plucks fruit from the
ground in two-foot swaths and spits the
berries into burlap sacks. The sacks are
unloaded once they reach their 50- to
60- pound capacity and are hauled to
the cleaning station, where they are
hefted up one by one and emptied into
a viner.
The viner shakes out the vegetation,
drops the berries onto a conveyor belt,
which spills them into a crate.
Crates are stacked, packed and trans
ported to Wilt Farm in Corvallis, where
the berries are sorted by size, packaged
and delivered to markets.
Eugene-based Organically Grown
will distribute the berries, which will be
sold at Whole Foods, Market of Choice
and Fred Meyer, among other grocers.
As a certified organic grower, Co
quille Cranberries abides by strict pro
duction standards set forth by Quality
Assurance International, certified by
the USDA. It forbids the use of syn
thetic stimulants and encourages an
eco-friendly growing practice.
“Personally, I like to buy organic,”
Snyder said. “It's a tastier food. And,
typically, organic (caters) to a more lo
cal market.”
This season, Coquille Cranberries
expects to produce about 100,000
pounds — an increase over last years
30,000 pounds — and generate about
$250,000 in revenue.
LETTERMRN’5]
JACKETS I
LOCATED DOWNTOWN MADRAS
CASH LOANS -
BEADED BAGS, BASKETS,
POW WOW OUTFITS
STIHL & HUSQVARNA CHAINSAWS
DIGITAL CAMERAS, GAME SYSTEMS
GOLD JEWLERY, SCRAP GOLD
OPEN TUES THRU FRI. 9:30 - 5:00
SATURDAY 9:30 - 3:00
FOR SALE: GUITARS, TOOLS, KNIVES, GAMES,
DVDS, STERLING SILVER & GOLD JEWELRY
175 SE 5TH ST..DOWNTON MADRAS
(541)475-3745
Basic
Coat:
includes name, year patch,
one calor sleeve
ftskusabont
Customizing Your Jacket!
P e rfe c t Christmas Present!
Order must be in by 10/30/09
to guarantee delivery by Christmas.
Zòne
Printed & Embroidered Apparel
License number PB0338
•o
¿
ík