The History of the Chippewa Cree of Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation
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^£:; *\ 978.600497333 L7HCC 2008 1 -AaiLMjiLt=_ Montana State Ubrai 3 0864 1004 7199 7 <±W- -TV. V^cUcj kC Be=J ^^yi(>V-''^ C-Ctjt kids. ox aanssi ©2008 Stone Child College All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission fi-om the publisher. Stone Child College R.R. 1 Bo.x 1082 Box Elder, MT. 59521 406-395-4313 stonechild.edu Photo Credits Daiyl Wright I Rocky Boy MT Editing Ed Stamper, Rocky Boy. MT Ted Wlntford Rocky Boy MT Helen Windy Boy. Rocky Boy MT Montana State University Northern Ken Morsette Jr.. Rocky Boy MT Indian People of the Norlliern Great Piains- liltp./Avww. lib. nionlaiia edu digital' nadh/index. html Graphic design and layout Stone Child College Print Shop, Dianne Bynum Photo Archives- l\ ashingloii. DC Rocky Boy. MT (406)395-4787 Rocky Boy Records 1907 - 1939 Thumbnail Illustrations for each Ken Morsette Jr. Rocky, Boy. MT Chapter and contents page Stone Child College Print Shop, Dr. Nate St. Pierre. Rocky Boy. MT Rocky Boy, MT (406)395-4787 Roger St. Pierre Sr.. Rocky Boy. MT Front/Back/Sleevc Design Montana Historical Society Stone Child College Print Shop. Rocky Boy. MT (406)395-4787 Paul Eagleman Family. Rocky Boy, MT IVilmii Windy Boy. Ethel Porker. Helen Parker, Initial Printing Florence Sim Child, Rocky Boy. MT Stone Child College Print Shop, Chippewa Cree Curriciihnn Roch- Boy. MT (406)395-4787 Nadine Morsette. Rocky Boy. MT // // "^c -/OmA to One ^notkcr ChiefRocky Boy This h()i)k is i/ci/ic(i!cil lo nu'Duirv of oiii- Iciiihliii-^ /oriiallici's. Chicl Rocky Bov of ific Ctiipjic^wi ciihl C'liicf l.iaic BcLir of ttic C'rcc. ufio luul llic vision of csinfifistiiii^^ a liomclciih/ for ificir fottowcrs^ ll is afso cfci/uciU'i/ lo llic nwinorv of ifiosc ^\^lo invc' nios! inslniiuciUal Ar iissistin;^ in nuikin;^ llicir \ision </ rciilitw Inink H. lAiulcnihin ami Willuini Boles. Source cf Infonnation contnhttcd by 1 Wilier Denny, Arl Rainmg Bird and joe Small We beliex'C the Maker of All Tilings put us Oil our Motlier Enrth to respect one another in our relationships to all things and to all people. The Great Holy Being told the old people long ago that all people and all things are but different branches on the same tree. We are told ill our daily lives we must do tliese things. Respect Mother Eartli mid all ?/h»^s flint live here. Respect tlie elders, our mothers, and our sisters. Love one another and help one another. Pray in a good way that loe might get the power to lielp one another and to respect one anotlier for our differences. Be truthful and respectfid in our speech, whicli in itself is a miracle and a gift from our Creator tliat we niiglit use it only to speak good of each other and to pass on the good things in life. Remember that e-oen/thing that is created on Mother Earth is useful, has a purpose, and loas put Jiere for a reason. Nothing is to be abused that has been created. Remember that all tilings are related and that all things are perfect as they have been created: wind, fire, water, rocks, animals, crawlers, birds, plants, the moon, the sun, and humans. Remember that the earth was created for everyone and everything and tliat loe are not to selfishly claim it. 1 Vt' are all to share the good things in life so that we may all live in harmony. Realize that we as human beings have been put on this earth for only a short time and that we must use tins time to use our minds to gam wisdom, knowledge, respect and understanding of all human beings since we are all brotliers. Be Iiumble and respectful before the Creator everyday and give thanks for putting us here on earth. Ahoays be respectfid of life. We are not to kill our fellow man. The elders also said, "We believe in the iniiqueiiess of the indiindiial and want our children to liave a deep respect for others and for those things and people who may be different fivm them. We believe that racism and prejudice in any form is a useless exercise for the human mind because it only breeds hatred, misunderstanding, and uuhappiness; it ignores the realities of the world because there are different people and beliefs which have the right to exist as long as theirs does not attempt to do away xoith our loay of life." : (Contents Acknowledgem ents Melody Henry. President. Stone Child College Introduction: Edward Stamper Chapter 1: 10-32 Rocky Boy Reservation History to 1979 Produced by Rocky Boy School Research Program in the 1970"s Chapter 2: 34 - 57 Contemporary History of Rocky Boy"s Reservation Written by Dr. Nate St. Pierre Chapter 3: 59-98 The Travels of the Chippewa Cree. Early Years Compiled by Gerard Vandeberg, edited by various researchers Chapter 4: 99-122 Chippewa Cree Tribal Government Written by Roger St. Pierre Sr. (Added to this document is the Chippewa Cree Tribal Constitution, pictures of Tribal Chairman, and lists of Tribal Councils) Chapters: 123-153 The History of Rocky Boy Education Written by Daryl Wright I Pictures 154-175 Pictures of Rocky Boy's community and surrounding area from the past to present day Chapter 6: 177-220 Kinship Charts, pre-tests answer keys, post tests, and animal identification Developed by Ethel Parker. Helen Parker. Florence Sun Child, and Wilma Windy Boy Addendum: 221-239 Lists of Rocky Boy supplementary materials available and their Location Compiled by various researchers As it is with any historical document this is still a work in progress. There are many stories untold and many yet to come. We began the project by gathering as many historical documents as we could find fi-om several years ago. Many thanks go out to the people who were instrumental in the creation of this book. First and foremost, we owe a debt of gratitude to our forefathers for their legacy as part of this rich history to the people of Rocky Boy. Secondly, we greatly appreciate Go\emor Schweitzer and the State of Montana for providing the financial resources necessary to complete this project. We are gratefiil for the Tribal Historic Preservation Office Cultural Advisory Committee that consisted of Videl Stump, Sr., Charles Gopher, and Duncan Standing Rock. Their commitments to this project included attending meetings. re\ iew ing the numerous drafts, and approving the final product. I also want to thank the individuals that researched, wrote, edited, and assisted in the process. This list includes: Gerard Vandeberg for his endless hours of research and transcription; Edward Stamper for writing, researching, proofi'eading, and seeing that the project was completed; Rocky Boy Schools Research Program for contributing the Reservation History to 1979; Dr. Nate St. Pierre for contributing a chapter on the Contemporary History of the Reservation ft-om 1979 to present; Roger St. Pierre, Sr., for writing a chapter on Chippewa Cree Tribal Government; and Daryl Wright I for his chapter on the History of Rocky Boy Education. Many thanks also go out to Athena Galbavy, who assisted with the research and word processing; Ken Morsette. Jr. for formatting, editing, printing, and doing it repeatedly—we appreciate the many sleepless nights you devoted to this project; Belden Billy for assisting and being a big help with printing/layout; Dr. Matt Hennan for research and gathering materials of public record; Chelsey St. Pierre for transcribing Tribal Council lists; and Helen Parker, Ethel Parker, Florence Sun Child, and Wilma Windy Boy for writing the Cree curriculum. We also want to acknowledge Helen Windy Boy. Sam Vernon Windy Boy, Judy Wood and Kim Bigknife for assisting with proofreading and edits. A special thank you goes to the people of Rocky Boy for contributing to the history of our Tribe by allowing us to interview them and include their stories. Last, but not least, we would like to recognize the Chippewa-Cree Tribal Council and the Stone Child College Board of Directors for their support of this project. Respectfully, ^A^ Melody Henry. President Introduction The Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy's Reservation is a very wealthy Tribe. In this case, wealth is in terms of language, culture, traditions, and in history. In order to access some of these aspects, one must follow certain protocols. One of the reasons for safe-guarding the language, culture, traditions, and history is to avoid common mistakes that have been made in the past. In particular, there have been authors that had previously written manuscripts about our Tribe and, in many cases, their writings were not totally accurate. This has caused concerns among tribal members: so much that new protocols and procedures have been adopted before any of our collective history can be shared with the outside world. In order for Stone Child College to deliver history to the people of the State of Montana, we must obtain approval from our recognized Cultural Advisory Committee and then our Tribal Institutional Review Board. Prior to May of 2008. we were not aware of the approval process, but we have been following it ever since. Needless to say, there has been more written history submitted to these committees than what has been approved. There have been recent discoveries of several documents pertaining to our history that have not been studied in depth, and due to our timeline for deli\ ery of this history, these documents will not be included at this time.