Local caffeination-station of the day: Local Girls Coffee
Brew Deets: No Drip available but they
made me a tasty Americano with local organic espresso
Distinctive Feature: They are also a
store that feature over 60 local artists, each having their own little nook to
display their amazing craftsmanship ranging from jewelry to household items and
décor to odds and ends like cup cozies and children’s toys
City: Kalispell, MT
Distinctive Feature: We were only there
for a brief moment but the Artist presence was undeniable, from the store to
the murals to the large figures painted in mountain gear that were scaling the
sides of a storefront.
Local Healthy Foodie Hoodie: I think it was "Mission Mountain" in Polson
Local
Product Feature: Delicious Flax Garlic Onion Sandwhich buns (namefail)
“That point when you cross road weariness is the same point
where you realize there has been more than just a two-hour time zone change.
You are in travel time now. “
Or so I thought.
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| We started off the drive with more fascinating sky movies |
Our biggest modification was the discovery of the People’s
Center just outside of Polson, Montana. The route to West Glacier traverses the
Flathead reservation and homeland of the Kootinai (or “Aq‡smakni-k”
– “the people”), Salish (also meaning “The people”), Blackfoot and Pend
d’Oriole tribes. Among the Americanized, exploitative signs for “Indian
TRADEPOST” and “REAL NATIVE ART” location signs began to appear, depicting
underneath, the Salish translation. Neither of us had been aware of the tribes
who’s land we were now encroaching on and neither of us felt comfortable
continuing on in ignorance. We started with a quick google seach that led us to
the tribe’s cultural center.
The center was a moving and very authentic tribute, compiled
by local ancestors with photos and pieces passed down from their relatives.
Unlike many museums where you have to speculate whether or not this is the
story that it’s feature characters really
want told, this exhibit had a disclaimer that every word we were about to
read was put there because the native people want you to see it.
As much as 14,000 years ago, these tribes were the first and
only people to occupy this region. Buffalo were bountiful then and they would
venture down from Canada during hunting season, collect berries in the spring
and shoot big game in the fall. The land provided a purpose to them year-round.
Unlike other tribal languages, the language of this region has never been
linked to any other. They were simply there. Them.
And then came the 1800’s and the hunt for fur and silver and
gold.
One thing that struck me immediately was the nature of these
tribes. When the greed of Settlers began to seep in, the people of this land
had fought tirelessly with a steadfast will that I had read in barely any other
tribe’s struggle to keep their initial sovereignty. Chief Charlot of the Salish
and Koostatah of the Kootinai held onto the land with equal vigor when
Europeans first began to try and persuade land deals in the early 1800s and
they did not budge until they were forcibly removed to reservations in 1891,
when the Great Norther Railway drew in inflated amounts of miners and tourists.
But before it came to that forced point, there was a treaty. The Hellgate
treaty of 1855 would prove to be insufficient to prevent the encroaching
settlers but the details in the fine print all these years later live on as
concrete evidence of the violations that the Natives endured. The writing
clearly laid out responsibilities that the Government had to allow certain
rights to the Natives such as medical, educational and livelihood support. It
laid out a framework for peace and was described as clearly being a “grant from the tribes, not to them. And yet by 1887, the Dawes Act
overrode all promises to begin the process of allowing white settlements. The
timeline moved swiftly from there on out:
1903 – A bill was
passed to begin allotting land
1905 – Charlot
and another tribe member met with
Roosevelt in D.C. to try and put the
allotments to a halt. They failed.
1909 – The first
white settlement appeared
1910 – 1 Million
Acres opened up to whites
1922-35 – Big
Expanse of homesteads arose
The allotments left for the reservation were a mere 250,000
acres and even those managed to go under white ownership if not claimed. It
wasn’t until 1986 that the Government issued a law that allowed tribes to
formally organize for economic independence through elected tribal council. Again,
the vigor of these tribes arose and gradually, reparations began. In 2008, some
62% of the land had been returned to the tribes and a strong Job Corps school
was put in place to give entice tribe members to return to the area. Even so,
only 4,000 Natives now live on the reservation land while 10,000 non-natives
continue to reside there and dominate businesses.
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| (Left to Right) The native land is green. Settlements and federal are the other colors: 1855, 1908-1909, 1922-1935, 2004. |
We came away humbled and glad to have a better understanding
of our environment. And we came away with quite a bit of gift shop
merchandise…cause, how could we not support them?
It was getting late fast and when mother decided to stop in
Kalispell to ask about bear spray, I recognized that I was getting a bit antsy.
Even after receiving a pretty clear opinion about the investment from the store
clerk, she continued to wander, getting suckered into a conversation with a
customer who drawled on at length about the circumstances under which he would
or would not consider it a necessary splurge (the stuff costs 40 bucks!) He was
friendly enough and did have some insightful stories to share about what to do
when you don’t have bear spray, but
in my anxious fidget, each wasted moment rang like a siren. You got your answer, mom! Don’t keep asking
questions! Why did you wander back here anyway? It feels like we’ve been to a
million stores today! We’re acting like we’re here to tour cities!
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| FINALLY here! |
I attempted to bury my belligerent critique in a sort of
silent apathy which gradually turned into a passive aggressive, spiteful sulk
when we arrived at our cabin and mother released yet another death trap of
questions, asking the owner to tell her about the trails and the maps and “oh,
a whole guide book for me to use – thanks!” We were becoming increasingly
inefficient at “getting to the park to do stuff” bit and it felt like more of
the day had been spent asking about what we could be doing if we weren’t asking
so damn much. I wasn’t going to split hairs on the matter, for fear of wasting
more time. So instead, once we got into the park, I drove and plowed ahead to the
attendants at the visitors center to get straight to the point. “My mother and
I are looking for a relatively short hike – under 5 miles – in the west side of
the park. What would you suggest?” This got us enough information to get us to
a trail within the next half hour. Yet whether it be because of my eagerness to
just get going or our blind trust in
the clarity of such a short route, we failed to bring a trail map with us. The
Johns Lake trail which supposedly takes you in a loop, took us to a powerful
thrust of water – lake McDonald Falls – and back down the stretch of road to
our car. But whatever it was, it was good. It was great. We were finally breathing the crisp
mountain air and dancing between Old Growth and seeing how small we were as
pockets of sun setting peaked through clouds and made light stains on the water we were small and we were
here and those small moments were here with us. And with that, any lost moments
of the day were small also.
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| My "Okay, can we go now?" look |
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| This is called Bear Grass and it is everywhere |
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| This is everywhere also. I'm not sure we ever found out its name. Mossy madness? |
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| Frustration carried away in this towering sanctuary |
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| The power of this water was insane! |
Back at the cabin, we cooked greens and veggies for the
first time in what seemed like ages and drank hard cider and ate chocolate
while we played cards.
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