Podcasts about gros ventre

In this episode, we discuss the life and work of poet and novelist James Welch. Part Blackfeet and part Gros Ventre, Welch grew up on the Blackfeet and Fort Belknap reservations in Montana and graduated from the University of Montana, where he studied writing under poet Richard Hugo. Welch was the author of the novels [...]

In this episode, we discuss the life and work of poet and novelist James Welch. Part Blackfeet and part Gros Ventre, Welch grew up on the Blackfeet and Fort Belknap reservations in Montana and graduated from the University of Montana, where he studied writing under poet Richard Hugo. Welch was the author of the novels [...]

In this episode of Planet Geo, Dr. Jesse Reimink and Chris Bolhuis delve into the fascinating and sometimes perilous world of landslides, focusing on a recent landslide known as the Big Fill landslide that occurred in the Teton Pass. They discuss the various triggers and mechanisms behind landslides, including the impact of water, earthquakes, and human activities. The hosts also highlight key historical landslides in the Teton region, such as the Gros Ventre and the Quake Lake slides, and explore the ongoing geological activity that makes this area particularly prone to such events. This episode is both timely and informative, shedding light on the delicate balance between human infrastructure and natural forces.Download the CampGeo app now at this link. On the app you can get tons of free content, exclusive images, and access to our Geology of National Parks series. You can also learn the basics of geology at the college level in our FREE CampGeo content series - get learning now!Like, Subscribe, and leave us a Rating!——————————————————Instagram: @planetgeocastTwitter: @planetgeocastFacebook: @planetgeocastSupport us: https://planetgeocast.com/support-usEmail: planetgeocast@gmail.comWebsite: https://planetgeocast.com/

Oh. My. Goodness! Nancy Bear Cloud is beaming! I'm the luckiest because I got to watch her face and eyes as she described her life and testified of Jesus Christ and the blessings found in the temple. She tells here about her life, about how it wasn't always rosy. She talks about trials of faith and of learning how to let go of past hurts and look for the lessons. She tells of praying over food at work (for work). It's kind of a funny story--but it's always a perfect description of how prayer and faith work to bring about miracles. Nancy is sitting outside while we visit and it's like I was there with her. It's like we're old friends now.

Mike Carpenter, founder of The Redd Collection, is our guest on California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon and Dan Berger. Before we hear about the Redd Collection, Dan Berger has brought a wine for tasting, but not his usual cellar wine. It is a Donnhoff Riesling from Germany that he purchased recently at Botte Barn. It begins a bit sweet but finished dry. Everyone likes it!. Mike Carpenter explains that he is a wine retailer and he focusses on old and rare collectable wines, and some occasional discoveries, both domestic and imported. His store began in Los Angeles with ten pallets of wine from one client's personal collection. The name is close to the original collector's name and Mike named it the Redd Collection to keep some trace of its origin. It reminded him of the great single-owner sales at places like Christie's and Sotheby's. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. Dan Berger calls it a unique model in the wine business. A lot of people who start drinking common inexpensive wine may become curious about better wine, which is more expensive. It is then useful for a curator to find wines that are exciting and interesting and not necessarily extremely expensive. Today he brought some wines that “drink above their price point” which is like a fighter “punching above his weight.” The first tasting is a 2018 Alma Fria Chardonnay. It is a West Sonoma Coast wine, from the new AVA that has distinct maritime growing conditions. Dan detects a faint tropical fruit aromatic, but what is so fascinating is that the wine shows its tropical and citrus notes over the oak. It's rich but finishes with acidity. In some ways it resembles the Riesling that tasted earlier. It is a blend of some of the finest vineyards in the new West Sonoma Coast AVA. For comparison, the Sonoma Coast AVA is 500,000 acres. The West Sonoma Coast AVA is 4,700 acres, with only 50 vineyards and 27 producer members, and three sub-regions. It is a narrow band along the coast, and only reached inland about 5-7 miles. Mike Carpenter is also the wine director at Table Culture Provisions, a restaurant in Petaluma, where they serve this Alma Fria Chard. It is a neighborhood restaurant in downtown Petaluma that, “…walks the line between comfort food and haute cuisine. Another wine is a 2017 Friulano from the Friuli region (north-east) in Italy. It is a white wine with well-developed aromatics that are not typical of young wines that have not had the opportunity to mature in the bottle. Next is a 2021 Gros Ventre Pinot Noir, called “First Born” which is the best barrels put together from multiple vineyards. (Gros Ventre means “Big Belly” in French.) Dan Berger says this is worth aging in the cellar for six to eight years.

"Un si gros ventre" aux éditions Stock. Entretien avec Sylvie Hazebroucq. Rentrée Sciences-Humaines automne 2023.

He was leader of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He stared down a grizzly bear, recovered stolen horses from Shoshone Indians, escaped from some Gros Ventre warriors, escaped from Blackfeet warriors. Later he guided wagon trains and was an agent for the several Indian tribes and died at the age of fifty-five.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of north-central Montana are closing in on a bipartisan deal to settle their water rights in Congress. The more than $1 billion policy comes after decades of negotiation and would close out a century of tribal water disputes in the state.

Montana's entire congressional delegation is backing a new attempt to ratify water rights for the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes on the Fort Belknap Reservation in northern Montana.

The battle over transgender rights is playing out in school bathrooms, sports fields, and doctors' offices. States are enacting strict rules over gender-affirming care, and trans athletes, and even dress codes. Many of the laws face legal challenges over constitutional bans on discrimination. Native trans and Two-Spirit people look at how the new trend could play out. GUESTS Mattee Jim (Diné), trans advocate   Stephanie Byers (Chickasaw), former Kansas state representative for district 86    Montana Wilson (Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and Sioux), vice chair for Western Native Voice

The battle over transgender rights is playing out in school bathrooms, sports fields, and doctors' offices. States are enacting strict rules over gender-affirming care, and trans athletes, and even dress codes. Many of the laws face legal challenges over constitutional bans on discrimination. Native trans and Two-Spirit people look at how the new trend could play out. GUESTS Mattee Jim (Diné), trans advocate   Stephanie Byers (Chickasaw), former Kansas state representative for district 86    Montana Wilson (Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and Sioux), vice chair for Western Native Voice

Ojibwe inventor Danielle Boyer is on a quest to make technology more accessible to interested Native students. She's given away some 8,000 robots through her program Every Kid Gets A Robot. She's also developed a low-cost, wearable robot that helps teach Indigenous languages. She's among groups of creative, science-savvy Native young people working to make connections between robots and education.  GUESTS Danielle Boyer (enrolled citizen of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor  Myra Mendez (Mescalero Apache and Gros Ventre), elementary secretary for Mescalero Apache Schools  Nate Raynor, high school science teacher for Mescalero Apache Schools

Ojibwe inventor Danielle Boyer is on a quest to make technology more accessible to interested Native students. She's given away some 8,000 robots through her program Every Kid Gets A Robot. She's also developed a low-cost, wearable robot that helps teach Indigenous languages. She's among groups of creative, science-savvy Native young people working to make connections between robots and education.  GUESTS Danielle Boyer (enrolled citizen of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), robotics inventor  Myra Mendez (Mescalero Apache and Gros Ventre), elementary secretary for Mescalero Apache Schools  Nate Raynor, high school science teacher for Mescalero Apache Schools

Mon gros ventre et moi on vous emmerde ! Le podcast de Serial Mother produit par Bloom parents

TranscriptThis morning I went for a run in the woods, on these really beautiful trails that are used by snowmobiles.The organization that maintains the trails and works with landowners to allow access is called VAST - The Vermont Association of Snow Travelers.I'm not really sure if you're supposed to walk on them, but I don't really mind it, I meanI'm not a snowmobiler. I don't think it messes up the trails when they're really hard to walk on them, or to run on them. And they're really the only trails I could walk on right now without snowshoes around here. So I just kind of do it.The run goes up the hill beyond the yard and down into a field and it crosses a little road. And then it goes into some woods. The woods are pretty young, I'd say between 10 and 50 years old at the absolute maximum of the trees. There are a lot of beech trees with this canker disease, they have some yellow birch, silver birch. And a couple of maple trees, paper birch, and once in a while there's a pine tree. Kind of a scraggly woods over there.But the trail is nice, it goes up and down following the grade of a hill. And it eventually gets to this really large field that's owned by a family called the Mudges. And they are summer people, so they aren't here right now. There, the field opens up, the view opens up to something more than you'd expect in Colorado or something. There's a split rail fence and a grove aspen trees and you can see a far ridge with trees on top. If you took a photo of the right way, and people didn't really notice that you're surrounded by deciduous forests, you probably would think that you are in the Rockies or something.And the magic thing about it is of course, besides the snowmobiles that sometimes go by, there's no one on the trail ever. Because, this part of Vermont is pretty remote. It's not really close to anything, it's about an hour away from everything. And that makes it nice in some ways, but also pretty lonely.I ran up a steep hill after that through a different set of woods after crossing another road. And into this area that was a logging tract that's owned by owned by this guy named Hemenway who owned a couple thousand acres of forests around here. And he is a good forester type of a person. He contracted out to companies that just do very careful cutting. And so there's a lot of diversity in his woods. And he himself loved to walk in them. And there's been some memorials about him because he did such a beautiful job of preserving access and the woods themselves.And so those woods are pretty nice, they're pretty well thinned, and some pretty old trees in there that he left, probably told the loggers to leave some of the old trees, which is really good for wildlife.It's quite a steep hill over there, and running in the snow makes it really hard. And I think it's probably 500 feet vertical from the bottom to the top of it, maybe a little bit more. And the whole course is around 1000 or 1200. I would say it's about three and a half miles one way.I was trying to run in a pretty decent pace today. But running is always weird. I just I never know how fast I'm gonna run. Maybe it's because I have a phone that's like five years old. Doesn't really record stuff very accurately. But anyway, it was a good run.As I was coming back down to the big field. I started thinking about something that has been on my mind for a while. Which is this experience that I had when I got a vasectomy recently because this morning I had talked to my friend Beau, who's a Chinese medicine doctor, acupuncturistand herbalist, Alexander Technique practitioner, Tai Chi practitioner, lots of different things he's, he's into and really skilled at, and I was doing a consult with him. And so something I wanted to ask him about was this experience that happened during the vasectomy that I just had. I went to the Planned Parenthood in Burlington because I've only had good experiences with Planned Parenthood. With my girlfriend's needs, different gynecological needs over the years. And everything went pretty well.But there was this moment when I was on the table, when the nurse practitioner had cut the wrong part of some tissue, that was supposed to be the vas deferens. And the situation with this surgery is that they have to find the vas deferens by palpating them, touching them with the fingers, and then essentially using forceps or some kind of a clamp to pull them out of the pelvis.And it's extremely traumatic.I didn't really know that going into it. But it's like the worst pain I've ever felt, probably is like getting shot in the pelvis or getting kicked or hit with something really hard.And so she had to do that sensation, where she grabbed the vas deferens with some kind of forceps like three times instead of just two. And it did some damage.In the moment, what happened was I had what's called vessel vaso-vagal syncope, which means that you're fainting. It's like a state of shock. So what happened was, my hands and my feet started to go numb.And I started to get really cold and the pulse and the pulse oximeter on my finger, which is those little clamp-clamp things that measure your pulse in your blood pressure and stuff. Actually started to stop working because there was no blood in the extremities anymore. It started pool in the organs. Basically what was happening is I was undergoing a shock—because I saw some indecisiveness in the nurse and I was wondering how long this procedure was going to be prolonged because it was extremely uncomfortable. And I was wondering if she had done it right. I was wondering if she had hurt me.I have pretty good control over my physical reactions to things. But I guess this was a little too much. And I started to kind of go into that state of fainting.And it was really strange because the nurse and her assistants just wouldn't look at me. I think they felt embarrassed or afraid. And so they didn't look at me. They looked at the monitor. And the monitor wasn't reading anything. And so they were frustrated with the technology not showing them my vitals.And I felt disconnected from the experience.And I felt afraid of course.And in the end, what helped me was they said one thing I could do at the beginning was squeeze the assistants hand, so I reached out and took their hand and squeezed it. And it felt really warm and strong.And that's what brought me back.The nurse had me breath some oxygen from a tank, and that didn't really seem to do anything. But squeezing the person's hand, feeling that warmth and that comfort, was really what worked. And I remember at the end, standing up feeling fine. Saying something to nurse like, well, I guess this is a learning experience for all of us. Which probably wasn't the right thing to say. But I don't know, I can be kind of straightforward sometimes. And maybe she needed to be humbled a little bit. I don't know.What I felt like when I was laying there was that I wanted to get away from the experience. Things flooded through my mind. Places that I've been beautiful places that I've kind of left a part of myself, so to speak. Places I've hiked, camped, slept, places outside in nature, really. And it was really interesting that my mind went to this specific meadow, in the Gros Ventre wilderness, in northern Wyoming. It's extremely unused and extremely remote, even though it's close to a couple of national parks. And my mind went there to that place in that moment of fear, which I found pretty interesting.And then, as I recovered from reflecting on that experience, I started to feel bad about myself, I actually apologized to the nurses after the procedure, because I didn't want to inconvenience them, because I felt weak.Now, weakness comes from fear, or fear, creates weakness, or fear is part of the feeling of weakness. Anyway, they're related somehow. And I've always felt weak. I've never felt like a strong, physically strong person. And so weakness is something that I've always battled with. Athletic activities and stuff have never come naturally to me. And I never really was fast or strong, or any of those things that that men and boys are often expected to be. And so I've always felt kind of weak overall.And so when I was laying there, and I couldn't handle the pain, seemingly, of this operation, I felt weak. And I thought I had long ago left behind that kind of feeling. Because when I first left my home, which happened to be Nebraska, I started going on trips across the country alone in my car, and I wouldn't choose the direction, except West, and I wouldn't really choose a path and make a plan. And I wouldn't really decide on campsites or anything like that. My only rule was that I didn't want to pay for camping.And when a person is 18, or 19, or are in their early 20s, and they're pretty young and inexperienced, the world seems like kind of a scary place. At least it did to me. I had a lot of anxiety about my car breaking down, or getting lost or getting stuck somewhere, somebody yelling at me and telling me to leave or—just kind of unfounded fears that have since I've learned about now, that don't make any sense, but they were there. And I've always wondered about where those fears came from. And now even though I'm perfectly comfortable with traveling like that now, not paying for camping, camping wherever I find a flat space, on bike or on foot or in a car or whatever, just finding some pull off and going into the trees—my favorite kind of camping now, which used to terrify me. I used to not sleep when I did that. But that kind of a fear I thought I'd gotten over. Yet when I was on the table, experiencing that shock from the surgery kind of going wrong—I realized I hadn't. Or at least that fear still lives inside of me somewhere because I still felt weak, which is really the source of where that fear came from.In other words, I felt bad about myself.I felt like I wasn't good enough or strong enough.A friend of mine is a really good runner. I can't even explain how beautiful he looks when he runs. I've never actually seen him run in person just videos. Which makes me sad to say. But the fact is, if we ever tried running together, he'd just completely leave me behind. So it probably wouldn't be much fun for him.But he's the kind of person that I look up to. Because he seems so strong. I know that he's probably got his own problems. Everybody does. But it seems like he's a representative of something that I feel like I'm never really going to be that good at, which is physical strength and endurance.I've often wondered where that damage came from.Because if I look at my genealogical history, I've come from very strong people.One of my grandpa's lived to 92. And the only reason why he died is because he let his prostate cancer go untreated.Another one of my grandpa's was 87 or 88, when he died, and he basically died of a broken heart because he was so he was a mountain of a man with a laugh like a volcano.And he was a logger. And my other grandfather was a logger as well. But then he was a farmer. And then he was an insurance salesman. At the end of his life, like probably for the last 30 or 40 years or so. They're really strong old style dudes. They knew how to do everything you needed to do know how to do on a farm.And then my dad ran many marathons. He grew up on a farm. He knows how to do everything that you need to do on a farm.And my mom grew up on a ranch, raising horses. She knew most of what you needed to know how to do on a ranch. She also ran marathons. So I always have found it strange that I have not been as strong as my parents or grandparents.And I've always been curious about that.And I think that, for me, the things that I've struggled with in life have been emotional damage.Growing up, my parents got divorced, which I had no idea—I didn't understand what was going on when I was seven, eight years old when that happened. But I can see that that influenced my growth or inhibited my growth in a certain way now.And it made me addicted to things to try and escape that pain.And I think it influenced me to this day. And I think that it gave me an anxiety disorder that I've more or less taken care of—through extreme amounts of effort, and care for myself.But it's just so interesting to see how generations of people can be changed by emotional trauma.What that can do to someone for their entire life at least, that's what I think my legacy is.So to stop these endless digressions, I'll just read this poem now and call it done.The title of it is Swallows from Capistrano, and it's about my grandpa on my mom's side.Swallows from CapistranoHe had bright blue eyes, with an old-timers folded lidsthe blue that looks like cracks in a glacier, they glowedout from his stony countenance, his bear-like laughfilled the low room where he satwith his wisdom about everything.The scent of pine smoke hung even in summeraround the eaves, the fresh pine needle scent wafted toodown the hill from the hot sun, and he watchedin the spring the swallows who came backfrom the eaves of the mission in far south and hotCapistrano. My mom says she has a strange mind like him, seeselements as part of people, the rising of fire into smokeas a type of person, or a water-earth type, my grandpa,he must have been a volcano under a glacier—those blue eyesand his rumbling chest, pouring forth wisdom and lovefor sitting in the sun. Once everyone could handle him no morehe lit fires with diesel fuel and wet wood through the cold winterand in springhe sat and watched the swallows.So I guess my hope is that by noticing what has hurt me, in life, I'll be able to heal certain things.But I also don't think life is just about focusing on what's wrong.I think it's about listening to what feels good to me.And one of those things is being outside.I think that's why my mind went there, when I was laying on that table, in the Planned Parenthood clinic in Burlington.It's because that's my place of refuge.And I'm lucky to have traveled to the places that are so unimaginably beautiful that they don't seem like they exist on the same earth as everywhere else.And I'm also lucky to be able to find those places seemingly anywhere. It's more about how you inhabit them, maybe, then the places themselves.My grandpa, both of them were tough guys.Somehow, even though they sustained a lot of damage, they were very physically strong, despite all that.I guess that kind of a damage that they got went deeper, and it changed their ability to listen.Fortunately, I've become a pretty good listener. So now, through my running habit, I'll hopefully be able to become stronger physically too.And heal all these things that have transpired.Thanks for listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.walkaround.run

Is closure a myth? Do we have to be emotionally open with ALL the people we know? What is a healthy amount of acceptance? These are the questions that Big Wind, Dalia, Julia, Kiam and I talked about navigating.  I think we all ask these questions when trying to trust after harm and experiencing grief.  What we don't always talk about is how very human and natural these experiences and thoughts are.Big Wind(they/them) was born at the headwaters of the Missouri River to A Northern Arapaho mother and Gros Ventre father in Great Falls, Montana. Big Wind was raised on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and enjoys being outdoors, hiking, and swimming in the nearest water way. As a Indigenous Two Spirit, they believe in the art of balancing both masculine and feminine energies, and how taping into that power, can lead to a more balanced approach to accountability and transformative justice. Dalia Kinsey(no pronouns) is a Registered Dietitian and creator of the Body Liberation for All podcast, a show dedicated to amplifying the health and happiness of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC folx. On a mission to spread joy, reduce suffering, and eliminate health disparities in the QTBIPOC community, Dalia rejects diet culture (which is rooted in white supremacy) and teaches folks how to use nutrition as a self-care and personal empowerment tool.Julia Mallory(she/they) is a storyteller and grief worker working with a range of mediums from text to textiles. Their latest book, Survivor's Guilt is an archive of survivorship that chronicles generational grief through photographs, poetry, and prose. She is also the founder of the creative container, Black Mermaids and serves as the Senior Poetry Editor for Raising Mothers. Their work can be found in Barrelhouse, The Offing, the Black Speculative Arts Movement exhibition "Curating the End of the World: RED SPRING”, Stellium Literary Magazine, MadameNoire, and elsewhere. Their short, experimental film, Grief is the Glitch, premiered this spring on the film festival circuit.  Kiam Marcelo Junio(they/them)  (b. Philippines) is a multimedia artist, holistic wellness coach, and a US Navy veteran. As an artist, Kiam explores themes of corporeality, identity, and time. Their work eludes rigid definitions of discipline, exploring and expressing through all five senses. Kiam also coaches creative professionals committed to developing healthy habits, a confident presence, and fulfilling relationships. Their mission is rooted in helping people create changes in their inner and outer worlds by developing deep self-knowledge, sustainable self-love, and authentic self-expression. Kiam envisions a world where artists lead the way, forging new paths for future generations. CONTACT GUESTIG @BigWindRiver | Paypal AKABigWind T Website daliakinsey.substack.comIG @thejuliamallory | CashApp $Blackmermaids | Website blackmermaids.comIG @iamkiam| Venmo @iamkiam | Website mahalhealingarts.comPRODUCED BY: GoddessSUPPORT SSChttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/GoddessSowerOfSeedsFOLLOW SSCSunseedcommunity.comFB/IG: @SunseedcommunitySubscribe to SSC here

is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika "Blackfoot" the Kainai or Blood "Many Chiefs" and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani "Splotchy Robe" the Northern Piikani and the Southern Piikani Have Broader definitions include groups such as the Sarcee and Gros Ventre who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.

Limiter l'impact des repas de fêtes sur la ligne, des produits de régime interdit et la conséquence de la covid sur la psychologie des Français. LIENS À SUIVRE : MANGER À L'INSTINCT : Hard reset nutrition : l‘instinct Faire la promotion de votre activité dans l'émission : https://forms.gle/KhCYAL4SeWAjmvm19 Posez votre question ici : https://forms.gle/crKHTwFF62iZxeuo9 Écoutez ce podcast […] The post Limiter le gros ventre de début d'année appeared first on Fitnessmith.

Bienvenue sur RARE à l'écoute, la chaîne de Podcast dédiée aux maladies rares. Pour ce troisième épisode sur la Maladie de Gaucher, nous recevons le Dr Anaïs Brassier, pédiatre au sein du service des maladies métaboliques de l'hôpital Necker-Enfants malades à Paris, clinicien au sein du Centre de Référence des maladies héréditaires du métabolisme de l'enfant et de l'adulte de l'hôpital Necker pour la filière G2M et présidente du CETL – Comité d'Evaluation du Traitement des maladies Lysosomales. Nous abordons aujourd'hui les particularités de la Maladie de Gaucher chez l'enfant, l'évolution de cette maladie rare en l'absence de traitement, les signes d'alerte qui doivent faire évoquer ce diagnostic chez un enfant, le diagnostic et les diagnostics différentiels à écarter ainsi que les grands principes de prise en charge de la maladie de Gaucher en pédiatrie. Si vous désirez vous informer et aller plus loin dans la connaissance de cette pathologie, nous vous donnons rendez-vous sur notre site internet www.rarealecoute.com. L'orateur n'a reçu aucune rémunération pour la réalisation de cet épisode.   Invitée : Dr Anaïs Brassier – Hôpital Necker-Enfants malades - Paris http://www.cetl.net/comites-et-centres/cetl/organisation-du-groupe-39/article/composition-du-cetl  L'équipe : Virginie Druenne - Programmation Cyril Cassard - Animation Hervé Guillot - Production Crédits : Sonacom

In Yellowstone, Misha asks what it means to restore a place. She gets stuck in the snow, goes wolf watching, and finds out that we almost lost wolves forever in the park, and how reintroducing them healed the ecosystem. Learning about the wolves makes her question what it would mean to restore the native connection and history of Yellowstone and the parks system.Yellowstone is the land of the Assiniboine and Sioux, Blackfeet, Cheyenne River Sioux, Coeur d'Alene, Comanche, Colville Reservation, Crow Creek Sioux, Eastern Shoshone, Flandreau Santee Sioux, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine, Kiowa, Little Shell Chippewa, Lower Brule Sioux, Nez Perce, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Sioux, Rosebud Sioux, Salish and Kootenai, Shoshone–Bannock, Sisseton Wahpeton, Spirit Lake, Standing Rock Sioux, Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa, Umatilla Reservation and the Yankton Sioux.More about the podcast:Hello, Nature host, Misha Euceph, didn't know about the National Parks until she turned 21. But after an experience in Joshua Tree and watching 12 hours of a national park documentary, she sets out on a road trip to answer the question: if the parks are public, aren't they supposed to be for everyone? In this podcast, she goes out to see America and tell a new story of our national parks.Hello, Nature can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Learn more about the podcast and our season sponsor, Subaru. 

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Legislative Hearing to receive testimony on S. 648 & S. 1911 Wednesday, October 06 2021 - 02:30 PM Location: Dirksen Room Number: 628 S. 648, Technical Correction to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 S. 1911, Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Rights Settlement Act of 2021 The Honorable Bryan Todd Newland Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/bryannewland100621.pdf The Honorable Brian Thomas Chairman Shoshone-Paiute of the Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/brianthomas100621.pdf The Honorable Andrew Werk President Fort Belknap Indian Community, Harlem, MT https://www.indianz.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/06/andrewwerk100621.pdf Committee Notice: https://www.indian.senate.gov/hearing/legislative-hearing-receive-testimony-s-648-s-1911

Fewer ethnic groups in the U.S. have been harder hit by COVID-19 than Native Americans. It's killed them at more than twice the rate of whites. The pandemic has exacerbated longstanding health inequities, and a deep-rooted distrust in the federal government made tribal leaders fearful that members would reject the government-endorsed vaccines.But the opposite happened. Native Americans now have the highest vaccination rates of any major racial or ethnic group in the United States. L.A. Times Seattle bureau chief Richard Read and Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez explain why.More reading:Despite obstacles, Native Americans have the nation's highest COVID-19 vaccination rateCOVID-19 is crushing Native American reservations. But distrust of the government makes vaccines a hard sellThey know the sick. On Navajo Nation, contact tracers work to control coronavirus on vast lands

In this week's episode, Kendra and Sachi discuss World of Wonders and The Way Through the Woods. Check out our Patreon page to learn more about our book club and other Patreon-exclusive goodies. Follow along over on Instagram, join the discussion in our Goodreads group, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more new books and extra book reviews! Things Mentioned Information on #StopLine3 Milkweed Editions Books Mentioned The Way Through the Woods: Of Mushrooms and Mourning by Long Litt Woon, Translated by Barbara J. Haveland World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene edited by Jessica Cory Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West by Lauren Redniss Shelby's Recommendations Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard About Our Guest: Tribal Affiliations: Enrolled member of the Gros Ventre & Little Shell Chippewa Shelby Cole is from Dodson, MT and is a disabled graduate student in the Cellular, Molecular, and Microbial Biology program at the University of Montana. Her degree emphasis is in Immunology and her research focuses on developing a universal influenza vaccine. She lives in Missoula with her dog Roxy. In her free time she enjoys hiking, beading, reading, and spending time with friends and family. #Landback #stopline3 Instagram This episode is brought to you by the House of CHANEL, creator of the iconic J12 sports watch. Always in motion, the J12 travels through time without ever losing its identity. CONTACT Questions? Comments? Email us hello@readingwomenpodcast.com.  SOCIAL MEDIA Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Website Music by Miki Saito with Isaac Greene Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former CIA analyst Martin Gurri (The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium) introduces Michele to the concept of the "information tsunami" that has knocked our 20th Century institutions off their expert, elite status. Joining over a bottle of Gros Ventre's High Country Red are former FBI executive Lauren C. Anderson, Bloomberg News editorialist Robert George and Guernica Magazine editor Jina Moore, who's got a few questions of her own.

Join us as we talk with archaeologists, Matt Stirn and Rebecca Sgouros about how they have followed their love of archaeology, photography and tea (yes tea) to interpret and bring archaeology to the public. Matt Stirn holds an MSc in Environmental Archaeology and Paleoecology, and specializes in understanding how humans adapted to high elevation landscapes around the world. He has directed several archaeological research projects in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and has been involved in excavations on four continents. He is a member of the Sigma Xi Research Society, a National Fellow for The Explorer's Club and currently has ongoing archaeological research in Wyoming, Greece, and Italy. Rebecca is an environmental archaeologist and educator. She is a freelance archaeologist focusing on projects in the Rocky Mountains, specifically the Tetons, Gros Ventre, and Wind River Ranges in Wyoming. Current projects include investigating life and food choices at high altitudes, paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Tetons, ice-patch archaeology survey along the Continental Divide, and an ancient food & diet study using biomolecular and experimental archaeology techniques . . .  and Rebecca owns an online tea company called Tea Hive! We have a conversation about the importance of bringing history and archaeology to the public, through all the methods Matt and Rebecca bring to the table in their work and their research. Join us for this fun and fascinating conversation!    To Learn More:   Tea Hive https://www.myteahive.com/   Matt Stirn Photography https://www.mattstirnphoto.com/   In the Land of Kush https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/sudan-land-kush-meroe-ancient-civilization-overlooked-180975498/   Yaupon: the Rebirth of Americas Forgotten Tea http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210223-yaupon-the-rebirth-of-americas-forgotten-tea   Sabu-Jaddi: The Site Revealing the Sahara's Verdant Nast http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200607-sabu-jaddi-the-site-revealing-the-saharas-verdant-past  

Quand un enfant surprend ses parents au lit, l'explication est toute trouvée. A moins que... Une blague signée Jean-Marie Bigard.

De 1700 à 1750 : le temps de La Vérendrye et les premiers pas dans l'Ouest En allant vers l'Ouest canadien, dans les Plaines et le Nord de l'Ouest, les explorateurs découvrent un florilège de nations autochtones : Sauteux, Assiniboines-Sioux, Cris des Plaines, Pied-Noir, Piegan, Gros Ventre, Pikunis, Sarcee, Dènès Athapascans, les Chippewyans, les Esclaves, les Côtes de Chiens, les Tutchones, les Hans, les Tananas, les Castors. https://www.rcinet.ca/autochtones-fr/wp-content/uploads/sites/69/2012/04/Episode4.mp3

In part 2 of this series of episodes, the IRC team is also joined by a special guest, John Stiffarm (A̓a̓niiih), and returning guest Mike Lafromboise (Piikani). John is from the Fort Belknap Reservation and has served as a teacher since 2007 of the A̓a̓niiih (Gros Ventre) language in kindergarten through 12th grade. His passion for culture and language revitalization has followed John into all aspects of his life as he continues to promote an Indigenous life through his work in education. Mike is a faculty member in the Tribal Governance program, at Salish Kootenai College.The IRC team discusses the knowledge of songs both contemporarily and traditionally. The episode starts with a clip of Louie NinePipe singing the Snčučaw, a Shoshone war dance song used by the Salish at the end of the war dance in preparation for the distribution of food. The similarity of this song and others, originating from the Omaha grass dance across the plains and plateau tribes, provides context to the historical sharing of knowledge. The discussion of protocols and procedures related to songs and singing are shared between the respective hosts (Apsáalooke & Seliš) and guests (A̓a̓niiih & Piikani) tribes.     The IRC team continues the discussion after listening to a clip of a song composed for Sampson Birdinground (Apsáalooke) to remark his deeds. The song, generally sung to remark war deeds, was composed to note Sampsons horsemanship and general good qualities.  Along with the guests, the IRC continues to discuss how deeds are thought of today the complement those of our ancestors.      The discussion centers around questions such as "How can tribes reinvent or revive traditional practices that were common across our communities?" "How can songs and singing be utilized again to promote inquiry and quests for knowledge?" Have answers? Suggestions? Agree? Disagree? Join the conversation at one of our social media sites. Your input is valuable to advance our understanding.Guest: John Stiffarm, Mike Lafromboise Hosts: Aaron Brien, Shandin PeteWebsite http://irc.skc.edu   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-irc/id1512551396Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1H5Y1pWYI8N6SYZAaawwxbInstagram https://www.instagram.com/ircskc/ Twitter https://twitter.com/IRCSKC Facebook https://www.facebook.com/106832977633248/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWwuqsg39_mE76xMxER5MSQSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/TribalResearchSpecialist)

In this episode, the IRC team is also joined by a special guest, John Stiffarm (A̓a̓niiih). John is from the Fort Belknap Reservation and has served as a teacher since 2007 of the A̓a̓niiih (Gros Ventre) language in kindergarten through 12th grade. His passion for culture and language revitalization has followed John into all aspects of his life as he continues to promote an Indigenous life through his work in education.The IRC team discusses the knowledge of songs both contemporarily and traditionally. The episode starts with a Brave Heart Song sung by Paul Stiffarm (A̓a̓niiih). The song is used to honor and help people at significant times in their lives. They could be sung at funerals and wakes or during significant accomplishments of individuals. The continuing discussion contributes to a growing body of knowledge in how one acquires information about song and singing. John shares how he started on his journey into learning songs and the traditions associated with them. The IRC team continues the discussion after listening to a clip of John singing an old hang game song. Hand game, stick game, and two-button game are discussed. These gambling games are described from an A̓a̓niiih perspective, while the IRC provides corroborative information about gambling games from our respective tribes.       The discussion centers around questions such as "How can traditionally acquired, and spiritually derived songs co-exist with composed contemporary songs?" "How will the next generation maintain traditions in the evolving landscape of song and song use?" Have answers? Suggestions? Agree? Disagree? Join the conversation at one of our social media sites. Your input is valuable to advance our understanding.Guest: John Stiffarm Hosts: Aaron Brien, Marty Lopez, Brenda Shepard, Shandin PeteWebsite http://irc.skc.edu   Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-irc/id1512551396Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1H5Y1pWYI8N6SYZAaawwxbInstagram https://www.instagram.com/ircskc/ Twitter https://twitter.com/IRCSKC Facebook https://www.facebook.com/106832977633248/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWwuqsg39_mE76xMxER5MSQSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/TribalResearchSpecialist)

In this episode, the IRC team begins to discuss how social order, manners, cooperation, and identity are maintained through traditional songs. The recent advent of the "Owl Dance" is discussed as an evolved dance that stems from victory in war and the quest for love. The IRC team is also joined by a special guest, Jason HeavyRunner (Salish/Piikani). Jason is serving on the IRC's advisory board and currently works for. He holds a Masters of Arts in Social Work from Walla Walla University. He is working as a Foster Care Permanency Planner for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Jason has maintained a balance of participation in his tribal customs from both his parent and has gained knowledge from his travel to the Tribal communities across the West. The Owl Dance was explained by Louis J. Tellier, an announcer at a celebration in Arlee Montana in 1958, as originating from the Gros Ventre back in 1910. For reference, James Teit, while visiting Montana in the early 1900's, collected material from Salish informants Michel Revais. Revais explained that the Owl Dance is looked upon as distinctly a woman's dance, and is said to have been introduced from the Eastern Tribes around 1870. The Team uses these understandings to further discuss how songs and dances broker the exchange of manners to foster cooperation between tribal groups and within tribes. The discussion of songs as a necessary means to facilitate good feelings and to pass along news of victories in war was purposefully the maintenance of identity.Further, some claim that the Owl Dance was of Cree origin and others say that it came from the Crow. In 1910, another informant noted that the dance was called the “Choosing Dance” from the fact that either a man or woman chose a partner. As a side note, the Gros Ventre, according to Rodnick (1978), received the Owl Dance from the Sioux around 1920. The dance was based on a victory social dance and the songs that were used at the time were based on the defeating of the Germans in WWI. Also, Rodnick explained that the Assiniboine received the Omaha Dance from the Sioux in 1872. This provides for further discussion centered on the reality that, with termination and assimilation policies from the Federal Government, many Native people are of split Tribal identity. This reality creates a potential for discrimination and exclusion within our Tribal societies. How can songs and customs evolve to continue to manage and create social order to mitigate this reality? Have answers? Suggestions? Agree? Disagree? Join the conversation at one of our social media sites. Your input is valuable to advance our understanding.Guest: Jason HeavyRunnerHosts: Aaron Brien, Kamiah Dumontier, Serra Hoagland, Marty Lopez, Brenda Shepard, Shandin PeteSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/TribalResearchSpecialist)

Founded by Sarah and Chris Pittenger in 2009, Gros Ventre Cellars is a small, family-owned winery operating out of Healdsburg, CA. We produce about 2,000 cases of wine, including vineyard-designated Pinot noir from the West Sonoma Coast and Anderson Valley, and several wines from the El Dorado region.

On Montana’s Indian reservations—where severe economic hardship began long before the 1930s—Native women often played key roles in helping their communities survive. MHS associate editor Laura Ferguson, M.A., tells how tribal members like Indian CCC employee Lucille Otter (Salish) and community organizer Julia Schulz (A’aniniin/Gros Ventre) worked to improve conditions on the reservation during the Great Depression.

In October of 2012, Jackson architect Paul Duncker met up with friends for a fall hunt in the heart of the Gros Ventre mountains. When Paul didn't return to hunting camp that night, his friends called search and rescue. Early the next morning Search and Rescue volunteers fanned out across the Dry Cottonwood Creek Drainage. But as they looked for Paul, they didn't encounter a single clue. The Fine Line shares real stories of adventure, risk and rescue in the backcountry of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This podcast is produced by Backcountry Zero, with support from the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. Backcountry Zero is a project of the Teton County Search and Rescue Foundation. Support this project and Teton County Search and Rescue volunteers by making a donation today at www.tetoncountysar.org/donate. You can also support The Fine Line by sharing this podcast with friends and family, especially if they're heading into the backcountry.

We got a packed house as Andy & Nicole, Rob & Amanda, and Chad Smith all join forces to tackle the massive pile of comic book current event news including Iron Fist Season 2, Captain Marvel, Dark Phoenix, and DC's Heroes in Crisis series! Second, The gang sets their sights on naming their definite artists for some of comic book's most famous characters like Green Lantern, Thor, Dr. Doom and Superman. Is your favorite on our list? Listen to find out!

Back into the Sierra Foothills catching up with John Lockwood of Enfield Wines, Chris Pittenger of Limerick Lane and Gros Ventre, and Jake Bilbro of Limerick Lane

Update on the Gros Ventre Roundabout by KHOL

Crowfoot The First Nations of the plains were a diverse and powerful collection of Tribes that were often at war with one another. Wars over territory, the best hunting areas, the theft of horses, and many other grievances kept the borders of various nations constantly in flux. One of the most powerful groups were the Blackfoot Confederacy of southern Alberta and northern Montana. The Confederacy was formed by three nations, the Siksika or Blackfoot, Piikani or Piegan, and the Kainai or Blood Nation. The Piegans are further separated into their Canadian and American counterparts with the Northern Piegan or Pikani and the Southern Piegan known as Piikuni. Later, they allied with the Tsuut'ina or Sarcee nation of Alberta, and the Atsina or Gros Ventre's from Montana. Early life on the plains was centred around the bison. European contact across the American West changed the life of the Plains Indian dramatically. As horses and guns made their first appearances in the 17th and 18th centuries, those nations with larger quantities of each could alter the balance of power between tribes. The Blackfoot Confederacy became masters of the horse and gun and used this to control large areas of southern Alberta and northern Montana. Their territory stretched from the North Saskatchewan River to the Yellowstone in Montana. East to west, they occupied areas from the Great Sand Hills in Saskatchewan to the Continental Divide. Their alliance became incredibly powerful, but they were often at war with the First Nations that surrounded their lands. The Blackfeet also controlled the trade of guns to their enemies on the British Columbia side of the Continental Divide.  Back in Episode 53, I shared the stories of David Thompson trading with the Kootenay or Ktunaxa in British Columbia and running for his life when the Piegans discovered he was violating their prohibition of trading guns. You can listen to that story at www.MountainNaturePodcast.com/ep053. Into this landscape was born one of the most influential leaders of the Blackfeet, a man that would later take the name of Crowfoot and who would be one of their greatest leaders at a time when they needed him most. Hugh Dempsey, in his book Crowfoot, offers an intimate glimpse into the world of this amazing leader. The year was 1830. The buffalo were still plentiful on the plains, and while smallpox had decimated the Cree of eastern Saskatchewan, it was still unknown to the Blackfoot Nation. In  a tipi somewhere in the Piegan nation, a Woman known as "Attacked Towards Home", the wife of Piegan warrior "Packs a Knife", gave birth to a healthy little boy they named "Shot Close." In these First Nations, a child may have several names throughout their life as major events prompted a new identity. Shot Close was simply the childhood name of Crowfoot. Names in Blackfoot culture were transient affairs. They changed with maturity, experience, and significant accomplishments. They were family possessions and had value. Great names could only be claimed by someone achieving something worthy of claiming the name. At this time, white men were of little concern to the Confederacy. They avoided the territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, especially since David Thompson had narrowly escaped after trading with the Kootenay on the west side of the Divide. Additionally, a member of Lewis and Clark's expedition had killed a Blackfoot and so this also led them to exclude white men from their territory. At the same time, the Blackfoot did want the guns and horses that trade with the whites provided. And unlike most of the other native groups, the fact that the Blackfoot had plentiful bison meat to trade meant that the whites didn't try to coax them into trapping as had been done to many other nations. Crowfoot's father died when he was still an infant after joining a raid on the Crow Nation of Montana. Crowfoot was raised by his mother and his grandfather, "Scabby Bull." Crowfoot learned the history of his people and the skills needed to be a great warrior. After a long period of mourning, Crowfoot's mother Attacked Towards Home married a Blackfoot known as "Many Names". Crowfoot, his younger brother and grandfather all joined their mother and they left the Piegan to became a part of the Blackfoot Nation. With a new nation, Crowfoot was given a new Blackfoot name, "Bear Ghost." Soon after Crowfoot's family arrived in the Blackfoot camp, the nation was introduced to the ravages of diphtheria. Crowfoot was just 6 years old, and this terrible disease spread from child to child throughout the camp, taking many of the youngest, but somehow Crowfoot and his brother survived. Diptheria was followed by the Blackfoot's first experience with smallpox in 1837. The disease arrived on a steamer owned by the American Fur Company. First, it ravaged the Mandan, almost wiping them out, then it spread to the Assiniboine, and finally to the Blackfoot after a member of the nation was allowed to board the diseased steamer. Smallpox hit the Blackfoot camp in a way never witnessed by them before. Before long, white traders noticed a lack of Blackfoot at Fort McKenzie on the Upper Missouri River. Chief Trader, Alexander Cuthbertson went to look for them. Dempsey shared: "After travelling for a few days, he found a camp of about sixty lodges from the Piegan tribe. There was no sound and as he approached, a horrible stench permeated the air. When he came to the first tipi, he saw the grim results of the white man's disease. 'Hundreds of decaying forms of human beings, horses and dogs lay scattered everywhere among the lodges,' he recorded. 'Two old women, too feeble to travel, were the sole living occupants of the village.'" The Blackfoot had been a proud people who had fought for the right to hunt buffalo for generations. In the course of a single year, some two-thirds of the nation, or six-thousand people, perished from this deadly plague. That's like the population of Calgary dropping from 1.2 million people to just 400,000 people in a single year. For the Blackfoot, it was a population apocalypse from which they never fully recovered. Sure, those that survived and recovered continued on. Somehow the people close to Crowfoot survived, but they were one of few families left directly untouched by this pestilence. In time, as Crowfoot grew into a young man, he was drawn to be a part of a war party heading out to challenge one of their enemies. With this raid, he earned the right to claim a man's name, and he immediately the name of his father: "Packs a Knife". It took him little time to demonstrate his bravery in battle. To the nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy, brave acts were retold around the campfire. Counting coup was one of the greatest signs of bravery in many First Nations. It involved heading out into battle and instead of trying to kill your enemy, you simply try to touch them or their defences and then escape alive. In the case of Crowfoot, the Blackfoot attacked a camp of Crow Indians along the Yellowstone River in Montana. In the camp, they recognized a Piegan tipi by its markings and realized that it had been captured in battle. In Dempsey's account, the Blood Chief leading the raid said: "See that painted lodge? Whoever gets to it and strikes it will be the future leader of his people in hunting and in war." Crowfoot took this challenge to heart and when they attacked, he ran straight towards the camp, straight past numerous Crow warriors who fired at him. One of the balls hit his arm and, despite stumbling, he continued on. He managed to touch the tipi before anyone else, and in doing so, gained great prestige among the warriors. With this achievement, he chose a new name. "Crow Indian's Big Foot", which was later shortened to Crowfoot. This was indeed a great name. Only one man had previously used it. As Dempsey put it: "According to tribal tradition, only one person had previously held this honoured name. He was a relative of Many Names, perhaps an uncle or older brother, who had been a victim of treachery two years before the young Crowfoot was born. The first Crowfoot had been a brave man whose exploits had made him a chief. One day he and his companions in a war party found a camp which recently had been abandoned by the Crows. Prowling into the clearing, the Blackfeet saw a large footprint in the mud near the edge of a stream. Curiously, each of the other Indians placed his own foot within the imprint, but in each case his foot was too small. Then the chief tried. To the amazement and delight of his comrades, his foot fitted perfectly in the large imprint made by the unknown Crow Indian. Because of this incident, he took the name Crow Indian's Big Foot." In 1828 though, as the original Crowfoot travelled to a peace summit with the Shoshone, he was ambushed and killed. His bravery as a man, when coupled with the deceitful way in which he was killed, left a name that could only be claimed by a great man. During his lifetime, Crowfoot was a part of nineteen battles and was wounded 6 different times. He showed his bravery, but more importantly his leadership. To lead raids, you need to muster followers and he always had plenty of men willing to follow him into battle. In one battle, Crowfoot was shot in the back, and while he recovered, it was a wound that stayed with him throughout his life as the ball was never removed. Crowfoot gained a reputation as a formidable warrior. During the 1840's, it seemed that there were enemies in every direction. As Dempsey put it: "To the north were the Crees, to the east the Assiniboins [sic], to the south the Crows, and across the mountains the Kutenais [sic], the Shoshonis, Nez Perces, Flatheads, and the Pend d'Oreilles. Other battles were fought from time to time with the Sioux, Ojibwas, and mixed-blood buffalo hunters." The Blackfoot were wealthy and controlled some of the best Buffalo hunting grounds. They also had access to European trade goods and plenty of horses. The Cree and Assiniboine usually had few horses and the Crow, along with the nations on the far side of the mountains, usually had few guns. Access to both horses and guns made the Blackfoot the most powerful nation on the plains. As missionaries made their way onto the plain, Crowfoot didn't oppose them bringing their message to his people, although he never paid much attention to it. This tolerance for the whites helped to strengthen his reputation with them. He took every person, native or white, at their word. If you are true to your word then you had little to fear from Crowfoot. During the 1850s there were three principal chiefs of the Blackfoot, each with a large number of followers. Crowfoot was led by Three Suns. The others were Old Sun and Old Swan. Time took their toll on these great men and gradually they passed away. As each man's rule ended, they were succeeded by others. First, in 1858, Old Swan died and soon after, Old Sun also passed away. They were both replaced by much more warlike chiefs who saw white traders as enemies. The forts of the prairies began to see more and more attacks from the Blackfoot.  The Chief Factor of Fort Edmonton wrote in 1861: "…the Blackfoot have been un-bearable [sic] for the last 3-years or more, always getting worse and worse destroying our crops, stealing our horses, and doing everything they could to annoy us, in order to provide a quarrel so as to kill us. They now threaten openly to kill whites, half breeds, or Crees wherever they find them and to burn Edmonton Fort…". When Three Suns died, Crowfoot succeeded him. Unlike the two other high chiefs, he had built relationships with the traders and knew that his people needed the trade goods that the whites provided. To Crowfoot, as long as you are true to your word, you had nothing to fear. Crowfoot did not care what colour you were. If you were a benefit to his people, you were a friend. You didn't want to be his enemy. Crowfoot was fearless in battle but wise in his council, and these traits made him beloved by his people and respected by white traders. Crowfoot became so welcome at white trading posts, that he was treated as though he was the principal chief, regardless of his actual rank in the tribal hierarchy. Over time, Crowfoot amassed a large herd of horses, making him a man of means among his people. At the same time, he was a man who was "one of the people". He was generous with his wealth and was always willing to help those in need. This would be critical when smallpox once again visited his people in 1869. In an almost identical story to the outbreak that hit Crowfoot's camp when he was just seven years old, the disease arrived with an American steamer. The boat docked at the mouth of the Milk River and a Piegan crept aboard. As a Montana newspaper wrote: "to purloin a blanket from the couch of one of the smallpox patients, while the steamboat discharged its freight at the mouth of that turbid stream…the dreaded disease broke out among the copper-colored [sic] devils, and spreading like wildfire from tepee to tepee and from camp to camp, has made a great havoc in their strength and numbers - sending them to perdition in quicker time than bullets and bad bread could do the work. " Once again, smallpox ravaged the camps of the Blackfoot. The death toll was unimaginable. As bands split up in a futile attempt to outrun the trail of death that followed them, one after another they fell to the dread disease. Trading forts closed their doors to keep out the pestilence and neighbouring tribes were warned to stay far away lest they be routed as well. The death toll began to wane the following spring and the three tribes of the Confederacy began to tally their losses. Hugh Dempsey described the devastation: "The Piegans, who were the most severely affected, counted more than a thousand dead, the Bloods and Blackfeet over six hundred each, and the tiny tribe of fifty Sarcee lodges was reduced to only twelve." Somehow, Crowfoot once again escaped the disease. But he lost a quarter of his camp. The Blackfoot were never the same. Their undisputed rain on the plains had been dealt a mortal blow. In time, perhaps they could recover, but time was not a luxury they were afforded. The plains were changing, white settlers were moving in and their ability to stem the tide of incursions into their territory were never the same. In the following years, while some Blackfoot continued to wage war on their enemies, Crowfoot tried to remain a largely peaceful man. One of Crowfoot's sons died when out on a raiding party, but his wife Cutting Woman told him that she had met a young man that looked almost just like their lost son. While he was a few years older than their boy, as soon as Crowfoot met him, it was obvious that the similarities were remarkable. Crowfoot had suffered so much loss in his life that he invited the young man named Poundmaker to visit his camp. While Poundmaker was a Cree, he became Crowfoot's adopted son. As was the way on the plains, before long the Blackfoot and the Crees were at war again. Eventually Poundmaker had to return to his people but before he left, Crowfoot gave him horses and gifts, but more importantly, he shared the importance of wisdom. On the plains, so many wars were caused by tempers and emotion when wisdom could have brought peace instead. Crowfoot always seemed able to see beyond the emotion and look towards what was best for his people. In 1867, the nation of Canada was created. Up until this time, the plains had been under the purview of the Hudson's Bay Company whose forts had provided the only semblance of white rule to the west. By 1869, negotiations were in place to turn over these western lands, formerly known as Rupert's Land, to the fledgling nation of Canada. As the fur traders vacated the territory, it left a vacuum in terms of British control over the west. Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and whiskey traders in Montana began to cast envious glances northward. The state had prohibited the sale of alcohol and so, if there was nobody there to patrol Canada's prairies, then they would take advantage of the opportunity. Forts with names like Fort Whoop-Up began to open and sell whiskey to the members of the Blood tribe within who's territory it was built. Now when I say "whiskey", there was a bit of whiskey in those barrels, along with turpentine, strychnine, red ink, and red pepper. Within a short time, the fort had grossed $50,000 and more posts began to open in other areas. Infamous forts like Slide Out, Standoff, and Robber's Roost spread the liquor to Blackfoot country. Along with whiskey, they also offered repeating rifles for trade. As alcohol spread through the camps, fights between both friend and foe broke out. Even Crowfoot was not immune to the draw of whiskey. He visited forts at Blackfoot Crossing as well as Spitzee Post on the banks of the Highwood River. The missionaries that witnessed the illicit whiskey trade urged the fledgling government of Canada to do something…and so they did…they created the Northwest Mounted Police, the pre-cursor of the mighty Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The march west of the Mounties is a story I'll share in another episode, but suffice it to say that the word of these red-coated policeman riding westward travelled far in advance of the columns. When Reverand John McDougall met with Crowfoot to tell him of the impending arrival of the Mounties, he assured them that, although they would be building forts in Blackfoot territory, the Mounties were here to protect them from the whiskey. He also assured Crowfoot that white-man's justice would treat all people fairly, regardless of whether they were Indian or white. Crowfoot replied: "my brother, your words make me glad.  I listen to them not only with my ears, but with my heart also.  In the coming of the long knives, with their fire water and their quick-shooting guns, we are weak, and our people have been woefully slain and impoverished.  You say this will be stopped.  We're glad to have it stopped.  We want peace.  What you tell us about this strong power which will govern with good law and treat the Indians the same as the white man makes us glad to hear.  My brother, I believe you, and am thankful." Crowfoot had earned enough respect that the other chiefs supported his words. The first red-coats arrived in the fall of 1874. Colonel James Macleod was in charge and Crowfoot developed a strong relationship with him. Prior to meeting Macleod, Crowfoot sent his foster brother, Three Bulls to test the truth of Rev. MacDougall that the policemen were here to help them. Three Bulls told Macleod of the whiskey trading post at Pine Coulee, and then led the police to the fort. The traders were arrested and from the first time Crowfoot met Macleod, he saw in him an ally. It was at this time that Crowfoot the warrior had to transition to Crowfoot the politician and peacemaker. The presence of the police meant that the debauchery associated with the whiskey trade quickly waned and the powerful Blackfoot began to grow in numbers again. Instead of whiskey, valuable buffalo hides were traded for horses and within two years the Blackfoot had purchased more than 2,000. Yet all was not rosy on the horizon. Crowfoot saw that with the police, more white men were moving onto their lands and, at the same time, the buffalo were becoming more and more scarce. When Crowfoot spoke to Rev. MacDougall, he was told that First Nations in other parts of the country had treaties that set down the rights of the tribes and the lands that belonged to them. Crowfoot could not understand the implications of what a treaty might mean, but he did appreciate the fact that some form of accommodation would be made for them. He could also see how rapidly things were changing and that the lives of the Blackfoot would never be as they once were. Next week, I'll look at how the expansion of white men and police, along with the loss of the buffalo, forever changed the Blackfoot Nation. Next up…tracking track bears Trains and Bruins For decades, train tracks have been graveyards for black and grizzly bears, as well as many hoofed animals unlucky enough to be struck while wandering the tracks. The area surrounding train tracks offers a number of benefits for both bruin and herbivore alike. Train tracks mean openings in the forest canopy. Openings in the canopy mean opportunities for plants to grow. New growth attracts animals looking for forage. In the winter, train tracks offer easier travel corridors than walking through deep snow. For bears, the area around tracks can be very attractive. In July, the open area allows buffaloberry bushes to thrive. These bushes are one of the key summer foods for black and grizzly bears. In the spring, dandelion blooms offer a similar enticement. Trains all too regularly cost animals travelling them their lives. Their carcasses serve to attract other bears, coyotes, and other carnivores looking for an easy meal - unless they too don't recognize the danger that the tracks represent. Canada's railroads have a single track running coast to coast with periodic sidings to allow opposing trains to pass. The longer a train sits on a siding, the more opportunity there is for grain to leak out of hopper cars. For bears, after meat, seeds and nuts represent the next most nutritious food source. This makes grain spills an irresistible attraction for bears and serves to attract bears back to the tracks after experiencing these easy calories. Back in Episode 19, I mentioned a study that has shown that as much as 110 tonnes of grain is spilled along the tracks within Banff and Yoho National Parks annually. That's enough to supply the annual caloric needs of 50 grizzly bears. With numbers like this, it's easy to see that bears would find the tracks to be an enticing place to explore. In Episode 46, I described a study that showed that while not all of our bears regularly use the tracks, those that do, like the Boss, use them a lot. Researchers satellite collared 21 grizzlies and they found that only 4 were regular users of the tracks, but they popped by the rail line on 20% of the days they were being monitored. They also found that bears used the tracks much more in the fall. During autumn, 85% of scat samples near tracks contained grain as compared to only 14% in the summer and 17% in the spring. This likely reflects the seasonal availability of other food options at other times of the years. Now, just because scat samples don't include grain, the bears that left these samples were still hanging out near to the tracks. They may have been looking for elk and moose carcasses or feeding on dandelions and buffaloberries that are also plentiful near the railroad right-of-way. In fact, this same study found that scat found near tracks had a much higher likelihood of containing the hair of elk, deer, or moose. Banff's most famous bear, Bear 122, also known as "The Boss", is the current king of the tracks. His reign was almost cut short in 2010 when he was clipped by a passing freight train and somehow survived. The Boss is one of the heaviest users of the major transportation corridors in the park, spending much of his time around the train tracks and the Trans-Canada Highway - often munching on dandelions along the highway fences in the spring. He also spends time wandering near Highway 93S, through Kootenay National Park. This is another high-risk place to hang out, especially with cars exceeding the speed limits in some cases by as much as 30 or 40 km/h, all in a race to get to cottage country in the Columbia Valley. More than 1,200 large animals have been the victim of train impacts in Banff and Yoho since 1982, and since 1998 they have represented the number one cause of death for grizzlies in both parks. In just one 80 day stretch over the winter of 2015-16, 26 animals were killed along the tracks through Banff. This included 14 white-tail deer, six elk, two moose and four mule deer. During the last week of May of this year, two black bears died in separate incidents within Banff National Park. Parks is also looking into particularly dangerous spots for bears along the tracks. Morant's Curve, near Lake Louise, along with Five Mile Bridge west of Banff are two of the worst. Five Mile Hill represents a straight stretch after a series of curves have slowed the trains down. Here they begin to accelerate and this has resulted in at least 7 deaths. Three more grizzlies have died on Morant's Curve. Parks is building additional travel corridors away from the tracks to encourage bears near these danger zones to take advantage of other convenient trails. The trails at Five Mile are finished and work is currently underway at Morant's Curve. Fire is another tool that Parks staff will take advantage of this year, with an 800 ha burn planned for the Baker Creek area this fall. Numerous studies have shown that forest fire sites provide excellent forage for bears and the open canopy makes for a perfect home for buffaloberry bushes. Canadian Pacific Railway has been working very closely with Parks Canada in terms of redesigning the areas adjacent to tracks in order to give animals more options to escape when they see an oncoming train. Hopefully, with this ongoing collaborative effort, we will see the numbers of fatal strikes of bears and other animals begin to diminish over the next decade. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Next week, I'll carry on with the story of Crowfoot and his people as the Blackfoot Nation signs Treaty Seven is settled onto reserves and struggles with the disappearing buffalo. As always, be sure to check out the show notes at www.MountainNature.com/ep062 for links to additional stories, as well as for a convenient way to subscribe to the show so that you never miss an episode. If you'd like to reach out to me directly, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron, or drop me a line at info@wardcameron.com. Don't forget that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for step-on, hiking, photography, and nature guides in the mountain west. Why not give us a call for your next mountain experience. We'd love to hear from you…and with that said, the sun's out and it's time to go hiking! I'll talk to you next week.

David Thompson heads west Last week, I ended the story of David Thompson with his leaving the employment of the Hudson's Bay Company, and joining the rival Northwest Company. As Thompson began his journey to the west, he described the landscape of the great plains: "The climate is good, the winters about five months, the summers are warm, and autumn has many fine days. The soil is rich and deep, and [there is] much vegetation mould from the annual decay of the leaves of the forest trees, and the grass of the meadows: civilization will no doubt extend over these low hills; they are well adapted for raising of cattle; and when the wolves are destroyed, also for sheep; and agriculture will succeed to a pastoral life, so far as markets can be formed in the country, but no further; for Canada is too distant and difficult of access. The only port open to them is York Factory on the dismal shores of Hudson's Bay, open four months in the year. And to go to York Factory and return will require all that part of the summer which cannot be spared: but when a civilized population shall cover the countries, means will be found to make its produce find a market." Thompson, better than most, recognized the vastness of the Canadian wilderness. In time, the prairies would become settled, and many more ports would become open to Canadian products. As he continued his journey west, he described the tranquillity of the Bow River. "The Bow River flows through the most pleasant of the plains, and is the great resort of the bison and the red deer (or elk), and also of the natives; the soil appears good along its wholes extent, but for the most part is bare of woods, and those that remain are fast diminishing by fire." He continued: "The rivers that roll through this immense unbroken body of land of plains and forests, are so beautifully distributed; all their banks so admirably adjusted to the volumes of water that flow between them, that neither the heaviest rains nor the melting of the snows of the mountains inundate the adjacent country. In all seasons, the Indians, the bisons, and deer repose on their banks in perfect security. Whoever calmly views the admirable formation and distribution of the rivers so wonderfully conducted to their several seas; must confess the whole to have been traced by the forger of the Great Supreme Artificer for the most benevolent purposes, both to his creature man, and the numerous animals he has made, none of whom can exist without water." Thompson was a deeply religious man and his journal is filled with his reflections on how the landscape was shaped by both the powers of nature, but also from the hand of God. Thompson was also charged with looking for fossils of dinosaurs and mammoths during his travels. While he succeeded in many things, this was one area where he failed. He writes: "Not a single fossil bone of an Elephant, Rhinocerous, or Mammoth has been found in all Canada nor about any of the Great Lakes, and valley of the [St.] Lawrence, and north-ward to the Arctic Circle, although almost all these countries are sufficiently known; nor has the travels of Captain Franklin in the Arctic Regions been attended with any success on this subject. On the west side of the Rocky Mountains, I passed six years of discovery, yet not a vestige that these great Animals once existed in those parts could be found. " Despite his not finding any fossil evidence, the first nations believed that the mountains were still the home of mammoths. Thompson described the first nations of the plains: "THE Indians of the Plains are of various Tribes and of several languages which have no affinity with each other. The Stone Indians are a large tribe of the Sieux Nation, and speak a dialect, differing little from the Sieux tongue, the softest and most pleasing to the ear of all the indian languages. They have always been, and are, in strict alliance with the Nahathaways, and their hunting grounds are on the left bank of the Saskatchewan and eastward and southward to the upper part of the Red River, and their number 400 Tents each containing about eight souls, in all 3200" Thompson was referring to the Stoney and Cree Indians. The Stoney's were part of the Sioux nation but had become separated from their eastern relatives and had since allied with the Cree. He continued: "THE Peeagans, with the tribes of the Blood, and Blackfeet Indians, who all speak the same language, are the most powerful of the western and northern plains, and by right of conquest have their west boundary to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, southward to the north branches of the Missisourie, eastward for about three hundred miles from the Mountains and northward to the upper part of the Saskatchewan. Other tribes of their allies also at times hunt on part of the above, and a great extent of the Plains, and these great Plains place them under different circumstances, and give them peculiar traits of character from those that hunt in the forests. These latter live a peaceable life, with hard labor, to procure provisions and clothing for their families, in summer they make use of canoes, and in winter haul on sleds all they have, in their frequent removals from place to place. On the other hand the Indians of the Plains make no use of canoes, frequently stay many days in a place, and when they remove have horses and dogs, both in summer and winter to carry their baggage and provisions: they have no hard labor, but have powerful enemies which keep them constantly on the watch and are never secure but in large camps" The Peagan, Blood and Blackfeet were all closely allied and over time, they displaced the Kootenays, Salish, and the Snake Indians. Thompson also mentions the Fall Indians, today known as the Gros Ventre, which were driven out of the area by the Stoney and Cree Indians. Thompson described the war chief of the Peigan, a solid man by the name of Kootenae Appe or Kootenay Man: "his stature was six feet six inches, tall and erect, he appeared to be of Bone and Sinew with no more flesh, than absolutely required; his countenance manly, but not stern, his features prominent, nose somewhat aquiline, his manners kind and mild; his word was sacred, he was both loved and respected, and his people often wished him to take a more active part in their affairs but he confined himself to War, and the care of the camp in which he was, which was generally of fifty to one hundred tents, generally a full day’s march nearer to the Snake Indians than any other camp… Kootanae Appe by his five wives had twenty-two sons and four daughters. His grown-up sons were as tall as himself and the others promised the same. He was friendly to the White Men, and in his speeches reminded his people of the great benefit of [which] the Traders were to them, and that it was by their means they had so many useful articles, and guns for hunting, and to conquer their enemies. " Thompson continues: "He had acquired his present station and influence from his conduct in war. He was utterly averse to small parties, except for horse stealing, which too often brought great hardships and loss of life. He seldom took the field with less than two hundred warriors but frequently with many more; his policy was to get as many of the allies to join him as possible, by which all might have a share of the honour and plunder, and thus avoid those jealousies and envyings so common amongst the Chiefs. He praised every Chief that in the least deserved it, but never appeared to regard fame as worth his notice yet always took care to deserve it, for all his expeditions were successful." Unlike so many white men that saw only savages when dealing with first nations, Thompson could see the entire cross-section of society within Peigan villages: "The character of all these people appear[s] to be brave, steady and deliberate, but on becoming acquainted with them there is no want of individual character, and almost every character in civilized society can be traced among them, from the gravity of a judge to a merry jester, and from open hearted generosity to the avaricious miser. This last character is more detested by them, than by us, from their precarious manner of life, requiring assistance from each other, and their general character. Especially in provisions is great attention [paid] to those that are unfortunate in the chace, and the tent of a sick man is well supplied." Thompson described the various languages of the Plains Indians: "The Languages of this continent on the east and north sides of the Mountains as compared with those of Europe may be classed as resembling in utterance. The Sieux and Stone Indian to the Italian. The Nahathaway and Chipaway with their dialects to the French. The Peeagan with their allies, the Blood and Black feet Indians to the English, and the northern people, the Dinnae, or Chepawyans to the German." The Peigan patrolled the mountain front in order to keep their enemies, the Kootenay, today known as the Ktunaxa, from crossing the mountains and trading with the white men for guns. Fortunately, in 1807, the expedition of Lewis and Clark was travelling along the Missouri River and Lewis shot two Peigan Indians. The Peigan abandoned the mountains in order to head south to seek revenge. Thompson and his men took advantage of this temporary absence. After leaving Rocky Mountain House on May 10, Thompson, along with his wife Charlotte Small, and their children made their way to the pass. While Finan McDonald took a canoe with supplies, Thompson road along the north side of the river, reaching Kootenay Plain, at the south end of Abraham Lake on June 3, and just 3 days later they were at the forks of the North Saskatchewan River near present-day Saskatchewan River Crossing. Here he had to head inland towards the pass. As Thompson wrote: "the murder of two Peagan Indians by Captain Lewis of the United States, drew the Peagans to the Mississouri to revenge their deaths; and thus gave me an opportunity to cross the Mountains by the defiles of the Saskatchewan River, which led to the head waters of the Columbia River, and we there builded Log Houses, and strongly stockaded it on three sides, the other side resting on the steep bank of the River: the Logs of the House, and the Stockades, Bastions &c were of a peculiar kind of a heavy resinous Fir, of a rough black bark. It was clean grown to about twenty feet, when it threw off a head of long rude branches, with a long narrow leaf for a Fir, which was annually shed, and became from green to a red color. The Stockades were all ball proof, as well as the Logs of the Houses." Thompson was forced to abandon the canoes just a few miles beyond the forks and they had to continue on horses, packing their supplies with them. They reached the pass on June 25, and descended the Blaeberry River to its confluence with the Columbia River. The previous season, Thompson had sent Jaco Finlay across the pass and he had built a canoe and left it for Thompson. Unfortunately, it had been destroyed by the winter and Thompson and his men spent several days building new canoes and repacking their supplies. With the canoes built and loaded, they continued down the Columbia River to present day Windermere Lake. He paddled just a few kilometres south of the lake and built Kootenae House, the first trading post on the Columbia River. He spent the rest of the season here trading with the Kootenay Indians and capturing wild horses which were plentiful in the region. Thompson knew there would be consequences for violating the Piegan blockade and sure enough, in mid-November, two Peigans crossed the pass, as he put it: "to see how I was situated; I showed the strength of the Stockades, and Bastions, and told them I know you are come as Spies, and intend to destroy us, but many of you will die before you do so; go back to your countrymen and tell them so; which they did, and we remained quiet for the winter; I knew the danger of the place we were in, but could not help it: As soon as the Mountains were passable I sent off the Clerk and Men with the Furrs collected, among which were one hundred of the Mountain Goat Skins with their long silky hair, of a foot in length of a white color, tinged at the lower end with a very light shade of yellow. Some of the ignorant self sufficient partners of the Company ridiculed such an article for the London Market; there they went and sold at first sight for a guinea a skin, and half as much more for another Lot, but there were no more. These same partners then wrote to me to procure as many as possible, I returned for answer, the hunting of the goat was both dangerous and laborious, and for their ignorant ridicule I would send no more, and I kept my word. I had now to prepare for a more serious visit from the Peagans who had met in council, and it was determined to send forty men, under a secondary Chief to destroy the trading Post, and us with it, they came and pitched their Tents close before the Gate, which was well barred. I had six men with me, and ten guns, well loaded, the House was perforated with large augur holes, as well as the Bastions, thus they remained for three weeks without daring to attack us. We had a small stock of dried provisions which we made go as far as possible; they thought to make us suffer for want of water as the bank we were on was about 20 feet high and very steep, but at night, by a strong cord we quietly and gently let down two brass Kettles each holding four Gallons, and drew them up full; which was enough for us: They were at a loss what to do, for Kootanae Appee the War Chief, had publickly told the Chief of this party, (which was formed against his advice) to remember he had Men confided to his care, whom he must bring back, that he was sent to destroy the Enemies not to lose his Men: Finding us always on the watch, they did not think proper to risque their lives, when at the end of three weeks they suddenly decamped; I thought it a ruse de guerre, I afterwards learned that some of them hunting saw some Kootanaes who were also hunting, and as what was done was an act of aggression, something like an act of War; they decamped to cross the mountains to join their own Tribe while all was well with them: the return of this party without success occasioned a strong sensation among the Peeagans. The Civil Chief harangued them, and gave his advice to form a strong war party under Kootanae Appee the War Chief and directly to crush the white Men and the Natives on the west side of the Mountains, before they became well armed, They have always been our slaves (Prisoners) and now they will pretend to equal us; no, we must not suffer this, we must at once crush them. We know them to be desperate Men, and we must destroy them, before they become too powerful for us; the War Chief coolly observed I shall lead the battle according to the will of the Tribe, but we cannot smoke to the Great Spirit for success, as we usually do, it is now about ten winters since we made peace with them, they have tented and hunted with us, and because they have guns and iron headed Arrows, we must break our word of peace with them: We are now called upon to go to war with a people better armed than ourselves; be it so, let the Warriors get ready; in ten nights I will call on them. The old, and the intelligent Men, severely blamed the speech of the Civil Chief, they remarked, “ the older he gets, the less sense [he possesses].” On the ninth night the War Chief made a short speech, to have each man to take full ten days of dried provisions, for we shall soon leave the country of the Bison, after which we must not fire a shot, or we shall be discovered: On the tenth night he made his final speech, and exhorting the Warriors and their Chiefs to have their Arms in good order, and not forget dried provisions, he named a place; there I shall be the morrow evening, and those who now march with me, there I shall wait for you five nights, and then march to cross the Mountains; at the end of this time about three hundred Warriors under three Chiefs assembled; and took their route across the Mountains by the Stag River, and by the defiles of another River of the same name, came on the Columbia, about full twenty miles from me; as usual, by another pass of the Mountains, they sent two Men to see the strength of the House; I showed them all round the place, and they staid that night. I plainly saw that a War Party was again formed, to be better conducted than the last; and I prepared Presents to avert it: the next morning two Kootanae Men arrived, their eyes glared on the Peagans like Tigers, this was most fortunate; I told them to sit down and smoke which they did; I then called the two Peagans out, and enquired of them which way they intended to return. They pointed to the northward. I told them to go to Kootanae Appee and his War Party, who were only a days journey from us, and delivering to them the Presents I had made up, to be off directly, as I could not protect them, for you know you are on these lands as Enemies; the Presents were six feet of Tobacco to the Chief, to be smoked among them, three feet with a fine pipe of red porphyry and an ornamented Pipe Stem; eighteen inches to each of the three Chiefs, and a small piece to each of themselves, and telling them they had no right to be in the Kootanae Country: to haste away; for the Kootanaes would soon be here, and they will fight for their trading Post: In all that regarded the Peeagans I chanced to be right, it was all guess work. Intimately acquainted with the Indians, the Country and the Seasons, I argued and acted on probabilities; I was afterwards informed that the two Peeagans went direct to the camp of the War Party, delivered the Presents and the Message and sat down, upon which the War Chief exclaimed, what can we do with this man, our women cannot mend a pair of shoes, but he sees them, alluding to my Astronomical Observations; then in a thoughful mood he laid the pipe and stem, with the several pieces of Tobacco on the ground, and said, what is to be done with these, if we proceed, nothing of what is before us can be accepted; the eldest of [the] three Chiefs, wistfully eyeing the Tobacco, of which they had none; at length he said, You all know me, who I am, and what I am; I have attacked Tents, my knife could cut through them, and our enemies had no defence against us, and I am ready to do so again, but to go and fight against Logs of Wood, that a Ball cannot go through, and with people we cannot see and with whom we are at peace, is what I am averse to, I go no further. He then cut the end of the Tobacco, filled the red pipe, fitted the stem, and handed it to Kootanae Appee, saying it was not you that brought us here, but the foolish Sakatow (Civil Chief) who, himself never goes to War; they all smoked, took the Tobacco, and returned, very much to the satisfaction of Kootanae Appe my steady friend; thus by the mercy of good Providence I averted this danger; The next spring, Thompson and his family returned over Howse Pass, but had to eat several of their horses when they couldn't find any wildlife to shoot for provisions. After crossing the Pass, Thompson and some of his men continued all the way to Rainy Lake, Ontario where they delivered the furs they had collected and then stocked up on trade goods. Thompson was also ordered to bring 2 kegs of alcohol with him, but he had always forbidden the trade of whiskey in his presence. He wrote: "[We] embarked the Furrs, and with five men set off for the Rainy River House and arrived July 22, where we landed our cargo of Furrs, then made up an assortment of Goods, for two Canoes, each carrying twenty pieces of ninety pounds weight; among which I was obliged to take two Kegs of Alcohol, over ruled by my Partners (Mess” Dond McTavish and Jo McDonald [of] Gart[h]) for I had made it a law to myself, that no alcohol should pass the Mountains in my company, and thus be clear of the sad sight of drunkeness, and it’s many evils: but these gentlemen insisted upon alcohol being the most profitable article that could be taken for the indian trade. In this I knew they had miscalculated; accordingly when we came to the defiles of the Mountains, I placed the two Kegs of Alcohol on a vicious horse; and by noon the Kegs were empty, and in pieces, the Horse rubbing his load against the Rocks to get rid of it; I wrote to my partners what I had done; and that I would do the same to every Keg of Alcohol, and for the next six years I had charge of the furr trade on the west side of the Mountains, no further attempt was made to introduce spirituous Liquors." Thompson returned to Kootenai House and in the winter of 1808-09, he stayed through the winter. The snow also brought safety from the Peigans as the snow was too deep for a war party to cross the Pass in winter. After briefly crossing Howse Pass again in the spring of 1809, Thompson returned to the west side of the mountains and headed south towards Idaho and built Kullyspell House near present-day Sand Point, where he traded with the Salish, Skeetshoo, and Kootenay Indians in the area. He wrote: "Our arrival rejoiced them very much, for except the four Kootanaes their only arms were a few rude lances, and flint headed Arrows. Good bowmen as they are, these arrow heads broke against the Shield of tough Bison hide, or even against thick leather could do no harm; their only aim was the face: these they were now to exchange for Guns, Ammunition and Iron headed arrows, and thus be on an equality with their enemies, for they were fully their equals in courage: but I informed them, that to procure these advantages they must not pass days and nights in gambling, but be industrious in hunting and working of Beaver and other furrs, all which they promised" He continued: "All those who could procure Guns soon became good shots, which the Peeagan Indians, their enemies in the next battle severely felt; for they are not good shots, except a few; they are accustomed to fire at the Bison on horseback, within a few feet of the animal, it gives them no practice at long shots at small marks. On the contrary, the Indians on the west side of the Mountains are accustomed to fire at the small Antelope at a distance of one hundred and twenty yards, which is a great advantage in battle, where everyone marks out his man." In the fall of 1809, Thompson built a small trading post that he called Saleesh House, near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana. He spent the winter of 1809-10 there and in the spring made several exploratory trips in the area around the post. Over the winter, the hottest trade item had been in weaponry. He writes: "The Saleesh Indians during the winter had traded up-wards of twenty guns from me, with several hundreds of iron arrow heads, with which they thought themselves a fair match for the Peeagan Indians in battle on the Plains." Over the summer, Thompson aided the Salish in a skirmish with the Peigan. Although the battle was pretty much a draw, the change in the balance of power brought on by Thompsons weapons made the Peigan even more determined to punish the traders that crossed the mountains to trade with their enemies. In the summer of 1810, David crossed back into Alberta over Howse Pass for the last time. As he approached the pass, he came across tracks left behind by Peigan scouts that were just a few hours old. They managed to slip through undetected. He travelled all the way to Rainy Lake where he reprovisioned for another trip to the Columbia. He returned to the Saskatchewan River to make his way over Howse Pass. Thompson writes: "The manner of furnishing the Men with Provisions, was by hunting these animals, and bringing their meat by Horses to the Canoes a supply for full three days; when we appointed a place to meet them with a fresh supply; thus the Canoes proceeded to within twenty miles of the east foot of the Mountains; we had given them a full supply for three days, and Mr William Henry, the two Indians and myself proceeded to the foot of the Mountains , where we killed three Red Deer, made a Stage and placed the meat on it in safety to wait the Canoes.  This was on the 13th October 1810, and we expected the Canoes to arrive late on the 16th or early on the 17th at latest, but they did not make their appearance; our oldest Hunter of about forty years of age as usual rose very early in the morning and looking at the Stage of Meat, said to me, I have had bad dreams, this meat will never be eaten, he then saddled his Horse and rode off. Somewhat alarmed at his ominous expression and the non-arrival of the canoes, I told Mr Henry and the Indian to proceed thro’ the Woods down along the River in search of the Canoes, and see what detained them, with positive orders not to fire a shot but in self defence; about eight in the evening they returned, and related, that a few miles below us they had seen a camp of Peeagans on the bank of the River, that a short distance below the camp, they had descended the bank to the River side, and found where the Canoes had been. They had made a low rampart of Stones to defend themselves, and there was blood on the stones; they went below this and fired a shot in hopes of an answer from the Canoes, but it was not returned: I told them they had acted very foolishly, that the Peeagans would be on us very early in the morning, and that we must start at the dawn of day, and ride for our lives; on this we acted the next morning, and rode off, leaving the meat: the country we had to pass over was an open forest, but we had to cross, or ride round so many fallen trees that active Men on foot could easily keep up with us; the Peeagans had very early arrived at the Stage of meat and directly followed the tracks of the Horses, and would in the evening have come up with us, but providentially about one in afternoon snow came on which covered our tracks and retarded them; about an hour after, as they related, they came on three grizled Bears direct on the track (they were smelling the tracks of the Horses) they were fully perswaded that I had placed the Bears there to prevent any further pursuit; nor could any arguments to the contrary make them believe otherwise and this belief was a mercy to us: we rode on through the Woods until it was nearly dark, when we were obliged to stop; we remained quiet awaiting our fortune, when finding all quiet, we made a small fire, and passed the night with some anxiety; my situation precluded sleep, cut off from my men, uncertain where to find them, and equally so of the movements of the Indians, I was at a loss what to do, or which way to proceed; morning came and I had to determine what course to take, after being much perplexed whether I should take to the defiles of the Mountains and see if the Men and Horses were safe that were left there; or try and find my Men and Canoes. I determined upon the latter as of the most importance; on the second day we found them about forty miles below the Indians, at a trading Post lately deserted; here after much consultations, we fully perceived we had no further hopes of passing in safety by the defiles of the Saskatchewan River, and that we must now change our route to the defiles of the Athabasca River which would place us in safety, but would be attended with great inconvenience, fatigue, suffering and privation; but there was no alternative." They reached the Athabasca River on Nov 29. By Dec 4, the winter conditions made it impossible to continue on horseback. Thompson and his men set about the task of making snowshoes and sleds to cross the mountains, as well as log huts for the supplies and a shelter for them stay warm as they prepared for their journey. The temperature dropped to -35 C as the winter set in. He writes: "Our whole attention for the present was turned to hunting and securing provisions; having now made Snow Shoes, and Sleds, on the 30th day of December  we commenced our journey to cross the Mountains and proceeded up the Athabasca River, sometimes on it’s [sic]shoals and ice, and at times through the woods of it’s [sic]banks. The soil was sandy and a Gale of Wind drifted it to lie on the low branched pines, of wretched growth, for Snow does not lie on Sand Hills; On the 31st December we proceeded but slowly and I had to reduce the weight of the Loads of the Dogs to less than two thirds, and make a Log Hoard to secure what we left…" It was the 5th of January 1811 when they began their push for the summit of Athabasca Pass: "by 11 AM set off with eight Sleds, to each two dogs, with goods and Provisions to cross the Mountains, and three Horses to assist us as far as the depth of the Snow will permit. We are now entering the defiles of the Rocky Mountains by the Athabasca River, the woods of Pine are stunted, full of branches to the ground, and the Aspin, Willow &c not much better: strange to say, here is a strong belief that the haunt of the Mammoth, is about this defile, I questioned several, none could positively say, they had seen him, but their belief I found firm and not to be shaken. I remarked to them, that such an enormous heavy Animal must leave indelible marks of his feet, and his feeding. This they all acknowledged, and that they had never seen any marks of him, and therefore could show me none. All I could say did not shake their belief in his existence." By the 10th of January, they were approaching the pass, and warm winds from the Pacific began to moderate the temperatures: He writes: "the view now before us was an ascent of deep snow, in all appearance to the height of land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it was to me a most exhilarating sight, but to my uneducated men a dreadful sight, they had no scientific object in view, their feelings were of the place they were; our guide Thomas...

James Welch, an American of Blackfeet and Gros Ventre heritage, was a novelist, poet, and teacher. He was born on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana and died in 2003. His papers are held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, at Yale University. "Living Distance: The Life and Papers of James Welch," an audio essay prepared by Eric Ward and read by Presca Ahn, explores the writer’s life, his legacy, and his archive.