i) THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
% Stories and Legends of the Northwest



Long ago tepees were made out of buffalo or deer hides. Today
many tepees are made out of canvas.

When Indian women make a tepee, they do a lot of cutting and
sewing. The women will cut the material and sew it together piece by
piece.


Kootenai tepees today are not painted as they were years ago.

The Kootenai Indians painted animals and birds on their
tepees. The kind of animal painted on a tepee meant the owner’s spirit
was like that particular animal. It may have been a bear, deer, buffalo,
or many other animals or birds.

Some tepees were painted with a ripple design, a symbol of
green grass.

Other designs were mainly for decorative purposes, more
or less to beautify the tepee.


Lodge pole pine trees are used for tepee poles. The branches are
cut off and the bark is peeled from the trees. The poles should be long
and straight. Some large tepees use as many as fifteen poles.

Four poles are tied together near the top. They are set up to form
a pyramid, then three poles are added to each side with two in the
front for the doorway. When all poles are put in place, the frame will
begin to form the shape of a tepee. Two poles are always used to open
and close the flaps at the top of the tepee.


When the sewing is done, the women will check the shape and
size of the tepee. The back of the tepee should be a little shorter than
the front. A round hole is cut in the front to be used as a door. The tepee
will have two flaps in the front, at the top of the tepee. These flaps will
be used to keep wind and rain out. They can be closed when the wea-
ther is bad. When a fire is built inside the tepee, the flaps can be
opened to let the smoke out.


Above the door opening there are two rows of holes. Wooden
pegs are put through these holes to close the tepee.

The poles are pushed outward to make the tepee snug. After this
is done, wooden stakes are pounded through canvas loops at the bot-
tom of the tepee. These stakes hold the tepee to the ground so it won't
tip over. Finally, the door opening is covered with a flap.

Tepee making takes a lot of hard work and skill. A tight fitting
tepee will not leak and looks nice. Indian women are proud when they
make a nice looking tepee.


TEPEE
MAKING

The Indian







The canvas is tied to a single pole. This pole is then placed in the
rear of the frame. The canvas is unfolded and wrapped around the frame.
When all the poles are covered, the tepee will be loose.


This work has not as yet been published and is afforded all
protections under the U.S. Copyright Law (PLL. 94-553) effective
January 1, 1978.

Copyright in the published edition will be held by and in the name of the
Kootenai Cultural Committee of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
of the Flathead Reservation.

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transcribed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the author agency identified below.

The project presented or reported herein was performed
pursuant to a grant from the National Institute of Education,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. However, the
opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the
position or policy of the National Institute of Education,

and no official endorsement by the National Institute of
Education should be inferred.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
710 S.W. Second Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97204


THE INDIAN READING SERIES
Stories and Legends of the Northwest

Tepee Making
Series IV

Developed by the Kootenai Cultural Committee
of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

Cleo Kenmille, Coordinator
Glen James

Verna James, Illustrator
Madeline Couture

Sarah Bufton

Sophie Matt

Sarah Eneas

Patricia Hewankorn

Joseph Antiste, Consultant
Agnes Kenmille, Consultant
Debbie Joseph, Illustrator
Howard Kallowat, Jr., I/lustrator

Illustrated by Verna James and Howard Kallowatt, Jr.

Joseph Coburn, Director
Pacific Northwest Indian Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory



THE INDIAN READING SERIES: Stories and Legends of the
Northwest is a collection of authentic material cooperatively devel-
oped by Indian people from twelve reservations. Development ac-
tivities are guided by a Policy Board which represents the Indian
community of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Indian
Reading and Language Development Program Policy Board mem-
bers are:

* Warren Clements — Warm Springs
Chairman

+ Clement Azure — Devils Lake Sioux

+ Walter Moffett — Nez Perce

+ Emmett Oliver — Quinault

+ Bob Parsley — Chippewa

+ Lloyd Smith — Warm Springs

+ Max Snow

+ Jeanne Thomas — Yakima


Booklets available in the Level IV sequence are listed below. Numbers refer to the Planned Sequence of use
in the Teacher’s Manual. Materials developed by these tribes and others in the Northwest are included in
the Levels I, II and III sequences.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Warm Springs Animal Stories
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

Snail Women at Sq*a’le

The Suquamish Tribe of the Port Madison
Reservation

Blue Jay — Star Child/Basket Woman
Muckleshoot Tribe

Assiniboine Woman Making Grease
Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation
Coyote

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

6. How the Summer Season Came

7.

Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Belknap
Reservation
Little Weasel’s Dream

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

8. Fort Hall Stories

9.

10.

ll.

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

The Bear Tepee

Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Sioux Stories and Legends

Sioux Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation
Kootenai Stories

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

12.

13.

14,

15.

16.

Chief Mountain’s Medicine
Gros Ventre Tribe from the Fort Belknap
Reservation

Coyote the Trickster
Burns Paiute Reservation

Running Free
Shoalwater Bay

Salish Coyote Stories
Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

Coyote and the Cowboys
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

17. Napi’s Journey

18.

19.

Blackfeet Tribe

Warm Springs Stories

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

Tepee Making

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

20. Baskets and Canoes

21.

Skokomish Tribe

Warrior People
Blackfeet Tribe