Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-03-11
BY MRS. C. W. BUELL.


the Salish tribe, and probably thu
oldest person in the western states
Louise Finley, as she is known by
her white friends, was 108 years
old last Aug. IS. Although she is
totally blind and lies on her bed al
day and smokes her old stone pipe
full of tobacco and kinnikinic, still
to me she is a magician, for with
a few, slow, graceful gestures, she
takes me back nearly a hundred years
The blue smoke of her pipe is but a
veil that drifts before the face Of the
past, and through it seem to see a
tepee made of deer skins. Tall pines
whisper overhead and a bluejay lights
on branch and peers down and adds
his jeering tones to the cry of new
born child in the tepee.
"Aieel" says an old woman, who is
holding the infant.
1T Is a very small child and half
white. No good will come to our camp
from herl"
But the young mother snatched the
child and hushed her. She was re-
membering the young French trapper,
Baptiste Triqui, who had stayed only
too short time at the camp She never
saw him again, nor did the child ever
see her father
The tribe moves its camp with the
seasons Their short, wiry ponies are
loaded with pack saddles made Of deer
and elk horns tied together with thongs
of buckskin. The men wear breech-
clouts and leggings and deer skin. The
women wear garments Of the same
material fringed and worked IN In
tricate designs of stained porcupine
quilts.
Stays in Fathers Tepee
The child's mother stays in her
fathers tepee and works with the
women. When the men bring in deer
she fills a bucksktn bag with water
and sets 1t in q hole in the ground
and puts heated rocks into the water.
The pieces of meat are then added,
and covering the hole with moss and
heated rocks, she leaves the meat to
cook.
When the grandfather brings the
elk antlers home, the women sharpen
a long, flat prong for an ak or wedge.
A stone hammer is made by tying a
rock to a stout stick. The Sharpened
elk horn is placed against tree and
pounded with the hammer. This proc
ess goes on round and round the trunk
till the tree falls. OF course, very large
trees cannot be cut In this manner.
The sun is God. the Giver Of All.
Many mysterious rites are practiced
to insure His favor. When Louise lift
ed her hands I seemed to see an an
Gent medicine man standing inside q
circle of anxious faces. A long stone
pipe is In his hands. 1t Is filled and
he Is pointing 1t at the sun. Amid q
chanting Of the tribe, the medicine
man invokes the sun god to melt the
SHOWS, to send the chinook winds so
that his people might not suffer with
the cold. Finally the pipe IS smoked
and the tribe dances all that day and
night.
Every seventh day the members Of
the tribe stayed in their tents. No
one was allowed outside. A guard was
stationed at each end Of the village
with a whip to use on anyone who
stayed out more than few minutes.
No one seems to know why this custom
was practiced, but Is was strictly en-
forced at that time.
White Men Buy Wives
One day a party Of six white men
came to the village Frenchmen they
were, 'sessamy," the Salish called
them. With the chief they bargained
for wives. They stayed week and were
gone. These were the first white men |
Ill6 lllbiG klIl lldA CNCA oNNAAs
One memorable day when the village !
was camped at En- Tia Ae Cmeaning |
Against the Mountain" Mis- |
soula) the people were startled and |
curious to see a wagon drawn BY oxen |
with two men walking beside 1t. The |
men were of perhaps middle age and
wore black gowns tucked UP under a /
belt. They stopped and were APP |
preached by the chief, who held out /
T. - IN
made the sign Of the cross and sat /
and smoked with the chief.
From their wagon they took small
gifts of beads and cloth. They also
took an ak and soon were chopping at
a log for fire. This greatly interested
the people, who had never seen any
thing of the kind. They called one Of
the men Lassias and the other was
the priest, Father DeSmet.
They stayed with the Salish people,
learning their language and saying
mass every day under shelter Of
boughs. The Indians were glad to en-
brace the new faith and took the white
men with them on their buffalo hunt.
That fall the tribe moved to the
Bitter Root for the winter encamp-
ment.
The priest began baptizing and nam
ing the children. One little girl about
III VENTS VI 0HC AAC NeAAACQ LOuAoCs
Soon he began insisting that the
people be married according to the
custom Of his church. Then the tribe
muttered against him. Their marriage
dance was sacred to them When a
couple were to be married the tribe
formed a circle around them. The pair
In the center went through a dance
to the beat Of tom-toms and chanting
Then the circle danced round them
and finally they were taken into the
circle and the dance went on. Now he
wanted to change all that and the
older men met IN a council and dis
cugsed whether or not the men should
be banished from their village.
Accept White Mems Medicine
People began to fall sick, and In
spite Of the medicine men, many Of
hem died. Father DeSmet and Lassias
had some medicines and knew how TO
sare for the stricken ones. Finally, the
I'D men were convinced that the white
mans medicine was stronger than
theirs and they we're allowed TO re-