Idaho


Winning Poster by Ron Abraham - Kootenai Tribe of Idaho


AMERICAN

INDIAN

HERITAGE

MONTH

~IDAHO~

November 2004

 

KNITLA’NAM (The Way One Lives)

This is a camp near one of the many rivers surrounding Kootenai habitat. A woman is finishing a hide that she will use to make clothing. Two men brag about the adventure of the hunt. The meat produced from the hunt is drying on pole racks. A sweat lodge near the river is being readied by two people. The sturgion nosed canoes are unique to the Ktunaxa (kootenai) tribes.
This is the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho as it would have been 200 year ago.

In the top left hand side of the picture is an overlay of the current and the historic boundaries that were home to the Kootenai people. To this day the handful of huckleberries is a favorite of the people. Intermingling in the picture are a few of the animals that the tribe uses for food and clothing.

The shield of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho is interpreted as;
•          The bottom half of the shield has three moons representing a former chief, Chief Three Moons,
•          The top right has the state of Idaho , wrapped in a red ribbon with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho written on it,
•          The left half shows an empty arrow quiver representing the non-treaty tribe, behind that is the unsigned treaty. Another shield is shown representing perpetuity.
•          The seven feathers represent the seven bands of the Kootenai Nation, The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, The Lower Kootenai Band in Creston, B.C., The St. Mary’s Band in Cranbrook B.C., The Columbia Lake Band in Windermere B.C., The Sushwap Band in Invermere B.C., The Tobacco Plains Band in Grasmere B.C., and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe in Elmo, Mont.

My name is Ron Abraham, I am a member of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho .  I was seven years old when I was inspired by my father, Abe Abraham’s artistic abilities. My mother Louise encouraged my artistic potential by supplying me with paper, pencils, and paint. Even with limited art instruction I achieved an award  as “Artist of the Month” by a local Art Club. I favor portraits and landscapes and I immensely enjoy drawing and painting as a hobby.

 

Back of Poster

Kootenai elders have passed down the history of creation and the beginning of time, much of it uniquely Kootenai and so sacred that it cannot be shared with outsiders. It can be told, however, that the Kootenai people were created by Quilxka Nupika, the Supreme Being, and placed on earth to keep the Creator-Spirit’s Covenant. The Covenant says: “I have created you Kootenai people to look after this beautiful land, to honor and guard and celebrate my creation here in this place. As long as you do that, this land will meet all your needs. Everything necessary for you and your children to live and be happy forever is here, as long as you keep this Covenant with me.”
For thousands and tens of thousands of years, the Covenant guided the Kootenais. They lived in peace throughout the Kootenai Aboriginal Territory and life was good. Then 500 to 600 years ago, one of their people had a vision that strangers with pale skin, blue eyes and yellow hair would arrive. The strangers will be too many, too powerful and too destructive to fight against. The warning spread through the Kootenai Nation. The first strangers arrived to trade furs, and then the Blackrobes came with a Bible talking of a new powerful God.
     In 1855, the United States sent representatives to make a treaty with all Tribes in the Northwest. Tribal representatives met in Hellgate, Montana but were told that the government wanted to take the Aboriginal Territory and put the Tribe on a reservation.
No Kootenai ever signed the treaty. They kept the Covenant. In 1860, the International Boundary Commission came to survey the United States-Canadian border. The Bonners Ferry Kootenai took the men and their supplies across the Kootenai River, sharing food and showing them safe trails to follow. In return, as one Kootenai said,”We helped them and then they drew a line through the middle of our house and said we couldn’t cross it.” That line is referred to the U.S.-Canadian border.
     Because of that border and the epidemics which killed so many Tribal Members, the Kootenai Nation was reduced to seven communities – five in Canada and two in the U.S. In 1889, Major Ronan came and looked at all the places the Kootenais lived along the river. He promised that those lands would always belong to the Tribe but strangers kept coming with guns and taking the land. Then the Cavalry came to herd the Tribe onto a reservation. Major Ronan did not understand the Covenant. The Blackrobes tried to persuade the Kootenais that their religion was the only true one and ours came from the devil. It was a difficult time.
     No matter how hard they struggled, the Kootenais kept losing their lands. From the beginning of time, the Kootenais had respected each other and everything in His creation. Now they encountered people who didn’t seem to respect anything but money and the power money could buy. Strange, terrible diseases were killing Tribal members. First small pox, then measles, diphtheria, tuberculosis and alcohol. Then the State of Idaho revoked Tribal rights to fish and hunt on aboriginal lands. This action was similar to the killing of the buffalo, the most important source of food, clothing and shelter materials to the Plains Indians. Without the resources to “live off the land” the Kootenai people would have to leave their country or become extinct.
     In the 1930’s the Government granted Tribal allotments. Few in the Tribe ever received an allotment. In 1960, the Government awarded the Kootenais $425,000 for loss of aboriginal territories, but the money came with strings attached and the struggle to survive in their homeland went on. On September 20, 1974, following years of hardships and the loss of their aboriginal lands, the 67 remaining Kootenais declared war on the United States. Although it was a peaceful war, the publicity got the bureaucrat’s attention and the Kootenais were finally deeded 12.5 acres and things began to go better for the Tribe.
     On December 1, 1986, the first major step in the Kootenais economic development came into being – the Kootenai River Inn. The Inn is wholly owned by the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho. We are very proud of it.
     The Tribal Elders are helping to teach us the skills and traditions of our ancestors and many of us speak our Kootenai Language. Our Tribal Customs and Culture are being preserved for future generations.
During all those terrible years, the Kootenais never lost sight of their original purpose – the Covenant – to be the guardians of the land forever. They continue to work to that purpose.