Ignace shares stories of childhood
(One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was a copy of Jane Fritz’s book, “Legendary Lake Pend Oreille.” In the book, I was reading about the Kalispel Indians when a name appeared that brought back memories of the times Erik Daarstad and I visited the Kalispel Reservation near Cusick and Usk, Washington — that name was Alice Ignace. We were there to interview some of the elders of the tribe. It was on the reservation that we had the opportunity to meet and talk to Alice, a tribal elder. She shared, in her own words, her memories about her early years with her people — the Kalispel or Camas People.)
• Question: Alice, what does it mean to you to be Kalispel?
Alice: I was born a Kalispel and being a Kalispel means a lot to me. There aren’t many real full-blood Kalispel left. A lot of them are part of this tribe, and that tribe, and there are only a few of us that are full blood; I am one of them. I hate to see us vanish. Frances (Cullooyah) is trying to teach our young people the value of the land and whatever is in here. I teach my daughter traditional dancing and she dances all over.
• Question: What was Kalispel life like in the early days?
Alice: Well I could go as far as Laclede. They used to camp around there, fishing, hunting. They’d go to Priest Lake and stay there for a month. When I was small, my folks used to go and stay there for at least two months, hunting and fishing. They would dry their meat, the women tanned the hides, and they dried the whitefish for winter supply. Sometimes they would take some of it, go to Hope, Idaho, and trade for blankets and clothes. I never, was allowed to go so all I know is that they used to trade.
When the first snow fell, we’d move back and my folks had wagons loaded with all the good stuff they made. The people that didn’t have it (food), we shared. Several families would go together for the winter food and they shared with everybody in the village. Some of them would go up to Baldy and some go to Priest Lake for fish. They fish, they gather whitefish, dry them, and then put them in the sacks and bring them home. Then if they pick berries, they dry the berries and when they are going to eat them, they put them in hot water and boil it. Taste like fresh.
• Question: How did they dry the berries?
Alice: They have racks to put the berries on. Sun dry it. They do that. Every night they cover it and in the morning when the sun shines it’s (cover) lifted. Sun dried. Dry a whole bunch of them and would come back with just a little bit. They say one cup could feed a bunch of people. They picked thimbleberries, currants, and wild currants.
• Question: Alice, do you recall going to the place, what did you see?
Alice: I don’t know how old I was when we were going but there were no people there. When we used to go in there, there was only one store. Go and camp and there was nobody around. Now when you go over there-there are three stores and it is congested.
• Question: How would you live when you were there for months?
Alice: We lived in a teepee, a big teepee, and a pit outside for the cook. We dry the meat; go to the store to trade for coffee, tea, sugar, and flour. They make their own bread over an open fire — called cowboy bread, they know how to do it. They cooked everything. We used to trade for blankets.
My family used to trap for fur, muskrat, beaver, otter, whatever; and they used to trade for blankets. We had a lot of blankets and canvas for they made their own teepees. They were survivors, my great grandfather was Chief John Big Smoke, and he had to do these things to provide for his people because he was the leader. The whole family worked together to make sure nobody starved. That’s how I learned how to share, to respect other people.
Today, I am thankful that I do not have to live like that anymore. I always wish my family were still alive to enjoy what I have.
To be continued.