June 6 - Blackfeet Reservation

Browning, Montana
by Marie Heffernan

Today I woke up to a rainy morning.  I had woken up a bit late, but Michele was really nice about waking me up and asking if I needed more sleep.  I didn't, I got up, changed and had breakfast with the rest of the group.  Since I had previously been doing outdoor work, I had no idea what would be in store for me today.  At first, I was assigned to share my computer skills with Mike LaFramboise to help with his Blackfeet Language App.  But when I went down to BCC, I couldn't find him. So I went to help Smokey Henrikson and and Valerie at the maintenance office.  I helped reorganize and clean up the catalogues and the shelves they were on in the office.

I ate lunch with Smokey and got to know about him throughout our break.  It was really nice to speak to him.  He talked about growing up, and switching schools in high school.  He'd flip-flop between Browning and Cutbank, which is about 30 miles away, just off the reservation.  Whenever he got tired of one school, he would switch to the other. 

He talked about the sports in Browning and how basketball and cross country are really popular.  Smokey had been a star long distance runner in school at Cutbank, but when he came to Browning, the coach gave them a running assignment and said he was locking the gym at 6:00 pm, regardless of whether they were back or not.  The first couple of days Smokey had to wait until the next school day to get his clothes from the gym.  To help Smokey improve, one of his friends told him to chase horses with him over acres of land.  Smokey thought he was crazy at first but he did try it and ended up improving, though he could never actually grab a horse tail like his friend could.  Smokey said that's how the Indians got their food before bows and arrows and buffalo jumps were thought of.  The Indians would literally outrun their meal. 

Buffalo Jump

This evening, we barbecued with Brother Ray, one of the Cristian Brothers from the De La Salle school in Browning.  There is a large Catholic influence on the reservation due to the missionaries that came here in the late 1800s.  They came to spread Catholicism  and of course to take away the traditions of the Indians.  It was just another way the government tried to wipe out the Indians.  The missionary got Indian children in their school by saying they couldn't get their food ration unless they went there.  They also took children by force from their parents.  They weren't allowed to speak Indian at the school and physically punished for doing so.  Though the missionaries closed in 1930s, there is still quite a large population of Catholics on the reservation. 

After dinner we got to take a look at the church on the Christian Brothers' ranch.  It was small, and beautiful, with stained glass windows, wooden pews, and paintings of the stations of the cross.  We also saw the rubble from the original church and a lovely view of Two Medicine River.  Overall it was a really nice day and I was glad to talk with new people and to keep learning so many new things about life on the reservation. 

Marie Heffernan