Life on the Prairie

Elizabeth 

Middle waters child,

Taught by the Nuns and Black Robes,

Still true to her own. 

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Child of the prairie,
Taught by earth, wind, buffalo,
Proud Osage woman.

 

The short story, "Elizabeth's Journey," received second place at the first 2014 Astra Festival of Arts' contest in Independence, Kansas.

 

 

Please note this blog posts the first and third weeks of each month.

Prairie Girls

Elizabeth

I am a ten-year- old Osage Indian girl. Our people are the people of the Middle Waters. We believe there must be a naming ceremony for a child to become a member of the tribe. Hoo-tha`-to-me, which means Good Eagle Woman, is the name I received in my naming ceremony. I left my father, mother and younger brother to attend the boarding school at Osage Mission. The Black Robes (Catholic Priests) at the school called me Elizabeth.

The elders of our tribe petitioned the government in Washington to send Black Robes to teach us the ways of the white settlers. Some of the rituals of the Black Robes appealed to those of our people. Our tribe’s elders said if our people and the people called Heavy Eyebrows  (white men) were to live in peace, we had to learn all their ways. It took bravery to leave my family and tribe. I will tell you more next time.

 

Osage Artifacts

The region of the state where I live is rich with Native American artifacts. Nearly fifty years ago a reservoir on the Elk River was constructed to help control flooding. Huge areas of fertile land and places where bands of Osage Indians travelled and camped were covered by the lake. Construction crews uncovered examples of tribal life during their work on the dam. Four different bands of the Osage tribe hunted, camped, and left remnants of their lives in this area.

Archeologists and anthropologists uncovered relics and examples of tribal life during major excavations conducted here. My family lamented the loss of river bottom land. I wonder how much missed information about Osage life rests at the bottom of the lake today. While engineers claimed the reservoir would not flood in 100 years, I have witnessed three such floods in the last 40 years making retrieval of objects more difficult if they have moved with the flood waters.

Louisiana Territory

 

The Louisiana Territory

When early frontiersmen moved past the Appalachian Mountains, the westward movement rapidly reached the Mississippi River. St. Louis soon became the “gateway” to the West. Trappers and mountain men reported tales about their travels throughout the Rocky Mountains and the resources found there. The Lewis and Clark Expedition commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson returned with artifacts, information about Native American tribes and specimens of plant life found in the recent acquisition of the Louisiana Territory.

Reports filtered back over the years about the Native Americans who peopled the region. The reception among the tribes was often friendly, but the white encroachment of land and decimation of the buffalo herds encouraged hostility against the white men’s expansion.

The following sites provide more information about this area:
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase
www.americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm
www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-stlouis.html
www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark.