When Everybody Called Me Gabe-bines,
"Forever-Flying-Bird":

Teachings from Paul Buffalo

I remember Mr. Graves, Pete Graves.⁽¹⁾ I remember about 1918, when Peter Graves was in the Indian Office at Onigum, over by Walker.⁽²⁾ And I remember that Pete Graves left for Red Lake. Somehow I helped him move his stuff to the boat. I knew Pete in the Indian office there. There was an Indian Agency there at Onigum and I was going to school there.

I said, "What happened, Pete? Are you leaving us?"

"Oh," he said, "I'm moving to Red Lake."

New Ojibway Indian Agency at Leech Lake, 1906.

Photograph Collection 1906
Identifiers. E97.7L p7
Accession Number: YR1910.22 Negative Number: 47908

So he moved to Red Lake. I figured at the time that there was some sort of set-up for him at Red Lake. I was a pretty young fellow at the time, so I don’t remember too much about the particulars. And from that time on I heard some Indians say, "Pete Graves came along and helped these Indians. He directed them."

Peter Graves, Red Lake Band of Chippewas Tribal Chief, 1950. Photograph Collection 1950   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. E97.1G p2 Negative no. 12258

As far back as the beginning, the Mississippi and Lake Superior Indians⁽⁴⁾ were going along good with their councils.⁽⁵⁾ And each chief worked together with the others on that Minnesota Chippewas Council.⁽⁶⁾ And in each area where they lived people had requests; they had different problems, in each and every one of those areas, and they all worked together in a big Council to sort out the problems.

But at the time Pete Graves left Onigum, Red Lake wanted to withdraw from the Minnesota Chippewas to run their own government, because it was so hard for them to come into our big Council meetings. And it was so hard for the rest of us to council up there. The transportation those days was hard. It was hard to get there. It took time. So I guess Red Lake decided, "Sure; we’ll run our own affairs." So they shot the proposition out into and through Washington, D.C., and it was approved.

That’s how Red Lake got to set up their reservation before the Reorganization set in.⁽⁷⁾ The government let them keep their own reservation. Red Lake had smart men taking over their reservation. They were smart Indians to run their own self‑government.⁽⁸⁾ They had a reservation of their own, and they were more advanced, and they had a good government school. And they had a sisters' school.⁽⁹⁾ I think they were getting along good at that time.

Government Indian School, Red Lake, ca. 1908. Photographer: Arthur A. Richardson Photograph Collection, Postcard, ca. 1908   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location No. E97.7R r10 Negative No. 58531

Students, teachers and projector, Red Lake school, ca. 1904. Photograph Collection, ca. 1904   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location No. L4 p43 Negative No. 57077 AV1984.177.6

Roman Catholic Church and part of school, Red Lake, ca. 1910. Photograph Collection, ca.1900   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location No. Collection I.65.10 Negative No. AV1992.43.16

Powwow at Red Lake Reservation, 1949. Photograph Collection,07/04/1949   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location No. Collection E97.37 p15 Negative No. 37752

I never heard a claim against Red Lake for splitting off. And I never heard Red Lake claim anything against this Mississippi group. I think Red Lake did well. They had a good reservation. It was solid. We go and visit them at times. During powwows I hear them talk. And we sometimes went to the sister's school, and all that. They accepted us when we went to school up there in our times. I went to the sisters’ school up there from 1914‑1915, for two winters.⁽¹²⁾ Then I went later to Onigum Indian School, where I met Pete Graves. We didn't have any trouble up north. We didn't have any trouble at Red Lake. And Red Lakers didn't have any trouble with us; that I remember. We always played as a friend with the Red Lakers.

State fishery, Red Lake, ca. 1915.

Industry. Food processing. Meat, fish and poultry. Fish.
Indians. Ojibway.
Red Lake Indian Reservation (Minn.).
Photograph Collection ca. 1915
Identifiers. HD7.52 r58
Accession Number: YR1936.5607

I think they did pretty good to get their own mill and fishery. They got it just about the right time too, about 1918. And they all had jobs. They were more advanced than we were because they had good men as their leaders, and they followed their leaders. By the leaders I mean the ones with education. And they had good Councils. “The Red Lake Indian Council,“ they called it.⁽¹³⁾ With those good councils, the U.S. Congress could work. And in that Red Lake Reservation Council they had very smart men, like Pete Graves. They understood the people.

That's the way the Minnesota Chippewas Council split.

John Smith and Charlie Wakefield were the leaders for this area at that time. That was John S. Smith; that's the younger one. Of course they passed on now; they died long ago. They all died long since. Smith and Wakefield were there in 1919, 1918, 1920s or somewhere in there, in the 1920s. I know it was when Knutson was first on as a Representative; that's the way we pick the dates up better. Harold Knutson was on as a Representative at that time.⁽¹⁴⁾ They put up a big powwow and Harold Knutson came in and visited us, and ate amongst the Indians.

Adoption of Congressman Knutson by the Chippewas, ca. 1920. Photograph Collection, Postcard ca. 1920   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. E97.36 r67

Adoption of Mrs. McConville into the tribe, White Earth Indian Reservation, 1924. Subjects:  "Father Aloysius Hermanutz, O.S.B., Mrs. McConville, and Joseph Morrison" [sic] Photograph Collection 7/14/1924 Subject:  White Earth Indian Reservation   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. E97.1 r141 Negative no. 6786

Bishop Francis J. Schenk being adopted into tribe, Red Lake, ca. 1954 Photograph Collection ca. 1954 Subject:  White Earth Indian Reservation   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. AV1989.213.8 Negative no. B1.4 r39

Louis Lerman with Senator Hubert H. Humphrey on the day Louis was adopted into the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, 1962. Subjects:  "Louis Edward Lerman and Hubert H. Humphrey" [sic] Photograph Collection 1962 Subject:  White Earth Indian Reservation   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. AV1979.96.11 Negative no. por 28185 p1

And in that area -- the Onigum area -- I think it was Cloud who was their leader. I think it was Cloud, Chief Cloud, or something like that.⁽¹⁶⁾ And there were a couple, three, other men with him as a secretary. I know one of the secretaries who was working in the Indian office over there.

We didn't organize like Red Lake because, well, our leaders felt that Red Lake had a big lake. And they felt that White Earth and this area had iron ore rights. White Earth was different, too, again, with their rights.⁽¹⁷⁾ We still had claims on the iron ore and other mineral rights. But Red Lake had smart men because they said, "I think this will be a good place for summer resorts and vacationers. We have fish, we have hunting -- hunting rights and everything. And by being our own reservation we could exercise those hunting rights."

In this area, the Mississippi area, we had the mineral rights. That's including Mississippi and Leech Lake Indians altogether. And we have Leech Lake; yea.⁽¹⁸⁾ I heard some Leech Lake Indians say one time, "We have lots here; there's a big area here." The time Rogers was in office at Walker I heard that we had a lot of hunting grounds here before the Forestry came in. I think it was 1920s, or something back like that, when we had a session with the Forestry Division. The Forestry Division wanted to take over and re‑graze this area and make a betterment of this forestry area.⁽¹⁹⁾ They wanted to re‑graze the forestry. They said, "We'll re‑forestry that area and we'll give you jobs. A lot of the Indians will be working there."

Well, we do work there. Indians are cutting timber and all that.

The Government said, "We have jobs for redeveloping the forestry to improve the timber, plant trees, and re‑graze the forests. We’ll have better conservation with the Forestry Division. We’ll conserve the timber, game, and wildlife."

That sounded good. So that's why we held back. The Forestry wanted to take over. They wanted to put in a Forestry Division at Leech Lake. And after we took the Forestry Division into the area the Forestry got a hold of that land. Then, afterward, it became known that the Forestry Division wanted to buy that land. About the 1930s the Division of Forestry shoved a dollar and a quarter an acre onto the owners of these Indian lands! I didn't like to sell my interest, but I ended up with a sixty dollar check for one place anyway. All along the line the Forestry took over. They’d first get a hold of the land, and then they’d buy it.

Oh, this country was a great thing to live in in them days! Everybody was happy all the time, even though hardships set in here and there. That was something, and I often think of that. Days go by when I want to see that. Then fall comes. Hunting begins. That was fun. And the good Indian hunter used to make out very well.

Then the white hunters came in. They wanted to learn that Indian hunting stuff. Some of them don't know the country. We had a chance to guide, to make a few dollars from them. And we did. Sure we did. They had it to spend! And it's a great sport this guiding, as a working guide. But pretty soon the whites know all about it; they know these tricks. And then they quit hiring us to guide. It didn't take long 'cause they wrote up what we learned them in their books. Now, they know what to do. But in those early days, the whites didn't know the angles.

Hunters with deer in Jessie Lake area, north of Deer River, ca. 1915. Left to right: Edward Martinson, Magnus Westerlund, Jonas Westerlund, Erick Westerlund, and Sam Torgelson Photograph Collection 1920-1925   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. GV3.31 p99 Negative no. 12974

And we were happy to meet people that live a different life than we did, even considering some of these hunters who come up here all look the same to me. Same with the whites: the Indians look the same to them. Many of us talked to the hunters and the settlers; many of us talked to them. But a lot of our Indians didn't talk much; they didn't say much. They would like to talk, but they didn't know much English. They were friends, a lot of them, to the hunters, but they didn't say much. But they thought the white man was all right -- judging by his action, by working with them.

Ya. It's a great sport, hunting.

So you can see I lived a life. I tried everything. I tried everything that was fun. It was a great sport. And I was glad that I knew enough to talk a little English. I'm glad I was willing to talk with the whites anytime they asked me a question. I'd answer them as much as I know how. That way they felt trusted. They felt trusted when they could hear somebody talking English. And they felt for us too.

When the white people first came in this country, they felt for the Indians -- I know, I guided on Six Mile Lake for one concern from Minneapolis. They felt for the Indians at that time, and I know very well they still do. They still do. We were glad to have them visit us for that short time. And they always said they'll come back. Many of them came back to us. Many, many came back to us and asked us, "Where's John? Where's Joe? Where's Paul?"

Oh, we had fun! We had friends!

So that's what makes for betterment. They get a cleaner idea of this area by coming amongst us up here. They spoke well about the Indians. And then the Sportsman Clubs came in, and they had a lot to say about the area; they had a lot to say for us up here. They helped to protect the wildlife of this area. They held up the wildlife for a long, long time. Then the Isaac Walton League and all them set in, and then the State took over some parts of the wildlife division.

It's all right that way. We're getting quite a few whites coming in now. The whites like that hunting life. I don't blame them; they enjoy that life. We still have friends come up here from way down below.

And they spend a lot of money to get up here; they spend a lot of money just for a piece of meat. They spend a lot of money for wild game and to enjoy that outing. Most of them just want the outing; they want the atmosphere. Oh, that was fun! It's a sport life, friendly -- and you laugh.

The white hunters get the Indians to show them the country. We just put them on the stand and drive deer to them. When the deer comes through some of them white guys’ed get shook‑ing up, and the Indian looks at them. The Indian sees how he's well‑shook‑ing.

White guys get buck fever.

"He misses!”

“He was looking at the deer, but he wasn't looking at the gun!"

Ah, gee!

But now quite a few of the white hunters are trained to be a sharp shot. And they're very often good when they come up here. That, that's the trouble. They're sharp shots. And the whites have scopes and high powered guns. The game has a poor chance. You can't miss when you get the deer in those scopes that they use. They think they have to use something like that to get that deer. That’s what they’re here for, to get “their deer.” And they want to say they shot it themselves.

But through a scope!!??

It's a great country, ya, but in the brush country up here I don't believe that a scope or special sight amounts to anything. Special gun sights and scopes are for a long distance. A lot of them whites surprised me how they could shoot through those scopes, and in the brush country yet.

I know an experienced hunter, well experienced, a sharp shot. He says, “be sure to look right down the barrel and you'll be all right.”

I tried that too. It works.

"Just look right down the barrel. You'll get 'em. Look right along the barrel, and you got 'em."

After the white boys leave after deer hunting we sit around and talk. We tell one another about the group we were with. We tell them, "Boy could that one guy really shoot. He really knows his gun."

“And they all want to buy new guns,” somebody’ll say.

That's a big thing to be a sharp shot. Well, those that come up here are trained. They're trained to know how to handle a gun. They were very careful when they came up here. Those that came up for the first time I think were very careful with their guns. That is the main thing. And they generally got “their” deer.

Gee!

The old camps and hunting trips were great things. But now we have everything modern; everything. And now-a-days, when hunting season is on, you want to be sure to buy a license because that way you’ll know nobody will bother us when we have a license. Hunting’s still a great thing, if you can get out there. I know lots of friends that I don't think would be able to get out in the woods again, now-a-days. They're pretty old and I don't think I'll ever see them hunt again. But sometimes I may see them try -- you don't know about that.

I also worked with the whites in the woods as a lumberman.⁽²⁰⁾ I worked with them. And they always learned me, helped me, showed me, how to do what I was supposed to do. I felt happy to know my job, and I like timberwork, sawmill work, and other stuff like that. When I went into timberwork, saw‑lumber work, I knew -- pred’ner knew -- what the grade of lumber is . . . practically. I worked on the trimmer in the mill. I worked on the timber cutting; I know how the timber's supposed to be cut, in my time. Anyhow, adding to that, my foreman said that everything was OK. By proving that I was OK, I was always given a job. So that shows maybe my job was done well. I got along very good working in the woods and in the mill.

Working on a job like that is the same as with any education. You see, you have to learn, then you have to practice what you are learnt to work on. And when you practice what you are learnt to work on then you'll become better at it. If you’re in the professional class you’ll become interested and it becomes so natural to you that you could answer most any request of your work at any time.

If we're not educated, in the area we live in, I don't think we're recognized. The Local Council wants to work for better education, I think. Education's coming in and the educated know more about some things, but they’re often without experience. One thing we got to have is experience with education. If we go along with the educated‑without‑experience, with those who don't know what's happening in the back of them,⁽²¹⁾ I think it's going to be rough. As I said before, I would have had a little more education, but I had trouble with my eyes, and defect‑tion with a hand. So, I was a very slow learned student. What I knew, what I learnt, I learnt mostly by my experience, through what I went through and what I saw. I often wish I knew more, but I think I knew enough to get by working with both the whites and the Indians.

And when the working gets rough you have to use your own head and study out how you’re going to do it. It isn't easy. There's working that you have to go through which has rough spots. But if you try to do the the best, and use your own judgment, you'll do well at the times it gets rough. And when it gets rough I never believed that I should throw it up. No, I don't believe you should say right away, "Let it go; I want to try another job." First, try hard to make this work. Make it work! When your tools don't work very good, you know where your trouble is. If you've got a dull ax, sharpen it. In my time -- see, I'm speaking about in my time -- that's what we did. Well, that's the same thing now. If something in the machinery, in the implements, doesn't work, then fix it. Now we have new things to work with; if you take care of them, and take care of yourself, I think you're going to like working with them. And if you take care of your equipment it does a better job.

Then there's a time again where everything goes along well, smooth, and then there’ll be breakdowns -- like your machine quits running, like your saws don't work right. You'll have to make them work good; it's easier for your work if you make them work good, and it does a neater job. Your machine, any implement, if it works good, it works on your mind good too and you do a better job. That's in all fields; you have to keep up your machine and your work. Then you'll do a better job.

You know how to do that because you're experienced. It takes time to become experienced, but when you practice your work you become experienced about it. You'll know it's better, and you’ll know it's getting better all the time. Then you also know where the drawback is; and then you'll‑'ve learned.

“Well, I'll do better. I'll improve,” you’ll say.

So that's in life too. Any work that you do, that you'll send out, do it well.

And when a foreman is looking for that kind of a man -- one that knows how to take care of things and one that does his work well -- when a foreman is looking for a man for his division, he wants a man for his purpose, one that knows what he's doing. And it's very seldom you'll find a good man that's interested in that line of work and who also learns and does well, but that's the man they want.

So that's what it's comes to. You have to know how to work by experience. But you have to be read up too. You have to have an education as well.

Group of lumberjacks posed atop a railroad car with their peavies and cant hooks, unknown location in the Arrowhead Region, ca. 1910.

Creator: White's Portable Gallery

Photograph Collection, Postcard ca. 1910
Location no. HD5.7 r86
Accession Number: AV2005.16.10

Logs decked and loaded with jammers, ca. 1930. Photograph Collection ca 1930   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. YR1942.5986 HD5.31 p59 9049

Interior of portion of the J. Neils sawmill at Cass Lake, ca. 1915. Photograph Collection ca 1915   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no. HD5.5 r49

"What line of work do you do?"

That's the first question the employment people will ask. Well that's a good question, sure. If you can prove yourself, you got a job. In proving yourself they'll ask, "Where did you work?"

They have to know that.

I know why.

They can't put you in a work that you don't know anything about. They're concerned for accidents; that's what they're worried about.

"Do you know something . . .?" That's what I was asked in the lumber camp. "Do you know something about that job?"

"Yes, I've worked on that job."

It didn't take him long to find out if I knew anything about the job, to find my old foreman, to find the mill where I worked. When they found it, the old foreman‑'d say, "Ya, he's all right."

I always got work. Before you get on the job they want to get a right type of a guy, one that's been on that job before. That's what that questionnaire is for. That's the same thing as looking for someone who’s learning from experience.

We're talking about learning from experience. You can understand what I'm driving at. These experienced guys taught the younger class. The younger class then listened and they knew how. And they watched how the experienced class did it. That's the way we learned, in with the leaders of this country. Leaders of our area understood them, the experienced -- the experienced men. And all along the line you have to learn from the experienced. I don't care what kind of a position that you're driving at, if you're experienced -- if you're experienced and if you've tried it -- you’ll have a better chance of making a go of it. And if you see something that's for the better, you try it, and after a while you get somewhere. That's the whole deal.

That’s the way I did it, and in all my time working with whites I never heard anybody say just because I was an Indian they don't want me, they don't want Indians, or "we got white people workin'." I never heard that. When we went to that job the Frontier foreman and the farmer says, "Yes; it's yours, if you wanna work."

So that’s the way I learned it. That's the way I lived. And I think I got along very well with the whites doing it that way. We all got along; Indians and the whites worked together very well. In our area it was good. We worked together in lumber camps and in mills.⁽²²⁾ We had sawmills then -- now they have farms.

Of course, there's a lot of things that we had to understand about farming too. We had to understand how to use a new crop, how to grow it, how we're going to get better with it, how to make it improved. To learn, we asked the farmer, the neighbor, "How do you do it?” He tells us how he raises the crop; he tells us what he does. You do it by taking care of it. That's a big word that he gave us.

And the neighbors had cattle. My folks used to have cattle too. The white neighbors taught us how to use them cattle. They learned us what to do, how to get the cream out of the milk. We were getting somewhere. We enjoyed working together as good neighbors. And we had something to trade -- horses, cows, anything. It was good times and a good life. We were trying to get ahead too, you know, so that way we had enough for a living anyhow.

Families kept getting bigger, including my family. So I left home, went out to do sawmill work. Sawmill work -- I enjoyed that too -- sawmill work. I worked for the J. Neils Lumber Company. That's where I was talking about earlier, the J. Neils Lumber Company.⁽²³⁾ They use us good there.

And then we got into the practice of going to North Dakota.⁽²⁴⁾ There was good money in North Dakota during harvesting time. The Indians all beat it for North Dakota, if they could. They would drop their work and go wherever there was more money, you know. They would go and stay with one threshing outfit for the whole season -- if they could. They figure that they made good money that way. Some of them came back with hundreds of dollars.

Oh, I enjoyed that!

There were no modern hotels; there were no modern places. In my time we had to sleep in the barns. But still, we were healthy. We would get up in morning and have plenty to eat. Some of us would work for different ones. We would talk; and compare. Oh, how these boys enjoyed that. I know they did because I meet a lot of them now and we sit and talk about those times. We enjoyed that! It was a life!

So that's just the way it went, all along the line. But from here on, as I say, you have to have education to go with experience. I think we have to go along with the whites; we have to work together. If you can take one word out of experience and one word out of your better education maybe it'll work good together. With experience and with education I think we can trust things to be better because it's for the better. That's the way it is all along the line.

Then a Reorganization came in to provide a self-governing body for the Indians. That was about 1934, somewhere there in the 30's.⁽²⁵⁾ In the State of Minnesota they used State laws to help set that up. After Reorganization we realized that if we get a good man for our governor, if we get a good man that represents this area, one that votes on our requests, then we'd be better off. Then we started to vote for governors, which some of us did before. After Reorganization we began to vote pretty heavy on the governor. Then we started to pick up again, see? We started to get a little help then because the Indians understood that nobody would make a mis‑fault if they figured we were watchin’ for them when it came time to vote.

Chippewa Indian costumes made by Grand Portage Indians under the Works Progress Administration, ca. 1938. Subject: Ted Murphy Photograph Collection ca. 1938 Location no. E97.22 r2 Negative no. 6662-A

Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.), Company 702, Federal Forest Camp F-13, Pans 18 and 19, Bena, MN, 1939. Photographer: P. M. Mehl New Deal, 1933-1939. Civilian Conservation Corps. Photograph Collection 1950   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location no.E445.2 pan19 Negative no. AV2014.59

Forest fire watch tower, Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, Company 707, Chippewa National Forest, Deer River, ca. 1938. Photograph Collection ca. 1938   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Location noSC4.1 r9 Negative no. AV1984.24.13

Indian Civilian Conservation Corps crew on stockade site at end of first day's work, Grand Portage, 1937. Photographer: Willoughby M. Babcock Photograph Collection 1937   Collections Online Minnesota Historical Society Identifiers: E445.2 r88, YR1937.2738, 52516

We got so that we didn't want to go to the Local Council meetings anymore. Before long the Indians and the other people⁽³¹⁾ were beginning dropping off from the Local Council meetings. They wouldn't agree together at the meetings. And they were a little afraid of one another. So they just stayed calm. Nothing came back to us to show for all the time we spent at the meetings. I heard a lot of them say, "What's the use?" The younger class all said, "Council, Council, Council meetings, that's all we have. If we have to wait for the Council to do something," one guy said, "we're going to be way behind. We're going to be still in the same boat if we don't work on our own and if the Council don't work for us." All these old timers tell me -- some of them -- "If we didn't go ahead and try to build our own homes, we wouldn't have any." And they had pretty good places on account of their own work.

So I asked them, young and old, I said, "Why don't you come to the meetings?"

"It's no use."

"Why?"

"Well, they're educated. The C.A.P. folks are educated now. They're running the government body of the area."

“The development folks -- the Community Action Program people -- are running it.”

"How come?"

"Well, they wanna work with us, they say. But when we say anything, they don't try it. They're C.A.P., the ones talking. The Indians ain't talking. When the Indians try to say something about all these resolutions that we put in . . . like, 'Where are they?' . . . they ask us for still more resolutions. And then they set up a local Business Committee after that. And then when they set up a Business Committee, well the Business Committee was trying to help, but everybody quit going to the Council meetings."

When I asked them why they don't go, "Well," another guy says, "I think we're in deeper."

"What do you mean ‘deeper’?"

”We’ve got lots of projects here, but no real jobs, so we end up deeper in debt than before.”

And he was right. You see, we got housing and a community center and Head Start,⁽³²⁾ and the VISTAS,⁽³³⁾ and all that, but not many real local jobs.⁽³⁴⁾ What he meant was we should have some industry near-by in order to have the younger class able to work here instead of leaving their families such a long ways off to work in Minneapolis and in the mines.⁽³⁵⁾ They have to pay for their transportation. By the time one of our boys buys a new car⁽³⁶⁾ and goes that distance to work and then comes back, maybe his car wears out. And then when it breaks down it costs him that much more to get to work and back. It's pretty hard to work that way. That's the way they feel. What they want, I think, is to work somewhere close by.

The jobs that we have are too far from home. The Indians can't work together in those far-off places. Maybe one guy'll have a job there. And these guys that are working here on this C.A.P. program they work on a small scale on small income. They get along. But those with a big family can't do that. That's where the drawback is. He makes some money here, and that’s OK if they have a small family. With a big family, he can't make enough money here; he has to go out and work somewhere else.

There's not enough people at the Council meetings now to discuss these important points. Our chairman, Wayne Cronin, has the same interest. He's thinking about all these boys that left this area -- all my Indians⁽³⁷⁾ that left this area to get a job, to seek work for higher pay, to take care of the family. And these with a small family and small income are just barely getting by. I don't think we'll get anywhere with this. In this community, we have housing, and the houses have to be paid for. So how are they going to pay for them when they have to go back and forth wearing out their money on transportation? And then they only get certain weeks to work. If they had a program in this area, in the nearby village, if they provided enough to take care of their families, and enough to be able to have protection -- with enforcement of our laws, rules, rulings -- I think it'd be better. But we haven't enough money to circulate locally for betterment. It's a drain on us the way it is here. There's nothing here. We have only low income, and it's very low. People here, they just can't make it.

When they go away to work they leave their poor families here. Everybody wants to be with their family. At times they want to be with their family, to know that they have a family, and to love their family. That's why they get married. And there’s no industry, nothing nearby so they can do that. When the surrounding white people can't hardly make it, how are the Indians going to make it?

There are times that there's timber work here, sure. But the local companies call for only a certain amount of timber. Now people are using other materials -- plastic and all that stuff. We have no chance on the reservation. That's what's slowing down our area. The problem is that the timber demand is gone. The timber lumber, that's gone too.⁽³⁸⁾ They have to have different building material now, material that is fireproof, airproof, stormproof. They need chemical material that'll keep. That slows my area down.

These people -- these boys in this area -- have no production. They have no production because there's nothing to produce. There's no value in the production that we have. There's no value in it. That chemical that they use in those buildings, the best material now, that outvalues our production. The valuation is there in the other products. The big contractors sell better material because they fix better materials. They have chemical products and all that stuff, plastic board, and all that stuff. And they have the factories for those materials far away from here. On this reservation we have nothing. That's what I mean.

There's no industry here; there's nothing nearby; there isn't enough here. Where we have material maybe we could produce stuff too. But we need an outlet first. We don't have any outlet. The factories want to accept materials from other areas, other states' stuff. They accept all the material from the other states and then forget this area. We have iron, we have stone, we may have chemicals here too to work with. But we have to have better education to make use of that. And that education could find a betterment, it could find out how to develop with the industry, with the people, and then maybe we would have more work.

As I hear, when you go south to Minneapolis or anywhere, anyone can go to work because they have big industries. All my Indians who want to go there have a job, but they still are Indians. What I mean is that the Ojibway Indians from this reservation have to go down to the Cities⁽³⁹⁾ and work, but they still live up here on a reservation. We have no industry. When they come up here and try to live in this area in which they build their homes, they stay a few days with their families, and then they say, "No, I can't make it here. I gotta go back." Some of them lock their places because they can't pay for them. They go down there to the Cities or anywhere there's work. Sure they work, but here's them nice homes, here, which they leave. The cost drives them out because it's too much to pay.

There are no industries here where they should be working. Their work is too far from home, and it's too hard to drive back and forth. That drives them out. So I think a lot of them end up having jobs here, and a lot of them would like to live in these houses, but they just can't make the request on their rents and also pay everything else on their living that they need to, because they don't make enough around here.

That's what I was told. They tell me that. I said, "Why do you leave your place? Why do you go?"

They said, “I just can’t meet the rent because I got a family.”

Then I look at myself. "What does it cost me to live?" Then I look at the people that have big families that have to live. They have cars and everything to pay for. And without a car you're just lost, if you have to work.

So that's the whole deal. That's what I think. And I think that if we don't do anything about this, it's going to get worse.

We have mines, sure, but they close down. We have mines, sure, but these mines have people with low income in their area too. They have lots of people in the mines. Some of those mines have shut down, yes. All right, those who used to work in the mines draw their rocking chair money; they draw unemployment. We're right in the middle, this reservation and Itasca county. In Itasca county we have what we call a reservation.

The Cass Lake area has a big reservation too. Cass Lake has a big county, Cass County. What production do they have there? Not much, but they have a lot of taxpayers. That country is sandy. They call it "no production land." It only has forestry and re‑forestation. They recommend re‑forestation. But the only seasons which are productive outside of forestry are the wild rice seasons.

“Well, who's making the money out of the resorts?” you might say. There's no more money in the resorts. There used to be good money in the resorts.⁽⁴⁰⁾ The taxpayers on these resorts are suffering just as bad as the Indians. They're suffering without work. They're spending all the money they make.

There was work here, but they weren't paying enough for supporting the family -- with the prices of food, the gas, the prices of everything going up.⁽⁴¹⁾ In this area everything was going up. It caught up to them. It's just that the resort owners didn't have the finance to keep a‑going when the others are striking for higher wages and everything.

Because we couldn't strike, we couldn't make a move. We had to take what they gave us; that's what I mean. I mean we had no voice. We're not unionized. We're organized all right, some of us, maybe, but we don't work together. If we worked as a group, maybe we'll be recognized

All clubs, all societies, all units, when they work together, they have a voice. They have union men to represent them. We have none to represent us. There just aren't enough of us to go for representation.

Everybody is just kinda hanging back, waiting to see what's going to happen.

"What is next?" they ask.

I think they feel -- the people of this area -- really feel lost, and they don't know where to go.

So I was kind of interested in helping out with this problem.

I became old-aged too,⁽⁴²⁾ but I still worked with them, the RBC.⁽⁴³⁾ When I became old aged I felt that I should keep quiet and let the younger class do it. I'm retired, but they're still asking me, "Don't let us down. Don't let us down. Work with us."

But sometimes I don't know where to work with. I don't know who's going to work with me: the community? The Board of the Reservation governing body? Or which Representatives in Washington? I don't even know my Representatives anymore.

These Business Committees that we have now tried hard to work with the people. They help discuss. I think I trust -- the way I feel now -- I have trust in these Indian Business Committeemen that we have now. I think they're very good men. I think they're doing well.

I was told by some that the Committeemen are not doing right, but I think they're doing right. This talk about the Committeemen is just the smear that they get out in the field. But you get that anywhere in anything. Somebody's always going to say you don't do right.

They invite me to their meetings in Cass Lake, and I heard them discuss their points. They all talk for the area they work for, and I just listened in. Well that's very well because I didn't have a voice there anyway. That was a Reservation Business Committee meeting. They invited me to listen in. There's nothing wrong; there's nothing wrong that I could see. When our local Business Committeemen meet the other RBC officials up there in Cass Lake, they thresh it out pretty good, and they talk it over. What they're all trying to do is to help the people of the area which they represent. They decide by a majority vote. And I trust them. I think there's quite a few who feel the same as I do. And I think these Reservation Business Committeemen are working right, are working for the betterment, because what I see looks good.

Now I look at the other side: I think we're the ones who lack after all in what they are trying to do. They have proved themselves. It took quite a while for them to write up the whole statements of what they have been doing for the last two, three years. And we have the statements they put out to look at. The Reservation Business Committee has statements which tell what they have tried to do to prove themselves. I think they did well by these statements. And it reads that, from now on, the statements will be there on a regular basis. Well, that's a good point, you see. That way the people won't be lost.

I think, I feel, the local community leaders get in a group by themselves. That's what I see now. I told them at the local meeting: "You cannot do anything without talking it over with one another in the Local Council. We got a Board here at the table. This Chairman has a Secretary. If you don't talk, if you don't bring up your problems, bring up something to work with, I don't think the Chairman has the power to go ahead." And when we don't say anything in the local meetings, and vote on things in the meetings -- vote on things for the best for what we discuss for this area, what we bring in to talk about -- I don't think the Reservation Business Committee can do anything because they don't know what we want. They're ready to work if we bring up our problems.

So we have nothing to complain about, no excuse I mean to say, because we have a set-up to help us. The Chairman and the Council want to hear our points and problems, the local problems. They want to hear our feels⁽⁴⁴⁾ about where the problem is. If we don't work on our problem as an individual, if we don't bring things out in the meetings for the best, for the young children, it's going to be pretty hard to make any improvements. It's going to be a downfall. Nobody's going to do anything. They can't. Because if the Chairman goes ahead on his own maybe there isn't enough of them to back him. So, this party, the Chairman, and the Council, they're looking for advice and cooperation. And when you don't go to these council meetings it's going to make a hardship in that area. I know that. That's what the drawback is now. We have nobody to blame but yourself.

I feel that the people want to work together. But when they work too much on one side, relative‑ly -- with their relatives -- then the others'll draw back. The others think that with their relatives included they get too much power in the Local Council. When they get too much power, when they speak about only one side, and when the others can't or won't speak, then the power of the whole group begins to fall off. That's the way they feel about it in this Local Council right now. I heard many people say, "The Council's only for these that work there. It only helps those that's running the Council. It's only for these that's working for that area -- those that got a job in the local C.A.P. program. The C.A.P. people go to that Council and the C.A.P. dictates. They tell them what to do for the program, what to do for this and all that. That dictation covers up our individual problems in our own area. This is a community. But the C.A.P. is altogether different again. We're losing our voice by the power of their education."

So we have only a few going to the Local Council meetings now. Some of the Indians feel, "I don't think there's much use to file claims in the Local Council because those that go to the Council now got a job there, and that job is mainly what they’re concerned about. Most of those that go to the meetings now have a job through the Local Council and they're worried that they might lose that job if they go say anything.” I think they got a job from the Local Council. Then the rest feels that if they file for something -- I think they feel -- "they'll laugh at me." I feel that they think, "He's got a job. That's all right; that's all they're worried about."

But when that job is terminated, they go back and complain to the Local Council. Then they're willing to go along with the Council. But they don't think that way when they have a job. There's only termination eventually in that work, in some parts. I see a lot of them that got terminated in there. They need those jobs, even if they’re low paying jobs. It's the only way for them to live.

That's what I thought.

I know that now the power comes from the group in the area that's getting the benefits. And those that didn't get any benefits of the area, they aren't going to make a move to help the Council. But the beneficiaries of the area think, "Sure, we'll go to those meetings to get some more betterment." But when they don't get the benefits, and when they're sunk in too much debt, they say, "I don't think there'll be any use working with the Local Council."

They feel lost. See? They're sunk in debt. They have too much to pay for. The people of the area got too much to pay for, and they don't make enough to pay for that. So they have to look someplace else for work. Then they just lose faith in their Local Council. They drop out and they say, "Let it go." And they don't want to hear anything more about it.

I see a lot of people and I talked to a lot of our neighbors in the county. The white people say to me, "We're waiting for you guys to do something. If you don't, we’re gotta try to help you. We're paying for everything, for betterment."

And they have a hardship too because there's so many who aren't pushing enough to help themselves and the folks surrounding them. That's the white man's hardship. This Cass Lake area is a big county; that's a big county. Itasca has quite a county also.⁽⁴⁵⁾ Itasca County has a lot of Indians there that need work too, as well as the white people. A lot of the white people are needy too, see?

So how can we work together? How can we work together when the government -- the Federal Government -- is holding one hand and the State is ready to work on the other hand? Sure, we go by the Minnesota State law. But the Federal holds me by the hand. So I'm fenced in. The State is helping, but who pays the State? It's the taxpayers! What are we paying in this area? How much do the Indians pay? Nothing. The locals have to understand that.

And our neighbors, that's white people, have to understand that. They have to work with us; if they're able to work with us. I think it'd be better for the Indians to go to their neighbor as a group to work in the area they live in. I'm talking about the area you live in. You can work with your neighbor if you want to. But you can't work with your neighbor if you're going to stay on the other side of the fence of the reservation, if you're reserved. The whites cannot go in there on the reservation but still they can help you by getting big industries in here. But I go out there and they tell me, "Sure you got a Community Action Program up there. You have money appropriations on the reservation. Why don't you work over there?"

We have problems because there isn't enough money in circulation here to pay for all that. To get enough money there have to be factories. And they have to be here. There has to be general production enough for each and for all. There has to be big plants. There has to be an airbase.⁽⁴⁶⁾ We have to work with foreign countries, working by planes and everything. You have to have building shops -- big shops to work in. We have to have a permanent employer, year-round. We aren't going to make it with this seasonal work. We have too long a winter to make it on seasonal work. If there's going to be year‑round jobs, then we can have something. We could expect something.

Ya.

At the present time the Indians' State Welfare is doing more for us. They're helping us right now because it takes too long to approve anything in the law in the House in Washington. It takes at least six months just to get the ball rolling. The State Welfare stepped in here during the meantime, and now the taxpayers are feeding us. The Welfare is feeing us. The Welfare is taking care of the Indians very well. The Minnesota Department of State Welfare is helping them along by feeding them and helping them to provide through the winter. They even paid for their hospital bills at times.

Why do they have to do that?

Because the Federal Government holds us back; it holds up our land claims and money. They don't let the settlement money go. We hear the whites say, “If you give them that claims money they wouldn't know what to do with it.” Like this guy over here in Deer River. I asked him, “What do you think? Do you think the Indians should get that money now? Do you think they would keep cattle and buy machinery for farming?"

"I don't know," he says. "I don't think they should give them the money. Some of them will make good use of it and some won't. I think they'll be broke within a few days, because they drink. And because they're on tribal land they ain't got enough land to train. This ain't productive land. This sand soil is not enough for production. All that grows is jackpine and quackgrass. See? That's the way it is; at least that's the way I'd feel about it. That's my view of it."

When the fifty‑year period for land claims settlement was up the Federal Indian Bureau said we weren't ready to handle the payment. And in addition they said they were going to close the Indian hospital⁽⁴⁷⁾ because they said the Indians weren't ready to take it over. I didn't favor closing the Indian hospital at that time but I didn't think we were ready to take it over ourselves either. So the State Welfare stepped in.

Now the question is, “Who's going to get that land claims money?” On our old claims, to our old Indians, the Administration said, "When the time comes we'll give you that money."

Huh!

They didn’t.

"Are they now going to give it to somebody else?"

"We won't give it to somebody else,” they told us. “We’ll give it to you. We’ll give it indirectly to you, the individual, as an Indian. See, you get northern Minnesota welfare."

“Then we already got it through there? Did they give our money to the Minnesota Welfare office?”

And now we have to also ask, “What does the Minnesota taxpayer want?” What does the Minnesota Welfare want? They aren't going to give that money away for nothing. What are they going to get out of it? What do we have to put up for the welfare?

What security?

They have to have a little security for the money they're giving out. That's where that lien law comes in. I figure that if we build good houses here and if we don't make a showing to keep them up -- if they don't approve the improvements we're making -- if we don't work with the law enforcement to enforce our laws, if we don't force our Councilmen to make any showing, then gradually the Minnesota Welfare is going to come in and take over. If we fail, they'll take over . . . I think.

They won't help you for nothing. You have to pay for it with some type of security. They have to see something in sight before they'll help you. They'll figure, "Well, he got a big claim, we'll get some more money out of him. When he gets his claim we'll handle it."

The Indian will never get anything out of it.

"You got a big claim. We'll get some more of that big claim,” they'll figure. They'll take a certain percent. I feel as though when the administration went through here they deduced, "We'll administrate your affairs. We'll take a percentage for administering your affairs and so much of a percentage will go into the Tribe."

"We'll sell the land; we'll rent the land. If they can't pay for the prime land somebody else‑'ll buy it." There is so much interest in that money. All kinds of things are in our claim: Iron ore, timber, minerals, and everything. So much of that money from the sale of these things will go into the Tribe and so much will go to those administrating. See? We watch that. I think the Tribal employees get quite a bit, quite an amount of money, and somebody has to pay them, too.

There's money there with Minnesota Welfare. They have all kinds of money. Each and every one in this state pays taxes -- income tax, income tax, income tax. Geeze! . . . the Minnesota Welfare Office people are the richest people there is. They give out a lot of money and that money has to make a showing. They have to indicate what they're spending that money for. They're working for the next generation, so the kids can have some security.

The Indians of this generation have no security. They can't get any money out of the bank when they have no security. You have to have security to get money. You first have to put in something you make before you can get something out. I figure later on in years, boy you watch, the Indians will have enough security to get somewhere. I may not see that, but the times will change. Naturally, it will come to that. We have to have money to own anything. If we don't make money we're going to squack to the Welfare again: "Give us some more money; we're hungry. We have no work. . . .

Pretty soon we'll get off of their money and we'll pay our way as we go. We have to. We can't sit here in the reservation saying, "We don't have to work. We're on Indian land. There's no enforcement. We don't have to pay a damn thing. When winter comes Welfare is gonna feed us."

It won't be easy; no. But gradually, later on, we might feel it, if the government helps us out. Well, if we don't see any improvements, it won't be the government's fault; it won't be the fault of the governing body of the House, and it won't be the Welfare's fault. If we don't improve our situation it will be the fault of the people of this area, because they can't make a showing. We have to make a showing with what we have now. The younger generation has to work with the Indian Bureau and then they'll get whatever they need. If they want an allotment of so much money a month, if they want to borrow money, all right, but they have to make a showing that they got a job to pay for it. If they don't want to work for it and pay for it, why they'll be stuck with what they have right now. If we can't or don't work it is going to weaken us. When you're weakened they have to help you; yes; they have to feed you then . . . but you'll be stuck with what you have.

That's the way it looks like to me now. Certainly, you can't make anybody work if they don't want to work. That's a hard situation. I thought of that and that's why I laid off from the Council. I don't want to get any blame of anything. I don't want to get any blame from my people.

Later on the Indians tried to get me elected again. "You're not in that Council," they said. "You were always for the Indians. You were always for the Indians, the full‑bloods. You are a member of the Mississippi Band. We have too many that were settled in White Earth coming in."⁽⁴⁸⁾

"Well, they're working," I said. "They get together. They work. They use the law. We don't work; we don't have to work, because we're believing the administrators' promise that within a fifty‑year period they were going to settle with us.⁽⁴⁹⁾ But our General Council was asked for a twenty‑year extension on that settlement -- which they agreed to. That fifty‑year treaty settlement was overthrown by a twenty-year extension.

That's something buried in our affairs. And that's causing a hardship right there.

They ask, “Who overthrew that? Did Uncle Sam throw that out? Whose fault is that? There's a big claim there, too. They're throwing that around in the Government. Who did that? Did they do it within the law, or without the law? Did they make their treaties in law? Did they make their resolutions in law? That's both ways of looking for it. You have to be a lawyer to figure that one out."

On the other hand, the whites can do anything by Congress anyway. Nowadays, the Representatives can do anything they want for the white people and the Indians. You know that. You see that they do anything they can do. You bet. They can take over, and that's what will happen if we don't work hard to push our claims through -- I think. That's my view of it.

Education was coming in pretty strong and applying more pressure. Before long we felt that we didn't have a voice. We felt that it was no use working against that. We felt that if we agreed with that guy in office, he'd get too much power. They felt that he'll get a better position and then forget us. He'll get a job. Maybe we don't know what he's doing. Maybe he doesn't work with us. Maybe we didn't know what he was going to do.

It got so that the people didn't trust one another, at that time, because when our local representatives went to Washington they'd come back and nothing happened. Those local representatives would go up there in person.⁽⁵⁰⁾ They were Indians. They would go up there on the money that was donated to them to go. And when they came back, well they'd say, "We are going to get a little payment, probably because some of them go there." So that's what they tell us. They come home, but there's no betterment. So it's a losing thing.

Then we began to wonder why things weren’t getting better. So that's why the representatives that went to Washington said, "Well, it's so hard, so hard to put anything through. There's too many administrations that they have to go through. These people up there in Washington have by-laws they have to go through too. The laws are set up."

"Who's the lawmaker? We want to know.” They asked that in the Local Council.

"That's the lawmaker up there in Washington."

In the Local Council they figured they have to be true Americans to be a lawmaker in our area, to set in with the law. We can't come in to another area, or I can't go to any other country, and make laws. I have to make laws here where I live.

I can't go and make laws in any other state. But the people in other states could hear me though. They could hear me talk about what we do up here. And then if we are doing good, they will try that in their states. And if they're doing good, and I’ve seen that they are doing good, I'm going to come back here and tell our people, "They're doing good in that state."

I'm talking about the people in another state. If I see that they’re doing good I'm going to tell our people, "I think they're doing good down there. They're making a go of it. Why don't we try that?"

See, we have to follow where the best is. If the representatives don't do anything for our area we're lost. Who is going to do anything if they don’t? We have too many channels to go through. And it costs a lot of money to wait, to go through those channels. And we don't have enough money here for that.

Well it happened that way all the time. You know how these civil service people cost money. We have to go through the Indian offices for what we want, and the employees there get their salary for the business they do. That's the same in any Indian office. Then the local Indian office has their men up there in Washington. One reason a lot of people don't like to bother the Indian Bureau is because if they do, there'll be a lot of them without a job.⁽⁵¹⁾ So we have to work with them; we have to have them understand us, and we have to understand them. So it's one way and then the other. So, Civil Service costs money; that's what I mean. The Civil Service Commission doesn't work for nothing.

So now at least we know where we stand: We got Civil Service to pay and we got Education to fight. The workers are educated, and the Civil Service people have rights; they have claims with the schools, the administrating, the needy, the "poorcrat." And the Indians have too many books to go through to figure out what's going on.

A long‑range program is going to call for some improvement. That's part of our long‑range program. Someday the mines are going to give out. The underground mines are all right, but the open-pit mines won't use much labor later on. Labor! opportunity for Jobs! is going to drop later on and the Minnesota Welfare guys will come in. You see, these pellet plants⁽⁵²⁾ aren't going to provide work all the time. They're going to be automatic within a few years, and all this employment's going to drop. They got you on that.

The railroad now has its automatic machinery and doesn't hire as many men as they used to. They used to use hundreds and hundreds of men in my time when I worked in the mine. I worked in the mine one winter. In that crew, on track, just the track gang, I bet there were about fifty or sixty of us right in one bunch. I worked over there in the twenties, 1921. I worked for the Oliver Mining Company, over by Coleraine‑Bovey.

Mining laborers beside Winston-Dear Company train, engine #113, Hibbing, Minnesota, 1900 - 1914. Local Identifier 1900 - 1914 MDL Identifier irr00249 umn01133.tif Mining laborers beside train, Hibbing, Minnesota. 1900 - 1914. Iron Range Research Center, reflections.mndigital.org/catalog/irrc:1662 Accessed 9 Nov. 2018. Rights: Use of this image is governed by U.S. and international copyright law. Please contact the Iron Range Research Center, Chisholm, MN, for more information in regard to this image, online at http://mndiscoverycenter.com/research-center/archive Contact Information: Minnesota Discovery Center, 1005 Discovery Drive, Chisholm, Minnesota 55719 http://mndiscoverycenter.com/research-center

Three hundred type shovel, Philbin Mine, 1921. Photograph Collection 1921 Location no. HD3.13 r5 Negative no. 78593

Miners in the pit of the Tower-Soudan mine, 1890. Photograph Collection 1890 Location no. HD3.5 p11 Negative no. 6010

Miners playing cards in their camp, Coleraine, 1906.

Photograph Collection 1906
Location no. HD3.51 p42
Negative no. 29994

But later on in years everything's going to be automatic. The engine will take over.

Geeze I was surprised about a year and a half or two years ago when I went down to the mines near Bovey.⁽⁵³⁾ I took a ride down there and all them guys were out of work and all those mines were closed -- pred'near all of them were closed; just a few mines were open. And I asked the party I was riding with -- he was a miner -- I said, "How come these mines are closing when there's a big demand for iron ore?"

"No," he said, "Iron ore ain't worth nothing. Labor's too high. Some of these companies are going to foreign countries where the labor's cheap. And they're getting Texas‑Mexico and Mexico labor that's cheaper. Foreign labor's cheaper. The companies can't make it here; the labor's too high. The labor's too high here because the union holds it up too high. The companies can't pay that union now."

That sounds reasonable to me. Their iron ore wasn't worth nothing. I think there'll be so much iron ore that the price will go down. I heard they were getting too much -- or at least enough -- iron ore from across the pond.⁽⁵⁴⁾ They can get all they want from across the pond, and they stockpile lots, too.

But I see they sold a lot of cars. They must use a lot of iron in there. Nobody will drive an older model now; they'll put it off of the road. They want you to get a brand new car, and they cost thousands and thousands of dollars. Geeze, we don't have that kind of money to drive a new car in this part of the country. Nobody has. If they have, why what are they doing way up here in the north in the winter? They must go south to Florida to work during the winter. They aren't lazy.

Oh, you see all kinds of things. Ya, that's my way of life. That's how I got on the Council. But from the time I got off the Council, why I was on my own. I never bothered them after I got off the Council. But I will help if I see they're trying to do anything good. For example, that community hall is good for the kids, the younger generation. Getting the Ball Club Community Hall, I think, was one of the best things to happen around here in a long while. It's helping to put better education in this community, it's helping to improve leaders, and it's helping leaders to make a good showing in the area.

The white people‑'ll be glad that we made something of it locally. In the past, they helped us; they fed us and everything. They fed us; yes; at one time the taxpayer fed us in this community. Boy, those Indians are doing well now with the community development. They're taking care of their own affairs now! Sure, the whites will go along with helping us if they see we're responsible. And we have a school, a good way of life, and a chance for the kids to learn right to home.⁽⁵⁵⁾ We didn't have that chance when I was living at home. Now they have a good chance. They should have good ball players, good football players, good boxers,⁽⁵⁶⁾ good wrestlers. They'll have a good education. They'll probably go away to big cities and work, like they do now.

There is work in the big cities, but they won't stay. That's the trouble. They're hired in other places. The Government tried hard to help people through Relocation; they put them on a relocation plan.⁽⁵⁷⁾ Relocation paid their way to go out there -- to leave the reservation -- told them to learn a job, and got them a job. Those who went stayed there for a year, year‑and‑a‑half or two, and after that they were right back here. That was rough for the Government. That was rough for the workers. That was rough for the man that was expecting them to do better. Those who went came right back here. They got back to the wigwam.

It was like in the olden days when we used to say, "Waah, this boy is going through high school. Well!! He's going through high school? Aah! He'll go out to the world and take care of himself amongst the white people."

"No, he'll come back and stay right with his tribe. He'll be right back in the wigwam again."

That's the way they do it. Lots of them who were well educated came right back. They like this Indian way of life. What's the use of giving them an education if they come right back and there’s no work here? It costs a lot of money for an education. Ya, it costs a lot of money to educate people now. If they give them an education, the way I feel, they should give them a job. I don't see why they want to come back here. There's no industry here. There's no packing plant; there's no big ship‑building yards.

There's no industry to work in like they have in the South. They have better locations and better weather down south. The winters here are too long. That's what knocks us, up here. Why, geeze, when it gets forty below, what are you going to do? Storms are bad in the winter and they just tie up the plant.

So, for my part, I think I went through the world. I went through life, and as I went through I just lost faith in getting an education. I think I lost my chance for an education. At least I think I lost my chance for a better education.

I tried everything and all I found was a lot of hard work. But I made an effort to keep me in good shape. Work doesn't hurt anybody. Ya. Work doesn't hurt anybody. It does you good. It's true. It's good for you to work. Ya; if you just sit around, sit around, you'll lose faith in the whole works. You'll get to the point where you don't care. Then the others will see you and they'll want to do the same because it looks like an easy life. A lot of them won't work anymore. But, of course, they don't expect the old ages to go out and work now. The younger class should be utilizing that body, helping to make a betterment in the area where they live in. You know, when you work it makes you feel good, and when I see a hard‑working man, gee, it makes me feel good.

I like to talk to the working men, but when a man isn't doing anything or doesn't like to work, I just don't dare to say anything because it might make him sweat. Ya, work is a great thing. I like work. I like work. I had a chance to get on the work program down here in Ball Club when the Nelson Amendment Project⁽⁵⁸⁾ came on. The way I feel, for my part of it, I think when you got enough you should let somebody else work. Married people with families should be working there, if they want to work. I'm not going to get in there and work, because I'm all alone and single. It doesn't take so much to keep me going. But married people with families have to work. With big families they have to work every minute -- hauling logs out of the woods, working there trying to make a living. A lot of times when I was in the woods I heard, "Why don't they hire the married men? They need jobs like we have."

The boss says, "Well, they've had their chance. They won't work. Some won't, not all; some won't work. Just about the time I need a certain man, he'd go. He quits."

Why don't they give them a job on those government projects? I wouldn't be in their way. No, I think I'm enjoying life now. I won't bother them; I leave them alone. But if they want volunteer help in the Council, I’ll give them help. I can't do much, but every little help they get makes things easier.

That's my line of life.

Footnotes

1. "A Biography of Peter Graves," follows, from Mittelholtz, 1957, pp. 110-111. Erwin F. Mittelholtz was Supervisor-Counselor of the Red Lake Public Schools, Redlake, Minnesota, and also President of the Beltrami County Historical Society. Cf., footnote #8 below, and Robertson, 2008.

A BIOGRAPHY OF PETER GRAVES

BORN: May 20, 1872             DIED: March 14, 1957

By ERWIN F. MITTELHOLTZ

"Peter Graves (sometimes called 'Chief') was perhaps one of the greatest leaders and spokesmen that the Chippewas of the Red Lake Indian Reservation will ever know or remember. He ruled firmly, sometimes with an iron hand, yet he was a statesman and guardian for the rights and protection of the Red Lake Chippewa Indians for more than half a century. In all, he gave over 65 years of rewarding service to the cause and betterment of the Minnesota Chippewas through his leadership and guidance."

"Born at Red Lake, Minnesota on May 20, 1872, [another source says May 10, 1870] he spent much of his early life there and attended the Boarding school built in 1877 to get some of his early elementary education. Completing grade school, he worked on a farm and then in 1884, at the age of 13, he was sent to Jubilee College (secretarial school) in Dubee [sic] County close to Peoria, Illinois. After a short stay there of about 10 months, he was transferred to Philadelphia where he attended the Lincoln Institute and graduated with the class of 1889. For some time he played professional baseball with the Old Middle States League in Hazelton, Pennsylvania. He was offered a chance to attend Princeton but he turned it down when he found that they wanted him chiefly for baseball. Rounding out his education, he learned to do carpentry and also cigar making."

"Returning to Red Lake, Peter spent some time working in the logging camps that were beginning to operate in the 1890's. There was some cutting of 'dead and down' timber on the reservation as well as some pine off the reservation. Most of this timber was boomed and towed across Red Lake and sent down the Red Lake river to St. Hilaire and Crookston. Steam boats and tugs were operating on Red Lake in the 1890's."

"When the old Boarding school was in operation in the 1890's some employees were hired. Peter became the janitor and disciplinarian about the year 1896 to 1898. It was a common practice in those days to have a disciplinarian to handle the problems of the Indian Boarding school children in their adjustment and the more serious problems of those that wanted to run away."

"In 1899, Peter Graves was sent to Washington with a delegation of Red Lake Indians. He was not only a delegate but also acted as the interpreter. He had been appointed interpreter for the Red Lake Agency by Captain Mercer of the Leech Lake Agency, thus, a government employee."

"In the early 1900's, Peter Graves was appointed Chief of Police for Red Lake. In 1901 he was appointed postmaster on April 30 and continued for a few years."

"As Chief of Police, Peter had a difficult time suppressing the liquor traffic on the reservation and in preserving law and order. He had been opposed to liquor entering the reservation or 'Indian Country' and had to put many in jail. He would often remark in disgust, 'All our trouble comes from this liquor.'"

"After being in the Indian service at Red Lake for some time, he was appointed assistant clerk at Onigum, a branch of the Leech Lake Agency. He remained here for several years. He resigned in 1918 from the Indian Service unselfishly to devote all his time and energy to help the Red Lake Indians in opposing the claims of the Minnesota Chippewas against the Red Lake bands as a lawsuit was pending at that time in Congress. Through his leadership, he helped the Red Lake Indians to save some ten million dollars on the diminished Red Lake Indian Reservation and also helped to preserve the reservation solely for the Red Lake Indians by not permitting allotments to be taken. The reservation is now held in trust for all Red Lake Indians so long as the Tribal Council wishes it to be kept that way. 'We want this Reservation protected for our children and our grandchildren,' Peter would often say in a firm tone."

"On April 13, 1918, Peter Graves successfully organized the General Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and was its first treasurer. From 1920 until his death, he held the position of secretary-treasurer. In 1929, he was elected secretary and a director of the Red Lake Fisheries Association at Redby. From 1936 to 1943, he served as appointed Judge of the Court of Indian Offences and was known widely for his justice, fairness, and judgment in all cases coming before the court."

"Because of his leadership and accomplishments among the Indian people that he served, he was awarded the 1940 Indian Achievement Medal of the Indian Council Fire at Chicago, Illinois."

"In 1891, Peter Graves married Mary Fairbanks. She was born in Red Lake on March 10, 1875 and died in 1912. Four children surviving are Joseph, Isabelle (Strong), Alice (Mrs. Charles P. Beaulieu), and Rose Graves. In 1915, Peter married Susan Wright and the children are Clyde, Amy (Mrs. Alvin Oliver), Mildred (Mrs. Richard Auginash), Doris (Mrs. Carl Carlson), Mary (Mrs. Fred Petite), and Maude (Mrs. Francis Duhaime). At the time of Peter's death, there were 51 grandchildren and 76 great grandchildren."

"Peter Graves passed away about 7 P.M. on March 14, 1957 and is buried in the Red Lake Episcopal Cemetery beneath a row of sheltering pines. He has vowed to preserve the heritage of the Red Lake Indians even after death."

"Joseph Graves has been chosen by the Indian people of Red Lake and by the Council to succeed Peter Graves. He will act as chairman of the Tribal Council and Rose Graves as secretary-treasurer."

2. Peter Graves was appointed assistant clerk in the Indian office at Onigum (Leech Lake agency), where he "remained for several years" before returning to Red Lake in 1918.

3. “Born around 1872, Peter Graves was the son of Gichi-gamiiwikwe (Lake Superior Woman) of the Leech Lake Ojibwe and a non-Native refugee from the Louis Riel Rebellion. Gichi-gamiiwikwe, later baptized Elizabeth Graves, was the widow of a Red Lake band member.” (LeMay, 2015.) “Peter Graves (1) was born in May 1870 in Canada, according to the 1900 census.” (Graves Family Association, 2018.) Cf., Robertson, 2008.

4. "The 1854 and 1855 treaties provided 80 acres for 'each mixed-blood head of a family,' and 'allowed the assignment to each head of a family or single person over twenty-one years of age, eighty acres of land for his or their separate use.' The Treaty of 1854 also contained a provision to categorize further Ojibwa peoples under new names. Parties to the treaty received two new designations: those residing in Wisconsin and Michigan and eastward to the treaty line in Minnesota would be called 'Chippewas of Lake Superior,' and the rest 'Chippewa of the Mississippi.'" (Roufs, 1975/2013, pp. 70-71.) Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government."

5. Cf., Ch. 5, "Chiefs and Councils."

6. The "big Council" of the Minnesota Chippewas was also referred to as the “general council of the Minnesota Chippewas,” and the “Minnesota Indian Chippewa Council.”

7. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, also known as the “Indian New Deal.” Cf., Mittelholtz, 1957, and Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government," including Ch. 45 footnotes #25, #14, and #12.

8. “[Peter] Graves went on to become chief of the Red Lake tribe. He provided leadership at a time of great change for Ojibwe in Minnesota. . . . Peter Graves was a powerful and controversial leader. Newspapers at the time of his death said some considered him one of the greatest Ojibwe leaders ever, while others considered him a dictator. In the 1950 interview, Graves talks about how he saw his role in the tribe. ‘I grew up to civilize this band of Indians here,’ Graves said. ‘I was always on the side of the government, and there's a lot of them that doesn't like it, but they got to take it. When I say something, well, I mean it, and that is why I'm here today. Whatever I say, I mean. A lot of them threaten me. Well, I just tell them, 'you'd better be quick about it, or I'll get ahead of you.' Graves' grandson, Peter Strong, says his grandfather helped hold the Red Lake tribe together. Other Ojibwe bands in Minnesota at the time agreed to something called allotment. That meant tribal lands were split up and given to individual tribal members, who were free to sell their property to whoever they wanted. Graves and other leaders before him refused to accept that. For Red Lake, that means all reservation lands are still owned jointly by every tribal member. Peter Strong says that saved the reservation from being snatched up by non-Indians.” (Robertson, 2008.) Cf., footnote #1 above, and Mittelholtz, 1957.

9. Cf., Ch. 35, "Boarding School Days."

10. The "other parties" from "all over" included Bois Forte, Fond du Lac, Grand Portage, and Mille Lacs Bands, in addition to Leech Lake and White Earth.

11. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government."

12. Cf., Ch. 35, "Boarding School Days."

13. More formal references are to the "General Council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians," or simply “The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.” Cf., Lyons, 2010, pp. 165-170, and Mittelholtz, 1957.

14. Rep. Harold Knutson represented Minnesota’s 6^th congressional district as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917-1949.

15. Ed Rogers was the County Attorney of Cass County (elected 1912), and was “former president of the General Council of Chippewa Indians.” (The Pioneer, Bemidji, MN, 25 September 1919, p. 1.)

16. Cf., Ch. 5, "Chiefs and Councils."

17. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government," and Ch. 47, "Uprise in the Indian Office."

18. The lake Leech Lake.

19. The "Forestry Division" wanted to re‑develop areas of Northern Minnesota which had been logged over by the early part of the twentieth century. "When it comes to the relationship between people and environment, the logging of the forests was the most dramatic event in Minnesota. . . . It was timber, not farmland, that first attracted European settler-colonists to Minnesota. On early maps of the region, the little-known northlands were marked simply 'Abundant Pine.' Having cut down forests from Maine to Wisconsin, lumber barons were eager for new sources of quality lumber that was light, strong, floated well, and was good for buildings and boats. The forests of Minnesota promised a bountiful supply of such timber, so the barons began to pressure Minnesota’s Native American people to sell their lands in order to access the forests. . . . By 1905, when lumber production reached an all-time high in Minnesota, lumberjacks were felling as much as 2 billion board-feet annually -- enough to circle the earth with an inch-thick, 14-foot-wide boardwalk. Harvesting dropped rapidly after 1905. By the 1920s, the prime pine stands were exhausted and there wasn’t enough lumber-quality timber in the woods to justify the expense of maintaining railroads. The large-scale sawmilling industry virtually vanished by 1929." (Forest History Center, 2018.) Over 95% of the white and red pine that was still standing when the Chippewa National Forest was established in 1908 has even been cut. ("History," Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, 2018.) Cf., Ch. 38, "Timber Days."

20. Cf., Ch. 37, “Finns, ‘The Sweatbath-Men,’” and Ch. 38, "Timber Days."

21. " . . . Those who don't know what's happening in the back of them," is Paul's way of saying those who do not know about their history and about historical ways of doing things.

22. Cf., Ch. 37, "Finns, 'The Sweatbath-Men,'" Ch. 38, "Timber Days," and Ch. 39, "Leech and Mississippi Forks."

23. Cf., Ch. 38, "Timber Days," and Neils, 1980.

24. Cf., Ch. 46, "Out There in North Dakota."

25. The Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934, is also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government," including footnote #12.

26. Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal Agency created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1935-1943), renamed Work Projects Administration in 1939, which focused on employment and infrastructure development.

27. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal Program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1942) which focused on providing employment during the Great Depression.

28. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government."

29. The Community Action Program (C.A.P) was part of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act Introduced by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the “War on Poverty.” For C.A.P. information on the Leech Lake Reservation during the 1960s see Paredes, 1980.

30. This segment recorded 7 November 1969.

31. Whites married to Indians sometimes participated in local Indian Council meetings. Other white residents were welcome to attend but generally did not attend the meetings.

32. The Head Start Program, launched as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society campaign in 1965, focuses on childhood education, health, nutrition, and parental involvement. It was expanded in 1981.

33. Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a national service program founded by President John F. Kenney in 1965, was incorporated into AmeriCorps in 1993.

34. Local jobs that are year-round good-paying jobs.

35. Several people from Ball Club and Deer River worked in the iron ore mines on "The Range." Iron ore mining was an important feature of life in Ball Club, MN, with some residents from there and Deer River commuting to work in the iron mines of the western Mesabe Iron Range around Coleraine and Bovey, MN.

36. That is, a car that is new for them, not a new current-year model.

37. "My Indians" refers to the particular group to which Paul belongs and with which he interacts, basically the individuals from his community and his Reservation.

38. The harvesting of trees to produce lumber, boards, rather than pulpwood.

39. "The Cities" most often refers to the metropolitan area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Other "cities" are generally referred to by name.

40. Cf., Lyons, 2010, p. 15.

41. The economy was undergoing high inflation at this time.

42. Paul became eligible for Social Security and an “old age pension" with the Social Security Insurance (SSI) program.

43. The Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee.

44. Feelings.

45. The Leech Lake Reservation is split among four counties: Cass, Itasca, Beltrami, and Hubbard. The Tribal Headquarters of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe are located in the town of Cass Lake. Cass County, with a 2010 census population of 28,567, has a total area of 2,414 mi²; Itasca County, with a 2010 census population of 45,058, has a total area of 2,928 mi²; Beltrami County, with a 2010 census population of 44,442, has a total area of 3,056 mi²; and Hubbard County, with a 2010 census population of 20,428, has a total area of 999.39 mi². About one-fourth of the Leech Lake Reservation's 1,310 mi² area is covered by lakes. (Wikipedia.) Seventy-five percent of the Chippewa National Forest is within the reservation boundaries. (LLBO, 2018.)

46. Paul is talking about a larger airport. An "airbase" of the United States Air National Guard is located at the Duluth International Airport, and the United Sates Air Force operated a base out of Duluth until 1982. Regionally the terms "airbase" and "airport" are both used to denote a large airport, as contrasted with a small facility such as the Deer River Municipal Airport.

47. Cf., Ch. 48, "White Medicine."

48. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government," including footnote #38.

49. Cf., Ch. 45, "Treaties, Allotments, and Self-Government."

50. Ibid.

51. Some people do not want to complain about the Indian Bureau because they are afraid that if they do, some people might lose their jobs.

52. Taconite plants processing ore from the mines in northern Minnesota into taconite-iron-ore pellets for use in the steelmaking industry.

53. This segment recorded 19 October 1976.

54. "From across the pond" generally means from countries on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean but it also means, as in this case, from countries in South America that import iron ore by ocean-going ships ("salties").

55. Right in the hometown area, i.e., they don’t have to go off to a boarding school any more. Paul is not talking about homeschooling. Cf., Ch. 35, "Boarding School Days."

56. Boxing was a very popular sport among the middle to older age male residents. Former President of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Allen James Wilson, Sr. (1928-1998), of Ball Club, was Midwest Golden Gloves and All Navy boxing champion with an overall record of 101 and 5 with 89 KO's. Wayne Cronin (1915-1979), Chairman of the Ball Club Local Indian Council and Leech Lake Reservation Business Committeeman, was also a great boxing enthusiast who trained young local Golden Gloves participants. Wayne once drove 200 miles roundtrip to Duluth to watch Muhammad Ali on closed-circuit TV . . . but missed the live action because the match was over before the Duluth technicians could correct a problem in the transmission of the signal from the live match. Although disappointed, Wayne was nonetheless glad he went as he was able to see the replay of the short match when the technical problems were corrected.

57. Paul is talking about the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 (Public Law 959) that encouraged folks to leave Indian reservations. "The Indian Relocation Act of 1956 was the impetus for the relocation of the large number of Native Americans now living in urban areas. Though the act didn’t force people to leave their reservations, it made it hard for families to stay by dissolving federal recognition of most tribes, and ending federal funding for reservations’ schools, hospitals, and basic services -- along with the jobs they created. Though the federal government paid for relocation expenses to the cities, and provided some vocational training, urban Native Americans faced high levels of job discrimination, and few opportunities for job advancement. . . . Minneapolis was one of the first cities chosen for the federal relocation program." (Campbell, 2016.)

58. Nelson Amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, United States Public Law 88-45 was part of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act Introduced by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the “War on Poverty” to provide jobs and training. For information on the Leech Lake Reservation during the 1960s see Paredes, 1980.