Native Americans traveled trails before white settlers arrived

This is the second in the series covering the Roads and Trails Program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS).

CONDON – Salish Kootenai College Professor and Specialist in Culture and Language Tim Ryan discussed the trails which Native American tribes used when traveling through the region that later became known as the Upper Swan Valley. For the Native people, travel on those trails was intricately woven into the circle of their lives.

Before he began teaching at the Salish Kootenai College, Ryan was an archeologist with an expertise in mapping using the newest satellite technology and software. He also had an aptitude for identifying historical trails. He traces the roots of that ability back to his grandmother who lived in St. Ignatius, Montana.

Ryan said his grandmother observed how, as a boy, he loved to be out in the woods exploring on his own. She said to him, "Grandson, one thing you have to understand is that you have to open yourself up to all those energies out there [in the woods], all those beings that are around you. You might encounter some of these beings at some time. Don't be afraid. Be there with that being. They could be giving you your personal medicine that you can use for the rest of your life, not only for yourself but for your community."

"I took those words that my grandmother gave me," Ryan said. "And I still carry [them] with me. Making that nature connection was really important for me."

Ryan said he believes he was guided by the beings his grandmother spoke of when he was chosen as one of the three archeologists tasked with mapping the route taken by Lewis and Clark through the Helena, Lolo and Bitterroot National Forests. Research of old maps and journals, which traditionally precedes trail work or "ground truthing," had already been done. Using that information, the Lolo National Forest Archeologist Milo McLeod was guiding Ryan and his workmate Dave Schwab along the presumed trail which led into a creek bottom.

Ryan looked around and said, "You know, Dave, this doesn't feel right, the way the trail is going."

Creek bottoms are usually heavily vegetated and populated by mosquitoes. Ryan looked at the map and walked around a bit and started climbing to the ridge.

"Sure enough," Ryan said, "we came upon some trail tread and some culturally modified trees where the bark was taken off and the cambium was extracted. I said, this has got to be where the trail went."

At the next creek drainage he met up with McLeod and explained his findings. After checking it out, McLeod agreed that Ryan's evidence verified the ridge was the correct trail.

Ryan said. "I would say that I was tuning in to my ancestors when I was doing that."

Ryan's assignment was not only to verify the route but also to observe any historical artifacts and features associated with the trail. The goal was to document and protect those cultural resources.

Presenting his findings to the tribal elders, Ryan experienced another moment of insight similar to his grandmother's revelation.

"When I presented it to the elders, they asked why it was called the Lewis and Clark Trail. Did they make it?

I said, 'No, they didn't make it. They were using our trails.' One elder said, 'Well, those aren't really our trails either. Those are the animal trails that we used when we came here. The animals were here before us. Coyote came through and he got rid of all the monsters and all the bad stuff, so the animals could have us here and we could share our life with the animals."

"That blew me away, thinking that no, those weren't our trails either, those were the animals' trails," Ryan said. "You learn some pretty interesting insight from your elders."

Ryan later had another opportunity to benefit from the insights of his tribal elders. As part of a project to map the traditional trails the tribe used in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, for four consecutive years Ryan accompanied four elders on pack trips into the area. He called those trips "one of the highlights of my life to be able to take them into the Bob Marshall and hear their stories and what trails they were using."

Ryan said the Ksanka, the Kootenai, the Kalispel, the Pend d'Oreille and the Salish used trails from Canada to the north all the way down to Wyoming. Asked what specific trails the Natives traveled to get into the Upper Swan region, Ryan named the Jocko drainage in the south and the trail leading to the original Marias Pass in the north as the main large corridors. He noted that research and historic maps showed that what we now consider the Marias Pass was actually the Aeneas Pass which goes into the Jewel Basin and touches the southern tip of Glacier National Park at the South Fork of the Flathead River. From there the trail leads into Bear Creek and then to the Marias Pass as we know it today.

Other trails leading into or out of the Swan were the North Crow Trail, which connected with the Piper Creek drainage [commonly known as Piper Crow Pass]. According to ecological evidence and historic journals, that route connected with the Lion Creek drainage and into the Bob Marshall.

Members of the program audience wondered about an old trail that came out at Kraft Creek. Ryan said the elders talked about that trail which they called the Long Ridge Trail. It comes out of the North Fork of the Jocko and onto Buck Lake where it meets the Flathead Reservation boundary. It then proceeds along a long ridge that goes all the way along Lindbergh Lake and into what is now the Lindbergh Lake campground.

Ryan told about the time Salish elder Louie Adams was speaking to a group. Someone from the audience said his grandfather and other relatives lived in the area but they had never seen any Indians.

Adams said, "Well, that's because we didn't want you to see us."

Ryan explained when traders and trappers and others began using the main trail corridors, the tribes started using secondary routes like Mollman Pass and Eagle Pass to avoid conflicts.

Someone asked about alternate routes the Salish used to avoid a possible ambush going through Hellgate Canyon into Missoula. Ryan clarified that historically, Hellgate extended from Missoula all the way to Drummond. He said there were two alternate trails to bypass the main Hellgate Canyon. The southern route was through Pattee Canyon. Another one was across the saddle of the Marshall Mountain ski area.

Ryan added that on some historic maps of western Montana, wherever there is a constriction or narrowing of the valley, it is designated as a hell gate. Consequently, there are many hell gates in the Rocky Mountains.

Asked what plants and game animals prompted the tribes to cross the Rocky Mountains. Ryan explained the seasonal round. He said the tribes spent winter in the valleys-Flathead Valley, Missoula Valley, Three Forks, Helena, Dillon, and some sub-valleys like Potomac, and somewhat in the Swan Valley, though it has a higher elevation and gets more snow. The weather wasn't so harsh in the valleys and resources were more abundant.

Native Americans would then watch for bio-markers that told them it was time to move on. For instance, when the Salish began to see a profusion of buttercups, that indicated better weather was coming and the cutthroat trout soon would be spawning. The Month of the Buttercup was a time to get fishing gear ready and to start watching the rivers.

Similarly, blooming serviceberry trees signaled the bitterroot plant would soon be ready for harvest. Blooming wild rose (Wood's rose) was a bio-indicator that bison on the other side of the mountains would be dropping their calves. Fortified by a supply of fish and roots, it was time to begin the journey across the mountains. By the time the tribe finally reached the Rocky Mountain Front, the calves would have matured enough that the cows could be hunted safely.

The trip back across the mountains coincided with berry gathering time. Huckleberries, chokecherries and others were ripe for harvesting, as were some medicinal plants. By fall, the Indians would be back in the valleys preparing for winter.

The seasonal round, dependent on bio-markers rather than fixed calendar dates, was more reliable than the Roman calendar. But the cycle was not exclusively about hunting and gathering, it also was about meeting and visiting with other bands, engaging in trade and celebrating in sacred places.

According to the elders, when the seasonal round led the tribes into the Swan area, it was a time for hunting big animals such as elk and bear and also for berry gathering and digging camas in Holland Prairie.

Ryan said life governed by the seasonal round worked because Native Americans were in tune with their environment and its bio-indicators.

He added, "I'm sure most of you who live in this valley think the same way. [You have] that connection between your environment and the way that you live. You are not really removed from those natural resources, you're part of them."

Next week, we will continue the Road and Trails series with stories from Leita Anderson