Another Kind of a Photo Essay

This time of the Flathead Reservation

Boozhoo, indinawemaaganidog! Aaniin! That is to say hello, all of my relatives! Welcome to the SECOND EVER PAID SUBSCRIBER ONLY EDITION! of An Irritable Métis. Maybe you aren’t a paid subscriber and you’re wondering why you’re seeing this? It’s because the way it’s set up you’ll get to see it … up to a point. To see the rest, you have to become a paid subscriber. Frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about this but it’s worth a try. And if you’re someone who really digs this newsletter but just can’t add more expense to your existence, I get it. Just message me and let me know, no questions asked, and I’ll hook you up. I want a community here, not customers.

---

I’ve been visiting the Flathead Reservation almost my entire life. When I was young, my grandparents lived just north of it and we had to drive through to visit them. I lived on the rez from ‘97 – ‘02, in Ronan. In the last few years, though, I’ve become very attached to it, likely the result of my time teaching poetry there to elementary students. My Little Shell tribe doesn’t have a reservation but many of us live there and our relationships are deeply entwined. I refer to the reservation then as my “step” reservation.

Everything you need to know about how the U.S. government mistreated Native people and reneged on their agreements may be revealed in just a short time studying the interactions they had with the people of this reservation. It is a tragic and rage-making story. But discussing this is something for another day. The purpose of this post, this “photo essay,” is to simply share some of the beauty of the vast landscapes one may find here. It was difficult settling on even this many images (it was hard to not just post pictures of buffalo), especially as I would remember images from other trips that I failed to consider. Perhaps another time.

Most of these images are fairly recent, though a few are several years old. There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which they appear because I’m lazy and didn’t want to think too hard about it. I just hope you like them and find a moment to appreciate the glory of this magnificent place.

---

East bound on the Bison Range during a snow squall

Old gymnasium not far from Hot Springs, MT

The Mission Mountains in winter, viewed from the western edge of Ninepipes

Camas Prairie

Grand Entry of the Arlee Powwow, many years ago

View of the Missions from near Perma Red country

More Camas Prairie, its slopes shaped by the emptying out of Glacial Lake Missoula about 12,000 years or so ago

Would it even be a rez without dogs?

Ninepipes. There’s always a handful of grizzly bears lurking about here, I’m told.

Indian rodeo is huge and delightful

Tribal council chamber

I’m having a moment with my lifelong love for horses

Hiking the northern shoreline of McDonald Lake

Update: in looking back through, this isn’t a view south toward Dixon, it’s actually west! The Dixon pic is a similar look but wasn’t included….

View of the Arlee valley from its western edge

The Garden of 1000 Buddhas is in Arlee. It is a beautiful place. I have mixed feelings anymore about it.

When Métis guide Benetsee Finley discovered gold at Gold Creek, he came here … and they tried to keep word from getting out

Some characters need no introduction

Rodeo kids!

Trickster in the weeds. Coyote plays a huge role in Tribal stories; almost all of his stories are creation stories and may only be told during the winter….

The road to McDonald Lake

Turtles on a log!

So suspicious. Wouldn’t you be if you were a cow?

Never forget … yet so many are

Dixon School, where I am privileged to write poetry with grades 3-8

The glorious Flathead Lake, largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River

And that’s it. Please let me know what you think of this, and what else you might like to see. As always, miigwech, friends, for hanging in there. Things seem to have gotten out of hand with this one, heh. I appreciate you for being here.

---

---