Raven Speaks: Go-la’-ka Wa-wal-sh
Wendell George | We shall live again
by WENDELL GEORGE Oct. 18, 2016, 12:46 p.m.

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“We have waited too long for the government to fulfill their promises. They have only given us handouts. We want respect which only comes from doing things ourselves. So let’s form a group that can successfully jumpstart economic development on our reservations. It will not be easy as they’ll have to do a lot of travelling and convince government people to work with tribes the Indian Way.”
I paraphrased the speech that Sam Cagey, the well-respected Chairman of the Lummi Tribe, gave at the 1973 National Congress of American Indians spring conference in San Diego, California to create a national Economic Development Board.
The members appointed were:
♦ Colville Business Council member Lucy Covington who later became Council Chair.
♦ Yakama Tribal Council member Mel Sampson who later became Council Chair.
♦ Seminole tribal member James Billie who later became Chairman of the Seminole Tribal Council.
♦ Seneca tribal member Stu Seneca from New York.
♦ Passamaquoddy tribal member Frank Battese from Kansas.
♦ I was selected as a member of the Colville Tribe and later elected to the Colville Business Council.
There were six other members from the SW with similar qualifications.
As directed we met with tribes and Federal agencies in Washington, D.C. and all over the country to determine what tribes needed and what the government could provide. We opened up a lot of opportunities for tribes.
We showed the group the pine and fir forest on our 2,100 square mile Colville Reservation. We didn’t have any enterprises at the time. We concluded the tour at the Spokane Tribes Pow-Wow.
During these activities Frank Battese had a saddle custom made for me and Mel Sampson and I worked on several projects. James Billie wrestled alligators and made news when his alligator got loose in a hotel hallway. Later, as Chairman of the Seminole Tribal Council, he was instrumental in the development of their reservation in Florida. In 1988 Mathew Dick, Jr. and I saw the beginning of it in their large Bingo Hall.
The effort took many years to culminate. The Seminoles are a prime inspirational example as one of the most successful tribes in the nation. They have come a long way from the wars of 1818 through 1858 when Andrew Jackson tried to exterminate them. They never surrendered and, like most tribes, have spent years reconstructing their tribe and reservation. They were modestly successful with bingo and casinos until they purchased the Hard Rock Café franchise from a British firm for $965 million in 2007. Then they expanded their casinos, restaurants and lounges worldwide into a $5 billion business including two hundred hotels, cafes, and casinos in sixty-four countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. They are adding New York, Atlanta, London, and Berlin.
They have become a significant influence in Florida. In August they signed an agreement to name the Miami Dolphins football facility the “Hard Rock Stadium”. The 2020 Super Bowl and annual Orange Bowl football games will be played there.
Chairman Cagey would revel in this accomplishment. And according to Paiute Medicine-man Wovoka “Another world is coming, just like a cloud. It will come in a whirlwind out of the west…”

Wendell George writes Go-la’-ka Wa-wal-sh (Raven Speaks). He can be reached via email at wvegeorge@charter.net. His books are available at the local book stores, museums and Amazon.

Moses George

In the fall of 1980, Moses George rode on horseback through the NW part of the Wenatchi (P’Squosa) Territory. He and T.B. Charley, another tribal member, were asked by the U.S. Forest Service to look for areas that had previously grown huckleberries. They rode to the Chiwawa Ridge along Raging Creek from the Chiwawa River Road. Chiwawa Ridge is about 2,300 feet elevation with Twin Lakes of Raging Creek and School Lake to the north. Moses was on Dusty, a Forest Service horse, as he overlooked the valley.

He told the Forest Service that the whole area was full of huckleberries in the old days. But the dense under growth has pushed out the berries.

Indians in the past used prescribed fires to contain the brush and limit the fire danger.

The Forest Service has agreed that they were good forest managers. Author Michael Crichton discussed how American Indians successfully managed nature in his books.

This expedition was 125 years after the 1855 Treaty at Walla Walla guaranteed the Wenatchi a 36-square-mile reservation to be located with the P’Squosa Territory which extended from just beyond Lak Wenatchee to what is now East Wenatchee.

The Wenatchi tribe lived and fished for generations at the confluence of the Wenatchee River and Icicle Creek. They would meet with relatives from the Entiat, Sinkiuse, and Chelan tribes to fish, dig roots and pick huckleberries. Until the mid-1800’s Pow Wows were regularly held near the Clovis site in East Wenatchee and where Wenatchee is now located.

The last Pow Wow was in Cashmere in 1931.

This was commemorated in the 1990’s by a rodeo and Pow Wow.

Several Pow Wows have since been held at the Leavenworth Fish Hatchery. Descendants still maintain a grave yard at the Cashmere turnoff from I-90. There are several Indian allotments located throughout the valley.

Moses’ mother, Kwa-ni was from the Kittitas tribe. His father, Lahompt, met her during one of the food gathering expeditions.

The Federal government forced them to move to Kartar Valley on the Colville Indian Reservation but Lahompt’s father, Chilcosahaskt, remained in the Entiat Valley.

Now, 161 years later, there still is no reservation. The area is now densely populated making it impossible to locate a 6-square-mile reservation. But the U.S. Forest Service, U. S. Fish & Wildlife, and Washington State own property that would be suitable.

The Treaty was confirmed by the U.S. Congress which makes it a binding law.

The Wenatchi descendants have evolved from a food gathering community to managers of natural resources such as fish hatcheries, forests, and lumber/plywood mills.

Time has proven they would be good neighbors.

Will the Federal governments’ word be honored? It is inevitable because patience is an Indian virtue that cannot be defeated.

Wendell George writes Go-la’-ka Wa-wal-sh (Raven Speaks). He can be reached via email at wvegeorge@gmail.com or his webpage wvegeorge.wordpress.com. His books are available at the local bookstores, museums, libraries and Amazon. His articles are also available on Google.

Published on May 24, 2016 in the Wenatchee World newspaper.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvsrE61AGGwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?Go to my facebook page to see this video. This website will not upload it.

It is now on Utube: https://youtu.be/rvsrE61AGGw    Good watching it is about an hour long. It will help you go to sleep.

Wendell

PS: You have to sign into your Google email account. Here it is below:

Correction to the above:  YouTube.com/channel/VCqHbPHHOEPS2beJK_2XKOPg to go directly to U tube. If this doesn’t work try all small letters, no caps.

I have now published eight more articles in the Wenatchee World since I published the book Raven Speaks. I previously listed the first six. Here is the last two:

January 27, 2016 – Little Joe asks about Indian humor

April 15, 2016 – Little Joe solves the Eternal Circle Mystery

I have mostly been presenting my PowerPoint called “The Indian Side of the Story” which summarizes my books and more.

January 12, 2016 to the Wenatchee Valley College at Omak class on Indian studies.

February 27, 2016 at the Seattle U. book signing.

March 30, 2016 at the Wenatchee Rotary Club.

Sometime in May I will be at the Wenatchee Museum.

See my facebook page. I will be presenting “The Indian side of the story” at the Wenatchee Museum on May 17, 2016 at 6:30PM.

I will be telling the “Indian Side of the Story” at the Wenatchee Rotary Club meeting on Wednesday March 30, 2016. It will be at the Town Toyota Center Crunch Pak room on the ground floor.

 

The presentation went well after the technical problems were solved with the display computer. There were twenty or thirty people there and they were very interested in my story. I will be doing this again at the Wenatchee Museum sometime soon. Will let you know.

On Saturday February 27, 2016 I was at a book signing at Seattle U. There was a large crowd but there were 54 authors so I had a lot of competition. I did an hour presentation to a couple dozen people in the Sullivan building is the law school. They sat in comfortable chairs in a semi-circle which reminded me of a court room. I had my son, Kerry, and my grandson, Moses, with me. Moses took a video of most of it but I can’t download it on this format. I’ll try FB.

 

 

 

I’ll be one of 50 authors at the book signing February 27, 2016 at Seattle U. It is called the Search for Meaning Book Festival. I will give a presentation at 1 PM and have a book signing at 2 PM. Some of my friends and family will be there. I couldn’t figure out how to upload the poster they gave me so this is the poor man’s approach.

I WILL BE ONE OF THIRTEEN AUTHORS AT A BOOK SIGNING ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7 FROM 11 AM TO 1 PM. IT WILL BE HELD AT THE PYBUS MARKET AT THE BOTTOM OF ORONDO STREET IN WENACTHEE.

EVERYONE IS INVITED.

WENDELL

The book signing went well. I met all the other authors who are a great group writing a wide variety of things. I am listing them below:

I also saw people from Omak like Dr. Greg Ledgerwood who was my doctor in Omak until he moved to Wenatchee. Also Steve Chervinskas formerly our WVC Foundation – Omak chairman who also moved to Wenatchee. Several other people like Jim Talbert fellow author who graduated from Okanogan High School. It was like old home week. And I even sold a few books.

Wendell

Articles published in the Wenatchee World since my book Raven Speaks was published are listed below: They can be viewed on the Wenatchee World website or Google under my name, Wendell George – Raven Speaks.

July 12, 2015 – Little Joe learns about the statue of freedom.

July 26, 2015 – Little Joe questions replacing Hamilton

August 23, 2015 – Little Joe asks about the Hopi prediction

September 20, 2015 – Little Joe asks what’s in a name?

October 18, 2015 – Little Joe questions Columbus Day. added the video “We Shall Remain” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs0iwY6jSk

Another article was published in the Wenatchee World on Dec. 4, 2015. It is available online either at the Wenatchee World website or Google.

It was under a different title than I submitted. Their title was “Little Joe and Uncle Twasen talk about beliefs secular and traditional”.

My title was “Little Joe asks why is the Starbucks cup generic to Christmas?”

I guess I wasn’t supposed to hit on Starbucks. I think they are only a reflection of our society. The main point of the article was to describe secularism which is by definition the belief that everything was created through a physical process. Spiritual beliefs are ridiculed or ignored. The majority of the scientific world believe that the universe is nothing but a clockwork mechanism. People are thought to be machines. This is an unproven dogma and does not explain what consciousness is. I am trying to wake people up.