Days 11 and 12 Grangeville, Idaho

 

Days 11 and 12

Grangeville, Idaho

     While minds greater than mine discern how to deal with a distorted wheel, I am grateful to be able to spend a few days with Chris Hagenbuch.  Chris is a lovely guy who works as a truck driver/priest in the beautiful region of Northern Idaho.  This is the region next to the Whitebird Battlefield and other shameful acts imposed upon the Nez Perce people who have occupied this land for over 10,000 years.  Much of the surrounding Grangeville is a part of the Nez Perce National Historical Park.  The descriptions of many of the sacred (and beautiful) sites reveal a kind of nobility in the face of defeat and death.  In the Nez Perce, who had greeted Lewis and Clark and the hundreds of white settlers following, were moved onto a reservation which comprised a small portion of the land which they had occupied for generations.  This was relatively peaceable arrangement until gold was discovered on the reservation and they were deported to Oklahoma.  This was laid out in the treaty of 1863 (written while most of the country was pre-occupied with the Civil War) and is still referred to, in the Nez Perce language as “The Steal Treaty”.  While travelling with Chris along the region, we saw the place where Chief Joseph gave his surrender speech,

“Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”

Chief Joseph - Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights – 1877”

    I invite you to listen to this clip of the song “Heart of the Appaloosa” which describes the strategic tactic of killing these great horses.  Please ignore whatever advertisement is imposed upon you.

    There is great beauty in this landscape which heals even in the midst of the cruelty we consider in this place.  The Nez Perce and the European settlers have made this place a welcoming place even two centuries after the horrors.

     It was great to see Chris and to drive around this varying countryside.  His wife and mother died within 6 months of each other in the midst of Covid.  He has found comfort in his family, his church, his wonderful dog (Frankie) and his great tiny cabin in the mountains.  During my brief visit I was able to see all of these things.  We watched his grandson’s baseball game on Tuesday night which was held on a beautiful evening in the shadow of snow capped mountains.  On Wednesday Chris, I, and Frankie the wonder dog visited 6 of the sites of the Nez Perce National Historical Park.  It was disconcerting to transition from biking in the searing heat to travelling driving through roads from which the snow had just been plowed. We stopped by the Clearwater river and watched Frankie hunt, in vain, for fish. 

   Along the way we discussed the unique social, cultural, and economic forces which have shaped Idaho in the past century.  80 per cent of the state is owned by the Federal Government and administered through the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.  Lumbering has been the economic backbone of the state economy for a century.  The money generated from lumbering on public land has been used, in part, to finance local education.  There have been several environmental groups who have devoted themselves to stopping all lumbering on public land.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9^th circuit covers Idaho but is based in San Francisco.  The environmentalists have are able to be effective obtrusiveness in the granting of lumbering permits in Idaho.  The result has been a significant reduction in funding for public education.  This has had a profound impact on the well being of these small communities and has contributed to the resentment of “coastal elite liberals” who have been instrumental in creating hardship for the people of Idaho. 

     In this century, Idaho has attracted persons who are both individualistic and entrepreneurial.  It seems that they have little space in their consciousness for workings of Washington, but have a great love and commitment to their local communities.  I have personally been blessed by the welcome and kindness demonstrated towards me.  I realize that, in the eyes of many of the people I have met here, I must seem peculiar.