CHIEF PLENTY COUPS: I have a very glad heart to-day because it has been
my privilege to welcome the chiefs from all the great tribes, all over the
United States, here on these beautiful plains of Montana. I am rejoiced
that on this day of beauty and bright sunshine we could meet together. I
am glad to welcome as my guests Indian chiefs whom I have never seen, and
that I could give them a welcome with my heart open, eat with them bread
and meat, and smoke the pipe of peace, and greet all the chiefs as
brothers. As the bright sun has opened upon us, Doctor Dixon has met us
all in peace and friendliness and we all feel toward him with a kind
heart. His coming has brought about the coming of the chiefs whom I have
never seen before and will never see again, and as the chief of the Crow
Nation I am rejoiced to give him and all these chiefs a great heart of
welcome, and send them away in peace, and I feel that they are all like my
own brothers. During my life from my early days I have fought the other
nations before the white man ever stepped into this country, then the
Great Father ordered that we should stop fighting and live in peace.
Before this we conquered each other’s horses and killed on all sides. And
now to-day we have met in this great council as chiefs and friends. The
Great Father is good to us again in permitting us to have this meeting,
and I look upon all these chiefs and all the tribes as my friends. And as
the bright sunshine falls, I pray that our Heavenly Father may let His
blessing come down upon all the chiefs and all the tribes, and that we may
go forth from this great day happy and in peace. In former days we were
in ceaseless conflict; then Uncle Sam came to us and said we must live in
peace. And since that time we have had allotments of land, schools have
been built for the education of our children, and as an illustration of
the feelings of my heart to-day—the tribes have all met here and we have
met in peace, and have met as one man. We are all as brothers—the tobacco
of all the tribes is as the tobacco of one man, and we have all smoked the
pipe of peace together. Out of the struggle of these old days we have
come into the calm and serene light of such a day as this. This I
consider to be the greatest event of my life, and my country I shall live
for, and my country shall remain in peace, as I feel peaceful toward my
country.
CURLY: Since my boyhood days I have never seen anything so great. We
have seen here the chiefs from all over the United States. It was
wonderful. You are the first man that ever brought such a thing to pass.
I enjoyed it very much more than I can tell. The thought of this thing
was a great thought, one of the greatest thoughts of our time. Many of
our Indians have gone to Washington, and have seen the Great White Father,
and have seen great things. These Indian chiefs have all been brought
here so that we could see them and talk with them by the sign language,
and I think it is most wonderful.
CHIEF RED WHIP: I think this is a great idea. I am glad to meet the
chiefs of all the tribes. I have never seen them before. It will not be
long until all these big chiefs are dead, and the younger generation will
read the history of these chiefs and see these pictures, and I am glad the
record is being made.
[Chief Koon-Ka-Za-Chy Addressing the Council]