NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 1
National Parks and American Indians ~ Public Places and Sacred Spaces
Abstract: This academic paper was written for Seminar in Social Science Research, SOSC 2395.
In this paper, I discuss the fact that Native Americans arrived on the continent of North America
over 11,000 years ago, and that they had resided in areas now set aside as National Parks and
Wilderness areas for centuries. I show that attempts by Euro-Americans to civilize, Christianize,
assimilate, exterminate, and subsequently remove the remaining Native Americans from their
lands, continued for over 250 years. I explain the spiritual significance of these lands to the
Native Americans, and examine methods used to remove them from their sacred lands in order to
make way for civilization and wilderness preservation. I reveal how National Park Service
managers in Yellowstone and other National Parks perpetrated the myth that Native Americans
feared and avoided these lands. I point out that although many of these lands had been
guaranteed Native Americans through treaties, these treaties were not honored and Native
Americans continue to experience restricted access to these sacred lands today. Finally, I reveal
how Native American groups and the National Park Service are attempting to accommodate each
other’s cultural differences, build trust, and reach common goals through communication and
understanding.
Course: Seminar in Social Science Research, SOSC 2395
Semester/Year: SP/2011
Instructor: Professor David Erickson
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Introduction
Before Euro-Americans took possession of this continent, with the intent of building a
new life for themselves, Indians had already been roaming here freely for centuries. These new
citizens, rapidly growing in strength and numbers, demanded the complete destruction, removal,
or assimilation, of this land’s indigenous people. Those natives who endured, valiantly clinging
to their mores, were viewed as “exotic, cultural artifacts from the past, the stereotypical
Vanishing Americans … backward savages on their way out, and soon to be no more” (Riley,
1993, p. 23). Beliefs such as these helped to justify the shameless taking of Indian homelands,
lands which in many instances eventually became our National Parks and wilderness areas.
Contrary to predictions, Indians did not become “Vanishing Americans”, yet they did
lose the majority of their lands, lands they considered sacred and vital to their very existence. As
Oswalt & Neely (1999) point out, “although virtually all inhabitable country in North America
was occupied by Indians when Europeans arrived, Indians now possess only a very small
portion” (p. 37). Tribes who formerly dwelled upon lands now set aside as our nation’s parks,
forests, and wilderness regions, experience restricted access to many of their most revered sites.
Federal land preservation efforts have positioned many of our national parks in the center of
cultural debates and lawsuits with Native American tribes who were unjustly displaced from
their lands in order to make way for the establishment of public use sites. An examination of
American Indian use of these areas will illustrate the historic presence of tribes on these sacred
grounds and the cultural and spiritual significance of these lands to the Indian way of life. This
paper will show how the movement to create wilderness preservation areas, national parks, and
national monuments, in an effort to promote tourism and provide a pleasant experience for
vacationing Americans, necessitated the complete removal of Indians from these regions.
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Additionally, possible alternatives are suggested which could serve to accommodate the
individual rights and contrasting viewpoints of the groups involved in disputes over these lands.
Pre-colonization
A Brief History of the Native American
There are many theories about the origins of Native Americans but most anthropologists
would agree that Indians evolved elsewhere and migrated to the New World at least 11,000 years
ago, perhaps across a land bridge called Beringia which connected Siberia and Alaska. These
people relied mainly on large game animals for survival and may have followed the animals
across Beringia into Alaska. An important discovery site called Folsom, located in New Mexico,
found flint projectile points embedded in the bones of bison dating 10,500 years ago. As time
went on and the people learned to adapt to new environments, hunting was no longer their sole
means of subsistence. Groups moved about in search of edible plants and devised technology
such as grinding stones, nets, baskets, and spears. Some of these groups learned agriculture,
some remained hunter gatherers, and some became fishermen or pastoralists, depending upon the
local resources. Ultimately, many different Indian cultures developed, with distinct languages,
political organizations, and belief systems. These various groups can be classified in terms of
bands, tribes, and chiefdoms, but for ease of reference throughout this paper they will be referred
to as tribes.
Contact with Europeans and Euro-Americans
Josephy (1991) reports that, according to Norse history, the oldest known contact among
people of the Old and New Worlds occurred on the Northeastern coast of North America in 1006
A.D., where eight Indians were captured and killed by Thorwald Eriksson, Leif Eriksson’s
brother (p. 295). Subsequent to that encounter, an exact point of first contact with the Indians of
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North America is impossible to establish as contact varied among regions. Some tribes in the
East were already destroyed or severely reduced in number due to disease, displacement or
massacre, before tribes in the West had even learned of white men (Oswalt & Neely, 1999, p.
20). However, most estimates place the date of first European contact somewhere around 1500,
A.D. When the first explorers arrived on the continent of North America they found it inhabited
by a dark-skinned people who spoke a language foreign to their own. They called these people
the Indigenes, which later became the Indians, based on a flawed interpretation of the geography
of the world. Claiming a new land for their own was a central reason that European immigrants
arrived on the Atlantic seacoast, and the fact that the land was already occupied must have been
quite disconcerting to them. The logical explanation was that these Indigenes came from
somewhere else and did not belong here. The population of the Indians at the time of this contact
was thought to be between two and four million people, but within four hundred years those
numbers had dropped dramatically, to a low of two hundred and twenty thousand (Josephy,
1991, p. 53).
Assimilation and Christianization
The Reverend Samuel Purchas wrote in his 1625 narrative, Purchas His Pilgrimes, that
“Christian Englishmen … originally had not the right to despoil heathen Indians of their lands;
for ownership of the land is a right in nature, not in God” (Pearce, 1953, p. 7). As Indians lived,
not according to God’s laws but according to the laws of nature, Christians felt an obligation to
remove the Indians from this state of nature and convert them into civilized Christians. When
those efforts failed, Indians were seen as standing in the way of progress and civilization.
Edward Winslow, a Mayflower passenger and one of the founders of Plymouth colony, who later
became governor of Plymouth, wrote, “God had sent a wonderful plague among the savages to
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destroy them and to leave most of their lands free for civilized occupation” (Pearce, 1953, p. 19).
Pearce (1953) notes that the prevailing attitude toward Indians could be summed up in the
writings of Daniel Gookin, author of Historical Collections of the Indians of New England, who
stated that Indians are:
brutish and barbarous; they indulge in polygamy; they are revengeful; the men only hunt
and fish and fight while the women cook and do a little planting; they are all thieves and
liars and by now they have virtually all become drunkards....Yet their heathen worship
and their submitting to powwows, who are nothing but witches and wizards holding
familiarity with Satan, damn them forever. (p. 26)
Despite the Puritans’ best efforts to save the Indians from eternal damnation, the plain truth was
that contact with whites did not save the Indians but instead severely diminished their condition.
Pearce (1953) argued that the “savage heathen was lowered, not raised, by his contact with the
civilized Christian” (p. 30). As efforts to assimilate the Indian into white culture continually
proved unsuccessful, Americans became convinced that Indians were “radically different from
their proper selves … bound inextricably in a primitive past, a primitive society, and a primitive
environment, [and destined] to be destroyed by God, Nature, and Progress to make way for
Civilized Man” (Pearce, 1953, p. 4).
After the American Revolution the fate of the Indian was sealed, and as Pearce (1953)
emphasized, he had “no right to exist independently and to live as and where he pleased … as
Indian land was to be considered as conquered territory” (p. 54). Whatever rights had previously
been guaranteed the Indians were ignored by the white settlers who streamed onto their lands,
with the full support of the military if faced with Indian opposition. Yet many Indians held on to
their conviction that the land belonged to them, and some felt it should not be forfeited without
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outright purchase by their subjugators. Attempts to convince Indians to surrender their lands
continued, and in so doing, whites established treaties and broke them, settled upon borders and
ignored them; Indians, for the most part, held fast to laws and agreements while whites were
completely free to disregard them without consequence. Realizing the impossibility of
preventing white expansion into Indian territories, the government sought to resolve the problem
with the negotiation of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. This territory was thought to be land which
Indians could safely occupy as no respectable white man would wish to lay claim there.
According to Pearce (1953), the Government’s Removal Policy forced Indians to trade lands east
of the Mississippi for “western lands more suited to savage use” (p. 56). Pearce (1953) further
points out that President Jackson, in his 1830 Second Annual Message, stated:
What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few
thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns and prosperous
farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute,
occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of
liberty, civilization, and religion? (p. 57)
These blessings, however, were not sufficient to stop the ubiquitous seeds of discontent from
being sowed, and by 1840 America came to the realization that the West, although already
consigned to the savages, was now in need of civilization too.
Relegation to Reservations
Since there was no further place west that the Indians could be pushed, a new scheme had
to be devised, one which required the Indians to relinquish lands which they had only recently
been issued. Demands mounted for the removal of Indians to the American Desert, to lands
Josephy (1991) termed “unsuitable for farming or for habitation by whites” (p. 319). Nabokov &
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Loendorf (2004) contend that as plans were underway for the preservation of wilderness areas in
America, “another sort of preserve with a different agenda was being created for the American
Indians … [one] devoted to transforming cultural species and putting their traditional habits
behind them” (p. xiii). Hence, the Reservation System was devised and carried out, first through
treaties and later through Congressional Acts.
In the Southeast, white/Indian conflict continued, culminating in the infamous Trail of
Tears, and creating what Josephy (1991) called “one of the blackest chapters in American
history” (p. 323). This tragic walk marched “tens of thousands of helpless Indians,” at least four
thousand of whom died along the way from starvation, exposure, and disease, from their lands in
the Southeast to the reservations of Oklahoma (Josephy, 1991, p.324). In California, an
onslaught of whites brought on by the gold rush caused the destruction of Indian villages and
hunting grounds, and the death of “as many as seventy thousand Indians” in a ten year span
(Josephy, 1991 p. 332). Those who survived were dispatched to reservations where even further
deaths ensued from poverty and disease. According to Pearce (1953), these reservations “were to
be savage islands in the midst of civilized seas” (p. 239). Only sixty years had passed since the
founding principles of the U.S. were established. Two of these principles - all mankind are
created equal, and, constitutional provisions must protect the rights of the minority, were
flagrantly disregarded by the American government and its civilized people in their treatment of
Native Americans. Further, Oswalt & Neely (1999) state:
The personal and cultural trauma wrought by purposely displacing a tribe from its home
is tragic in itself. But the federal policy of moving all the Indian tribes from one vast area
into another violates the very principles on which the United States was founded. (p. 37)
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Presidents Jefferson through Jackson were confronted with the task of creating methods to
dispossess tribes whenever white men desired their lands. Treaties for the exchange of these
lands were typically arranged by calling together tribal representatives who were presented with
terms without the potential for negotiation. Often times these agreements were made with
Indians who had no authority to speak for the tribes, or were entered into with Indians who had
intentionally been provided intoxicants beforehand. Interpreters for the Indians commonly left
out, or incorrectly translated, crucial points in the agreements. More importantly, the practice of
buying and selling the earth was a totally foreign idea to the Indians, one beyond their
comprehension. Oswalt & Neely (1999) suggest, “most Indians had no concept of the permanent
alienation of land. Since they had never bought and sold land, their concept was that they were
granting whites the rights to its use” (p. 41). While Indians lost their lands, their freedoms, and
their very means of subsistence, there was one thing the white man could not take from them,
their spirituality.
Spirituality
Native American Spirituality and Religious Use of Public Lands
Native Americans have always had a strong, spiritual connection to their physical
surroundings. Lewis (1995) contends that “[t]hey defined themselves by the land, by the sacred
places that bounded and shaped their world. Their origin cycles, oral traditions, and cosmologies
connected them with all animate and inanimate beings, past and present” (p. 423). The Native
Americans’ very cultural identity seems rooted in their connection to the land. Over one hundred
years ago, the famous wilderness preservationist and author, John Muir, conveyed that Indians
possessed “a kind of devotional attitude toward nature,” and he wrote in his journal that “[t]o the
Indian mind all nature is instinct with deity” (Catton, 1979, p. 9). Before their lives were forever
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changed by forces outside their control, Native Americans sought balance and harmony between
their physical and supernatural worlds. The following words, spoken by an Indian leader
addressing a National Congress of American Indians convention, highlight the fact that, although
in a different way than their forefathers, they still seek that balance yet today:
In the early days we were close to nature. We judged time, weather conditions, and many
things by the elements – the good earth, the blue sky, the flying of geese, and the
changing winds. We looked to these for guidance and answers. Our prayers and
thanksgiving were said to the four winds….We lived by God’s hand through nature and
evaluated the changing winds to tell us or warn us of what was ahead. Today we are
again evaluating the changing winds. May we be strong in spirit and equal to our Fathers
of another day in reading the signs accurately and interpreting them wisely. (Josephy,
1991, p. 345)
Beliefs and Ceremonies
By the late 1800s, just prior to the completion of the Indian conquest by whites, most
Indians had all but given up their fruitless rebellion against the insufferable state of reservation
life, and instead, petitioned the Spirits for relief. The Indians of the West were now confined to
reservations, chiefs no longer possessed power, warriors were dead, buffalo and antelope could
not be seen roaming the plains in vast numbers as they once had, rituals held no meaning, and all
that was left to do, according to Brown (1991), was drink “the white man’s crazy-water” and
dream of better days (p. 364). This was a time when the medicine men, great dreamers and
visionaries, gained respect as leaders of their people. One prominent medicine man was Wovoka,
who claimed that in a vision, the Great Spirit had given him a special dance for his people. By
practicing this dance, known as the Ghost Dance, the faithful were promised the return of the
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buffalo, a reunion with deceased relatives, a return to former lifeways, and the disappearance of
white men (Ostler, 2010, and Josephy, 1991). The philosophy of the Ghost Dance doctrine, as
explained by Tedlock & Tedlock (1992), preached that there would be a day when all Indians,
both living and dead, would join together on a renewed earth, “to live a life of aboriginal
happiness, forever free from death, disease, and misery” (p. 75). After fasting, purification, and
dancing, some dancers would experience visions of being transported to the beautiful and
peaceful world where spirits reside. Revealing these visions to the people allowed for a renewed
sense of hope and the dance quickly spread throughout many tribes of the Plains and the West.
According to Ostler (2010), Wyoming’s Devils Tower was a site where various tribes would
gather to perform the Ghost Dance (p. 17). Believers were urged to make themselves worthy by
rejecting their warring ways, and instead, “practicing honesty, peace, and good will, not only
among themselves, but also toward the whites” (Tedlock & Tedlock, 1992, p. 76). The dance
generated hope among the Indians for what Ostler (2010) called the “renewal of the world”, and
for the return of their sacred lands (p. 119). But misunderstood, feared, and banned by the army,
the Ghost Dance was ultimately crushed by the murder of Sitting Bull and the massacre at
Wounded Knee. Some tribes, however, have breathed new life into the dance and continue
carrying on the songs and dance steps of the Ghost Dance today.
Supernatural visions were commonly sought by both Indian men and women and were
experienced through dreams and through vision quests (Josephy, 1991, p. 121). The vision quest
was typically embarked upon by a native in his teens. After being sent off alone to fast in a
secluded place, a youth would ultimately encounter a visit from a supernatural being. This being
would become a personal guardian throughout the life of the Indian. This spirit protector would
teach songs and prayers to the initiate, and instruct him in rituals and behaviors that would assist
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him throughout his life. Those who experienced particularly powerful visions might become
trained as shaman, or medicine men, because they were believed to possess special powers,
including the power to cure illness and disease.
Peyote, a cactus containing the psychotropic drug mescaline, is frequently used by
Indians to heal the sick and is either taken directly by the sick person or by supplicants in
attendance at a curing ceremony. The practice of using peyote as a sacrament in sacred
ceremonies is common among members of the Native American Church. According to Tedlock
& Tedlock (1992), “[t]he Peyote Religion, or Peyote Way … is the most widespread
contemporary religion among the Indians” (p. 96). Participants in the ceremony consume peyote
in hopes of obtaining physical and spiritual power, and knowledge. According to J. S. Slotkin,
anthropologist, author, officer and member of the Native American Church, members believe
that God created peyote and placed His special powers into it for Indian use. It is used in much
the same way as Christians who consume sacramental bread and wine (Tedlock & Tedlock,
1992, p. 99). An important symbol of the Native American Church is the peyote waterbird,
which represents life, vision, and wisdom. Nabokov & Loendorf’s (2004) research reveals that
red obsidian, a volcanic glass “used by peyote people in making the head of the waterbirds,”
could be found in abundance in Yellowstone National Park (p. 161). Obsidian flakes discovered
on the ground was considered a sign that the powerful spirit, Water Ghost Woman, had been
present in the area. These flakes, according to Nabokov & Loendorf, (2004) “represented broken
fragments of her body” (p. 159). In addition to its spiritual significance, Yellowstone obsidian
was used by the Indians in making tools such as arrow points and hide scrapers. One Sheep Eater
revealed that when her ancestors extracted the highly prized obsidian from a sacred site, a
sacrificial offering would be left behind in its place.
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The Sheep Eater tribe, whose presence in Yellowstone was extensively researched by
Nabokov & Loendorf (2004), believed that the “wooded mountain areas of the Yellowstone
Park” was an important place where spirits dwelled and intermingled with medicine men (p.
194). Their study also revealed that one particularly strong spirit, known as “mountain-
medicine,” left signs of its power in rock-drawings under the Teton peak and around certain hot
springs in Yellowstone, places where the Sheep Eaters would hold vision-seeking rituals
(Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 195). Many supernatural spirits that the Sheep Eaters interacted
with were believed to reside in areas near the waters, geysers, thermal pools and mountain tops
of Yellowstone.
A Native American ceremony still performed today by Sioux, Ute, Shoshone and other
tribes of the Plains, and which has significant spiritual meaning, is the Sun Dance. The Sheep
Eater and Bannock tribes were known to hold Sun Dances in the mountainous areas of Jackson
Hole country, now known as Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. Participants would dance
and fast for several days in order to help restore or sustain their connection to the community and
according to Burton (2002), the Sun Dance is “an instrument for the expression of intertribal
unity” (p. 43). Occasionally dancers might perform various forms of self-torture, sometimes as
part of a pre-hunting ritual, in hopes of being granted supernatural powers, or of being cured of
disease (Josephy, 1991, Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004 and Burton, 2002). A clay buildup, formed
by minerals from Yellowstone’s hot springs, would be mixed with water and drank during the
ceremony in order to prevent the indigestion and cramps that would accompany the fasting.
Today, Indians must go through a tedious process in order to get Park Service permission for the
collection of this important and ritualistic clay (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 278).
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Weixelman’s (2001) research revealed that “many tribes regarded the lands that became
Yellowstone National Park as sacred. American Indians understood the area to be linked to the
powers of their Creator … [and] such a place had to be properly respected” (p. 8 and p. 2). The
famous photographer and author, Edward Curtis, wrote of the Crow tribe’s belief in
Yellowstone’s supernatural guardians, benevolent spirits who inhabited the geysers, but feared
most human beings. These guardians would come to the aid of the Crow when needed, as long as
the Crow presented themselves as “poor and pitiful vision seekers” (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004,
p. 57). Obliging the spirits in this manner, state Nabokov & Loendorf (2004), enabled the Crow
people to be adopted by their supernatural guardians, thereby “harness[ing] the inner powers of
Yellowstone” (p. 57). One Nez Perce historian disclosed the religious significance of trips her
grandparents made to Yellowstone in order to “pray, bathe, and sweat” (Weixelman, 2001, p. 8).
Her people believed the geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone to be a “place where the Great
Spirit existed,” and in this place, they “could bathe the body and spirit directly … purifying their
bodies and souls” (Weixelman, 2001, p. 8). The Indians revered this sacred area and implored
the spirits to help them in their vision quests. Arrowheads would sometimes be left in, or near, a
thermal area in the hope they might obtain some value the thermal feature had to offer. The
Blackfeet, who felt a similar reverence for the Glacier National Park area, also respected
Yellowstone, offering prayers and gifts to the spirits when traveling through the area. According
to Weixelman (2001), “the belief that intertribal warfare was not supposed to be brought to
regions containing hot springs supports the idea that Yellowstone was sacred land to the Native
Americans” (p. 9). The Yellowstone region was considered neutral territory, a spiritual place
where tribes could co-exist and exhibit their cultural diversity without fears of hostility or
aggression.
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The Element of Connectedness
Native Americans and National Parks
In his book, Dispossessing the Wilderness, Spence (1999) promotes the view that Native
people possess the right, through treaties and agreements, to maintain their cultural
distinctiveness through “the practice of certain skills that can take place only within a large
national park” (p. 7). Spence (1999) further points out that:
the Crow, Shoshone, Bannock, Blackfeet, and Yosemite all shared important similarities:
each utilized or lived within a national park at the time of its establishment, all were
affected by federal efforts to preserve certain western landscapes, none ever fully
relinquished their claims to these areas in a treaty with the United States, and each park
remained important to these groups because it was large enough to protect and sustain
numerous resources. (p. 6)
The Crow tribe assert, according to Nabokov & Loendorf (2004), that they still retain hunting
rights in Yellowstone according to an 1851 treaty, which was entered into twenty years before
the area became a national park (p. 59-60). It is of particular importance to the Indian that
traditions and practices be allowed to continue in their place of historic ritual significance. In this
way they maintain their connection to the past, and honor and respect their ancestry. The Native
Americans’ connection to things and places are equally important aspects in the curing of
disease, healing of ailments, and the maintenance of good health. Where a particular medicinal
herb is gathered from is believed to be a significant factor in its effectiveness. This connection is
explained by Burton (2002) when he states, “[f]or herbal medicines to retain their healing power,
so must the place where they grew … as the health of persons and the health of places is
interrelated” (p. 43).
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This sense of connection to place, nature, and wilderness is by no means limited to
Native Americans. In the 1830s the famous painter, George Catlin, marveled at the scenic beauty
and serenity of the West and experienced strong feelings of enthusiasm for the landscape and the
Indians who lived so freely on it. Catlin anticipated the inevitable changes that would befall the
wilderness and proposed that portions of the regions be protected from future development.
Many have attributed the first national park idea to Catlin. His proposals did not call for the
removal of Indians from their wilderness habitat, notes Spence (1999), but instead, called on
government policies to preserve portions of the land where Indians could continue carrying out
their traditions and customs that “ the world could see for ages to come” (p. 10). Unfortunately,
Catlin’s visionary ideas where not shared by early preservationists whose image of the North
American landscape required the painting of a very different picture, one in which “wilderness
preservation went hand in hand with native dispossession” (Spence, 1999, p. 3).
Yellowstone
Nabokov & Loendorf (2004) state, “it is no secret that banning American Indians and
appropriating their lands were deemed necessary for the initial establishment of Yellowstone” (p.
xi). They suggest that the very presence of Indians in the park was concealed and denied in order
to promote the myth of a virgin territory, totally absent of human existence. Many of the
researchers cited in this paper, however, documented that Native Americans have used the
Yellowstone region for dwelling purposes, hunting grounds, tool making, sacred ceremonies,
meeting places, and transportation routes, for at least 10,000 years. Of the nine Native American
culture areas, Nabokov & Loendorf (2004) contend that three groups congregated in
Yellowstone and ten major tribes had “cultural or historical associations to the Yellowstone
Valley ecosystem” (p. 7-9). Further, historical records indicate Blackfeet, Crow, Sheep Eater,
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Shoshone, and Bannock tribes have all resided close to Yellowstone, that the Nez Perce,
Flathead, Kalispel, Pend d’Oreille, Assiniboine, and Coeur d’Alene tribes travelled the region
regularly, and the Arapaho and Lakota were found there as well (Weixelman, 2001, p. 3).
According to Spence (1999), the Eastern and Northern Shoshone were tribes with the longest
connection to the Yellowstone area (p. 45). This group existed on hunting buffalo and other
game animals, on fishing, and on gathering. The seasonal migrations of the Shoshone followed
the game animals, salmon runs, and the harvest times of plants which were vital to their diet or
for use in medicines. Tribes in the area would often come together for buffalo hunts, fur-trade
rendezvous, and camas harvests. Yellowstone was also a seasonal abode to the Mountain Crow
who considered the area and important place to “hunt, gather plants, pasture horses, seek
assistance from spiritual helpers, take the waters and look for signs of the First Maker” (Spence,
1999, p. 47). Another group of Shoshone, the Sheep Eater, lived quite comfortably among the
higher elevations of Yellowstone throughout most of the year. Although some accounts allege
the Sheep Eaters were an impoverished lot, Russell (1955), a fur trapper who traded regularly
with the Sheep Eater tribe, described in his journals that they were well-armed, clothed in top
quality deer and sheep skins, in possession of as many as thirty pack dogs to carry their supplies,
and seemed “perfectly contended and happy” (p. 26-27). Theodore Roosevelt spoke of an
encounter with a mountain man, Beaver Dick, who lived among the Shoshone Indians in Teton
country. A legendary outdoorsman, Dick told of parties of Sioux and Bannock/Shoshone Indians
hunting in the Teton Range (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 110). Recently, archaeologists have
located evidence of more than 400 “aboriginal campsites throughout Yellowstone”, with over 40
of them “near areas of thermal activity” (Weixelman, 2001, p. 5).
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The idea that Indians were afraid of Yellowstone and avoided the area completely is a
long-standing fallacy, and Weixelman (2001) warned that this false belief “must be dispelled to
understand the true nature of Yellowstone’s Indian past. First and foremost, many Native
Americans treated Yellowstone as a special region, a sacred land” (p. 10). Both Weixelman’s
(2001), and Nabokov & Loendorf’s (2004) research led to consultations with many Shoshone
tribal members who revealed that the thermal waters, mud, and minerals were used extensively
by their people for their healing properties (p. 8 and p. 278). Other native consultants disclosed
that many Bannock/Shoshone Indians, especially prominent chiefs, had been buried along with
their horses and possessions in the hot springs, while a Nez Perce tribesman stated that the hot
springs had been used for cooking food (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 278 and p. 282). The
Kiowa people’s origin story is situated in the Yellowstone plateau and the events depicting the
story are displayed in a massive mural at the Kiowa Tribal Museum (Nabokov & Loendorf,
2004, p. 72). Many Indian narratives involve Yellowstone’s topographical features in their
legends and one Crow tale related how the first Crow Indian was created by the Sun, on the
Yellowstone River (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 82).
In 2001, the National Geographic Society published an illustrated history of America’s
National Parks. Nabokov & Loendorf (2004) found this book to erroneously state, “while most
national parks would come into existence already impacted by American Indians, Yellowstone
was an exception” (p. xv). Contradicting this claim, Wayne Repnogle, a naturalist who has
extensively explored trails throughout Yellowstone, calls the Bannock Trail the “great aboriginal
highway” whose routes were used by various groups of Native Americans for diverse purposes
(Weixelman, 2001, p. 7). The NPS proclaimed Yellowstone as a 20 th century model of the
wilderness preservation concept, however, Spence (1999) would argue that “Yellowstone also
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 18
provides the first example of removing a native population in order to preserve nature” (p. 70).
Yellowstone remains a place of controversy as Native Americans continue their century-long
challenge against removal from the area.
The “Bad Lands” – the Black Hills, Devils Tower, Bear Butte, and Mount Rushmore
The U. S. Government Treaty of 1868 forever promised the Black Hills territory to the
Lakota/Sioux tribe. But once gold was discovered there, the promise of forever became short
lived and tribes were forced to give up their sacred Black Hills. There has been a decades-long
movement underway for the return of the Black Hills to the Lakota/Sioux people. While the
tribes were awarded monetary compensation for the Black Hills, Ostler (2010) states that they
have refused to accept it, believing that acceptance would legitimize “the government’s original
taking of the Hills” (p. 188). The Lakota/Sioux believe that if they continue their spiritual ways
the Hills will be returned to them in time, and they are prepared to wait for that day’s arrival.
Gerald Clifford, a Lakota man of the Pine Ridge Reservation, believes, “[w]e are going to have
spiritual possession of them. Time is not important.” (Ostler, 2010, p. 189). In the interim, the
Lakota/Sioux people continue to work for “greater access to the Black Hills and to protect them
from further damage,” such as logging in the Black Hills National Forest, and radioactive waste
from the old uranium mine which has been found in the Cheyenne River (Ostler, 2010, p. 189-
190). A 2008 Minot Daily News article reported that changes are being considered by the NPS
which could return control of a 208 square-mile portion of the Badlands National Park, known as
the South Unit, to the Oglala Sioux Tribe (p.1). According to the article, several options for the
Badlands National Park are under consideration, one of which would allow for shared
management of the area with more management duties being handled by the tribe, another would
turn management of the area over to the tribe allowing for technical help from the NPS, a third
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 19
option would give complete control of the South Unit to the tribe with the possibility of the area
becoming a tribal national park, and a final option being looked at would continue current NPS
management practices (Minot Daily News, 2008, p.1). The article further reports that “this is the
only national park in the United States where an Indian tribe owns the land and the NPS manages
it and the resources” (Minot Daily News, 2008, p.1). The period for public comment on the
options ended in October, 2010.
Another site of long-held Native religious significance in the Black Hills region is Devils
Tower National Monument, known as Bear’s Lodge to the Indians. According to the NPS
website for Devils Tower, over twenty tribes have potential cultural affiliation with the site, and
among them are the Arapaho, Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne, Kiowa and Shoshone. Ceremonial
activities which reflect the sacredness of the site have included prayer offerings, the Sun Dance,
origin and culture hero legends, and in the past, funerals. The Tower’s spectacular cracks,
however, make it a world renowned destination for climbers. The NPS acknowledges the
controversy this has created and state on their website that:
American Indians have regarded the Tower as a sacred site long before climbers found
their way to the area. Recently, American Indian people have expressed concerns over
recreational climbing at Devils Tower. Some perceive climbing on the Tower as a
desecration to their sacred site. It appears to many American Indians that climbers and
hikers do not respect their culture by the very act of climbing on or near the Tower.
In an attempt to encourage understanding and respect for cultural differences, the NPS proposed
a voluntary climbing closure during the month of June, a time when many traditional Native
American ceremonies, such as the Sun Dance, take place. According to information provided on
the NPS Devils Tower website, this effort has reduced June climbing on the Tower by 80%.
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 20
Burton (2002) notes that, what started out as a workgroup composed of NPS planners,
representatives from local and national climbing organizations and environmental organizations,
local government, and members of the Indian community, ended with an Appeals Court decision
upholding the NPS voluntary proposal. While some still climb the tower in direct defiance of the
voluntary climbing closure, “most climbers respect the cultural history and spiritual meaning of
the sites they climb to the same extent that they respect the rock itself” (Burton, 2002, p. 143).
According to Ostler (2010), another site in the Black Hills possessing “mythical and
religious significance” for Indian tribes is Bear Butte State Park, a place “where the greatest
Indian leaders had made their vision quests” (p. 175). The official website for Bear Butte State
Park states that “many Native Americans see the mountain as a place where the creator has
chosen to communicate with them through visions and prayer.” Many Native American tribes
request permission from the park service for the use of Bear Butte for “vision quests, Sun
Dances, and other religious purposes” (Ostler, 2010, p. 189). The current park manager, Jim
Jandreau, is a Lakota man who facilitates these requests and also helps to educate the public on
the need to respect the sacredness of this area.
From 2004, and until July 3, 2010, the Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National
Memorial was Gerard Baker, a member of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe. Baker was the first Native
American to hold the post of Superintendent with the NPS and his goal was “to nurture
understanding, and, one day, healing” (Ostler, 2010, p. 189). Judging by the positive response
from visitors to Mount Rushmore, awareness and understanding is taking place (Kent, 2008).
However, Mount Rushmore has been the site of many NPS/Indian/non-Indian conflict and
differences of opinion, and according to a PBS article, “[t]he insult of Rushmore to some Sioux
is at least three-fold:
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 21
1. It was built on land the government took from them.
2. The Black Hills in particular are considered sacred ground.
3. The monument celebrates the European settlers who killed so many Native Americans
and appropriated their land” (People & Events, n.d.).
Largely due to Baker’s perspectives and presence at the Memorial, positive changes are
underway. In 2008 a Native American heritage village was erected and staffed with Native
cultural interpreters. NPS officials had not previously discussed the historic presence of Native
Americans at Mount Rushmore and other park sites, but Baker and other park service managers
are encouraging these educational opportunities to take place. These changes, however, have not
been well-received by all members of society and many wonder if Mount Rushmore is an
appropriate place to educate the public on the topic of Native history in the area (Soderlin, 2008).
Questioning whether Native history fits in with the theme of Mount Rushmore, one local stated
that it is only being done to appease the Indians who want to feel that they are a part of it, while
another disapprovingly remarked, “we’ve got to add something Indian into every part of what we
do” (Soderlin, 2008, p 1). Baker understands that as Americans we enjoy the freedom to speak
our minds so he invites those who are critical of his ideas to meet with him personally. He sees
Rushmore as “a place for people to come and reflect on who you are as an American” and
stresses that his focus is not on how the government has wronged Native Americans, but rather,
on “interpret[ing] the history of Native life and faith in the Hills” (Soderlin, 2008, p. 1-2).
NPS Mission Statement
Challenges to Present and Future Use of Public Lands
The NPS must face issues concerning the disparities of preserving natural resources
versus accommodating cultural resources. To that end, the mission of the NPS is as follows:
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 22
The NPS preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the
national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future
generations. The Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural
and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the
world. To achieve this mission, the NPS adheres to the following guiding principles:
Productive Partnerships: Collaborating with federal, state, tribal, and local
governments, private organizations, and businesses to work toward common goals.
Citizen Involvement: Providing opportunities for citizens to participate in the decisions
and actions of the NPS.
Heritage Education: Educating park visitors and the general public about their history
and common heritage.
Yellowstone and other national parks are gradually recognizing the importance of working with
tribal governments in the formation of common goals. Allowing for citizen involvement in
certain of the parks’ decision making processes is an important step and is an essential element
of success. Some parks have been slow, however, to embrace the idea of heritage education
when it comes to incorporating Native American history into park information. With the
gathering and documenting of irrefutable evidence, the time has come for the NPS to update and
disclose the true history of Yellowstone’s, and other national parks’, first occupants. The myth,
presented by the NPS and “created, in part, to justify appropriation of aboriginal lands and the
genocide that befell native peoples,” claims that Yellowstone had been a pristine wilderness
completely devoid of humankind, (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 7). This account must be
revised to allow for the inclusion of those people who hunted, dwelled, utilized, and helped form
the area for thousands of years.
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 23
Considering “Traditional Use” Areas on Park Lands
Hunting and foraging, often on lands now set aside as national parks, was the way of life
for many American Indians until their removal to reservations changed this centuries-old
practice. Native rights to Yellowstone were recognized in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851,
where sections of what would become our first national park were deemed as belonging to the
Crow nation, the Blackfeet, and the Shoshone (Spence, 1999, p. 49-50). According to Spence
(1999), when new treaties called for the removal of these tribes from their lands, the treaties
stipulated that tribal members had “the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the U.S. so long
as game may be found thereon” (p. 50). Many plants, animals, and minerals, which have long
been important to the Indians for medicinal purposes, subsistence use, and sacred ceremonies,
are still found on park lands, and the rights allowing Indians to collect, hunt, or use these
resources should be restored.
Catton (1997) writes that, when Alaska’s national parks were created they were inhabited
by a people whose existence depended on hunting, trapping, and fishing, activities not typically
permitted in national parks, but a subsistence right which was guaranteed to Alaskan natives by
Congress (p. 3). This traditional use of public domain extends even to the authorization of
occupying cabins within park boundaries throughout the winter while trapping in the park, and in
the establishment of fishing camps throughout the summer months. As noted by Catton (1997):
in the formation of Alaska’s national parks one important principle gradually emerged:
American democracy would not be well served if the national parks oppressed this small
minority. The process involved a search for balance and commonality between the
interests of preservationists and those of resident peoples…. [To] prohibit subsistence
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 24
hunting would not only be undemocratic, it would in fact disturb the very natural
conditions that the national parks were intended to preserve. (p. 3-4)
George Catlin’s ideas from 1832, of setting aside lands that would protect both the hunters and
the hunted, had finally found acceptance in the formation of Alaska’s national parks.
The Future of Public Domain
Clearly there are no easy answers or quick fixes to the concerns brought about by the
creation of protected public lands. The trust relationship that the United States holds with Native
American tribes has been, and continues to be, a complicated one. Space does not permit a
detailed review of that relationship but, as Burton (2002) reveals, since the first removal of tribes
to “Indian Country,” their confinement to reservations, and the unsuccessful attempts at forced
assimilation and obliteration of tribal culture, the courts have allowed Congress to decide how
matters should be handled in the best interest of the tribes (p. 106). When these previous efforts
proved futile, Congress consented to the conditional self-governance of tribes, and the trend of
“greater tribal self-determination and gradual restoration of sovereignty” prevailed throughout
the twentieth century (Burton, 2002, p. 107). Beginning in 1978 with the American Indian
Religious Freedom Act, and followed by the 1990 Native American Grave Protection and
Repatriation Act, Burton (2002) believes that Congress had embarked on what he calls the “era
of atonement … in recognition of past abuses of the trust responsibility” (p. 107). However, as
revealed in the outcome of legal cases such as Lyng v. Northwest Cemetery Protective
Association, and Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, when it comes to public lands the courts and Congress
have not always acted in a sympathetic manner with regard to accommodating tribal interests
(Burton, 2002, and Burnham, 2000).
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 25
Time for Change
The authors of Restoring a Presence spent more than a decade investigating Native
American presence in the Yellowstone region and concluded their research by presenting their
findings and recommendations to park managers. While these recommendations were issued for
Yellowstone National Park they could be incorporated into plans for other parks as well. One
initiative Nabokov & Loendorf (2004) suggested was that:
park interpreters might “teach the debates” about sensitive or timely Indian issues, such
as access to sacred sites, procurement of culturally important natural resources, proper
treatment of buffalo, and respect for and reburial of human remains found in
archaeological sites. (p. 301)
Other Nabokov & Loendorf (2004) proposals included, “appointing an Indian advisory
committee, hiring Indian staff and interns, and instituting cross-cultural workshops” (p. 301).
Additionally, they proposed ethnographic research and archaeological surveying and site-
sampling of Yellowstone, and employing the use of Indian elders and students in the research
(Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 300).
Recently, tribal requests have been made for the authorization to collect “buffalo skulls,
plants, and obsidian for traditional, ceremonial purposes” in Yellowstone National Park, which
are being considered “on a case-by-case basis” according to Nabokov & Loendorf (2004, p.
302). Another issue of great importance to many Native Americans is the charging of entrance
fees to the parks. As of 2001, Yellowstone has revised its policy and now allows “affiliated tribes
to enter the park for traditional purposes without paying the recreation fee” (Nabokov &
Loendorf, 2004, p. 302). Annual consultation meetings are being held between park officials and
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 26
various tribes to discuss concerns such as bison management, wolves, sacred sites, interpretation
of ethnographic resources, and other significant issues (Nabokov & Loendorf, 2004, p. 302).
The NPS is faced with the complex challenge of addressing the needs of various pluralist
perspectives which include those of tribal representatives, business interest groups, outdoor
recreation enthusiasts, preservationists, and others, with each group having their own objectives
and values. While everyone’s needs cannot be simultaneously met, the park service must at least
show that these concerns are understood and respected. While the NPS stated their commitment
in 1987 to “respect and actively promote tribal cultures”, they are known to move notoriously
slow on issues concerning the Indian (Keller & Turek, 1998, p. 234). In the last decade, relations
have improved somewhat between Native Americans and the NPS but animosity is likely to
continue to exist on both sides since Native Americans want their land returned to them, or want
the opportunity to manage or co-manage it, while the Park Service feels they are the better
stewards of the land (Burnham, 2000, p. 311). Alaska’s ideas concerning inhabited wilderness
are certainly worth studying as revisions to the lower 48 states’ current park policies are
considered. According to Catton (1997), “[t]he new Alaska parks are striving (1) to protect
native cultures; (2) to satisfy wilderness preservationists; (3) to treat resident peoples justly; and
(4) to maintain pristine environments for ecological study – all at the same time”( p. 5). While
Alaska natives did not lose their lands as did the natives of the American West, they did lose
their aboriginal title to those lands. However, the laws protected their rights to continued
subsistence use of the land. Catton (1997) believes that a balance is being achieved between the
“inhabitants’ desire for freedom and the wilderness users’ desire for the primitive” (p. 220).
While there can be a wide range of differing viewpoints between Native American and
Euro-American cultures on matters of sacred spaces and public places, it is important to look at
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 27
the similarities first. Accommodating each group’s differences can only be achieved through an
understanding of shared desires and outcomes. As Burton (2002) so wisely stated, “[i]f the only
time there is contact is when there is conflict, such circumstances make it difficult to develop the
kind of mutual trust and respect that are necessary for genuinely accommodative planning and
management to occur” (p. 288). Cross-cultural discussions can offer the opportunity for groups
to learn about one another and to discover ways of working together to reach mutual objectives.
NATIONAL PARKS & AMERICAN INDIANS ~ PUBLIC PLACES & SACRED SPACES 28
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