Whiskey Creek

Whiskey Creek

A place memorialized for a sad chapter

...settlers got wind that some of Tu-eka-kas' band
.....had just been sold a keg of illicit whiskey...

.......and, fearful of drunken indians
.......took the whiskey and made libation to the fish.

Of course we don't memorialize offenses

to the first peoples themselves...

.....camps occupied, lands taken, root gathering sites

.......rooted out by settlers hogs, horses taken,

.......and personal affronts . . .

There used to be burials of old ones

....at the base of the butte between the old camps,

.....and it used to be easy to winter at the hot springs

.......where elk gathered to bathe and graze,

.........Euro-settlers took those, too.

Now... we celebrate the return of indians

...as long as it conforms to our standards,

.....though whiskey is still an issue, on whiskey creek,

.......and they need to bow to our star and artifacts.
.........Perhaps, time will make some difference

Most of todays' local supporters for a home-site

...for distant and dis-enfranchised Ni-mee-poo

.....are locals and non-bloods though many of us

.......carry bits of the genotype, that too is well hidden.

.........Someday we may be able to celebrate our humanity.

-- R.Anderson