1871

                                              1871
It was 1871 and a great clash of cultures had begun.
There were wranglers and packers, cooks and guests, and geologists.
There were topographers and photographers, hunters and artists,
And mineralists.
There were directors and assistant directors, physicians, general assistants, and secretaries.

There were some of unknown capacities, who came to the land of the people of the large beaked bird, the Crow, and the land of their neighbors, the Shoshone, the buffalo eaters, the deer eaters, the salmon eaters, the sheep eaters, and root diggers , the lands of the Bannock, the Flathead, the Nez Perce, the Snake, the Cree, the Blackfoot, the Piegan, the Sioux, and
The Cheyenne.

                                        I ain’t saying, this is the way it was.
                                        I’m saying this is the way I read it was.

It was the land of France, England, Spain, and the United States.
It was God’s county and it looked like hell freezing over.

It was 1871 and the Hayden survey of Yellowstone had begun.
There were promises made and treaties signed.
There were forts and reservation.
There was talk of gold and talk of war amoung the six nations,
And there was a divide between the young and the old .

Timothy and Jason of the Nez Perce signed a treaty.  Red Cloud signed a treaty.
Spotted Tail signed a treaty.
Crazy Horse, Black Moon, and Sitting Bull did not.  Joseph did not.
The buffalo did not.  The mountains did not.  The valleys did not.
The rivers and the creeks did not.  The sun and the moon did not.
And the stars of the big sky country did not.


                                      I ain’t saying, this is the way it was.
                                      I’m saying this is the way we thought it was.

It was the land of the Great Father, the land of the Great Spirit.
It was no man’s land.  It was scared land, and everyone wanted it.





The railroad men wanted it.  The congressmen wanted it.  The miners wanted it.
The prospectors wanted it.  The timbermen wanted it.  The ranchers wanted it.
The cattlemen.  The politicians. The towns people.  They all wanted the land.

They wanted the hide of the buffalo, the meat of the deer, the fur of the beaver,
The pick of the Elk.  They wanted the water, the grass, and the coal.
They wanted gold.
They wanted all they could find, all they could see, and all they could hold.


                                  I’m not saying, this is the way it was meant to be.
                                  I’m saying , this was the way it was then.

IT WAS 1871 AND A GREAT CLASH OF CULTURES HAD BEGUN.