Lewis and Clark through Indian Eyes by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.

Abstract

has usually been discussed in the context of scienceversus religion, with littleconsideration of lawsgoverning federal agencies responsible for managing cultural resourceswithin aNa tional Register Archeological District. Most of those lawswere ignored in theKennewick Man case. A historian can view thepast dispassionately in the interestof representingitas accurately as possible. This book cries out foran opinion to be formed and a course of action to be taken in order to righthorrible injustices. Clearly, the author is sympathetic inhis presentation of Indian history. This book can help bring a better understanding of Oregon history to non-Indians, and I highly recommend it for thatpurpose. David M. Liberty StreamNet Library,Portland, Oregon LEWIS AND CLARK THROUGH INDIAN EYES editedby AlvinM. Josephy, Jr. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2006. Illustrations, photographs, maps, notes. 214 pages. $25.00 cloth. No non-Native looms larger in thehistoriog raphy of indigenous people in the West than Alvin Josephy,who is now deceased. In an introductorynote toLewis and Clark through Indian Eyes, Josephyasserts that the idea for thisbook took rootwhen he was researching his path-breaking volume on theNez Perce Indians over forty years ago. Certainly no one can disagree now, let alone a generation ago, that there isa cryingneed tohear "thevoice of the Indians themselves" in Western history,and no one couldmore crediblyassemble a team of Indian observers tohelp answer thatquestion than Josephy (p. ix). Accordingly, this isby anymeasure an ac complished anthology. Nevertheless, Josephy perpetuates themodern myth that tribalper spectiveswere, orwere likelytobe, absent from theLewis and Clark Bicentennial observance. A number of tribal dignitaries have taken is suewith thatsupposition inpost-Bicentennial assessments of thecommemoration, including Gerard Baker, aMandan-Hidatsa officialwith theNational Park Servicewho for most of the commemoration was superintendent of the National Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. Given their nature as a literary form, anthologies inevitably enlist the interest of readers to varying extents, and several of the essays collected here are more valuable than others. The volume appropriately commences with the now also deceased Vine Deloria Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), the foremostNative scholar and activist of his generation. Deloria addresses a question frequently invoked in assessments of the history of the West since Lewis and Clark, which is essentially: Given the tide of Euro-American immigration into the region,how might thehistory have turned out differently? He interposes that a salutary "alternative history"may have taken the form of theFrench-Indian model, which unlike the American one, did not aim to "duplicate the Old World" in thenew (p.12). Assuredly the most enterprising essay,both figuratively and literally, is Bill Yellowtail's "Meriwether and Billy and the Indian Busi ness."Yellowtail (Crow)makes thecase thatthe "Indian side"of theLewis and Clark storyisthe "entrepreneurial spirit" thatNatives brought to the encounter (p. 73). Essentially taking the stance of a tribal libertarian,Yellowtail asserts thatmodern Indians, "having succeeded for certain in implanting'Tribal Sovereignty' inthe national language,"now need toprecipitate an "evolution to thenext paradigm, which might be entitled 'Indian Sovereignty'" (p.74). By this hemeans to call forth theflowering ofNative individual accomplishment in such fields as petroleum engineering and other business enterprises,which provides an outlet for in dividual Indians in addition to opportunities within theirgovernments.Doing sowould tap into the "enormous intelligence, resourceful ness and creativity" otherwise ensconced in 132 OHQ vol. 108, no. 1 what he termsthe"tribalofficial/tribal attorney reservoir"of talent (p. 80). The essaybyRoberta Conner (Confederated Tribes of theUmatilla Indian Reservation), ti tled"Our People Have Always Been Here," isthe centerpiece of the compendium and is simply repletewith insights.On its merits alone, her essay is worth buying thebook. Methodologi cally,Conner develops theNative perspective on several episodes that occurred during the Expedition's passage through the Columbia Plateau as preliminarily defined by excerpts from the explorers' journals, some ofwhich are rather famous inscriptions. In analyzing, forexample, William Clark's startlingcomment ofOctober 19,1805, thathe could have "toma hawked every Indian here," the central phrase in the episode with the "fritened Indians" near present-day Plymouth,Washington, Conner has itright when she asserts thatthe sentiment Clark is expressing isnot the aggressiveness it appears to be at face value. Rather, she states, "[f]or amoment Clark feelsno vulnerability, and he is aware of...