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Salmon eaters Part II
POCATELLO - Darrell Tendoy bought his current war pony at a yard sale on the way home from fishing with his son.
It's cream-colored, over 20 years old and cost Tendoy $150. But the long Cadillac he calls ''war pony'' has never let him down. ''If you take care of your things,'' Tendoy said, ''they take care of you.''
Although old, and a little rusty in some places, the war pony carried Tendoy and his family all through Lemhi Valley - the land of their ancestors, the Lemhi-Shoshone Agai Dikas (salmon-eaters). The first stop Tendoy's Cadillac made at the Salmon River Agai Dika 100 Year Gathering was at Sacajawea Memorial Park, near the top of Lemhi Pass. That was the same place where his ancestors looked over the Lemhi Valley for the last time in 1907 as they were marched out of the valley to be relocated in Fort Hall.
On the way to the pass, the cream-colored car took Tendoy, his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law and grandson past Sharkey Hot Springs - a sacred area of his forefathers. They passed Alkali Flats, where Meriwether Lewis came face-to-face with 60 mounted Shoshone warriors in 1805. Finally, they arrived at the park where other descendants of the tribe had gathered after walking the 12-mile path to get there. Tendoy, the great, great, great-grandson of Chief Tendoy, couldn't make the trek because a recent stroke forced him to walk with a cane.
Near the park, a trickling spring known as the Most Distant Fountain marks the head waters of the Missouri River. To Tendoy and his people, it is the most sacred spot in the valley. ''This water is what gives life to everything,'' he said as he hobbled over to fill up bottles of the holy water to use in ceremonies back home in Fort Hall. ''Look at everything. Without water they wouldn't exist. Trees, humans, animals - everything.''
Once loaded back into the war pony, the Tendoy family continued back down the path, this time stopping at Agency Creek where Chief Tendoy was found dead on May 9, 1907. Walking along the dirt path by the creek Tendoy's relative, Rodney Weiser, told about that section of Agency Creek that Chief Tendoy loved to frequent.
''He was a drinker,'' Weiser said. ''He used to come up here and lay under the cracks in the rocks after drinking and just relax. I've been up here in the afternoon, and it's beautiful. There's a breeze that comes through, and it almost always rains in the afternoon. So being up here laying under a rock would have been really peaceful. I can see why he liked this spot so much.'' Off of Agency Creek Road is another dirt path- no fanfare, no signs, just a bridge crossing the creek and a sign advertising some land for sale. The cream-colored Cadillac bounced and rattled along the weed-covered dirt road, finally stopping in the middle of a vast prairie.
There, a 6-foot-tall stone monument has the name ''Tendoy'' engraved, along with the words, ''Erected by his white friends.'' The grave of the great Lemhi-Shoshone chief doesn't have the pomp and pristine of a national monument. It barely has a road leading up to it.
But to Tendoy and his family, it's one of the most important stops they'll make during the weekend gathering in Salmon. ''Every time I come here, I stop by my grandfather's grave to have a pipe with him,'' Tendoy said. ''And whenever we do, good things happen. We came up here to go hunting one time and we decided to come visit him first. After we got done praying here, we stood up and there was a big elk just standing there and my son shot it. Grandfather was watching out for us.''
From there, the Tendoys went to join the rest of the Lemhi-Shoshone commemorating the return to their homeland. They would go listen to legends around the campfire, share the oral history of their people with the young members of the tribe, and they listened to the elders speak to the Agai Dikas in the Shoshone language. But none of that would be as telling as the Tendoy's Saturday trip in the war pony. Without needing the explanations and the histories and the legends, the Tendoys showed in a few short hours that they were truly home. They saw the area as something more than real estate with property values - more than just coordinates on a GPS locator. They were living tributes to its history, and showed a desire to have that passed down to their children. Regardless of their address now, they showed why the still regard the Lemhi Valley as their land. By Adam Chambers achambers@journalnet.com Article RatingReader CommentsSubmit a CommentCommenting RulesWe encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.
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