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Leah Andrews
Coeur d'Alenes have people with vision

Lake is the 'heart' of Coeur d'Alene tribal people

By Lori Edmo-Suppah

WORLEY — Coeur d’Alene Tribal people believe Coeur d’Alene Lake is the heart of their country and it is everything to them.
That is why the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s ownership of the southern portion of the lake is so important, said Richard Mullen, Coeur d’Alene tribal council member and enrollment officer.
"We were always told by our own people that our councils never sold the lake and that is why we fought so hard," Mullen said.

"In my heart I can still see tribal people
conoeing up and down the lake and
that is why we fought so hard.
We never did give it up."


Richard Mullen
council member

Carrying on tribal traditions and documenting tribal history is important to Mullen, and prior to his current post as enrollment officer, he spent many years as tribal historic preservation officer.
"In my heart, I can still see tribal people canoeing up and down the lake," he said. "They’re singing songs." Mullen explained that singing while paddling calmed the travelers, especially during stormy weather, and that many of the songs they would sing were specific to certain families.
He learned the significance of his tribal culture from his late parents and grandparents. His late grandmother, Christine Zachary Ignace, was a great teacher. "When I’d go to her room she’d tell me stories," Mullen said. And she began his journey of keeping history alive. "I was lucky to be born at the right time," he said.
During the land allotment period in the late 1800s, Mullen said Catholic priests at the time convinced many Indians not to get land along the lake and to quit "pagan ways" such as fishing or gathering traditional foods.
"They wanted our old ways done away with but there were two tribal chiefs who held on to the very last moment and they had they’re homes burned down," he said. The chiefs’ families were physically removed to another area.
In the early 1920s, the Coeur d’Alene tribal culture continued to be threatened after a Catholic priest convinced many tribal families to burn their family heirlooms and quit practicing their culture so they could be devout Catholics.
"The priest told the people they could no longer wear buckskin and sing Indian songs," Mullen said. "They were told to bring their traditional things to the center of the village and burn it."


Warbonnets, buckskin dresses and baskets were some of the items. "They literally burned their culture," he said.
Fortunately, he said, there were some families who "put their culture underground" and took their things to the mountains and buried them until it was OK to bring them out again.
He said there was animosity between the two groups for a long time. Those who continued to practice their culture were frowned upon by those who were devoted to the church. It was a painful time, but their culture continues.
Mullen is a descendent of one of the families who buried their cultural items, and today he shares his knowledge with the rest of the tribe.
He’s learned family histories and the areas they utilized from tribal elders. He shares the information with the tribal people and encourages them to tell their young.
"It’s a big responsibility," he said.
Today the tribal council is utilizing tribal gaming revenues to purchase land along the lake to reconnect people with the lake.
Jeanne and Ray Givens do a round dance during the Lake Coeur d'Alene victory powwow last fall
at the Coeur d'Alene casino.
Ray argued the case in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jeannie is the former state legislator.


In addition, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe has declared the fourth Friday in October as a tribal holiday in observance of gathering water potatoes in the lake. It’s the last harvestable root of the digging season and it replaces Columbus Day, Mullen said.
"We fought to keep our homelands and this is a gift from God," he continued. "We still are a prayerful people and we share what we have."

A swimming and therapy pool are inside the Trib'e award-winning Wellness Center.
State of the art exercise equipmnet is also inside the Wellness Center.

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