Big Hole National Battlefield Administrative History

Chapter Six:
Interpretation

The most significant change in the battlefield's interpretative program from 1987 to 1997 was an increased emphasis given to the Nez Perce point of view. Not since the McWhorter period in the 1920s and 1930s had there been such a concerted effort to include the Nez Perce "voice" in site interpretation. Indeed, Congress specifically mandated that the Nez Perce people would be consulted on interpretation of all park sites – including Big Hole National Battlefield – in the Nez Perce National Historical Park Additions Act of 1991. Even before that legislation was passed, the Park Service moved to involve the Nez Perce tribal leadership (through its governing body, the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee) and Nez Perce individuals in various issues of interpretation and cultural resources management at Big Hole National Battlefield.

Jock Whitworth contributed enormously to the increased Nez Perce presence at Big Hole. Beginning in 1988, he recruited Nez Perce to serve as seasonal interpreters. Whitworth believed that the best way to achieve "balance," or at least a presentation of both the soldiers' and Nez Perce's point of view in the battle, was to include both military historians and Nez Perce tribal members on the interpretive staff. In his previous position at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Whitworth had recruited American Indians from three local tribes who provided cultural demonstrations. [35] In his first year at Big Hole, Whitworth hired Lem Mitchell as the first seasonal interpreter from the Nez Perce Tribe. [36] In 1989, he hired Ernestine Slickpoo as a Nez Perce Cultural Demonstrator. In 1990, Whitworth appointed permanent ranger Kevin Peters under an Indian Hiring Preference Authority. Peters was descended from Nez Perce who had participated in the battle. In 1991, Whitworth added Wilfred "Otis" Halfmoon to his staff under a cooperative education grant. Halfmoon was a descendant of an honored Nez Perce warrior killed in the battle. Halfmoon's position was renewed the next year. In 1992, Peters transferred to Nez Perce National Historical Park and Halfmoon was hired to fill the vacancy at Big Hole. Halfmoon transferred to Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area in 1993, and then to Bear's Paw Battlefield in 1994, where he served as the first on-site ranger. Halfmoon and Peters made important contributions to the visitor experience. Whitworth described Halfmoon's presentations as "very emotional and memorable," and reported receiving many positive comments from visitors. [37]

Five years after Halfmoon and Peters left the Big Hole staff, the future of Nez Perce employment at Big Hole remained uncertain. For reasons unrelated to Big Hole, the Park Service lost its earlier ability to hire seasonal interpreters under the Indian Hiring Preference Authority. That reversal, coupled with the fact that few Nez Perce tribal members were readily interested in a Park Service career, made it difficult to recruit more Nez Perce onto the staff. Although other tribal members had served on the staff of Nez Perce National Historical Park, those staff positions were located closer to tribal members' homes on the Nez Perce Reservation. First Montana Unit Manager Buchel, then Big Hole Superintendent James, wanted to continue Whitworth's efforts in bringing Nez Perce interpreters to Big Hole, but the opportunities had narrowed. Moreover, after the unit reorganization in 1994, the superintendent of Nez Perce National Historical Park rather than the superintendent of Big Hole was primarily responsible for fostering relations with the Nez Perce Tribe. The superintendent of Nez Perce National Historical Park had a big advantage being located nearby the Nez Perce Reservation. [38]

Whitworth sought to involve the Nez Perce Tribe in other areas of interpretation besides staff presentations. Traveling to Lapwai, Idaho, he established official contact with the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee (NPTEC). He soon developed personal friendships with Al Slickpoo, a recognized expert on Nez Perce culture, and Horace Axtell, Nez Perce historian. He worked with Axtell on interpretation of the Nez Perce Trail. Traveling to Nespelem, Washington, he invited input from the Joseph Band of Nez Perce who resided on the Colville Indian Reservation. Among the latter group, he developed important lines of communication with two distinguished members of the band, Joseph and Soy Redthunder. [39] Subsequently, he consulted Joseph and Soy Redthunder on such interpretive matters as a draft script for a new audio-visual presentation. The Redthunders also spoke at the annual memorial ceremony held at Big Hole National Battlefield each August. [40]

The growing involvement by the Nez Perce Tribe enriched the interpretive program in many ways. With Whitworth's encouragement, Nez Perce assumed a conspicuous role at the memorial ceremony held each August on the anniversary of the battle. As Otis Halfmoon recalls, Nez Perce participation in this event revived in 1989 thanks in large part to the promotional efforts of NPTEC Chairman Wilfred Scott. Scott succeeded in getting the Nez Perce Tribe's local post of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to take a lead role in the annual preparations. By the early 1990s, Nez Perce participation was so strong as to practically dominate the event. As the annual event continued to evolve, Wilfred Scott recognized the need to involve local VFW posts in the Bitterroot and Big Hole valleys as well as the Nez Perce-dominated VFW post on the reservation so that non-Indians would take part in the ceremonies. [41] The Frontier Soldiers Association and similar groups were another fixture at the annual memorial ceremonies, with members dressed in period uniform explaining to visitors what the daily life of an enlisted man was like in Idaho and Montana territories in 1877. This complemented the cultural demonstrations provided by Nez Perce men and women. [42]

By the mid-1990s, consistent Nez Perce participation in the annual commemorative ceremony at Big Hole seemed assured. Unit Manager Sue Buchel reported in 1994 that the event featured Nez Perce cultural demonstrators, drummers, dancers, and a poet. In addition, Nez Perce members of the VFW held a special pipe ceremony at the Encampment Area, beside the North Fork of the Big Hole River. [43] Another notable addition was made to the event in 1995 with the performance of the "empty saddle ceremony." In this ceremony, five appaloosa horses with empty saddles were paraded on the battlefield, each horse representing a chief and band who were present in the Nez Perce flight of 1877. The event marked the revival of a ceremony that had not been seen on the Nez Perce Reservation for many years. [44]

While Nez Perce participation was the most significant development in Big Hole National Battlefield's interpretive program in the late 1980s and 1990s, Jock Whitworth introduced a number of other changes too. Whitworth's approach to interpretation was markedly different from that of his predecessor, Al Schulmeyer. Whereas Schulmeyer believed that the visitor should have a choice to experience the battlefield either with or without an interpreter, Whitworth believed it was the Park Service's responsibility to initiate visitor contact. He eschewed a program of formal guided walks in favor of "roving interpretation." According to the new approach, interpreters circulated among the visitors – both on the trail system and on the visitor center floor – eliciting visitor questions and providing interpretation in a face-to-face context. [45]

Consistent with this more assertive approach to visitor contact, Whitworth also placed new emphasis on educational outreach. He invited guest speakers to the battlefield, gave slide talks about the battle and the history of the War of 1877 in western Montana communities, encouraged school groups to visit the site, and shared educational materials with area schools. In April and May 1989, the staff conducted a series of outreach programs at Wisdom School, 10 miles east of the battlefield. [46] Montana Unit Manager Sue Buchel and Superintendent Jon James continued the programs begun by Whitworth. [47] In 1995, some 1200 students visited the site on school field trips in May and September. Invited speakers included Douglas McChristian, historian at Little Bighorn National Battlefield, in 1995, and Professor Edward T. Linenthal, author of Sacred Ground: Americans and their Battlefields, in 1997. [48] In another instance of off-site interpretation, the staff at Big Hole cooperated with Beaverhead National Forest in providing campfire programs at the May Creek Campground located on the national forest about 7 miles west of the battlefield. [49]

For years the annual commemoration of the battle in August marked the climax of the busy summer season for the battlefield's interpretive staff. Jock Whitworth took the event to a new level in 1989 when the event was held in conjunction with various Montana statehood centennial events, drawing 4300 tourists over a two-day period. Whitworth arranged to have a day devoted to interpretation of the soldier's life on the frontier, featuring performances by "living history" experts from throughout the West, followed by another day dedicated to Nez Perce cultural demonstrations and commemoration of the Nez Perce participants in the battle. [50]

The Big Hole staff developed other commemorative events as well. Unit Manager Sue Buchel organized an event on May 21, 1995 to commemorate the 85^th anniversary of the proclamation of Big Hole National Monument. Activities centered around interpretation of what the Big Hole Valley was like in 1910. Community volunteers portrayed early 20^th century ranch life with demonstrations of the beaver-slide hay stacker and the use of draft horses. Staff from Bannack State Park offered visitors a chance to pan for gold. Park Service staff from Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site demonstrated blacksmithing on the open range. Forest Service staff talked about the life of an early days ranger. The Big Hole Cattlewomen's Association provided a lunch. Volunteers from the Beaverhead County Museum lectured on early travel in the Big Hole Valley. [51]

A decade after Whitworth revamped the interpretive program at Big Hole, there were certain projects long discussed or called for in park planning documents still remaining to be done. Starting with Whitworth, unit managers all agreed that the interpretive markers on the battlefield – the cartoonish-looking soldier's hats and warrior's feathers – were outdated and inappropriate and needed to be replaced with something else. [52] Superintendent James oversaw development of a plan to update these markers. The plan was to pull them all out, replacing a limited selection with unobtrusive metal cylinders to show in a more suggestive manner the positions of the combatants. [53]

Unit managers also shared frustration over the failure to get a new audio-visual program completed. The effort to produce a new AV program was initiated in 1989. The battlefield received $25,000 out of the Rocky Mountain Region's exhibit repair/rehabilitation funds for a new program and equipment. The Park Service contracted with Far West Communications, Inc., of Missoula, Montana, to produce it. Although the Park Service received a satisfactory first draft of the script by April 1990, the project stalled. The Park Service's Harper's Ferry Center (HFC) insisted on a larger role in the project after it was started, creating a funding shortfall. As Whitworth explained the situation in July 1990, "Originally we were informed that we could have it produced through HFC or through area production companies. We requested bids from three companies, awarded the bid and selected the equipment, and received the first draft of the script when I was notified that we would have to go through HFC and change the format and equipment." [54] Whitworth reported in November 1991 that "efforts to restart the stalled video project were successful," and he noted "donations of national quality footage of the Nez Perce sites by Channel 9 TV in Denver." But some time thereafter the project again stalled.

Unit managers Buchel and James continued to remind their superiors of the need for this program. [55] Finally in January 1998, James met with Anne Tubiolo of HFC, Marie Marek of Nez Perce National Historical Park, and documentary filmmaker Chris Wheeler, whose company, Great Divide Pictures, had taken over the project. By now the Park Service had invested $45,000 and it seemed that another $52,000 would be needed to finish the video by May 1999. Wheeler had completed a script, but there was unanimous agreement that the video needed interviews and a professional interviewer. [56]

The struggle to get a new AV program done highlighted another element in the battlefield's interpretive program: the Park Service wanted to tie interpretation at Big Hole National Battlefield more closely to the broad interpretive themes of Nez Perce National Historical Park. Increasingly, the Park Service sought to introduce visitors to a wider story and encourage them to seek more information at other related sites. The unique configuration of Nez Perce National Historical Park demanded such an approach. With the establishment of a "Montana Unit" including the Bear's Paw and Canyon Creek battle sites, the need for an effective interpretive web was more pressing than ever. By the mid-1990s, plans were underway to redevelop the visitor center exhibits and park brochure in order to reflect the relationship of Big Hole National Battlefield to all of the sites in Nez Perce National Historical Park. [57]