Chapter 3 Coming To Montana

You live with yourfather and stepmother .Your stepmother is verystrict and makes you domany chores .Your country is at war .You are about to bedrafted into the Army .You have always livedin the same town withyour grandparents,parents, aunts, uncles,cousins, brothers, andsisters .Your grandma is tooold to move to a newcountry .You want to earnmoney to buy a farm .You are lucky and finda good job at home .Your neighbors do notunderstand yourreligion .You have spoken outagainst the government .You are scared you aregoing to be arrested .Your town haswonderful parks,concerts, and museums .You want to earnenough money to moveout of your parents’house .Most of your friendshave moved toAmerica .You and your brotherinherited the farmjointly . The two of youdon’t get along .You are scared to sailacross the ocean .You don’t have enoughmoney to pay for yourpassage .You love the landscapeand architecture of yourhome .

Part 2: Montana’s First PeoplesTime: 1-2 hoursOBJECTIVESStudents will be able to: Explain the roots of Métis culture and that Métispeople still live in Montana today. Apply the concept of push-pull factors to themovement of the Northern Cheyenne, Sioux, andMétis to Montana.MATERIALS Classroom sets of Montana: A History of OurHome, also available online. “Who Are the Métis” PowerPoint Computer and projector Butcher paper or white board to create aclassroom Immigration Chart Immigration Chart Answer Key, (below, p. 170) Exit Ticket, (below, p. 122) Montana: Stories of the Land, by Krys Holmes(Montana Historical Society Press, 2008),optionalASSESSMENT: Exit TicketPRE-LESSON PREPARATION Download and review the “Who Are the Métis”PowerPoint and gather the materials listed in theMaterials section. Gain background knowledge on the fur trade byreading Chapter 3 and Chapter 5 of Montana:Stories of the Land. Copy and cut out Exit Tickets Create a large chart, titled Immigration, onbutcher paper or the white board with thefollowing columns:0 Era/Time Frame0 Group0 Push Factors (Pressures)0 Pull Factors (Incentives)0 Effects Review the Immigration Chart Answer Key fora model of a completed chart (you and yourstudents will probably not add exactly the sameinformation/answers on your chart).Teaching Notes: You will be adding information to theImmigration Chart throughout the rest of the unitso make sure you create it somewhere that you cansave it. If students did not complete Part 1 of thisunit, have them read the introduction to “Comingto Montana” as well as the sections “Montana’sFirst Peoples” and “The Fur Trade.”The student reading uses the federally recognizednames for Montana tribes rather than the names thetribes call themselves. Students can learn the namestribes call themselves on MontanaTribes.org.ProcedureStep 1: Read and Watch to Find Out1. Alone or in small groups, have students readthe first two sections of “Coming to Montana”(through “Montana’s First Peoples”).2. Introduce students to the large chartyou created as outlined in the Pre-lessonPreparation. Complete the first row of theImmigration Chart based on the informationprovided in “Montana’s First Peoples,”modeling how to do it with a “think aloud.” Puta question mark in the “Effects.” Hold a classdiscussion: Can you draw on prior knowledge to addinformation? Do you have hypotheses? (Use sticky notesfor these.) Where could you go to answer thisquestion/check your hypotheses? Ask for hypotheses: Who do you think camenext? And why? What was the pull factor?Step 2: Show the “Who Are the Métis” PowerPointTeaching Note: As you show this PowerPoint,onetechnique that you may wish to incorporate toencourage analysis of select images is VisualThinking Strategies. A great way to engage studentsin analyzing images, the technique uses openended questions and paraphrasing “to createMONTANA: A HISTORY OF OUR HOME119

student-driven and engaging group discussionenvironments.” It also encourages students to backup their ideas with evidence “while considering andbuilding off the contributions and perspectives oftheir peers” (vtshome.org). If you are new to thetechnique, you can find a PowerPoint explainingit here. Brief instructions for implementing thetechnique can be found on page 00.Who Are the Métis? PowerPoint ScriptSlide 1. Title slide.Slide 2. We often hear of a group in Montanareferred to as the Métis (may-tee). Let’s lookat where the Métis story begins. Here we seea map showing parts of the United States andCanada. The imaginary line that separates the twocountries is the Forty-ninth Parallel, also knownas the Canada/U.S. border. To the Métis and otherindigenous (native to a place) peoples of Canadaand the United States, it is sometimes known as“The Medicine Line.”Slide 3. The Métis (may-tee) are a distinct groupof people who grew out of the fur trade, whenEuropeans came to what’s now Canada in the1600s. French-Canadian trappers and otherEuropean fur traders married and lived withNative women. Their descendants (children andchildren’s children) developed a new culture thatmixed elements of both European and indigenous(native) cultures. They became known as Métis.Slide 4. Métis people can trace their ancestry backto First Nations (the people who were firsthere) and European trappers or settlers (mainlyFrench, Scottish, and Irish). In Canada, the Métisare recognized as Aboriginal Peoples (peoplewho lived in a land from the earliest times) underthe Constitution Act of 1982, along with the FirstNations and Inuit peoples. In Montana, they aresometimes also known as the Little Shell Tribe ofChippewa Indians.Slide 5. As the fur trade grew, intermarriagesbetween First Nations women and European furtrappers increased, so by the 1780s, a new culturalgroup emerged. Because children born to thesemarriages didn’t belong wholly to the culturegroup of either parent, they soon began to blendthe two cultures together, establishing their owndistinct communities, combining First Nations andEuropean traditions.Pause and, as a class, analyze this picture. How do you think these people are feeling? What do you see that makes you say that? What emotions is the artist, Sherry FarrellRacette, trying to communicate?Slide 6. Known at the time as the “in-between” people,the Métis served an important role by helping tobuild relationships between Euro-Americans andIndian peoples. Because they spoke and understoodthe languages of both their mothers and fathers,they were able to provide information and help thetwo groups communicate with each other.Pause and, as a class, analyze this picture. What’s going on here?What do you see that makes you say that?What more can you find?How do you think this relates to the Métis?Slide 7. French-Canadian voyageurs (boatmen)and the Métis were the main labor force of the furtrade. They paddled canoes and carried suppliesto the fur-trading companies and became knownfor their distinctive style of dress. Typically, theywore a capote (coat), toque (hat), a beaded pipebag hung from a multi-colored sash, and leathermoccasins. They usually wrapped the sash aroundtheir waists like a belt, but when needed, it couldbe also used as a tow rope or a fastening line. It wasso commonly worn by Métis men that it becameknown as the Métis Sash. This style of dress carriedon through the Métis culture.Slide 8. The Métis people and their communitieswere connected through the fur trade. Through thisshared way of life, they established their own styleMONTANA: A HISTORY OF OUR HOME120

of dress, language, music, dance, and symbols. Hereyou see a good example of the mixing of culturaltraditions. The clothing is a combination of FirstNations and European styles.Slide 13. Along with every culture comes dance, andthe Métis have a wonderful way of combining all oftheir heritages into their dancing. This video will giveyou a history of the way their dancing came about.Ask: What can you find that reminds you of Nativefashion? What can you find that reminds you ofEuropean fashion?Slide 14. The Métis Nation in Canada has its own flag.The flag was a gift from Alexander MacDonell of theNorth West Fur Trading Company in 1814 and hasbeen used to represent the Métis ever since. The flaghas a blue background and a white infinity symbol.The infinity symbol represents the mixing of theEuropean immigrants and the First Nations peoplesand symbolizes that this culture will live on forever.The woman on the left wears a dress with an“empire waist,” while the woman on the right wearsa paisley shawl, both of which were fashionable inEurope in the early 1800s when this picture waspainted. The man wears a European-style coat andhat, with leather leggings and moccasins along withthe Métis sash.Slide 9. Métis women also developed a distinctivestyle of beadwork that featured patterns of flowersand leaves. They used it to decorate special items ofclothing and even gear for their horses. Their stylewas so admired that the Métis even became knownas the “flower beadwork people.”Slide 10. Besides their colorful sashes, the Métiswere identifiable by the two-wheeled carts theyused. They were known as Red River carts becausethey were invented in the Red River area of Canada.The Métis used these carts when they huntedbuffalo. They sold both the hides and the meat tothe fur-trading posts. These carts were often drawnby oxen, but mules and horses were also used, likein this photo. Notice the fresh buffalo hide lacedover the rim of the wheel. When this hide dried,is became very hard and served to hold the wheeltogether, giving it a longer life.Slide 11. The Métis also developed their ownlanguage, combined from their culturalbackgrounds (mostly Cree and French). It is calledMichif (pronounced mi-chif). Here you see thewords for common Montana animals and thenames they are called in Michif.Slide 12. Music was especially important to theMétis, especially fiddle music. Fiddles wereoriginally European instruments.Slide 15. In Montana, Métis heritage is represented inthe flag of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indiansof Montana. It was created by James Parker Shieldin 2006. In addition to a buffalo and eagle staff,which represents the tribes’ Chippewa heritage,the flag has a “fleur de lis” (the yellow symbolon the red background) representing members’French heritage, and a shamrock (green on white)representing their Scottish and Irish heritage.Step 3: Read to Find OutHave students read “The Fur Trade,” pp. 25-27 ofMontana: A History of Our Home.Step 4: Discuss, Chart, and Conclude1. Have students discuss in pairs/small groups:What new information should be added to theImmigration Chart?2. Through class discussion, decide whichinformation to add about the Métis. Save thechart so you can add information throughoutthe unit.Teaching Note: Students will not be able to completeevery part of the chart with the information theyhave. As you and your students complete thischart, feel free to share (and add) backgroundinformation not covered in the lesson and/or putquestion marks where you don’t have information(and ask students, “How could we research this”?)3. Have students complete the Exit Ticket.MONTANA: A HISTORY OF OUR HOME121

Exit TicketName:Write something you learned about the Métis.Write a question you still have about the Métis or about the fur trade.Exit TicketName:Write something you learned about the Métis.Write a question you still have about the Métis or about the fur trade.Exit TicketName:Write something you learned about the Métis.Write a question you still have about the Métis or about the fur trade.

Part 3: The Next Big Pull Factor: PreciousMetalsTime: 4-6 hoursASSESSMENT: Exit TicketOBJECTIVESPRE-LESSON PREPARATIONStudents will be able to: Apply the concept of push-pull factors to theMontana mining booms. Use primary and secondary source evidence todraw conclusions. Describe what life was like for new immigrantson the gold-rush frontier. Name some of the many countries Montananscame from and locate those countries on a map. Access information on a chart. Evaluate the benefits and negative consequencesof mining.Teaching Notes: Consider supplementing this unit byhaving your students pan for “gold.” Find a lessonthat describes how to do this—called MotherlodeGold Mining—in the “Gold, Silver, and Coal, OhMy!” footlocker (see Additional Resources, p. 303).If you did not complete Part 2 of the unit, you willneed to create a large chart, titled Immigration,on butcher paper or the white board with thefollowing columns (see example on p. 170): Exit Ticket (below, p. 129) Montana: Stories of the Land, by Krys Holmes(Montana Historical Society Press, 2008) optional Download and review the “What Would YouBring” PowerPoint. Copy and cut out Exit Tickets. Review the Immigration Chart Answer Key fora model of a completed chart (you and yourstudents will probably not add exactly the sameinformation/answers on your chart). Gain background knowledge on the gold rush byreading Chapter 6 of Montana: Stories of the Land,optional.Teaching Notes: If students did not complete Part1 of this unit, also plan to have them read theintroduction to Chapter 3, “Coming to Montana”Montana: A History of Our Home.Depending on the attention span of your students,this PowerPoint may be too long to view in onesitting. Consider showing the PowerPoint insmaller sections.ProcedureStep 1: ReadAlone or in small groups, have students read“Mining” and “Settlers Used the Land in a NewWay,” pp. 27-28 in Montana: A History of Our Home.Have them make notes on what information shouldbe added to the Immigration Chart created for Part2 of this unit.Era/Time FrameGroupPush Factors (Pressures)Pull Factors (Incentives)EffectsLesson 1: Life on the Gold Rush FrontierTime: 1 hourMATERIALS Classroom sets of Montana: A History of OurHome, also available online. “What Would You Bring?” PowerPoint Computer and PowerPoint Projector Classroom Immigration Chart, created in Part 2 Immigration Chart Answer Key (below, p. 170)Step 2: Watch to Find Out1. Tell students they are going to learn moreabout what life was like on the gold-rushfrontier by taking a virtual field trip to thePioneer Cabin in Helena.2. Show the PowerPoint “What Would You Bring?Emigrant Families on Montana’s Gold-RushFrontier” following the instructions and script,below.MONTANA: A HISTORY OF OUR HOME123

Step 3: Exit TicketHave students complete the Exit Ticket.Step 4: ChartAs a class, add another row to the ImmigrationChart. Based on the reading and the PowerPoint,work with students to record the era (1862-1870s),groups (people from the East, Midwest, andCalifornia, China, Germany, and Ireland), pushfactors (Civil War in U.S. and China), pull factors(gold), and effects (created towns, farms, andmines; people made money; blocked Indian accessto traditional hunting lands; cows ate grass thatbison needed).What Would You Bring PowerPoint ScriptNote: The first seven slides provide backgroundinformation about Pioneer Cabin and travel toHelena in the 1860s. The Pioneer Cabin (212 SouthPark Avenue, Helena) is now a museum managedby the Montana Heritage Commission. For moreinformation call 406-843-5247.Slide 1. Families that came to Montana Territoryhad long, difficult journeys and parents had a lotto worry about. Keeping their children healthy,making sure they had enough to eat, and keepingthem safe were big concerns. The trip westtook careful planning. There was room for onlythings that were necessary. Whether traveling bysteamboat or by covered wagon, it was importantto think ahead and carefully plan what to pack.Many families came to Helena in 1865. This is howthe town looked. The bare hill in the center is wherethe fire tower would later be built.Slide 2. A visit to the Pioneer Cabin in Helena is agood way to experience what is was like to live ina log cabin in remote Montana. Built at the timeof the gold rushes to Montana in 1864 and 1865,the cabin is now a museum filled with things thatMontana pioneers brought west. The Pioneer Cabinis really two cabins joined together. Originally, theywere two separate houses.Slide 3. The back part was built first. Wilson Buttswas a bachelor from Missouri who came to LastChance Gulch—the original name for Helena—toseek his fortune. He staked a claim here in thesummer of 1864 and spent the winter mining thestream that ran through his claim. Look carefully atthe photo. You can see from the ground-in dirt thatWilson has the hands of a miner. In the spring of1865, he sent for his brother to join him.Slide 4. Jonas and Louanna Butts arrived withtheir three daughters, Derinda Jane, ArmindaEllen, and Sara Anne—ages 14, 10 and 7. The familybuilt the cabin’s front room.Slide 5. When the Butts family arrived in 1865,Helena’s main street looked like this. False frontscovered log buildings and the dirt streets weredusty and flooded when it rained. Helena was abusy place and when the freight wagons, picturedhere, arrived, it was a great event. Freightersbrought everything you can imagine from pianosand building supplies to candy to sell in the stores.Slide 6. The Butts family lived in the two cabins forseveral years. The cabins were eventually connectedto form one home and several other families livedthere during the 1870s. George Mitchell, picturedin the wagon, was a bachelor who lived in the cabinthe longest, from 1903 until his death in 1937.Slide 7. After that, citizens cleaned up the cabin andthe house next door. They gathered donationsfrom the families of Helena pioneers and created thepresent museum. They hired a caretaker to live nextto the cabin. Although a caretaker no longer livesthere, it is still called “the Caretaker’s House.”Slide 8. It’s interesting to look at all the thingsinside the two-room Pioneer Cabin because theyteach us what people valued 150 years ago and whatthey brought with them when they came west. Acookstove was one important luxury. While youcould cook on an open fire—and Jonas did cook onan open hearth when he first lived in the cabin—acookstove made mealtime much easier. This stovehas a side oven and four top burners and comescompletely apart. The parts fit neatly in a box forMONTANA: A HISTORY OF OUR HOME124

packing in a covered wagon.Slide 9. A cast-iron pancake griddle made pancakesall the same size.Slide 10. You could cook eggs or bacon on the plainside of the griddle at the same time.Slide 11. A heavy cast iron cornbread or biscuitpan was an essential kitchen tool.Slide 12. Louanna Butts brought a cow with her fromMissouri. There were very few cows in MontanaTerritory in 1865. The cow wore a bell like this oneso that she could always tell where the cow was.Louanna was famous for her butter and sold manypounds of it to the miners in Last Chance Gulch.She packed the butter in salt and kept it cool incrocks in an underground cellar.Slide 13. One essential tool was a coffee grinder.T

26 Montana: A History of Our Home here. Indians and European-American fur trappers and traders shared many survival techniques. Many trappers established very close relationships with Indian tribes, and many married Indian women. A new culture of people was created through intermarriages. Th