Native American Knowledge Flathead Indian Reservation Tours Give Tourists A Look At Tribes’ Life And History

Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation are gearing up for another season of tours that inform people about Indian life and history through the words of people such as Mary Jane Charlo.

She takes tourists to places such as the St. Ignatius Mission and tells about her girlhood days at its old school. Charlo offers anecdotes about events such as the time she and a friend puffed on a cigarette in the choir loft of the church at St. Ignatius. Charlo confessed to a nun and expected punishment, but there was none.

“We were unsupervised a lot of the time there,” Charlo said. “I liked it a lot. I had more freedom there than I did at home.”

Personal stories are threaded throughout the information on tours offered by Native Ed-Ventures, part of the People’s Center operated in Pablo by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Charlo was the first guide hired by Native Ed-Ventures when it started in 1994. Business got off to a slow start that year and the next, but picked up last summer when 40 groups took guided tours.

Charlo, a University of Montana graduate, recently was named education director at the People’s Center.

“She’s our best guide,” said Marianne “Wally” Gopher, manager of Native Ed-Ventures. “She brings a lot of humor into it.”

Guides’ expertise is considered in making the tour assignments.

Visitors interested in anthropology might be guided by a professor from Salish-Kootenai College, and those interested in wildlife might be led by someone from the tribes’ natural resources office.

Tours most in demand have been those about heritage and history, Gopher said, but interest in powwow tours has risen. Tourists may stay with host families who become guides during powwows.

Prices vary with the tour. Options include a full-day tour, called “A Walk Through Time,” for $60.