100 Years Page #2

He said, "Mad Dog,

you know what's happening?"

I said, "No."

He said, "They're coming

in at nighttime,

emptying that tank.

And just drive out.

Nobody there to catch them."

And I go out there,

and you can see the tire tracks

of the truck.

This is a quarter...

little over a quart of oil

in this one.

There's no meter on this.

We have no idea how much is

being pumped out of this.

See? They can take

what they want, you know,

and get away with it.

And the B.I.A.

won't do nothing.

It's like talking to a post

when I talk to them.

[Elouise] My parents lived

quite a ways out in the

country, a rural area.

So, all of our neighbors

and relatives would

come to visit,

and stories would always

come out about,

"I can't get my money

from the Indian agent,"

and I would think, in my mind,

"This must be

an awful mean person,

this Indian agent."

[Leon] All the money

from the oil company

went to the superintendent,

which he kept a ledger sheet

that showed

how much money you had,

but, every time you wanted

to spend some money,

you had to go and ask him

if you could spend this.

If you heard

he was in a good mood,

he'd be going around

whistling,

and they figured, when they'd

go through the door,

if they heard that,

it was gonna be

a good day for them.

But, if it was all quiet...

If you wanted to buy a cow,

you had to go to the person

that owned the cow.

You made the deal.

You found out

the price of the cow.

You went to the agency,

you said,

"I want to buy this cow,

this milk cow,

to help my family."

It was just awful,

and that was his own money.

Like he said, my grandmother

begging for her own money,

so she could set a good

Christmas table for the kids.

[woman's voice]

Dear Mr. Hector,

I'm writing you a few lines,

asking if you would send us

$25 for Christmas.

Our children are coming

to eat dinner with us.

Now, I want you to be sure

and mail it to us

so we will get it Friday,

if you please.

Yours truly,

Mr. & Mrs. Mose Bruno.

And right here, this is

the famous Grisso Mansion.

This was built in the 1920s,

or around the same time

that oil was found also

on my great grandfather's land.

While my great grandfather was

being swindled

out of his money,

you can see what

that family was able

to do with their oil money.

I've never been

this close to it.

It makes me even more angry

to be this close to it.

[Elouise] The Blackfeet people

call this "Ghost Ridge."

Right in this particular area,

over 500 Blackfeet died

from starvation.

There was an old agency,

where the Indian agent

was housed

to make sure the Indians didn't

get off the reservation,

and that was right down...

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