LUTHER PEPPER AS CHIEF ALLEGAWAHO - "One day, a man from Washington came to our village and said that we should scratch another paper that would give us a reservation in the Neosho Valley. That this land in the Neosho Valley would be ours as long as the grass shall grow and the waters shall flow. So we came here."
Narrator: THE KANSA, OR KAW INDIANS CAME TO THE NEOSHO VALLEY IN 1847. TWENTY-SIX YEARS LATER, THE KAW WERE BANISHED, NOT ONLY FROM THE RESERVATION, BUT FROM THE STATE THAT BEARS THEIR NAME.
Narrator: IN 1992, HISTORIAN RON PARKS WROTE "VOICES OF THE WIND PEOPLE". A PLAY THAT TELLS THE STORY OF THE KAW INDIANS, PRIOR TO THEIR REMOVAL TO INDIAN TERRITORY IN 1873.
RON PARKS , CURATOR, KAW INDIAN MISSION HISTORIC SITE "The primary story is the history of the Kaw, or Kansa Indians. The secondary themes are the Santa Fe Trail and the early day history of Council Grove. It so happens that those three things all intersect at this place, Council Grove, because the Kaw were placed on a reservation here in 1847 and the Santa Fe trail went right through that reservation. And then, in the 1850's, the town of Council Grove began to grow right there on the Kaw Reservation. So you've got three very vital, historically significant components to this production."
"The two key characters are Chief Allegawaho, who's the head chief of the Kaw from 1867 to 1883. The other narrator is Seth Hayes. And he is known as the first Euro-American resident of Council Grove. And he gives a rather conventional, white person's point of view in terms of the history."
SETH HAYES - "So to avert big-time trouble from a brewin' with the redskins, the gov'ment decides to send out some commissioners to treat with these savages."
ALLEGAWAHO "Long ago, the ancient ones lived in the sky. They desired to know their origin, the source from which they came into existence. They went to the sun. He told them that they were his children. Then they wandered farther and came to the moon. She told them that she gave birth to them, and that the sun was their father. She told them that they must leave their present abode and go down to the earth and dwell there."
AT ONE TIME, THE DOMAIN OF THE KAW INDIANS COVERED MUCH OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF KANSAS. IN 1825, THE KAW WERE PLACED ON A RESERVATION, AND THEIR RANGE WAS GREATLY REDUCED TO MAKE ROOM FOR IMMIGRANT TRIBES ARRIVING FROM THE EAST.
IN 1847, THE KAW SIGNED ANOTHER TREATY, RELOCATING THEM TO THE NEOSHO VALLEY. BUT THERE WOULD BE NO PEACE FOR THE WIND PEOPLE.
PARKS: "There's considerable friction between the Kaw and the Euro- Americans. A lot of that is precipitated by the sense that the white people who came in here wanted the very best land. They would make the land productive. The Kaws were letting the land lie idle. Therefore, it was theirs by that right."
"And actually, by 1858 there were as many as 900 to 1000 white people living here illegally on the Kaw reservation. Which was a 20 mile square reservation with Council Grove being inside the boundaries of the reservation."
Narrator: THE GOVERNMENT WAS NOT ABOUT TO MAKE THE SQUATTERS MOVE, SO IN 1859 THE KAW SIGNED YET ANOTHER TREATY, FURTHER REDUCING THE SIZE OF THEIR RESERVATION.
SETH HAYES: "Course, another thing about diminishin' the Kaw reserve was to put the town of Council Grove outside of reservation land, cuz it don't exactly square with the law of the land to have this here town plunked right smack in the middle of an injun' reservation."
Narrator: 1859 WAS A PARTICULARLY BAD YEAR FOR THE KAW. NOT ONLY WAS THEIR RESERVATION DRASTICALLY REDUCED IN SIZE, BUT TWO OF THEIR BRAVES WERE LYNCHED BE AN ANGRY MOB FOLLOWING AN ALTERCATION IN COUNCIL GROVE.
Narrator: BY THE MID 60'S TRAFFIC ALONG THE SANTA FE TRAIL HAD DIMINISHED, BUT COUNCIL GROVE CONTINUED TO GROW AND PROSPER. BY 1873, THE RAILROAD, LOCAL CITIZENS AND OUTSIDE LAND SPECULATORS WERE ALL LOOKING TO ACQUIRE THE KAW RESERVATION. Narrator: ALLEGEWAHO - "The whites have come here as a swarm of locusts, building cabins and breaking the soil on land that is not theirs. All this they do though their own laws forbid these very things."
SETH HAYES - "Rumor has it that the Secretary of the Interior will be comin' here for a final treaty makin' with them injuns that'll send em' packin' outa here forever. And when that happens, we will have cleared out the final obstacle remaining on the road to progress and Christian civilization."
ALLEGEWAHO - "Tomorrow, though we do not wish it to be, we must leave this valley, for the great father in Washington has said that this will be done."
Narrator: VOICES OF THE WIND PEOPLE IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE, AND BRUTALLY HONEST. THE PLAY HAS BEEN WELL RECEIVED BY THE CITIZENS OF COUNCIL GROVE, EVEN THOUGH IT PAINTS A RATHER UNFLATTERING PICTURE OF SOME OF THE TOWN'S FOUNDING FATHERS.
MARY BARKER CO-CHAIR, "VOICES OF THE WIND PEOPLE" "The people are glad we are telling the story, although it is painful to hear, or painful to do at times. I think they're glad that we are telling the story."
"The first year we had about 1100 people, on a two night performance. And this year we hope to see at least 1600 people on two nights."
PARKS: "You know, there's got to be 80 or 90 citizens of Council Grove involved in producing this . This is a town of 2200. And then you have at least 25 Kaw Indians here working with us. So, we've got a cast and crew of over 100 working on this production and that tells me that there's considerable support."
LUTHER PEPPER, VICE-CHAIR OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE KAW NATION "We've made some pretty close friends over the last number of years since we've been coming up here. I think it's been a positive kind of situation here for both the Kaw people and the residents of Council Grove."
ALLEGEWAHO: "Someday, come to these hills in solitude and sit with a quiet mind and an open heart. Let the earth speak, and perhaps then you will hear the voices of the wind people."