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Published: June 22nd 2009
Chief Plenty Coups lead the Crow tribe into the 20th century. He had a trading post in his two story home. The home has been well preserved and lovingly cared for. I can't imagine how hard that must have been. All change is difficult! And this was no small change for him to lead his people into.
The town of Pryor is small. As I drove through it I was amazed at how much fun it would have been to grow up there. There were boys out riding their horses or bikes. The freedoms they have are far greater than what you find in 'civilized' places. I find such places far more civilized that what others do. They know that if they try to get away with something - Mom is going to find out, because someone is going to say something and they will get caught. Everyone knows everybody in such a community. It is defiantly the way a society should run.
The trip into and out of this small town was such a fun drive. It would have been a real blast in a small car with a stick shift. It is a switch back road coming
from the Lockwood exit into Pryor, a van just doesn't do justice to the road. You just need to watch out for deer and cows. It is open range in the area, so cows have the right of way. You hit it - you own it, not to mention all of the repairs.
Sweat Lodge
This is the bones of a sweet lodge. The lodge will be covered and heated up. It is a purifying process as it gets rid of the toxins in the body and it is part of their religion. When looking for answers they will go into a sweet lodge and take peyote to pray for answers. Seeing this brought back memories of my childhood. The sweet lodges were usually well hidden in the trees from prying eyes.
Arrow throwing
When I arrived there were men out in a field setting something up. They were setting up the field for an upcoming tournament for arrow throwing. The champs from the past year were there, Mr Darrell Lefthand and his son Darnell Lefthand. They were gracious enough to show me how the sport works and that because they had won the
past year's tournament they were given the right to have the tournament this year in Pryor. There is an arrow that is put in the ground and they throw another arrow at it. If it touches or comes down in the same place as the arrow, they score.
Some of the prizes were quite significant. For the adults tournament it was a $10,000 prize. For the youth it includes horses as prizes.
What a way wonderful to spend time with a parent and the father son bond was quite clear. There was pride and honor in the way they treated each other. I will post more pictures of this in the tips portion.
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anonymous
non-member comment
i know them