Bitterroot Crossing

Thorough history of the Lolo Trail, an ancient route used by American Indians as well as by Lewis and Clark. Includes cartobibliography.

"From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." These words of Chief Joseph concluded a thousand-mile odyssey of 750 Nez Perce adults, children, and their elderly. Pursued by the US Army and Cavalry, the Nimiipuu fought battles, crossed the forbidding Bitterroot Mountains with their herds, and maintained their humanity and heritage against overwhelming odds. Bitterroot is dramatized history, giving voice to Joseph, Looking Glass, White Necklace, Half Man Half Woman, Howard "The Christian Soldier," Calamity Jane, and Yellowstone Kelley--providing a mirror with which to see ourselves today. It portrays a conflicted America: racism, religious intolerance, and greed at war with liberty and equality. Such an epic story reminds us of our common humanity. "It is for the young generation behind us," said Yellow Wolf. "I want the next generation of whites to know and treat the Indians as themselves."

A love triangle that crosses centuries . . . For Nick Crush, the only thing cool about his town, Bitterroot Crossing, is the gang of outlaw ghosts that rise occasionally from the town's swamp. But when he finds himself competing with the most notorious spirit and his own ancestor, Zedekiah Crush, for the affections of Jessie Sterling, suddenly the whole ghost thing isn't so cool. Jessie Sterling inherited her great-great-grandma's shorter left leg and incredible beauty, a beauty that a century and a half earlier sparked a love triangle that ended in tragedy. Now Jessie leaves the safety of her grandma's farm to attend high school in town . . . and Bitterroot Crossing will never be the same.

A love triangle that crosses centuries . . . For Nick Crush, the only thing cool about his town, Bitterroot Crossing, is the gang of outlaw ghosts that rise occasionally from the town's swamp. But when he finds himself competing with the most notorious spirit and his own ancestor, Zedekiah Crush, for the affections of Jessie Sterling, suddenly the whole ghost thing isn't so cool. Jessie Sterling inherited her great-great-grandma's shorter left leg and incredible beauty, a beauty that a century and a half earlier sparked a love triangle that ended in tragedy. Now Jessie leaves the safety of her grandma's farm to attend high school in town . . . and Bitterroot Crossing will never be the same.

2019 High Plains Book Award Winner for the Creative Nonfiction and Indigenous Writer categories In Bitterroot Susan Devan Harness traces her journey to understand the complexities and struggles of being an American Indian child adopted by a white couple and living in the rural American West. When Harness was fifteen years old, she questioned her adoptive father about her “real” parents. He replied that they had died in a car accident not long after she was born—except they hadn’t, as Harness would learn in a conversation with a social worker a few years later. Harness’s search for answers revolved around her need to ascertain why she was the target of racist remarks and why she seemed always to be on the outside looking in. New questions followed her through college and into her twenties when she started her own family. Meeting her biological family in her early thirties generated even more questions. In her forties Harness decided to get serious about finding answers when, conducting oral histories, she talked with other transracial adoptees. In her fifties she realized that the concept of “home” she had attributed to the reservation existed only in her imagination. Making sense of her family, the American Indian history of assimilation, and the very real—but culturally constructed—concept of race helped Harness answer the often puzzling questions of stereotypes, a sense of nonbelonging, the meaning of family, and the importance of forgiveness and self-acceptance. In the process Bitterrootalso provides a deep and rich context in which to experience life.

Provides facts and information about the travels of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and their Corps of Discovery and its importance in relation to Native Americans and the westward expansion in the United States.