"when Lewis and Clark were coming down the Columbia River and they wanted to trade or they wanted to approach the village in friendly way, they were always approaching the wrong people. They would pick out somebody who they thought was chief and we didn't really have chiefs here we had councils in which the women sat and also made decisions. When it came to trade the women were actually very good at trading so it was really the women that Lewis and Clark should have been contacting for trade but they didn't." (Pat Courtney Gold interview, 2003)

All interviews conducted by the Lifelong Learning Project, Continuing Education, The University of Montana, 2001-2004.