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Baptiste KaeKaeshe, of the Pend d’Oreilles tribe, was chief of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana.
He appears to be wearing a Hudson Bay Company coat.
Written on back in French "Le grand che kae ake she".
Based on CYKO photographic paper used, dates it to 1904-1920
Some light yellowing on the back. One rust spot.
(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the card for sale)
In the accompanying the picture Chief Kae-Kae-She is evidently pondering the bleakness of his changing world. So long as he lived he resisted the changes that inevitably came to the reservation with the coming of white settlers. All his efforts could not stem the tide of changing times, nor can ours today. Baptiste Kae-Kae-She (Spotted Foot) first became a public figure when he was appointed to become one of three judges to serve on the Flathead reservation court, organized in July, 1855. The other two judges were Joseph (Grizzly Bear Stand Up) and Louison (Red Owl). The judges were paid seven dollars a month. Their duties consisted of issuing rules to govern the conduct of tribal members. Their authority overthrew the judicial function of the tribal chiefs. In 1908 Kase-Kae-She, Sam Resurrection, and Charles Moolman, wrote twice to President Roosevelt, protesting the opening of the reservation. Late in 1908 these three men went to Washington, taking Jack Sundown as interpreter. At that time Kae-Kae-She was seventy-three years of age. There is also record of a second trip. In 1909 the same three men sent a petition with 134 names to the commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington. All their efforts and protests were to no avail. In 1910 the reservation was opened to white settlement. Dedicated to a cause for the sake of his people, but defeated by the onrush of civilization, Kae-Kae-She's name stands today as a symbol of dignity in defeat.
http://www.oregonpioneers.com/bios/JeanBaptistePeone.pdf
