Naming the West : Stories High River Medicine Tree

High River Student Story 1:
Medicine Tree

All of a sudden, I came upon a tree, with feathers and all different things hung on it. Then I saw why. The tree and a different tree were connected, ten feet off the ground. Not only that, but there was man, a Blackfoot man, bowing down to it. Then he noticed me.

You wonder why I am bowing down to this cottonwood tree. It’s a safe place for me and my people.

As me and Travis over here grew older, we established the Round T Ranch, which the Medicine Tree was on. 

But the medicine tree grew older too and in the fifties the tree was knocked over in a big windstorm. At least today there is a piece of the Medicine Tree in George Lane Park.

I have also been told that there is a piece of the Medicine Tree at the High River Museum, and often times people just come to rub their hand on it for good health.