NO. 7 SOHON S PORTRAITS OF INDIANS — EWERS 3I 



Victor faced probably the most difficult problem of his life. He 

 had agreed to the one reservation proposal. He knew, on the one 

 hand, that Alexander's people were loath to leave the T^Iission and 

 might not follow their chief if he agreed to move to the Bitterroot 

 \'alley. On the other hand, Victor knew that his own people were 

 divided in their opinion. Moise, the Flathead second chief, was op- 

 posed to any land cession whatever. Bear Track, the powerful medi- 

 cine man, refused to leave the Bitterroot Valley. Many of his people 

 were still hostile to Missions and might refuse to follow him if he 

 agreed to move to a reservation near St. Ignatius. His own position 

 as chief was not strong. Should he make an unpopular decision, that 

 position might be lost. Not only his own future but that of his tribe 

 was at stake. Victor refused to be stampeded or shamed into a 

 decision. 



When the Council reopened on July i6, Victor offered a masterful 

 compromise. He proposed that Governor Stevens send "this word to 

 the Great heather our Qiief — come and look at our country ; perhaps 

 you will choose that place if you look at it. When you look at Alex- 

 ander's place and say this land is good, and say, come Victor — then 

 I would go. If you think this above is good land, then Victor will 

 say come here Alexander : then our children will be content. That 

 is the way we will make the treaty, my father." (Ibid., p. 309.) 

 Although the Fend d'Oreille would not accept this proposal, Governor 

 Stevens accepted it as applicable to the Flathead only. The com- 

 promise was embodied in the Flathead Treaty as Article XL 



\'ictor emerged from the Council with greatly increased prestige. 

 By the terms of the treaty he had been made head chief of the Flat- 

 head Nation, comprising all the tribes party to the treaty. His com- 

 promise, which permitted the Flathead to remain in their beloved 

 homeland until and unless a careful survey showed that the northern 

 locality was better land, was popular with his people. 



During the remainder of the period in which the Flathead were 

 without a Mission. \'ictor made periodic visits to the Fend d'Oreille 

 Mission to fulfill his religious obligations. A number of his tribesmen 

 went with him. When St. Mary's Mission was reestablished in the 

 fall of 1866, it was in answer to the request of Victor, whose faith 

 had never faltered. 



For the rest of his days Victor made his home in the Bitterroot 

 Valley, and his people did not desert him for the reservation to the 

 north. He opposed every efTort of the Government to get him to go 

 on the reservation, even after white settlers took up land in his valley. 



