Top essay penned by stellar sixth grader

Editor's note: The Knights of Columbus and Coeur d'Alene Press newsroom collaborated on this year's Patriotic Essay Contest. The first-place winner's essay is reprinted here. See today's Local section for the second- and third-place winners.

Winner: Hayden Zeimantz

Grade: 6th

Teacher: Kaye Kamp

School: Charter Academy

What Did the Lewis and Clark Expedition Do for My Family?

Many Americans have heard Lewis and Clark's story; there are many books about their expedition. Most of those books don't include the Native American's perspective. In this essay I will give you examples of how some Native Americans saw and pictured Lewis and Clark's expedition. My family is Native American so this may open your eyes to "a different story."

Gerard Baker, a member of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe, believes that many people think Lewis and Clark were the first ones to discover the new land; however, the Native Americans were already there. So, Lewis and Clark discovered and documented the journey for themselves. The Native Americans welcomed and trusted Lewis and Clark. They trusted the notion of the "great father." They were used to receiving gifts and hearing speeches because of the Frenchmen and British trappers and traders who had come before. The Indians were happy with the gifts they received from the white men: guns, knives and new technology. It helped them hunt and survive better. In return, the Native Americans' horses, food, and shelter were critical to Lewis and Clark's expedition. Lewis and Clark wouldn't have survived the winter without them.

When Lewis and Clark came they cleared the path so many other Americans could go west. As a result of this new route to new lands, the Native American culture went downhill. The people changed; once they had depended on the environment and the spiritualism of the land and later they depended on the traders and the military. What was the beginning for most people was the beginning of the end for the Native Americans. It wasn't Lewis and Clark's fault. No one could see the future and the negative change coming for one of our most cultural pieces of America. Lewis and Clark and the Indians believed in the treaties. Janus Murphy, my grandmother and member of the Nez Perce tribe, believes, "While some Native Americans agreed to move to reservations, some other Natives would not get pushed away from Mother Nature's land and the result ended up in violence. The reservations kept getting smaller and smaller as more white people came. The Native Americans didn't believe in 'owning' the land. They simply thought they were there to take care of Mother Nature's land."

In conclusion, I want to share one of Gerard Baker's quotes. He says, (we) "Need to understand that it wasn't just the opening of the west that people claimed it was, that it was a learning experience about new cultures. And the significance is that we must, when we look at these new cultures, even today, see how we changed them; there's both negative and positive things to that. See how they were. And therefore using those (things we learned) to learn how to live together. And help each other out."

I think there are good and bad things that came from our history. Even if it is history and we can't change it, we can still have time to consider another perspective.