Below is text and photo of Ron Pond from page 15 of the Sept. 2010 special “100 Years with the Pendleton Round-Up, The Nixyaawii Story” section of the Confederated Umatilla Journal, monthly newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, Pendleton, Ore. See the entire special section here.
Ron J. Pond
Tradition and leadership are family affairs for Ron J. Pond. His family’s roots in Round-Up date back to the beginning. It was Chief Amos Pond and two others who led people in the Indian participation in the first Round-Up in 1910.
Respected elders gathered to make decisions in earlier days.
“I think sometimes we lose sight of that in contemporary times. After the treaty of 1855 this idea of chieftanship still carried on with the people.
Government influence more or less took away that traditional leadership, kind of moving the people toward a more formal means of government rather than a traditional role. Everybody had a role in the old days.
“The leadership roles, you might say, were distributed among the people based on that elder guidance.”
During Round-Up, roles such as camp crier and whip man were important for leadership and maintaining tradition. Ron Pond remembers learning experiences with each.
“The camp crier, Andrew Allen, it’s so vivid in my mind … he used to ride around the whole encampment and talk in the Nez Perce language after what words he heard from the leaders given out to the community. As a little boy we were always running around and my aunt said, ‘Come in the teepee, sit down and listen, so we all had to go in the teepee and listen as he came around, and he had a real deep voice. We had to sit still. We had to sit still and listen.”
Ron Pond received the Happy Canyon appreciation award two years ago. It reflects a lifetime of participation, in roles such as one handed down from his grandfather, 2009 Hall of Fame inductee Willie Wocatsie, as one of the chiefs who greets Lewis and Clark.
“The first role we had was – my aunt, Susie Williams, she was my mother’s (Inez Wocatsie-Pond) older sister – she was in charge of us in that little teepee in that part where we all go dancing out … and that’s where I started, dancing out of that little teepee.”
As he got older, he took other roles, including performing for about 25 years in the pageant’s war party.
“Our generation, we all went to Round-Up in a baby board. We just grew up with the Round-Up, it’s something that just becomes a part of you.”
Now Ron Pond’s older son, Amos, takes his role. And his grandson, he said, counts the days until the next Round-Up as soon as the current one is over.
“It’s something that’s just a highlight of our year. Family reunion. Just something that we thoroughly enjoyed.”
Ron J. Pond
What are your family’s ties to Round-Up?
“My family ties to the Round-Up date back to 1910,
because Amos was a chief back then; not to mention
that Amos, Chief No-Shirt, and another chief
(Umapine) met and consented to having the people
move down to the Round-Up grounds.”
How consistent have Round-Up traditions been? Are there traditions continuing that started 100 years ago?
“The test our people had was emulating what traditions
the elder generation had, and carried them on into the future. In
recent years, some family elders have passed away, and the younger descendants have not followed what they did before them.”
What traditions have changed, or developed, gradually over the years?
“Horses were the trademark of the Round-Up and Happy Canyon for both Indians and cowboys, but as for the Indians, the horses became less and less through the years.”
How have families passed on and retained Round-Up and Happy Canyon roles and other traditions? How important to survival of Round-Up participation is preservation of family traditions such as Indian Village sites?
“The Happy Canyon roles are much the same as mentioned before, because family members pass on, and because of changes, some of the roles have been deleted … those ‘cuts’ have impacted the true spirit of the Happy Canyon show.”
The tradition of Indian participation has set Round-Up apart from other big rodeos for 100 years. How has that been important to the entire community, including the tribes?
“Modernization has taken its toll on what traditions have been practiced; like, cars and four wheel vehicles have replaced the horses, and now there's not much space for the horses to fit in like in the early years. Traditions are a template, but the people who once fit into it have passed away; like, the War Bonnet race during the Round-Up, the horses and travois gone from the Westward Ho! Parade, the abbreviated form of Indian participation in the Happy Canyon, and the camp crier absent from the Tee Pee Village."
the whip man teaches
And of course
… one was Tom
Johnson. He was what
we call a real whip
man, because he used
it on us and that’s why
I remember.
“A long time ago,
they had the Round-
Up blanket dances
on a Friday night. …
They had different
age groups, and I went
out with the wrong
one. And he came
behind me and he
just hit me across the
shoulder and right in
front of my legs. Yeah,
I went out with the
wrong group, and he
knew it.
“They had that kind
of respect.
Ron J. Pond
