Amelia Trice

Who was Amelia Trice?

Amelia "Amy" Cutsack Trice was an Native American leader from Idaho.

Born in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Trice was the chairwoman of the Kootenai Tribal Council. In 1974, while chairman, the Kootenai tribe declared war on the United States of America.

In the 1930s, the Kootenai Indians lived in tipis near Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Their allotment lands had been dissipated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A local physician managed to persuade the government to build eighteen houses. These had running water, but no bathing facilities, which were provided in a community center. By the 1970s nothing had changed. The Bureau of Indian Affairs asserted that the tribe had too small an enrollment to qualify for any assistance. Amy Trice decided to do something about it.

Declared on Sept. 20, 1974, the Kootenai War began when

... tribal members set up informational pickets and asked for 10-cent tolls on U.S. Highway 95 on the north and south sides of Bonners Ferry ... "The state police came with Mace and sawed-off shotguns," Trice said at the time. "The closest thing we had to a weapon in our tribal office was a fly swatter." Trice had an ace in the hole. She said she was prepared to call the American Indian Movement for help, the same organization that had gotten into an armed standoff at Wounded Knee, S.D., a year earlier.