BeaverCreekProd.com
Title
Beaver Creek Productions - Genuine hand crafted products by American Indians
Description
Beaver Creek Business Biography
My name is Bruce Gillette. My Indian name is Wee-da-meeda-Geegeenish (Hidatsa), Afraid of the Fire. My name comes from the Arikara side of my family. It was my father's mother's grandfather's name on her mother's side. In the Arikara tradition one of my uncles on my father's side would have to name me. As it is I don't have any uncles on that side, so I had to go to my last remaining Arikara Grand Mother for this problem and to find a solution. Thus it came to be, I got the OK for one of my Hidatsa Grand Fathers to give me my name.
I grew up in the Twin Buttes segment, located on the south side of the Fort Berthold Reservation in west central North Dakota. I graduated from boarding school at Stephan, SD. I attended Dickinson State College, Fort Berthold Community College and finally graduated from Minot State University.
The tanning business stems from a dream I had several years ago. In my dream, I saw the tanning business as a way of bringing back an art form or way of life that was as important to the survival of our people as wood was for fire, the rivers were for water, and the winds are for the air we breath. If it was not for the Buffalo that were so abundant hundreds of years ago, my relatives would not have been able to live, and I would not be here today. Tanning is what I would like to pass on to my children and the next generations.
