Lame Deer, Mt (WAAAY over there) – Out of nine percent of Montana’s land base, four hundred and forty-five thousand acres of those reservation lands is home to the proud Northern Cheyenne. On January eighteenth of this year the Great Spirit gave the Northern Cheyenne one more reason to be proud; this became the day that marked the grand opening of the one point four million dollar, nineteen thousand square foot Charging Horse Bingo and Casino facility.

On a reservation where roughly half of all eight thousand or so tribal members have the ability to, and often do, speak more than five words of their native language fluently. God was present in the overcast skies and cool temperatures as Mr. Spotted Eagle, sacred hat keeper of the nation, stood before a turnout of about one hundred people and offered a prayer on behalf of the nation and the Charging Horse Bingo and Casino facility.

While the Rose Bud Creek drum group performed a grand entry song, area elders sliced through red ribbon and a long procession of smiling bingo faces met the heart felt hand shake of Ho-Chunk tribal member Roger Snake as they crossed the threshold from the past into the present future of the nation wide Indian gaming industry.

Once inside the building, fresh paint, drop cloths and ladders are just as visible as the one-hundred video keno and poker machines. Over to the left of the main entrance new employees work their magic in the kitchen. Menu items include every thing typically found in a snack bar operation. Straight ahead of the main entrance is the five hundred-seat bingo hall.

Construction of the current facility began last June and was completed in just six months.

"In the past we’ve had to turn people away, there just wasn’t enough room." said David Roundstone, general manager. He was referring to the old Quonset hut that previously housed the Charging Horse gaming operation. "But with this new facility we should be able to accommodate everybody."

Chairman of the Gaming Commission, Glen Littlebird reflected on the fact that the idea of the present situation began a little over three years ago. He addressed the people by saying "because of Roger Snake’s knowledge and skill the Cheyenne Nation is now where we are at."

So just exactly what is it that operations supervisor Roger Snake and his six Cheyenne wives do? "Well, somebody has got to train them." He meant the assistant manager and everybody else that is employed at Charging Horse casino, not his Cheyenne wife and her five sisters, you understand.

Prior to coming to the Northern Cheyenne reservation, Roger Snake worked for the Winn-A-Vegas Bingo and Casino operation of the Winnebago tribe of Nebraska. Before that he worked in the gaming operations of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin. Since nineteen eighty-three Mr. Snake has been employed in the gaming industry; the last nine years have been spent specializing in bingo operations.

Roger’s involvement with the Charging Horse bingo and casino operation happened pretty much by chance. A few years back the Snake family, while living in Winnebago, Nebraska, had taken a weekend off to visit mother-in-law. When they arrived in Montana they were made aware that mother-in-law was not in good health and that she needed twenty-four hour respite care.

There was no one able to perform the service in that capacity so Roger and Mary Jane decided that they would stay and help her out, otherwise mother-in-law was on her way to a nursing home. Several attempts to have Winn-a-Vegas lay him off failed. They simply did not want their man to get away, but finally after a month Roger was laid off. He then was hired at the Charging Horse.

This might be viewed as an amazing feat in light of the fact that the Northern Cheyenne like to hire only those birds with the same kind of plumage as themselves. And that might have something to do with him getting laid off a month later.

Shortly after that Roger was rehired on a temporary basis. They must have liked what they saw because he was then offered a permanent position. Two years later the Charging Horse Casino and Bingo facility has SNAKE written all over it.

During the grand opening festivities, Eugene Limpy gave an explanation of the Charging Horse logo. The casino is currently situated off highway two-twelve, a stone’s throw from that location is Squaw Hill. This is the site where two Cheyenne warriors, Head Chief and Young Mule, rode to their deaths in a hail of gunfire from the U.S. cavalry.

It was September of eighteen ninety when Head Chief and Young Mule killed and butchered a cow from an area rancher. At that time food was getting scarce. The rancher, wanting to confront those responsible for the theft of the cow, was killed in an argument.

The authorities knew it was an Indian killing and Head Chief, fearing rations for the entire tribe might be cut off until the killer was apprehended, confessed but refused to give himself up for hanging. The Cheyenne’s believed that the rope around the neck prevented the escape of the soul with the last breath. He offered to meet the army as a warrior on the next ration day, September thirteenth, eighteen ninety. Young Mule insisted that he would go with Head Chief. With the cavalry lined up on the agency grounds, Head Chief rode down from the top of Squaw Hill north and east from the agency, directly into the cavalry’s fire and was cut down. Young Mule’s horse was killed at the outset of the skirmish and he came down on foot. He reached the brush and the trees of Alderson Gulch before he too was killed by gunfire.

Editor’s note: During the course of the grand opening celebration, Roger (emceeing) asked his older brother Norman to talk on his behalf. You know, a round of "a-ho’s" and stuff like that way.

The body of Norman’s talk amounted to something like this:

Waaay back in the olden days there was a wagon train crossing the plains when suddenly the wagon master stopped the wagons and summoned his scouts.

"Ya, what do you want?," they asked.

"See that column of smoke over there?"

"Smoke, what smoke?," they replied.

"That smoke over there," he said pointing.

"We don’t see no smoke!"

"That smoke WAAAY over there," the wagon master said. "Go see what that’s all about."

So they rode off and some time later that night they came back to report to the wagon master.

"There’s a huge bonfire out there and a bunch of crazed Cheyenne’s dancing around like they was on the war path and they was singing a song with a word in it that sounded something like ‘dija maw in’."

The second scout says "Ya, and they was real ornery looking. Especially that drummer. Boy, I sure don’t like the way that drum sounded!"

Right then, off to the left of the scouts and the wagon master a deep Indian sounding voice came out of the darkness, "He’s not our usual drummer, our usual drummer went to bingo."

Question: How do you say ‘bingo’ in Cheyenne?

Answer: dija maw in.

Pronounced: did yer ma win?