Peg,

Do you suppose your community will discover one day that they've been living on their own version of Love Canal? We're so unconnected to the land these days that we rarely seem to know what happened on the land before our houses were built there. I asked around when I bought my house--this used to be part of a farm. But that isn't necessarily reassuring. A lot of stuff that isn't good for people and the rest of the natural world can be used in the name of farming practices. The movie Erin Brockovich for many Americans probably feels like an incidence of "there but for the grace of god go I. . ."

Here's a little summary of the Chief Seattle speech situation from the Urban Legends site:

In the Dec 1992 issue, an article by Linda Marsa covers the topic. Briefly:

Chief Seattle was a Suquamish Indian and was a skilled orator and diplomat. But the words popularly ascribed to him were penned by Ted Perry, a screenwriter, for "Home", a 1972 ABC film about ecology.

Chief Seattle did speak eloquently in 1854 (in his native dialect), according to accounts, but translations of his remarks weren't published until 30 years later, by Chief Seattle's "self-appointed Boswell", Henry Smith. In the 30's authors tinkered with the Smith's version. By the time Perry first heard it, at the first Earth Day, the speech had been significantly altered. Perry incorporated the essence of Seattle's sentiments in a script he wrote for the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.
According to Perry, the film's producers Christianized Seattle's sensibilities and dropped Perry's name - despite his protests- from the script, which left the impression they were Seattle's words.

The thing is littered with flagrant anachronisms, of course. The transcontinental railroad wasn't completed until 15 years after the speech, the great buffalo slaughters didn't peak until 1872, seven years after Seattle's death, and bison never lived anywhere near Pugot [sic] Sound.

The citation for the first article that exposed the author of the Chief Seattle speech follows:
Database: WorldCat
Title:             "A whole religious concept"?: Chief Seattle's speech(es) : American origins and European reception: almost a detective story /
Author(s):          Kaiser, Rudolf, 1927- ; Seattle,; Chief,; 1790-1866.
Publication:       Hildesheim : Nortorf,
Year:               1985
Description:       48 p. ; 29 cm.
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:         Indians of North America -- Land tenure.
                   Human ecology.
                   Suquamish Indians -- Land tenure.
Named Person:       Seattle, Chief, 1790-1866 -- Authorship.
Responsibility:    Rudolf Kaiser.
Document Type:      Book

Here is a link to the Ted Perry speech.

SRS