the importance of n. a. culture

“But for the E* and the A* this land is home, a place where over centuries their ancestors developed he techniques necessary for exploiting the surprising diversity of resources that exist in these harsh conditions” (Feest, 30, 2000).

“Meanwhile, environmental activists have attempted to protect the seemingly untouched, paradise wilderness by also attacking the traditional hunting and fishing rights of the original population” (Feest, 30, 2000).

Sarah Winnemucca wearing her self-designed lecturing costume, c. 1880, Nevada. Historical Society, Carson City NV.

Even before her first public political lectures, Sarah Winnemucca had gained some stage experience.When she was 20, she, her father, and her sister staged “tableaux vivants” (living images) of I* life on stages in Virginia City (Nevada) and San Francisco. Their presentations were set in an imagery landscape and included scenes front the actors’ everyday life. On her lecture tours, her eloquent use of the English language astounded her while audience. Journalists called her ‘a princess’ and ‘the new Pocahontas.’

“Her success may have been due to the fact that she was the daughter of the N* P* chief Old Winnemucca and that P* women, the breadwinners within their families, were extremely self-confident” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“In interviews and speeches she never tired of criticizing the patronizing attitude taken toward her people by corrupt officials of the Bureau of I* Affairs who exploited their positions for their own benefit” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“‘If this is the kind of civilization awaiting us on the Reserves,’” she once said, “God grant that we may never be compelled to go on one’” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“In 1876, after the N* P* were removed to the fittingly so-called) Malheur reservation in Oregon, they fell into the clutches of Agent William Rinehart, who confiscated the meager earnings of their still fledgling farming activities and who found it unnecessary to consult the P* before leasing the best part of their lands to whites” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“In doing so, he drove many of them into the arms of the Bannock, who in 1878 revolted against the whites” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“Although Sarah had the assurance of the Secretary of the Interior that the P* could return to their homeland, Washington decreed that the P* were not to be freed under any circumstances” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331)..

“Her explosive temper, their unhappy marriages, and the inclination, among the P* for gambling provided ample fuel for such malicious rumors” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“The sisters helped Sarah finance her school project in Nevada, where the P* children she taught bilingually made remarkable progress” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

“Sarah Winnemucca died, sick and disillusioned,  in her homeland in eastern Idaho in 1891” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 331).

A grass hut and a shade, Northern Paiute, Nevada, 1958.

The supporting framework of these grass huts is identical to that of the mat-covered houses, expect that here additional poles are placed against the framework which is covered with bundles of long grass tied to it in them manner of a grass skirt.

If people were planning to stay in one place for a longer period of time, they would also build a shade, whose roof was likewise covered in grass. This construction included a drying rack used to hang meat and fish up to dry. Women carried out most of their daily tasks under the shade.

“Northern P* grooms simply moved in with their brides”  (Kammler, 2000,  p. 328).

“The mother-to-be gave birth to her child in a birthing hut that was furnished with heated stones or warm ash” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 328).

“If a son was born, the father was required to place the umbilical cord on the tracks left by a mountain goat or in a rabbit barrow, to ensure the boy would become a good button” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 328).

“If a daughter was born, the umbilical cord was placed on an anthill or in a prairie dog hole, to ensure that the girl would become as diligent in those animals” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 328).

“The most significant time for a young adult male would be his first kill, which he was not allowed to eat himself, but would ceremoniously hand to his grandmother or great aunt” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 329).

“Boys were not allowed to eat the game they caught (not were the boys’ parents) until they married” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 329).

“Uncrossable abysses or a chasm between heaven and earth, at the edge of the world, were obstacles for the mugua” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 329).

“People kept away from burial grounds, and when leaving the grounds after a burial ceremony, no one was allowed to look back in the direction of the grave until everyone had safely returned to the camp” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 329).

“The leader of the hunt was called ‘rabbit chief,’ and he mobilized as many men as possible, instructed them, and divided them into groups” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“When a rabbit tried to jump free of the human circle, a would be clubbed with a curved throwing stick, and then belonged to the person who had killed it” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“Even a net 150 or 100 feet long sufficed to catch considerable quantities of rabbits” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“The men often went hunting, through with little success. When they stayed at their camp, they would spend their time making nets and other hunting equipment” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“the women spent the winter months making basketry” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

M* L*, an O* V* P*, sorting pinyon seeds, California, 1910. Photograph: Andrew A. Forbes. Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Western History Collections, Los Angeles, CA

Once the pine nuts had been extracted from the pinecones (which were knocked off the trees with poles), they were spread out in winnowing baskets and cleaned of debris. Red-hot charcoal was then placed on the raw nuts to break their hard shell, after which the charcoal rests were cleaned away, the nutshells crushed open, and wither picked out or winnowed clean of the nuts.

“For most peoples of the Great Basin, the seeds, or “nuts,” of the pinecones of the single-leaf pinyon tree that is found on the higher mountain slopes were the most popular food, and an important store for winter” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“If the yields were poor, another type of pine nuts, pinus edulis, would be gathered” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“Having formed a close circle, the people would move in small dance steps around the tree, while a so-called ‘guardian of song’ (who knew the important songs used in the ceremony and who acted as the lead snger) sang the prayers and was joined in song by the others” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“Using a branch of sagebrush (considered sacred), a wise woman woul sprinkle water onto the groun as a gesture to ensure thta the rains would come and the harvest would not dry up. In a second round, she scattered nuts, symbolically returning to the earth what people had taken from it” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 326).

“The following morning would be filled with gambling, which was a very popular pastime.

Three M* (S* P*) men, Nevada, 1873. Photograph: Jack HIllers. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Among the S* P* the men wore caps made of deer hid that gave them protection from the summer sun, a breechclout, and, during the colder months, also a simple leather shirt combined with either leather leggings and moccasins or basketwork sandals. A man was considered a poor hunter if he and his family possessed few leather garments and dressed, instead, in rough bark clothing. The simple bows shown here were typical of the M*; elsewhere in the Great Basin sinew-backed bones predominated.

“Always equipped with a digging stick and large carrying baskets, they used any given opportunity to extract root tubers from the ground” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Hunting was a far more precarious source of food, and game was only sporadically added to the diet of the peoples of the western Great Basin” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Despite their high salt content, the larger waters and harshly lowlands were excellent fishing grounds, defying the descriptions of the region as a barren semidesert” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Women and children would catch smaller fish with their bare hands in the shallow waters below the dams” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Both these lakes are quite deep and, despite the fact that they had no outlets, contained relatively low average saline levels in the 19th century” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

K* (S* P*) drilling a fire, Utah, 1872. Photograph: Jack Hillers. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. 

The N* made fire by twirling a hardwood-dipped seed between the psalms of their hands. The tip of this device was placed into a cavity on a yucca stem that began to smolder as a result of the friction causede by the rotating hardwood tip. Blowing onto the spot eventually produced a flame. Campfires were relatively small, since the availability oof firewood was limited.

B* S* E* brush shelter erected on Medicine Lodge Creek, Idaho, 1871. Photograph: William Henry Jackson. Peabody Museum of Natural History. Yale University. New Haven, CT.

In 1870, the B* erected brush shelters reminiscent of the tipis of their Northern S* neighbors. Though the framework of these shelters consisted only of slender saplings, they did cover the frame with lengths of canvas sewn together. Bison, which had been the subsistence base for the mounted B*, disappeared from the region around the same time that the Mormon settlers arrived and the gold rush started, leading to conflicts with the settlers and the government that ultimately triggered the B* War of 1878.

Quotes from “New life unfolds”

“Such hunting expeditions were supervised by an experienced hunting leader who usually specialized in certain animals and who had the gift of dreaming about good hunting grounds prior to the hunt” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Hunters would take a sweat bath both before and after a hunt, thus ritually purifying themselves and ensuring success on future hunts, but hunting rituals were far less extensive than in other parts of North America”(Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Under no circumstances were women allowed to behold the hunting devices - for they habored powers which men thought it best to beware of” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“The S* P*, for example, never consisted the flesh of wolf, coyote, crow, or magpie, since each of these animals were carrion eaters and the inhabitants of the Basin avoided anything that had come into contact with death” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“Contrary to the practices in other regions of North America, neither dogs nor horses were part of their diet” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

“For some groups, insect foods were such an important part of their diet that their names reflected this (the Mono, for instance were called ‘E* of B* F* P*’)”(Kammler, 2000,  p. 325).

Northern P* camp on the tailings dump of the O* Mine near Virginia City, Nevada, c. 1890. Banecroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

In the course of the progressive exploration of the Basin by the Americans, the N* were left the losers of this cultural encounter. Ultimately, they were either reduced to a cheap, readily available labor reserve on the fringes of the national economy, or to recipients of government charity. Their growing culture of poverty was based on a combination of traditional forms and the waste of the ‘civilization’ that was prescribed to them by the government. At the same time, however, they retained a strong sense of their autonomy, and opted for ‘integration’ only to an extent that they deemed absolutely unavoidable.

“In contrast to the Mormons, the large treks of emigrants that passed through Utah and Nevada from 1848 in search of gold, had total disregard for both the native people and their environment” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 320).

“Like voracious worms, gold and silver mines had burrowed through the mountains, spewing out toxic mercury” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 320).

“The last hopes to which many people clung were the teachings of W*, a Northern P* visionary, according to whom the whites would go away if all N* regularly held five-night ecstatic round dances throughout the region” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 321).

“The new religion (called Ghost Dance) spread quickly, but lost influence after only a few years, when the whites not only remained in the area, but their numbers even increased” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 321).

“Like a prairie fire, W*’s happy tidings were carried all the way to the peoples of the Plains (who, however, understood his vision of conciliation as a call for resistance against white invaders)” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 321).

“Radioactive waste, low-level fights, and aggressive mingling have made the land and its people sick” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 321).

The Rocky Mountains south of Aspen, Colorado.

The Rocky Mountains, which here rise 15,000 feet above sea level, constitute the Great Basin’s eastern border. Once horses had been introduced to the U*, traditionally inhabiting this area, they had ideal access to the Plains and thus adopted some of the characteristics of the lifestyle of the bison hunters.

“They did, of course, hunt mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, and black bears” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 318).

“In this era marked by the rise of evolutionary thought, the American public was inclined to consider the native inhabitants of the Basin as representatives of an early stage of ‘savagery’” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 318).

“Even the well-known American writer, travel journalist, and humorist Mark Twain (1835-1910), in a display of unveiled prejudice, described the G* (a group of W* S*) as the ‘wretchedest type of mankind I have ever seen, … considerably inferior to all races of savages on our continent’”(Kammler, 2000,  p. 318).

“The people who migrated to the region at the time lived a lie abundance - at least for a short while” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 318).

“WIth the exception of one group, all the bands belonged to the N* group of the U*-A* language family, the most southern representatives of which were the A* who populated the regions extending deep into the M* highland” (Kammler, 2000,  p. 318).