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10
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Dublin Core
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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
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Oral histories compiled
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
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GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
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2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
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James Hedrick
Interviewee
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Elizabeth "Liz" Dann
Location
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Great Basin College (Elko, NV)
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Transcription in progress
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MP4
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01:40:17
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Elizabeth "Liz" Dann - Oral history (07/18/2017)
Subject
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Oral history interview with Elizabeth "Liz" Dann, Western Shoshone from Crescent Valley, NV, on 07/18/2017
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Elizabeth “Liz” Dann addresses students at the Shoshone Community Language Initiative (SCLI) program at Great Basin College. She starts her presentation by offering a prayer, and then speaks about the importance of our traditions. She also speaks about giving her grandson an eagle feather, medicine bag, and other items while he was in the war. She also gives advice to the women about women, especially during ceremonies. Her daughter Sandy Dann speaks about her experience with the Sundance and what it consist of. Liz then speaks about making cradle boards, preparing hides, and tells some of the traditional Shoshone stories.<br /> <br />Presented at the 2017 Shoshone Community Language Initiative summer youth program (SCLI 17).</p>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 063
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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07/18/2017 [18 July 2017]; 2017 July 18
Contributor
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James Hedrick [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/401
Format
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MP4
Language
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English; Shoshoni
Community
Crossroads
folktale
GBIA
hunting
Shoshone
Story
sundance
traditional ceremony
traditional foods
traditions
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https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/fbdde5d06106bed95680c6201ee2ee30.jpg
0c32fa88d3ad86cb236ab25e06e69845
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/42e8cfd518657ccafcf2585ac27ed966.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Illaine
Premo
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
024
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
November
30,
2009
Owyhee,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hDp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 024
Interviewee: Illaine Premo
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: November 30, 2009
P:
My name is Ilaine Tybo Premo. My mother’s name was Ada Cortez Johnson, and her
mother’s name was Ida Cortez. And Ida’s dad’s name was Cortez Charlie. They’re from
the Cortez area, and then they moved down to Beowawe, and then from Beowawe, they
moved down to Battle Mountain. And from Battle Mountain, they moved to Elko, and
from Elko to South Fork, to Lee. And that’s my mother’s side. My huttsi, my grandma,
she was born and raised in Austin area. Austin area, and from there she moved on to
Battle Mountain, where she lived. And my grandpa Jim Tybo is from around Big
Smoky—I guess that’s what it’s called, Big Smoky. That Smoky Valley, I guess, where
Felix is from. That’s where my grandpa is from. And my dad’s from Austin area, also.
C:
What kind of work, or what did your family do, prior to moving? Or did they move to
find jobs?
P:
I think they just migrated from Austin down to Beowawe, probably looking for work on
the ranches. Because my dad was a, worked as a sheepherder, I heard, as a young man.
He herded sheeps for some big sheep ranchers. And my grandma, my huttsi, she went and
worked in the same ranch families raising their children. Raising their children, I guess,
the owners’ children. Raising the Marvos from Battle Mountain, Tom Marvo and his
family. She raised those boys, all of them. And they looked up to my grandma as their
mother, that she raised them. And my mom, she worked in Battle Mountain in the
restaurants. I don’t know, probably washing dishes and so on. Grandmas just stayed
home. And that’s just about all I know. That’s from, in Battle Mountain. Then from
Battle Mountain, we migrated. From Battle Mountain—now, we were real little—no, I’m
getting ahead of myself. [Laughter] That’s before we were born. And then my mom and
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dad met each other, and then they got married in Battle Mountain, I believe. And then,
they were—then four of us girls were born. We were still little when we were in Battle
Mountain. We hardly remember the story. But then, after that, my dad got a ranch in
Lee—Lee, Nevada—and he moved up there. Moved my mother and us guys up there. We
were little tiny girls then. And then, left my grandmas behind in Battle Mountain. And
then, along the way, my mom and dad divorced when we were still little. He was in the
army. He came out and found somebody else, and he divorced my mom at a young age.
And then, we moved back to Elko with my grandma, Lucy Cortez. We lived with her.
And my mom. We lived there for a while. We were still little then, and then my mom
died from sickness, and then a year after that, my grandma Lucy died from loneliness
because my mom died. She, it was loneliness that killed her. So, we went back to Lee
with my dad. We were little yet. And then back and forth, we went to my huttsi’s place in
Battle Mountain on the Greyhound. When we’re little, we get shipped back to Battle
Mountain, back to Lee, back to Lee. And that’s where I knew about my grandma Minnie.
She was a medicine lady. And she delivered most all the kids around the Colony. She had
delivered them, and then she was—every night was her ritual. Every night, she would
bless us with her eagle feather, because she was a medicine lady and all. She blessed us
with her eagle feather so we will not get sick, all four of us girls. We never got sick. And
then she had sagebrushes in a little glass of water that she has by her bed day and night,
day and night. And she dipped the sagebrush, and, “Mei mapuisi,” [5:08] she blessed us
with it every morning, early in the morning and at night. And she prays all the time,
morning and night, morning and night. And we never got sick as little girls. Hakapi e ha
napan’ni [Shoshone at 5:20] I don’t want to forget.
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C:
So you guys used to ride back and forth on a Greyhound, from Lee to Battle Mountain.
P:
Uh-huh, yeah. We were little then. We were just put on the Greyhound, and we would
travel all by ourself over there. And Huttsi would meet us over there in Battle Mountain,
and that’s how we traveled, back and forth. I guess we were—I don’t know why. Well
anyway, Huttsi was very interesting, because she was real traditional. Very traditional
Indian. And we drank all those Indian medicines—sagebrush, really. Antapittseh kwana. I
don’t know what the taipo name is for antapittseh kwana. But we’d, we grew up on that,
and sagebrush. Drinking sagebrush liquid, all the time. And we hardly ever got sick—
especially me. I never got sick. Huttsi said I was tough like her! [Laughter] Ah, but,
um—and then, we lived on jackrabbits a lot. Because everybody’s poor in the Colony,
and not everybody had jobs. And there was a lot of jackrabbits around in the desert, I
guess, behind Battle Mountain. They hunted a lot, and then occasionally deer. But
mostly, we were raised on weyempi [wi’ompi], you know, that buckberries. That
Grandma used to go down on the Marvo ranch and get. We’d have buckberries, and
that’s what I grew up, and I really love it, buckberries. She’d make pudding, and put—
make Indian bread, and just break the Indian crumbs into that, that would, sometimes
we’d have it three times a day, because there was nothing to eat. And, Usen kia [7:02],
let me see, my huttsi… So in Austin area, my dad’s side, and my mom’s Cortez,
nemmesen Tosawihi, now, White Band. White Band Shoshones. White Knife, White
Knife band. [Shoshone at 7:16] Cortez [Shoshone at 7:18] Beowawe, and Battle
Mountain’s also considered White Knife nemiya. Carlin, that area. [7:27] Nemme setai
kimmate. So, then we go back to Lee. Back to where I grew up, were going to school
over there in Lee, from first grade to eighth grade, and then I was shipped off to Stewart,
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where I stayed for four years. But in Lee, it was—oh, it was a good life over there, too.
My dad ranched back there, and we lived the furthest from the school, a real long ways.
Way down there. Just mananku. And we’d go to school on horseback all the time. Winter,
we’d have a barn back there where we’d tie a horse. And we’d run, and race up the hill.
Race up the hill [8:12] nemna’ punkukate tea. You know, all three of us, that’s Lilly and
me, and Joanne–but mostly me and Joanne, because Lillian’s older than us. Irene Diggs,
she, my huttsi raised her in Battle Mountain. And so, I remember the incident, you know,
when we used to come down the hill toward where Raymond Yowell lives now. That’s,
his grandparents used to live over there, Muumpittseh and his wife, Muumpittseh
Hepittso. Muumpittseh Hepittso [Shoshone at 8:39]. We’d come down that hill, and
there’s a gate right by her house. [Shoshone at 8:46], the bareback through her house.
And then, and I guess we leave her gate open, I don’t know! We get [Shoshone at 8:55]
with her apron. I always remember her. She’d come on her porch, waving her fist at us.
She said, “[Shoshone at 9:02]!” “I’m going to tell Burt on you!” But we laugh and just
race through there without shutting her gate! That is awful! [Laughter] But we grew up
like that on horseback. And then, at Lee, we had good teachers. One of them was Norman
Thompson, and his wife—hate nanihante? Norman’s—Ellen. Ellen Bea Roth. And they
were teaching us over there, for quite a while. And then, we all talked Shoshone over
there. Hardly any English. Mostly Shoshone over there. And those taipo kids that went to
school with us, like the Kanes, Marilyn Kane, Bob and Bill Kane, the brothers, two
twins. Twins. And Charles and Linda Dran were our neighbors back there. And Elbert
Berrenega, he’s a Basque from under the mountains. [Shoshone at 9:52], they know
how to talk Shoshone. Because we all talked Shoshone, and then Marilyn Kane and them
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rode horseback with us going home. [Shoshone at 10:01] every night, we race, you
know, up the road. Race real fast, and we leave her behind, Marilyn-ha. Then she’d cry,
said, “Don’t nukki! Don’t nukki! Don’t nukki!” [Laughter] “Don’t run! Don’t run!”
[Shoshone at 10:12]! [Laughter] It was—oh, we had fun up there! [Shoshone at 10:20].
C:
So who were your sisters?
P:
Oh, my sisters. My oldest sister is Lillian Garcia now, still lives in Lee where we used to
live. And Joanne Manning, and Irene Cota. And my half-brother’s Milton Tybo. And
that’s us.
C:
So at one time, did your Grandma Minnie tell you stories of what she recalled, or
anything about what her childhood was like?
P:
Yeah. Well, she told us real stories, because my huttsi was a real good storyteller. Every
night, we hear stories. But I’ll probably just tell you one of them. But we heard a lot
about tsoo’apittseh in the hills, and of course Itsappe—Ish. And the water babies,
pa’ohaane. And—because they lived around that river in Battle Mountain. Paohaane.
And then, she told a story about Toya Tuineppe, the Mountain Boy. That’s where I come
from, the Mountain Boy, I was one of the descendants. Mountain Boy. Himpa—Huttsi
used to tell us that when they used to go from pinenut hills to pinenut hills long time ago,
because they didn’t have anyplace to live, they just migrate from hill to hill, and they live
in camps. Probably, I don’t think it was tipi, it was just those willow huts, I guess, or
something. She never really went into it. But they moved from area to area, pinenut hill
to pinenut hill. And she said that Toya Tuineppe was always around, tepitsi atsatsi
[11:53], he was a real naughty boy, she says, a real mischievious, very naughty. And he’d
come down the hill, akka toyama [12:02], but he’d slide down the hill, down the hill, and
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he’d holler and laugh. You can’t see him. They never see him, but they know that he’s a
little boy because it’s got the voice of a little one. They’d see him coming down the hill,
making dust down the hill, and they’d say, “Oh, there’s Toya Tuineppe again!” Toya
Tuineppe, Little Mountain Boy. Then, when they’d camp and go to the pinenut hills to
get pinenuts, they’d come back, their camp would be all destroyed. That Toya Tuineppe,
Little Mountain Boy would kick all their food all around, ashes all over from the
campfire. They know it was him, because he’s mischievious. And they hear him laughing
in the trees, Huttsi said. You know, he’s always doing some kind of tricks to them. And
sometimes, he’s good, too. You know, he blesses people. He blesses people, even though
he’s kind of bad. And that’s what I remember about Mountain Boy, because he’s my
descendant. One time, after I married Willis and moved to Duck Valley, I got really,
really sick. And Judy Jackson, my aunt, was still living here, so she said, “Alec
Cleveland’s going to be here tonight.” [Shoshone at 13:09], because I was sick. I don’t
know the for—probably stress, or, I don’t know. And then, I went over the [Shoshone at
13:18] Alex, [Shoshone at 13:22]. And I’m one of those persons who grew up kind of
funny, [Shoshone at 13:27]. That’s what got me sick. You know? I’m always scared at
nights, I don’t know why. Even though I was little and grew up and got married, I was
still scared, because my husband used to wake me up, Willis used to wake me up, and I
was talking, talking, and crying, and wake me up from that. But I always knew it was my
mother. Somehow, I knew it was my mother, doing that to me. [Shoshone at 13:52]
Neweh nohimpai. Then it got me sick, because I was always worried in my house, you
know, looking for her, looking for—over here, at my house. And so I got sick, and Judy
said, [14:03] “Attik tai puhane to come on over tonight,” so I went over there, and Attik
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said, [14:08] “Tsatta em pii. Your mother’s bothering you all the time.” Because you
know—I probably was her favorite, because she used to take me to Starr Valley or Ruby
Valley for work, you know, on ranches? And she’d take me all the time, I don’t know
why. But I was little, she always took me with her. And Attik said, “She wants you,
that’s why she’s bothering you. [Shohone at 14:29],” he said, “You have to get after
her!” In the olden days, old people cuss them out, you know, spirits. [Shoshone at
14:37]. Tell them to go away and leave you alone. Said “That’s the only way you can get
rid of her, is just tell her to leave you alone! Cuss her out! Be mean to her! She’s trying to
get you. She’s going to get you if you don’t get after her! [Shoshone at 14:58]. That’s
why you’re sick,” he told me. And I always remember, because Attik doesn’t know me.
You know, he’s from here, I’m from the other area. And he said,
“Always remember that [Shoshone at 15:10],” you know, “You’re a descendant of Toya
Tuineppe. So every morning when you get up, drink a glass of water three times, face the
mountain, and pray”—[Shoshone at 15:24]. Pray and bless yourself, every
morning.[Shoshone at 15:29], and you’ll get over that sickness, over your mother. And
so I said, “Oh, that was all that was wrong with me, I guess! Her haunting me all the
time.” And I was really sick. So I came back, and she was still haunting me. [Laughter]
And the latest was, she was haunting me, and I heard her downstairs in my basement, and
I got up, and I done what Alec told me. I went down there, and I cussed her out in
Shoshone, and told her not to bother me, and told her leave my kids alone, because my
kids were down there. My girls were down there. And not to bother them, because some
are bothered by her, too, some of them. And so, I said, “Don’t bother me anymore!” in
Shoshone, and I threw down whatever I can get. Shoes, clothes, I just threw it down there
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real mean like that, where I couldn’t see her, but I knew it was her. After that, she went
away for good. Never bothered me up to this day. She never bother me again. But that
was one, I guess you can call “superstition” or something, I don’t know what it is, that
happened to me. So that’s how I grew up. Was in Lee. I don’t know what—hinna tease?
C:
When you guys lived in Battle Mountain, was there a lot of pinenuts?
P:
Up in Austin area. From Battle Mountain, we go up to Austin on wagons. We go up there
and get pinenuts. Or else some other relative will bring it down to us, because it’s too far.
But when my huttsi was growing up, they lived up there in the Austin—on the pinenut
hills. So that’s where they got their pinenuts, they lived on pinenuts, all the time. And so
did my mom and them in that Cortez area. They live on pinenuts, too. And they walked.
They never used cars or wagons, because they’d—before, when my mother was growing
up, they didn’t have any horses or wagons. They usually walked long ways for food and
roots, hunting, and getting pinenuts. That’s what they done. You know, when we went to
Cortez last week—whole bunch of us from Duck Valley went. Gerry Brady and us guys
went, and she said, “Just think, our old people used to walk these hills for many miles—
and look at us getting tired already!” [Laughter] You know, we’re climbing the hill,
we’re real tired and breathing real hard. We got to sit down every once in a while! And
they used to roam these hills walking. [Shoshone at 17:59]. But that’s what they done, I
think, that Old People.
C:
So is there still pinenuts left there in Cortez?
P:
Lots. That’s a pinenut hills. Pinenut hills. But the mine, the new mine’s going up. That’s
how come they invited us, because they said most of the descendants from Cortez is
Duck Valley White Knifes. So that’s why we were invited over there. And there’s lot of
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pinenuts. But there’s a new mine going up there in that Cortez mine. Great, big giant one.
We went to visit that one. Plus, there are old mines. And the new mine’s going to be so
huge. I don’t know. And that pinenuts, some of the pinenut hills they’re going to destroy.
They’re going to cut them down. But they’re going to save some of the young ones, I
think, that’s what they were saying. The younger pinenut trees. So, the mine is really
expanding.
C:
So what kind of mineral are they mining for?
P:
Gold.
C:
Gold?
P:
Mmhm. I don’t know, but that’s where my mom is from. And they said that used to be a
real big Shoshone settlement at one time. Rehabi Whitney was telling us that, at one
time—or was it Felix Ike? That was the biggest Shoshone settlement in that valley, Grass
Valley—over the hill is Grass Valley. That’s another valley Huttsi used to talk about
[Shoshone at 19:32]. She used to say “Grass Valley”—but you know, in Shoshone—
“Grass Valley,” “Grass Valley.” And we never paid attention to her. It’s over the hill
from Cortez. Big Shoshone area. From there, they migrated different areas, like Duck
Valley, Fort Hall, Ruby Valley, other areas. But I really grew up in reservation, in
reservation life. And a little bit in Elko, not too long. Because we were just little girls
when we moved to Lee. So we grew up on a ranch.
C:
So, do you remember any of the stories that your Grandma told you, many about the
Tso’apittseh?
P:
Oh yeah, Tso’apittseh. [Laughter] Tso’apittseh. Yeah, she told lot of stories of what her
mother and them told. I don’t think it was when she was young, I don’t think, because I
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think tso’apittseh was way back there. And she said they didn’t—they were still
wandering around the pinenut hills, living here and there in the hills, and they used to sit
in the, by the campfire, and tell stories that, you know, Newene, the Indians would sit
around the campfire telling stories. All they do every night is tell stories. And then they
hear from way back, Huttsi said—because she was going to scare us, now, because we
were little girls, they always thought we were naughty, and she tells us scary stories so
we can go to sleep and be quiet, I guess! [Laughter] And then, she said, well, they were
sitting, talking, they would hear Tso’apittseh away just miles and miles away. [Shoshone
at 21:05], he’d be crying a lot, coming to the camp, and everybody’s getting scared now,
trying to hide their kids. And—[Shoshone at 21:13]—he was singing that song,
“[Shoshone at 21:17],” was getting closer and closer. Finally, he just squatted down that
campfire. And every time he leaves—I don’t know whether this is true, or it’s just to
scare us—she said he takes off with a kid in his [Shoshone at 21:31]. You know, that
little—a little basket behind his back. He’s supposed to be a rock man. Rock, I think,
made out of rocks. But he’s got a basket in the back that was coated with pinenut sap.
[Shoshone at 21:47]. Big enough for an adult to go into, [Shoshone at 21:51], he’d take
one of the kid and take off with it. And he’d go crying away, [Shoshone at 21:59]. After
he steal that kid, and everybody was so scared of him because he’ll always find them
wherever they’re at. Even if they move or run away, he’ll find them. So they just stay put,
because that Tso’apittseh was around. And then, one time, she said he came again. They
were sitting down, they heard him crying, and he was coming again, and this time he sat
down and talk Shoshone to them, and asked how they were doing and all that stuff.
Talking and eating with them, whatever. And finally, he kept looking at this one young
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man, she said. A young man, not a baby or a little boy. He was a young man, I don’t
know how old he is. He kept looking at that young man. Finally, he got up and grabbed
that young man, and threw it behind his big basket and took off. Took off, and that young
man was old enough to know what was happening. So when the Tso’apittseh was running
along under the pine trees, he thought real fast, and then he—when he was running along,
crying along, that Tso’apittseh, he grab a limb up there, and he climb up on that limb and
Tso’apittseh didn’t know it. Kept on crying down the hill until he got where he was
going, probably to his den. And he found out that young man was missing. So he turn
around crying real loud, coming back again to the camp, looking for that young man.
Young man was up there waiting for him, she said, with—he made fire out of rocks or
something, I don’t know. He made a little fire. When Tso’apittseh was right underneath
him, he threw that fire into that basket, that sap, and that burnt real bad, and Tso’apittseh
ran away crying. [Shoshone at 23:42] down that hill, he was just crying and panicked,
you know? And it burned him up. It burned him up, because he never bothered the
Indians again. That’s her story about Tso’apittseh. He never bothered them again. I guess
he burnt to death, or something happened. His big basket burned up. [Laughter]
C:
So what did he do with those kids? Did he eat them, or what did he do with them?
P:
That’s—according to her, [Shoshone at 24:08]. He tears the head off, I guess he eats the
head. That’s what she said. But maybe different people have different stories about
Tso’apittseh. But he does kill them, the kids. So… There was another story about—
Huttsi, she told us so many stories about the Cottontail. Of course, that’s simple
Cottontail. There was another story about a big bird, and I believe she called it Ish. Ish,
that bird. But Ise was supposed to be the Itsappe, Ish. But she called this big bird Ish, too.
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[Shoshone at 24:44] Pia ______ kwina. Like an eagle, but it wasn’t an eagle. It was a
real big bird. On the island, ka nakkan, some island, middle of the water. He live over
there, and he come every now and then, fly to the Indian camp again, take people and
take it over there to eat, I guess to the island. Back where he live in a great, big nest.
[Shoshone at 25:05]. And, I guess long time ago, he stole a lady. And that lady grew up
to be a old lady. And she slaved for him. Cooked for him. He demanded this and that,
demanded she cook his food. Whatever he brought home, she cook it for him. Mostly
humans. She cooked that food for him, and over the many many years, just getting real
old, just getting tired of that big bird doing that to her. And there’s no way to get to that
place except—wasn’t no way to get there. It’s the middle of a big river, open ocean, or
something. And so the old lady was getting tired, and was getting mad at the big bird. So
she finally thought, “Well, I am going to get rid of him.” In Shoshone said she’s going to
get rid of him. “[Shoshone at 25:55].” And so, she got some kind of flint. Uten obsidian?
That black flint? She chipped it real fine, chipped it real fine, and so he came back with
whatever he had. And—oh no, it was a young man he brought back again, a young man.
So she got really upset, the old lady. She wasn’t going to have him kill the young man.
So she got some flint, and chipped it, and put it in a bowl for him with soup [26:23],
before he killed that young man. She made him some kind of soup because he was so
demanding. And then soup, she put it in front of him. And he started drinking the soup.
But every time he was drinking the soup, he would put his big [Shoshone intermittently
after 26:38] in the air like [26:39]. And he’d kind of like gurgling sound in his throat,
kind of choking because that thing was already working on him, that flint. Gurgling,
gurgling. And she watched, she sat there and watch him. The bird wasn’t saying
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anything, he was just eating and doing that gurgling and choking and so on. Her and that
young man watched that bird. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore. He got up, and he
flew away. He yetseko [27:04]. And he flew away up the middle of the water, and
[27:08] behind, say they never saw him again. That was another story she told.
[Laughter] I believe she called him Ish. And I always say, “Why did she call him Ise
when Ise is supposed to be Itsappe’s brother?” So, that’s one story she told.
C:
What about the water babies?
P:
Oh, water babies! Yeah, Battle Mountain [Shoshone at 27:30] water babies. Everybody’s
scared of them, because they hear them crying, you know? Babiesne. [Shoshone at
27:36] used to always tell that all the time. My uncle Willie Johnson, he used to tell about
water babies all the time. And he also took babies away from mothers that was fishing on
the banks—you know, with their baby, and their—[Shoshone at 27:53]. And he just
snatch them off of them and take the baby underwater [Shoshone at 27:58]. The baby’s
lost for good. But one time, he done that to another young man—[Shoshone at 28:05],
and that somehow, that young man—I don’t know this story too good. But somehow, the
young man killed that water baby, and came back again. But all the Indians know about
water babies. They say they’re still alive—I mean, you can still hear them. And you know
what that—I forgot to tell you about this. Mountain Boy, Toya Tuineppe, they say you
hear him in any mountain. He lives in any mountain, high mountain. And sometimes, you
can hear him whistling at you, whistling. Sometimes, you think it’s a bird, you know. But
it’s Toya Tuineppe. And a lot of times, I go hunting with Willis way up in the mountains,
way back there [Shoshone at 28:48]. And I’d be sitting there waiting, because he walked
a long ways. I’d sit there, wait for him. [Shoshone at 28:53], whistling, [Shoshone at
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28:55]. Then, I thought it was, you know, a bird. And then I remembered what Attik said
to me: “If you go in the mountains and hear some whistling, that’s Toya Tuineppe. He’s
whistling at you.” So that’s—he said it happens with anybody. Any Shoshone. You go up
to the mountains and hear him whistling at you. So if you ever go hunting and hear
somebody whistling? It might be him and not a bird. [Laughter] Huttsi was telling me
some, another good story… Oh, I forgot! What was it about, now? Wait, ask me another
question.
C:
Do you know anything about [29:41] Toyanatsi’ that live out there in Ruby Valley? That
you could talk about?
P:
Osen kwai, yes. [29:46] Suteen Toya Tuineppe naa. What did they say about Toya
nukutsi?
C:
They take care of the wild horses there, and the wild sheep?
P:
Oh.
C:
Yeah. [__inaudible at 29:57__]
P:
Oh, that’s probably their story from that area. Oh! Hm. That’s interesting.
[Break in recording]
P:
When he died [Shoshone at 30:08], we go up to [Shoshone at 30:11]. And we’d, we
meet our ancestors up there. [30:16] Tammen naa supai akka nupuwiiha. Milky Way
[Shoshone at 30:19] you know, Shoshones souls have the dance in the Milky Way.
That’s why when you see the Milky Way, it’s all dusty-looking? That dust, when they’re
kicking up their heels, kicking up their feet, and all that dust, dancing, because that’s
what they do. That was their routine up long time ago, to the Shoshones, was Round
Dance. They sing in their old language, and so they’d sing a Shoshone song, telling
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stories and their music. And the Milky Way is where we go to to dance when we die.
That was a Shoshone belief. So when my daughter died, I always look at the Milky Way.
[Shoshone at 30:55], she’s dancing up in the Milky Way now, with her grandmas, and
her aunts and uncles, her dad. Because I believe they came after her when she died that
night. They all came, picked her up, and took her away, and now she’s up in the Milky
Way. Osen tammen belief, you know, we’re dancing up there. That’s one of the Shoshone
belief that I grew up on. So, hinna tease?
C:
So, in the dancing of the Milky Way, are they going someplace? Is there a belief that the
people are going—are they traveling, or are they just dancing?
P:
No, I think they just dancing. They go up there to be happy up there. You know, they’re
free. Free of all kinds of worries and stuff. And so, they just go up there to Heaven to
dance. Dance up there. So when we look at them, we see them up there, we’re supposed
to see them up there dancing. Sometimes it’s so pretty, you know, up there. The Milky
Way. Another belief that I was told long time ago is, take a star for your loved one that
died. A star. And I always look at the star and pray to God for that star to take care of
your loved ones. So I picked a star for my daughter Francine. The Evening Star. [32:13]
Sokka nabuite, and then I always nanisuntehai, I pray. Because, you know, I really miss
her. And so, that’s one of the beliefs. So everybody’s dancing up there. And I believe—
that’s my belief, I don’t know whether anybody else believe like that, but I believe we all
go to Heaven. Everybody, good or bad. Everybody goes to Heaven! [Laughter]
C:
Well, that’s a Shoshone belief. There’s—everybody goes to the Spirit World.
P:
Mmhm. Yeah. So, that’s one of the stories.
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C:
Were there very many medicine—or healers in your family? You mentioned your
Grandma was a healer.
P:
Yeah, her stepfather was a real powerful medicine man. [33:00] Himpaise ma nanihante
Sam Wilson. Sam Wilson, nekka. Is it Sam? I believe from the Austin area. A old man
that was like a hermit. And he was married to my huttsi’s mother, Katie. Katie Wilson. I
don’t know what their maiden names were—because a long time ago, they only had
Indian names, and when they worked with a white man, they change all their names. So,
Katie Wilson and so on. Indian names. Like, my [Shoshone at 33:30]’s name was
Paampokompi. Like, “water currant.” Paampokompi. And from there, they were changed
to Lucy Cortez. And so, anyhow, [33:45] himpai nani_____?
C:
Oh, healers.
P:
Oh, that Sam Wilson! He’s a powerful healer, Shoshone healer, up in Austin area. Was so
powerful that he had, that Katie Wilson, his wife, had two daughters: my huttsi, and
Davis Gonzalez and their grandma. Their grandmother, Nellie Woods. Nellie Woods. So
Katie had two daughters. Katie Wilson’s really Sam Wilson’s daughter. Sam and Katie’s
daughter. My huttsi is a half-breed; her dad’s half white. But somehow, Sam Wilson
chose her—my huttsi’s more Indian because she’s got more Indian belief, even though
she’s half white. She’s real traditional. But keep her with him as assistant. You know,
assisting him with preparing things when he’s going to doctor somebody? [34:44]
[Shoshone at 34:44], it was for a young girl, that was just job for the girls—that’s
what my huttsi told me, that I used to [Shoshone at 34:51] kumaitte mia. I go with them
to help them prepare their roots and the medicine. And she listened to him. All the songs
and stuff, she listened to him, and it got into her. So she became a medicine lady. Not as
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great as Sam, but she still know what she was doing. And then Huttsi used to tell me,
when she used to come visit me at my house when I had all my kids, she’d say—well,
nowadays, nobody took after Sam, you know, that powerful medicine man. But some day
[35:24] there’s going to im himpa, emerge a medicine man from one of your family.
Our family—you know, the Tybos, I guess—our family’s going to emerge some day. A
powerful medicine man. It might be your kids. If not your kids, your grandkids or your
great-grandchild. “Some day,” he said, “himpa tipitsi Newe wepekanai [35:46]. It’s going
to come.” I don’t know when that’s going to be! [Laughter] But that’s what she always
tells me. Because of Sam Wilson. That’s the only one I know. The other medicine lady
that I know is Satii Nap from Ruby Valley. Her name’s Sally Brigham, I think. She’s the
one that raised Anna Premo. Sally Brigham, and I knew—we call her Satii Nap.
Nowadays, she’s dead. Satii, she used to come down to our Colony in Elko, to our
little—and doctor my mother, because my mother’s really sick. Doctor her all the time.
Was a very powerful medicine lady. I remember her. She’s real tall and skinny, had long
gray hair. [Shoshone (?) at 36:29] and every night at midnight, she opened the door, and
then she’d pray to God, I guess. [Shoshone (?) at 36:34] up to the Heavens. Then she’d
come around and doctor my mother again. But my mother didn’t get healed, because it
was tuberculosis that killed her. It wasn’t other kind of disease, sickness. And so, those
two I remember really good. Satii Nap and Sam Wilson. And of course, Atikko here in
Duck Valley. That’s all I know.
C:
So these people that were healers, they were blessed with the power? Or, I mean, they
didn’t go to school for it.
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P:
No, it was blessed by power. They had it from the ancestors, from way back. I guess it
just came to them from way back. And—no, they didn’t. They weren’t taught. It was just
in them to heal people. And they really did heal people, you know, in the old days.
Nowadays, we have this young modern medicine—claim to be medicine men. I think
they’re just out here for the money! [Laughter] Money, you know, they’re not really
healing people like the old people. They’re all dead now.
C:
What kind of medicine did they use? Were they all different, or—?
P:
They’re all different. Like, sagebrush was the main one from that area, Battle Mountain,
Cortez, [37:56] kwaiya. It was pohovi. Pohovi and totsa—totsa’s a lot, too. Antapittseh
kwana. Those three I know.
C:
Is there anybody that still uses those kind of—
P:
Medicine? I do. We do. I taught all my kids that, you know, my girls and my son? We
harvest totsa up in Scott Creek back in the mountains every fall. And that heals anything.
You drink it—but it’s real greasy. Like, greasy? I really don’t like it. But some other lady
told me to make it kind of mild, put more water in it, and strain it, and then you can drink
it. But it’s supposed to heal your insides. Any sickness that’s inside of you. Stomach
problems. Some people even says cancer and other kind of dreadful sickness. It cures that
if you’re very faithful to drink it every day. Like, Huttsi used to drink, like, a half a cup a
day. So I guess… But I don’t do that. I use mine for sores, when you get cut. Like, for
animals too. Like my dogs get run over and cut or something, like, I boil that totsa and
make it real mushy—you know, that real mushy—and then I mash it with my hands. And
I cool it, and I take that pulp, and I just put it in the dog’s wound, and it heals it
immediately. Or anything. Horses, anything. And humans also. And you can smoke it,
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too. You can smoke the totsa. Just pound it up to a little tobacco, and roll it up, and
smoke it. My huttsi—again, Grandma Minnie over at Battle Mountain—she used to roll
up totsa, and she’d smoke it every wintertime. She’s sitting by her stove, smoking totsa.
And she’d always make me wrap her totsa—you know, her tobacco, in the little paper. So
I wrap it for her, and then she would give me one, just for so I won’t get sick. Because
it’s totsa. And that’s where I started smoking little bit, because of her! [Laughter] And I
used to remember that. I was the only one that smoke among my sisters. I had fun with
my huttsi, although she was really strict, too. Really strict with us. So… We were taught
how to get up early in the morning to do our chores. Every morning, my dad done that to
us when we were growing up. We got up, she made five in the morning. I still now, to
this day I get up at that time. And that was good teaching. We done all our chores early in
the morning. And we didn’t have no electricity. We had to haul our water from a well, or
from the river. And a lot of hardships, you know, when we grew up, and nothing—
outside toilets, no water. Had to wash your clothes out by the river. Or in a tub with
washboards. That’s how I grew up. Nowadays, we have it easy.
C:
What about the antapittseh kwana? What’s that used for?
P:
Antapittseh kwana is a real powerful healer, too. More powerful than all of the other
medicine, according to Huttsi. And it grows up here around Cleveland Trail, back here.
Cleveland Trail? Because she used to tell George Blackett to get it for her every fall. He
goes over there, [Shoshone at 41:34], he’s still walking way off from where the plants
are growing, and he’d be singing. [Shoshone at 41:40]. In order to get it, he has to sing
and pray to it. So he’d go over there and get whole bunch of it for Huttsi. Some long, tall
plants. And then she’d boil it, I guess, and then drink it. Again, drink it. And then it’s also
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good for healing, like the totsa. You know, you’ll get it pulpy, boil and get it pulpy, and
put it on sores or whatever. Cuts. And that’s supposed to be real powerful. But it’s hardly
any totsa around. I mean, hardly any antapittseh kwana around. I’ve heard that they’re
gone, now. And they don’t grow anywhere, just rare places. But I rely on the totsa now.
And mostly pohovi, I love pohovi yet. And I walk along, and I break a piece of pohovi,
young pohovi, young one along outside my house. I just have it, smell it, and feel it, and
inhale all the good medicine inside of you. I love pohovi. And [__inaudible at 42:47__],
that’s, I was raised with pohovi and totsa.
C:
How about cedar? Did you use cedar much?
P:
Not the Battle Mountain area. I never heard of them burning cedar. Did you?
C:
Well, I hear people talk about it.
P:
Yeah, some, I guess. But I never heard my Grandma talk about cedar. Only when I got
over here. So I burn the cedar now all the time. It’s good to bless your house with.
C:
Uh-huh. Okay, we’ve got about ten minutes now. Is there anything you want to wind up
with, or tell at the end here, about things that maybe your grandchildren, or if you were to
tell them what’s important in life, and what’s important in terms of tradition, what would
you think of would be the best thing it is to say to them?
P:
My grandchildren. Well, I would tell them to get up early in the morning, because
nowadays, those young people stay in bed, stay in bed ‘til ten, eleven. And that’s not
good. Because I notice some of my grandkids are like that. And I try to make them get up
early, but they’re spoiled, I guess, in the modern world. Because I didn’t raise them, their
mother raised them. Their mothers raised them. If I raised them, it would be different. It
would be different. Because I raised one granddaughter—that’s Nammi up at the
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hospital—I raised her. I made her get up early in the morning, do chores. So she works all
the time. She gets up early. She does her work. But the other grandchildren, I don’t know.
Well anyway, so I tell them to get up early in the morning, work, and make a living, and
be honest and giving to people. Talk to all the elders. Respect elders, and respect all
people, animals, everything. And to—and not get involved in alcohol and drugs, because
that’s killing people nowadays. And that’s what I want to pass on to them. That tradition
is—keep up the medicine. Keep up the medicine, the totsa and the sagebrush. And just
pray. Mostly pray. Pray, in the Indian way. Most of my grandkids and my kids doesn’t
talk Shoshone. They understand it, my kids understand, but they don’t talk it. And
grandkids are even worse. So—but they hear me talk all the time. So I just tell them what
I know about living a good life. That’s what I want them to do is live a good life, free of
drugs and alcohol. And that’s what I want to pass on to them.
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Illaine Premo
Location
The location of the interview
Duck Valley Reservation (Owyhee, NV)
Original Format
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DVD and VOB format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:45:58
Transcription
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/566
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Illaine Premo - Oral history (11/30/2009)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Illaine Premo, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV on 11/30/2009
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Illain Tybo Premo was born to Ada Cortez Johnson and Cortez Charlie who were from the Beowawe/Cortez area. Her ancestors came from Smoky Valley and the Austin area. During her childhood she speaks about moving all around Western Shoshone territory to places such as Elko, Battle Mountain, and South Fork. She speaks about living in both Battle Mountain and South Fork reservation. She also speaks about her grandmother Minnie, who was a medicine woman, who lived in Battle Mountain and taught Illain traditional lifeways of the Shoshone. She was taught traditions such as picking nuts and berries, hunting deer and rabbit, using traditional medicines, and getting up early and doing chores. She also speaks about attending Stewart Indian School after 8th grade. She also tells us a few Shoshone stories including the Toya Deanapa (Mountain boy), Tso’ovich (stone man), and ba’a wa’a (water-babies). She ends her narrative by cautioning the younger generations about using alcohol and drugs.</p>
Video pending <br /> <a title="Illaine Premo Oral History Transcription" href="/omeka/files/original/42e8cfd518657ccafcf2585ac27ed966.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Illaine Premo Oral History Transcription [pdf file]</a>
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 024
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
11/30/2009 [30 November 2009]; 2009 November 30
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh (interviewer); James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/373
Language
A language of the resource
English; some Shoshoni
Battle Mountain
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley Reservation
folktale
GBIA
medicine woman
Shoshone
Stewart Indian School
Story
traditional foods
traditional medicines
traditions
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/1f9ce51c40c6a0edc4bc71ce485b1a94.pdf
d585d5e174e07e6815b0c2993ddad2bb
PDF Text
Text
Clilt~r ustN -COLUHJ!
Great Basin College ;·:<.
Native American Club
�
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/360013f8b08b350d31a3410347f0f966.jpg
767470e37444493a91afbc5a81aa4c9a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
misc
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:38:00
Event Type
Great Basin College's Native American Club - Social Exhibition Pow-wow
Participants
Names of individuals or groups participating in the event
Great Basin College's Native American Club
Te-moak Tribal members
Duckvalley Tribal members
Duckwater Tribal members
Drummers: Sweet Sage, Painted Horse, & Eagle Bear Clan
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Great Basin College Native American Club - Social Exhibition Pow-wow (01/30/2009)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Social Exhibition Pow-wow at Great Basin College presented by Great Basin College's Native American Club on 01/30/2009
Description
An account of the resource
This video gives an overall outlook of the Social Exhibition Pow-wow at Great Basin College's Fitness Center. Marty Leyva was Master of Ceremonies. Sweet Sage, Painted Horse, and Eagle Bear Clan were the drummer groups. The event also included various vendors and contest.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 021
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
01/30/2009 [01 January 2009]; 2009 January 01
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [Native American Club Adviser]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/id/387
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshone
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
Great Basin College
Native American Club
Powwow
Shoshone
traditional ceremony
traditional foods
traditional songs
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/c61a3d29177974b8ea7ac6aac06e48fd.jpg
361216bbd1d7027551c78ef95335be36
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/e00c728b8423a3852003888a38ab8462.pdf
eab8e0617deb77c60e97e9a7a1fc5736
PDF Text
Text
Darlene
Hooper
Dewey
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
046
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
April
10,
2015
Yomba,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hDp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 046
Interviewee: Darlene Hooper Dewey
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: April 10, 2015
C:
Today, I am out on a trip to Yomba Western Shoshone reservation. And it’s out here, in a
desolated place in Nevada. And I’m getting close. And today, I will be interviewing an
elder out here. But it’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful landscape, as far as mountains, and
open spaces, and—can’t ask for any more.
This is a sign alongside the road on the way to Yomba. Getting close to Yomba. Here’s
another outcropping. Believe it was an old barn or homestead. And what’s left of it.
This is downtown Yomba.
D:
I’m Darlene Hooper Dewey. I’m from Reese River Valley, the Yomba Shoshone
Reservation. And I’m—I’ve lived here, I’m born and raised here. And my mother and
father, Art and Alice Hooper. My grandparents—my tsoo and my toko is Bill Kawich and
Jenny Kawich. My father’s mother and father is Joe Hooper and Annie Woods Hooper.
And we, Reese River Valley was a luscious valley with a lot of vegetation. The valley
was full of meadowgrass, wild grass, and it was really high, above your knees, when they
first came in for the reservation. And there was a lot of snow. Snow that lasted until the
spring. And there was a lot of different plants here. The Natives here, that lived in this
valley, they lived throughout the river, here and there. And that was in, before the
ranchers came in. And then, the population started to decline. In 1881, ranchers took over
some of the land. They had around eighteen ranches in the valley. The Newe people
worked for the ranchers. And in 1936, the land was purchased for a reservation. And we
are located central Nevada. And we’re between two mountains: Toiyabe Mountain on the
east side, and Shoshone Mountain on the west side. And there was a river that flowed
northward through the valley, and as of today we don’t even have any more water, and so
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there’s no river. So, I don’t say “Reese River,” I say “Reese Valley.” So, in 1936, the
reservation started. They purchased four ranches from the ranchers, and with the help of
the Western Agency—Stewart, Nevada. The superintendent was Bowler. And they
formed a council to get some equipments, and they went under the IRA. And my mother
was a spokesperson, and she was also the interpreter for the ones that didn’t understand
how to read, or what they were talking about. And she did a lot of traveling. And the first
ranch was, the lower district is what they called it, and that was Bowler Ranch, and that
was in 1937. And there was twelve families that moved in to Bowler Ranch. And there
was a house there, and they put up tents, and they lived there around that house. And the
second ranch that came in was the Doyle Ranch, and that was on the upper reservation.
So they call it the upper district. And that one had 12,201 acres. And Derringer came in
1940. And in 1941, Worthington Ranch. And that had 957 acres. The Bowler Ranch
where they stayed, there was twelve families, but in 1939, the brick homes were coming
in at that year. And our family moved down into the lower district. And we lived there for
a while. And our family was large family; there’s thirteen children counting me, I’m the
thirteenth one. And some of the children, they were not born here in the valley. There
was four of us that was born here in the valley. One was born at Bowler Ranch, and then
another one down at the Bradys, where the Brady Ranch is now. And then the two of us
up here at the building that’s down here now, that’s the—
U1:
Derringer.
D:
Derringer Ranch. That’s where I was born. And my grandmother, she was the one that
helped my mom, and so the four younger ones, we were all born here in the valley. And
later on—we had moved up to the upper reservation. That’s the Doyle Ranch. And that’s
�
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where I was raised. And my father did a lot of ranching, so he was—we had to get up
early in the morning and get our chores done. At the time, when they started the
reservation, there was a school that was—where the children had gone to school, they had
six Hooper kids, four Bud Decker kids, two Bobb kids, and two Jackson children. And
altogether, with the children from the ranches, there were fifteen children that went to
school there. That building is no longer there. And later on, they’ve gone to the Ione
school, which school that I had started to go to school. I think I went there first and
second grade. And there, we went to school with some of the white children that lived in
that area. And there were also a small village that was there in Ione. When you go there
now, you can still see some of the structures there. And right now, Ione has only two
families that live in that vicinity. In 1939, the brick homes were built. And there may be
around twelve brick homes that came in. The first tribal council they formed was: James
Bobb—he was the chairman, and Bud Decker, Willie Williams, Willie Bill, Wixon
Charlie, and Harry Frank. And my mother was the secretary, Alice Hooper. And they
formed the by-laws and constitution. And they were able to secure the reservation land
and loans under the IRA, and then, in 1940, they were able to borrow 2,400 to buy cattle
and whatever else they needed. In 1940, they purchased three hundred head. In two years,
they totalled 1,554 head of cows. And that was in 1944. And they taken them different
areas, to Ione, Gabbs Valley, and BLM, and the Forest Service, to graze their cattle. And
they also had springs that they had—different springs where the reservation had—and
down the years, they started to lose their springs. The BLM was taking over some of the
springs. So now, they hardly have any springs left. There may be around thirty-two
families here, and they have—we have twenty-four HUD homes, that is rentals. And we
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don’t—during the time the reservation first started, there was a school here. I don’t
remember exactly how many children were here at the time, but they closed down the
school and relocated the children to Gabbs. So, the Gabbs school is around thirty-two
miles from here, and they travel on the bus every day back and forth to school, to Gabbs.
And over there, they have grammar school and high school.
Fandangos that we used to have, now they call it “powwows.” But that’s a different way
of dancing. Our Fandangos, they did a lot of praying and dancing, different way of
dancing, where they took turns singing. And they sang about their, the weather, about
their snow and their rain, and their way of living—like, being happy, and having a good
time. And we don’t have that anymore. I would like to see that come about. Here in the
valley, when they first had the reservation going, we did have Fandangos up on the lower
district, and that was where we lived. And they went four days—well, mainly four nights,
dancing. And people from different areas came. And they all took turns singing. And they
had games for the children, and games for adults, and handgames. And card games. They
all enjoyed each others. And we don’t see that anymore. I’m not too sure of the year
when they stopped the Fandangos. It may be in the late [19]40s, or early [19]50s, was
when they stopped that Fandangos for some reason. And they also had rodeo at that time.
So, that’s how we all got together, and had a good time. And that may be the reason why
we don’t have our weather. And we are all, should get together and have a good time.
And our language has gone away. We don’t do our language. We don’t, because we were
punished for speaking our language when they did have the school here. And the
children, I believe, would be, from the fifties on down, they’ve gotten away from the
language. When you speak your language, it seems to—if you and your children
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understand your language, they seem to listen more. And you don’t know how to correct
the children, because you don’t know how to speak to them anymore. All my children,
they don’t know. But my grandchildren, I tried to, here and now and then, I speak
Shoshone to them, and they say, “What’s that? What’d you say?” And I’d tell them what
it meant.
I would like to keep teaching the language, which we have. I go down to the tribe twice a
week, and I—sometimes I get a little, a few people there that’s interested. And the others,
they don’t seem to be very interested in it. And also, learning about the plants, and the
food, and the way people had survived. We’re survivors. Our people, our grandparents
from way back, they’re survivors. And that’s reason why we’re still here. And that’s what
I tell them, you know: “You’ve got to be proud to be who you are. Don’t—when
someone says something about, ‘Hey, you’re an Indian,’ you know, and say, ‘Yes, sure!
This is where I’m from, and I’ve been—I’m from here, and we are survivors!’”
There was a lot of vegetation here at one time. And I tell—when we go up in the
mountains, we go up and just take a look at the area, and I’d see what’s there—what I
know. I don’t know too much about what all was here at that time, but what’s left here, I
see that we have four different kinds of sagebrush. Different sagebrush, like, for the sage
grouse—we call it sagehens? That’s our food. And that’s also the sagehen’s food. And
we use that for medicine. My mother used to use a lot for, like, colds. Put it on your
chest, or either—you know, take a good smell of it. It clears your throat. And she also
used to use it to put on her head for headaches. And for bites. You could put it on, like, if
you got stung by a bee or something, you can chew it and put it on there. And that’s what
we used for our—sagebrush is good, and they also was good for clothing. You find the
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long sagebrush that’s tall. You peel off the bark, and you stitch it together. And that was
what they used for clothing long time ago when there was no material. And they also
made their shoe. And different things you can use to—you can weave with the bark. So
that, our sagebrush, is a lot of different things that you can use sagebrush. It is very
important that you learn how to use sagebrush, and sometimes you hear people, they get
after the sagebrush. I’ve worked with some people that don’t like the sagebrush, because
it does grow all over. And we have the rabbitbrush, which you can use—in the fall, they
bloom, and you can use the blossoms. And that is also used for medicine. And you can
also use that for baskets. Small baskets, whatever kind of basket you need. And then, we
have the balsam root, sunflowers. And balsam root is close to the sunflowers. You have
the Indian tea. You boil it, and drink it, and that is good for, like, to purify your blood, or
whatever illness you have, you can drink your Indian tea. And you have your wild roots.
It would be, well, I’ll go back to our plants. The mint, the wild mint you have, and the
spearmint that grows. You can use that as tea. And then we have stinging nettles, and
that’s also for medicine. And the stinging nettles, you boil it and drink that as a tea. And
you also have your Indian paintbrush, and your lupines, which is good for your colds, and
for headaches, or for coughing. You could always use your wild iris. And we have a lot
of that; that grows in the fields, or by the streams, by the creeks. And what I was told, I
don’t know what part you use, but it’s good for toothache. And there, you have—we have
wild yarrow, wild rose. Use the rose hips. And you can also make, you can also have that
as a jelly. And for—and we also have totsa that grows in the mountains. And totsa, that’s
good for your cold, and you boil it, and it’s also good to purify your system. And you can
also smoke it: dry it, shave it, and smoke the totsa. We have parsnips, and columbine.
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And our trees, we have around this area, we have mahogany. Mahogany, you scrape the
bark off, and you use that for tea. You can dry it, and use it later on when you need it.
And it’s—and then, we have our pinenut trees. We have plenty of pinenut trees here. And
you can use the pitch, and that’s good for, like, if you had a cut, or if you have a cut that
doesn’t heal, you can put that on it. Or you could use it for your water jugs, to cover the
water jugs, to hold the water. And a long time ago, we used to use it as, just pick it off the
tree, and chew it, and use it as gum. So, our pine trees is very important, and it also gives
us a lot of pinenuts and keep us going. And then, we have the cedar, the juniper. And you
pick off the juniper seeds, and that’s some, another medicine. Or, you can use it for
smudging. And we also have cottonwood trees. And birch, we have birch up in the higher
mountains, and we use that for cradleboards, for the frames, because it’s nice and strong.
Once it dries, we use that for cradleboards. And we have the willows, we have a lot of
willows, and we also use that for cradleboards. Or whatever kind of basket you need, like
your pinenut cleaning basket, and your big burden baskets—which, you don’t see people
use it anymore. But a long time ago, this is what our people, our ancestors, used. They
used all these supplies because they had to. There’s no way they would’ve survived
without using all these different things that we have in the valley. We are surrounded
with a lot of things that we don’t really, anymore we don’t really realize how our people
have survived. And our wildlife, we have deer, antelopes, fish. Lately, we’ve had elk.
And rabbits. Sage grouse. And I always tell the kids when we go out, everything’s alive.
Everything has life. Everything was used for our people. And I tell them, this was our
grocery store. Our—you know, we didn’t have to, they didn’t have to go and buy it. It
was here. It was here for them to use, and that’s how our people have survived. We don’t
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have anything—clinic, or stores, or school, or—we don’t have any of that here. We have
to travel to Fallon, and that’s like two hours from here. And we have CHRs that will
transport, and they have a clinic in Fallon that Yomba Tribe is, they can go to that clinic.
When we were growing up, I was not sick too much. But whenever we were ill, my
mother took care of us. And she did use her—you know, the way she was taught, and
things that she had here she used on us. So, I’ve never really been to a dentist, or the
doctors. And I was so afraid of them. Only time we see the doctors was when they came
out to give us our shots. Different—every year, they would come out and give us our
shots for, like, smallpox, or—I can’t remember what all they had, but that’s what they
used to do. But I’ve always been afraid of doctors.
Recently, we had Roger Ike come, and had shown us how to make cradleboards. And one
person, she was so excited that she was able to do a cradleboard, and how to start it, and
how to get out and look for the willows. She didn’t even know what kind of willows. And
that was one thing that was really good about Mr. Ike coming and showing us how to put
a cradleboard together. And when I was young, I was never interested in doing any
basketry or sewing, or beadwork. My mother, she did a lot of that. And she tried to show
me. But I was never interested. She’d say, “Sit down. I want to show you something.”
And she’d show me how to split it, but I’d try few times and it would break, and off I’d
go. I wasn’t a person to sit and try to keep trying it. But I watched her. She showed me
how to pick, and when to pick, and what to look for. So I used to help her pick the
willows. So, later on, when I thought about it, and I seen a lot of willows growing, I go,
“Hey! You know, I want to try it.” So, I sat down, and I kept at it, kept at it, and now I
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can split willows. Not as good, but I can, you know, I know how to do it. And I showed
my daughter, and my grandson, and they do willow work.
So I’m still sewing, now and then. Not as much as I used to. When I first started, I was
sewing for a small sewing factory. That was in Bishop. And I remember I didn’t have a
job when we moved to Bishop, and they had an advertisement for when they needed
sewers. And I went down and I talked to this lady, and she said, “Well, we have a job for
you if you want it.” And I said, “Not sewing!” And I was never really into sewing. And
then I thought—second thought, I thought, “What am I talking about? I need a job.” I
said, “I’ll take it.” So I went to the guy, and he had a little factory going, and it was
making covers for computers, and cases for computers. And there was three of us that
went there for interview, and he had picked me out. So I started sewing for him. And
then, down the few years, my daughter was going to high school and she needed some
money to go to—she was selected to go to Hawaii with some of the seniors that was
going to Hawaii, and she didn’t have any money. So I said, “We can figure something
out.” And there was a Pendleton in my closet that I didn’t use, so I thought, “Oh! I’m
going to do something with this.” So, I had a hard time cutting it, you know? I couldn’t
cut it. “I cut it, I might ruin it,” because I wouldn’t know what to do. Then I thought
about making a jacket, a Pendleton jacket. And this was when there was hardly any
Pendleton jackets out. So, I made a Pendleton jacket, and we raffled it off. She had more
than enough to go on. And the people seen that, and they said, “Can you make me one?”
And then, I started making vests instead of jackets because it was taking too much, and
the Pendleton is pretty expensive. And then, someone wanted a bag, and so I made a bag
to match the jacket. And then, next thing I know, there was everybody wanting bags. And
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then, I thought about, “What am I going to—am I going to have a little business making
bags?” And so, my friends and I, we got together and we thought about, “What can I
name my little business?” So, one morning, I woke up, and it kept coming to me:
“Kawich.” I go, “Oh, yeah! I’ll use that.” Because he was a chief that was not really
recognized. So I used it. So that’s one I’m still using, Kawich, on my bags. And it got
where I got too busy making bags, and it just got too much time putting in. And I got
tired of it. So, I kind of cut back on it. But I still, you know, people still now and then,
they said, “Hey, I want a Kawich bag. Can you make me a bag?” I go, “Oh, I’ll see.”
[Laughter]
Chief Kawich was my great-grandfather. He comes from down at the Kawich Range.
That’s down on Nellis Air Force Base. And at that time, when they lived there, there was
no base. They lived down there freely. And he had a band in, I don’t even know what
year it was. But when the settlers came, they’d taken his band, his people, out of that
area. It was probably already, they wanted it as a base. I don’t know why, what the reason
was. But they were taking his people into California, taking them out of that area. And he
had turned them around and brought some back, and they were—it was the cavalry that
taken them out of there. And at that time, there was a river, down—Owens River. And
now it’s dry, because the water, there’s a water piping down into lower California, down
into the southern California. But anyway, they had them crossing that lake. But he had
taken some of his people back towards his land. My mother’s from that area. And now,
it’s in 19—late 1940s, the Nellis Air Force Base had taken over, and there were several
other families that lived in that area. So, they had to move. They moved them out of there
and fenced the area. And we’re unable to go in that area. You have to have permission to
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go in there. And he was the chief for that area. And, so, once they came and made a map
of that location, so now there’s a mountain, valley, springs, different areas that’s named
after him. And that was his only—that was his, all he had as a name. He didn’t have any
other name. And his son is Bill Kawich. After he passed away, he was the younger chief.
And he was my grandfather. And the old man, the Chief Kawich, he’s buried there
somewhere near that mountain or on the mountain, of Kawich Mountain. I was able to go
in that area, the Nellis Air Force Base, because there was an archaeologist that the base
has. And he kept running into all these artifacts—baskets, whatever he was seeing—and
he asked different ones to come in and explain why these things were there. All the
grinding rocks and different things that’s there, and there’s rock caves. They call it the
rock shelters. And most of the rock shelters are up higher. And they always say, “Well,
why did they want to live so high?” It was because there was water. There was plenty of
water that was in the valleys. So, I’ve had chance to go down into Nellis. But whenever
we go into Nellis Air Force Base, they always have guides. They never leave you alone.
You’re unable to take pictures, you can’t take cameras. We’ve gone to different
shelters—I know this one shelter, it was facing toward the east, the opening. And there
was several baskets, maybe four or five different baskets in there. And they had, looked
like it was cedar branches put over it, and they were all mashed, so you couldn’t tell what
kind of basket it was. But you can tell they were different kind of baskets—you know,
different shapes. And it was kind of sad there. There was a, like—to me, they asked,
“What do you think, why this is here?” And to me, I said, “I think the person is buried
under there.” Just the feeling that I had. And the baskets that’s there was her belongings.
And that’s what our people, that’s what they did. They break up your baskets, whatever
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you used, that way someone else won’t use it after they pass on. And that’s how I
pictured it. But there’s a lot of things there, and one area was where they had the grinding
rocks turned over, and it was another rock shelter. And you can see the little rock circle
there where they had fire going. But they had these different rocks where they turn them
over. And the way I see it, someone of the family would come along, and when they’re
going through, they would use it, and just leave it there again and go on. So, it’s really
interesting in there. You don’t see people coming in there and collecting, because it’s all
fenced-in. That’s one thing I see about Nellis Air Force Base is, it’s protected. But only
thing, it’s kind of bad and it’s kind of good. But that was how we, different of our Native
people got to go into Nellis to look at the things that’s there, because that archaeologist
wanted to know why they were there.
This song was originated—my uncle, his name was Dave Clifford. He used to sing this
song, and what I was told was that you’re not to sing this song until he passed on. So ever
since he passed on, this song was sung at different things like rodeos, and maybe at the
powwows, or the language conferences. This song was started at the beginning.
[Singing and drumming from 44:45-45:33]
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Darlene Hooper Dewey
Location
The location of the interview
Yomba Reservation, NV [Reese River: Dewey residence]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/514
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD, MP4, and AVI format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:45:53
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Darlene Hooper Dewey - Oral history (04/10/2015)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Darlene Hooper Dewey, Western Shoshone from Reese River [Yomba Reservation], on 04/10/2015
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Darlene Hooper Dewey is a Western Shoshone who was born and raised in Yomba, Nevada. She gives a detailed account about how and when contact between the indigenous and immigrants took place, and how many of the Shoshones worked for many of the immigrants on the ranches or homesteads. Darlene then tells us about her family and others within the area and the creation of Yomba reservation as part of the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), and how the families purchased cattle. She also speaks about the history of the Fandangos, and the different types of native plants and their uses. Darlene then speaks about her Great-grandfather - Kawich - and how he was honored by becoming the name of her business. Dewey also tells us about the archeological importance of Nellis Air Force Base.<br /> <br />Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 046
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
04/10/2015 [10 April 2015]; 2015 April 10
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; James Hedrick [VHC/GBIA]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/341
Format
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mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshone
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
Indian Reorganization Act
ranching
Reese River
Shoshone
song
Story
traditional foods
traditional medicines
Yomba Reservation