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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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GBIA Oral History Collections
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2006-2015
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2015 Honored Elders Presentation
Description
An account of the resource
Photograph taken of the Western Shoshone Elders honored at the 2015 Elder Oral History Presentation showing on 11 June 2015 at the Great Basin College Theater in Elko, Nevada, USA.
Photo File 1 = full size
Photo File 2 = cropped 600 px by 250 px
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Angie De Braga
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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11 June 2015
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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All rights reserved. Use of any content only by express permission of Great Basin College © 2015.
Community
Crossroads
Elders
festival
GBIA
Play
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PDF Text
Text
Ellison
Jackson
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
003
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
and
Joe
Duce>e
January
27,
2006
Owyhee,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hCp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 003
Interviewee: Ellison Jackson
Interviewers: Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Ducette
Date: Jan 27, 2006
J:
As I remember, we used to live in a tent when I first remember it. On side of the road, by
the Presbyterian Church that’s out of town out here. And I remember I lived there in a
hard winter. My grandpa used to get up and paw the snow off the tent, so he said it won’t
break it, it won’t rip the tent. We get a lot of snow. And that’s what I remember about
that.
Well, our Indian diet mostly… meat, dried meat. You know, you make venison, you
make a jerky out of it, and a berries that my grandmother and grandfather get, we put it in
a patties like a hamburger and grind it. During the winter, eat that. And usually make
bread out of a flour, we called Indian bread. You know, they put it in the oven, you know,
cook it like that. Or over a open stove, like with a grease, lot of grease. And they call it
“grease bread.” That’s what we loved to eat. And our old-timers, if you set up a table and
there’s no Indian—we called it Indian bread—if there’s no Indian bread, you put a white
bread on, they said, “Throw that white bread away! That’s no good. We want Indian
bread.” So the womenfolks usually always making that bread, they don’t buy that readymade bread, Wonderbread.
As I remember first, we used to have a wash tub stove. Like, in a tent? In a wash tub, you
cut a hole in there, put a pipe in there, and put a little door in the front. Use that for stove.
And they cook on it.
Yes, or sagebrush, or willows. Whatever that you get. My parents were Robert Jackson,
and my mom was Lena Jackson. When he first moved to Owyhee—in [19]30s, I guess,
I’m not too quick on that—and I was born here in [19]34.
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I moved here because my mom’s dad, my grandfather, they lived here. They raised
horses, cattle, you know. So he move here and work on odd jobs around Owyhee
reservation.
Well, we used to grow up playing all the time. In the snow, in the winter; sometime we’d
go swimming; and sometime we go hunting, with the slingshot. You know, with the
slingshot, we’d go out and kill these squirrels, and we cook them over open fire out there
someplace and have it for lunch. That was our life.
I had two sisters and one brother. I’m the second. Second to my sister, my sister was
oldest and I’m the second.
School was, they called—what was they call it—Swayne school, I guess. Because I
remember, went to kindergarten. I don’t know how old I was. I didn’t know how to speak
English. Maybe “yes” or “no,” as I remember. [Laughter] And I always tell this story
when someone ask that question. Said I went to school. And the teacher got a paper, and
calling people’s name out. So they said, “Raise your hand up when you hear name.” Kids
start raising here and there, you look around. And there was lot of people that we don’t
know everybody, because they come from different areas. And we only knew people in
town because we live in town. Surrounding area, we’re not too acquainted with these
other kids. So I said, “Whose name is that?” Look at them. So pretty soon, the teacher
said, “Ellison Jackson.” I was looking around. Who’s Ellison Jackson? Nobody raised
their hand up. And the teacher pointed at me. And I said, “me?” They say yes. Says,
“Raise your hand!” So I raised my hand. It was a funny name, I never did like since! I
said growing up, “I hate that name!” Because my Indian name my grandfather gave me
was Bombo. Everybody called me Bombo. So I thought that was my—well, that was my
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name. Still they call me that today! [Laughter] They don’t use Ellison! I thought that was
so funny.
Well, I went to seventh grade. I went to seventh grade here, I go to work on a ranch.
C:
And what did you do at the ranch? What was life like?
J:
I was a buckaroo. Horse riding life, you know, ride a horse? Cowboying for different
ranch. Wherever they hire me, I go to work.
Well, generally, it’s mostly… You work with cattle. On a horse.
Early. Four in the morning.
Sometime, if you work close to the house, you work long hours. Like, eight hours, nine
hours. And sometime you’re far away, you don’t come home until late, like couple
twelve hours in fall. In roundup time, you’re busy.
We used to make hundred and quarter a months. It’s a room and board. So, I thought that
was great.
When you get in in the morning, there’s a buckaroo boss there. In the corral, there’s a lot
of horses. Then you tell the buckaroo boss which horse you’re going to ride. You’ve got
about six horses that yours, like they belong to you. You keep them in good shape, you
put shoes on them, make sure they’re not sick. You feed ‘em, take care of them like you
really own it. So you tell the buckaroo boss, “This horse I want.” So they’ll go out there
and rope it for you. So you saddle up, get ready for—other cowboys get ready. Then
everybody ready, then you go. The cow boss take the lead, so you follow. Like he’d say,
“Well, we’re going to work that area.” Certain area of the hills, mountains, you know.
You’re working cattle. You’re moving from, move a cattle from different places to
different area. Like, fall, spring, summer, then branding time. You know, you do all that.
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C:
And how many buckaroos would you have on a ranch?
J:
It’s a big ranch, usually about ten. Small ranch, maybe five.
C:
Were they married?
J:
Mostly young, young buckaroos. There are about eighteen, seventeen, eighteen, up to
twenty young buckaroos. A few of them married, you know.
Well, my dad, he was… He became a operator, cat operator. Later on in years, learn how
to run the Cat. The big D… D8 or something like that. Anyway, he worked on a Cat. And
he worked as mechanic, here. But he don’t—he’s always busy, so he don’t, he really
didn’t teach me anything as I remember. But my grandfather, Jim—his name was Jim
Cavanaugh. James Cavanaugh. He’s the one that give me a lecture on, you know, learn
how to work. Mostly ranch work he was talking about. Like fixing fence, stacking hay,
being buckaroo, being nice to people, and always be polite at the table. You know, these
things which, were never taught that at home. He said, “You go work with these ranchers,
you’re going eat. Everybody eat together. There be twenty people there, maybe fifteen.
So you always say, ‘Please.’ When you order something, always say ‘Please.’ Then don’t
point at things.” He taught me all that. Then later on, I learned that my grandfather came
from Battle Mountain, that area. They’re the people that was called Western Shoshones.
And my dad came from Austin, Nevada. They’re also Western Shoshone people. Western
Shoshone band, I mean.
Well, it’s a long story… [Laughter]
C:
That’s okay!
J:
It goes—a legend, way back in legend times, the story goes like… There was a Coyote.
They go into Coyote, like this. Well, the Coyote’s our father. No, Wolf’s our father, and
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the Coyote is Wolf’s brother. So, us Indians, we’re all Coyote’s children. So, he was our
father. And he had whole bunch of kids, in different race, I guess. But there was only two
that he brought home. And to Nevada, I guess, to his home. After he got this woman
pregnant. And anyway, so he brought two home. Where they live in the mountains, where
there was a stream. And, so early in the morning, when he woke up, he thought his little
boys need cleaning, like a bath. Stream running, so he got up, and he give them a bath.
He use, the Indians use that mud, the fine mud, for soap. [Rubbing hands together] You
use that for soap. Put that on them and clean them up. But the two little boys, when they
first, when he let them go, after he let them go—they always fighting. You know how
boys… They fight each other. So, then the Coyote said, “Well, this not going to work.
You’re both my boys, you guys fighting.” But he said, he put a curse on them, he said,
“What I’m going to do is I’m going to separate you two. Apart.” So, he took one of his
boys, he got to live on the south, and one on the north. So the guy who going to give you
a, you be the—well, I don’t know where the Shoshone came from, but “you be the…”
They call them a newe, Indian. Shoshone word means, you’re your person, newe. And the
Paiute separated to the north. But he was your brother, and he was separated from you.
Then I don’t remember where he get the name Paiute, but they was both neme, because
they’re both brothers, they’re both Indians, that’s what was given to them. But the curse
put on them was, “Whenever you two meet someplace down the trail, no matter where at,
since you don’t like each other you guys going to fight. The Paiute and the Shoshone, you
meet each other on the trail somewheres, you just going to battle it out. You won’t like
each other.” That was the curse put on them. And they said, “The way you can recognize
each other is, the Shoshone will have a round eyes, like a owl.” Kind of round eyes.
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That’s a Shoshone. You look at the other guy, he’s a Paiute, he’ll have a slant eyes. Like,
upwards? So that’s the way you can recognize each other. So that’s the way the story go,
end up like that! [Laughter] So, that’s where we came from. That’s what the legend told
us. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. But in life, today, when you tell that to a Paiute, they
get hostile. I tell that story lot of times, and they say, “We’re all Indians! How come you
don’t like us, the Shoshones don’t like Paiutes?” “But it’s a legend!” I said, now, yes,
once.
Well, this one I always tell. You ask us where we came from. You know, I always—well,
my grandfather said, well, this is… When—we don’t say “God.” We have our own
religious way of live, I guess. Our own belief, the Western Shoshones. So, that’s what my
grandfather told me.
There was this world. It was up there. There was nothing on it. But that’s where they
believe that Wolf—they call it a Wolf and a Coyote—that’s where they came from. From
this, uh… the world was getting made, and that’s where they came from. So we, like a
Bible say, we came from our Father, the God. And it’s similar to that. But in Indian way,
that’s the way they tell. But they said, “That’s where we came from!” And when the,
after the world was, people on it already. There’s human beings on it. But the sun was
going too low. Instead of up high. It was too low. It was so hot. So the people that live on
this earth, they live underground. But when he cool off, they’ll come out. At night. So,
you roam around. So, then they go back underground, when the sun coming out. So the
chief decide—they had a chief—but Coyote wasn’t one of it [16:30]. There was some
chief, they had, I can’t remember the names. But the mostly animals they talk about. The
Indians said, “Well, we should do something about this sun. It’s too low, too hot up there.
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Why don’t we set it up higher, so it won’t burn us?” So they decided, “Well, we could do
it.” Then they said, “Well, how?” Then their chief said, they decide, “Well, we could kill
the sun. Because Sun’s alive, because he come out every morning. He’s alive.” So they
said, “We’ll kill it.” Then they said, “Well, if we kill it, it’ll come down to earth and burn
us,” somebody said. Then they said, “Yeah, that’s true.” Then they said, “Well, we’ve got
to find somebody that could run fast and dig a hole underneath the ground and jump in
there before the sun come down to earth, after they shoot it.” So the Coyote said, “Pick
me!” But they said, “Don’t pick Coyote, he’ll do something wrong” because, see, they
don’t trust him, the Coyote. “So what? I could run fast.” So they put a test, who could run
fast. You know, so many yards, who could run fast that distant. So the people keep
trying, Coyote keep saying, “I’m fast!” He’ll go up there and come back. Real fast. But
they don’t trust him. So there was, two people was pick. There was a Cottontail, and the
Brush Rabbit that was picked. So they said, “Well, you two kill the sun.” So they went
out, went to hunt for the sun. So they went to the mountain where the sun came out. They
settled to wait for the sun. So the next morning, when they sit up there, the sun didn’t
come out. [Laughter] He come over the other mountain, across. So they never did caught
up to the sun. But keep traveling, keep traveling. But every night when they camp out, or
dig a hole where they going to live, under the earth. So, finally, I don’t know how long
they travel, try to catch the sun, but finally they… One morning the sun came out on top
of that mountain where they were staying. Close. It was so hot! So they came out of their
hole, and they had a bow and arrow to shot at it. And their bow and arrow just burned.
Pwoosh! The arrow. They don’t had it. Or they shoot it, and it burnt before it reach the
sun. It was so hot. So the, they decide, “Well, if we use a medicine”—the Indian people
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use certain type of medicine that’s strong. So they decide, “Well, we’ll just use a
sagebrush bark and wrap it real tight around that arrow. And they pray to it. Put their,
whatever medicine they have, they put it on and pray to it. And they shot that. And that
thing burn, Pwoosh! And hit the sun. Once it hit, Sun got hit, he came down. Fall off the
sky to the ground. So they took off and jumped under a hole. So the brush rabbit and the
cottontail jump in their hole, but that brush rabbit didn’t dig a deep hole. And the
cottontail, it was a deeper hole. So pretty soon, the Cottontail, he hears his buddy Bush
Rabbit crying. Screaming. But it was so hot! The Cottontail put his foot in that hole,
where they dig to keep the heat off. So I don’t know how long, it took quite a while for it
to cool off. So after he cool off, the Cottontail came out of the hole looking at his brother.
His brother was all cooked, blacked. Singed. So then he notice, the sun was laying there
on the ground. But the sun was still alive. So, then he told the sun that’s what’s
happening. “You’re burning us,” you know, “You run too low. Why don’t you go up
higher?” So he grab it and send it up higher, up into the sky. So he won’t be traveling
close to the earth after this. But he cut his, Brush Rabbit’s gut, and use the
[cut in recording from from 21:33 – 21:36]
you travel up there, you make a star. Became a star. And the gut here became a Milky
Way. And what else they made out of that? [Laughter] I can’t remember—That’s what he
did! So, like, they say, “Well, today when you look up at the sky, you’ll think, ‘Well,
that’s the Brush Rabbit’s eyes shining.’” Oh, they made a moon out of the kidney! Throw
it up there and made a moon out of it so you could travel at night. You could see the light.
So he done all that. So the job was completed. So the next morning, the sun came out
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over the mountain, it was up higher. So they done their job. [Laughter] That was legend.
So, it was told to me.
Well, the Indians, they get together. It’s a get-together. On a big holiday, like that. So at
the Indian Colony up in Elko, they had this hand game going. And the womans play
cards, and Round Dance every night. And they’ll four days, four-five days, and that fair
going on. And lot of people, they came in from different areas. And Fourth July, people
do the same. They came over to Owyhee. And they do the same thing. Hand game, card
games, races, rodeo here. And a Round Dance.
Well, if you work on a ranch, you go with the boss. They usually haul the workers in for
holiday. But if somebody had a car, you jump in with them. To Owyhee, if it’s short
ways. Like if you work in WP, or Flying H Ranch [23:34]… But other areas, the boss
go to town, and jump in with him, and come back to work with, to the ranch with him.
Yeah, there’s Indian celebration going on all the time. And there’s some singers. You
know, they call a Round Dance? People take turns singing a song, about… Singing
Indian song is telling a story. Instead of telling a story, you put it into singing. So… And
that’s whats it’s all about, and people enjoy that as celebrations.
Everybody dance together, you know, you hold hands and… Women, old lady, young
kids… They just have all kinds of fun.
Yeah, that’s how I brought my drum and that. Maybe I’ll sing a one song. This is, my dad
used to sing that. I remember that. When I was a little kid, he always singing a song. So I
always, I pick it up when I was a young kid. So. he always sing a song. So. This talk
about a mountain. You know, that big mountain. How the mountain looked, it’s kind of
blue, all this and that. Put it into song, and he always singed it. It’s—he always say, “In
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Austin, where I live, there was a big mountain. So that’s what my song about.”
[Laughter] He always say that! Never been to Austin, so I always remember what he used
to say. So this is it:
[sings in Newe at 25:19]
[song concludes at 26:32]
So that’s that Round Dance song. You could go over, I don’t know, two-three difference
in, if you’ve got a good wind here, because you sing it over and over about two, three
times, same wording. And people dance to it. When they like that song, they said, “Come
on, sing that song again!” Then you have to go over and over. And that’s a Round Dance
song.
Yes, I did, uh-huh. Made out of a elk hide. So I made that.
Well, you had to have a board inside, and soak the hide. After you scrape the hair off the
hide, then you stretch it when it’s wet, over this. Then they dry out like that. So got to be
tight. So, that’s what I made for a trip down Fort Hall. I made some. They invite me over
to tell a story, so wanted a, I thought I needed a drum to sing a song. [Laughter] I made
one!
Okay, um… When I was a young kid growing up, there was our neighbor. His name was
Stanley Gibson. He was cripple. He was in a wheelchair. And used to visit him all the
time. I’d carry water for him, he was real nice. He give us nickel now and then for candy.
Was growing up, and he’d do rawhide work. Sit in wheelchair and do all that. Talk to us,
and laugh, and then we push him out to the store in the wheelchair, and was good friend
of ours. So I learned little bit about rawhide from him. So… But as time went on, I
always want to work a rawhide because when you work on ranch, somebody know how
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to work rawhide. Cowboys, maybe tie a knot, maybe somebody working rawhide. And
they willing to teach you. But, as I was growing up, I hate to ask somebody. You know,
because they’re busy doing something, you hate to ask them. It’s so complicated. So,
what I did was, my brother-in-law have a ranch south of Elko. His name was Raymond
Darrough. I live one winter with him there, helping him, feeding cattle. So he said, “Well,
let’s make reata, we’re going to run horses.” Wild horses, mustang. So says, “I’ll show
you how.” So he taught me how to make reata. Slow process, and he’d braid it together,
and he use it. So, then he taught me how to braid and tie a few knots. Simple one. But it
was so complicated. I keep asking him. And pretty soon he get tired of me, and he said,
“Well, this is last time I’m going to tell you. You better pick it up!” So I went so far, and
that was it, I kept making mistakes. But later on in years, there’s a book called Cowboy
Horse Gear. It show how to tie a knot, and all the rawhide knots the cowboys use. So, I
learned how to tie knots from studying that. Kinda complicated at first. Then I learned
how to cut it, how to soak it, how to treat it, everything. Then braid, you do lot of
braiding. Hard on your hands, the knot-tying’s. You know, on that set arrange that, lot of
different knots I put on. And that’s the way I learned. Because whoever work rawhide,
they don’t want to waste time teaching you, because you’ll never learn in one day or two
days, or a week. Take forever! And the person that teach rawhide, they… You go to
school nowadays, I think they cost about, for six week, about $2000 to attend a class. Just
for couple hours a day. So nobody got no time to teach a person. So that’s where I learn
how to work rawhide, then. And I had some—I donated some to Elko Museum, my work.
And it was hanging at Stockman’s that one year.
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Well, I wouldn’t say don’t count it, just... [31:12] I always say, “Forever!” [Laughter]
Because you braid it during the summer. You clean the hide, you braid it during the
summer. Cut the strings into fine—fine strings, all even. Then wintertime, you tie the
knots. Sit there at night through the cold weather. Slow process. Then complete it finally.
And then you’re happy. Then you want to look at it, then somebody come along and said,
“Hey! How much you want for it?” Say, “Nah, not for sale.” But I sell it all the time.
[Laughter] So… It’s a good art, because then people knew I, since I had my work
hanging in Stockman’s and people knew my, who I am and what type of work I done,
good rawhide work they say, so they want to order. They call me and said, “Hey, make
me one!” And I tell them, “Well, if I get around to it, I’ll make one, but right now I don’t
have any.” So that’s the way I got a clean up [32:22] with that.
Growing up is… I don’t know how old I was—well, maybe ten or something—but our
favorite pastime was hunting, fishing, riding horse, swimming during the summer, and
playing all the time. That’s all we did. Nothing much. But, I love to ride horse. My
grandpa let me ride a horse, I’ll ride a horse. My grandpa was real strict on the horses.
You can’t—he got to be with you, if you ride his horse. He always say, “Don’t run your
horse to death!” You know, when you’re young kid, you just want to run, run, run!
[Laughter] You don’t want to run slow! So, he said, “I got to be there!” So that was fun
part. And he took, grandpa took me fishing. I enjoy that. Go up the river to go catch some
fish. Trouts, usually.
[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
Ellison "Bombo" Jackson
Location
The location of the interview
Owyhee Hospital, Owyhee, NV - Duck Valley Reservation
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Transcript available: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/ca19c29d24318e8927a3aa630ba1e8a3.pdf
Original Format
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DVD; VOB format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:35:30
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
Ellison "Bombo" Jackson (01/27/2006)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History Interview with Ellison "Bombo" Jackson, Western Shoshone from Duck Valley NV, (01/27/2006)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Ellison Jackson was the son of Robert Jackson and Lena Jackson. He is best known by his Native name Bombo. Bombo tells us of his childhood growing up in a tent near the Presbyterian Church in Owyhee, Nevada. He also tells us of his experience at the Swayne School. Bombo also tells us about his buckaroo and cowboy days riding horses, and what his grandfather James Cavanaugh told him to expect. He also tell us a Shoshone tale about Coyote, the Shoshone, and the Paiute. Also tells us about another tale about the Sun, Brush Rabbit, and Cottontail.<br /> <br />Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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Great Basin Indian Archive, GBIA 003A
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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01/27/2006 [27 January 2006]; 2006-01-27
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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
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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 © 2016.
Consent form of file administrator access only:
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/2e823d76c4f4bd92f31936e2d966dcef.pdf
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streaming video
Language
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English
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley
folktale
GBIA
Paiute
ranching
Shoshone
Story
Swayne school
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/4d39c7244ee9e08ada9c31a5b12fec1c.jpg
a1b76b4497e076bda2efcd725bb3b1a6
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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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GBIA Oral History Collections
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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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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Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Dan Blossom
Location
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Elko, NV (GBC Campus)
Transcription
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Transcription in Process
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DVD and VOB format
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00:48:30
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Dan Blossom Oral History (03/27/2012)
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Oral History Interview with Dan Blossom, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV on 03/27/2012
Description
An account of the resource
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; height: 50px; width: 50px;" title="Shoshone Language Marker indicating Shoshone content" src="/omeka/files/original/79de1f8d7d9a264c3fb9973a5346a076.jpg" alt="Shoshone Language Marker" />Oral History Interview with Dan Blossom, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV on 03/27/2012<br />This oral history contains significant Shoshone language conversation, and is recommended for usage by community language teachers.</p>
<p>Dan Blossom (Cho Cho Kunn) was born in Battle Mountain (Dona Muzza), Nevada in 1924. His mother was Miley Jackson-Cavanaugh. He is part of the Jackson Clan. Dan Blossom describes how he grew up on the outskirts of Battle Mountain. He describes how he would hunt for food such as gomba (type of desert ground squirrel), and eat other foods such as deer, duck, etc. He describes how his grandmother Aggie Jackson and his family lived while he was growing up in Battle Mountain. Dan also tells us of his school experience, and how he was not allowed to speak Shoshone. He later describes his life while he was in the Army during the Korean War. He later tells us a traditional Shoshone Tale: Coyote and Wolf.</p>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 027
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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03/27/2012 [27 March 2012]; 2012 March 27
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Aldun Tybo [community member]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
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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 © 2016.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/id/308
Language
A language of the resource
Shoshone; English
Community
Crossroads
folktale
GBIA
heritage
hunting
Korean War
ranching
Shoshone
Story
veteran
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/05aa5d18a008ed11a3e323afa2b67adb.pdf
ab5e52172541949b377fcc36bd4634c9
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Transcript of oral history interview with Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay, 16 March 2006
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Oral history interview with Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay, Western Shoshoni
GBIA 005
Description
An account of the resource
Clara Woodson (Battle Mountain, NV) and Gracie Begay (Austin, NV), both Western Shoshone, explain their early lives, what life was like when they were younger, and different parts of their family background. They both talk about different stories including the Coyote playing Hand Game, Shoshoni beliefs on death, and one of their elders Maggie, who had the power to turn into a wolf. Clara describes her frustrations with the government and tells how they never received proper compensation for what was taken from the Western Shoshone.<br /> Interviewed by Joe Ducette, 16 March 2006<br /> <a href="http://kaltura.tmcc.edu/index.php/kmc/preview/partner_id/109/uiconf_id/11170182/entry_id/0_juchlsqz/delivery/httphttp://kaltura.tmcc.edu/index.php/kmc/preview/partner_id/109/uiconf_id/11170182/entry_id/0_juchlsqz/delivery/http" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Oral History [streaming video]</a>
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 005
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Great Basin Indian Archive
Date
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16 March 2006
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Joe Ducette [interviewer]
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/items/show/58
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pdf file (22 pages)
Language
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English; Shoshoni
PDF Text
Text
Clara
Woodson
&
Gracie
Begay
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
005
Oral
History
Interview
by
Joe
Duce=e
March
16,
2006
Elko,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hBp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 005
Interviewee: Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay
Interviewer: Joe Ducette
Date: June 20, 2006
W:
Well, I was born in Battle Mountain, Nevada, June 20th, 1920. I lived with all my
grandparents. And my grandfather was alive, too, at that time. And he was the only male
in the family. The rest were all widows, or divorcee, or whatever you call it! [Laughter]
And, but I lived with all of them. And I lived with my great-great grandmother for 12
years, because I was 12 when she passed on. But I lived with the rest. After she passed
on, I lived with my great-grandmother, Mary Horton, that you see in the picture. She goes
to work every day for the Horton family in Battle Mountain. And where she got that
name of “Horton,” she worked for a Jim Horton that had the grocery store, dry goods
store, right there in Battle Mountain where the Owl Café is, and casino. That used to be
his store. So, my great-grandmother Mary worked for them for all these years. But I
didn’t see this part of it, I just heard this one. They told me that Mr. Horton told her that
she’s been in his family for so long, that he was going to give his name to her. So that’s
how she became Mary Horton. Whether there had been any papers drawn, or anything
like that, I don’t know. That part I don’t know. So, she became Mary Horton. So, she was
Mary Horton until the day she passed on. And she worked for these people all these
years. She was already in her hundreds, when she used to go to work, about a mile and a
half each way. And she was active. And never stopped for anything. When she gets
started, she just walks until she gets there, and walks until she gets back. And she worked
there for many, many years—until I grew up, and then when I grew up, I took over her
job, because she got to the point where she couldn’t work anymore. So I worked there for
quite a few years, too, after that.
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I’m from Shoshone, in Battle Mountain. And at that time, our chief in Battle Mountain
and Austin area was Tutuwa. And he was the chief on that side, whereas Te-Moak was on
this side. And so he’s been a chief for all those years, and he, that was his responsibility,
was the area on that side.
D:
And then, did you have a nickname as a child, or…?
W:
Waiyu. Wai-yu. I don’t know what it means. Do you? [Laughter] Yeah. Waiyu.
D:
What was life like growing up?
W:
Wonderful. We didn’t know what hardship was, because we were just having too much
fun! [Laughter] We lived in the hills for many years, and we didn’t know what it was to
struggle because my grandfather was a good provider.
D:
What was your house like?
W:
We lived in tents. And sometimes, we lived in—
B:
Wikiups.
W:
Huh? What they call it? Wikiup, yeah. So, wherever we wanted to go, that’s where was
our home.
D:
Can you describe what a wikiup is like?
W:
It’s sagebrush. Just all built together. Together, and packed together somehow, I don’t
know. But that’s how it was. And then the tent was a regular tent that you buy from any
store. So we lived in that for years and years. And we had, my grandfather had plenty of
horses, and he had plenty of wagons, and we lived between Battle Mountain and Austin,
up in there, in King Creek area. And my grandfather was given some land up in that area.
I guess it’s registered in Austin, because Austin at that time was county seat. So, he was
given that strip of land back in there. So that’s where we lived for many years. So, twice,
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maybe three times a year, he makes a trip into Austin, or he makes a trip into Battle
Mountain, gets all his supplies. The rest, he grew. And he’d hunt. So we always had
plenty to eat. So, we were—and we were never sick. We never had to go to a doctor that I
would even remember. We never had taken any medicine, except an herb for a sore throat
once in a while. But we were never sick. And we were just happy as a lark! [Laughter]
D:
When—as children, what did you do for fun?
W:
Anything you wanted to do. You can go for walks, you can climb trees, you can go
wading, whatever. It’s there.
B:
Picking pinenuts.
W:
Yeah. Pinenuts, and berries.
B:
Berries.
W:
Everything, was just right there. So, whatever you want to do.
D:
Did you have any games that you played?
W:
Mmhm, yeah. Different kind of games that they taught us how to play. So, like, whatever.
D:
What kind, or don’t you remember?
W:
Well, one was kick the—what they call kick, they made a ball out of a rag, like a ball.
And then you kick it. No! You don’t kick it, you take a stick, you hit it with a stick.
Remember?
B:
Unnnhh, I don’t remember that part! [Laughter]
W:
Yeah, you hit it with a stick, and that was it. So… But, at least, whatever you wanted to
play, it was there. So. But, everybody was happy. Nobody, there was no fighting, no
nothing. There was no booze, so there was nothing like that. So everybody was happy.
When people stopped by, they know that my grandfather always had plenty of food, so
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whoever’s going through always stopped by for two or three days, and visit, and he gives
them enough food to go wherever they’re going to go.
D:
What kind of food did you have as kids?
W:
Whatever you—
B:
Whatever.
W:
Everything. Everything was there. We had wild potatoes, we had onions, we had carrots.
B:
Wild carrots.
W:
Wild berries, and...
B:
Pinenuts.
W:
Pinenuts.
B:
Jackrabbits.
W:
Berries. Jackrabbits, squirrels. You name it, it was there. Deer. Want to go fishing,
there’s fish. You name it, it’s there. And it was free. And you didn’t have to ask anybody,
or worry about anybody telling you you can’t hunt here or you can’t hunt there. And he
made, my grandfather made ropes for the ranchers. He made cowhide ropes, and
whatever the horses, they call it. What they, they’re on their heads. Conchos?
B:
Mmhm.
W:
Yeah, he made all of that. And made all kinds of stuff for horse. And lot of smaller ropes,
and bigger ropes for bigger wagons and stuff like that. But he did all of that. He took care
of all the horses for all those ranchers. So he worked several ranches down there. And
then, when his sons got older, they followed his footsteps, and so they did the same thing,
too. The grandparents—the grandmothers, every night is storytime. And like I said, we’re
up there in the open, in the tents, and there’s two, three kids all out there, and they all go
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to bed at the same time. So, that’s when the storytime comes. And what you do when
they tell you a story, you repeat what they say. And, so, she tells the story, and pretty
soon she only hears maybe five voices. And then she knows one’s down. And then she
keeps on telling, and then there’s three, and then there’s two, and then pretty soon there’s
no more. And that’s the end of the story. But you’ve got to remember where it ended,
because the next night it’s going to continue from there. So, every night, we have to have
stories before we went to bed.
D:
Do you remember any of the stories?
W:
God, it’s been so long, I don’t even remember! [Laughter] There’s a lot of those stories,
most of them was stories that they say how the world was made, and you know, about
God, and things like that. And how things originated, where they came from, and it’s
stuff like that.
B:
I was born in Austin, Nevada, in 1935. Have both my parents, the pictures. When I was
growing up, my—well, in the earlier days, my mom, when they first went to school, she
said that the superintendent came and they were all hiding in the sagebrush. They didn’t
want to go to school. And so they finally caught them, and some of them got sent to
Stewart, but my mom said she was glad that she went to school to the eighth grade. And
she was thankful for that, because she knew how to read and write. And she knew how to
count money. She was smart at math and all this kind of stuff. And so she was always
thankful that she went to school. But my aunt and them never went to school, and all she
had learned was how to write her name. That was Adele. And my mom used to work for
the Hiskys, when she was a young girl, like her grandma did. And she said she used to
save the soaps, you know, from when she was cleaning house, and from the bathtubs and
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stuff. She used to save all the soap. Then she’d take it home and make soap out of it to
wash her school clothes with. And she’d heat her own water and stuff. She told me all
about that, you know. And so, when she got—I’m getting way ahead of myself. My
grandma said that when they were, when she was a young girl, she remembered the
soldiers coming, she said. I don’t know where that was, by Reese River someplace. By
Austin. She said lots of soldiers came during the big flood, and she says they took them
in wagons. I guess that’s when they moved them to Austin. And she was, she said they
was giving them blankets and food and stuff. But she said lot of the people got sick from
those blankets and stuff. And she said, “They promised us money,” and she said, “We no
see no money.” That’s what she was telling us, you remember. “We no see no money.”
So…
W:
We still don’t. [Laughter]
B:
Yeah! [Laughter] Still haven’t seen it! So then she moved, we moved to Battle Mountain.
And in the, must have been the 19—I must have been six years—no, about three years
old. Maybe 1935. Or was it 1937? And there was a little school down here in Beowawe,
in Dunphy. Dunphy, Nevada, where my dad was working for the Hilltop Mine. And so
we moved to Dunphy, Nevada, in Ricksie’s, they used to call it. You know where I’m
talking about down here? There was a little school there. There was a store, run by Mrs.
Wallace, and there was a school there, and they had cabins. I think there was ten cabins.
That’s where I went to school in kindergarten. And my sister must have been in the first
grade, and my older brother Edward, I think he was probably in the third grade or
something like that. But we went to school in Dunphy. And I remember my teacher’s
name was Christine Cox, and she was, we went to school there. That’s the time the kids
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used to first make those rubber guns, you know, with the—wooden rubber guns? And I
remember one of the boys, young boys, got his eye put out with that rubber gun, because
it slipped, hit him in the eye. That’s when we were in Dunphy. Then we moved to Battle
Mountain, and I went to first grade there. And I grew up in Battle Mountain. My dad built
his own house, and he built—we had a well that he dug by his self, and he used to buy
watermelons, and bacons, and hams, food, and put them down in the well. And they used
to be nice and cool. We never had refrigeration, and we never had electricity. And, so he
made his own well, and he made his own—we used to have to go out and get the ice from
the railroad. Because he worked for the railroad, and they used to dump these big chunks
of ice from the ice cars. And we had, us kids had to go over there every morning and pick
up the ice with a wheelbarrow and wheel it back home. That’s what my mom used for her
iced tea, and they had a, like a swamp cooler, made out of gunnysacks and screen. Sets
up high like this on the—and that was our refrigeration. With the ice that we picked from
the railroad.
D:
What did you do for fun?
B:
Well, there wasn’t much fun in those days, because we didn’t live—we were in public
schools, and we didn’t live up on the Colonies. We didn’t live on the reservation,
colonies. We always lived downtown, and away from friends, really. And so we just went
to school, and learned discipline early. Not like it is today. We had to learn to be, get
home a certain time and all this, or there was the willow tree. And boy, you got willowed
if you didn’t mind! You know. Now, I remember Battle Mountain, too, and Clara’s, her
great-grandma. Mary Horton and Aggie and them. They used to make rabbit blankets, out
of the rabbit fur. Jackrabbit fur. And I can remember them sewing those blankets
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together. And they always had those rabbit blankets, remember they called them? Used to
put them down on the floor, and they used to sleep on them.
W:
Oh, there’s nothing like a rabbit blankets.
B:
Yeah! [Laughter]
W:
And that’s all you need, is one blanket. [Laughter]
B:
And I remember her doing that. So in my time, generation, I’ve known five generations
of people that lived past their hundreds. And I’m proud of that, because I can still
remember them.
D:
Who are they?
B:
Well, we had… I wrote down their, let’s start with Mary Horton—and her name was
Kangaroo, her nickname. And I didn’t know ‘til now where she got her name, the Mary
Horton, until I just heard it from her just now. And she was born in 1859, she died in
1974. And she was the mother of Aggie Jackson. No, wait a minute, I’ve got that wrong.
Mary Horton was born 1825, and she died in 1956. Mary Horton. Aggie Jackson was
born 1859, and then she died in 1974. Ida Blossom Long, a daughter of Aggie Jackson,
was born October 5, 1907, and she died July 5, 1988. Glenda Blossom Johnson was the
daughter of Ida Johnson, but I don’t have her death listed down. Harlan Jackson, son of
Aggie Jackson, died age 101 in Battle Mountain. Then you had Millie Cavanaugh,
daughter of Aggie Jackson, which is Clara’s mom. Then Jerry Jackson, son of Aggie
Jackson. And I’ve got Clara Blossom Woodson, daughter of Millie Cavanaugh. Then I
got Dan Blossom Cavanaugh down here, the son of Millie and Louie Cavanaugh. That’s
the generations. Then on my mom’s side of the family, I remember that Joe Gilbert—and
I didn’t write those down, I didn’t have time, really—but my grandma, and her great-
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great grandma was the same as my mom’s. Said she used to call it, little, oh, what was
her name?
W:
Josie.
B:
Yeah. You said it. What was her name? Jenny—not Jenny, um… You said that was
buried in Battle Mountain, at 117? That was Ton ti?
W:
Tii Tsosie.
B:
Uh-huh.
W:
Yeah. That’s little Peggy.
B:
Yeah! Little Peggy. Peggy, they called her. And, then my grandma died at 104 years old.
And she had sisters, they all lived into the hundreds. And I’ve known, from my
generation, the five generations, I remember them. Annie Dusain. She was a hundred and
something, and she was—used to walk with a cane. She used to walk real fast. They
always had apples when we used to go over to their house, and she used to say, “Oh, oh
oh! Little Grace! Oh, oh, oh!” She used to call me. She little old lady, who stood about
this high. But she grew to a little old age. And so that’s something to be proud of,
knowing in my lifetime, the generations. Don’t really—I don’t really know what they
wanted to have. But, I’m just going to try my best from the time that my grandma told us.
D:
Do you remember any stories from when you were young that your grandmother told
you?
B:
Well, she used to tell us about the—and which we don’t practice today—she used to
drink her Indian Tea every day. They used to call it, what, Indian Tea? And every day,
she drank a fourth of a cup of that. Every day without fail. She was not sick. She died of
old age. She only had little bit of arthritis in her neck. But that’s all.
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D:
And do you know what the Indian tea was made of?
B:
Pardon?
D:
Do you know what the Indian tea was made of?
W:
Tea. The Indian Tea. Mormon Tea [Shoshone at 20:29].
B:
Yeah.
W:
Mormon Tea, they call it Mormon Tea.
B:
They call it Mormon Tea. But it was the sage tea.
D:
So made from sagebrush.
W:
It’s made just like a sage—it grows like a sagebrush.
B:
Grows in the wild.
W:
It grow wild up in the mountains. Like, in Eureka. That whole mountain will just be
covered in the spring with that. You can see it right from the road.
B:
Purple flowers.
W:
Yeah. Just go out there, and—
B:
In those days, there was no diabetes.
W:
No.
B:
In those days, there was no heart disease. And they smoked cigarettes, and they smoked,
just—
W:
Indian—
B:
Indian tobacco. Indian sage. They got pinenuts. I remember, we used to have sacks of
pinenuts, sitting, you know, in the rooms. You don’t see that anymore today. You have to
go out and buy them because we can’t, just can’t get out and do it anymore!
W:
It’s so many pounds. You’re allowed so many pounds, anyhow.
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B:
Arthritis and everything else, we can’t, not active like our elders were. And we used to go
down to Twenty-Five Ranch and get the buckberries. Remember the weyem?
W:
Yeah.
B:
And that’s all closed off now. You know, to the freeway and stuff. So. We used to get
tubs of it.
W:
Everything is closed or locked up.
B:
Yeah, everything is closed, now. Everything.
W:
Gates are locked.
B:
Berries.
W:
Can’t go anyplace. Mm-mm.
B:
And that’s what I remember about growing up. And then, of course I went to school in
Battle Mountain, and all through my high school years. And my mom had nine children.
Two girls and seven boys. And we all grew up in Battle Mountain. But when we moved
to the South Fork reservation in 1952, there was no high school there. And I was a junior
in high school. So I never got to finish my high school. I never got to graduate. Because
we moved, and there was no high school where I went. And my brothers, same thing.
They had to—my parents had to board them out so they can go to school, because we
didn’t have no school in South Fork. Up to the eighth grade.
D:
Any Shoshone traditions that you can, want to pass on, or you can remember…?
B:
Oh… That’s what my kids always say. “Mom, where’s your traditions?” And I really
don’t know of any traditions. She probably knows more about that than I do, because my
dad was a Irishman. He was white, and my mom was Shoshone. She never talked to us
about things like that. But Clara grew up with all that stuff. I didn’t.
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W:
I do remember that Aggie—which is in that five generation deal—she told me ever since
I was a little girl, she told me, she says that she worked for an Indian agent here in Elko,
when she was a young woman. And she said that she did domestic work at the house. I
don’t know how long she’s worked for this man. And she says, one day, she says, he
came in, and she was doing some dusting in the living room, and—he had a office right
off of the living room. So he said to her, he said, “Aggie?” And she says, “Yeah.” He
said, “You see that great big trunk sitting by the window there?” She says, “Yeah.” [He]
says, “That trunk is full of things that you Indian people can have. It belongs to you.
Everything in there is about the Indian people. You people have so much money! If you
were to get this money, you would never have to work for anybody else. And you would
never have to sell your land to anybody else. If you can get your people together, we’ll
open this trunk, and I’ll give you all the papers.” And he says, “You can take that, and tell
the government you want this money. And when you ask for this money, after you get
together, what you call this money is, it’s called ‘Ancestor Money.’ Nothing else. When
you’re referring to this, you call it Ancestor Money, because that’s what the white settlers
put on it when they put that aside for destruction of your land, and what they have done
to your land, and how they ruined everything as they went through. Here they were good
enough to show them where to hunt, where to get their clean water. And when they left,
they put some stuff in it so that the Indian people can die from it.” And which a lot of
them did. And he says, “All this money was set aside in this great big pot. And this is
supposed to be your money, the rest of your life. They have to pay you for everything
that they have done on this earth, as they went through. It is your money, so it’s called the
Ancestor Money. It is yours. And there is a lot of it.” So all the time, when I was growing
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up, Aggie would tell me about this money. And she’d tell me and tell me. And she said,
“When you grow up, I want you to look into it. And I want you to get with your people,
and the young people, your generation, and see if you can get that money. Be sure you
call it the Ancestor Money.” So, anyway, this went on and on. All through the years. And
then, when they start having meetings about this land sale and all this, she would go to
that, and she would try to tell these young people that’s sitting behind a desk here, about
what this Indian agent told her. And all they do is brush her aside. They’d say, “Oh,
you’re old, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” That’s all they ever told her. So
she got to the point where she don’t say it any more. And the last meeting was, when they
had this Broken Treaty. She told them then. She said, “Get the Ancestor Money. You
don’t have to sell your land, just get the Ancestor Money.” And then, the day that she
died, that’s the last thing she said. “Please get your family and everybody together and
get this Ancestor Money.” But nobody ever listened to her. So that was her only worries,
is that nobody will ever get it. And so, today, they’re still fighting it, and they’re still
throwing that land deal in! Did you notice in the paper?
B:
Yeah.
W:
Always throwing that land deal. And he told her, “This has nothing to do with your land.
This is your money set aside for you.”
B:
Which we never got. Which we’re still waiting for.
W:
Well, it’s just like you told that lady: “Do you have the money, or not?” [Laughter]
D:
Any other traditions you remember?
B:
So, that was—mostly, a lot of that. Mostly, what she would tell us is the right—wrong
and right, in this world. How to live. What you do. What you shouldn’t do. How you
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raise your family. And just little things that, to give you an idea, you shouldn’t do this
and you shouldn’t do that. Mostly, for your own good, taught to raise your family. How
you treat your family. And mostly, to survive.
D:
Any stories like, with the, Mr. Coyote, or anything like that?
B:
Yeah—
W:
Yeah, lot of those stories, yeah.
B:
Itsappe.
W:
Yeah, Itsappe, Itsappe. Lot of those stories.
B:
They call—
D:
Got one you can tell us?
B:
Are we still talking, then? Should I—
D:
Yeah.
B:
Okay. They used to say, when somebody’s making a joke or something, they say, “Oh,
that’s the Itsappe. That’s Coyote, they’re acting funny.” They always use that itsappe
word, in Shoshone for coyote. The itsappe. “Oh, you’re being itsappe, they used to say, if
they thought you weren’t telling the truth, or joking, or something. But there are a lot of
stories about that, about the Coyote, if we really had the time now to—
W:
Well, there was two brothers. The older brother was the honest one. He did right by
everything. And his younger brother, he was all mischief. He’s always doing things, he
never does anything right. No matter what his older brother tells him, he says, “Yeah,
yeah, I’ll do it.” So, that’s why, now, when the Indian people refer to somebody here that
never tells the truth, they always say, “Ehh, Itsappe.”
B:
Yeah.
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W:
The young brother. [Laughter] But lot of that is kind of… not good to tell. [Laughter]
B:
Yeah!
W:
How it’s originated—yeah, you don’t want to hear that.
B:
But then, in them days, they used to have pinenuts and everything there. It’s not seen
anymore, because we don’t teach our young generations right way to go out and—
because they used to go out and hunt, and pick pinenuts, and put them up, and dig holes,
and put the cones in to roast, and they’d pack them up on their back, and go to another
camp, and pack some more. All winter long, they had the sacks of pinenuts in the house.
We’re always eating pinenuts, all winter long. Pinenut gravy, and the house always
smelled of pinenuts. We’re still trying to get our younger generation to try to find out,
and try to learn them how to go out and, do get the pinenuts, and show them that they
have to put an offering down.
W:
Oh, you never pick anything without an offering.
B:
Yeah, you always offer.
W:
Always offer. Always pray for whatever you—
B:
A nickel, penny, anything, that offering to the Mother Earth, for plentiful food. And you
always have food every year. Fruit off the trees and things. Until they started destroying
the trees. And I guess you’ve seen the Broken Treaty at Battle Mountain, which was very
sad. Makes you cry, when you see that. Every time I see that film, it makes me cry.
W:
[Shoshone at 31:30] Itsappe __
B:
Oh, the funny thing I could tell them about—
W:
California. California [Shoshone at 31:34].
B:
Do you mean tell about when they tell a lie? Call them Itsappe? I already said that.
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C:
Well, maybe some of the ones like, the handgame story? Itsappe [__inaudible at
31:46__].
B:
Oh, when they playing hand games?
C:
Playing hand games, yeah. He was ready to bet his mukua, [Shoshone at 31:54]. Maybe
you could tell that.
B:
Oh, I didn’t know about that.
W:
Well, he bet everything else.
C:
Yeah, he bet everything else.
W:
He bet everything else, he bet a lie, and to tell the truth, and all of that. And then when it
came to death, he said to his brother, he says, “I’m going to bet on death.” And his
brother says, “What are you going to bet?” He said, “Well, I’m going to bet, and I’m
going to say, ‘I think it feels good if we just die one time.’” You heard that one? Yeah.
And his brother says, “You’re going to be sorry! You’re going to get hurt one of these
days, and you’re going to be sorry.” And his brother said, the younger, mischievous one
said, “Nah, I ain’t going to be sorry.” And then right after that, his brother’s son got
killed. And then he came back to his brother. He says, “What did you say about wanting
to just die one time?” He start discussing that with his brother. And his brother was so
disgusted with him, he says, “I don’t want to talk about it. You said it’d feel good if we
died just one time.” He says, “No, I really didn’t mean that. I think dying twice would be
better.” And his brother says, “No. It’s already done. You lost it.” So he lost his son, and
his son didn’t come back. That was one of them.
C:
So before that, when people died twice, how long did it take before they used to come
back to life the second time?
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W:
Well, your—when the person—well, that’s only just a few years back. They only, if a
person dies, they keep you five days. They don’t bury you before five days. Because
there’s couple of times in Austin, I don’t remember which one it was, one of our relatives
died, and I think on the fourth day or something like that, they took him to the cemetery,
and they always have a last showing at the cemetery. And so, when he was, they open the
coffin and everything else, everybody praying and everything else, and he sat up in the
coffin. And he looked around, and everybody’s at the cemetery, and everybody is crying
and all that. He looked around, and he said, “What did I tell you? You wait five days for a
person, to declare them dead.” He says, “You never bury them before the fifth day.”
B:
I’ll be darned.
W:
Yeah.
B:
See, I never knew that.
W:
But he came to. And he says, “Let this be a lesson to you. You always leave the body for
five days. And you don’t bury before.”
C:
So that’s why the traditional Shoshones believed in not getting embalmed, right?
W:
Yeah. Mmhm.
C:
They kept the body, without getting the embalmment.
W:
And you kept it five days.
C:
And so after the second time they come to life, how long do they usually live?
W:
I don’t know about that part. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one. Of how long they
lived. But, there’s some strange stuff, too, that—like, Maggie, that she turns to a wolf.
B:
Oh! See, she knows things that I don’t. That’s why—
W:
Yeah. Maggie, you know, whatshername? Jean Joe’s sister?
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B:
Oh, Giannetti.
W:
Giannetti. Well, it was their grandmother.
B:
Elsie.
W:
No, Maggie.
B:
Oh, Maggie. Yeah.
W:
They say that there’s times that she turns to a wolf. And how they knew that was, they
lived in Letley, right out of Austin, just a few miles out of Austin. There is a place called
Letley, and that’s the territory that Tutuwa, that was his area. And so they were all living
down there. And I guess her husband beat up on her. So, she start running out, outside.
And the snow was so deep. So, her husband figures, “Oh, she ain’t going to go very far.”
Snow’s so deep, you know. So he waited. And then, after a while, he poked his head out,
see if he could see her, because all flat ground. And he don’t see her anyplace. And he
just kept looking and looking. Never saw her. So he was getting kind of worried. So he
went down to his buddy’s place there, and he told his buddy. He says, “Well, I did
something bad this morning. I beat up on my wife, and she took off. She hasn’t been
back, and you can’t see her. I’ve looked and looked, can’t see her anyplace.” He says,
“Well, let’s saddle up and follow her.” So, they start to follow her. Going towards Austin,
they saw her tracks, going to Austin. So they followed it and followed it, all the way. And
just a little ways out of Austin, it was the track of a wolf. He says, “Well, this is a wolf
track!” He says, “Are you sure?” He says, “Yeah! Get down here and look at it!” So they
looked at it, and they kept going and going and going, all the way into Austin. It was a
wolf track. And there used to be a Chinese guy there that had a laundry. And he was
married to one of our kinfolks.
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B:
Yeah.
W:
Yeah. Motti. Remember Motti? Yeah. She went to Motti’s house. And all the tracks went
clear down there, except to, pretty close to the laundry. Then was her footprints to the
laundry. So him and her husband knock on the door, and he says, “Is so-and-so here?”
“Yeah, yeah, she’s in here having coffee. Come on in.” [Laughter] But they say that’s
what she used to do.
B:
Fact of the matter is, the house that I was born in is supposed to still be standing. That’s
what Mary McCloud told me.
D:
You mean in Austin?
B:
Mmhm. And also, there’s a white rock, over there to the, Chauncey used to talk about.
She said there’s a writing on there in white chalk, on a rock. And me and Ida, we were
supposed to go find it, and we never did. Remember?
W:
Mmhm.
B:
We were going to take a trip to Austin and see if we could find that rock, but she said
that’s where the treaty was signed. The Tututwa treaty. We never followed up on it.
Whether it’s still there or not—I imagine it is, probably, but it’d take a researchers unit to
go up there. Maybe with the EPA people, we can go there.
W:
Oh, I know Vert Avery said it was in the courthouse. The original was in the courthouse.
And Tutuwa was given a copy. See?
B:
Oh.
C:
Well, in terms of other stories, do you guys know the pine nut story? Where the animals
got together and went after the pinenut? And that Itsappe was involved again? Can you
tell that one?
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W:
Yeah, the Itsappe is the one that in the Owyhee area, they were having that handgame.
He started betting all the food.
B:
Yeah, that’s what—the food.
W:
Yeah, he start betting on the food. He lost that.
C:
Can you go ahead and tell that story?
W:
Yeah. But I don’t remember just—
B:
She probably knows.
W:
What he was doing is, he was betting everything. And he was losing it. Was losing just
about everything. And they said something about the pinenuts. He says, “I’m going to bet
the pinenuts.” And he says, “No, you better not do that.” He says, “Yeah, I am.” And it
was something I can’t remember now, because—which bird has an extended tongue?
C:
The woodpecker?
W:
The woodpecker? Is that they say has another extension on the tongue?
B:
Oh, I guess.
W:
Yeah. And they said that they made him be the carrier of the pinenuts.
B:
Oh, I remember!
W:
Because they said that everybody tried to get that pinenut, and they said they couldn’t
reach it. They couldn’t get to the pinenut to take it away so that they could take it out of
Owyhee and come towards Beowawe, someplace in there. So they were going to bring it
this way. And so, they says, “Well, this one bird has that extension on his tongue.” So the
bird, they called him, ask him, if he can reach the pinenut that’s over here because they
already lost it in the handgame. So he says, “You can get it. Make your tongue go as far
as you can. You can get it, and then you can take the pinenut and go towards Beowawe
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area and through there. And so the bird went over there, and he says he put his tongue out
there, and he kept going way out there, and he finally got it, and he reached the pinenut.
And that’s how he took the pinenut out of Owyhee area, and brought it into Eureka. And
that’s why there’s lot of pinenuts in that area. Eureka.
B:
Oh, really? There is a lot.
W:
Austin and all that. And that’s where he planted it.
B:
And there is lot of pinenuts out there, too, really.
W:
Austin area and all back in through there is lot of pinenuts. Going towards Ely. And
going towards—
C:
So what type of food, or what type of dishes did Shoshone people make with pinenuts,
long time ago?
B:
Pinenut gravy.
W:
You mean the dishes?
C:
Like, the type of foods they prepared.
W:
With the pinenuts?
C:
With the pinenut, uh-huh.
W:
Well, I don’t know—what do you call it, willow?
B:
I don’t know, I think they put char—
W:
I think it’s involved with willow. It’s weaved in the willow. I know they used the jug for,
with the willow jugs. And it’s best drinking water, too. And make this great big
container, and they coat it with pitch.
B:
Pine pitch.
W:
Yeah. And it seals it all off.
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B:
They make their pinenut gravy in that.
W:
So, that’s how they keep the water.
[End of recording]
�
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/4a5b01225c912509f393c25e88e2a540.jpg
fb42357f1ab0e44e45ad4d0c80aa63e7
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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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
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2006-2015
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Joe Ducette
Interviewee
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Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay
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Elko, NV
Transcription
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<a href="/omeka/files/original/05aa5d18a008ed11a3e323afa2b67adb.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">English transcript with some Shoshone transcriptions available as pdf file</a>
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43:26
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Oral History: Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay
Subject
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Oral history interview with Clara Woodson and Gracie Begay, Western Shoshoni
GBIA 005
Description
An account of the resource
Clara Woodson (Battle Mountain, NV) and Gracie Begay (Austin, NV), both Western Shoshone, explain their early lives, what life was like when they were younger, and different parts of their family background. They both talk about different stories including the Coyote playing Hand Game, Shoshoni beliefs on death, and one of their elders Maggie, who had the power to turn into a wolf. Clara describes her frustrations with the government and tells how they never received proper compensation for what was taken from the Western Shoshone. Interviewed by Joe Ducette, 16 March 2006<br /> <a href="http://kaltura.tmcc.edu/index.php/kmc/preview/partner_id/109/uiconf_id/11170182/entry_id/0_juchlsqz/delivery/http" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Oral History [streaming video]</a><br /> <a href="/omeka/files/original/05aa5d18a008ed11a3e323afa2b67adb.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Transcript [pdf file]</a>
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 005
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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16 March 2006
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Joe Ducette (interviewer); Scott A. Gavorsky (GBC Virtual Humanities Center)
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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English; Western Shoshone
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mp4
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
Shoshone
Story
-
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bdb95791a8899bd3008db7e38c49a6c4
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Thumbnail of Ellison Jackson
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Ellison Jackson of Owyhee, NV, taken 27 January 2006
Description
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Photograph of Ellison Jackson from oral history interview on 27 January 2006, conducted by Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette.
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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<a href="/omeka/exhibits/show/eldershowing2015/item/81">Oral History - Ellison Jackson</a>
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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27 January 2006
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Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette [interviewers]
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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<a href="/omeka/exhibits/show/eldershowing2015/item/81">Oral History - Ellison Jackson</a>
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.jpg (250 px x 250 px; 72 dpi)
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English
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/0def37e1e6516bf9380d9f0b73c192e1.pdf
4c14242d807552a120af88ca0201d502
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Transcript of oral history by Ellison Jackson [GBIA 003]
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Oral history interview with Ellison Jackson, Western Shoshone from Owyhee, NV
Description
An account of the resource
Ellison Jackson of Owyhee, NV discusses his early years of childhood in Owyhee and stories of his grandfather. Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette, 27 January 2006, in Owyhee, NV
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 003
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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27 January 2006
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Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette [interviewers]
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/81
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.pdf file (12 pages)
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English
PDF Text
Text
Ellison
Jackson
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
003
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
and
Joe
Duce>e
January
27,
2006
Owyhee,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hCp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 003
Interviewee: Ellison Jackson
Interviewers: Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Ducette
Date: Jan 27, 2006
J:
As I remember, we used to live in a tent when I first remember it. On side of the road, by
the Presbyterian Church that’s out of town out here. And I remember I lived there in a
hard winter. My grandpa used to get up and paw the snow off the tent, so he said it won’t
break it, it won’t rip the tent. We get a lot of snow. And that’s what I remember about
that.
Well, our Indian diet mostly… meat, dried meat. You know, you make venison, you
make a jerky out of it, and a berries that my grandmother and grandfather get, we put it in
a patties like a hamburger and grind it. During the winter, eat that. And usually make
bread out of a flour, we called Indian bread. You know, they put it in the oven, you know,
cook it like that. Or over a open stove, like with a grease, lot of grease. And they call it
“grease bread.” That’s what we loved to eat. And our old-timers, if you set up a table and
there’s no Indian—we called it Indian bread—if there’s no Indian bread, you put a white
bread on, they said, “Throw that white bread away! That’s no good. We want Indian
bread.” So the womenfolks usually always making that bread, they don’t buy that readymade bread, Wonderbread.
As I remember first, we used to have a wash tub stove. Like, in a tent? In a wash tub, you
cut a hole in there, put a pipe in there, and put a little door in the front. Use that for stove.
And they cook on it.
Yes, or sagebrush, or willows. Whatever that you get. My parents were Robert Jackson,
and my mom was Lena Jackson. When he first moved to Owyhee—in [19]30s, I guess,
I’m not too quick on that—and I was born here in [19]34.
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I moved here because my mom’s dad, my grandfather, they lived here. They raised
horses, cattle, you know. So he move here and work on odd jobs around Owyhee
reservation.
Well, we used to grow up playing all the time. In the snow, in the winter; sometime we’d
go swimming; and sometime we go hunting, with the slingshot. You know, with the
slingshot, we’d go out and kill these squirrels, and we cook them over open fire out there
someplace and have it for lunch. That was our life.
I had two sisters and one brother. I’m the second. Second to my sister, my sister was
oldest and I’m the second.
School was, they called—what was they call it—Swayne school, I guess. Because I
remember, went to kindergarten. I don’t know how old I was. I didn’t know how to speak
English. Maybe “yes” or “no,” as I remember. [Laughter] And I always tell this story
when someone ask that question. Said I went to school. And the teacher got a paper, and
calling people’s name out. So they said, “Raise your hand up when you hear name.” Kids
start raising here and there, you look around. And there was lot of people that we don’t
know everybody, because they come from different areas. And we only knew people in
town because we live in town. Surrounding area, we’re not too acquainted with these
other kids. So I said, “Whose name is that?” Look at them. So pretty soon, the teacher
said, “Ellison Jackson.” I was looking around. Who’s Ellison Jackson? Nobody raised
their hand up. And the teacher pointed at me. And I said, “me?” They say yes. Says,
“Raise your hand!” So I raised my hand. It was a funny name, I never did like since! I
said growing up, “I hate that name!” Because my Indian name my grandfather gave me
was Bombo. Everybody called me Bombo. So I thought that was my—well, that was my
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name. Still they call me that today! [Laughter] They don’t use Ellison! I thought that was
so funny.
Well, I went to seventh grade. I went to seventh grade here, I go to work on a ranch.
C:
And what did you do at the ranch? What was life like?
J:
I was a buckaroo. Horse riding life, you know, ride a horse? Cowboying for different
ranch. Wherever they hire me, I go to work.
Well, generally, it’s mostly… You work with cattle. On a horse.
Early. Four in the morning.
Sometime, if you work close to the house, you work long hours. Like, eight hours, nine
hours. And sometime you’re far away, you don’t come home until late, like couple
twelve hours in fall. In roundup time, you’re busy.
We used to make hundred and quarter a months. It’s a room and board. So, I thought that
was great.
When you get in in the morning, there’s a buckaroo boss there. In the corral, there’s a lot
of horses. Then you tell the buckaroo boss which horse you’re going to ride. You’ve got
about six horses that yours, like they belong to you. You keep them in good shape, you
put shoes on them, make sure they’re not sick. You feed ‘em, take care of them like you
really own it. So you tell the buckaroo boss, “This horse I want.” So they’ll go out there
and rope it for you. So you saddle up, get ready for—other cowboys get ready. Then
everybody ready, then you go. The cow boss take the lead, so you follow. Like he’d say,
“Well, we’re going to work that area.” Certain area of the hills, mountains, you know.
You’re working cattle. You’re moving from, move a cattle from different places to
different area. Like, fall, spring, summer, then branding time. You know, you do all that.
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C:
And how many buckaroos would you have on a ranch?
J:
It’s a big ranch, usually about ten. Small ranch, maybe five.
C:
Were they married?
J:
Mostly young, young buckaroos. There are about eighteen, seventeen, eighteen, up to
twenty young buckaroos. A few of them married, you know.
Well, my dad, he was… He became a operator, cat operator. Later on in years, learn how
to run the Cat. The big D… D8 or something like that. Anyway, he worked on a Cat. And
he worked as mechanic, here. But he don’t—he’s always busy, so he don’t, he really
didn’t teach me anything as I remember. But my grandfather, Jim—his name was Jim
Cavanaugh. James Cavanaugh. He’s the one that give me a lecture on, you know, learn
how to work. Mostly ranch work he was talking about. Like fixing fence, stacking hay,
being buckaroo, being nice to people, and always be polite at the table. You know, these
things which, were never taught that at home. He said, “You go work with these ranchers,
you’re going eat. Everybody eat together. There be twenty people there, maybe fifteen.
So you always say, ‘Please.’ When you order something, always say ‘Please.’ Then don’t
point at things.” He taught me all that. Then later on, I learned that my grandfather came
from Battle Mountain, that area. They’re the people that was called Western Shoshones.
And my dad came from Austin, Nevada. They’re also Western Shoshone people. Western
Shoshone band, I mean.
Well, it’s a long story… [Laughter]
C:
That’s okay!
J:
It goes—a legend, way back in legend times, the story goes like… There was a Coyote.
They go into Coyote, like this. Well, the Coyote’s our father. No, Wolf’s our father, and
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the Coyote is Wolf’s brother. So, us Indians, we’re all Coyote’s children. So, he was our
father. And he had whole bunch of kids, in different race, I guess. But there was only two
that he brought home. And to Nevada, I guess, to his home. After he got this woman
pregnant. And anyway, so he brought two home. Where they live in the mountains, where
there was a stream. And, so early in the morning, when he woke up, he thought his little
boys need cleaning, like a bath. Stream running, so he got up, and he give them a bath.
He use, the Indians use that mud, the fine mud, for soap. [Rubbing hands together] You
use that for soap. Put that on them and clean them up. But the two little boys, when they
first, when he let them go, after he let them go—they always fighting. You know how
boys… They fight each other. So, then the Coyote said, “Well, this not going to work.
You’re both my boys, you guys fighting.” But he said, he put a curse on them, he said,
“What I’m going to do is I’m going to separate you two. Apart.” So, he took one of his
boys, he got to live on the south, and one on the north. So the guy who going to give you
a, you be the—well, I don’t know where the Shoshone came from, but “you be the…”
They call them a newe, Indian. Shoshone word means, you’re your person, newe. And the
Paiute separated to the north. But he was your brother, and he was separated from you.
Then I don’t remember where he get the name Paiute, but they was both neme, because
they’re both brothers, they’re both Indians, that’s what was given to them. But the curse
put on them was, “Whenever you two meet someplace down the trail, no matter where at,
since you don’t like each other you guys going to fight. The Paiute and the Shoshone, you
meet each other on the trail somewheres, you just going to battle it out. You won’t like
each other.” That was the curse put on them. And they said, “The way you can recognize
each other is, the Shoshone will have a round eyes, like a owl.” Kind of round eyes.
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That’s a Shoshone. You look at the other guy, he’s a Paiute, he’ll have a slant eyes. Like,
upwards? So that’s the way you can recognize each other. So that’s the way the story go,
end up like that! [Laughter] So, that’s where we came from. That’s what the legend told
us. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. But in life, today, when you tell that to a Paiute, they
get hostile. I tell that story lot of times, and they say, “We’re all Indians! How come you
don’t like us, the Shoshones don’t like Paiutes?” “But it’s a legend!” I said, now, yes,
once.
Well, this one I always tell. You ask us where we came from. You know, I always—well,
my grandfather said, well, this is… When—we don’t say “God.” We have our own
religious way of live, I guess. Our own belief, the Western Shoshones. So, that’s what my
grandfather told me.
There was this world. It was up there. There was nothing on it. But that’s where they
believe that Wolf—they call it a Wolf and a Coyote—that’s where they came from. From
this, uh… the world was getting made, and that’s where they came from. So we, like a
Bible say, we came from our Father, the God. And it’s similar to that. But in Indian way,
that’s the way they tell. But they said, “That’s where we came from!” And when the,
after the world was, people on it already. There’s human beings on it. But the sun was
going too low. Instead of up high. It was too low. It was so hot. So the people that live on
this earth, they live underground. But when he cool off, they’ll come out. At night. So,
you roam around. So, then they go back underground, when the sun coming out. So the
chief decide—they had a chief—but Coyote wasn’t one of it [16:30]. There was some
chief, they had, I can’t remember the names. But the mostly animals they talk about. The
Indians said, “Well, we should do something about this sun. It’s too low, too hot up there.
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Why don’t we set it up higher, so it won’t burn us?” So they decided, “Well, we could do
it.” Then they said, “Well, how?” Then their chief said, they decide, “Well, we could kill
the sun. Because Sun’s alive, because he come out every morning. He’s alive.” So they
said, “We’ll kill it.” Then they said, “Well, if we kill it, it’ll come down to earth and burn
us,” somebody said. Then they said, “Yeah, that’s true.” Then they said, “Well, we’ve got
to find somebody that could run fast and dig a hole underneath the ground and jump in
there before the sun come down to earth, after they shoot it.” So the Coyote said, “Pick
me!” But they said, “Don’t pick Coyote, he’ll do something wrong” because, see, they
don’t trust him, the Coyote. “So what? I could run fast.” So they put a test, who could run
fast. You know, so many yards, who could run fast that distant. So the people keep
trying, Coyote keep saying, “I’m fast!” He’ll go up there and come back. Real fast. But
they don’t trust him. So there was, two people was pick. There was a Cottontail, and the
Brush Rabbit that was picked. So they said, “Well, you two kill the sun.” So they went
out, went to hunt for the sun. So they went to the mountain where the sun came out. They
settled to wait for the sun. So the next morning, when they sit up there, the sun didn’t
come out. [Laughter] He come over the other mountain, across. So they never did caught
up to the sun. But keep traveling, keep traveling. But every night when they camp out, or
dig a hole where they going to live, under the earth. So, finally, I don’t know how long
they travel, try to catch the sun, but finally they… One morning the sun came out on top
of that mountain where they were staying. Close. It was so hot! So they came out of their
hole, and they had a bow and arrow to shot at it. And their bow and arrow just burned.
Pwoosh! The arrow. They don’t had it. Or they shoot it, and it burnt before it reach the
sun. It was so hot. So the, they decide, “Well, if we use a medicine”—the Indian people
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use certain type of medicine that’s strong. So they decide, “Well, we’ll just use a
sagebrush bark and wrap it real tight around that arrow. And they pray to it. Put their,
whatever medicine they have, they put it on and pray to it. And they shot that. And that
thing burn, Pwoosh! And hit the sun. Once it hit, Sun got hit, he came down. Fall off the
sky to the ground. So they took off and jumped under a hole. So the brush rabbit and the
cottontail jump in their hole, but that brush rabbit didn’t dig a deep hole. And the
cottontail, it was a deeper hole. So pretty soon, the Cottontail, he hears his buddy Bush
Rabbit crying. Screaming. But it was so hot! The Cottontail put his foot in that hole,
where they dig to keep the heat off. So I don’t know how long, it took quite a while for it
to cool off. So after he cool off, the Cottontail came out of the hole looking at his brother.
His brother was all cooked, blacked. Singed. So then he notice, the sun was laying there
on the ground. But the sun was still alive. So, then he told the sun that’s what’s
happening. “You’re burning us,” you know, “You run too low. Why don’t you go up
higher?” So he grab it and send it up higher, up into the sky. So he won’t be traveling
close to the earth after this. But he cut his, Brush Rabbit’s gut, and use the
[cut in recording from from 21:33 – 21:36]
you travel up there, you make a star. Became a star. And the gut here became a Milky
Way. And what else they made out of that? [Laughter] I can’t remember—That’s what he
did! So, like, they say, “Well, today when you look up at the sky, you’ll think, ‘Well,
that’s the Brush Rabbit’s eyes shining.’” Oh, they made a moon out of the kidney! Throw
it up there and made a moon out of it so you could travel at night. You could see the light.
So he done all that. So the job was completed. So the next morning, the sun came out
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over the mountain, it was up higher. So they done their job. [Laughter] That was legend.
So, it was told to me.
Well, the Indians, they get together. It’s a get-together. On a big holiday, like that. So at
the Indian Colony up in Elko, they had this hand game going. And the womans play
cards, and Round Dance every night. And they’ll four days, four-five days, and that fair
going on. And lot of people, they came in from different areas. And Fourth July, people
do the same. They came over to Owyhee. And they do the same thing. Hand game, card
games, races, rodeo here. And a Round Dance.
Well, if you work on a ranch, you go with the boss. They usually haul the workers in for
holiday. But if somebody had a car, you jump in with them. To Owyhee, if it’s short
ways. Like if you work in WP, or Flying H Ranch [23:34]… But other areas, the boss
go to town, and jump in with him, and come back to work with, to the ranch with him.
Yeah, there’s Indian celebration going on all the time. And there’s some singers. You
know, they call a Round Dance? People take turns singing a song, about… Singing
Indian song is telling a story. Instead of telling a story, you put it into singing. So… And
that’s whats it’s all about, and people enjoy that as celebrations.
Everybody dance together, you know, you hold hands and… Women, old lady, young
kids… They just have all kinds of fun.
Yeah, that’s how I brought my drum and that. Maybe I’ll sing a one song. This is, my dad
used to sing that. I remember that. When I was a little kid, he always singing a song. So I
always, I pick it up when I was a young kid. So. he always sing a song. So. This talk
about a mountain. You know, that big mountain. How the mountain looked, it’s kind of
blue, all this and that. Put it into song, and he always singed it. It’s—he always say, “In
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Austin, where I live, there was a big mountain. So that’s what my song about.”
[Laughter] He always say that! Never been to Austin, so I always remember what he used
to say. So this is it:
[sings in Newe at 25:19]
[song concludes at 26:32]
So that’s that Round Dance song. You could go over, I don’t know, two-three difference
in, if you’ve got a good wind here, because you sing it over and over about two, three
times, same wording. And people dance to it. When they like that song, they said, “Come
on, sing that song again!” Then you have to go over and over. And that’s a Round Dance
song.
Yes, I did, uh-huh. Made out of a elk hide. So I made that.
Well, you had to have a board inside, and soak the hide. After you scrape the hair off the
hide, then you stretch it when it’s wet, over this. Then they dry out like that. So got to be
tight. So, that’s what I made for a trip down Fort Hall. I made some. They invite me over
to tell a story, so wanted a, I thought I needed a drum to sing a song. [Laughter] I made
one!
Okay, um… When I was a young kid growing up, there was our neighbor. His name was
Stanley Gibson. He was cripple. He was in a wheelchair. And used to visit him all the
time. I’d carry water for him, he was real nice. He give us nickel now and then for candy.
Was growing up, and he’d do rawhide work. Sit in wheelchair and do all that. Talk to us,
and laugh, and then we push him out to the store in the wheelchair, and was good friend
of ours. So I learned little bit about rawhide from him. So… But as time went on, I
always want to work a rawhide because when you work on ranch, somebody know how
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to work rawhide. Cowboys, maybe tie a knot, maybe somebody working rawhide. And
they willing to teach you. But, as I was growing up, I hate to ask somebody. You know,
because they’re busy doing something, you hate to ask them. It’s so complicated. So,
what I did was, my brother-in-law have a ranch south of Elko. His name was Raymond
Darrough. I live one winter with him there, helping him, feeding cattle. So he said, “Well,
let’s make reata, we’re going to run horses.” Wild horses, mustang. So says, “I’ll show
you how.” So he taught me how to make reata. Slow process, and he’d braid it together,
and he use it. So, then he taught me how to braid and tie a few knots. Simple one. But it
was so complicated. I keep asking him. And pretty soon he get tired of me, and he said,
“Well, this is last time I’m going to tell you. You better pick it up!” So I went so far, and
that was it, I kept making mistakes. But later on in years, there’s a book called Cowboy
Horse Gear. It show how to tie a knot, and all the rawhide knots the cowboys use. So, I
learned how to tie knots from studying that. Kinda complicated at first. Then I learned
how to cut it, how to soak it, how to treat it, everything. Then braid, you do lot of
braiding. Hard on your hands, the knot-tying’s. You know, on that set arrange that, lot of
different knots I put on. And that’s the way I learned. Because whoever work rawhide,
they don’t want to waste time teaching you, because you’ll never learn in one day or two
days, or a week. Take forever! And the person that teach rawhide, they… You go to
school nowadays, I think they cost about, for six week, about $2000 to attend a class. Just
for couple hours a day. So nobody got no time to teach a person. So that’s where I learn
how to work rawhide, then. And I had some—I donated some to Elko Museum, my work.
And it was hanging at Stockman’s that one year.
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Well, I wouldn’t say don’t count it, just... [31:12] I always say, “Forever!” [Laughter]
Because you braid it during the summer. You clean the hide, you braid it during the
summer. Cut the strings into fine—fine strings, all even. Then wintertime, you tie the
knots. Sit there at night through the cold weather. Slow process. Then complete it finally.
And then you’re happy. Then you want to look at it, then somebody come along and said,
“Hey! How much you want for it?” Say, “Nah, not for sale.” But I sell it all the time.
[Laughter] So… It’s a good art, because then people knew I, since I had my work
hanging in Stockman’s and people knew my, who I am and what type of work I done,
good rawhide work they say, so they want to order. They call me and said, “Hey, make
me one!” And I tell them, “Well, if I get around to it, I’ll make one, but right now I don’t
have any.” So that’s the way I got a clean up [32:22] with that.
Growing up is… I don’t know how old I was—well, maybe ten or something—but our
favorite pastime was hunting, fishing, riding horse, swimming during the summer, and
playing all the time. That’s all we did. Nothing much. But, I love to ride horse. My
grandpa let me ride a horse, I’ll ride a horse. My grandpa was real strict on the horses.
You can’t—he got to be with you, if you ride his horse. He always say, “Don’t run your
horse to death!” You know, when you’re young kid, you just want to run, run, run!
[Laughter] You don’t want to run slow! So, he said, “I got to be there!” So that was fun
part. And he took, grandpa took me fishing. I enjoy that. Go up the river to go catch some
fish. Trouts, usually.
[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 and Joe Doucette
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Ellison Jackson
Location
The location of the interview
Owyhee, NV
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Transcript in English available as pdf file
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
35:50
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
Oral History - Ellison Jackson
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Ellison Jackson, Western Shoshone from Owyhee, NV
GBIA 003
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Ellison Jackson of Owyhee, NV discusses his early years of childhood in Owyhee and stories of his grandfather. Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette, 27 January 2006, in Owyhee, NV</p>
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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
Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 036
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
27 January 2006
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Doucette (interviewers); Scott A. Gavorsky (GBC Virtual Humanities Center)
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive
Format
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.mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Community
Crossroads
fishing
GBIA
horses
hunting
Owyhee
Shoshone
Story
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/866182e24bfad0dd672abeef750e9a0b.jpg
51c2484236d525bc56e452f40e1b5f7c
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
Barbara Ridley
Location
The location of the interview
Elko, NV; Beowawe, NV
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Transcript in process [10 June 2015]
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
42:55
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
Oral History - Barbara Ridley
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History Interview with Barbara Ridley, Western Shoshone from Elko, NV
GBIA
Description
An account of the resource
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; height: 50px; width: 50px;" title="Shoshone Language Marker" src="/omeka/files/original/79de1f8d7d9a264c3fb9973a5346a076.jpg" alt="Shoshone Language Marker" />Oral History Interview with Barbara Ridley, Western Shoshone from Crescent Valley, NV on 06/30/2014<br />This oral history contains significant Shoshone language conversation, and is recommended for usage by community language teachers.</p>
<p>Barbara Ridley discusses her family and garden at home in Elko, and then travels to Beowawe to discuss her family and neighbors.<br /><br /> Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2015
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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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/files/show/486
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mp4
Language
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Shoshone; English
Beowawe
Community
Crossroads
family
GBIA
ranching
Shoshone
Story
-
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0f06f3151d5d2e1dec17c5681ba6f090
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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
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Oral histories compiled
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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GBIA Oral History Collections
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2006-2015
Oral History
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Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Boyd Graham
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Duckwater, NV
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Transcript in process [11 June 2015]
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DVD
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55:18
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Oral History - Boyd Graham, 29 May 2014
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Oral History interview with Boyd Graham, Western Shoshone from Duckwater, NV.
GBIA 038
Description
An account of the resource
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; height: 50px; width: 50px;" title="Shoshone Language Marker" src="/omeka/files/original/79de1f8d7d9a264c3fb9973a5346a076.jpg" alt="Shoshone Language Marker" />Oral History Interview with Boyd Graham, Western Shoshone from Duckwater on 05/29/2014<br />This oral history contains significant Shoshone language conversation, and is recommended for usage by community language teachers.</p>
<p>Boyd Graham of Duckwater discusses the work of Wick R. Miller on Shoshoni orthography, the continuing work of SYLAP, and shares stories.</p>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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<a href="http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/crnfy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View in separate page if above viewer not working</a><br /> Transcript in process
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 038
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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29 May 2016
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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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/files/show/484
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
Language
A language of the resource
Shoshoni; English
Community
Crossroads
Duckwater
GBIA
Shoshone
Story
Wick Miller
-
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ccf5944e8fbc8dacfceb57f4ce19c56a
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8b3b21beaba03f290c899ea862ca8b0f
PDF Text
Text
Naomi
Mason
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
034
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
April
23,
2014
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 034
Interviewee: Naomi Mason
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: April 23, 2014
M:
I’m Naomi Mason. I’m 84 years old, and I would like to start by talking about my mom
and dad. My dad’s name was Tom Premo, and his mother, on that side of the family,
came from the Jarbridge area. So his mom came from there, and his dad came from the
Elko area, as part of the—people called themselves Tosawihi [White Knife]. So, they
were, that’s my dad’s side. Then my mom came from, she was actually born—she’s
listed as being born in J.D. Ranch. And that’s in the Roberts Mountains area. And her
mother died after she was about two, and her uncle raised her. And they moved to Ruby
Valley. So she grew up in Ruby Valley. But, you know, she was born in 1890. And those
were very difficult years. And my dad was born—according to the Census—1855 or
1853. So it’s just matter of two year difference. So, my mom and dad—all I can say is in
the 1800s, it was really a bad time for all the Indians in Nevada. In every little valley,
every little canyon. It was very difficult times. So, my mom grew up there. While she was
growing up, my dad somehow—when he was small, he was back and forth. His family
apparently moved back and forth to Owyhee. I think most Indians did that, because there
was not a reservation at that time. So, he… Well, one moment. Did I have—well, they
moved back and forth. And not too many people were on the reservation. And early on,
they did have a school here. And the earliest time my dad appears in the Census is 1855,
he was four months old. And he’s listed there with a dad. And my grandpa had two
wives, which was not uncommon then. And I don’t know what happened with the wives,
but he had two listed. So my dad was four months when he first appeared on the Census.
And I followed him through the different Censuses, and the next significant thing that
happened to him was, he was—maybe he said he was 14, when he went to Carlisle.
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Maybe he was a little older. He was never clear on that. And I guess I always wondered,
how’d he get picked to go to Carlisle? And the really interesting thing is that, we had a
doctor here in 19—oh, let’s see, what time did that man come through? A doctor named
Dr. Montezuma. He was here for two years in Owyhee. And he wrote to Washington,
D.C., and said we were in a very deplorable state healthwise, and wrote letters to D.C.
asking for hospital. And Montezuma happened to know the man that ran Carlisle, which
is really the very first Indian school. And so, I think that’s how about six people went
from Owyhee to Carlisle. So my dad went in 1905, or 1904, and it was kind of like an
industrial school. And he came home in 1909, I think is what it says, because we’ve got
papers from Carlisle and that’s what we figured out it was. So, that’s what happened to
my dad in 1905. He—it seems to, he came home to recruit students for Carlisle when he
was home. But my mother was always irritated with him, because she said she wanted to
go to Carlisle, but according to her, she was tricked by my dad, and so instead they got
married. So, she didn’t ever get to Carlisle. But then my dad and mom, they lived in the
Elko area, and in 1913, after they had my oldest sister, Laura, and they had my oldest
brother Thomas, they moved to Owyhee. Because by then, Owyhee was offering 40 acres
of land that you could cultivate and live off of it. So, that’s why they moved here. But
remember, my dad as a child had already been back and forth with his family, as many
other families. So that’s when they moved here. And the rest of us were born here after
they moved here. And my mother, you know, she never did—she never adjusted to
Owyhee. She always wanted to be back in Ruby Valley. That’s where her heart was. She
loved it there. And her aunt was still there, that raised her. So, I became very attached to
Ruby Valley just from hearing the stories about it. I thought it must be a magnificent
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place. And it is, because since then I’ve been there many times. And so—I’ve lost my
train of thought. One moment there. So, in—the Treaty was signed in 1863, but actually
it didn’t become a reservation here in Owyhee until 1877, when President Hayes signed
the papers to make this Duck Valley. And temporarily, they were at the Carlin Farms. All
the people, that’s where they had been moved. The movement from all the areas, that’s
how my grandmother—my dad’s mom—that’s how they ended up in the Elko area. They
were kind of all living on the Carlin Farms. But many of them already were coming back
and forth to Owyhee because, you know, it was to avoid the military people. The military
people really was very abusive to a lot of Indians. A lot of, you know, tragedies happened
with the military, everywhere. And so people were back and forth to Owyhee. And so in
1877, after it was made a reservation, some people trickled here and were already living
here. So then, shortly after that, they begin to have the people, kind of like a forced move
to Owyhee. As many people as they could. Because this was the Western Shoshone
reservation. But not everybody wanted to come here. Many wanted to stay where they
were, where they were employed as cowboys, or they worked in the mines, and many
worked on the railroads. So sometimes, people came to Owyhee, and tried to farm, and
maybe they were not farmers. They had nothing to start with. And so, a lot of the people
went back, you know, wherever. To Austin. To Ely. Everywhere. They just… life was
very difficult, here. There was really nothing. No employment. No housing. Sometimes
the water was scarce. It was just the events of the weather, and the environment. Some
years were good, other years was very dry. Just as it is today. So there were actually years
even the game was down, and they couldn’t find enough food to put on their plates, I
guess you would say. So then, life here in Owyhee was really very, very hard. And then,
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in—my mom and dad worked away, and originally my dad was, you know, addicted to
alcohol while they were still in Elko. But my mother temporarily left him, and he really
did sober up. So when he came to Owyhee, he and my mom, they became Christians, I
would say. They became very attached to the Presbyterian Church, and at that time we
were getting a lot of Nez Perce missionaries—native Nez Perce missionaries—that were
coming here to share their religion, or the Protestant religion, with whoever would listen.
And my mom and dad really did become devout Christians from there on. So, you know,
all the children, our lives became divided between what they knew from the olden times,
and the church. The church rules. So I guess we kind of grew up kind of a split
personality, I always think of it. But he became, they both became—he became an elder,
for his lifetime, with the Presbyterian Church, and my mother taught Sunday school, in
Shoshone, and she just devoted a lot of time to the Presbyterian Church. And then in
1910, that’s when my sister was born, my eldest sister. And when they moved here, in
1912 or [19]13, they were still giving out commodities to people that were good. If you
left the reservation, or if you were bad in the ideas of the Indian agents, you were denied
commodities or any kind of help. It was very restrictive living, and probably painful for
those people that had a lot of freedom before they came here. So, but, you know, my
mom and dad worked very hard. And their 40 acres, they cleared it together by using
picks and shovels until the 40 acres had no sagebrush. But that particular 40 acres burned,
and then they had to move to a different spot, and then they had to do the same thing
there. But you have to remember, all their peers were doing the same thing. Or I should
say, most of them. They were working very hard to clear the fields so they could plant.
And that is exactly what they did. So my dad was always busy planting, and I always
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look at my life in periods like the dates. Like in 1924, before I was born, you know that’s
when the natives became U.S. citizens. And that was very significant, because my
mother, especially, was really geared into all kinds of history, and she would always
bring that up. That, you know, we were lucky to be citizens. And so during World War I,
of course, we were not citizens, but some of the Indians participated in that. That World
War I. I was born in 1929, during the Crash, which was worldwide. And I, maybe
because of that, and because it was still very difficult to live here, it seemed—everyone
was poor. Even the non-Indians. That’s when they had a lot of hobos, a lot of riding of
the rails, and it was a very hard time for many many people. And the Dustbowl.
Historically, it was just a very hard time. But it affected Indians on reservations, because
the rations were even shorter, and if you were not a planter, I don’t know what you ate
besides beans and bread. You know, fry bread is not a traditional Indian food. That’s a
later food. We didn’t fry. So, we had—there was a lot of beans. Good thing, that’s a very
nutritious food. So we had beans, and my parents always planted—originally, without
Wild Horse Dam, most of the people had to go to the springs along the mountainsides,
where they planted. So it really involved all day to go up there to take care of your
garden, and then come back, and water it from the spring. Many people did that. Almost
every spring here in Owyhee, there were garden spots. And the remarkable part then is
everybody was so honest, and so hard-working, that no one ever pulled any of your plants
up. It was always the honor system. I can’t believe the integrity those old people had. We
didn’t have to worry, and everyone was helpful with each other. So that’s what was
happening in 1929, and I was the next to the last in a family of 10. The third one died at
four months. It was a flu. And my family’s kind of divided in half: the older half and the
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younger half. That’s because the older half, they were already going to school in
government schools when we were younger—the younger half. And also, the older ones
experienced a very stern dad and mom, and when we came along, I would say that, you
know, they had mellowed. And we had very mellow parents compared to the older ones.
That’s what I remember. Of course, then they were also very active in church. So, you
know, we were very geared to all day Sunday for church, and all day Wednesday for
prayer services. And that’s just the way I grew up. And always, we had the tone of the
importance of education. Always, always. But, you know, it was not that easy to become
educated, other than to go away to boarding schools, which all of my brothers and sisters
went to Sherman Institute in Riverside, California. And I even went for one year, but
that’s all I attended Sherman for. And let me see… Then, and Owyhee, only had grades
up to eight when I was growing up. And after that, you had to either go away, or not go to
school anymore. So that’s why many of the students, my peers, went to either Stewart
Indian School or Chemawa. Apparently, they had a choice. I went to Sherman because all
my siblings went there. And so, life, you know, continued on like that. It was
everything—you had to work hard so things could get better. There was no other thought
in your head. Everything you did is so it could get better. And so, I think that’s why
everybody really did work hard. And I don’t ever remember having—I only remember
two alcoholics on the reservation when I was growing up. Never saw an empty liquor
bottle or empty beer cans. Just except for those two people that were obviously, now in
retrospect, they were alcoholics. So, I guess in so many ways, my life was just kind of
ideal. We were very, very poor. We didn’t go too many places. We went to the mountains
a lot to get wood, and also fish, and hunt. So time was spent between the mountains and
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home. And so then comes along 1931, and the school became a high school, but it was
not enough time to accommodate my need for high school. Just my brother only went.
My youngest brother went to high school here in Owyhee. Because by then, unless you
were a social service case, you didn’t need to go to a boarding school anymore. So, in
about 1931, I think the Elko school system, I don’t know if they embraced us that year,
but we became part of the Elko school district. And the big change happened in about
1934, when they started talking about the Reorganization Act, where all the tribes were
offered to adapt by-laws and develop rules and laws to govern people on the reservation.
So, that’s when my father became active in the politics. And from then on forward, he
was always involved with the politics in Owyhee. Very involved. And I think maybe the
training he had in Carlisle helped him. Because I remember once he told me one of the
things that they did at Carlisle that he really enjoyed was, they actually got to go to D.C.
and sit in on the Senate hearings. So, he enjoyed that, and I think he always remembered
that. So actually, he was a pretty decent politician, and he was very honest. So, you know,
from there on, from 1934 on, well, he was always very political. And I guess because of
that, the rest of the people in his family, his children, had a lot of politics at home.
Discussions and what was going on. So, that was at—[19]36 is when we really adopted
the by-laws, Constitutional by-laws, which was kind of based on the U.S. government bylaws and Constitution. And it was completely different concept. And then in 1938, the
Wild Horse Dam was built so that we could have water to irrigate our lands. And that was
very good for us, because we had years that we actually were flooded or really droughtridden. So—let me correct myself. It was 1946 that the high school was added by the
Elko County School District. And so then, kids could go here and didn’t have to go away.
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I was just going to talk a little about families, because it happens to pop into my head.
You know, my mother grew up in Ruby Valley, but she explained that most people kind
of lived in little groups, like mini-communes. And she said that she grew up with Ralph
Jim and Isaac Jim. That was in her little commune. She and her uncle, Honteko [19:08]
was his Indian name. And I can’t remember the third family. So she always knew them.
She thought she was related to Ralph Jim, and Ralph Jim always called her aunt,
paha’me. And so, I guess over the years, my mom and dad moved here and kind of lost
track of him, but finally, when Ralph’s dad’s wife died, he moved here to Owyhee. And
by then, he was an older man, and he was living with that old man Crow’s sister. You
know, the Crows. You know the—I can’t remember his old name, just a blank. Well
anyway, that’s who he was living with. And I think she passed away. And my dad
became very close with him also. And they said he became so depressed that he actually
hung himself. And my dad officiated at his funeral. And he was so full of remorse and so
unhappy, that Earl remembers that he was actually crying while he was trying to conduct
the service. And that’s just the one family that I really learned about. And it was a sad
thing. And as with my uncle that raised my mom, well, my mom left Ruby when she was
with my dad, and her aunt remarried. And so, that left her uncle. He moved here to
Owyhee because my mom was living here. And Mildred remembers that really well. She
said he arrived on a little tiny buggy with a horse tied in back, and about six dogs behind
him. And then he moved into, she said he built a little tent in the back. And that’s where
he lived. But he was very much a part of their life. This is before I was born. And so, she
said every morning—in the evenings—Owyhee was different. The land had not been
subjugated. So in front of our house was like a slough. And she said every night, he had a
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fish trap. And she says in the evenings they’d set that fish trap in that slough, and dam it
on each side, and in the morning they would go out and pick out the fish, and she said
that fish would be what they would have for breakfast. That was Honteko [21:34], my
uncle, as it turned out. Well, actually, my grandpa. Excuse me. So, but he moved here,
and I guess he had already been ill. And he, my mother kind of took care of him, but that
was the early years before they knew how to take care of tuberculosis. And when he was
diagnosed with tuberculosis, and we didn’t have a hospital here, she thought they shipped
him to either Fort Bidwell or to Schurz. And he died there. And she, they didn’t have the
money to go after his body. So to this day, I really don’t know where he’s buried.
Possibly in Fort Bidwell, or maybe in Schurz. But that was a sadness for my mother. And
she did follow her aunt, her Aunt Sally—Tup’a pitnawina nanaihen, e newe naniha
[22:25-22:28]. And she died, and her burial site is in Elko, and we still continue to
decorate her grave, because that was my mom’s aunt that raised her, and she was very
close to her. So that was… And I guess, when they picked up my mom, it sounds like it
was in the Roberts Mountains. Because if you look at the map, and look at Steward’s
maps of all the Indian camps, there are all kinds of Indian camps along at the foothills of
the Roberts Mountains. And in that area is where she—actually, her mom died, and when
the group moved to come toward the Elko area—because remember, they were like
nomads. They went from place to place looking for whatever food was available. You
know, whatever it might be—rabbits, antelope, whatever. And so, she was kind of
abandoned. Because the old grandfather said the mom was dead, and they didn’t want her
as an extra burden. An extra mouth to feed. So I guess they made, set up camp and left
her, and the uncle heard her crying, and picked her up, and that’s how he raised her. She
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was an abandoned person, poor thing. That’s my, that’s another little incident. I
remember that. Because I was thinking of her uncle, Honteko. And that’s, that’s just a
little family incident right there.
C:
So were they from—so, did they roam through the Rubies, mainly?
M:
Yeah, it—it really is puzzling. They even talked about wandering all the way down to
Lund. I think, people don’t appreciate the fact that they wandered everywhere. And a lot
of people, they say they stayed in one spot, but I challenge that, because the stories show
that they wandered. Then on my dad’s side—because he came from the Jarbridge area, he
knew. He knew all the names of places, like the mountains going toward Salt Lake, and
he said his mother and his grandmother from that side, they actually made fishing trips up
there by Twin Falls. There was an existing falls there where the people fished for salmon.
And one of the dams, of course, obliterated it. But he said they migrated up there just to
fish. And that was my dad’s mom’s side. Her name was Hainne [25:04], that was her
Indian name. But we’ve had a really hard time trying to trace her, because there was no
written documentation of her family. But, you know, some of them have faded away.
Taibo pekkaipe’na [25:18]. And so, there were a number of people in our family, but
they just sort of disappeared from the face of the earth. Some of them, you know, became
very dilute. One of them, Strickland is one family portion. [Laughter] It’s on dad’s side of
the family! Yeah. So that’s just another little family story that I know of. Yeah. So my
mom was born in the Tubattsi Tewatekka [25:46]. She was what you would call a Pine
Nut-Eater. And, because her grandpa—who was not very kind, apparently, people talk
about how mean he was—and so, during his lifetime, he had six or seven wives. Not all
at once, but some died in childbirth. Some, you know, just died. Death rate was huge.
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And so, I can almost say that I’m probably related to everybody over in that Te-Moak
area. Because of that! [Laughter] But unfortunately, you know, we grew up here, and we
were growing up—we didn’t travel a lot, because mainly finances and crops. And
animals. So we didn’t, we were disciplined. That was our first responsibility. And I used
to wonder, how do all these people that come to visit my mom, how did they do it?
Because they were just as poor as we were, but yet they would appear Fourth of July or
any old time. Some of them worked on the railroad, and I could see that they could afford
it. But, we just, we never, we were responsible for our place. You know, we all had our
duties, and we just didn’t go any places. But it was very interesting. But mother would
always tell all the stories. And so we kind of knew who we were related to. And if we
went to town, she always visited them. Fourth of July, when they came—because during
my lifetime, the encampment was almost an entire circle. You know, that’s early on, in
the 19—maybe, early [19]30s, they were still doing that. And so, the encampment was
entire circle. And one end would be where the people came from the Elko area, Austin.
They would all be encamped on one end. So I would go with my mom, and we would
visit one relative here. We move to the next encampment. A whole, it seemed the south
side is where most of the people from the Tubatekkate niikwai sikka naakkan [27:46]
the Pine Nut Eaters, they seemed to gather around there, and they had their homes there.
And on the other side, [27:54 in Shoshone]. Fort Hall, lot of people came from Fort Hall.
So there were a lot. And then they were still, when I was young, they were still on Fourth
of July day. The parade began at the rodeo grounds. So these people on horses. And we
still had these people in, especially for Fort Hall, they came with their headdresses on,
and with their leggings on. To’pararak [28:33] that little front apron that the men wear.
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On bareback horses, painted horses. So I got to see that in my lifetime, that you see in
pictures. And I think that was the tail end of it, because after that, it just kind of stopped.
And then, that’s when the young people were in boarding schools, and all those young
people, they used to even put down a huge floor that they, in the evening, you could
either go to the waltzing and the jitterbugging, or after that—seemed to only last a certain
length of time—and then there would begin the round dancing, which went on all night
until morning. And what I remember most about it is that different men sang during the
night. Somebody from Goshute, somebody from Ely, somebody from Duckwater. All
those amazing voices. It’s too bad no one recorded them. I remember that so well.
Soonde hupiakande [29:20; (Had many songs)].You know, it was—I didn’t realize that I
really experienced a good treat. But gradually, that faded away until everything just had
to stop, I guess. One of the things, it depended a lot on the superintendent, too. Because
Fourth of July is when you start harvesting your crop. And many of those people, you
know, it used to last a whole week. People’d be camped there for a whole week. And
their crops would be drying. So then he had to put his foot down, because remember, they
kind of ruled us then. And people had to cut it short to, like, two or three days, instead of
the full week. Sometimes two weeks. [Laughter] So, it gradually changed. But my dad
said the way it really started, was when they first got on the reservation, to tell the
Indians, like a newspaper, they had a crier. A town crier. He said what would happen is,
the Indian agent would be on a horse, and the people would be gathered, and he’d circle
around them to tell them what is happening. These are the new rules, this is what you
have to do. And he’d just—like a town crier. He said that’s what Fourth of July started
from. It started as an informational gathering. Then, well, Indians love to celebrate. So
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from that, it grew into Fourth of July that we started celebrating. But it came as a
practical method for informing people what changes the Big Father was making. That’s
what it started as. [Laughter] But, it’s turned into a big, big celebration after that. And so,
then they had better means for trans—for giving information to you, you know. They, by
then, I think they must have had an office, or an agent had an office. So, he didn’t have to
be a town crier like he used to be. [Laughter] I always love that. So that was one thing
they did, that happened Fourth of July. Yeah.
C:
So what type activities did they do during the Fourth of July?
M:
Well, when I look at it now, they loved activity. Now, let me tell you, I don’t think there
was a fat person around there! They loved to race, they loved to bet. They loved anything
that seemed as competitive. I remember that so well. They would have races. And I have
a sister that’s one year older than I—two years older—than I am, and she always won.
Beverly. She was like an antelope. She could beat everybody. So, she always raced.
[Laughter] And we, we couldn’t, we weren’t allowed to camp there, because we had to
come from home daily. And I think we only got to go twice. Unless my mother won the
argument, then we’d go three days in a row. But we would come early in the morning,
stay all day, and then leave when it got dark. Or sometimes, special occasions, stay up all
night to hear the singing. But that was, you know, that was very special to do that. But I
think they—everything they did was very competitive. And then, I remember they danced
also. Until daylight. You know, the singing went on ‘til daylight. Then, in the early
mornings, they had all those little competitive races, and tug-of-war. Anything that was
competitive, they did. And it was very exciting. I think the Indian just was meant to be
active. And they were. I remember growing up, everything was activity. Nothing was
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sitting down except handgames. And that was very active also. It was like a sideshow:
you know, those people that were holding the bones; they just would fly. They have their
arm and then their draped blanket or whatever, wherever they were hiding their bones.
[Laughter] And all the motions they would go to. It was wonderful! And all his
teammates would encourage him. Even that was so active. Now—then I didn’t see any
handgames for years, about 20 years. So I finally went to see a handgame in Fort Hall.
And lo and behold, they were sitting on rocking chairs, on stools… [Laughter] Not even
on the ground! That was a real shock to me. Because they always sat on the ground with
a log in front. So that’s evolution. [Laughter] That was, I really enjoyed that. That was
good, too. Yeah. That’s what I remember of some of the activities. Then of course, at the
rodeo grounds, they had a lot of competitive racing. Because we used to have a race track
down there. And everybody who thought they had a good horse to beat everybody else’s,
they entered and they raced around the race track. And sometimes they had no saddle.
Many of them had saddles, and they would race with a saddle on, saddlehorse. They
didn’t have the regulations and rules that they do today. So they were—everything was
competitive. Everything they did. And I think that was a good thing. Yeah, I think that
was very good. Yeah. It was really good. So, that’s what I remember about that activity.
Let me see what else… Oh, and then school, of course. That was also—at the end of
school day, we always had a barbecue the last day. And they had a racing again. And
three legged race, and tug of war. And all kinds of games that they had last day of school.
And of course, my sister Beverly would always win. But I could win at one thing, and
that was three-legged race, because I happen to be coordinated. I could win that. But I
couldn’t win anything else! [Laughter] So that was fun. And they would have a barbecue
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for—everybody came to that. All the school children, because that was the last day of
school. And that was where I was, it became already Swayne School by that time. So it
was Swayne School, so that was at Elko School District we were part of. So by then, we
had teachers, and every class had a teacher. They didn’t have a one-room schoolhouse
anymore. We had our own teacher, I had a third grade teacher. You know, every class
had their own teacher. And that’s where that Glenn Nutting that you remember, the dad,
he was our principal when I was here. Yeah. Before I left Owyhee, he was still principal.
Mmhm, Yeah.
C:
When you left Owyhee, I mean, where did you go to pursue your education and—?
M:
Well, first I went to Riverside. Because remember, it only went to the eighth grade. And I
went to Riverside, Sherman Institute, when I was in the ninth grade. And you know, I
wasn’t really happy there. I don’t know why. I just felt like a misfit. Although I enjoyed
every minute of it. Then when I came back that summer, you know, because every
summer I worked. I can’t remember where I worked that summer. Maybe in that ranch,
101 Ranch, that big white house? I think I worked there. It seems we all worked there.
And then I just felt like there was more to Riverside—more in life than Riverside. You
know? I just didn’t want to go there. So then, my poor mom and dad, they didn’t know
what to do with me, because of course, I wasn’t the kind that ran around or did anything
that was out of order. It’s just that I just wasn’t going to go back to Sherman. So they
didn’t have a solution, but at that time Rush Juney was the minister. And his wife was
named Arta. And she had been our minister before he came. Then they got married, and
Rush Juney was very forward-looking, and he was always talking about education. And
he actually came from Berkeley, and the Bay Area. So once he spoke of people living
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with families, and working your way through school. So I went to them, and I asked them
if that could happen to me. So, I think within a week, they found me a place in Berkeley
with a family from a part of the Presbyterian chain. So I went to Berkeley, and I stayed
with that family, and I was a babysitter, their bottle dishwasher, and whatever they
needed, and I got to go to school. So I graduated from Berkeley. And then from there,
you know, I just went, I worked a whole year, and then I went into a nursing program.
Then I got halfway through my nursing program, and then I just fell in love and married
somebody and never finished. Didn’t do that until later, then I went back to school and
finished nursing program. But that’s how I got there. I think that, in that time, you had to
be innovative if you really want to do something. You know? It was out there. And that
was always my mom’s attitude, is that if you really wanted something, it’s possible. She
was a great one for that. Like, she’d just—at least, she didn’t think anything was
impossible. But she knew better, because during her time there was a lot of prejudice.
And you know, she was very intelligent. It was frightening, she was so smart. I think she
taught herself how to read. And during the World War II, when my brothers were in the
service, she kept up with all the campaigns that Willis was in. She had maps that people
would give her, because she was so different that people gave a lot of literature to her. So
she kept up with all the campaigns worldwide, what was going on where, in Japan and—
it was just amazing. So, I guess that kind of made us all aware of history, and aware that
there was a world outside of Owyhee, outside of the United States. I think that’s what she
did for us. But it was her personal interest. She just had so many interests. She was just
amazing. You know. So, I think that’s how I got interested in the world outside of
Owyhee, and outside of Sherman. So that’s what happened. You know? And I think there
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were others that did that, too, that went through the church, the help of the church. So
that’s how I got there, and that’s how I went to school. Thanks to my mom and dad and
all their interests. They had a lot of interests. Yeah.
C:
So where’d you finish your nursing school, and then where did you go during your career
as a nurse and that—?
M:
Well, I worked in Redding, because my kids grew up in Redding. My children were all
born in San Fransisco. Because that’s where my husband worked. Then from there, when
we realized that it wasn’t such a hot place for our children, we moved to Redding,
California. Because he was working for Ward’s and then they transferred him.
Montgomery Ward’s? So, that’s where the children grew up the rest of the time. And
that’s where I went to school, and I worked in the—and a T.B. sanitarium was next door
to us, it wasn’t very far. So I worked there nights, because that was most convenient. You
know, that’s what I did. And when I was in San Fransisco, I worked nights, too, like that.
Because I couldn’t work—you know, we had to work it so somebody was home with the
children. So that’s what happened. And then I finished in ISU up there in Pocatello.
Yeah, I went back to school, finished there.
C:
What degree did you get when you finished, or what—?
M:
Bachelor of Nursing, science, in nursing. That’s what I did. Then I started working on my
master’s program, but I just had too much to do to be over. I was overwhelmed, because
then my children were growing, and they had their needs, and it seemed that was where
my money went, was to help this one, and then help this one, and then help this one. It
was unending. And you know—and no one can tell me about child rearing, or how hard it
is to raise them when they go crazy. I told them I have been to Hell seven times and back.
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So. [Laughter] There’s nothing you can tell me! The tragedies that happen in families.
But you know, I’m, they have been very good. They have moved along themselves with
encouragement. They’ve done well. I’m very proud of them.
C:
So you have seven children?
M:
Yeah, I have seven children. Yeah. I have four boys and three girls. So you know. So
that’s just what happened. [Laughter] Yeah.
C:
So I understand you worked for Indian Health Service for quite some time. Can you
share—?
M:
I did. When I came back, that was like a second career for me. I went into the Indian
Health Service, and I actually worked at this hospital for a year, I think. And from there, I
moved on to the satellite clinic in Elko, and from there I was their public health nurse,
and covered all the little reservations. And I really loved that job. That was my favorite
job of all the things I ever did. And it was really—for me, I felt like I was being useful
and helpful. And they were all Shoshone-speakers, so I could speak Shoshone. And that
was an advantage. And I guess I could see their needs, and I felt like I was being useful.
So I think that was the most exciting work period I had. You know, because it was—it
was a little of everything when you do public health nursing. Just a lot.
C:
So what were kind of the needs during that time? It wasn’t T.B. anymore, was it?
M:
No. No, it wasn’t T.B., but as a public health nurse, it really is kind of exciting because,
you know, you still are with the diseases. And if something breaks out, and one person
gets something, you do all the investigating and follow-up. And I guess the most
exciting—it’s not exciting, but it was very… I guess it was. It was, because it was
challenging—was a case of syphilis. Because you know, as they say, you could even
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trace syphilis back to God. Because, you know, it’s traceable. So that case, I think I even
worked with Canada, people out of Canada. Trying to solve that case. Which eventually,
we did. We did solve that case and found out who was the person that contacted
everybody else that ended up with syphilis. So that’s what I liked about public health
nursing. You know, the investigation, and how to figure it out. The analytical part of that.
I really like that. That’s part I like the best. I worked in Intensive Care, too—neonatal,
when it was first creating, and I thought that was fascinating—but I really loved public
health nursing the most. That, to me, was a—people with people. Trying figure out their
problems, trying to plug them into—crippled childrens and whatever. Yeah. I really liked
that.
C:
So what type of diseases did you—did the patients have then?
M:
By then, I think we were already beginning to see diabetes. Diabetes was quickly and
rapidly becoming out of control. You know? It just was already out of control. It just…
And diabetes, it’s very hard to teach people about self-care and diabetes, because for
years you can have it and feel okay. You just maybe feel lousy sometimes. And you’re
not real sick, you know. Over time, you get sicker. So they’re not going to listen to you.
They’re not going to listen to, “You need to eat differently. You need to exercise.”
They’re not going to listen to that. Because they don’t feel that bad. And over time, of
course, they get sicker. And soon, they’re so sick, they have to be admitted to a hospital.
And then they find out they’re a diabetic, and their kidney’s already in failure, they’re
losing their vision… Because over time, it’s very destructive, diabetes is. And I think
that’s how come we have so many diabetics. Because it’s just unteachable at the
beginning. Or I would say the people are unteachable. They won’t listen. Because they
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feel okay. They’re not real sick. Until, you know, the little vessels have been destroyed in
their heart, and you’re going blind, and you’re in renal failure. So… that part is the really
hard part. That’s the first thing I saw here. Then I came in on the tail end of alcoholism
that I had never faced before, out in the white society. All the World War II veterans
were kind of on the tail end by then. Including my own brothers. And the hospital was
where they would end up, after going on about. And they, we would have to treat them
for immediate care, because by then, they just, they just were coming off of a big drunk.
They had to have care. And it was really kind of sad to see that. Because by then, it was
all the people—all the young men that I knew as I was growing up, my own brothers—
and it got to the point where you knew all of them. Well, what they, they would go into
DTs, after they’ve been off to somewhere, after two days they would go into DTs. And
when they were in a full-blown DTs, lot of times we would have to cuff their hands and
their legs, and then you used what you call a leather straps. They don’t do that any more.
It’s not treated that way, thank Heaven. But at that time, that was the mode of treatment.
And I think I really—because, remember, when I was growing up, they only had two
alcoholics that everybody was aware of. So then, when I come home, all these—by then,
they’re not young anymore—they’re in their thirties and late twenties. And here they
were. You know, in full-blown alcoholism. And I think that’s when Owyhee started
initiating the large workshops on alcoholism. That’s when they started doing that. And
then, AIDS was kind of like that. AIDS came in the same way. Those were the things that
they were worrying about at that time. You know. And then, I noticed something when I
was out in the field: that’s when the young girls—and it was gradual, I think that they—I
noticed that young girls that I was following, that just had children, babies, they didn’t
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know how to care for the baby. And they didn’t know how to clean house, let alone
washing dishes. And it seems to, they were not taught at home, I don’t know whether it’s
because they came from alcoholic parents, but I noticed that trend, which I think has
gotten worse. They, I don’t know what caused it, because of course we were taught at
home. My daughters were taught at home. So, I don’t know what happened to make that
change, but I noticed that the girls were not—and if they didn’t know what they were
doing, how could they take care of their little babies, you know? It was, it was really a
concern. And I did share it with a few people when I worked with the different, you
know, Duckwater and Ely, and stuff like that. And they did have programs to help them.
But somehow, I think we may have caught some, but probably a lot fell through the
cracks. And I think it was just, everything was so free. You know, everything. Everybody
was open for having a good time. Drugs, you know, it’s just a whole new life. Not one I
grew up with. So. But you know, you can adjust to it, and try to figure out how to, what
to do. Somewhat. Yeah.
M:
I just want to talk a little bit about my dad, when he was growing up, and how he got his
name. Well, we never really decided where he was born. Probably in the Elko area. Or
some say he was born in Owyhee. But I, all I know is that, where his life changed was,
they were coming from Elko on a wagon, because that’s the way they traveled. And his
dad was on horseback. And his sister-in-law was driving. And the grandma was there.
My dad’s mom was there. And they were coming to Owyhee, and it sounded like it was
falltime, and it was very cold. And originally, they didn’t want to come, but the sister-inlaw, her name was Paakkappeh [50:32]. That means ice. She insisted—they said she was
kind of like a man, and could handle any team. And so she was driving. So she came, and
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then when they got to Wilson Mountain—that’s by Tuscarora, by, you know, how else
can I identify that? Well, the Indian name is… [speaks Shoshone at 51:00] Well wait,
I’ll think of it in a minute. Senior moment. So, they waited there. Because he went on to
hunt. Because they said right there, at the bottom of Wilson Mountain, used to be a
spring, and that’s where Indians stopped on their way to Owyhee. And they would camp
there. So they decide to stay there, because they were waiting for him. He was hunting.
His name was Elko Jack. Areko Jack, ne nanihan [51:28]. That was my grandpa. Well,
he never came back. And they waited and waited, and it felt like it was going to snow. So
they finally had to leave. And they left. And my dad was a little baby. And they left and
came on to Elko, because my grandpa, Areko Jack, never came back. And he never did
ever return. When they got to Owyhee, they waited for him there, but he never came
back. And so, they just kind of thought maybe he just ran off and left them. But
apparently, somebody had, in the springtime—his horse returned with the saddle. But he
was not on it. And it was too late. By then it snowed, and they couldn’t find him. But in
the spring time, they went looking for him, and they did find his skeleton, or whatever
was remained. And he had a bullet hole in the skull. So during that time, you only had a
few reasons you received a bullet hole. I mean, you were somebody’s enemy, or you
were in a fight, or else you were a kind that was a womanizer, and they said that’s what
he was, a womanizer. And they felt like the gentleman of the lady he was womanizing is
the one that shot him. That was what they surmised, but we don’t know. But what that
did, was it created, my grandmother went to work in Tuscarora. She worked there when
my dad was little. And then also, my, Elko Jack’s brother, who was a MacIntosh, stepped
in and took over the family, because that’s what they used to do. So he raised my dad,
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and also they had three children. But according to the Census, they all died. The three
died. It was very difficult times; diet, and the flu. And they all died. That’s all I can see
according to the Census. And so, my dad kind of grew up when he was little in
Tuscarora, and they worked for a family, Antone Primeaux, and it’s spelled the French
way, P-R-I-M-E-A-U-X. And his dad let them work there, and he’s the one that gave my
dad the name “Premo.” Over time, they shortened it to P-R-E-M-O, but it’s really P-R-IM-E-A-U-X. And those two boys played together, and the little Primeaux boy learned
how to speak Shoshone. Of course, my dad learned how to speak English, too. So that’s
how my dad grew up part of the time in Tuscarora. So, that’s how we got our name. And
we never knew who killed my grandfather, it just, that was it. But that’s how he died.
Oon Natsippata [54:26, (Spread Out Lava Rock Hill)]. It comes to me, [Shoshone at
54:27] nanihade Wilson Mountain. Oon Natsipatta. That means a sliding lava rock, flow
of lava rock. That’s what that is. That’s where they waited, that’s where the Indians used
to camp. Yeah, that’s it. So, my dad became very good friends with the Primeauxs. And
when he was ill in the hospital, before he died, they came to visit him. And I have some
letters from them, when he passed away. And I went to the son’s funeral when he died in
Elko, and you know, they were just very good friends with my dad forever. Yeah.
[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
Naomi Mason
Location
The location of the interview
Owyhee, NV [residence of Naomi Mason]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
<a href="/omeka/files/original/aa3766f4fe58fc6783ed1d03f4f8f30c.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">English transcript with some Shoshone transcriptions available as pdf file</a>
Original Format
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DVD, AVI, and MP4 Format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:55:27
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
Oral History - Naomi Mason (04/23/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Naomi Mason, Western Shoshone from Owyhee, NV, on 04/23/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Naomi Mason was born in 1929 and is currently a member of the Duck Valley Reservation. Naomi begins her oral history by speaking of her mother and father’s lives, and how they belong to the Dosa Wihi (White Knife) clan. She speaks of the Carlin Farm reservation, Duck Valley Reservation (Owyhee), and how the Shoshone would ranch these areas or be employed as cowboys. Naomi also speaks of the Native Agents during the 1910s in Owyhee. She also tells us of her fellow peers going to Stewart Indian School or Chemawa as well as the Reorganization Act of 1934. She also speaks of her schooling from Berkley and ISU, as well as her career as a public nurse. She draws attention to the culture and history of the Shoshone people within the Nevada area.</p>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh, 23 April 2014, in Owyhee, NV</p>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/p/2096981/sp/209698100/embedIframeJs/uiconf_id/39808892/partner_id/2096981?autoembed=true&entry_id=0_cb6tevio&playerId=kaltura_player_1499983416&cache_st=1499983416&width=560&height=395&flashvars[streamerType]=auto"></script>
<p><a title="View Naomi Mason Oral History" href="http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/bvggn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Oral History [streaming video]</a></p>
<p><a href="/omeka/files/original/aa3766f4fe58fc6783ed1d03f4f8f30c.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Transcript [pdf file]</a></p>
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 034
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
04/23/2014 [23 April 2014]; 2014 April 23
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [GBC Virtual Humanities Center]; 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/328
Language
A language of the resource
English; Western Shoshone
Carlin Farms
Carlisle Indian School
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley
GBIA
Nursing
Owyhee
ranching
Reorganization Act
Shoshone
Stewart Indian School
Story
-
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Transcript of Oral History by Delaine Spilsbury [GBIA 036]
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Oral history interview with Delaine Spilsbury, Western Shoshone from Ely, NV
Description
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Delaine Spilsbury of Ely, NV discusses family hunting stories and experiences, as well as her work in engineering for Nevada Power.
Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh, 28 May 2014, in Duck Creek, NV
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 036
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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28 May 2014
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Norm Cavanaugh (interviewer)
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/items/show/77
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pdf file
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English
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Text
Delaine
Spilsbury
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
036
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
May
28,
2014
Duck
Creek,
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 036
Interviewee: Delaine Stark Spilsbury
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: May 28, 2014
S:
Hi. I’m Delaine Spilsbury. I’m Western Shoshone, Great Basin Shoshone as I choose to
call it, and I’m from Ely, Nevada. I was born in Ely during the Depression, and it was a
different type of life for the native people here in Ely than it was most anywhere else in
the West or in Nevada. We had no reservation, we had no place where all the families
lived. We had a tiny little colony that—I don’t know, what, it was federal, or state, or
even county—that some of the people lived, but not—just a very small. We still lived the
old ways with our families as we had when… We were hunting and gathering. We had,
our families lived separately in a different place, and it was just like we’d been out. Every
once in a while we would all get together, just like in the old days. And the primary place
that they migrated to for their ceremonies was now called the Shoshone Cedars in Spring
Valley. And there were, my mother was from Snake Valley, which is to the east. And my
dad, they’d go to Spring Valley, and—I think probably to marry off their people, and to,
there was a good place to harvest plants, and animals, and fish. It was a place of bounty,
with plenty of water. And then my dad wandered around and migrated. He was from two
valleys—three valleys west of where my mother was. And so, they eventually met
somewhere down the road, maybe even at Spring Valley at the Cedars, I don’t know. But
they compromised, and ended up living in Ely, Nevada, along with her sister and my
dad’s brother. And so they had quite a little family group, and all lived up on Seventh
Street Canyon, across the railroad tracks. When we were poor Indians. And I’d like to
interject that now that’s where all the rich people live! [Laughter] Not at that time. They
have four wheel drives and kick it up the hill. We had to walk in the wintertime. It was a
pretty hard life. I don’t remember a lot of being—I don’t remember being miserable or
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anything, because it seems like I was always kept warm, and I was pretty well fed. And
that’s lasted through my lifetime as you can see. [Laughter] We just… We had, dad
hunted. Dad and his brothers hunted all the time. And when, especially if they weren’t
working, during the summertime, the spring and the summer, they seemed to have plenty
of work. I went with them to the sheep, up at the sheep camps. And the men—my dad
and his brother, and—I’ll have to put a little more family information in here, now. My
mother’s two sisters, my mother and her sister were from Snake Valley. My dad and his
brother were from White River. And since my mother and her two sisters were from
Snake Valley, their brothers were also. Well, those two brothers married two other
sisters. [Laughter] So it was quite a small family there. I mean, a small few families for a
lot of kids. But—
C:
What was your father’s name? Of what family did he come from?
S:
My father was from, his mother was at Duckwater. And she had married a gentleman
who was half—he was from Salt Lake City, probably a white Mormon, I don’t know. But
I know he wasn’t a Mormon because I know he drank. [Laughter] But, and his name was
Stark. So we don’t have an Indian name. And my mother’s name, mother’s family name
was Joseph. And anyway, we, they always hunted as a group, and worked as a group.
And they went sheep-shearing when they could. They had, my dad was a very ambitious
and very intelligent man. And he soon became a private, I don’t know what you call it, a
contractor. Just a one-man kind of organization. And organized for all the brothers and
whatever to go to the north to work at logging during the summertimes. And they started
here, they started logging just around the corner from where I live now, on the Schell
Creek Range. And they expanded upon that for a few summers, and I guess they did quite
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well doing that. And my dad had only one eye, so he really didn’t work any jobs that
were where he could hire on in town. So he also got into prospecting, and mining, and
whatever kind of thing that he could make some money at it. He did very well doing that.
We, so we had a childhood that wasn’t hungry and it wasn’t cold. I mentioned that
before, but that was quite an accomplishment when we were in abject poverty and really
had no place to live. He and his brothers, finally, he and his brother eventually built
homes for the families, adjacent to each other so the two sisters could be together.
Sometimes that was really good, but after they had kids, they did argue a lot. [Laughter]
C:
So were those homes built on the Ely Colony?
S:
No, they were not. They purchased some property up that canyon that I mentioned up
Seventh Street, and they built on their own property. And that property is now owned by
one of the rich people in town who’s building a beautiful home up there. We thought it
was a long way from town, and it was on the other side of the tracks, but I enjoyed the
train as a kid. Putting pennies on the rails, and just, kid things. And when we went sleigh
riding, we’re not supposed to go across the tracks. And so we’d sled just as fast as we
could so we’d think we couldn’t make the turn, and if we didn’t go over the turn, then we
could go over the tracks and down the hill even farther. [Laughter] But… with the wild
game they gathered, and harvested, anyway, they had my great-auntie, Lizzie—Lizzie
Lee—had a place in White River, which is where my dad was when, where he was born.
And she raised potatoes. So the boys would take her a leg from their venison, and she’d
give them a sack of potatoes. So we always had meat and potatoes, and even though it
was Depression, and it was in a very poverty area—poverty situation, we always
managed to have something to eat. And then, when the World War II started, the big
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thing for individuals to do, families, was to have a victory garden. So once we dug the
victory garden and found out how easy it was—for the kids, anyway! [Laughter] But, we
didn’t have any running water where my dad built. And eventually, the adults did dig a
water line down to the Ely water main, and brought water into the reserv—not the
reservation, into our homes. Reservation was not there. And so, we had a much easier life
once we had running water, because we had always hauled it prior to that. But the kids
got to help with that, too. Because they got to backfill the ditch. So, we worked pretty
hard. My dad and I had a—we were kind of a little bit separate from my mom and my
sister, because my sister’s four years younger than I am. And I used to go out into the
hills with him, to go prospecting, and mining. And I got a big thrill out of that when we’d
blast. [Laughter] It’s just one stick of dynamite, but to me it seemed really exciting. And
we’ve always, I gathered the, got the habit of carrying all the rocks home that I could.
And, because that’s what my dad did, take all his ore samples home. And at one time, we
mined turquoise over by Austin, Nevada. And we took a lot of samples home, but we had
investors and whatever that’d come in from LA and look at the rock, and say, “Well, I’m
going to take this home and have it analyzed.” But we never really sold much of it. But I
got in a real love for that turquoise from that period of time when we were mining. And
that extended into what I’m doing now, too. My dad and I were pretty much buddies. We
were hunting and fishing all the time, because that’s what fed us. And the rest of the
family fished, too, when it was summertime. But at that time, my younger, my sister was
too young to go with us, so they eventually became kind of two partnerships. My sister
stayed with my mother, and I went with my dad. And he hunted until, oh, until his death.
He took up bow hunting when Nevada determined they would have two hunting
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seasons—hunting with permits: one for bow, and one for rifle. And so, dad decided he’d
like to—and as did a lot of other guys—like to learn to shoot a bow, too, so we could get
more venison for our table. And I eventually took up bow hunting with him, too. That
was a lot of fun. And very, very tasty, I’d have to say. So I went to school in—
C:
So what kind of animals did you guys hunt—or your dad hunt, or you and your dad?
S:
Uh, primarily, we hunted venison. We hunted deer in season. However, there’s a little
story to tell about that, too. The, a lot of the locals convinced my dad and his cousin—
Bill McQueen, and my dad’s brother, Elmer Stark—convinced them that Indians could
hunt at any time of the year. So, they went out hunting, and ended up in jail. They had an
animal, and they went to jail for feeding their family. And found out that they, Indians
don’t have any special rights to hunt and fish. Not out here. They do on the reservations,
but not out here in the non-reservation world. And I guess I probably should say a little
bit more about my school life. I’ve been very fortunate all my life. My dad had a friend
who lived up in the canyon behind us—and he was very knowledgeable, very intelligent.
And he took to me, too. And I spent many, many hours with him. He taught me, he was
my—he taught me all the necessary things, like math and writing and, oh, just, spelling…
My alphabet, to begin with. But by the time that I went to public school, I wasn’t old
enough to actually go the year that I went. But, this friend of my dad’s took me in to
school to talk to the principal. And he said, “Okay now, Delaine. Write all this that I tell
you to write.” And—oh, first, the principal said, “Can she say her ABCs? Does she know
her ABCs?” Well, yeah! And he said, “Now write something for him.” And he said,
“Now, I’m going to ask you, I’m going to have some math questions.” And he said,
“How about reciting your times tables?” and things like that. So, I was able to get into
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school a year early. [Laughter] Which helped a lot later in life. But I just had mentors all
along the way. I don’t know if it’s luck, or what. But, it’s been a really good life because
of those mentors. Excuse me. [Crying] I forgot all about him until this! [Laughter] But,
let’s see, to go back to the school, I went to Ely Grade School, which was a really good
experience. I had a good friend that lived across the tracks from us, and we’d spend a lot
of time out in the hills together. And my cousins were near, and we’d go picnicking up in
the hills. And one time, there was a big fire in a bar downtown. And my cousins came
home with a lot of whiskey, we didn’t know what kind. And since we lived at the
railroad, I lived above the railroad cutoff, we went down in those cliffs and cut holes in
them and buried all our whiskey. And then we sold it to the drunks for about a year. That
was pretty good money! [Laughter] We were just little kids, so it meant a lot to us. The
school, Ely Grade School, was a very good school. I had a lot of really good teachers who
helped. And I had some who were, actually, probably I’d have to add them to my list of
mentors. I only had one school teacher that made life tough for me. I tried to be a grade-A
student all the way through grade school, and I was really proud of myself when I had
one year of spelling where I only missed one word in the entire year. And I still—now I
know how to spell “squirrel”: with two “l”s. [Laughter] But, I had some great help along
the way. And then, when we had our graduation, there were three of us students. They
couldn’t decide who was the valedictorian, and who could be the salutatorian. But since
these other two people were guys, one of them became the valedictorian, and we had a
dual salutatarian ceremony, which was pretty exciting for me. And I’d have to mention
that just about all my life, all of my friends except for that one girl that was my friend that
lived across the street, all my friends were boys. Because that was the kind of interest that
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I had. I went to a few birthday parties where I was the only girl there, and I usually had
fun with the mom. [Laughter] Along with the guys. So, it was a very special, very
different life for me, than the other kids. And I attended high school here in Ely part of
the time. By that time, my dad had moved to Vegas and become a building contractor.
And so, he would take contracts in Vegas in the wintertime, when the weather was nice,
and then when it got too hot he’d take contracts up north. And he built some, a few
buildings in Ely. The Armory that is no longer, now I think it’s the Jailhouse. There was a
grocery store in between, and a motel, and some other things around Ely. And then we
took contracts in Wyoming, and did some work for the mine people and their workers.
And that was an interesting life, too, because I made friends with the people who lived
there, and everything was provided for them. They had a swimming pool, and all sorts of
things that we didn’t have around here. But that’s because the mine did all that, and we
could go into the store and get whatever we wanted. All my friend had to do was sign.
Because the paychecks from the miners went directly to this company store, and nobody
ever had any money. And it was a pretty interesting thing to learn, and to experience.
And we did a lot of hunting in Wyoming. We went out every night after rabbits. And they
had rabbits and hares, and whatever. And because by that time, we had a really good taste
for that. Plus, we were always saving money. And that seemed to be a way of life for us.
We were very thrifty, because, when I went to Vegas, and went to high school there, my
mom always used to buy my clothes at—I guess they’d be called “flea markets” now, but
they would just have the, put their clothes out on Main Street, or whatever they had to
sell on the weekends, and we’d buy our clothes there. And they were always out of the
style. If it was a short skirt, mom sewed a strip of velvet—two inch or four inch,
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depending on what the styles were that year—velvet ribbon on the bottom, to make them
acceptable. I wouldn’t get slapped in school for having too much showing, I guess!
[Laughter]
C:
So where was your experience in going to school? Did you go to school here in Ely, or
was it a public school, or…?
S:
No, the—just, I went to Ely Grade School, and White Pine High School. Off and on. I
would start at White Pine, because we were—that’s what I was starting to tell you, and I
lost my train of thought there. That was when dad was moving back and forth with the
seasons. We would start in White Pine High School, and—wait a minute. I started doing
that when I was in third grade. And then we’d move to Vegas, and I’d spend the rest of
the year—or, part of the year, and then come back to Ely to finish the year. So, it was a, it
was—I think, I didn’t like it at the time, but I think I learned a lot more by doing that. So
I did that all the way through high school. I finally—I think it was the last two years in
high school, I did, stayed in Vegas. And I had an advantage there, also, by going to the
school later in the year. One year, I couldn’t have, they didn’t have any sophomore
classes. That was a required class. And so they put me in the junior class. And so it was a
little tougher, but I think that was good for me. And the other thing that helped, is when I
was in Vegas, and I tried to get a drafting class, they wouldn’t let me take drafting
because I was a girl, and they thought that I would be—I have to back up and say why I
wanted to take drafting. My dad by then was a building contractor. And he was having—
a lot of his expense was having drawings made for the building so he’d get a building
permit. And so he said, “Why don’t you learn to do this?” Because I kept working with
him in the building industry. And I no longer paint walls, because when I was such a little
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kid, and I was working with him, that was all I could do was paint the walls! [Laughter]
That and climb up on the roof and lay some sheathing. But I’d had enough painting for
the rest of my life. [Laughter] So, it was, I’m losing it again—I was, okay, so I went to,
tried to take my drafting classes, and they wouldn’t let me into the class because they felt
it would be too distracting to have a girl in the class. And so the next fall, when I came
back to Ely, I asked for drafting at White Pine High, and they said, “Sure.” So when I
went back, when I transferred back, and I need to transfer to a class, they, I guess they
felt they couldn’t refuse me. But they did put me in a back room where I had to work on
my own. The teacher had to come back, and then work—when he had everything else
done, if he had a little extra time, Mr. Portinier. He would come back, and see what, and
help me with what I was doing. But I took to it so well, and I did so well at it, that he
became a mentor also. And by the time I was a senior, which wasn’t—I’d only been in—
well, I’d gone to the Las Vegas all four years, but not full four years—I was hired. They
had a program that if you had a job, you could get credit for the job. And they gave us the
afternoon off. So I became a professional draftsman when I was a senior in high school.
[Laughter] And it paid well, too. So, that just kind of, all that kind of thing just carried
through, pretty much most of my life. And I attended Nevada Southern in Las Vegas for a
few years, but I was, always had such a good job and made so much money, and mentors
would take over and teach me all they could, I finally just felt that I was doing well
enough on my own—not my own, but the results were—that I did quit school. But it
didn’t seem to hinder anything that I did. They, at that time, they didn’t actually require a
degree just for an interview. I did get turned down on a lot of jobs because they said, “We
don’t hire women.” And that was it. You know, they wouldn’t even give me an interview.
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But so I started in, started off with government jobs. I worked for the county, and then I
was able to get a job with the city, and I found a really good mentor there. And from then
on, I had a reputation, so I didn’t need anything more. And that carried through. I
eventually—the one thing that did happen that I didn’t like so well is, somewhere along
that way I got married. And every time they had a layoff, because of a depression or a
recession or something, they would, everybody in the industry, I think—or even
everywhere else, but that’s the only, engineering is the only industry I know—they
would, if there were a couple working, the wife always got laid off, because they felt that
the man was the breadwinner and all that kind of thing. So I got laid off a couple times.
And the last time I got laid off, I said, “You know, I think I’ll do something I really want
to do.” Which, well—other than get laid off, I loved the work. So, I was kind of set back
a little bit, and that’s when I got my training in Indian arts and crafts. My mother tried to
teach me everything that she knew, and I eventually ended up with an Indian arts and
crafts business. And it just, everything has just been—I don’t know if kids have those
opportunities these days.
C:
So in those places you worked, you mentioned, where was it in part of the country?
S:
Oh, all my engineering life was around Las Vegas. I worked for the county, I worked for
the city, I worked for Nevada Power for a number of years, and long enough to get a few
promotions and a few raises and things like that. So each time I changed jobs, it was a
step up. And then, my final job was kind of by accident. I got laid off at Nevada Power—
or fired, or whatever in the heck it was. I think that time, I think that time was the time I
got dumped, and it was all, had a personal beef for—my chief engineer didn’t see things
the way I saw it, and so I got dumped there—and was collecting unemployment
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insurance. And at the time, my dad was alive and well, and very… I can’t think of a word
for it, he was, he was going fishing all the time, and he had a boat, and we’d go to all the
lakes around there—Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and, depending on what kind of fish we
were fishing for. And I said to him, I said, “Dad, I think I’m just going to go fishing with
you.” And we did that for—it was spring—for quite a long time. And then, at that time, at
the end of unemployment, you had to go in and talk to the man, and they would ask you
if you had been looking for work. And of course, I always said I was, because I always
had applications in places that I didn’t think would hire me—right off anyway. And I go
in one day, and this employment guy says, “They need someone like you at the telephone
company.” And he said, “Will you go for an interview?” And I said, “Sure!” Because I
had to. [Laughter] And doggone, when I went for that interview, if the supervisor, the
minor supervisor, which I was to work for there, was a guy that had worked for me
someplace. And when he saw me, he said, “Oh my God, Delaine! We need you! I’m so
glad you’re available.” And that put an end to my fishing. [Laughter] So I stayed with
them for a very short time. It was a good company, they had a good company policy, but
our senior supervisor was just a picky-picky-picky, and I couldn’t handle that. And that’s
when I went to the Test Site. And I stayed there for quite a number of years. The Nevada
Test Site, out of town. So all my engineering career was in the Vegas area.
C:
So you were a pioneer, as a woman, in that field, when there wasn’t very many women in
it.
S:
There were very few women in that field. I did work with one other woman who was a
right-of-way engineer. And she was, she had been at Stanford, and she was quite a bit
older, but… She was a good friend of mine. But I think that’s, those are—I don’t ever
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remember having another woman on the job anywhere I worked. Not in that line. We had
secretaries, and that sort of thing, but… I don’t remember any other women. Once I got
into the Indian arts and crafts business, I became really enchanted by all kinds of
handmade stuff. And a lot of stuff in my house is handmade, and, this particular chair, the
gentleman is still alive. And for one reason I can’t remember his name, and he is in Ely.
And they had these chairs in an art gallery in Ely, oh, probably 10 or 12, 10—oh, some
years ago. I’ve lived in this house now for over 10 years. And during that time, a friend
of mine from Vegas was visiting, and we went to the art gallery. And this chair looked
small enough and nice enough that I said, “Gee, that’s nice. I’d better try it out.” And I
really loved that chair. But I walked away from it and went on with what I was doing.
And on my following visit to Vegas, when I walked in to my friend John’s house, there
was my chair. Waiting for me. So, but I guess I stopped visiting him enough, because he
said the chair was getting lonesome, and he brought it up to here. And it gets used every
day up here. [Laughter] The only horse I’ve ever ridden is, well, the one that my dad had
that wasn’t very sound, we found out. Because he decided to sell it. And it was
“Helldorado,” which was a big rodeo time, big Western days in Las Vegas. And he
bought all the black, I guess it’s called “surge.” He looked like Roy Rogers all decked
out in his black pants and shirt, and black hat. He was showing off his horse. He had
advertised it as sound and gentle and all that sort of thing, and the guy was—there where
we lived in Vegas, there was, out on the edge of town, as usual, and it was all alkali dust,
alkali dirt, which is totally white. And for some reason, that horse stumbled, and my dad
rolled in the white alkali. [Laughter] So, we were never permitted to ride that horse again.
I think he had a bad back, I think that’s what it was. He said it stumbled, but I think it had
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a bad back. And a few stable horses or whatever, when I’ve gone up into the mountains.
I’ve ridden some really wonderful horses when I’ve gone on some packing trips for when
I’m hunting big game with my bow. And I’ve loved some of those animals. But that’s the
extent of my horsemanship.
C:
But the saddle—
S:
The saddle. Back to the saddle! [Laughter] Would you…?
C:
It says, “25th Annual Treaty Days.” Was that a rodeo, or…?
S:
That’s in Oregon. It’s a big rodeo. It’s an all-Indian rodeo. And my cousin Mel Joseph,
who is, was my, one of the uncles that lived in Snake Valley, his son. And he was a real
tough little kid. So he really excelled in what he was doing. He got his first job when he
was 12 years old, and moved to California. He was a horseman on one of those greenhorn
trips that I was mentioning that I took when I went hunting. And so, he became a pretty
good rodeo hand. He’s been a clown and everything all the way up, and he and his
brother just last year won a national championships at the Indian National Finals in
Vegas. So he went the full gamut in rodeo, and that ended up at my place. I let him visit it
once in a while. [Laughter] I mentioned earlier that I eventually ended up in the Indian
arts and crafts industry. And I have a very nice wholesale business going on now. I’ll
probably work until I can’t work anymore. And those items are some of the items that I
carried when I was in Vegas, and had a bigger clientele. And I sold pottery rugs. The—I
had all kinds of artists that I had access to. And I really enjoyed that. It was nice to really
be able to get to know them, and to know them well, and that’s been another, really fun
part of my life, is… and the beauty of the Indian work, the Indian handcrafts is just, it’s
still hard for me to believe how they manage to do these things. I did a lot of traveling,
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and went to a lot of shows and whatever with these people, and I became, I was on the
board of directors for the Indian Arts and Crafts Association, which is a national
organization that guarantees quality and authenticity. And the artists were just
unbelievably talented. They weren’t “talented,” they were inspired. It has been a great,
great experience.
C:
And that necklace you have on? What’s that?
S:
Well, that’s actually Shoshone. And it’s, it’s kind of a, real special, this is made with the
old number 13 cuts, which are the ones that the artists, the beadworkers that really like to
work with beads, and they’re almost impossible to acquire. The supply house that
everybody got them from in New York was—they were imported from Italy, the beads
themselves—is no longer there, and so, I treasure it. It’s got bone, and crystal beads. As I
mentioned before, my dad took up bow hunting when he could hunt for two seasons. And
when I finally got big enough to shoot a bow, they didn’t have all the kinds that they have
now. Had to be pretty strong to pull a bow back in those days, they were pretty much
longbows. There’s one behind me that—this one’s a Mongolian bow—that’s pretty much
along that design. And the new ones have all kinds of wheels and whatever to make them
much easier to pull, so now they even have really efficient children’s bows. But I had to
wait until I was old enough, big enough to actually be able to handle a bow. And we, that
ended up being a great, a real fun part of our life, too, because we—when we moved to
Vegas, we got into the Archery Club, and competition, and that sort of thing. And my son
was, had won a state championship or two. And I won the women’s division, the bow
hunting division, for a number of years. Dad did, was real pretty good with his bow, too,
and we just had a lot of fun in archery. We even had a range, an archery range, on some
�
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of the land that my dad had invested in, in addition—well, when he had, could no longer
be a contractor, I guess it just was too much pressure, because his doctor told him to go
fishing. [Laughter] And he started investing in land, and he always felt that land was a
good thing to have. So he had quite a lot of acreage on the outskirts of Vegas, and we
built an archery range on one of his properties, and everybody that was involved had a
great time. We organized and built our own targets, and would have our own
tournaments, and whatever. So anyway, along the way, of course, you know, dad was
always hunting, and I was always hunting with him. But I finally discovered that when I
did become pretty good at shooting a bow and hunting, I had to forget everything that he
had taught me. [Laughter] And start again! So I’ve been pretty much hunting, oh, most of
my life. I’ve always, well—small game, of course, is the most available. And a lot of fun.
And I love to eat it. Rabbits and that sort of thing. I was able to harvest a couple of birds,
too, which isn’t that easy with a bow. Especially when you cut their head off, let’s not
ruin anything—but that was a missed arrow. [Laughter] But I’ve been hunting around in
Nevada for a number of years, and I ended up, one of the guys that—oh, it’s, I decided
that I wanted to go javelina hunting. And over the years, I became acquainted with,
because of my business, I would always work the trade shows that were connected to
archery. I met people that—movers and shakers in the archery industries, manufacturers
all over the country—and got into some, got invited to some great things. I got invited to
go javelina hunting with Doug Walker, who published the National Bowhunter
Magazine. And he eventually asked me to write for the magazine. And a part of that, we
didn’t get paid much, but he took us on hunts. And he took us, I think the one that I had
the most fun, and had the most game was at Chudwayo [42:09] Ranch in Texas. And
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they have a lot of exotic game. It seems like the grandfather, the one that started the
whole hunting thing, had an opportunity to buy some game from one of those countries
that had a new sultan or whatever. And when they come in and take over the country,
they always just kill all of the animals that the prior ruler had. And put in their own. And
they had some animals down there that were extinct other than on that ranch. And that
was—the only fence it had was on the very out—the perimeter fence, and it was, I don’t
know. I can’t tell you how many square miles it was. It’s just a huge, huge ranch. And the
only fenced part they had, was inside, he had some really special animals. But they
weren’t, you couldn’t hunt those. There were a couple of giraffes, and all kinds of exotic
game. But the ones that were free-roaming, we could hunt. And we did. And we went
there for a number of years. And one year, I had a big thrill when rock star Ted Nugent
came hunting with us. I think I’ve been hunting with him about three times now. So that
was a highlight. [Laughter] Not that I think he’s so—I don’t agree with his politics, but I
sure like to hunt with him! So, and then, some years ago, I was lucky enough to draw one
of the rare elk tags—it was probably about thirteen or fifteen years ago—here in Nevada.
It’s a tremendous—some people apply all their lives and never get a tag. And I was able
to get a tag and hunt it just around the corner from here, for the elk that I have here, that
at the time was the largest elk in the record book—for one year. It isn’t my bow that does
it, it’s me! [Laughter] Actually, I’ve been shooting with a bow that probably a lot of
people would say doesn’t work, because I shoot forty pounds. But a well-placed arrow is
a lethal arrow.
C:
So is that the bow up there, that you have mounted?
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S:
Those are some of them that I’ve shot over the years. Actually, one of those is my dad’s,
and one’s my son’s. They’re sentimental, so they kept theirs. I sold all mine. Except for
the one I’m using now. And eventually, after I got too many years on me, too many
miles, years and miles, I did have to go to the compound bow that I shoot now. But I still
shoot it the same style that I shot the recurve and the long bow. And that’s with no sights,
and no mechanical release. Just Indian fashion. Ind’n fashion. [Laughter] And it’s, some
of these animals here are the animals that I harvested in Texas. There’s different kind of
deer: fallow deer, sika deer. All very tasty.
C:
So can we begin with the white-collared deer above your head, and then just move
around the room?
S:
Okay, that’s a white fallow.
C:
And that was harvested in Texas?
S:
Yes, the next—all four of these.
C:
And the one next to it?
S:
That is a sika. I can’t really remember what kind of sika it is. But it’s different in breed
from the other one. And the chocolate is the brown deer that has the moose paddle and
has the Ted Nugent signature on the paddle. That doesn’t show from here—it shows from
here. [Laughter] And then, the other, the next one down is also a sika. And that one, I
shot with other people present, and it just dropped. But that’s because I missed. I hit it in
the backbone, instead of the sweet spot. I was shooting uphill, and at a longer range than I
normally do. And the next one is a nice mule deer from Black Rock Desert, that my son
and I worked on. And the two antelope are from around here, and Spring Valley. Both of
them are from Spring Valley. That’s out by the Shoshone Cedars. And the little piggy
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over there is a javelina. And Ted Nugent was on that hunt. I have a little photo of him in
my trophies over there, of Ted and I. And this, the one on the floor, the full-body mount,
is an axis deer. First time I saw one, I thought it was the biggest fawn I’d ever seen,
because of the spots. [Laughter] And this is probably the tastiest one of all.
C:
So where was this deer harvested, in Texas?
S:
That one’s from Texas also. And all the taxidermy on those was done in Texas.
C:
And then, can you tell us about the mountain lion?
S:
The mountain lion is from an old friend of mine who’s no longer with us. He’s passed on.
And he was the best gardener in Ely. Had a huge garden. And everybody was welcome to
come in and take what they wanted, but his son was jealous, because I’m the only one
that his dad would harvest the vegetables, and even wash them, before I got them.
[Laughter] Everybody else had to dig their own. And the bear, on the floor, is from
Alberta, Canada. There’s a good picture behind it if you can catch the picture. That was, I
had a picture of the group of us who all got bears, and that one was the biggest of all.
C:
And you shot it with the bow?
S:
Oh, it’s all bow, yes.
C:
Ah.
S:
When I got—Rick, my son, was with me when I got the invitation to go along. And I
said, “Yeah, I’ll go bear hunting!” And when he got me alone, he said, “Mom! What
were you thinking? You’re going bear hunting?” [Laughter] And that was an exciting
trip, too. I had another bear fall in love with me, but that’s another story. That was not
fun.
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I forgot to tell you that when I was out mining and prospecting with my dad, that I
actually worked in those mines with a real shovel. Not like today, with a huge scoop
shovel and a big truck, but we actually got in there and dug holes to plant the dynamite,
and then we dug the muck out by hand. When I was a kid. And I think dad did it on
purpose so I would get an education. [Laughter]
This is a picture taken at Mount Moriah, which is just east of us here. Over—that’s by
Spring Valley, too. That’s why Spring Valley was so sacred to the Shoshone people,
because it was so full of, just, game, and fish, and food, and shade. On the bottom, where
the Shoshone Cedars are, it’s the bottom of the valley. And these cedars had been—
they’re actually Rocky Mountain junipers, and they’d been pushed in there by an ice age,
and it was the only place around where there was really good shade and grass, and all the
people that wandered around these valleys here all ended up there for their ceremonies, a
number of times a year.
The drum is just a part of my collection, it had an elk, and it was a Shoshone artist. And
it’s signed, but I don’t remember who it is. I’ve had it for so long. And I don’t even know
if it drums anymore, but it’s just something I like, so, that was—and it’s something I
acquired.
C:
And the baskets up on top?
S:
The baskets, the ones on each end are Mono baskets that were made by Julia, Julia—boy,
I can’t remember her name! She’s still alive, and I met her somewhere on the powwow
trail, and she had baskets for sale, and since my aunties are Mono, I thought that was a
great idea. I do have miniatures that my aunties gave me when I was a kid.
�
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Well, there came a time when we lived in Vegas when there were drive-by shootings and
that sort of thing, and the only time I could go anywhere was from 10 o’clock in the
morning until 2 in the afternoon, because the traffic was so bad that if you did go to the
freeway to get across town—which you’d almost have to because it’s so huge—there was
so much free parking out there in the middle of the summer. Free parking on that
freeway, in the 120 degree heat, that I decided it was time to go back home to die,
because that’s kind of what our people do. We, we’re so tied to the land that we want to
be back home when it’s time. And so I shopped around up here to get some property.
And in the interim, I was a partner at the Idaho Heritage Museum on Highway 93
between Hollis—no, it’s at Hollister, between Jackpot and Twin Falls. And my partner
there gave me a call, and he said, “These logs are available.” This mill—I guess they’re
called millers, the guy who owned the log mill, the saw mill, had some logs that he
wanted to get rid of. And it was a good price. And probably less than I’d have to pay for
material to build a house. But I didn’t realize there were so many, because I wasn’t
intending on a place this big. But when I did find this place, and saw the possibilities of
berming into the side of the hill for the insulation value, and the logs combined—because
this is cold country, here—that I decided to have a house the way I like to live. And that’s
why it’s all free and open with the kitchen island in the middle. And I was lucky enough
to find a contractor here in Ely who could do it. However, my partner, who was also a
cement—he was a contractor, also—started the place. He did all the groundwork, and he
put in all the foundations and that sort of thing. And he got arrested for supposedly
digging one arrowhead—I mean, that’s the conviction that they had on him, but I think it
was a trumped-up charge. Because the stuff he had, pretty much the museum all had
�
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certificates. But, I don’t know. Anyway, I had to hire another contractor along the way,
and I was lucky enough to get a local guy who’s honest and talented and worked for a
decent price. And we’re still good friends. Matter of fact, I—if you see the picture of the
fishing over here, under the sika deer, and those are salmon on the Kenai Peninsula in
Alaska. I’ve gone fishing with him up there twice now. And the 65-pounder is mine. And
the little fish on the end is my buddy’s fish. [Laughter] The little silver salmon. But
we’re—and we’re still friends, even after that. Even after that fishing trip.
So, I understand we’re going to be closing now, and from all you’ve heard, I’ve had just a
wonderful time, a great life. Everybody has just been absolutely great to me. If I do have
things that are, that I think are wrong for me and bad for me, I just remember all the good
things. And how lucky I have been. And I’d kind of like to talk directly to younger
people now. And I know it’s hard to get out in the outdoors now, when we have all this
electronic stuff, and screens, and whatever, that keep you all tied up, and keep you from
getting any activity. But I would encourage you, if you have somebody in your family or
something that goes for these outdoor things—maybe you can talk them into introducing
you to what is, what was our Newe way of life. Being on the land, living with the land,
and preserving the land. Right now, I’m in a big battle with a bunch of people to try to
keep the Great Basin water in the Great Basin, instead of being pumped away for where it
will never recycle into the system again, and that, the Great Basin Water Network, I’m on
their board of directors. And I would encourage you, our native people, our native kids,
to get to know the Earth Mother. She’s kind, she’s generous, and she needs protection.
And we can do it. I know we can. We’re having problems with climate change, and it’s a
good time to be able to extend, do something, learn about what’s out there, and always
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have faith in yourself, and always look at the bright side. There’s always something good
in everything. And ignore that other stuff.
[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
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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
An account of the resource
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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Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Delaine Spilsbury
Location
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Duck Creek, NV [residence of Delaine Spilsbury]
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<a href="/omeka/files/original/aff4ca802ba8f057e9f294ca28cc1a1e.pdf" target="blank">English transcript available as pdf file</a>
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00:58:10
Dublin Core
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Title
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Delaine Stark Spilsbury - Oral History (05/28/2014)
Subject
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Oral history interview with Delaine Spilsbury, Western Shoshone from Ely, NV, on 05/28/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Delaine Stark Spilsbury is a Western Shoshone, or as she says a Great Basin Shoshone, from Ely, Nevada. She was born in Ely, Nevada during the depression, and attended school there as well as Las Vegas. Delaine speaks about her ancestors and how the hunted and gathered within the area as well as their family groups. She gives us an account of her family’s lineage and their vocations. She also speaks of how she hunted, fished, and mined with her father. She then goes on to tell of her hunting adventures, including some with Ted Nugent, and how she got into drafting. She finishes her oral history by leaving a message for the youth.<br /> <br />Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 036
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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05/28/2014 [28 May 2014]; 2014 May 28
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [GBC Virtual Humanities Center]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
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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/files/show/477
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English
arts
Community
crafts
Crossroads
depression
drafting
Ely
gathering
GBIA
hunting
mining
Shoshone
Story
White Pine High School
Women's History
-
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fb217aed52a2c8e7ce73f0b11a61b133
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/038a57d31acf75ccaa2678a571009392.pdf
6a1fb3a765f744a062679c71b2abd529
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Title
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Transcript of the Oral History of Laura Stark Rainey (GBIA 035)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Laura Stark Rainey, Western Shoshone from Ely, NV
GBIA 035
Description
An account of the resource
Laura Rainey of Ely, NV discusses wild plants, climatic changes, and growing up in rural Nevada at Cave Lake State Park, as well as her work in surveying, design, and underwater mining. Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh, 28 May 2014, at Cave Lake State Park, NV
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA 035
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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28 May 2014
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Norm Cavanaugh (interviewer); Scott A. Gavorsky (GBC Virtual Humanities Center)
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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<a href="/omeka/admin/items/show/78">Oral History - Laura Stark Rainey</a>
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.pdf file; 16 pages
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English
PDF Text
Text
Laura
Rainey
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
035
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
May
28,
2014
Cave
Lake
State
Park,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hCp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 035
Interviewee: Laura Stark Rainey
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: May 28, 2014
R:
Good morning. My name is Laura Stark Rainey. I’m from the Ely Shoshone Tribe in Ely,
Nevada. We’re of the Western Shoshone Nation. Today we’re going to be filming in the
Cave Lake State Park area, which is just outside Ely. My family and I used to come here
when I was young. We’d come fishing, rabbit hunting, gathering berries—sour
squawbush, currants, chokecherries, elderberries—and everything to last through the
winter. We also gathered pinenuts up in the mountains here, which we gathered every
year. This area is very rich. This year, it’s a little dry. [Laughter] We’ve had a drought for
several years. But it still looks pretty good here in the spring. This is the Steptoe Creek, it
feeds the Cave Lake. And there’s a lot of good fishing here, still. And it’s just beautiful
weather. We used to get some watercress along the streams. I don’t know if there’s any
today, we’ll see if we can find some. But the fishing is always good. And the willows are
just starting to leaf out, although it’s the end of May, it’s a little slow coming around this
year. But it’s a wonderful area, and it’s good to get out, away from town, and be amongst
the wild America again. We love it here. I bring my grandson out here fishing, and he
always has a grand time. Of course, most of the time I beat him! [Laughter] But we
always catch our limit. It’s a good time. Then we go home and have a good fish fry, and
he loves it—he started cleaning fish when he was eight years old. And he’s twelve now,
and he’s still cleaning my fish, and I’m so glad I don’t have to do it anymore.
C:
So how old is your grandson?
R:
He’s going to be thirteen the end of June. One more month. [Laughter] Then he can really
do—I had him helping me make frybread this weekend. He was mixing, helping me mix
the dough. He rolled it out, and he fried it. I showed him how to turn it away from him so
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he wouldn’t burn himself in the grease. And then he dressed the Indian tacos, and he
says, he says, “I’m multitasking!” [Laughter] He says, “I’m getting into the family
business now.” So I hope he keeps his, keeps up with me.
C:
Okay. So what do we have there, Laura?
R:
Okay, this is what we call the sour squawbush. In the spring, it gets little red berries, and
they’re hard. You pick them—we’d pick them and put them in a paper bag, put in some
salt, shake it up, and eat them that way. And it’s better than eating popcorn. [Laughter]
C:
Huh. What time of year does it, is it ready for harvesting?
R:
In the spring.
C:
In the spring? Like, what time?
R:
Uh, June, maybe July. Depending on how cold the spring is—you know, how long it
takes the winter to go away.
C:
Does that bush have any berries on it?
R:
It doesn’t yet. And this is rose bush, the wild rose bush. And they have the rose hips that
come in after the roses go away. And those are edible, too.
C:
So what are the rose hips, or rose parts—
R:
See, these are coming into blossom, the sour squawbush. Up here on the top. That’s
where the berries will form.
C:
Ah. Now, what color are the berries?
R:
The berries are red, the flowers are yellow.
C:
Okay. So how big does the berries get?
R:
About the size of a BB. [Laughter] You have to collect quite a few of ‘em!
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C:
Oh, I was going to say, yeah. Huh. Okay. So we’re just early in the spring here looking at
it, and it’s got a couple months before they begin to produce any berries. We’re in a
really beautiful spot here, Laura. And these are—
R:
Can you get the cold in Cave Rock up there? On the horizon?
C:
Yeah, we’re taking a shot of the area here. And there’s a Cave Rock up there in the
mountains, Laura called it.
[Break in recording]
C:
Okay, Laura. Now where are we?
R:
Okay, we’re up above the state cliff. It’s Cave Lake State Park, in the Schell Creek
mountain range, on our way up Success Loop. Over here, there used to be a dance hall
way back in Prohibition days. And of course, with the whiskey and [__inaudible at
5:40__] this was way out when I was working, [__inaudible at 5:43__].
C:
So Laura, can you tell me about this groundhog that’s sitting up here in the rocks? What
the Shoshone people did with them, or—?
R:
Yeah. We call them yaha. And we’d have a gathering when we get several yaha then.
But, usually only the elders get to eat those. Now, maybe I can eat some. [Laughter] I
always used to be too young.
C:
So how do you prepare the yaha?
R:
Well, just roast—do just like a prairie dog. Take out the—cut a little slit in the side, pull
out the entrails, and stick the hind leg in the hole, and then bury ‘em in the coals. Let it
roast, and then, when it’s done, you take it out, and then peel off the hide. That takes all
the charcoal and everything off. And the meat is just delicious and juicy.
[Break in recording]
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R:
Okay, we’re in the Schell Creek Range, just outside Ely. Up here you’ll see the caves
behind me. Indians used to stay in these. You’ll see they’re facing the east, so that they’re
out of the wind, out of the cold north wind. And snow, whatever came. And they’re high
enough to see the deer, so they could get the deer that they’d harvest sometimes. There
are elk here now. And of course, the yaha that we saw down below.
C:
So what time of the year do you think the Shoshone people used these caves?
R:
Okay, the—we would be down in the valleys where it’s warm in the wintertime, and the
spring and summer we’d come up here in the mountains where it’s cool. And if they
came out early, and we had late spring storms or something, they could go in those caves.
And of course, if it was raining, they had to have some protection. Also, the summers,
we’d be up in the mountains here.
C:
How many were in a band, or in a group that would travel together or camp together?
R:
Well, usually, a normal family, tie two families together, something like that. But in the
fall, when it was time to pick pinenuts, they would get several families together, and
gather out at the Swamp Cedars in Spring Valley. And then they would, we would all go
out to gather pinenuts. And that way, we would make sure that everybody had enough
pinenuts to last the winter.
[Break in recording]
C:
Okay, Laura. You were starting to tell us about the—
R:
Yeah. When the cavalry came through here, when the president sent out the directive to
kill all Indians, they came from the Ruby Valley, over there across into this—this is the
Duck Creek Basin. Came in through the Duck Creek Basin, and across the mountain—
well, not the mountain, but through one of the passes [Laughter]—over to Spring Valley,
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where the Swamp Cedars are. That’s where all the Indians of this area used to gather in
the fall to go picking pinenuts. And a cowboy or somebody came riding by on horseback,
and he noticed all the campfires, so he hurried in—no, this is another story, sorry! The
cavalry went into Spring Valley, and they were going to kill the Indians. But it was
swampy, and the horses were floundering in all the mud in the swamp. And they couldn’t
get to the Indians, and they got away. And it was later on when the local militia went in
there and massacred all the Indians when they were gathered to pick pinenuts. And there
were only two little girls and one little boy who were able to survive that massacre.
C:
So was there a name for the massacre, or was it called any—?
R:
We just call it the Spring Valley Massacre—the last Spring Valley Massacre. But the
local, we call it the Swamp Cedars Massacre. And my grandmother was one of the little
girls who survived that.
C:
And how old was your grandmother when she survived it?
R:
We figure she was around ten years old. It happened about 1895.
C:
Huh. So about how many of the people in the camp were killed, would you say?
R:
I would say there were probably 30 or 40 people in the camp. And just three survivors, so
that’s 10 percent. One day I was out there hunting deer, and I came across an arrowhead.
And I told my husband, I says, “This could have been my grandfather’s”—or, my greatgrandfather’s arrowhead. But, who knows? It’s all BLM land now, and they’re building
the windmill farm right next to it. The wind farm. So…
C:
So is there a marker or anything to indicate…
R:
There isn’t, we have one planned. I don’t know if we’ll ever get the funding for it, but we
do plan to put maybe a rest area or something there. Like your state highway markers
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with the historical markings. We haven’t succeeded in getting that done, but I’m working
on it. I think we possibly could get some help through the Great Basin Heritage Area. It
covers the Esmeralda County and White Pine County. The route, Highway 50 there, has
been designated as the Great Basin Heritage Area partnership.
[Break in recording]
C:
So can you tell me where we’re at, at this point on our trip, Laura?
R:
Okay, we’re on the Success Loop, we’re on the north side of the summit, head down into
Duck Creek Basin. This is a quaking aspen grove, with some lodgepole pine mixed in.
And some, a lot of small quakies, they’ve got other pine trees. And there’s natural
meadowgrass. It’s just beautiful here. Usually, you see a deer or two. I think we’re too
late in the day, though.
C:
So do the, our Shoshone people use quakies for anything?
R:
You can use some for your artifacts, for handles. If you cut the quakie when it’s green, it
will keep its bark, which is really attractive. If you cut a dead piece, in time the bark will
fall off. They’re nice and straight, so they make good handles for tools. Like tomahawks,
or rattles. Ceremonial objects.
[Break in recording]
R:
When the cavalry came through from Ruby Valley to the west, they came through
Steptoe Valley, and through this break here into the basin, Duck Creek Basin. And
proceeded through this area, and you can see the—between the mountains up there,
there’s kind of an opening, it’s where Timber Creek comes through. And they went
through there, and on over into Spring Valley. And that’s where they had planned to
catch the Shoshone, at the Swamp Cedars. They had intended to massacre them all. And
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that’s where the horses got mired down in the mud, and they were floundering so much
that they had to turn back. That time, they didn’t get as many Indians as they had
planned. And you can see the pipeline that goes—the Consolidated Copper Company
built from Duck Creek, and it takes the water all the way around the mountain, and up
over the other side, to McGill where they had a smelter set up. [__Inaudible at 12:53__]
west of Ely. Then it was brought down by the train to McGill, and run through the
smelter, and then that’s where the pure gold was taken from there. Or the gold nuggets
made.
C:
About what time of the, or about when was that, in terms of years?
R:
Okay, first story of the cavalry, probably about 1890-something. Early 1890s. And when
the Consolidated Copper, this was about the 1920s or [19]30s. And then just at the mouth
of the valley here, there was a sawmill that they also used the lumber for building things.
[__Inaudible at 14:39__] Not much left there nowadays. Though this is big wide-open
area, and when the cavalry were coming, they were following the water sources. You
know, that’s why they came through Duck Creek. And right now, the Schell Creek
[__Inaudible at 15:01__] we have the largest national park in the state of Nevada. Lot of
hunters in this area up here, which does help our economy, and bring some money in.
But if they build that water line down to Las Vegas, eight foot diameter pipe, they’ll drain
all the water from this area, then everything will die. We won’t have any more fishing,
and no more hunting to offer. Everything’s going to be dead. I hope we can—we’ve been
fighting the battle to keep our water, but it’s been a hard battle and I don’t know if we’ll
ever win. I hate to see this country go to desert, but it may some day. It’s wonderful land
right now. And in every canyon, there’s a stream, in this area. There’s Bird Creek, Berry
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Creek, Timber Creek, Duck Creek, East Creek, Kalamazoo—every one has a creek
[__Inaudible at 16:13__].
C:
And you said at one time, you could just drink right out of the creek?
R:
Oh, yes! If I was a [__inaudible at 16:21__] some fishing or hiking, whatever, if there
was a creek, you just lay down on your belly and get a good drink of water. And now you
can’t go on the mountain and drink the water because they said that there’s giardia in the
streams and [__inaudible at 16:34__] Shame. We’re just polluting our world.
[__inaudible at 16:43__] Well, this is the time to do it. I’m 72 years old, I got a deer tag
again this year. [Laughter] So, I’ll be out in the fall. Make good use of it while I can.
C:
So what all parts of the deer do you use for, you know, craftsmanship, or…?
R:
Okay, the feet. I always tie them back and make a like gun rack or pole rack. Mount it on,
mount the feet on the board, and then they hold those, hold your gun or whatever. Your
pole. Or they make good coat racks, hat racks. Some of them I keep, I put them straight
so when they harden, they’re stiff, and I use those as handles for knives. My husband
makes several obsidian knife blades, and I usually put antler handles on those. Antler
handles or deer feet. And the dew claws, I use those for the rattles on my turtle rattles. I
fasten them on a piece of leather, drill a hole through the turtle shell and fasten the dew
claw, and then when you twist your wrist, the dew claws rattle against the turtle shell.
Used to use those in rituals, medicine man’s rattle. But we make them now to sell as
artifacts to tourists. And I’m a silversmith, and this ring I made, that’s a stone from my
father’s mine near Hamilton. Austin/Hamilton area. And my dad passed away, I still have
some of his stone left. And I still bring some out. Also, I make rings and necklaces out of
the garnets from Garnet Hill there. The garnet is a naturally faceted stone, and it makes a
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really wonderful ring, or necklace, or earrings. I’ve done all those. I plan to do a whole
line of that type of jewelry and sell it this summer. Still like to do my crafts, even though
I’m getting old. [Laughter] My eyes are getting bad, but I’ll keep on going. And I do a lot
of beadwork, traditional beadwork. And this is last winter, I made my first—no, my
second—willow cradleboard. And this one turned out pretty good, I think I may have to
make some more. People like those. And I’m just trying to get back to my roots, and
there are more things I need to teach younger people before I move on or can’t teach
them anymore. I teach—I’ve taught certain silversmiths, I do a lot of beadwork classes,
and buckskin working. And I did, I have done demonstrations on brain-tanning deerhides.
And I just try to keep our traditions alive. And I’m doing, I’m trying to make a gourd
dipper, for dipping water. The gourd is used in the ceremonial—or, the official
sweatlodge ceremonies. And I’m trying to duplicate that. [__inaudible at 20:03__] But a
lot of people really like the white buckskin for wedding dresses. I make those for ladies.
C:
So are these, what you’re talking about, was this passed on to you from your mom or
family, or—
R:
I’m learning this however, wherever I can, you know, from elders. It doesn’t even have
to be the Ely Shoshone, just all Shoshone around, wherever I can get the information, I’d
like to get it passed on. That’s just as I was saying, for the cattails, when they’re first
coming out in the spring, when they first break through the water, they can be collected
and they taste like fresh asparagus. And after they grow up and start forming the cattails,
they can be collected and eaten. And they look just like little ears of corn. And they taste
that way, too. That’s, uh—you know, there’re so many things that can be used just right
off the land out here. It’s just such a rich area, fertile. And just about every kind of berry
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you can imagine grows out here. Just have to know which one to pick! [Laughter] And,
uh, there’s just all this information I’d like to be able to pass on to the younger people. So
it doesn’t die. [__inaudible at 21:28__] and my mother was 97, and passed away a year
and a half ago. And there are a lot of things that went with her that I wouldn’t know. But
we’re, we’re hoping we can have something that’s carried on.
C:
So is there a group of youth, or young people that you’re working with to pass the
traditions on to, or just family members, or whoever’s interested?
R:
I was trying to build a cultural center. My husband passed away, so now it’s, I don’t see
how I can get it accomplished by myself. So I’m just teaching people who are interested,
whether they’re native or non-native, young, old, doesn’t matter. If they have an interest,
I’d like to try to pass it on to them. Because if somebody gets a little bit, you know, they
can pass it on to someone else. And that’s the, that’s the only way we’re going to keep
our traditions alive. They—our preschool has a native Shoshone class in language. They
teach them some of the construction of teepees and things like that. So the younger
people are getting that. It’s the older ones, the high school age, who’ve kind of been
skipped. [__inaudible at 22:44__]. And of course, [__inaudible at 22:48__] had visitors
from out of state, even out of the country, that are interested in these things. And I can go
through and give them instructions [__inaudible at 22:59__] to see how these things are
done. I didn’t give classes, I just did demonstrations.
[Break in recording]
R:
Hi, we’re at East Creek right now, in the area where a lot of gathering—there’s a lot of
fruits and seeds. The ricegrass looks good this year. Hope there’s a good pinenut crop.
This is where the local Indians used to come gather a lot of things, the edible things we
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loved. And back when, in the 1800s, when the sheepherders used to come through this
area, and the cavalry, the Indian ladies would be out gathering berries and roots and all
kinds of things. And it was kind of a sad thing, because the young girls, if they were
caught out in the open like this, the sheep herders or soldiers would grab them and rape
them. And so, they learned that when they were out in areas like this, alone, or their
mothers taught them to find—if they couldn’t outrun their pursuers, they would just sit
down in a sandy wash and fill their cavity with sand. And that way, if the men tried to
rape them, then it would hurt them too badly, and they’d leave them alone. This, there’s
always trout in these streams, so there’s plenty to eat. It’s always nice to be out among
nature. We hope to get some more pinenuts this year. Last year they were just in small
spots. But we had quite a bit of snow in November and December, so maybe we’ll, if we
get some spring rains, we should have good pinenut crop. We’re all hoping for that.
When I was growing up here, we spent a lot of time in the mountains, shooting rabbits
and gathering pinenuts and things. And that was fun. And when I started to go to high
school, we moved to Las Vegas, because my dad wanted us to have a good education.
And he was going where—there was more work down in Las Vegas than there was in
Ely. We moved there. First time we moved down there was 1946. And then every
summer, we came back to Ely until I think it was about 1950, and then we moved down
to Las Vegas for good. And I went to Las Vegas High School there. And I got into
engineering—which, they said it wasn’t for a girl, but I got into it anyway, because my
dad wanted my sister and I to draw plans, the house plans for him because he built
homes. And two years I tried to get into the drafting class, and they kept telling me, “No,
that’s for boys. That’s not for girls.” Well, I finally got into drafting, and I did very well
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with that. And I continued on. I worked for the Planning Commission, for Clark County.
And I learned planning and zoning. And I married my husband. He was in the Air Force,
and we went to Vandenberg Air Force Base. And I worked for a surveyor down there. I
learned subdivision design, and designed several subdivisions. In fact, I designed
subdivisions in Las Vegas. And it’s kind of neat when I fly into Las Vegas and I can look
down and I say, “Oh, there’s the East Gate subdivision that I designed! Looks just like it
does on paper!” [Laughter] It’s a good feeling. And I worked—my husband being in the
Air Force, we traveled all around. I was in Guam for two years. That was during the time
we were bombing Vietnam. That was very interesting, there. And the B-52s taking off
every day, night and day. And went to Glassberg, New York, and I worked for an
architect—a professional engineer there. And I got deeper into the architecture. I
designed a million-dollar factory building, some apartment houses, and a store. And then
we were transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. And I just did
my crafts there. I went to Virginia and worked for the Newport News Shipbuilding. And I
worked on the design—the piping system for the nuclear aircraft carrier, Nimitz and the
Eisenhower. And then I worked for this deepsea ventures company—it’s been so many
years ago! [Laughter] And we were doing undersea mining for these, they were these
nodules that roll around on the, collect on the sea floor. The nucleus is a shark’s tooth.
And then it rolls, it gains magnesium. And so these were—or, manganese. They were
very rich in manganese. They were nodules. And it seemed every time we’d get a
shipload full, the pirates would come and steal our cargo, and we would have to go back
to mining again! But it’s been a very interesting life. And now I’m trying to continue on
with my traditional things. Building artifacts, and making the buckskin dresses and things
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like that. Because I’d like to pass this knowledge on to the younger people, so our
traditions don’t die. And I would like to, I hope, build a cultural center so I could have
classes. I don’t know if I’ll make that happen or not, because I’m 72 years old now, and
don’t know how long I can keep going! [Laughter] But I’m going to try. But for young
people, you know, you can do whatever you want to do with your life. You can start from
nothing and then build to everything, or, or if you just don’t want to do anything, I guess,
you can do that too, but it’s not very interesting. And when I was in Nebraska, we rented
this old farmstead, and so I was able to raise my three boys, teaching them how to take
care of the—we’ve had little bucket calves. We fed calves and rode horses, and raised
chickens and pigs, and had our big garden. And believe it or not, one year, I made fifty
gallons of dill pickles. [Laughter] Our garden really did well. We had—we fertilized it
from the hen house. We cleaned the hen house, put that on the garden, and oh, everything
just flourished. It was great. And then, when I moved out to, back to Las Vegas in 1980,
and went to work at the Test Site, and worked there for ten years. And then I, my first
husband passed away, and I married my second husband, and we went on the road going
on the powwow trail, going to shows all around California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona,
and Colorado. Did that for three years, and then back home to Pahrump. And then finally,
I decided I wanted to come back to Ely. I just missed the mountains and everything. And
so we came. About seven acres, and moved up here. That’s where I had planned to build
my cultural center and museum, but my husband passed away four years ago, so I don’t
know if that will come to fruition or not. But I’m going to do everything I can to go down
those roads. And it’s just—it feels so good to be back to this mountain country and to
Ely. It’s home. [Laughter]
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[Break in recording]
I would like to encourage people to do more things with their hands. I realize now, with
the technology we have, everything is done on computer. You don’t have to do anything.
But people still need to keep their minds busy and their hands busy. If you could do more
hands-on building things, rather than just doing it on the computer. I know the computer
models work great, they’re great for architects in showing, like, this way and that way,
but in my drafting background, I draw little blocks to be able to move around on the
drawing, so you could see what rooms could go where in your building. Where you can
do that with the computer. But when you have a hands-on feel, I think it’s a, you get a
deeper concern about the program—about what you’re doing. And it gets, I think it gets
people thinking out of the box. I think everybody should have drafting because, boy or
girl, because when you’re drafting you’re thinking of how something is built, and if it’s
turned around, you can turn it in your mind, and you don’t have to depend on the
computer to do it for you. It gets your thinking, your brain, engaged. Because it was hard
for me to get into a drafting class, but as I got—I think it should be a required subject for
all students. Because it gets your mind working. And you can tear something apart in
your mind, because you need to know how to put it back together. And it’s—that works
even in cooking. Anything you do in life. To be able to dismantle something in your mind
and put it back together, I think, is very important to everyone. And that’s—that has
helped me. So…
C:
And then, for educators that might—?
R:
The educators, that too. I think they should have programs where the kids can have a
hands-on, doing things. The other day, I found a tick on my dog. It was huge—almost as
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big as my fingernail. And, well, got it off, put it in the jar, you know, says, “Oh, it’s
dead.” And then I found, this friend of mine told me, that they live, they like the carbon
dioxide. So I took off the lid, blew in there, and put the lid back on, and pretty soon his
little legs started moving. And so I shut the bottle, and he went upside-down. And it’s
kind of like the ballast tanks in a ship. You could see where he would evacuate a section,
and pretty soon he got it so he could roll over, and he was back on his feet. And I blew
some more carbon dioxide, put the lid on there, and his feet came out, and pretty soon he
started walking around. And you know, for kids to have something hands-on, rather than
the imaginary things on the computer that you see—if educators can provide things like
that. The nature things. I think it would just, everybody could connect better. And you
wouldn’t have so many shootings in the schools! [Laughter]
C:
Yeah, that’s unfortunate.
R:
Because, I think those terrible programs they have on the monsters and things have a lot
to do with the shootings. But, that’s my thought. And educators could do more field trips,
take kids out among nature—amongst nature. They could get a better grasp on where we
are in this world.
C:
Well, I’d like to take this opportunity today, Laura, and thank you on behalf of the Great
Basin Indian Archive for giving me the opportunity to, you know, see things out in
nature, and experience the backwoods country in Ely that I never knew existed.
R:
You bet. A lot of people think, “Oh, Nevada is desert.” But it’s not! [Laughter] And
thank you for inviting me.
C:
So this concludes our field tour—throughout the backwoods, I guess, if you want to call
it—of Ely. And there’s so many very beautiful wildlife—plants—and… this is probably
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the best time of the year to experience everything, so… It’s so green. And in bloom. And
Laura knows so much about everything out here, that it’s made this tour very interesting.
And once again, I just want to thank you, Laura.
R:
You’re very welcome. Thank you.
[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
Laura Rainey
Location
The location of the interview
Cave Lake State Park, NV and surrounding area
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
<a href="http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/038a57d31acf75ccaa2678a571009392.pdf">English transcript available as pdf file</a>
Original Format
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DVD, AVI, and MP4 Format
Duration
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00:35:52
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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Laura Stark Rainey - Oral History (05/28/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Laura Stark Rainey, Western Shoshone from Ely, NV on 05/28/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Laura Stark Rainey is a Western Shoshone from the Ely Shoshone Tribe part of the Western Shoshone Nation. Laura took us on a tour of the Cave Lake State Park and surrounding areas describing the hunting and gathering practices of the Western Shoshone. She also tells us of the U.S. Calvary and the Spring Valley or Swamp Cedar Massacre, as well as other interactions with the Shoshone and the government. And in extension how much of the land has been taken into BLM or federal hands. She also speaks about her ambition to start a heritage center devoted to the Shoshone. She ends her oral history by telling us about her life, her husband, and her education in engineering.<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 035
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
05/28/2014 [28 May 2014]; 2014 May 28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [GBC Virtual Humanities Center]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah [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/files/show/475
Format
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MP4
Language
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English
Cave Lake State Park
Community
Crossroads
Design
gathering
GBIA
heritage
hunting
plants
Ruby Valley
Shoshone
Spring Valley Massacre
Story
Swamp Cedar Massacre
U.S. Cavalry
Women's History