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Darlene
Hooper
Dewey
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
046
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
April
10,
2015
Yomba,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hDp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 046
Interviewee: Darlene Hooper Dewey
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: April 10, 2015
C:
Today, I am out on a trip to Yomba Western Shoshone reservation. And it’s out here, in a
desolated place in Nevada. And I’m getting close. And today, I will be interviewing an
elder out here. But it’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful landscape, as far as mountains, and
open spaces, and—can’t ask for any more.
This is a sign alongside the road on the way to Yomba. Getting close to Yomba. Here’s
another outcropping. Believe it was an old barn or homestead. And what’s left of it.
This is downtown Yomba.
D:
I’m Darlene Hooper Dewey. I’m from Reese River Valley, the Yomba Shoshone
Reservation. And I’m—I’ve lived here, I’m born and raised here. And my mother and
father, Art and Alice Hooper. My grandparents—my tsoo and my toko is Bill Kawich and
Jenny Kawich. My father’s mother and father is Joe Hooper and Annie Woods Hooper.
And we, Reese River Valley was a luscious valley with a lot of vegetation. The valley
was full of meadowgrass, wild grass, and it was really high, above your knees, when they
first came in for the reservation. And there was a lot of snow. Snow that lasted until the
spring. And there was a lot of different plants here. The Natives here, that lived in this
valley, they lived throughout the river, here and there. And that was in, before the
ranchers came in. And then, the population started to decline. In 1881, ranchers took over
some of the land. They had around eighteen ranches in the valley. The Newe people
worked for the ranchers. And in 1936, the land was purchased for a reservation. And we
are located central Nevada. And we’re between two mountains: Toiyabe Mountain on the
east side, and Shoshone Mountain on the west side. And there was a river that flowed
northward through the valley, and as of today we don’t even have any more water, and so
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there’s no river. So, I don’t say “Reese River,” I say “Reese Valley.” So, in 1936, the
reservation started. They purchased four ranches from the ranchers, and with the help of
the Western Agency—Stewart, Nevada. The superintendent was Bowler. And they
formed a council to get some equipments, and they went under the IRA. And my mother
was a spokesperson, and she was also the interpreter for the ones that didn’t understand
how to read, or what they were talking about. And she did a lot of traveling. And the first
ranch was, the lower district is what they called it, and that was Bowler Ranch, and that
was in 1937. And there was twelve families that moved in to Bowler Ranch. And there
was a house there, and they put up tents, and they lived there around that house. And the
second ranch that came in was the Doyle Ranch, and that was on the upper reservation.
So they call it the upper district. And that one had 12,201 acres. And Derringer came in
1940. And in 1941, Worthington Ranch. And that had 957 acres. The Bowler Ranch
where they stayed, there was twelve families, but in 1939, the brick homes were coming
in at that year. And our family moved down into the lower district. And we lived there for
a while. And our family was large family; there’s thirteen children counting me, I’m the
thirteenth one. And some of the children, they were not born here in the valley. There
was four of us that was born here in the valley. One was born at Bowler Ranch, and then
another one down at the Bradys, where the Brady Ranch is now. And then the two of us
up here at the building that’s down here now, that’s the—
U1:
Derringer.
D:
Derringer Ranch. That’s where I was born. And my grandmother, she was the one that
helped my mom, and so the four younger ones, we were all born here in the valley. And
later on—we had moved up to the upper reservation. That’s the Doyle Ranch. And that’s
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where I was raised. And my father did a lot of ranching, so he was—we had to get up
early in the morning and get our chores done. At the time, when they started the
reservation, there was a school that was—where the children had gone to school, they had
six Hooper kids, four Bud Decker kids, two Bobb kids, and two Jackson children. And
altogether, with the children from the ranches, there were fifteen children that went to
school there. That building is no longer there. And later on, they’ve gone to the Ione
school, which school that I had started to go to school. I think I went there first and
second grade. And there, we went to school with some of the white children that lived in
that area. And there were also a small village that was there in Ione. When you go there
now, you can still see some of the structures there. And right now, Ione has only two
families that live in that vicinity. In 1939, the brick homes were built. And there may be
around twelve brick homes that came in. The first tribal council they formed was: James
Bobb—he was the chairman, and Bud Decker, Willie Williams, Willie Bill, Wixon
Charlie, and Harry Frank. And my mother was the secretary, Alice Hooper. And they
formed the by-laws and constitution. And they were able to secure the reservation land
and loans under the IRA, and then, in 1940, they were able to borrow 2,400 to buy cattle
and whatever else they needed. In 1940, they purchased three hundred head. In two years,
they totalled 1,554 head of cows. And that was in 1944. And they taken them different
areas, to Ione, Gabbs Valley, and BLM, and the Forest Service, to graze their cattle. And
they also had springs that they had—different springs where the reservation had—and
down the years, they started to lose their springs. The BLM was taking over some of the
springs. So now, they hardly have any springs left. There may be around thirty-two
families here, and they have—we have twenty-four HUD homes, that is rentals. And we
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don’t—during the time the reservation first started, there was a school here. I don’t
remember exactly how many children were here at the time, but they closed down the
school and relocated the children to Gabbs. So, the Gabbs school is around thirty-two
miles from here, and they travel on the bus every day back and forth to school, to Gabbs.
And over there, they have grammar school and high school.
Fandangos that we used to have, now they call it “powwows.” But that’s a different way
of dancing. Our Fandangos, they did a lot of praying and dancing, different way of
dancing, where they took turns singing. And they sang about their, the weather, about
their snow and their rain, and their way of living—like, being happy, and having a good
time. And we don’t have that anymore. I would like to see that come about. Here in the
valley, when they first had the reservation going, we did have Fandangos up on the lower
district, and that was where we lived. And they went four days—well, mainly four nights,
dancing. And people from different areas came. And they all took turns singing. And they
had games for the children, and games for adults, and handgames. And card games. They
all enjoyed each others. And we don’t see that anymore. I’m not too sure of the year
when they stopped the Fandangos. It may be in the late [19]40s, or early [19]50s, was
when they stopped that Fandangos for some reason. And they also had rodeo at that time.
So, that’s how we all got together, and had a good time. And that may be the reason why
we don’t have our weather. And we are all, should get together and have a good time.
And our language has gone away. We don’t do our language. We don’t, because we were
punished for speaking our language when they did have the school here. And the
children, I believe, would be, from the fifties on down, they’ve gotten away from the
language. When you speak your language, it seems to—if you and your children
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understand your language, they seem to listen more. And you don’t know how to correct
the children, because you don’t know how to speak to them anymore. All my children,
they don’t know. But my grandchildren, I tried to, here and now and then, I speak
Shoshone to them, and they say, “What’s that? What’d you say?” And I’d tell them what
it meant.
I would like to keep teaching the language, which we have. I go down to the tribe twice a
week, and I—sometimes I get a little, a few people there that’s interested. And the others,
they don’t seem to be very interested in it. And also, learning about the plants, and the
food, and the way people had survived. We’re survivors. Our people, our grandparents
from way back, they’re survivors. And that’s reason why we’re still here. And that’s what
I tell them, you know: “You’ve got to be proud to be who you are. Don’t—when
someone says something about, ‘Hey, you’re an Indian,’ you know, and say, ‘Yes, sure!
This is where I’m from, and I’ve been—I’m from here, and we are survivors!’”
There was a lot of vegetation here at one time. And I tell—when we go up in the
mountains, we go up and just take a look at the area, and I’d see what’s there—what I
know. I don’t know too much about what all was here at that time, but what’s left here, I
see that we have four different kinds of sagebrush. Different sagebrush, like, for the sage
grouse—we call it sagehens? That’s our food. And that’s also the sagehen’s food. And
we use that for medicine. My mother used to use a lot for, like, colds. Put it on your
chest, or either—you know, take a good smell of it. It clears your throat. And she also
used to use it to put on her head for headaches. And for bites. You could put it on, like, if
you got stung by a bee or something, you can chew it and put it on there. And that’s what
we used for our—sagebrush is good, and they also was good for clothing. You find the
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long sagebrush that’s tall. You peel off the bark, and you stitch it together. And that was
what they used for clothing long time ago when there was no material. And they also
made their shoe. And different things you can use to—you can weave with the bark. So
that, our sagebrush, is a lot of different things that you can use sagebrush. It is very
important that you learn how to use sagebrush, and sometimes you hear people, they get
after the sagebrush. I’ve worked with some people that don’t like the sagebrush, because
it does grow all over. And we have the rabbitbrush, which you can use—in the fall, they
bloom, and you can use the blossoms. And that is also used for medicine. And you can
also use that for baskets. Small baskets, whatever kind of basket you need. And then, we
have the balsam root, sunflowers. And balsam root is close to the sunflowers. You have
the Indian tea. You boil it, and drink it, and that is good for, like, to purify your blood, or
whatever illness you have, you can drink your Indian tea. And you have your wild roots.
It would be, well, I’ll go back to our plants. The mint, the wild mint you have, and the
spearmint that grows. You can use that as tea. And then we have stinging nettles, and
that’s also for medicine. And the stinging nettles, you boil it and drink that as a tea. And
you also have your Indian paintbrush, and your lupines, which is good for your colds, and
for headaches, or for coughing. You could always use your wild iris. And we have a lot
of that; that grows in the fields, or by the streams, by the creeks. And what I was told, I
don’t know what part you use, but it’s good for toothache. And there, you have—we have
wild yarrow, wild rose. Use the rose hips. And you can also make, you can also have that
as a jelly. And for—and we also have totsa that grows in the mountains. And totsa, that’s
good for your cold, and you boil it, and it’s also good to purify your system. And you can
also smoke it: dry it, shave it, and smoke the totsa. We have parsnips, and columbine.
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And our trees, we have around this area, we have mahogany. Mahogany, you scrape the
bark off, and you use that for tea. You can dry it, and use it later on when you need it.
And it’s—and then, we have our pinenut trees. We have plenty of pinenut trees here. And
you can use the pitch, and that’s good for, like, if you had a cut, or if you have a cut that
doesn’t heal, you can put that on it. Or you could use it for your water jugs, to cover the
water jugs, to hold the water. And a long time ago, we used to use it as, just pick it off the
tree, and chew it, and use it as gum. So, our pine trees is very important, and it also gives
us a lot of pinenuts and keep us going. And then, we have the cedar, the juniper. And you
pick off the juniper seeds, and that’s some, another medicine. Or, you can use it for
smudging. And we also have cottonwood trees. And birch, we have birch up in the higher
mountains, and we use that for cradleboards, for the frames, because it’s nice and strong.
Once it dries, we use that for cradleboards. And we have the willows, we have a lot of
willows, and we also use that for cradleboards. Or whatever kind of basket you need, like
your pinenut cleaning basket, and your big burden baskets—which, you don’t see people
use it anymore. But a long time ago, this is what our people, our ancestors, used. They
used all these supplies because they had to. There’s no way they would’ve survived
without using all these different things that we have in the valley. We are surrounded
with a lot of things that we don’t really, anymore we don’t really realize how our people
have survived. And our wildlife, we have deer, antelopes, fish. Lately, we’ve had elk.
And rabbits. Sage grouse. And I always tell the kids when we go out, everything’s alive.
Everything has life. Everything was used for our people. And I tell them, this was our
grocery store. Our—you know, we didn’t have to, they didn’t have to go and buy it. It
was here. It was here for them to use, and that’s how our people have survived. We don’t
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have anything—clinic, or stores, or school, or—we don’t have any of that here. We have
to travel to Fallon, and that’s like two hours from here. And we have CHRs that will
transport, and they have a clinic in Fallon that Yomba Tribe is, they can go to that clinic.
When we were growing up, I was not sick too much. But whenever we were ill, my
mother took care of us. And she did use her—you know, the way she was taught, and
things that she had here she used on us. So, I’ve never really been to a dentist, or the
doctors. And I was so afraid of them. Only time we see the doctors was when they came
out to give us our shots. Different—every year, they would come out and give us our
shots for, like, smallpox, or—I can’t remember what all they had, but that’s what they
used to do. But I’ve always been afraid of doctors.
Recently, we had Roger Ike come, and had shown us how to make cradleboards. And one
person, she was so excited that she was able to do a cradleboard, and how to start it, and
how to get out and look for the willows. She didn’t even know what kind of willows. And
that was one thing that was really good about Mr. Ike coming and showing us how to put
a cradleboard together. And when I was young, I was never interested in doing any
basketry or sewing, or beadwork. My mother, she did a lot of that. And she tried to show
me. But I was never interested. She’d say, “Sit down. I want to show you something.”
And she’d show me how to split it, but I’d try few times and it would break, and off I’d
go. I wasn’t a person to sit and try to keep trying it. But I watched her. She showed me
how to pick, and when to pick, and what to look for. So I used to help her pick the
willows. So, later on, when I thought about it, and I seen a lot of willows growing, I go,
“Hey! You know, I want to try it.” So, I sat down, and I kept at it, kept at it, and now I
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can split willows. Not as good, but I can, you know, I know how to do it. And I showed
my daughter, and my grandson, and they do willow work.
So I’m still sewing, now and then. Not as much as I used to. When I first started, I was
sewing for a small sewing factory. That was in Bishop. And I remember I didn’t have a
job when we moved to Bishop, and they had an advertisement for when they needed
sewers. And I went down and I talked to this lady, and she said, “Well, we have a job for
you if you want it.” And I said, “Not sewing!” And I was never really into sewing. And
then I thought—second thought, I thought, “What am I talking about? I need a job.” I
said, “I’ll take it.” So I went to the guy, and he had a little factory going, and it was
making covers for computers, and cases for computers. And there was three of us that
went there for interview, and he had picked me out. So I started sewing for him. And
then, down the few years, my daughter was going to high school and she needed some
money to go to—she was selected to go to Hawaii with some of the seniors that was
going to Hawaii, and she didn’t have any money. So I said, “We can figure something
out.” And there was a Pendleton in my closet that I didn’t use, so I thought, “Oh! I’m
going to do something with this.” So, I had a hard time cutting it, you know? I couldn’t
cut it. “I cut it, I might ruin it,” because I wouldn’t know what to do. Then I thought
about making a jacket, a Pendleton jacket. And this was when there was hardly any
Pendleton jackets out. So, I made a Pendleton jacket, and we raffled it off. She had more
than enough to go on. And the people seen that, and they said, “Can you make me one?”
And then, I started making vests instead of jackets because it was taking too much, and
the Pendleton is pretty expensive. And then, someone wanted a bag, and so I made a bag
to match the jacket. And then, next thing I know, there was everybody wanting bags. And
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then, I thought about, “What am I going to—am I going to have a little business making
bags?” And so, my friends and I, we got together and we thought about, “What can I
name my little business?” So, one morning, I woke up, and it kept coming to me:
“Kawich.” I go, “Oh, yeah! I’ll use that.” Because he was a chief that was not really
recognized. So I used it. So that’s one I’m still using, Kawich, on my bags. And it got
where I got too busy making bags, and it just got too much time putting in. And I got
tired of it. So, I kind of cut back on it. But I still, you know, people still now and then,
they said, “Hey, I want a Kawich bag. Can you make me a bag?” I go, “Oh, I’ll see.”
[Laughter]
Chief Kawich was my great-grandfather. He comes from down at the Kawich Range.
That’s down on Nellis Air Force Base. And at that time, when they lived there, there was
no base. They lived down there freely. And he had a band in, I don’t even know what
year it was. But when the settlers came, they’d taken his band, his people, out of that
area. It was probably already, they wanted it as a base. I don’t know why, what the reason
was. But they were taking his people into California, taking them out of that area. And he
had turned them around and brought some back, and they were—it was the cavalry that
taken them out of there. And at that time, there was a river, down—Owens River. And
now it’s dry, because the water, there’s a water piping down into lower California, down
into the southern California. But anyway, they had them crossing that lake. But he had
taken some of his people back towards his land. My mother’s from that area. And now,
it’s in 19—late 1940s, the Nellis Air Force Base had taken over, and there were several
other families that lived in that area. So, they had to move. They moved them out of there
and fenced the area. And we’re unable to go in that area. You have to have permission to
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go in there. And he was the chief for that area. And, so, once they came and made a map
of that location, so now there’s a mountain, valley, springs, different areas that’s named
after him. And that was his only—that was his, all he had as a name. He didn’t have any
other name. And his son is Bill Kawich. After he passed away, he was the younger chief.
And he was my grandfather. And the old man, the Chief Kawich, he’s buried there
somewhere near that mountain or on the mountain, of Kawich Mountain. I was able to go
in that area, the Nellis Air Force Base, because there was an archaeologist that the base
has. And he kept running into all these artifacts—baskets, whatever he was seeing—and
he asked different ones to come in and explain why these things were there. All the
grinding rocks and different things that’s there, and there’s rock caves. They call it the
rock shelters. And most of the rock shelters are up higher. And they always say, “Well,
why did they want to live so high?” It was because there was water. There was plenty of
water that was in the valleys. So, I’ve had chance to go down into Nellis. But whenever
we go into Nellis Air Force Base, they always have guides. They never leave you alone.
You’re unable to take pictures, you can’t take cameras. We’ve gone to different
shelters—I know this one shelter, it was facing toward the east, the opening. And there
was several baskets, maybe four or five different baskets in there. And they had, looked
like it was cedar branches put over it, and they were all mashed, so you couldn’t tell what
kind of basket it was. But you can tell they were different kind of baskets—you know,
different shapes. And it was kind of sad there. There was a, like—to me, they asked,
“What do you think, why this is here?” And to me, I said, “I think the person is buried
under there.” Just the feeling that I had. And the baskets that’s there was her belongings.
And that’s what our people, that’s what they did. They break up your baskets, whatever
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you used, that way someone else won’t use it after they pass on. And that’s how I
pictured it. But there’s a lot of things there, and one area was where they had the grinding
rocks turned over, and it was another rock shelter. And you can see the little rock circle
there where they had fire going. But they had these different rocks where they turn them
over. And the way I see it, someone of the family would come along, and when they’re
going through, they would use it, and just leave it there again and go on. So, it’s really
interesting in there. You don’t see people coming in there and collecting, because it’s all
fenced-in. That’s one thing I see about Nellis Air Force Base is, it’s protected. But only
thing, it’s kind of bad and it’s kind of good. But that was how we, different of our Native
people got to go into Nellis to look at the things that’s there, because that archaeologist
wanted to know why they were there.
This song was originated—my uncle, his name was Dave Clifford. He used to sing this
song, and what I was told was that you’re not to sing this song until he passed on. So ever
since he passed on, this song was sung at different things like rodeos, and maybe at the
powwows, or the language conferences. This song was started at the beginning.
[Singing and drumming from 44:45-45:33]
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
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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
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
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Darlene Hooper Dewey
Location
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Yomba Reservation, NV [Reese River: Dewey residence]
Transcription
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/514
Original Format
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DVD, MP4, and AVI format
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00:45:53
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Darlene Hooper Dewey - Oral history (04/10/2015)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Darlene Hooper Dewey, Western Shoshone from Reese River [Yomba Reservation], on 04/10/2015
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Darlene Hooper Dewey is a Western Shoshone who was born and raised in Yomba, Nevada. She gives a detailed account about how and when contact between the indigenous and immigrants took place, and how many of the Shoshones worked for many of the immigrants on the ranches or homesteads. Darlene then tells us about her family and others within the area and the creation of Yomba reservation as part of the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), and how the families purchased cattle. She also speaks about the history of the Fandangos, and the different types of native plants and their uses. Darlene then speaks about her Great-grandfather - Kawich - and how he was honored by becoming the name of her business. Dewey also tells us about the archeological importance of Nellis Air Force Base.<br /> <br />Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 046
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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04/10/2015 [10 April 2015]; 2015 April 10
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; James Hedrick [VHC/GBIA]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
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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.
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Format
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mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshone
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
Indian Reorganization Act
ranching
Reese River
Shoshone
song
Story
traditional foods
traditional medicines
Yomba Reservation
-
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6a11b112bc87f6aee09f3ba17b337425
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/246998fd63591b882e50af2e0f4c0104.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Katherine
Blossom
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
029B
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
August
28,
2014
Elko,
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 029B
Interviewee: Katherine Blossom
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: August 28, 2014
B:
Good evening. I’m Katherine Blossom. Ne newe nanihan Piapenkwi. I’m from the
Tepatekkate Tribe from—my mother came from the Reese River area. I was born in
Schurz, Nevada, which was a Native hospital for the Native people. But I went to school
in Fallon, Nevada, and then I attended UNR for a while. I could not finish because of
illness in the family. And I returned to Fallon, and that’s where I raised my two older
children. I’ve been a very busy person. Always involved in activities, whatever activities
were around. But I’ve always tried to work with my people. I always had a feeling for my
people that they needed help. With that, I got married, and I eventually moved to Elko
where I’m residing now. And I worked for the Elko School District for thirty years,
retired, and then went to work for Corbin Harney at Puhampaa1, which was a healing
center, and he worked with the healing water, which is mineral water. And he was my
mentor in the spiritual realm, teaching me about the way our forefathers did things. Our
Native people, how they prayed, and what they did with their life—the daily working. At
that time, I was an office manager for Corbin, and I was also the maintenance person. I
didn’t do electrical, but I knew how to turn off the water, and fill the pool house, and the
swim pool that we had, and took care of the bookkeeping, and did housekeeping for
visitors that came for help with their healing. After I left there, I traveled to different
places. I attended ceremonies which became my life. I went to the Sun Dance, and
because I only have one kidney, I cannot Sun Dance, which I wished I could. But in that,
I would pray for the dancers, and would sing for them, and encourage them when I could,
if I was able to talk to them. But in all that, I—my life has been very full. I feel very
1
KB says this in Shoshone; the center is often known as PooHaBah
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honored that I have been able to do what I’ve been able to do. I mentioned that I only
have one kidney: in 1972, I donated a kidney to my youngest brother, William Streech,
which many of you probably know him by Bill. And because of that, I’m limited—or,
they told me I was very limited in what I could do. But except for the Sun Dancing, it has
never bothered me. And I have been truly blessed with that. Also, I have been taking care
of my son for the last five years, so I have not been really participating in the spiritual
ceremonies like I would like to. But that’s okay. I feel like I’m at the place where I need
to be. But my heart is, of course, with my people. And my work, I feel, is to pray for
everyone, to help when I can, to extend a helping hand if I can. But always, prayer is my
foundation. Because when I was little, that’s how I was given a second chance at my life.
At two years old, I ate quinine, and it almost took my life. My eyes set to one side, I lost
all my hair, I could not talk, and all my organs stopped. I could not eat, I could not
swallow—even water. And I could not urinate or any bowel movement. Everything
stopped, and my eyes started setting one way. And my mother, when I first got sick, she
took me to all the doctors that she could afford to take me to around Fallon and Schurz
area. But the last doctor that came in and looked at me just shook his head and turned
around and walked out, I’m told. But with that, my mother prayed, and she told the
Creator, she said, “You gave me my daughter. Don’t take her from me; I want her.” And
she begged. She pleaded that my life would be spared, which it had been. And there was
an interesting thing: my aunt at that time had married a chief, and his name was Chief
Grayhorse. And they were in Oklahoma, my aunt and Uncle Ben. And the Creator heard
my mother’s prayer, and they came from Oklahoma. And my mother told her sister what
had happened, and what little that they knew about my condition, and she said that she
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didn’t want me to leave. That I was a gift given to her, and she wanted to keep the gift
from the Creator. In that, my uncle said that he was going to go to California and get
singers, which they did. He went to California, and he brought back singers. And my
understanding is that, with the herbs that he brought back with him, they administered—
made tea out of the herbs, and told my mother to try and get me to drink it. And she said,
“Well, she can’t swallow.” And he says, “It’s all right. Don’t worry about it. What her
stomach needs, she’ll swallow it. So don’t worry about it, just give it to her.” And, so she
did the best she could. And evidently, I was able to swallow it. And it was about maybe
three, four hours later, my understanding is that I sat up for the first time in weeks, and
looked around, and I started vomiting. And they said that the poison that I vomited was
like that goopy-doo the women used to wear on their hair. It’s real thick green stuff.
Well, my uncle told me at that time that that’s what I had vomited from my stomach.
From that time, I started getting well, but I had to learn to talk again, learn how to eat,
learn how to walk, and do all those things that I was able to do before. So my life has
been very blessed. I’ve not noticed any weakness in my body. In fact, I’ve been very,
very fortunate that I’ve come all these years and not really being sick or sickly. I’m very
thankful. And I truly have been blessed. But I want to share that with you, because it’s so
important that we as Native people keep our prayers strong, because your old people
from way back—I’m sure you can remember if you would think, and have a feeling—
you can pray. And it is our job as Native people to pray for everything that our Mother
Earth—which we call our Mother Earth is, the earth because, we call her “mother”
because she gives us everything. There’s nothing that we wear, we eat, or drive;
everything we have—our homes, our clothing, everything has come from her. And in this
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way, we should take care of her, pray for her, and not be wasteful with the food she
provides for us, which she is still providing today even though she’s being traumatized
with what we as human are doing to her. We’re tearing her open, not returning anything.
But our Native way is we must always remember: if you’re going to go and harvest, you
must pray first, and get yourself ready. Clean up; clean your body, take a bath. And then
go out with a clean body and a good mind, and take water with you, our precious water,
and offer it to the plant or whatever you’re going to harvest. And pray for it. Thank it for
being there. And just take what you need and leave the rest. Don’t tear up and leave scars.
But as much as you can, just take what you need and leave the rest so others coming
behind you—the animal life, the bird life, whatever—will also have plenty to eat. And in
that way, we’ll always have food to eat, and our water is so precious. We cannot live
without water. And because our water is being contaminated, we all know that, we need
to pray for our water every day. Every morning, we should pray for it. That first cup of
water you take, we should pray, and be thankful, and ask it to bless our bodies. And that
we can have a good, sound body, and a good, sound mind, and a kind heart toward each
and every one. And that only comes by prayer. And we need to take care of what we have
in a good way. And by our prayers, it gives us a good foundation. It will help you to have
a clear mind, and to have good thoughts for everyone. And that’s what our Native people
have taught us from way back when. And we’re not to continue to be negative. We need
to be positive. And yes, there are always hardships to go through, but this is part of life.
And how we go through the hard things is what makes you and I a stronger person, that
we can face the next mountain that we need to climb, or whatever the situation comes in
our lives that we can overcome. We can go through it. But you can’t do it alone: you need
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prayer. You need our Creator to hear and answer your prayer. And you’re never alone.
And that’s a real blessing, to realize that, and to know that. So, I encourage all of our
young people, and grandpas and grandmas, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, all people:
start praying. Pick up your prayers. And for our young people, our Native young people,
learn your language. Because this is our culture. This is our foundation. And it’s only in
speaking our language that things become very clear to you, and you have a deeper
understanding than just speaking English—at least, that’s what I’ve found in my life. And
I didn’t know how to speak English when I was a young girl. I was not taught it, because
my mother went to a boarding school. And the trauma she went through, she didn’t want
me to go through that, and to suffer as she did, because when she spoke her language she
was abused in all the ways that you can think of and imagine. But she never talked about
it. I never realized what went on in the boarding schools, and why some of our old people
never talked about it. But I learned about what happened in the boarding school when I
went to work for the school district. I used to attend the National Indian Education
Conference. And back in Minnesota, I remember an elder man got up, and he was talking
about what he went through in a boarding school at Carlisle. And this elderly Native man
just stood and cried, because he could remember all the horrible things that happened to
him. And then, it came home to me: that’s why my mother would not let me go to a
boarding school. She was very adamant: “No, you’re not going. You’re staying in a
public school.” And little did I know what she had to go through—and all our old people.
And that’s why many of our young people today do not speak our language, because of
the shame that our older people have to carry in their hearts and in their lives. And I
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believe that’s about all I have to say. But I encourage you to live your life in a good way,
the best you can.
I would like to share with you—when I worked in the school district, I worked with the
Native students. Our children were really having a hard time, because some of them
didn’t even know who they were. And some were very angry; they didn’t know why. But
you know, it’s things that happen to you as a youngster that you don’t really remember
why you’re angry, but you’re angry. And if someone should ask you, you wouldn’t know
what to tell them. But it’s good to find somebody that you can trust and tell them what is
bothering you. Because there is no person that’s in this world that’s perfect. We all make
mistakes. But hopefully, we learn our mistakes. And when we do wrong—own up to it.
Own up to what you did, what I did. Because that’s part of your healing, is to say, “Yes, I
did that, and I’m so sorry.” And be sorry for it, if that’s how you feel. But you need to
find someone—I would say to our young people—find someone you can trust, someone
you can talk to. And have them listen to you. And you know, like I say, there’s nothing
that you have done, or has been done to you, that hasn’t happened to someone else. And
so we’re all in the same boat. We all have come from our mothers and fathers, and some
of us have been abandoned by our loved ones; but, you know, find someone that will
care, and take care of you, and help you along your way. Sometimes, you have to search
and look for that one person. Sometimes, it just doesn’t happen. But other times, if you’re
willing to listen, you’ll find somebody that wants to really help you along your life path,
and that will help you to get a good start. I know when I was working with the young
people at Elko High School, I had a young Native girl that came from a reservation, a
large reservation. And she seemed a little timid, but she just seemed so eager to want to
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learn. And I encouraged her at that time to continue to—and I asked her what she wanted
to be, and at that time, she wanted to be an English teacher. I said, “Well, good for you!
You can do it!” And that young lady went on, and she became even a superintendent of
schools. And she was Native. She is Native. And so, you know, nothing should stand in
your way of success. What is success to you? Success isn’t something that means the
same thing to all of us. It’s what you like to do, and what you can make a living at, and be
happy in your own self, what you’re doing. That’s your success. All our stories are
different. But in your own right, you become successful for you. Don’t do it for someone
else. What is it that makes you happy? This is your life. This is your walk. And you live it
in a good way, and it’ll help you to be healthy and strong, and if you work hard as a
young person now? Get your education, go on and pursue an education. We need that.
But don’t forget where you came from. Don’t forget. If you’re Native, don’t forget that’s
who you are. And if you can have a chance to talk to the old people—your grandpa, your
grandma, or whoever is available; your aunt, your uncle. Go to an older person and talk
to them. Ask them about your lineage, so you will know. Because that is your foundation.
Don’t forget it, because it’s so vitally important for all of us to know who we are. And
one thing I’d like to say to you, I’d encourage you, don’t try to be somebody else. Don’t
try to be somebody that you’re not. Because we all have—Native people have come from
a strong line of people, but yet we’ve been told so many times, and our older people—our
mothers, our fathers, our grandfathers, grandmothers—have been told that they’re stupid
and savages. But in your own heart, you know that you’re not that. So don’t believe what
people tell you, but search your own heart, search your own life, and pursue your own
happiness, whatever that is. What makes you happy? What makes you laugh? And you
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know, it’s a good thing to laugh. That’s what helps us to lift ourselves up. And sometimes
it’s hard to laugh when you’re all by yourself and things are not going right. But you
know what? There’s always those little things you can look for in life to make you feel
better about yourself. The other day—I have to share this with you, talking about
laughter—I was smelling the flowers in the grocery store. And they were roses, and I
came across these beautiful yellow roses, which happen to be my favorite. And I stooped
over, and I was smelling it. It smelt so fragrant, I was tempted to buy it, and I thought,
“No, I don’t think I can afford it, no, I don’t think so.” But I just kept that fragrance with
me, and I was thinking about it, and I went on. And then I came across—as I was going
to check out, I came across some more flowers they had in another area. And I stooped
over, and I was smelling the flowers, and a woman came up behind me, and she said,
“Oh, you’re smelling the roses!” But she said it with such laughter and glee. And she
says, “May I smell them, too?” And I looked at her—I was so surprised—and I said,
“Well, of course you can!” She says, “Well, this one don’t have much fragrance.” I says,
“You should go smell the yellow roses.” But she had the biggest smile on her face when
she stopped to smell the roses. And that’s what we need to do. We need to look for little
things that make you happy. And it’s okay. You’ll always find somebody that will laugh
with you. But sometimes it’s hard to find somebody that will cry with you. But it
happens. So I’d like to encourage you—all of you, whoever hears this, or sees this tape—
to be encouraged in your own heart, because you’re worthy of being happy, and be at
peace with your own self. And sometimes, that’s hard to find, when we have this dark,
black cloud hanging over us. But there is a way to reach out and get rid of that black
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cloud. And just, what I’d like to say to you is: keep your prayers strong. Know who you
are, keep your foundation, and pursue your own happiness.
[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
Katherine Blossom
Location
The location of the interview
Elko, NV [Blossom Residence]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/470
Original Format
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DVD, MP4, and AVI Format
Duration
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00:23:05
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
Katherine Blossom - Oral History (08/28/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History interview with Katherine Blossom, Western Shoshone from Fallon, NV, on 08/28/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Katherine Blossom was born in Shurz, Nevada and was part of the <em>Dubadiccada </em>(Pine-nut eaters) Tribe from the Reese River area. She tells us about going to school in Fallon and then UNR, and also how she helped Corbin Harney at <em>Puhambaa </em>(healing water). She also speaks of her time with the Elko County School District where she retired from, and a story of a girl who she helped to achieve her dreams. She also gives us insight into her mother’s time at the Stewart Indian School, as well as, an instance of her getting sick and being helped with traditional ceremonies and medicine. She then goes on to give advice to the younger generations on ways they should carry themselves in life.</p>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 029B
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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08/28/2014 [28 August 2014]; 2014 August 28
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Scott A. Gavorsky [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/327
Format
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DVD, AVI Format, and mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Community
Crossroads
Elko Country School District
Fallon
GBIA
Puha baa
Reese River
Shoshone
Stewart Indian School
Story
traditional medicines