1
10
2
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/dce7b9a523cee33bb759484f81ba2d2c.jpg
41bb2d55d06e6fbe935bdd07b5fd42a3
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/03d093eb7d9d2699409e60ba3cc01c37.pdf
83e1fd9398700c0aa3a9ba7a47600d39
PDF Text
Text
Nevada
Penoli
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
006
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
April
26,
2006
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 006
Interviewee: Nevada Penoli
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: April 26, 2006
P:
My name is Nevada P. Penoli, and I have been here for 74 years. And I was born here,
and I’m raised here, and probably I’ll die here. And I’ll just give you a small story,
because sometime I like to talk too long. And I think I’ll just talk about getting ready to
go pinenutting. That’s interesting part. Continue?
C:
Uh-huh.
P:
Does that sound all right? Okay. First of all, when we get ready, Grandmother would get
everything, tell us, “All right, time to get ready, go pinenutting. Who wants to go?” So
everybody wants to go. So we start getting our cans—five-gallon cans to put our water
in—and small buckets to put our pinenuts in when we start gathering. And she would get
her a long pole to shake down the pinenuts, pine trees, and then she would make a hook
to put on the end. And then she’d get our boxes for our clothes, and our groceries, and a
heavy cast-iron cooking pots, and coffee pots, and everything would just go in there, put
on the wagon, and get the horses ready to take us up there onto the mountains. The
mountains were not very far away from us. Maybe about four or five miles, and there’s
pinenuts there. And we gather them as much as you want to. But we just want to go
gather a large amount, and once we get up there, we’re going to start finding a place to
camp. And every one of the people that’s going up, young and old, they know what to do.
And of course, the children like to run and play and look the area over to see what they
can play with. But then they had to come back in and start work. The mens, they start
putting up the tents, and find a good place to put their tents and sleeping blankets and
stuff. And then, the part that had to be dug for the main part of the pinenuts, because
there’d be large amount of pinenuts going into that big hole, after the fire is started in
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
2
there. Well, then we all settled down for a supper. The womens, they would all prepare
the meals, and gather everythings up, and then the mens would go gather some wood, so
that we could be ready for the next day. My grandmother sure liked to make the Indian
bread, what we call the ash bread. She always had to make one big ash bread to go with
our meal. And usually it’s deer meat stew, and everybody likes that. Then the big pot of
coffee on the fire. And they don’t have the, I don’t know what you call it, but it’s the
thing that you hang over the fire so the water would boil, and the coffee would boil, and
everything would be just perfect. Many times, people would come back in, or have cup of
coffee, and sit there long into the night and tell stories. Sometime it was grown-up stories,
and sometimes short stories of different animals, how they acted. Sometimes they would
hear laughter, because we would have to go to bed early. And sometimes there would be
jokes of all sorts. So then, after, they’re talking about we’re going to do it tomorrow,
Grandma say, “Oh, shut up, you guys! Go to sleep.” But we’d all laugh and do what we
were going to do, and my Grandma and the other ladies, they’d talk to each other what
they’re going to do. And they had their bandannas to put over their heads, to go out to
look at the trees, because the pinenuts usually falling on their heads, and the pine, um—
it’s sticky. Yeah, pitch, on it, and then land in their hair and be sticky. And so that’s why
they wore bandannas. And then they had gloves to wear for their hands, because their
hands would be sticky and everything. So we’d all get up and have breakfast. And they
would, the men would all go out with their poles, and they had long willow poles. And
look for the pine trees that had nice, good-looking pinenuts, pinecones on them. Then
they’d knock them down, and the womens, they get their baskets and pick up the sticky
pinenut cones and put it in the bucket. And when they fill up with that, they take it back
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
3
to the campground, and that guy there would be ready to throw it in when we get enough.
And then, they’d set fire in that pit. It’s just like a barbecue pit. And then, when they get
enough in that pit, then they would cover it up with fire, and then they’d put some dirt
over it, and they’d let it steam. So then, after that, people would sit around that day and
talk, and have their lunch. And then they’d wait until the, they know just about what time
it would be when the pine nuts would be ready, and the pitch. And when they do it, they
always took one out as they took a shovel and got one out of there, and they said, “Here,
you try it!” So then, they said, “Okay.” They took the pinecone and turn it, put it in their
hands—with their gloves on, because it was hot—and they twisted it different directions.
And then when it was easy to twist, and they said, “It’s ready!” So then they all start
getting shovel, and all start digging up the pinecones in the pit. And then it would be hot.
And then, after a while, they would cool off, and then they would, the womens, they
would gather a spot where they’re going to sit, and they would have their pinecones in
front of them. And they start twisting the pinecones in order to get the nuts out of there.
And then, they’d use their thumbs and their fingers to start digging the pinenuts out of
there, and shedding the nuts so they get them out of the cones. Then, they would put it in
the buckets, and throw the pine cones, the old pine cones away, and then they’ll be doing
that all afternoon until it’s all done. And then, they would, the mens, they would go out
for some more trees to get some more pine cones off. And that goes on for until we get
maybe two, three bags of pinenuts, cones that had been shelled. And then, they would go
out, take some raw pinenuts, and put them in a gunnysack, and take them home. For their
own use. And the ones they already cooked in the barbecue pit would be cooked, and that
one needs to be selling. Sell it to the people outside. And that’s how that was done with
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
4
the pinecones. But the gathering of all the things to work with is very tedious, because
they’d have to go up with the proper wood to use for the poles, and the hooks on the top
of the poles, and the canvas to put under the trees after they start knocking them down.
And the children, they liked to pick up the pine cones, and each throw it at each other.
But then, they would be all sticky with pitch. But then—they all had their old clothes on,
but other than that, that’s where the pinenut story ends, there.
Many a times, when I’m sitting by myself, I remember the times my mother would talk
about old days like wagons, horses, and bridles, and reins, and everything getting all—
horses hooked up to the wagons, so that when they drove, traveling, that’s all they would
have is the wagon. Because they never had no cars, or anything to use to go traveling.
The horses was the main thing for the Indian peoples to have in them days. So that
would’ve been in the 1860s, somewhere in there. And so, then she would watch the TV
shows that had Lonesome Dove on it, and the chuck wagon was main thing that caught
her eye. She says, “That’s just the way we used to do it, when we got ready to go
somewhere!” Wagons and the food, it all goes together. And everybody knew what to do.
Nobody ever got on the wagon without knowing to take care of something. Horses had to
be taken care of, and sometime they’d have a chicken. They would take that along, too.
Because of the eggs they’d have to have. And then Gram, she would gather up her
children, and put them all in the wagon, where they would sit and have their blankets
there, because sometimes they’d drop off to sleep. Mom would do the same. She would
be the oldest member of the family besides her sister, and they would know what to do to
tend to the children, and all those things that girls do. No one had time to play or
anything. So that every hand on that wagon had a job to do. There never was an idle hand
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
5
on there. And lot of times, Mom would tell us, “If you only was there when I was a kid,
you would probably just sit down and cry, because that time was real hard. We didn’t
have nothing to do our work for us. And you guys got it real easy!” And the children
nowadays, if they were always doing their work with their grandparents, and their
mothers and dads, they would know how to handle themselves, and respect their own
lives as we had did then. So, on our wagon trip down through the countrysides, when our
horses was get tired, we’d stop and rest ‘em. We’d always find a spot to be cool, by some
willow trees or by water. And then, when the horses got rested, then we’ll start again. But
most of the time, we keep going, keep going, ‘til we found a place where we could camp.
And that would be a place with some trees. And then Grandfather, he would get his gun,
and then go out and get some rabbits, or a deer, or maybe a bird. Some kind of sagehen, I
think he would get. But other than that, that’s all he would get. Bring it in, and then the
womans, they would prepare the meat by scraping the deer hide, and taking care of the
hide, and the meat. And that is another story. And so then—I won’t go into that, because
it’d be another long story. And after everything was prepared for, the meat was prepared,
then Gram would take the meat and put it over the fire, and we’d have fresh meat over
the fire. And everybody would really like that. And then she’d have her ash bread, and
she’d give us all a piece of ash bread. Sometime we’d want more, but then she’d say,
“No, if I do that, then we won’t have enough for breakfast! Oh, well, go ahead. I’ll fix
some more tomorrow.” So then we had some more bread to eat, and we all went to bed
with our tummies full. I told mom that time, “Did you know you had a very good
childhood? Because you was, all you did was just go around. There was no fences, no
gates to open, and nothing to—nobody said, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that.’ You just
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
6
went.” And she says, “Well, that’s because you guys all knew what to do.” So then, I
just—that’s sad, because I didn’t have that kind of childhood. And that’s all I’m going to
say.
C:
Uh-huh. So what parts of the country did you guys travel?
P:
They traveled from O’Neill, O’Neill down this way, along the Snake River, down to
Jackpot, and all the way down this way, because there would be fishes in there. And then
they would gather the fishes, and they’d dry them, and prepare them for getting dried up,
and then they’d have dry fish, and then they wouldn’t spoil. And then, down here, about
10 miles, 20 miles out of Wells, there would be the deers. And they’d probably get a
young doe and bring that in, because at that time, if they got a deer, they just didn’t
mutilate it. They just brought it in, took care of the meat and the hide, and dried the meat
like jerky. And everything was fine. And then brought everything in. Nothing was
wasted. Because Mom and Gram, they took care of the meat real good. And Grandfather,
Chief Jones, would have hanging up the deer for them to work with. And then they
would go down into Wells, and then they’d take that down the edge of the Humboldt.
Right up where Ogle’s Ranch is now. They’d be camped right there, where many of the
peoples who was on wagon trains would travel through on horses. They would stop there,
also, and refresh their horses, and go on their way. That was just like a water stop where
the peoples nowadays, they stop at the cafés and places to eat. And that’s why I build that
gold oval samote [15:50] water over here, is place where the people can rally around and
camp, and enjoy their rest time. They traveled then, they’d either travel south to Ely, and
then west to Elko, and then east to Salt Lake, because that’s the poor travels way.
Highway 48, and Highway 93, both north and south. And east and west.
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
7
C:
How many days did it take to travel, like, to these places?
P:
It would take probably about—a steady drive would be about two, three miles a day.
They would stop and camp, and then they would, to Elko, mom told me it would take two
days just to settle down in the night, and then get up early and go in the morning to Elko.
By the time they got to Elko, it’d be about noon. And from here to Ely, maybe it would
take about three days, three to four days. And then, that’s the only trip they ever took. But
that’s travel by wagon and horses.
C:
How many horses pulled the wagon?
P:
Sometime four, sometime two. If it got light, it would be two. But they always had, Mom
would be the wrangler. She was the, she liked the horses. She always was a horse woman.
And she always took care of the horses. So she had one horse she always had, and she’d
ride it bareback. So, she was quite a lady.
C:
Where did they get their horses from?
P:
Oh, they were from the ranches where they worked. They’d buy it and work for the
ranches. Then they would buy the horses. Or he would, Grandfather would break wild
horses. That’s how they got their horses. Because there were wild horses around here.
C:
So, was there a lot of mustangs in Nevada at that time?
P:
Yeah, down by Currie. That was the area where they had the mustangs. Wild horses in
Butte Valley, Odger’s Ranch and around in there. But you could look there now, there’s
not too many. The horses are all getting down now. At the time, when the horses were
here, people respected them. But now, they’re killing them, and I don’t think that’s right.
The horses have a right to be on earth as much as we do. And that’s all I can say about it.
C:
So did the Indians back then use saddles, or did they ride them bareback, or…?
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
8
P:
They had saddles, and they had—Mom rode on hers bareback. She didn’t like saddles.
And Grandpa, he always had a saddle when he rode broncos. And he had his reins and
everything. Even made his own lariats and rawhide. And his bridles. Many years ago,
when my mother and her mother settled down in a place where they were going to work,
with Grandfather and the rest of the family, usually there’s about three, four hands along
with my grandfather. My mother Ruth, and her mother Gimma, knew just about how they
were going to prepare their tepees. Their tepees and tents. [__inaudible at 19:42__] tepees
are pointed places, and a tent is like a room. And that’s what they used. And then they
would cook outside. And they would live like that all summer, and then, in the
wintertime, when they were getting ready to move out of there, and get ready to move out
to the ranches where they were going to settle and spend the winter, then they’d have to
find a place where they could live. Sometime it’s a shack, or sometime it’s just a lean-to
with willows, a willow bows to hold a canvas over their other, regular tents. And it
wasn’t too easy, either, for them people. And I look around when she tell me that, and she
says, “You know, people are very lucky to have homes like they have now. They can go
in and open their doors, and they have stoves in there. And all we had in our places was a
tub to make our fire in and cook on. And people nowadays really don’t take care of what
they have. I really like my stove. Because I have a cookstove now, and I have that. And
we have that in our tent. But we had to watch our tent, for the roof of the tent, because the
chimney would go through the tent, and sometimes that stove fire would get hot, and
would burn the canvas around the tent. And when that started, our tent would start
leaking, and we would have big holes there, and we’d have to run around looking for a
piece to put in there, which wasn’t very easy. Because we’d be way out there, and, the
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
9
men would have to get an old blanket and put it on the sides. So then, while they were
doing that, we was fixing our place where we were going to eat, and which, we ate on the
floor of the tent because we didn’t have no table. So we’d put our blanket, or our canvas,
down so we could sit there and eat off the floor. But we was always clean people. Some
people would say we weren’t—because we always washed our hands before we ate. And
then, we settled down, get that all down, then we start getting ready for night. And then,
next day, when we’d have to do the same thing all over again. Until the boss, the white
man who Grandpa was going to work for, came and saw the family living like that. He
said, “We’ve got a bunkhouse up there you guys can use.” And boy, my grandma was so
happy, that she’d put everything on the wagon just as it was, never even took care of
whatever. She just threw ‘em all up back of the wagon, hooked up the horse, and away
they went up to that bunkhouse, and unloaded ‘em up. And in there they had a stove, and
a place to put their water. And everything was really nice. They had a table. So, that’s the
way they lived in white man’s place when they went up working in the hay fields. And I
think all them people around had lived that same way. And every man, again, they would
go hunt for deer. Deer, and then they would get their meat. Sometimes, the rancher would
have some beef for them. And usually it’s the ribs, and parts that they wouldn’t use, and
they would give it to the family, and they would make use of it. Make soup and stews.
And which is better, because meat that time, you’d have to eat it right now, but the soup
would last a long time. And they always had a good time, preparing their meals, and their
homes. Once they chinked up the holes in their log cabins, sometime used the logs to
make their homes, and it was done with mud so that they would chink up between the
logs, so the wind wouldn’t come through. And that’s what we liked to do was play with
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
10
mud. So that was the job that children did. Chink up the holes in the walls. And that,
mostly all the children liked to do that. And when I grew up, we didn’t have that. We had,
our homes had walls in. So we didn’t have very much hardship then. But I always think
about mom, how her hardship. And I feel sad for her. I feel sad for all the old people at
that time, had to live like that. Now, I see the people in the overseas, how they’re living.
They just live like we did then. It’s just not fun. So, the children should respect where
they live. Take care of their homes and their families. That’s what I like for all the
youngsters to grow up loving their families, as the kids love their families now. That’s it.
C:
Where did they get the water…?
P:
From the well, and the river. Streams.
C:
And so was the water good for drinking then?
P:
Yeah.
C:
And the streams?
P:
Yeah. Water was good everywhere. ‘Til now; it’s been all contaminated with all these
things floating on the air. And every stream was always running. It was good. Of course,
you always ask Gram when—when we went out to go fishing, she’d taste the water,
because there’s always been a dead cow above it, or a deer or something. A horse died in
the water. And then you’d tell Grandpa or one of the guys to go up and see if there’s any
animal dead up there. Because there’s always, sweetwater, they call it. So when they’d
come back down, they said, “There’s nothing dead up there. It’s clean.” So that’s where
we’d get our water. It was clean.
C:
So what kind of fish was in the streams back then?
P:
Mountain trout.
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
11
C:
Mountain trout?
P:
Uh-huh. I like them. They’re real sweet and delicious. I don’t like the trout from the
lakes. They’re no good. They don’t taste good. Now, I’ll talk about the deer hides. The
deer hides was intended for the wearing items. Pants, shirts, gloves, hats, moccasins.
Nothing was wasted. Nothing. Bones were made into needles. And spoons. And things to
do the stirring the food with, and eating the soups and stuff. Things that—anything that
they could think of. Nothing was wasted. The Indian people always used everything. And
mom and them, whenever they got a deer hide come in, a deer, they take the hides, and
scrape it and stretch it out, first thing. And make sure it doesn’t have too much holes in it.
Because sometime, like a shot, they’d have holes in there. And then sometime there’d be
one big deer, sometime they’re little ones. Sometime they’re bucks, and they’d be heavy
hides to handle, and so then, first thing Gram would do is take the head off and then put
that aside, and then cut the neck off, and strip it down. And then she would take the legs
off, and set the legs aside, because she used that for purposes of her own. I could not say
what it was. It was her special ways of tanning the legs of the deer. And the tail’s also
special thing to handle, women to handle. And I can’t talk about that either. So, they took
the part of the deer, and they’ll make jerky out of it. And then they make stew meat out of
it, and dry it, and make sure that everything is just right. So when that’s all done, then in
the meantime, when that was being done by the younger woman, Grandma’d take her
deer hide out, and get some water in the tub, and put the deer hide in there. And get some
rocks and put on top of it. And that would sit for about three weeks in the water. Tub of
water, and then every day she would go check the fur of the hide that’s in the water
soaking. And she’d turn it, and handle it just right. And then she’d take the fur of the deer
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
12
and pull it. And if it comes off easily, it’s getting close to where she can take it out of the
water and put it over her log, which she’s going to use to scrape the deer hide on. Then,
when the heavy part of the deer hide, by the shoulder, the fur would come off of there,
then it was ready. So then she’d take the—it was a wet job when she took the hide out of
the water, and she put it in that bucket, and she’d take it over there where she had her log,
and stretch it on top of that, take—her scraping knife would be a bone. I think it was a
horse bone, rib. Something. Either a horse rib or a cow rib, to use. And then the shin of
the deer was also an implement for scraping. And it’d be a certain bone. And then she’d
use that. And then she had a knife—a draw knife, she called it—and I’d see her standing
back there, humped over that log and that deer hide, scraping that heavy deer hide, and,
boy! I’d go back there from school, and she’d, “Come here,” she says. “Give me some
water.” And just, I’d go there and give her some water, and I says, “What are you
doing?” She goes, “Scraping the deer hide.” I said, “Pretty soon we’ll get some money
and buy some potatoes.” So then, we’re so happy because money was coming. So, one
time, one day when I came back from school, I went back in where she was, and
somehow that hide didn’t smell good. And I said, “Pew, what is that? What are you
doing?” She said, “It’s a deer hide. It got a little wild for me, and I’ve got to hurry and get
it done.” So I kept saying, “Pew!” to it. And she says, “Well, pretty soon you won’t say
‘pew,’ because we’ll have some money and we’ll buy some good stuff.” So then she said,
“Help me move that deer hide around.” And so then, so I grab ahold of one leg, pry its
leg and move it around. And it was heavy! And I don’t know how she ever managed to
use that big deer hide, moving around on that pole. So then, because she was a 5-foot-4
woman, and she wasn’t too strong, didn’t look too strong, but she was strong. And she
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
13
moved herself around really good, and got her deer hide working right again. So then one
time, I tried to use a draw knife on it, and she told me, “Leave it alone! You’re going to
put a hole in it.” So then, that’s the time that I never bothered the deer hide. And I grew
up not knowing how to scrape. But I know how to sew the deer hides together. Because
she showed me how to do that. And when she was ready to take the hide off, I helped her
take it off, and the same with Mom. She always, I always helped them both. But I was a
little girl at that time, too. But I was always there. I knew just about what to do for them.
And then, come tanning, same thing. I helped them get some wood, and you had to have
certain wood to smoke them. Have a certain place to put the deer hide to hang up after
it’s been dried. Because it’s lot of work to get those deer hides to where they could be
pliable to work with. Because I missed one spot, one item, is from the scraping to the
stretching of the deer hide, to make it soft and pliable, they had to work with it. They had
to put brains on there, smear the brains on the underside, and on the top side, in order to
soften it up. And that was a job, too. If you didn’t have the right kinds of brains, it
wouldn’t soften. It’d take long time to soften. So, Grandma’d always hurry and do that,
and stretch it up on the wall, leave it up there and let it dry that way. Or put it on the
clothesline. And if the dogs don’t get it, she was fine. But if the dogs come around and
tear it down, she has a fit. But you have to watch it all the time. So then, when that’s all
done, then she’d soak it again. I don’t know how many times she soaked that deer hide in
water in order to get it all softened. And she’d put it on a tree stump, and tighten it up
then. Wring it out there, and let it stand on that, wring it out on that post until it’s dry.
And then she’d shake it off, and then she’d work it. Stretch it this way and that way. It
was a time to do that. And I asked her, I said, “Don’t you ever get tired of doing that?”
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
14
She said, “I’ve got muscles! I don’t get tired.” But she did have muscles. So, then when
she got all through doing that, then the smoking started. Now, it was vital to do that. The
two ladies would take care of the smoking. They’d have to have just the right color, and
use the right kind of bark in order to smoke the hide to make it smell good. The
sagebrush is strong smoke. And cedar is good smoke. The fire would make the cedar
smoke, smell good. And so that they would use that. But then, you leave it in too long,
it’s just too dark. And Grandma’d always say, “Go check it! Go check it!” So I’d go over
there and peek at it, where she has her hole. We’d have to put a cloth back in that hole.
So then I told her, “Okay, it’s yellow.” So then she’d go over there, and pull the bucket
out, and take the hide off that’s hanging there, and turn it inside-out, and it was just right.
So the hide turned tanned, that’s how they tanned their hide. It used to be a very hard,
tedious job. But I wouldn’t want to do that. I can’t do it now. But it was enjoyable to
watch them ladies do that. Which I know I’ll miss as time goes on. And I hope
somewhere along the line that somebody will pick it up. They get the gloves ready to
sew. And then they have a pattern. A woman’s pattern, and a man’s pattern, they’re all
different sizes. She know the size of a man. Says six, size six, seven, eight, and she’d
make a—a six is a small one, and a seven is a medium, and a eight is a large. And then
the buckaroos, they come around for their gloves to her, because they already ordered
them, and so then, when she’d get ‘em all ready, she’d send the kids out, tell them that
their gloves were ready. So, as time went on, she’d do that every day. And she’d sit there,
afternoon until night. And all she had then was an oil lamp. And they’d have a whetstone
to sharpen their needles with, and a buckskin thread to use that would be a heavy number
3 thread. And then she’d run out of that, and then she would go get some more, and add
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
15
wax, beeswax. She’d have to go find her own beeswax. And sometimes she’d get bit by
the bees. That was quite a hard job for those ladies. And I’m sad for them, and I’m proud
of them, because they knew what they were doing, and how to do it, and how to get
things ready for everybody. And I don’t think none of the womens could do that
nowadays. Because everything’s prepared for them. And I hope somebody picks it up
from here on. Like I said, I hope some, or a lot of the ladies will pick up the sewing of the
buckskin, because it is very tedious job, and you poke your fingers, and then you run out
of thread, and run out of glove wax, and needles. You break many needles. But it’ll be
four-pointed needles to work with those buckskins, to push the needles through the
buckskin. And a good sharp scissor, and a good steady hands, and good eyes, and
uninterrupted work. And then, what was that?
C:
How much did they sell it for?
P:
Oh, the buckskin, the gloves—you either had to have the working gloves, they would be
heavy buckskin. That’d be the buckskin that would be heavy, in order to work on the
field where they had to fix the fences. And they either had a short gauntlet for the
working gloves, and for the long gauntlets, they had that for dress-up. And the long
gauntlets used to have beadwork done. And fringes on there. And Grandma liked to fix
the fringes and beadwork on them. She was an avid beadworker also, as well as my mom
was. And that’s all they ever did was just beadwork, all, from noon ‘til night. And sit
there, and sit there, sit there… “When you guys going to bed?” somebody would say.
“When I get this rose done.” “When I get this leaf done.” And always something like
that. And I know somewhere along the line that there are still beaders out there, and
buckskin workers, and womens, they’re out there doing buckskin scraping. And I hope
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
16
that they would teach their youngsters to do it right now, before it’s too late to even teach
them. Like they done to me. They was always chasing me away when they were making
deer hide, scraping the deer hides, because they thought maybe I might put holes in it. So
I never did actually learn how to scrape deer hides. But I watched it. Then I beaded with
them. But the gloves, at that time, they sold for ten, nine dollars. And then the cowboys
and the buckaroos, they’d come and look at it. And always would look at the thumb part,
because that’s where most of the heavy part of the work of the glove is done, by the
thumb. And so they’d look at that, and they says, “Good, that’s what we wanted!
Something like that so it won’t split open.” So they asked my grandma, “How do you do
that, Gimma? You know, you’re the best buckskin glove makers that I’ve ever had.” And
they’d always come back to her, every year. Before the seasons of gathering the cattles
in. That was it for her. Mom was the same.
I have a grandson who was five years old when he started powwowing. And he danced.
And his name was José E. Salazar. E is for Edward. And I put him in the, made a
costume for him for the parade. We always had parades here in Wells, Nevada. And
every summer, I’d make a float. We’d go out and make a float, and put all the kids on
there. All native children. We’d make costumes for them, and dress them up with feathers
and everything. Faces and whatever. So then, grandson, he’d want to learn how to bead,
and to work with, sew the buckskin. So my mother and I, and Ruth Jones and me, would
sit there and show him the needle, and how to thread and everything. And the beads. And
we told him, “It’s going to be hard! It’s going to be hard on your eyes!” So he’s 26 years
old now, and he’s glad that he had learned how to bead, and work with feathers, and
respect the feathers. And people are proud that he had learned how to do his dances. He’s
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
17
a traditional dancer. But right now he’s working for the white man world. And he doesn’t
[__inaudible at 42:32__] powwowing. But when he does, he goes out. But he’s working
now to get his own regalia ready. And when he does that, when he gets it finished, he’ll
go out and dance again. Which I’m proud to say that he was a good little dancer, from
five years old up to twenty years old or so. And he bead his own beadwork on his
headdress, and his roaches. I got him a roach, and it was for a little boy. He said,
“Grandma, that’s too little for me! We got to get a bigger one.” And his, I call them
“tailfeathers.” He said, “No, they have word for that!” So I just call ‘em tailfeathers, the
big old plumes and feathers behind him. And he said, he start laughing at me. And so
then I said, “Okay. I won’t say ‘tailfeathers’ anymore.” Mom made his moccasins. She
made several moccasins for him. He outgrew ‘em, because his foot got long. And then,
now… [Crying] now she’s gone. So then I’ll have to do it. But I’m proud that I had
taught him all these things. Because my mom doesn’t no more.
C:
Yeah, tell us how you got your name, Nevada, and how that came about.
P:
Many years ago, when I was born, it was in December, and my grandmother and my
mother both worked for a family that was known as Agee-Smith family here. They were
quite rich people, I’d say, because they had cattle and everything. And they lived up in
the Ovin Hill area. That’s where they originated. That’s where my mom and my
grandmother used to go up there and work up there in the field, in the hay field with my
grandpa. So, in December, in the [19]30s, my mom was expecting me, and I was born the
15th of December. And so, when they got back down here, they made a moon house, her
and my grandma, because my mom couldn’t go in the main house, because there was
mens in there. And boys. You can’t go take the womens in there like that. As most of the
�GBIA
006;
Penoli;
Page
18
older people know, that there’s a taboo for the women to go in the main house when
there’s mens in there. So, my mom and I, we lived in this little house, what people call
“moon house.” And my grandma fixes, prepared a place for her to sleep, and cook, and
have water and stuff. Eat. And have me in there. So this one night, mom was getting
ready to give birth, and I was born there in that little tiny shack behind, right where I’m
living now. Where my mom was living. So it’s a time of naming the baby—me—Gram
had went to work that day for this lady’s daughter. And so, this lady’s daughter told her,
“What are you going to name the baby? Did you name it yet?” And she said, “No.” And
her mother, Mrs. Agee was standing there, she says, “Why don’t you name her Nevada,
after my daughter, Nevada Smith?” Nevada Agee, and then as time went on, she became
Smith. So then, I became Nevada at the time. So the white lady gave me the name of
Nevada, after her daughter. And so I’ve been Nevada ever since. And my last name was
Kamassee. But, my dad came from Idaho. So, every time I give my name to people—
they ask, “What is your name?” I said, “What state are you in?” As time went on I said
that. And they stand there thinking, and they says, “Nevada.” I says, “That’s my name.”
And then they start laughing, says, “Really?” I said, “Yeah.” “You’re just kidding me.” I
said, “Nope. That’s what my name is: Nevada Ellen Kamassee.” And they say, “Oh,
how original! That’s so authentic, that’s such a beautiful name.” I said, “I know it is! It’s
a beautiful state, too.” So that’s how I got my name, from another lady was named
Nevada by her mother, Tressa Agee. It’s been just like family name. I been with this
family forever, ever since I was born. And that’s my name: Nevada.
C:
Huh. That’s good, Nevada.
[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
Nevada Penoli
Location
The location of the interview
Wells, NV [Penoli residence]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/447
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD; VOB format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:48:28
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
Nevada Penoli - Oral History (04/26/2006)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History Interview with Nevada Penoli, Western Shoshone from Well, NV, on 04/26/2006
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Nevada Penoli was born in Wells, Nevada, and has lived there for 74 years. Nevada spoke about growing up in the area pine-nutting with her Grandmother and the rest of her family. She illustrates how her family lived back when she was a young girl. She also talks about how she use to travel around in wagons drawn by horses, and how they would camp along the way when traveling to distant locations. Nevada also speaks about how her Grandfather would go hunting and how the women in the family would take care of the deer, rabbit, or birds that were gathered. She tells us about her grandfather, grandmother, and mother and their experience with ranching.</p>
Video Pending <br /> <a title="Nevada Penoli Oral History Transcript" href="/omeka/files/original/03d093eb7d9d2699409e60ba3cc01c37.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Nevada Penoli Oral History Transcript [pdf file]</a>
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 006
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
04/26/2006 [26 April 2006]; 2006 April 26
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/313
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
DVD; VOB Format
Language
A language of the resource
English
Community
Crossroads
gathering
GBIA
heritage
hunting
ranching
Shoshone
Story
Wells
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/38c883d7582a8de9827680290829c6c4.jpg
3af2b9987333d3451bec78c708761e7f
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/6bd983c4325683f97a06eaa1cd371fca.pdf
57bf4dad534633b7f9d5535c65516dc5
PDF Text
Text
Gracie
Begay
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
040
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
June
27,
2014
Wells,
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 040
Interviewee: Gracie Begay
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: June 27, 2014
B:
My name is Gracie Begay. I’m a Western Shoshone Te-Moak member, and I’m from
Wells, Nevada. I am now seventy-eight years old. Great-great grandfather was named
Captain Joe Gilbert, and was given the name by the soldiers when the soldiers removed
our descendants from the great flood, which I presume was the great Reese River flood. I
do not know the date. The tribe was then moved to Austin, Nevada, where they made
their home. Up until we were all moved to Battle Mountain, Nevada, when I was about
three years old, I had one brother and one sister. My brother and one sister, that was part
of families, were also born in Austin. There was four cousin sisters that was part of the
family of Joe Gilbert. This was told to me by Dan Blossom. The families were moved to
the land where the new cemetery now stands in Battle Mountain, and they were moved
from the Battle Mountain cemetery to the Battle Mountain Indian Colony in 1937, where
it is today. I do not know the date. In my lifetime, I knew four Indian ladies that were into
their hundred years old. They were Mary Horton, Annie Dusang, Aggie Jackson, and my
great-grandma, Edie Gilbert. We all grew up together in Battle Mountain with Dan
Blossom and cousin Clara Woodson, who is now deceased. The video that you did on me
and Clara some time ago should tell some of the rest of the story that I can’t. I want to
thank you for all your work you’ve done, Norman. We need somebody like you. This is a
picture of the great-great-grandfather, Captain Joe Gilbert. It was taken in Austin,
Nevada. And the clothes that he’s wearing was given to him by the soldiers when they
loaded up our ancestors in wagons and moved them to Austin, Nevada. He was at that
time twenty-nine years old, and the soldiers named him Captain Joe Gilbert. And he had
a goiter on his neck. He wore a bandanna. And my mom says that’s what killed him, was
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
2
he choked to death, because they didn’t have no doctors that time. But he was twentynine years old when this was taken. I’ve had this picture in my closet for years, and I
thought I’d take it out for you to see, so maybe if you can, maybe put it in the museum—
if we ever get our museum. Or the Elko one. And let our descendants know that I have it.
I grew up in Battle Mountain. We moved there, I think I must have been three years old.
And my dad worked at the Hilltop Mine, so they moved us to little Ricksie station, over
there in Argenta. They had seven cabins there, and they had a schoolhouse. We went to
school there in that little cabin, when I was about maybe four, and Margie was maybe
seven, and Ed—Edward, my oldest brother, must’ve been about ten. We went to school
there, and then the Ricksie station, there used to be a station there, a gas station, right on
the top of Emigrant Pass. That was run by Roy Premaux. It’s spelled P-R-E-M-A-U-X.
Okay, at that time, there was several Indian families living there. There was my greatuncle Alec Gilbert, his daughter Agnes Gilbert and her two daughters; and there was my
great-aunt, Inez Leach and Jimmy Leach were there, living there; and then there was Tom
and Annie Premo, P-R-E-M-O. They were also there. So I remember stopping there to
visit them when we was on our way to Elko, and I was told at one time that that was
Indian land there. However, I don’t have the proof of that. But there were Indian people
living there. Our ancestors were living right there at the Premaux station. And so, that’s
my earliest childhood. And then at that time, the Bradys were moved from Austin of
course this way, they were in Beowawe. That was Gladys Brady and all them. I went to
school with Piffero—what’s his name, plays the piano? Lita’s husband. Lita Stone’s
husband. He played the piano that time. Then there was Leonard Johnny Jr., and they
went to school with us also at Ricksie’s from Beowawe, where they originated from. I’ve
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
3
got pictures in there that I will dig up later on. But there’s lot of white kids were at school
there, too, with us. Now, there’s nothing there but the mining things that they have, that
that was all where the schools used to be. Then the Premaux station burnt down. Burnt to
the ground, and that’s when the Premos moved to Elko. But I was going to say that Billy
Joaquin from Battle Mountain and Tom Premo were the ones that took the 1940 Census
of us in Battle Mountain. And they were—I remember that. Then I was seven years old
when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1942. I was in bed with the mumps, and my
dad came in with a package of my first low shoes and my first anklets, to go to school.
And I remember that they announced on the radio that the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. So that’s when they rationed the sugar, the flour, the tires, the gasoline. I don’t
know what else—oh, shoes. Leather. And then we had the, had to be on food stamps.
They had little stamps that we had to go by for rationing. They rationed all our stuff at
that time. So then, from there on, we lived in Battle Mountain, went to high school there,
and we moved to South Fork in 1951. And I never got to finish high school. I went to my
junior year and we moved, so I didn’t get to graduate. My brothers went to school in
South Fork, but then they had to move into town to finish their grade school, because
they didn’t have high school in South Fork. So I lived there until I was twenty-one years
old, and then my dad and I, we moved to Elko. And from there, I worked at the Elko
hospital for thirteen years in the laundry. I knew a lot of people there. Then I met my
husband John. We got married in 1960, and we had our children. Now we have our—I
lost three, and I’ve got four left. And there’re about ten grandchildren, about thirteen or
fourteen great-grandchildren that’s living today. And which I’m very proud of, because I
can grow up with them—they can grow up and know me, and I’m going to try to do a
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
4
history for them, for the kids. They’ve been after me for a long time to do that. But I’m
going to continue on doing that at this time, and when I learn to computer better.
[Laughter] And that’s about all. I’ve been on several councils, as you know, through the
years. And now these people, lot of them are gone now, that we worked with, when we
went to Washington, D.C. on a caravan. There’s only few of us left that went there to
Washington, D.C. with the Danns, at the federal court building in Washington, D.C. on
their land claims. And we made two trips to Washington, D.C. with the Danns. We got
there in Washington, D.C. at night, and the people put us up in one of these old churches,
basements. And so we were in there, and Virginia Sanchez’s family was with us: Joe, and
what’s her name? Irene? Her mother’s name? Anyway, they started cleaning the place
and the cockroaches started jumping up out of the toasters and everything, you know?
And boy, by the time the elders got that place cleaned up, there was no sign of any
cockroaches! So we all slept there, and the next day, we went out to the federal
courthouse. We were all standing outside, got our pictures taken and everything. And we
went into the courthouse, and we’re all sitting down in there—everybody said prayers
outside first. There’s Eunice Silva, and Mae Hicks and all them were praying outside.
We went into the courtroom, and the seven Supreme Court judges were sitting up there.
So then, our attorney, who was Tom Luebben, got up and told about our history. And the
briefs were about that thick that he had in his hand, and he had given one to each of the
Supreme Court judges. They hadn’t even looked at it. All they said, well then—they
talked and took our testimony, and then we went for lunch, and then we came back in
again. We weren’t there very long. The justices came back in, and told us, told—John
O’Connell. Said “John O’Connell,” he said, “Mr. O’Connell, we can’t do nothing for you
�GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
5
here, because you Indians took your money, and you have been paid your claims money.
Case closed.” And they got up and walked out! That was the end of our, the Dann story
for the Supreme Court. And then we traveled back. We had a good time with our elders,
and sang, and did everything, you know. I mean, it was just a happy occasion from what
it is today, our people. You know, I can’t believe that people are so hateful. Our own
people, our own nanewes. Young man standing behind, he’s part of us. You, too! And
Dan Blossom. Dan is really good about this history. He’s the one that told me about the
four cousin-sisters, which all, we are all descendants from. That were scattered, you
know? But I would like to know, and have the people, our ancestors, know what’s going
on. My grandma has two surviving nieces that lives in Elko, it’s Theresa Lespade and
Ethel Gallardo. That’s the only two that’s left. The two nieces that she had in Fort Hall
was Edna Hernandez and Lyda Kniffen. So, there’s relatives up there, too, in Fort Hall,
that’s part of us here. Also, Jay Joe and Jeanette Joe. Their mother, Elsie Joe, was part of
our family, too. So there’s relations, just scattered. But I want them to know where we
came from. And this is only way I can do it, is starting from this photograph here. And I
can keep it, or I was going to ask you—if we ever get our museum, or if you could put it
in your archives—
[Break in recording at 14:07]
C:
Can you elaborate on your sisters and brothers?
B:
Oh, yeah. My brother Edward is still living in South Fork, he’s eighty-three years old.
His name is Edward G. McDade. And my sister Marjorie Harney was married to Corbin
Harney for forty-four years when she passed away. And she, a lot of them remember her
in Owyhee. At her funeral, Bill what’s-his-name? Thacker. Told how Margie’s garden
�GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
6
was so beautiful, that she was self-educated. She had the best strawberries you ever
wanted to see! He said that she used to call us when we were riding by on our horses,
“Come have some strawberries,” she’d say, “you guys!” And they’d get off their horses
and go test the strawberries. They said she had a green thumb. She had a beautiful
garden. They lived in Owyhee for quite some time, and then they moved to Battle
Mountain. From there, the history of Corbin as we know him, as our spiritual leader,
went on through the years. And she stood beside him, and never interfered with what he’s
doing. She just did the cooking, set up the camps and stuff, and was quiet. And so, that
was her. And my grandma, of course, died at a hundred and four years old.
C:
Who was your grandma?
B:
Edie Gilbert. And she’s from Battle Mountain. And my mom was Kristi McDade, and
she passed away also, 1974. And the rest of the relatives are all my nieces and nephews,
my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren, and my four brothers. Joe McDade, who is
the superintendent of the BIA at Elko; Ernie McDade, he drives the cattle trucks from
Gooding, Idaho; and Marv, Marv McDade, he’s still driving the school bus in Elko
County. So he hasn’t retired from—and that’s about, that’s all of our family. Immediate
family.
[Break in recording at 16:37]
B:
When the Elko Colony, old Elko Colony was built, I think in 1932, there was a white
building there that’s still standing by the Peace Park. It used to house the Superintendent
of Indian Affairs agency, and the public health nurse. It belonged to the Elko Colony.
That’s where we used to go for our health needs. From there on, we had the doctors come
from Owyhee and held clinics over where is now the Diabetes Center, where they used to
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
7
hold clinics there for coming from Owyhee. At that time, I was a CHR, a Community
Health Representative, and I was hired from the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada at that
time. I started transporting patients, and I worked from here and Wells. And I, after the
ITCN program went out, Te-Moak took it over. Te-Moak Tribe. And then, Larry Piffero,
he was my boss. And I worked for the tribe for thirteen years here in Wells. We had a
health board at one time that was run by Don Davis and them from Phoenix. And there
was Lillian Garcia, and she was a CHR. She was head of the health board. There was
Delores Conklin, she was a CHR with me. And then there was Angie McDade. She was a
CHR also. And Whiterock from Owyhee—Alberta Whiterock from Owyhee. We all four
CHRed together for years. And so, I asked Davis several times, I said, “Where’s our
health board that we had?” He never answers my question, but we need to have this
health board back, because there’s a lot of problems that’s going on with that Indian
Health Service clinic up there. Lot of people are complaining, but yet they don’t want to
say nothing. But if we could establish that again, another health board, we could help our
people more. And the health department for thirteen years, I went through a lot of
problems here with people that didn’t want me, or people that were neglecting me, people
didn’t want me to help them. They threw papers in my face, they wouldn’t open their
doors for us, they told stories about us, about me and everything. But I been doing it for
thirteen years. And now, I’m still involved with politics and Indian Health Service and
everything else. I can’t seem to get it out of my system. My kids tell me, “Don’t you ever
get tired of the politics?” I said, “No, it runs in my blood. I have to keep going with it.”
And I keep on being involved with things, with programs and stuff. Like, down here at
our administration building and stuff, I’m the vice-chairman for the Wells Band Council
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
8
here. And we’ve got a nice administration building there. And I asked Marla, if you have
time, when you get done here, if she could give you a tour of our facilities. Because I
don’t think you’ve ever seen it. And you’ll be surprised of what we have accomplished
here for Wells. And so, you can also maybe get some information down from her. She
knows a lot. She’s from Ely, and she’s an old-timer, too. [Laughter] And we talk a lot
together. She tells me a lot of things, you know, from Ely, and stuff like that. And some
things I know that she knows. The people. The people almost bound together. Even our
relatives is, some of them in Duckwater. My daughter was telling me, she says, “How are
we related to the Milletts?” Kristi. I had to tell her how my grandma told us how we were
related to the Milletts. And over in Duckwater. So, our relatives are all over the place.
Now, I mean, there’s like a tie, or a chain, that if you put it all through in a line, it would
encompass the state of Nevada. Because that’s what they said. If the Long Walkers that
time, the Sioux? They said if we stretched the line from where they were, clear across the
United States, it would encompass all that land over there. All of it. If that was to be the,
you know. So there’s a lot a lot of history that we don’t know about. And it’s too bad that
we lost a lot of it, but then, there’s still enough of it to get along. Said, like me and Clara
now, with that video, one of these days I’d like to have a memorial done for her, and
share this video of us, and the plaque. I didn’t get to attend her funeral, but Kristi still has
the plaque you gave us with her name and my name on it. I’d like to present that to
Clara’s family. And I’m going to talk to Crystal Love and see if she can set something up
for us. Then we’ll let you know when we have that memorial. Because there’s a lot of
things Clara knew that she couldn’t tell—I mean, she didn’t have time to tell on the
video. Lot of things. It’s too bad that we had to be, had a certain time to tell it, but she
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
9
knew a lot. And I think these, her grandchildren, her ancestors have to know all that.
About like him. I’m glad he’s with you, because he can pick up a lot of this stuff. And
he’s a good kid. He’s always friendly, and with—just like Amelita and Dan. Churchkin.
Churchkin’s what we called him. And he’s grew up with us in Battle Mountain and
stuff, and we all knew a lot about things. So. About all, you know. I talked about the
health board. It would be nice, like I said, if we could have the health board back again. I
used to—when I was in Winnemucca, I used to be contacted by Stewart to take care of
the Indian people in Winnemucca. The Winnemucca Indian Colony? I used to set up
clinics and stuff. So my CHRing started way before I moved here. The early [19]70s
when we were in Winnemucca. And they used to contact me, and I used to set up the
clinics for them and everything. But I got taken with the Indian Health Board to Tacoma,
Washington. And we had, they had a big ceremony for us over there. And that’s where I
met Lillian Garcia. She came as the head of the health board for Te-Moak. And she’s
riding in a nice, fancy car, you know, she got to rent it. And I said, “How do you rate a
fancy car? We have to walk!” Urban Indians had to walk, and she had a nice big car she
was riding in. “Well,” she says, “I’m head of the Indian Health Board in Te-Moak.” So
they were getting in the elevator, and I said, “Why can’t I come and listen in?” She was
calling the Te-Moaks together to have a meeting. And I see them get in the elevator, and I
said, “Well, why can’t I come, too? I’d like to listen. I’m from Elko, too. I’m a TeMoak.” “Well,” she says, “you know, you don’t live there anymore. You live over on this
side, so you can’t come here.” [Laughter] But that was my first airplane ride I took with
the urban group I started, I would say, around the [19]70s. And I was always consulted
for health things, you know, setting up programs and things like that. So I’m still also
�
GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
10
involved in those things. And I guess that’s about all I can say ahout the health board.
That, we would like to have it back, of local people. And Phoenix. If Don Davis is still
available; if not, whoever’s his place. We need to have that brought back in. We have our
summer youth program down here. My granddaughter’s part of it, but she’s taken off
today. But they’ll be laying sods down there, and they’re working for Barrick. And
there’s a lot of—we have the Shoshone class, which Marla is in charge of, but we don’t
have that many young people coming in. They’re all adults who comes. She’s in charge
of that, for the youth to go down to Salt Lake City, isn’t it? Or have they already gone?
For the Shoshone class. She’s in charge of that. And Alicia Aguilera down there, she’s
got the alcohol and drug program for the Wells Band, and she’s working with the kids, a
lot of the kids there, on alcohol and drug programs and stuff like that. She has movies and
things. I’m glad these videos are being made, because I’m going to have them show it
down there. And a lot of these kids are never grown up with that. Like May Holley’s
kids? They never knew their ancestors. They’re going to have a family reunion here this
coming July. And May Holley had a lot of history, too, because they used to live in
Palisade Canyon. That’s where the Indians used to camp, there. They had a big camp
there, and that’s where they lived with their families before they moved to Battle
Mountain. And she said that Palisade, some of the buildings are still standing there. But
see, her grandkids and her great-grandkids, they don’t know these things, because we
never had these things when she was alive. And just what we talked about when we sat
together, and that’s about it. They would like to know that if we can get maybe Delbert—
you know, Delbert Holley, that might know something. And Delbert’s only one that’s
alive right now. Plus, Phyllis is in Twin Falls. But Delbert is the one that would know a
�GBIA
040;
Begay;
Page
11
lot about that, too, on May Holley’s side of the family. So, it would be nice for the kids to
see.
[Break in recording at 28:32]
B:
Just glad that my family’s here with me. My son Albert, he stays and takes care of me.
And my other son, Buzz, he’s starting a business here. And my daughter Kristi’s working
with Barrick. And my granddaughter here is working with the summer youth program for
Barrick; she’s taking a day off today. And all the rest of my grandkids, my brothers and
everybody, I’d like to have them see this video. That’s about it, all I have to say.
[Laughter]
[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
Gracie Begay
Location
The location of the interview
Wells, NV [Begay residence; Wells Colony]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/501
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD, MP4, and AVI format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:29:32
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
Gracie Begay - Oral history (06/27/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Gracie Begay, Western Shoshone from Wells, NV, on 06/27/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Gracie Begay is a member of the Western Shoshone Te-Moak tribe in Wells, Nevada. She was seventy-eight when this video was recorded. Gracie speaks of her great-great-grandfather Captain Joe Gilbert and the people from Austin and Reese River (Yomba) who were moved by the Union Soldiers to the Battle Mountain colony in 1937. She also tells of the camp that was at the Ricksie station near Beowawe, and how she and her relatives went to school there. Gracie also goes on to tell about her involvement with the Danns, and how she went with them to the Supreme Court in Washington D.C. She goes on to tell of the history of her family, and how she was involved with Indian Health Service and the Health Board for the Western Shoshone. She ends by summarizing the importance of recording Shoshone history, and how it is a tool for future generations.</p>
<br />
<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_jg8suz0w&playerId=kaltura_player_1501798948&cache_st=1501798948&width=560&height=395&flashvars[streamerType]=auto"></script>
</p>
<a title="Gracie Begay 2014 Oral History video in separate page" href="http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/8v03d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View Oral History [streaming video] if player above does not work</a><br /> <a title="Gracie Begay Oral History Transcript" href="/omeka/files/original/6bd983c4325683f97a06eaa1cd371fca.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Gracie Begay Oral History Transcript [pdf file]</a>
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 040
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
06/27/2014 [27 June 2014]; 2014 June 27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh and James Hedrick [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; 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/files/show/485
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English; a little Shoshone
Battle Mountain
Community
Crossroads
Elko Colony
family
GBIA
Indian Health Service
Land claims
Shoshone
Story
U.S. Calvary
Wells