1
10
11
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0577bfb60082339494460527c7d69c80
Dublin Core
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Title
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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
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GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
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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
James Hedrick
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Boyd Graham
Location
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Great Basin College (Elko, NV)
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MP4
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01:27:21
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Title
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Boyd Graham - Oral history (07/13/2017)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Boyd Graham, Western Shoshone from Ely, NV, on 07/13/2017
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Boyd Graham addresses students at the Shoshone Community Language Initiative (SCLI) program at Great Basin College. Boyd Graham begins his address by introducing himself to the students, and then he speaks about how there are different dialects among the Shoshone. Afterward, he begins giving a lesson on the Shoshone language which includes going over greetings, different types of animals, different writing styles, verb and consonants, and how different relatives are addressed within the Shoshonean language.<br /> <br />Presented at the 2017 Shoshone Community Language Initiative summer youth program (SCLI 17).</p>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 062
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
07/13/2017 [13 July 2017]; 2017 July 13
Contributor
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James Hedrick [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK
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.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/399
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
MP4
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshoni
Community
Crossroads
culture
GBIA
heritage
language
Shoshone
Story
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/9e975c4b50834c0ddeb8c9d653af3991.jpg
0badecae15dd241874b963514a0993b5
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
James Hedrick
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Katherine Blossom
Location
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Great Basin College (Elko, NV)
Transcription
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Transcription in progress
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MP4
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01:40:45
Dublin Core
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Title
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Katherine Blossom - Oral history (07/10/17)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Katherine Blossom, Western Shoshone from Elko, NV on 07/10/2017
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Katherine Blossom addresses students at the Shoshone Community Language Initiative (SCLI) program at Great Basin College. Katherine Blossom begins her discussion by describing the benefits of learning the language. She speaks about how her mother and others were punished at boarding schools for speaking their native language, and as a result she was denied the opportunity to learn it growing up. She then goes on to sing a song on the hand drum. Afterward, she begins to speak about the different native plants and other materials that traditional Western Shoshones would use.<br /><br />Presented at the 2017 Shoshone Community Language Initiative summer youth program (SCLI 17).<br /> </p>
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Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 060
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
07/10/2017 [10 July 2017]; 2017 July 10
Contributor
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James Hedrick [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK
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.
Consent form on file (administrator access only):
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
MP4
Language
A language of the resource
Enlgish; some Shoshoni
Community
Crossroads
Elko
GBIA
language
Shoshone
Story
traditional food
traditional medicines
traditional songs
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/6d63b696bd95f455952cbbf791ff5253.jpg
d6465d5714add134db2975e18f63860a
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
James Hedrick
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Alfred Jackson
Location
The location of the interview
Great Basin College (Elko, NV)
Transcription
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Transcription in process
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
MP4
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00:34:34
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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Alfred Jackson - Oral history (07/07/2017)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Alfred Jackson, Western Shoshone from Elko, NV, on 07/07/2017
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Alfred Jackson addresses students at the Shoshone Community Language Initiative (SCLI) program at Great Basin College. Alfred Jackson speaks about the decay of the Shoshone culture, but also speaks about the steps necessary to preserve such a unique culture. He also speaks about his experiences growing up in the area, as well as how language is important in keeping up the traditions and values within the Shoshonean culture. He also tells the students about his experience Sun Dancing at different areas within and outside of the Great Basin region.<br /> <br />Presented at the 2017 Shoshone Community Language Initiative summer youth program (SCLI 17).</p>
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<p>Transcript pending</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 059
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
07/07/2017 [07 July 2017]; 2017 July 07
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
James Hedrick [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/390
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshoni
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
language
Shoshone
Story
sun dance
sundance
traditions
-
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05f9b13f4ae2504a613adb671e3092f7
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/13bbb9a8db3b30863b1dfbaf48a07316.pdf
b472565d2602004505a6f3af6545989d
PDF Text
Text
Katherine
Blossom
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
029
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
March
27,
2012
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 029
Interviewee: Katherine Blossom
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: March 27, 2012
B:
—and we’ve lost a lot of our Native American plants. Our herbs. But we still have a lot.
We truly do. And you know, if we don’t use our herbs, they’re going to disappear.
Because it’s our way, the Native Americans were placed here as caretakers for the land.
For the plant life, for the animal life, and all that’s here. Our job was to pray. And that’s
the foundation of our lives, was prayer. We prayed early in the morning. The old people
would get up early in the morning, and even the children, when they had the camps, they
would get up early in the morning and they would pray, and thank the Creator for the
good night’s sleep. But thank him also for all that’s here, from the morning star, to the
sun coming up, and the mountains, and the rocks on the mountains, the water that runs,
and all the trees, the plant life, animal life, the creepy crawlers, four-legged, and they
prayed also then for their family. And that’s how they took care of things. They were
completely dependent upon our Creator. Our Father, our God, however you call Him.
He’s known by many names today, but I feel we still have the One. And He is the
Almighty, He’s the one that takes care of us. But we have walked away from that type of
life, because we have—times have changed. Our people, our elders, our ancestors, would
be your grandparents, or maybe your great-grandparents, were forced to go to the
boarding schools, where they were not allowed to speak their language. And so that’s
why many that came from the boarding schools did not teach their children the language.
Because they went through hardships. It was broken. Their language was taken from
them. They were not allowed to speak it. If they spoke their language, they were punished
for it—severely. I mean, the stories are just stories of horror. And people don’t like to talk
about that because it’s so ugly. But that’s what our people went through. You think about
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029;
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the abuses; our people suffered all the abuses that ever was thought of. We have had our
Holocaust. But through that, and during that time, a lot of our ways, our old ways, were
taken from us. And I know many people say, “Well, it’s too bad your father and mother
didn’t teach you your language.” A lot of it was because they were ashamed. They
became ashamed of who they were. They walked with shame in their hearts. And yet,
they did nothing to deserve that. But it was so ingrained in them. The punishment was so
severe, they never forgot it. You think of all the horrible things that happen today,
happened to our people. And therefore, they quit. Many of them just quit going out and
gathering the precious herbs. And they started, because the prominent society said they
were the right ones, they had the right way, they had the answers for everything, and we
were savages, and you name it. You’ve heard all those names. I’m sure I don’t need to
repeat it. But, with that, then our people just kind of shunned away, because they were
taught it was wrong. They were taught it was wrong to pray in their own language. So
they had to learn to speak the—it was forced upon them to speak the English language.
They were forced to recite prayers. And many of the prayers didn’t mean anything to
them, because that was not our way of prayer. That’s not the native way of prayer. Our
prayer is different. Our prayer is—I don’t know how to say this, I never have been able
to, but it just seems like our prayers go deeper. Because we pray for everything. We pray
for our Mother Earth. Why do we call her our mother? Because she’s the one that gives
us everything. Without our Mother, the electricity would not be here. Without our
Mother, the glass would not be here, because it’s made with sand. And so, as you go on
to school, you’ll learn these things. But remember, where did it all come from? It came
from our Mother. The clothes you have on, the glasses we wear, our jewelry, whatever,
�GBIA
029;
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all has come from our Mother. And our Father, our Creator, has touched man in such a
way that they have gone beyond. I mean, now we’re flying in the air in aircrafts. That
never was. Our grandparents never saw that. I mean, it would just—they would just be
startled and really scared, because they didn’t see this type of living. And you’d come in,
and you’d turn on the switch—how does the light come on? You know? But it’s here.
You go and you turn on a dial, and the heat comes on. I mean, and that’s how far
technology—and now we’re flying, and with the computers, and your iPods—all of this
has all been created by man. But it was the Creator who gave that. But, you know, that’s
going beyond. And our people’s lives was very simple. Like, the outdoors were our
pharmacy. All the plants that you see here, in whatever form, it came from our Mother.
She has given us everything. Even today, our water comes from Her. And how many of
us stop to think how precious the water is? How many of us stop to pray when we take
that drink of water first thing in the morning? Because our body is made up, good portion
of it—how many know how many percentage of water is our body? Does anyone
remember?
U1:
It’s like 70%.
U2:
I was going to say 70-73[%].
B:
Mmhm. It’s in the 70 percent. That’s how much of our body is made of water. We cannot
live without water. And therefore, we need, all of us, need to start praying for our water.
That it’ll be pure. It’ll be good. And that when we drink it, it won’t harm us—because
look at the chemicals that we have put in there. The atomic bomb was the first thing that
started that off. It went into the ground. Where is our water? It’s in our Mother Earth. It’s
in Her veins. And they have contaminated our water. Some places, people cannot drink
�GBIA
029;
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4
the water. They have to have it shipped in. Or they have to boil it, or they have to put
something in it, to make it pure, that they can drink it. And so, man is literally destroying
what we have, what the Creator has given us. And so, I believe we need to go back to our
basics. Remember our prayers. We need to pick it up. And as we do that, and if you’re
really sincere in your heart, you’re going to learn. The Creator’s going to give you songs.
When you go out and you pick the pinenuts, the pinenut songs will come to you. It’s just,
we haven’t been doing it, and that’s why it’s gone from us. We’ve lost it. Because we
have not been doing it. And so with that, if you really want to live a better life for
yourself—this is for you, not for me—however you live your life is how you’re going to
be. Like if, now with the drugs that’s coming on, with the drinking, the alcohol, the
smoking all of the different things that’s homemade, and manmade, it’s not good for your
body. Our people did smoke, but they smoked in their ceremonies. But they use the
natural herb. They used the natural tobacco that they gathered. They harvested. They
would mix it with a medicine called totsa. They would grind it, and they would put it into
their, when they’re rolling their cigarettes. But then, they didn’t just smoke it just to be
smoking. They smoked it so that, maybe they had lung problems. It would clear that lung
out. Or they would chew it, and swallow it, and that would help clear the lungs out.
You’ll be surprised how much stuff you can start spitting up when you start using this in
a good way. Pray for it. Pray, and ask it. Because everything that’s on our earth, on our
Mother Earth, has a spirit. And this is something you don’t learn in school. They say the
rocks don’t have a spirit. The rocks have spirit. Because in our ceremonies, we pray to all
the elements, because that’s what the Creator has given us. And so, our basics is—and
I’m not trying to preach at you, but that’s just the way it is. That’s the way it is. So, when
�GBIA
029;
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you go out—and we’re going out to go pick pinenuts. We’re getting ourselves ready,
we’ve gotten ourselves ready, we’re going out. And before you go and you pick the
pinenuts, you ask the Creator to bless the pinenuts, and that you will have a good harvest,
and you give it water. And you thank the pinenuts for being there for you, that you can
feed your family. And you can use it in a good way. You take what you need. You take
what you can use. And you take what maybe you’re going to give to your grandfather,
grandmother, or whoever. You take that much. You don’t take so much that you’re going
to throw it away and waste it. Because that’s not what the Creator have told us to do. He
told us, take care of everything. And so that’s why we walk—and you walk in your
prayer. You know. It isn’t a one-day thing like Sunday, you go to church and then you
forget about God and you forget to pray, and then next Sunday you go back to church
again. It’s not that. You walk your prayer, you walk in that, daily. You pray for the sun
that comes up, that it heats all of us, and it gives energy to us, to all of the plant life,
everything that’s on our Mother, and all that She gives us. And we should be thankful. Be
thankful that we still have clean air. Pray for the air, that it’ll be clean, and that when
you’re breathing, it’ll be clean for you. And for your family. And for your relatives. And
with that, so we’ll go to our medicines now. All of this was given to us. This is what is
called chaparral. Chaparral is good. It grows in southern Nevada and Arizona. And it
grows in a bush. And sometimes, if it’s really nice and healthy, then they grow up like
little trees. They don’t grow real tall, because it grows where it’s hot in the desert. And
the way you can tell—and this is, by knowing your plants, if you go out and you walk
among them—you pick your plants, there’s only a certain time of the year that you
harvest different plants. The chaparral is the best in the springtime, in April. You get up
�GBIA
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early in the morning, you look at it. The sun is coming up, let’s say, from the east. I’m
not sure of which way east is in the building, but let’s say this way. Then you look
through it, and you see the sun has come up, and your chaparral, the plant that glistens
and shines, has a lot of healing property in it. Because it’s healthy, because of the oil
that’s in it. Our plants are oily. And that’s when you pick it, you harvest it. Again, you
don’t go out and just pick. You prepare yourself. You think about the plant you’re going
to go and gather. You go, and before you touch the plant, just like the pinenuts, you pray
for it. You offer it water. And same with all the medicines. That’s the process. You do
that before you harvest. And, now this plant, and this is a crown that came from the
Sundance. I don’t know if all of you have heard about the Sundance, but this is another
way of prayer that has been given to our people. Now, this is mugwort. It’s a little bit
different than our sagebrush, but this grows along the riverbanks in Oregon. And they use
it for a crown, because they’re going to go out, and they’re going to dance for four days,
without water or food. And when they gather this, they pray for it. Same thing. You pray,
you give an offering. Maybe you could take tobacco. Because this grows along the river.
You don’t need to give it water. But then, you give it tobacco, for an offering, thanking it
for being there. And that, when you pick it, it will go with you and help you. And it does.
Because this is full of water, and they wrap it with a red cloth, and then they put it on
when they go out and dance. And it helps. It helps them. And this, a crown would be
more out, but because I’ve had to pull it back so I could carry it, when it was gifted to
me—when I say “gifted,” it was given to me—the crown was out like this, and then that
gave them shade. That helped the dancers in that way. And this is a mixture. It’s got
cedar, it’s got tobacco, it’s got sage in it, and you can mix different kind of herbs with it.
�GBIA
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And then you give this as an offering, when you go out, and you’re praying. Like, in the
morning. You go out, and you make a fire, and as you’re building the fire, you go
through the procedure with prayer. Thank the wood for being there. And thank it that it’s
going to take your prayer up. The smoke is going to take your prayer up, that our Creator
can hear you. And that you do stand in front of him in a pitiful way. But we’re asking for
help for ourselves, whatever the need is. And then you thank—also, never forget to be
thankful for all that Mother Earth has given us. And if you have time, you can name them
all. If you don’t have time, you can say, just, “Thank you for Mother Earth and all that
she has provided for us, and keep her strong.” Because we are literally destroying our
Mother. And it’s sad, when you stop to think about it. But all of this came from her. This
was given to me, and it’s like a wax. But people from the south use this, and when they
go in the sweat lodge, they put it on the rocks, on the hot rocks, and it gives a different
fragrance. It helps clear the mind. It helps you to clear out—like if you’re carrying a lot
of bad junk inside. You had bad feelings then. And now it’s getting overwhelming with
you. And this is what happens. You can get in that state of where you feel dark, and you
feel ugly, and you just have this heavy feeling, and you don’t want that. You want to be
able to walk upon our Mother in a good way. And so, you need to get rid of those, the
darkness, the heaviness. What else would we call it? Anything that keeps you from being
free. Rather it be our mind-thought. And sometimes, we have to watch what we think.
Because if we keep thinking bad thoughts, we’re going to start talking that way. It just
happens. And so, if you don’t want to be that way, and you want to be kind, you want to
be loving, you want to be helpful. You have to pray for that. Because we’re living in a
time when there’s a lot of ugliness around us. You take the drugs. That has a spirit in it.
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You have all kinds of spirits. The alcohol has a spirit. And the drugs, and the, what,
wacky tobaccy? Whatever they call it. [Laughter] I’m not up with the term these days. I
think that’s an old saying. But, those things are things that will hinder us, from being the
person, and the potentials you’ll have. It will dampen that. And it’s wonderful when you
don’t have those hangups, and you don’t have to rely on a drug in the morning to help
you through the day, and don’t have to have a drug to keep you awake or put you to
sleep, or whatever they use those things for. You don’t need that! You need the good
medicine to keep you well and healthy. And it’s all out there. This is what they call
sweetgrass. And it has, they’re kind of old. I’ve had them for a while. But it has—go
ahead, pass that around—it has a sweet smell to it, and when you burn it, it has a
wonderful fragrance when it’s fresh. And they use that to smudge with. And when I say
“smudge,” you take, and you can, you know, put it around you, and ask that all that bad
feelings, whatever it is that’s bothering you, to leave. Now, this is white…?
X:
Sage.
B:
It’s white sage. She said she has some. And this has a different kind of fragrance. But it’s
the same, it’ll do the same thing. Because, the Creator has given us, wherever you live,
has given the people different kind of herbs, that will grow in that area. And that’s what
they use. And it has a different smell to it. Very fragrant. And it just help clears the mind,
it helps you to feel better. It does lift up your spirit. It works. And then, this has a little bit
of, this is what we call a prayer tie. Now, our people don’t do this as much as the Sioux
people do. But they take—and, like, if I was going to make a prayer tie, maybe I would
put some, I’d put a little, maybe cedar in it. Maybe would take some sage. Or maybe
would take, if we were in Oregon, we’d take mugwort. We’d take whatever herbs there
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are, and mix it. And then, as we make our prayer ties—like, say you have a trauma in
your life, going on. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one, maybe someone has gotten terribly
sick. And you want help for them. This is another way our people have learned to help
themselves. They take and cut a piece of red material, and then they put tobacco and
whatever herbs that they have, and they wrap it, and they tie it. And while they do that,
they’re asking for help, for whoever, whatever’s going on, to give relief. Do a healing. To
maybe lead them to make a right decision. Maybe you’re at a point in your life you don’t
know what to do. You pray about it. And that helps clear your mind. And then you also
burn the different herbs, your cedar. This is a flat cedar, comes from Oregon. And then it
looks different than the cedar that we have here. But people use it the same way. They
use it in their ceremonies. And if you make a fire, and you put it in there, you’re going to
have a wonderful fragrance. And that is what will clear, and help you clear your mind.
And that’s what they do. And then, after they make this, maybe they can hang it in their
room, or however they feel like they need to do it—and then after so many days, then
they burn it. Or maybe it’d be the same day. I don’t know. It just depends on how you’re
led, however you’re taught. That’s what you do. And this is a protection. And it’s like a
chalk. You hear of people carrying bad medicine with them? That they can harm one
another? With our people, you have that. We don’t like to think of that. But you can rub
this on you, like that. And it’ll protect you. You can put it over your heart, you can put it
down on your breast, you can put it on top of your head, where your chakra is. And it
works like a protection. But also, then we have one, that can work that way, and also, this
is called—
X:
Aipin.
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B:
[Laughter] All of the sudden! Thank you! Aipin. And aipin1 is red, and you gather this
from the mountain. There’re spots of it. And it’s very, very fine. And when you look for
it—and if you go about it in the right frame of mind, you’re praying for it, that you will
find it, if you don’t know where it is—it’ll show itself to you. And you get down and you
pick it. And it’s just like a little, round, little tiny round ball. Red. And you pick that, and
then you can later on mash it and then put it on. But we Shoshones don’t put it on our
faces, because invariably you end up with an argument or a fight or whatever. We don’t
do that, because that’s not our way. Other tribes do that. But you know, all different tribes
have different way of doing things. And we don’t make fun of other people, however
they believe, however they pray, it’s your own personal thing. It’s how you’ve been
taught. And we’re careful not to make fun of other people’s religion, or their beliefs, their
spirituality. With our native people, we don’t call it religion, we call it sprituality. It’s
how you walk and live. You can put it, also you can put it on the top of your head, and
that is your protection. You can put it on your wrist, around your ankle, and you can
walk. Especially when you’re going among a people that you don’t know, you don’t want
to get harmed. With the girls, it’s very important that you protect yourself. And this is a
good way. Ask it to go before you and protect you. And it—like I said, everything has a
spirit. Everything understands. It’s we humans, sometimes don’t have a good
understanding. And we just have lost our way. The birds know what to do. Certain birds
know when to go south. How did they know that? It’s, the Creator has made them that
way. And how do the bears know when to hibernate? You know, that’s a gift to that
animal. And so, all animals have a spirit, too. And when our young people used to—well,
1
It is clearer in the video, but KB was holding aipin, which is white and chalky, before moving on to the reddish
substance, which is most likely pisappe.
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when our menfolk used to go hunting, they prayed. They cleaned their gun, and they took
care of their gun in a good way. And then they would pray. “Let the deer”—and they’d
pray to the deer—“give up your life, that my life can go on, and my family’s life can go
on.” And when they do that in a good way, they always came home with a kill. Because
the spirit heard them, and the animal gave up their life willingly, that we could go on.
And that’s the way it is. So be thankful for all that you have. And now, this is for the
head, and this is for the—this person’s hands are smaller than mine. [Laughter] I can’t get
it on. But they used to have, it used to have quite a bit of the mugwort sticking out. And
that’s how they danced. And then they had one on their ankle, on both ankle, and then
they would have a portion of it sticking out also. And that helped them through their
dance, and through their fasting and their prayer. Because dance was not for show, but to
help their people. They danced. Some maybe, someone in their family could have cancer,
and they would pray for that person while they’re dancing. Or maybe they’re just, maybe
there’s an, on a reservation, or a colony, maybe, say, there’s a lot of suicides coming
that’s happening. A man, or woman, whoever’s dancing, can take that, and pray that that
spirit would be lifted. And this is sweet sage. Got this down here by the college down—
well, where the—okay, help me out. The park down here.
X:
Peace Park.
B:
Peace Park, thank you. I’m having those moments. But that’s okay, I always have help—
thank you. This is what we call totsa. This you go out and you harvest it from under the
ground. And in the springtime, when they’re growing, they look like a celery. No, carrot.
They look just like a carrot. You know how they’re really, just plentiful little leaves?
Well, that’s what they look like. But then, in the fall, when we go gather them, then they
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change. Because then, on top, they’re like flat, but they have little flowers around the
outside. And sometimes, some of those stems are still standing, and you can see them.
You’ll recognize them. But if you go out, like, in September, you can smell them. From
the ground. It’s interesting. Because you use it, and you’re familiar with it, it’s a familiar
medicine for you. And you can smell it. And you can—and many people, like if they’re
out in the country a lot, and they’re attached in a special way to the land, and they’ve kept
their prayers up, and they walk in that way—they can also smell the deer. You can smell
the plant life, there’s just… Because you’re keen, you’re open to that. But that’s
something that is acquired over time. And it’s the way you walk, with prayer, and
kindness. It’s the way you are as a person. And totsa is one of the many, many wonderful
medicines. You can boil this and drink it—it’s strong. You don’t want to boil it too long!
But you can drink it, and it’ll open up your esophagus. It’ll open up your bronchial tubes.
It’ll open your lungs. And many, many people have survived because of totsa. Because
when it was harvest, it was gotten in prayer. Most important element. It was prayed for, it
was taken care of in a good way. And we dry it, and it’s really hard. But then you can
shave it, and then you make a fine—it just comes out real fine. And you can put that on a
pan, in a pan, if you have a wood stove you can put it on the wood stove, and then you
get the, it cleanses the air, it helps you to breathe better. You smoke it, it goes down into
your lungs, to purify your lungs. And also, people have drank this, and they mix it. They
boil it with chaparral. People that have had cancer have done that, and it has—this2 is real
good medicine for cancer. Very, very strong. But, there was a woman that lived on the
Reese River reservation, and she was the oldest woman that I knew of. But I’m not quite
2
KB
is indicating the chapparal again as she makes this statement and those that follow.
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sure how old she was. She was very, very old. But she would drink a cup of this every
day. And her nephew, her grand-nephew, would go down southern Nevada, and go and
pick it. And he went with a, he did what was expected of him to do. And he prayed that
that plant would go and help his grandmother. And she lived. And her, it helped with her
arthritis. Because she was still able to walk, and to get around. And she did
basketweaving. And her hands were nimble enough that she could continue to do her
basketweaving. Sagebrush is a very good medicine. Here again, you can make tea out of
it and drink it. It’s good for colds. I saw a woman one time that had fallen, and had
gashed her leg down to the bone. I could see it. And she was sitting in her little cabin, and
she was boiling the sage. And I said to her, “You’d better go see the doctor!” “Oh, no.”
And she said, “No, I’m not going. This is my doctor.” And she was boiling it up, and she
took it out of the pot—she didn’t wring it out or anything, but she just put the whole
thing, the plant and all the juice, and she put it right on top of that, and she wrapped it
with white material. And I saw her, I can’t remember now just how long. But I saw her a
while later. And she was up walking around. I never did ask to see—but I know she
didn’t go see the doctor, because she wasn’t going to go. But she just, when she wrapped
it, she just put the skin together, and then put this medicine right on top. And it healed.
And she could walk. I saw it with my own eyes. And I thought, “Whoa! That’s good
medicine!” So we do have good medicines out there. We have medicines that will help
you, to protect you. And that’s why I say, go to your grandparents, if you still have
grandparents. Go to them, talk to them. And they can tell you a whole lot more than what
I have here, because I just haven’t been out gathering the last year and a half. Well, it’ll
be a year and eight months now, because of, my son had cancer. But through prayer,
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through the herb, he is cancer-free today. And right now, we’re in the process of getting
him up off the bed and helping him walk. But he needs help to walk. But that’s what our
medicine can do. But you have to believe in it. You have to take care of it in a good way.
And you must, of all things, live a good life. Can’t go out and get drunk, or go out and get
high, or whatever else is out there, I don’t know what’s all out there. But remember, all of
those things do have spirit in them. I will give you this one testimony that I, that was
revealed to me. One Sunday morning—or no, it was on a Saturday, I believe it was—I
had gotten up, and it just, I could see this black blackness that had come, and it was
hovering over the camp. The native camp up here on the hill. Way up on the hill, and
down below to the old camp. There was this blackness, this darkness. And I thought,
“What is that?” Because it just looks so weird. And it didn’t feel good. And I started
praying about it. I started asking questions: you know, why? Why? What is this, that has
settled? I didn’t see it over the town. The town was not revealed to me. But where we
lived, it was revealed to me. And I kept asking, “Well, what is this?” Because I knew
there was an answer. And the next morning, it came to me that that blackness, that
darkness, was a suicide spirit. And during that time, before that time, I believe we had six
suicides up among my people. And that spirit had come. And evidently, no one had
prayed about it. But I felt—I can’t tell you how I felt. It was scary. And I remember, they
have the Indian chapel up on the hill. I think it’s still the same name. But anyhow, I went
to church that morning, and I just had to tell somebody, because that was pretty scary, to
see that blackness. And I told the minister’s wife. And I told her what I felt that was
revealed to me. And she said, then she said, “What we need to do is pray.” She said,
whoever all was in the church. We all prayed that that blackness would be lifted, and that
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spirit—this is the way she said, “it’s a spirit that has come to linger over your people.”
And so we prayed that that spirit be lifted. The whole congregation did. And do you
know, the suicides ceased. We did not have another suicide after that. So whatever you
want out of life, you can have. If you want to draw closer, and you want to walk in your
spirituality, you want to keep it strong, then you need to do the footwork. Which is, you
need to get up, and you need to pray. You need to be thankful for everything that you
have—good or bad, and who’s to say it’s bad? Through this cancer situation, I have
learned so much. Through my son. I’ve gone through experiences that I would have never
went through if it wasn’t for my son having cancer. How many times did I hear him say,
“I want to leave. Mom, I don’t want to be here no more. I want to go home.” And he
wasn’t talking about this home, because we were home at the time. And when we went to
Salt Lake, and we lived there for—well, a good year. I heard him say that again and
again. And he wasn’t. He was talking about the natural home. He was talking about going
home to his Father. And I told him—the first time he said that was, I was sitting across
the room from him on the couch. I was on one couch, he was on the other. All of the
sudden, I felt something shift in the room. And it was kind of weird. But I knew
something was going on. So I got up, and I went over, and I sat next to him. I said, “Ross,
what’s going on?” He says, “Mom, I want to leave. I don’t want to live here no more. I
want to go home.” And then he said, “Why do people pray for people to stay here when
they are suffering so bad? I don’t want to stay here. Why, mom, do people pray that
way?” And I looked at him, and it hit me that we are selfish. I’m selfish. I didn’t want
him to go. I wasn’t willing to share him. I wanted him, because he’s my only son. Any of
our children, we would feel the same. And, so through that, I’ve learned to pray
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differently. And I told him, “I will not pray that way anymore. My prayer from now on,
Ross, is that our Father’s will be done. His will, not mine.” And I just let it go. But that
was the first time of just completely yielding in oneself. But the experiences from that has
been absolutely wonderful. And, so now we’re working real hard, and he’s rallying. He’s
cancer-free, and it’s because we relied—Ross said, “You know, I don’t know about this
Western medicine.” And I had, that came to me. And so we talked about that. And he
said, “You know, I just don’t trust this Western medicine. It’s not doing for me what it
needs to do.” And I says, “So you want to go to the native medicine? You want to go to
the herb?” He says, “Mom, I think that’s where my help is. I truly do.” I said, “Okay.
Then let’s do it.” And so we, I called my grandson from Oregon, my adopted grandson
from Oregon, to come, and we all had prayer, and with the herb, it—he just looked so
much better the next day. I was amazed. But then, when we went back to the doctor, I
think it was about a week later—I think it was the next week—and the doctor looked at
the results in awe, and he said, “There’s no cancer.” And I looked at him—it was so hard
for me to take that in. But we have accepted that. No cancer. And he’s doing better. So,
our herbs are alive and well. We just need to start picking it up and taking care of it. Pick
up our prayers and be strong. And with that, I would like to close with a song, if that’s all
right. When I started walking the spiritual path, picking up my prayers, praying in the
way that I felt I needed to pray, I had a desire that I wanted to sing in my own native
tongue. I wanted to sing a song. And so I started praying for that. I didn’t have a drum. I
didn’t have the drum stick. But that’s what I felt I wanted to do. Well, the drum came
first, but I was surprised that I was gifted a drum. I’ve never played a drum before in my
life. And my girlfriend, and our friend, went down to the river, and they picked a willow,
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and made me a beater. So in that day, I got my drumstick and my beater, there’s no
reason now why I can’t go out and sing and do what I want. So I started praying. And it
was in the wintertime, because I remember sitting on the floor in the front room—may
sound really something, but that’s all right—I was sitting in the front room, and I burned
cedar in my smudge bowl, and I had it on the carpet, and I started praying and asking,
again, that I would be given a song in my native tongue. That was my heart’s desire. And
lo and behold, I was just beating the drum, and a song came. So I’m going to sing you the
song that was given to me. This is a healing song. I’m going to wrap it around each one
of you. Let your faith take hold. If you have something that’s bothering you, you have a
situation in your life, just feel this song coming to you. And there’s a healing in this song.
One day, one evening, I got a call, long-distance call from this young man. And he said,
“Auntie,” he said, “I just have a terrible craving. I want to go out and get drunk. But I
don’t want to do that. I put that behind me. I don’t want to go do that anymore.” And he
says, “Would you pray for me?” And I said, “Well, of course!” So I prayed for him. And
then I was reminded I had a drum, and I had been given a healing song. So I went, and I
said, “Do you mind if I sing for you?” He says, “That sounds wonderful.” So I went and
got the drum, and I started singing the healing song. And I wished him well. Next
morning at 8 o’clock, he called me, and he said, “Auntie, I could hear your song all night
long, and I didn’t go out. I am so glad. It really helped me.” And so, with that—and it has
helped others—I tell you that because I want you to let your faith go. Have faith that it
works. It works if you believe. But it’s up to you. It’ll happen if you want it.
[Sings from 47:33-49:05]
And with that, I thank you for listening, and I hope this all helps you. Thank you.
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[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 (Great Basin College Campus)
Original Format
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DVD and VOB format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:49:40
Transcription
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/578
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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Katherine Blossom - Oral history (03/27/2012)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Katherine Blossom, Western Shoshone from Elko, NV on 03/27/2012
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Katherine Blossom is a Western Shoshone from Elko, NV. She begins her presentation speaking about how Native Americans have adapted to the land, and that it was the Native Americans duty to pray for all things that exist within this universe. She also speaks about the hardships and horrors that the Western Shoshone people went through in boarding school which included losing their native language – usually by forceful means. As she continues she speaks about the importance of prayer. She also educated her audience about the type of natural plants, herbs, and other items that were used by the indigenous groups in and around the Great Basin region. Katherine also recalls some personal experiences that she has gone through which she shares with her audience.</p>
Video pending <br /> <a title="Katherine Blossom Oral History Transcript" href="/omeka/files/original/13bbb9a8db3b30863b1dfbaf48a07316.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Katherine Blossom 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 029A
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
03/27/2012 [27 March 2012]; 2012 March 27
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
Rights
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/380
Language
A language of the resource
English; some Shoshoni
boarding school
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
language
Shoshone
Story
traditional ceremony
traditional medicines
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/bb20261d9b141cb3645e38c6a873c9b0.jpg
5ce52327dd378ec15d79ca870bc1cf11
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/ea429a097a90f70f17d16b9fbeb057a7.pdf
ef52635bb33478c1f45b3b3a87d86eda
PDF Text
Text
Edith
&
Adele
Fisk
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
028
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
March
27,
2012
BaFle
Mountain,
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 028
Interviewee: Edith and Adele Fisk
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: March 27, 2012
EF:
My name is Edith Louise Revere Fisk. I was born in Battle Mountain, Nevada, and I was
raised in Battle Mountain, Nevada. And haven’t been back for a lot of years! [Laughter]
AF:
My name is Adele Ina Crum Jooste Fisk, and I was also born in Battle Mountain,
Nevada, in 1925. And I came a long way since then, I’m going on my eighty-seventh
year, and I spent until I was nineteen years old, I left Battle Mountain for good; I only
went back there to visit my mother in later years. And for some reason, the Battle
Mountain, after I once left, it was never home any more. After Grandma passed away,
and all my relation all left, it wasn’t like it was going home anymore. But I, the few trips
that I did go back, I enjoyed myself, and like I say, everyone is gone now.
EF:
Now, the only time we go back to Battle Mountain is Memorial Day. We still have all of
our old, old graves there. And we need to find the old, old cemetery, because we have
family buried there, and it’s over by the airport someplace, but I can’t remember where
it’s at, and Adele can’t either. We need to find someone who knows where that’s at,
because we do have family there, and we’re the only ones who goes to the graves in our
family, anymore. When—and I don’t know about Adele, but I was born in Grandma’s
house—our Grandma, Emma—at her house, and she delivered me. And Grandpa was
hoping for a boy, and I was a girl, and when she said—“Oh,” she said, “Oh, we’ve got a
girl!” And Grandma went, “Aw, heck!” [Laughter] She didn’t want a girl! But Grandma
was neat. And you know, there were a lot more Native people there when I was little.
And we—and Grandma was also a midwife, you know. She delivered quite a few babies
in Battle Mountain. And then in later years, the town expanded, and they moved her to
the Colony. When I was little, she lived at the edge of, let’s see—it would be the south
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edge of Battle Mountain. She had a little house, there. I guess that’s where the Indians
lived before. I’m not sure. Adele, do you know?
AF:
Mm-mm.
EF:
But then, when she moved to the Colony—bless her heart—she lived by Minnie Leach
and Minnie Tybo. And those three ladies would go shopping, walk to town—about a mile
from the Colony to town—and do their shopping. And they’d sit in front of the Lemaire
Store and rest before they took the long walk with their groceries back home. And I never
learned the language, because my father was a white man. However, he spoke better
Shoshone than I do. [Laughter] But you know, we didn’t talk it in our home. And Mother
used to tell me, “Now, Grandma and Minnie and Minnie are over there, sitting in front of
Lemaire’s store. Now, you be polite, and go over and say hello to them. And be sure and
say hello and talk to them in Shoshone!” Which I tried. And I did. [Laughter] You got
anything?
AF:
Yeah, it’s a little, talking about where Grandma lived. That belonged to the Altenbergs,
that was their property. And when Grandma went to work at the washhouse for them,
they told her she could live there as long as she lived. Which she had planned on living
there. Then when Mrs. Altenberg passed away, her heirs asked Grandma to move. They
told her she didn’t have a deed to the property, and she had to move. So that’s when she
moved to the Colony. And the old cemetery you’re talking about, I don’t know where it’s
at, either. Charles Lemaire was going to take me there, but we never got around to
finding it. He knew where it was at. But my great-grandpa is buried, my great-great
grandfather’s buried there, and also my father Jim’s brother. He was killed by a white
man when he was a young man, going across to the bridge at the river there. He was
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going on a horseback, apparently on a stolen horse, and he was shot there and killed.
Well, he’s buried at the old cemetery. And I attended the little one-room Indian school.
At the time I was growing up, we still had prejudice, and we weren’t allowed to go play
with the white children. We weren’t allowed to associate with them. And I had a white
stepfather, so that the Indian children ignored me, and then the white children wouldn’t
play with me on account of my Indian mother. So I was sort of in betwixt and between,
and I grew up more a loner. I learned how to read, and I spent all my time with my nose
in a book, which I still do today. I still read a lot. And, so we, I didn’t, I always was
alone. And yes, Grandma was a midwife, and she was the last child—Louise’s last child,
she delivered. And she said, “This is the last time I’m going to deliver. I’m not delivering
any more! From now on, you’ll have to go to the white hospital, have someone else
deliver your children.” And then, she never delivered any more children. Louise was the
last one. And they asked her to. [Laughter] Because Grandma, she could take care of her
animals, see if they need taking care of. Why, she used to doctor people’s animals, and
she doctored the people along with it. So she was quite learned in a lot of things. She
knew a lot. And I was always so fascinated with all the things, and I was a nosy kid. I
asked everything! Always want to know this and that. “Tell me this!” “Tell me that!”
And Grandma said to me, “When you come to my house, you speak Shoshone! You
don’t speak English!” I’d go home, my stepfather said, “Now, we’re you’re in the house,
you’re not going to be little Indian. You’re going to talk English!” So I’d have to sink or
swim. I’d have to learn how to speak both—and do it properly, too! [Laughter]
EF:
When I was in grammar school in the [19]40s, there was still prejudice. Even though we
were in the white school—the Indian school had been closed before. But the restrooms,
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they had one stall that was marked “Indian.” And that’s what the Indian kids had to use.
And so… But we were treated pretty good, by the white kids, by the time we were in
grade school. Not like when they were in the Indian school, you know. They were
isolated from the white people. But…
C:
How big was the school there?
EF:
Oh, gosh! We probably had, maybe, ten or twelve kids in each class, and it was first
grade through eighth. Uh-huh.
AF:
Yeah, Everett Buford was the only one in the eighth grade, and we started out in the first
grade. And Mrs. Estes taught all the grades. Everything. We learned everything.
EF:
She cooked, and—
AF:
She taught us to sing, she taught us our math, she really—and she could handle them, too,
where a lot of the substitute teachers come in, they couldn’t handle the Indian kids. But
Mrs. Estes made us study! Now, I mean, she had the ruler, too, and she used it!
[Laughter]
EF:
And she fixed lunch, too.
AF:
Yes, she also prepared our lunch. And Everett would be our teacher, he’s at the teacher’s
desk while she’s preparing lunch. And someone was chose to go and put paper towels on
the desks, and pour our drinks, and we all had to line up and wash up before we’re
allowed to eat. And she was, she taught us a lot of hygiene, too. We had to—and she did
everything for us. And then, when the doctor came to give us our shots, she made sure we
were held down so we wouldn’t move! [Laughter] That way, the doctor give us our shot
in our arms. And then, also, we had to go to Winnemucca, to the dentist. And all the
Indian children had to go there. I couldn’t remember who took us. I guess it was the
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health nurse, we had a county health nurse. And she would go out into the different
Indian homes and visit, and if they had new babies, she’d make sure they had a birth
certificate.
EF:
That was Miss Kelso. Was that Miss Kelso?
AF:
Yeah, that was Mrs. Kelso. And she made sure that the children had their birth
certificates, and she weighed them and took all the vitals down. And she was really,
really good. She was good with everyone. And she would tell the mothers how to carry
themselves after childbirth. I remember, like I said, I was a nosy little kid, and I’d hide
and listen to everything that was going on. [Laughter] And I’m not nosy like that
anymore, but I still like to know what’s going on. But Grandma, I’d say, “Grandma, tell
me this, tell me that! Oh, tell me what happened years ago!” But she’d get started
sometimes, and she’d get sidetracked and forget all about me. But she was good about
telling me things. And she never got impatient. Very seldom got impatient with me. But,
and Grandmom had given birth—Myrtle was her stepchild, when Myrtle’s mother died in
childbirth.
EF:
Now say, tell who Myrtle was. Say who was Myrtle. Norm’s—
AF:
Myrtle Dick Cavanaugh. She was Grandpa’s oldest daughter. He was married to a
Shoshone girl, and she was quite young, and she died in childbirth when she gave birth to
Myrtle. And Grandma was living with Grandpa’s two sisters, Suzie and Annie. I
remember them very well. And Annie married Kuttsaahwene [11:24]. They called him
Frying Pan Johnny, but his real name was Johnny Jones. And the other sister married
Piasappeh [11:31]. Bill Cheeney was his name. And neither sister had any children,
because as young girls they were raped by white men, which left them sterile. Well
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anyway, Grandma lived with them. She was an orphan. And after Myrtle’s mother died—
I don’t know her name, if she, whatever her name was, I don’t remember. If they did tell
her name, I don’t remember. But after, when she was still a baby, Grandpa married my
Grandma, and she took Myrtle and raised her as her own, and then she and Grandpa had
ten children. And of the ten children, only three survived to adulthood and had children.
Jimmy—I remember him, he was her youngest child, I think he was born in 1918. And he
died in Stewart of appendicitis attack. And he was her last child. I believe he was born in
1918 or 1916. I have a picture of your mother holding him in her arms when he was a
baby. And, all of her children died young. And all the names are written down, what they
died of. But they didn’t survive very long. But the oldest daughter next to Myrtle was
Lizzie. She was the one that married Charlie McKee. And that’s where the McKees and
the Charles came in, on that side. And then, Charlie and Lizzie had five daughters. All
they had was five daughters. And that’s where the daughters come, Virginia Jones, that’s
where all the descendants of them. And then, the other sister was Ina, she had four
children. She had three daughters and a son. And Mom had three sons and a daughter
with my father, and then Louise with her second husband. And then Louise was born ten
years after me. So there’s that much difference in our age, though. But she was a baby,
and I remember her real well and how spoiled she was as a child.
EF:
Who, me? [Laughter]
AF:
Just real spoiled. [Laughter]
EF:
Yeah, those were good years. I remember, like she said, Frying Pan Johnny, and Susie,
and Kuttsaahwene [13:58], and… Annie and Susie used to make baskets, and where we
lived in Battle Mountain, there was an artesian well, and lots of willows grew back there.
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So they didn’t have to go to the river to gather willows. And they used to stop by when
they were cutting willows for their baskets and stuff. And they were little, tiny women.
They were so tiny, really short. When I was just a child, I was as tall as they were. They
were really tiny. I remember that of them, that they were so short and small.
AF:
Yeah, they were. Uh-huh. And Susie was a laundress for what’s-her-name, the King is—
what’s her first name? Anyway, the Kings, she was doing laundry for them, and at that
time they had those old clotheslines that were twined, you know? Those old-time
clotheslines? And she was hanging clothes one day, and the clothesline broke and hit the
ground, hit her in the eye, and blinded her in one eye. And several years later, she became
blind in the other eye. So she remained blind until her death. And, after her husband
passed away—someone murdered him. He had a rope tied from her cabin to the
outhouse, so she could throw on the rope and find her way. And after her husband passed
away, one February, someone cut her rope and she couldn’t find her way. She got lost out
in the sagebrush, and they found her frozen to death the next day. That happened
probably in the [19]40s. And then, Annie, the other sister, she passed away at home, at
the home of her stepdaughter who was—what was her name, now? Alma Joaquin. Alma
Joaquin was her stepdaughter. Like I say, they never had children. And she, they found
her dead one morning. She had died in her sleep. And that’s how both sisters left. And
then, Grandpa—I think Grandma said he died of pneumonia. Grandma said he went out
to work, and he came home ill, and they couldn’t save him. That was Grandpa Dick. And
then she married John Hanks, who was from here. And he passed away sometime in the
[19]40s, the middle [19]40s.
EF:
He’s buried in Elko here.
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AF:
Yeah, he’s in Elko here. And Grandma lived on and on until they figured she was a
hundred and two. But I remember when she passed away in Elko, when we went to see
her, your grandma was sitting there at the head of her casket. She was rubbing her head.
And I said to Mother, I said, “Who’s that lady sitting there rubbing Grandma’s head?”
She said, “That’s my sister Myrt.” I said, “Oh!” Then it kind of all fell into place, and
then I realized how the relationship was at that time. And then, Lida, your mother used to
write to me all the time. I used to—I had whole pile of letters from her. I guess they got
lost somewhere. But she used to write me the most interesting letters! [Laughter] Yeah,
and we were quite close, because we used to play together as children when we were
small. She was younger than me. We used to play. We we came to Battle Mountain to
visit, but we always [17:18]—
EF:
They split our families up when they moved so many of them to Owyhee. So most of our
relation went to the reservation then. And so, I didn’t know a lot of them when I was real
little. And when I got older, my mother and I used to come to Elko and catch the stage.
That first stage was like an Army truck with the canvas on the back. And we’d drive that
to Mountain City. And then, there was another stage that took us from Mountain City to
Owyhee—or sometimes relatives would come and pick us up. Forrest Shaw would come
and pick us up. And, when Grandma got real old, and needed care, our mother was
working—she was alone then. She and my father were divorced, and she was supporting
herself and me, because I was little, still. And so, Edith Shaw and Forrest came and got
Grandma. And they took care of her in Owyhee for the rest of her life. Yeah. And see, I
never knew my brothers, because her dad took the boys, and they moved to Owyhee—
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AF:
I didn’t either! I didn’t know I had brothers! Anyway, they had grown up into young
men. And they went into the service. And Earl was the first one that Aunt Jessie, who
was my father’s sister, took him aside and says, “You have a mother. She lives in Battle
Mountain. She’s very much alive.” Because their father always told the boys their mother
was deceased. So anyway, “So you go and see her.” So, our mother said one day, she saw
this young Marine coming across, and she said, “I wonder who that young man is. He
must be lost.” He come knocking on her door, and she still didn’t know who he was. And
he said, “Are you my mother?” And she said, “Well, who are you?” “I’m Earl.” So I
guess there was an emotional reunion then. And then, Charles was the next one to come
and see her. And Charles was just a little bit upset with his father about not telling him
about Mom. And for a while there, he didn’t have much to do with his father. And he
spent all his time with Mother, learning all the things that he missed out on when he was
growing up. But I do remember Ray. Ray was the oldest one. I remember when I was
small, he used to come from the Colony. He’d come over and pick me up and carry me
home. I just, I must have been about—I was only about three years old. He’d carry me
home, and I’d play all day there at my Grandma Annie’s place. And then when it was
getting dark, toward evening, he’d carry me home. And that went on until they moved to
Owyhee, and then I never saw them again! And then, I never met my father until I was
already married and had a family. And so, I went to Owyhee to visit. And I thought, “I
wonder how things are going to be.” And it was just a wonderful reunion! He came right
over, and he shook hands with mother, and he was giving the kids presents, and giving
them arrowheads, and digging out things that he had, and he gave them. And he gave me
a diamond ring. And he was just digging out all kinds of treasures. [Laughter] And
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anyway, that was my first reunion. And before I got to know him, he passed away. Before
I really got to know him. So we were kind of split-up, mixed-up family. But I had a good
stepfather.
C:
So what was your father’s name?
AF:
He was good to me.
EF:
Tell him your father’s name.
AF:
Oh, Jim Crum. Jim Crum was my father’s name. And he had a brother by the name of
Jim Crum. They called him “Big Jim.” He was the one that was killed by the white man
when he was a young man.
EF:
I was kind of split between two worlds, because Mother was Native and my father was
white. And, it’s really funny, but the white kids treated me better than the Indian kids did.
Of course, I can see why. Because we lived in town, and we had, probably had more than
the kids on the Colony. And I never knew—Mother would say, “What happened to you at
school today?” And I’d say, “Well, So-and-so and I had a fight.” And she’d say, “You’re
not supposed to fight with her, she’s your relative!” And I’d say, “I didn’t know she was
my relative!” [Laughter] And, yeah. And I found out that we were related to a lot of
people. Nearly everybody on the Colony, there was some kind of tie. And then of course,
like I said, when I was about eight years old, that’s when I met a lot of relatives from
Owyhee. That’s when I found out that her father lived there, and he was a policeman
then. And that I had brothers, but I’d never seen them. And Edith and Forrest, that’s
usually where we stayed. Because they had more room. Then, I didn’t known Cinnabar
was my cousin, Raymond Cinnabar was my cousin, and then you guys are relatives, and
Dan—what’s his name?
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AF:
Blossom.
EF:
Dan Blossom was—because he and the McDades, one of their boys. He used to play with
their boys. And they just lived down the road from us, because they had a white father,
too. Gracie and Clarence and them. And anyway, Dan and Gracie’s oldest brother, they
were kind of close to my age. So we kind of played together when we were kids. Because
we all played out in the sagebrush in those days! [Laughter] And that’s about the extent
of it, I guess.
AF:
Now, I found out that my daughter-in-law, her grandma’s name was Rosie Winnop. And
they were Paiute. And there’s a relationship between the Cinnabars and the Winnops.
Which made my daughter-in-law and my son distant relation. [Laughter] So, that was
interesting! So, we were doing our genealogy, and she said, “Frank! Are you related to
me?” And we looked around and, “Oh, yeah! There’s a relationship.” And then, when
Vivian did the genealogy for me on her part, we found where the relationship came in.
And that was interesting. Yeah! And from that time on, she thought, “There’s no one like
Anita.” And Anita hasn’t written her lately, so she wanted to try to get down and see her.
But that was interesting. And then, her grandfather, they call him Indian Ike. He was
murdered by the whites for his gold. He found a gold mine out of Imlay. And as the white
people, the white men, they followed him, and they found where his gold was, and they
killed him. And so anyway, Louise and I, we looked up the newspapers and found out
about what happened to him. But they didn’t refer to him by name. They referred to him
as “the Indian.” “The Indian did this,” “the Indian did that.” “The Indian” was blamed.
But he was shot in the back, though! So anyway, it was really interesting to me, because I
was so interested in family history. And like on the other side, I did their family history
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clear back to where they started from in England. And I think possibly they went back to
Scandinavia. I think that was where they originated, was in a Scandinavian country. And
then, I did my Indian side, I found out through my husband, that his mother was almost
half Choctaw. And I have a picture of her, and she shows it very much. And then, this
writer of the Cherokee alphabet, there’s a relationship there through marriage. Through
the Fisk side. So, that was interesting. So, and I started with my Indian side, then I let
Alan take over because of his, that little bit—I didn’t have time for the research, or else I
was too lazy to do it anymore. But took me thirty years to do the other side! And all that’s
genealogy. All of that is genealogy. And there’s more that I’ve collected over the years.
C:
So, what do you remember about Raymond Cinnabar’s dad and his family?
AF:
I don’t remember much about Raymond except for what little bit he told me. Now, see,
like I say, I didn’t meet my family until years later. And when I went to Owyhee, then all
this relationship fell in. But I do have all that Vivian gave me on the relationship there. I
do have all that written down. I have it all in my little filing cabinet. I have the Indian
thing separate from the other. And I do have all that. There is relationship, and there is a
grave in Winnemucca under a tree. And that would be the relationship on Anita’s side,
and on Raymond’s side. I think he said that was—was that his mother, did he say? I can’t
remember. Well, anyway, and that was also related to Anita. And so, it was through the
Winnops. They were Winnops. And I do have all that written down, was when Vivian
was—oh, this has been twenty years ago or more that she wrote all this down for me.
And I still have it. And then we have the family group she’s made up where they all came
together on my side, and on their side. So, it’s really interesting. Then I have, starting out
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with the Dicks on down on that side, then I have the other side where the Winnops and
on down on their side; where they all meet together.
EF:
Where they connect, yeah.
AF:
Well, that’s quite interesting history.
C:
So did you both graduate from Battle Mountain, then, or was there a high school there,
or—?
EF:
Yeah, there was a high school there. I went to high school there. Uh-huh.
AF:
Did you grad—where’d you graduate?
EF:
Oh, I got a C.E.D.
AF:
Oh, you did, huh? Uh-huh.
EF:
Yeah, because I got married, and then—but they still, I’m still in that class, you know.
When they have reunions.
AF:
I completed the eleventh grade, but I never finished. I could have got a G.E.D., because
my daughter-in-law was a high school teacher. Kept saying, “Grandma, get your
G.E.D.!” “Oh, I will, I will!” She went and mailed the books, and I studied it for a while.
Said, “You can do it! You’ll graduate with your granddaughter.” I thought, “Well, I don’t
want to graduate with my”—hepitsoo up there on the stage with all those young kids! I
wouldn’t do it! [Laughter]
EF:
Everybody does it now.
AF:
Up there in a cap and a gown there in my old age! Because I was in my sixties then, I
went back to school. And she was my teacher. So I took up Spanish, and I took up
literature. I took up genealogy, and what else did I take? Nevada history. I took
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something else. And I enjoyed it, I had lots of fun! But I never went on. Oh, I took piano
lessons, too. [Laughter] I learned to read music, I never learned to play the piano!
EF:
Well, back what—
AF:
Oh, I can play a little bit, or on the organ, but I never—I lost interest. There’s just too
many things I wanted to do, and I couldn’t do them all!
EF:
See, back when we left school, back in the [19]50s, we could go to—like, I went to
business college. And we could go on even without a diploma, because it was different
then. But then, later on, when I went and got my…
C:
So, where did you go to business college?
EF:
I went to Henager’s, in Utah. In Ogden, Utah. Because we lived in Utah. I was married
before, and my first husband worked for the railroad. He worked in there, and his family
was in Utah. And so, I just went and signed up, and went to school! [Laughter]
AF:
It was so strange. I was getting ready to go to school. This old man came over to visit my
husband at the time. And he said, “Where are you barging off to?” I said, “I’m on my
way to school.” He said, “What are you learning?” I said, “I’m learning English.” He
said, “Well, you seem to speak English pretty well.” So I left it go at that, and went on to
school. [Laughter] It was fun. I enjoyed school second time around. It was too bad I
didn’t go ahead and go a little further. But then, I’m busy with the kids and grandkids and
everything, so I just didn’t. Yeah, I just thought that I didn’t lose interest. I enjoyed it.
Because like I say, I do a lot of reading, and lot of studying on books and stuff, and I’ve
always got my dictionary handy. And then, I still like to read, and I still like to play with
my dictionary. And I still like to do word games.
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EF:
Well, you know, I did a lot of other things, too. When we lived in Wendover, my
husband, Walt, was in the fire department. And at that time, the EMTs, they were starting
to get EMTs to go on the ambulance. Well, they had all these firemen signed up, and paid
them money, and two of them didn’t go on the day they were supposed to go. So, another
fireman’s wife and myself, we went and took that course. So, I was an EMT for, like, 18
years. I worked in Wendover and in Wells. And so, I got a lot of, you know—I’ve done a
lot of things without a good education!
AF:
I did too. I took a home nursing and care of the sick. I took that and got a certificate in
that. But I never took care of the sick unless I took anyone home or something, but I
never pursued that either. Oh, and I also worked in a shipyard. I went to welding school,
and did some welding. That was fun. And I enjoyed that. I worked in the marine
shipyards over in California. And I went to join the boilermakers’ union. Welding way is
cool, finally I got enough burns on my chest I got mad and quit! [Laughter]
EF:
Well, those things happen! Yep.
C:
So, when you guys were with your—is it Grandma Emma?
EF:
Yeah.
C:
What—did she share any of our Shoshone cultural stories, or anything along our customs
and ways of lifestyle, I guess?
EF:
Not really. She worked all the time when I was growing up. She did when you was little,
too.
AF:
Yeah, she did when I was growing up. But I used to ask her things, and she would tell
me. She’d sit down and tell me. And, it was mostly about her own family, and some of
the things that she did, and how she was afraid of the white people. And she was telling
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me one time, she was doing laundry for this person, or these people, rather, and she said
they put a tub of water on to heat for the wash water. And she said their child, who was
about two or three years old, ran and tripped and fell in that tub of boiling water.
Grandma said she just knew that she was going to go to jail. So she said she ran and hid.
So she hid for two days. And they searched for her, and searched for her, and they finally
found her. So the mother of the child said, “Emma, it was not your fault. It was an
accident. You didn’t do it.” So Grandma said she quit her job. And she had to—she said
she had nightmares over it that worried her. And I know she was always deathly afraid of
that, having her water boil outside, but she always did, because it was the only way she
had to heat water. She always made sure I didn’t go near that tub of water. Because,
being nosy, I had to go poke it with a stick to see how hot it was! [Laughter] And then, I
know she used to tell me, and we used to go getting ‘zips’ [tsippi], you know, and pour
the water in there, and Grandma would hit ‘em in the head. I never cared to eat them,
though. But I remember her cooking the rabbits. And making her bread. She used to
make the best bread in the ashes, without any pan she would make them! And it had to be
a certain kind of ash that she used. And that ash would burn down, and she’d take her
dough and throw it right on the ashes, cover it up. And when it was done, she’d take her
apron, she’d clean all the ashes off, and break it in pieces. Oh, it was delicious! And the
ashes didn’t penetrate the bread. It was just on the outside. But she said it had to be a
certain ash. I don’t know what. Then we used to dig yuteka. And they were little roots
about this long.
EF:
Yes, I remember that.
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AF:
And we had to dig and dig and dig, and they had a brown bark on them. They would peel
that bark off, they’d eat them. They had kind of a sweet taste to it. They were good. But
remember? We used to dig yuteka, too. What else we used to dig?
EF:
We don’t know where it grows, now. We’ve never found it for years.
AF:
No, we’ve never found it!
C:
Oh, man!
AF:
I knew it had a flat leaf, and it grew about this long. [Indicates 4-5 inches.] And I was
wondering if that’s what they call yampa, if that’s the same thing.
EF:
I don’t know!
AF:
I don’t either. But I do remember they called it yuteka, and we used to dig them all the
time. I remember we’d dig quite deep. And of course, the wild onions. And we used to go
fishing all the time. We used to gather all our gear.
EF:
Oh, Grandma was a great fisherman!
AF:
[Laughter] And we’d go a long way! Seemed like we were miaking and miaking for ages!
Then we’d finally get to the river. And Susie was blind at that time, but she always
filtered that river water. She always dug a little hole there just about so far from the river.
And the water would seep in there, and that was drinking water. And then she would boil
it until we had drinking water. But, I remember little blind Susie doing all those things.
She used to make bread and stuff like that. But if it wasn’t for Kuttsaahwene, she
wouldn’t have got by. Because he watched her, and took her to town, until he passed
away and there was no one to look after her. Grandma did. Grandma check on her every
day. And Minnie Leach, also. Until, like I say, someone cut her rope, and she froze to
death.
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C:
So, who were some of the families, the old families in Battle Mountain, besides the
Leach?
AF:
Let’s see. There was Kuttsaahwene, who was Jones. And that Leach was his sister.
Minnie Leach was his sister. And then there was—now, let’s see. I don’t know who.
Frying Pan Johnny was from, what’s this place out here? Palisade. He was from Palisade.
I don’t know how the two met, but he had family in Palisade, she said. But I’ve never met
them. And then, Grandma of course. She had her family, and her granddaughters married
men in Owyhee. That’s how they all settled in Owyhee. And Dad never married until he
was an old man, and he married this, I don’t know who she was. But I met her once. And
he married her in his old age. And to this day, I don’t know who she was. And Charles,
my brother, had married, but he never had a family. Of course, Earl married Beverly.
What’s her last name? Beverly, Beverly.
EF:
Premo.
AF:
Premo. And on the Shaws. And let’s see. Edith married Forrest Shaw. And her mother, of
course, was Grandma’s oldest daughter, Lizzie’s daughter. Like I say, they had the five
daughters. And they were all people in Owyhee. Of course, I have lots of relations there,
that I don’t know who they are. When we had our family reunion, I didn’t know any of
them!
EF:
I didn’t know half of them.
AF:
Gosh, there were a lot of people there! And I didn’t—I just knew those immediate ones,
like my brother’s family. But the rest of them—but there were, oh, a lot of people there.
And they were all related. And I’ve got pictures of mine, not too long ago, one of my—
let’s see, he would be my cousin’s son. He came over and identified a lot of them for me.
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I didn’t know who they were, so he wrote the names all down for me. And they were all
on—they were the Shaw side. And, but I had all the pictures taken at this reunion, and I
didn’t know them!
EF:
Yeah, we didn’t know a lot of people.
AF:
Just our immediate family, we knew. And in Battle Mountain, we really didn’t—
EF:
Ina was our only family.
AF:
We had a lot of relation there, but we didn’t really know how close they were. And then
after they were all gone, Mother said, “Well, that was So-and-so, that was my so-and-so,”
you know, and everybody had it written down because didn’t know who they were, you
know?
EF:
I think one reason why was because Mother married a white man. And a lot of them were
kind of afraid of him. They didn’t come around.
AF:
Uh-huh, yeah. And Grandmother’s always busy working, she didn’t have time. The only
time she had time to visit was when they came to the washhouse to visit with her. And I
do have a lot of pictures that my dad gave me. There’s a few I can’t identify, but most of
them have been identified. And then, there’s the Cerlene Mosh who lives across the
street. Now, she is related to me through my grandma Annie Crum. Her brother—
EF:
—there was a Paradise.
AF:
See, their daughter married a Paradise. That’s where all the Paradises come in. And I
have most of their names written down, but anything else, I don’t know them. And then, I
used to hear from the one that lived in McDermitt, what was his name? He was related to
you. He was… I guess he was, to you he would be your uncle?
C:
Art.
�GBIA
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EF:
Art.
AF:
And he wrote stories, and… What was his name?
C:
Art.
AF:
Yeah, Art. He used to write to me, too. Yeah. He wanted to know if I’d share some of
Mother’s tapes with him, but then we never did get together, and then he passed away
before we ever got the things together that we were wanting to get together. And we
never did that.
EF:
Yeah, Mother was the storyteller.
AF:
Yeah, she was a storyteller. And then we had, I had a shoebox full of tapes. I gave them
to Alan. That was when they were, a lot of them were so brittle because I had them for
years and years. And then Earl had a bunch made up. So anyway, Earl was the one to get
all these stories out of Mother. Like I say, sometimes she told us when she felt like. And
we were children when she told us the little story that we liked, our favorite stories. She
told us. And I, in turn, told them to my grandchildren. And then I wrote some down for
them, and they were delighted with them! [Laughter] And in fact, my grandson, not too
long ago, said, “Oh, Grandma! I want you to write me the story about the Porcupine and
the Coyote. Oh, that’s my most favorite story!” “Okay!” So I wrote him the story and
sent it to him. [Laughter] And the other one, her favorite was the Deer and the Bear, her
favorite story. And the Tsoappittseh.
EF:
Oh, of course Tsoappittseh. Itsappe. Yeah, my dad worked nights. And Mother used to
tell me—because I was the only one. She and I were alone when my dad was at work.
And she’d tell me stories at night, you know. Of course, a lot of them she had to tell in
English because I’m not very fluent in Shoshone. [Laughter]
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AF:
Well, I know when we listened to stories at Grandma’s house, they were always—we had
to repeat it. She’d tell us such-and-such thing happened, and then—and pretty soon,
there’d be no more repeating because we’d all be asleep! [Laughter] Oh, that was fun.
But Grandma was a good storyteller, Grandma was.
C:
Well, that shoebox that you talk about—you know, we were able to convert them over to
CDs. Yeah. So, now they’re preserved. And, is there anything you guys would like to—
have you had a chance to listen to some of those at this point?
AF:
Yeah, see, I’m hearing impaired. Both ears. So, I put those ear things in my ear. It’s the
only way I can hear them. So I listened to them, I listened to songs. And I just turned
them back to her. And those that Mother sent me—when I was living in Kansas, she’d
send me a tape instead of a letter. And then I’d send her a tape instead of a letter in
answer. So that’s how we kept in touch. So then, I had some of her tapes, and then I said,
“Oh no, Momma didn’t have something good to say about people! I don’t want So-andso to hear this!” [Laughter] And Mother’d get carried away on her tapes sometimes and
she’d tell me things. But the ones that I sent to her in Shoshone, I don’t know what
happened to them.
EF:
Hm. Maybe she threw them away.
AF:
Or maybe she, they accidentally got thrown away or something.
EF:
Yeah, I’m so grateful that we got those, and that you were able to help us get those on
CDs. Because they would have just been lost. And you know, out of all my
grandchildren, Wally and Alan especially I think, they’re the ones that really are
interested in it. Yeah. That’s one thing that I’ve said about Alan’s wife: she’s really good
about our—
�GBIA
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C:
Culture.
AF:
Mmhm.
EF:
Yeah.
C:
So, with those CDs that we’ve transferred over from cassette, are you guys okay with us
sharing those?
AF:
Oh, yeah!
EF:
The storage, that’s fine.
AF:
That’s fine, yeah. Except for the personal letters—those are, well, know—
EF:
No, he didn’t do those. He did, yeah—
AF:
Oh, those were two separate ones, yeah. Oh, those are fine. But I noticed there were a
couple of them, they were very dim. Of course, it could have been it’s my hearing, too,
but the rest of them came loud and clear. But there were a couple of them that were hard
for me to hear.
C:
Yeah, there were some of them that were hard to—
AF:
Yeah, they were pretty brittle, I would imagine.
C:
Yeah, they were very brittle. Yeah, we had to be very careful with them.
AF:
Oh, well, they were done in the early [19]80s, you know. And being in the sun, and…
EF:
Oh, yeah. And yeah, we do want to share them, because not everybody has these stories
now, probably.
C:
No, they don’t.
AF:
Yeah. Well, there’s a story goes that when your grandmother was born, like I say, her
mother died in childbirth. She was this new baby, and there’s nothing they could do with
her. And one of the sisters says, “We can’t raise this child, because we have no milk, we
�GBIA
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&
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23
have nothng to feed her. She’s going to die.” So then, anyway, they said, “[Shoshone at
45:23].” So, they got the baby all prepared—this was your grandma—to put her in the
grave with her mother. And so, Grandpa Louis said no. So, he grabbed this child, and he
ran. And he ran over to his sister’s house, and he said, “I want you to take care of her and
save her.” So Annie, Annie fashioned a buckskin—made a nipple out of buckskin. And
she did with flour and water, and she fed the baby that for the first meal, to be able to find
milk for her. And the girls raised her. And then, when Grandma married him, then she
took over raising the baby. And then, that was a story about Myrt Cavanaugh.
C:
Huh.
AF:
Yeah. I remember there were times when Myrt and Grandma were really close, and Myrt
would hug her, and say, “Oh, my Momma!” And then there were times when they
weren’t as close.
EF:
Oh, that’s not—[Laughter] That’s normal!
AF:
But when Grandma died, I remember your Grandma sitting there rubbing her head. And I
didn’t know who she was, until Mother told me she was “my sister, Myrt.” Then it all fell
into place! And then I started asking more questions. And then I get all my answers there.
And then I did ask Momma how her brothers and sisters died, the little ones. And she told
me what happened to them. And one was kicked by a horse. And couple of them died that
had that flu epidemic. And one was stuck by pin, got an infection when he was just a tiny
baby. And all these things that happened over there happened to them. I have all that
written down. And Jim Beak, he was—I remember him real well. I was going to Stewart
at the time he went to Stewart. And he was already, I think it was his last year of school
when he died. He had appendicitis attack in Stewart, and it took his life there.
�GBIA
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&
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EF:
A lot of our family died from appendicitis.
AF:
Yeah, that was one of our afflictions, it seem like.
EF:
Yeah. Our mother nearly died, too, from that.
AF:
Yeah, we almost lost her.
EF:
But they were able to bring her to Elko and operate and save her.
AF:
Yeah, that happened when you were about two years old, I think, when she had that bad
bed.
EF:
A lot of her brothers and sisters, she said, died from appendicitis.
C:
So in closing—we have about five minutes left—what would you guys like to say, or
would you like to, I guess—in closing, what would you like to say to anybody that’s
going to be watching this recording? Some things that you may recommend, or some
things that you want to leave people with. What’s important in our culture, and so forth.
AF:
My grandmother always said when I was a child, she said, “Always respect your elders.
Always talk nice to them, because you’re going to go down that same path some day.”
How true! I’m walking down that same path that she walked down.
EF:
Well, I’m so grateful that Mother made these tapes, and that we can share them with
other people of our culture, you know. Because we’re a dying breed. Because of the
white people, we’re just being watered down every generation, you might say, and we
need this to hang onto to keep our heritage, so that we know where we came from, and
what it was like, and what kind of stories they told. Just like the white people wrote
books. And ours went from mouth to mouth. Now, if we put them on tapes, then we’ll be
able to preserve those old stories, too.
�GBIA
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AF:
Well, I have written down where some of these atrocities that were committed against our
people by the white soldiers. And that’s why Tono Jake, our great-great-grandfather,
that’s why he hid his family up in Lewis Canyon. Because he was told that the Indians
were being slaughtered, and he said, “Hide your family, because they’re going to kill
them.” So he hid. Grandma said he would not come down off the mountain until almost
the 1920s. He stayed up there hidden. And he hid his family really well, and they only
would come down to where Argenta is, and Dunphy and that area, and they would fish
and get their willows, and go back to the mountains and hide. And she used to tell us
about what they did to the Indians. The mean things—they were mean! And you just
can’t believe the things that they did! You know? Grandma said that they would rape
babies, little girls! And that just doesn’t seem like a thing that a person would do that. But
I guess they did. They were trying to wipe us out!
EF:
That’s right!
AF:
They didn’t succeed. But I mean, all of this horrible thing that she told me, I wrote them
all down, and I hate to have anybody read them. It’s too awful to print, and to have
people read those. But then, they’re true! And then, I have a couple that Carrie Dann had
written down, what happened to her people. And I thought, “Oh, gosh! I guess we
weren’t alone. They did that to all of us!” You know, things that were atrocities.
EF:
From the time they came over here, they did to all of the Tribes. All of us.
[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
Edith and Adele Fisk
Location
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Elko, NV (Adele Fisk residence)
Original Format
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DVD and VOB format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:51:30
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/574
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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Edith & Adele Fisk - Oral history (03/27/2012)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Edith & Adele Fisk, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV, on 03/27/2012
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Edith and Adele Fisk are Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV and are currently residing in Elko, NV. Edith and Adele speak about the history of Battle Mountain while they were growing up. They speak about their families and what it was like growing up in a segregated town. For instance, they spoke about how trivial it was speaking a different language at home versus at school. Although, they do speak about how their teacher watched over them like a parent. They also recall their parents’ and grandparents’ stories which referred to contact between the Western Shoshone, emigrants, and U.S. Calvary soldiers as well as the traditional Shoshone tales. They also speak about their genealogy as well as how contact has contributed to the degradation of the Western Shoshonean culture and how doing oral histories and recording stories will help younger generations keep up the Shoshonean culture.</p>
Video pending <br /> <a title="Edith and Adele Fisk Oral History Transcript" href="/omeka/files/original/ea429a097a90f70f17d16b9fbeb057a7.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Edith and Adele Fisk 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 028
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
03/27/2012 [27 March 2012]; 2012 March 27
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
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/378
Language
A language of the resource
English; some Shoshoni
Battle Mountain
Community
contact
Crossroads
GBIA
heritage
language
school
Shoshone
Story
U.S. Cavalry
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/0816d38ecc796dff5a87f77e211eba8b.jpg
ca8dc9d7b1e1cba01c222de31efe7928
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
misc
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:09:01
Event Type
Shoshonean Language Reunion
Participants
Names of individuals or groups participating in the event
Tribes and descendants of the Numic Language family
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
"March of Flags" during the 8th Annual Shoshonean Language Reunion (14-16/08/2007)
Subject
The topic of the resource
"March of Flags" during the Shoshonean Language Reunion at Lemon Valley (Reno, NV), on 14-16/08/2007
Description
An account of the resource
This clip is the ‘Walking of the Flags’ during the 8th Annual Shoshonean Language Reunion that was hosted by Reno-Sparks Indian Colony on the 14th – 16th of August in 2007. Each flag in the march represents the different tribes/groups involved within the march. The march was rallied on by the Black Plume Drum Group.
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 016
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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14-16/08/2007 [14-16 August 2007]; 2007 August 14-16
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.
Consent form on file (administrator access only):
Language
A language of the resource
English
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
heritage
language
Lemon Valley
Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
Shoshone
Shoshonean Language Reunion
song
traditional
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/5aecb929ba37fd5f5f8056831b3d55b9.docx
eee983e80c1e34a6495f7dc61fe8c3d3
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/6cc74b24fbcde9805645cf333b567709.docx
21809c6e9beec554ef17448bdf819828
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/eac2e1f6e7e88e6fc7b3a71c895ceedd.docx
d20d0d7f94e6109853601db3cd19be2d
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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Great Basin Indian Archive Holdings
Subject
The topic of the resource
Non-oral history documents and files from the Great Basin Indian Archives
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of files and documents shared from the Great Basin Indian Archive holdings collections. The collection does not include the <a title="GBIA Western Shoshone Oral Histories" href="/omeka/collections/show/17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GBIA Western Shoshone Oral Histories, which are a separate collection</a>.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archives
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives - <a title="Great Basin Indian Archives website" href="http://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.gbcnv.edu/gbia</a>
Relation
A related resource
<a title="GBIA Western Shoshone Oral Histories" href="https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/gbia-oral_histories" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GBIA Western Shoshone Oral Histories</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
varies
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshone
Document
Documents such as transcripts, pdf files, legal documents, letters, etc.
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
Community Shoshone Language Materials from Fall 2016 Workshop
Description
An account of the resource
<p style="font-size: medium;">During the Fall 2016 Shoshone Community Language Teachers Workshop, instructor Samuel Broncho distributed these documents to help community teachers develop curriculum and lesson plans.</p>
<p style="font-size: medium;">The documents include:</p>
<ul style="font-size: medium;">
<li><a title="Download Shoshone Curriculum Plan" href="/omeka/files/original/6cc74b24fbcde9805645cf333b567709.docx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shoshone Language Curriculum</a> for course planning</li>
<li><a title="Download Newe Lesson Plan document" href="/omeka/files/original/5aecb929ba37fd5f5f8056831b3d55b9.docx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Newe Lesson Plan</a> for daily/weekly lesson planning</li>
<li><a title="Class Sign-In Sheet download" href="/omeka/files/original/eac2e1f6e7e88e6fc7b3a71c895ceedd.docx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sign-In Sheet</a> for attendance and participation tracking</li>
</ul>
<p style="font-size: medium;">To use these documents, merely download and add the specific information and materials to be used in the class be taught.</p>
<p style="font-size: medium;">For any questions on using these documents, contact Sam Broncho at <a title="E-mail Sam Broncho" href="mailto:samuel.broncho@gbcnv.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">samuel.broncho@gbcnv.edu</a>.</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Samuel Broncho
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
18 November 2016
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Documents are free for use and may be downloaded and modified without restriction
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
.docx
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshone
Community
Crossroads
Faculty
GBIA
instructor resources
language
Meaning
Shoshone
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/578f16876d932993ba17a1f4dd471ae3.jpg
f0f26c8ac8c10c032a05c5852c4cb04b
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/7fd3c0dc61c03af54cc104e7396bb57b.pdf
c14ce2184285b42832c13710067765bd
PDF Text
Text
Earl
and
Beverly
Crum
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
004
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
February
1,
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 004
Interviewee: Earl and Beverly Crum
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: February 1, 2006
BC:
The songs, the Newe hupia, that Earl and I share with people, are those songs that have
been handed down through the oral tradition. It means you learn it from somebody older
than yourself. The somebody who is older than yourself has learned it from somebody
older than themselves. And so that’s the way it makes its way down, that’s the way oral
tradition continues. But then, one day, if you stop doing that—
EC:
What I learned for my own personal self is that, I learned it from my—my mother
recorded some songs for me. And she put it on tape. That’s how I learned most of them.
But the ones we have, we are singing, were something that I had heard at different round
dances. We call it Fandango. And possibly from older people that I’ve contacted in my
lifetime, you know, as a child, or otherwise as I was growing up. I grew up with this
stuff. So round dances is an old tradition with the Shoshone people. It goes way, way,
way back. It’s—it has to do with the closeness of the people. And the main thing is, the
songs that goes with the dance. If you listen to the words, you interpret it. Lot of them,
many songs can be interpreted in different ways. So if the people are dancing, one might
interpret it one way, and another one might interpret it in a different way. But, I mean,
generally, you had one central, main meaning. There are many, many round dance songs.
Many more than handgame or bear dance. And I’m talking about with the few handgame
songs, especially those that have words in it. And I kind of have a leaning toward that.
But, most all round dances have words. And there’s a story to tell. Where in hand game,
it’s just fun on it. And the bear dance has lots of words, but it’s something that has been
going on for years and years. They don’t do that anymore, I don’t think. When they talk
about the Ute bear dance, well, that’s different altogether. That’s their culture. But we
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have that culture, too. And all of our bear dance song have words. And then, all bear
dances don’t have—they’re not singing about a bear. Some of them has to do with
people, or other animals, like birds, or… That’s what those are about. So, like I say, both
kinds, but...
BC:
Well, we try to pick songs that are—like you told us last fall, for example. You said,
“This is going to be about water. The issue of water.” [Shoshone at 4:41] You told us
already what the topic was. So, we just looked down into our songs, and those things that,
songs that were about water in particular. Some things that had to do with the issue of
water. No matter our closeness to it or whatever. And we picked those out. So that, you
know, it would be, go along with you, what you needed.
Poetry songs was not used—the poetry itself, the words, was not used in isolation. It was
a unified whole. The music, and the poetry, and the singing, they were a unified whole.
You never pulled them apart and, you know. And so, this is what we’re attempting by
doing an oral presentation where we’re reading just the poetry. See what I mean?
Because you’ll keep repeating the same thing. That same thing over and over. And it’s,
one of the, some linguist who was looking, reviewed some paper I was having published.
He says, “Why do the Shoshones keep repeating certain things? Why do they have that
need?” I says, “You dummy! That’s because they were dancing to the stuff.” And they
were dancing to it, and they were singing it. It wasn’t just poetry. It wasn’t just—you
know, “Tiger, tiger, burning bright / In the forest of the night.” You know, like taibo
poetry. It was more like, like this one song— [Begins singing]
Tamme yampa sateettsii
Okwai manti puiwennekkinna
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Yampa taai, yampa taai, yampa taai
Yampa taai, yampa taai, yampa taai1
See, you’re singing it and you’re dancing. And the poetry is all at once. But in the, but
when you come to, when you get to isolating the oral presentation, the poetry part all by
itself, you can say “Carries them away, carries them away, carries them away.”
[Laughter] You see what I mean? That it has this—like, Earl, one of his songs will be that
[Shoshone at 7:00] It starts out by a—
EC:
I’ll sing it. [Begins drumming at 7:05, singing in Shoshone from 7:08-7:50]
BC:
Okay, thank you, Earl. Thank you.
EC:
See, you can put it in poetry now.
BC:
So, like, if I had to—when we translate it, it goes, “Hunter, hunter, hunter”—that’s three.
“Hunter, hunter, hunter. Hunter, hunter, hunter.” So, you know, that makes it awkward
reading. If it was just going to be, just the oral presentation. So, what I had to do was just
say, pick out only, use that word “hunter” only once, after, you know, for the English
translation. Then it made it a nice reading for just the oral presentation, understandable to
the group. You’re kind of lost in your hunter, hunter—how many “hunters” are go there?
Is there one hunter? One, two, three, you know? You get to sing—but it’s the same
hunter, but it’s… You understand? So that part, is the ones that we have diff[iculty] going
from one culture to the other. That is kind of a neat little understandable problem once
you get it under control. [Laughter] How about the one we just got through with? How
about Pia Isam Peentsi?
EC:
Oh, okay.
1
See
Beverly
Crum,
Earl
Crum,
and
Jon
P.
Dayley,
2001,
Newe
Hupia:
Shoshone
Poetry
Songs,
pp.
152-‐53.
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BC:
Go ahead with that one, you can sing it.
EC:
[Begins drumming and singing at 9:10]
Pia Isam peentsi
Pennan kwasin katsunka
U piyaatehki
Piyaatehki,
Piyaatehki,
Piyaattua noote.
Pia Isam peentsi
Pennan kwasin katsunka
U piyaatehki
Piyaatehki,
Piyaatehki,
Piyaattua noote,
Pia Isam peentsi
Pennan kwasin katsunka
U piyaatehki
Piyaatehki,
Piyaatehki,
Piyaattua noote.2
[Concludes at 9:52]
Haiyawainna.
2
See
Crum,
Crum,
and
Dayley,
Newe
Hupia,
pp.
86-‐87.
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BC:
Okay, thank you, Earl. There, I could see—the writing system, I think the writing system
is going to change the speaking part of it. Because, noote. Piyaattua noote. But, there
would be, the sound, the “noo-teN,” the “nnn,” wouldn’t show up until there was
something following it. Remember? One of the rules? One of the rules! [Laughter] Well,
it’s the silent “n.” The silent “n.” So that, you really do need to have, like yourself,
teaching a class, who is a Shoshone speaker. And the [Shoshone at 10:44] newe
taikwaken, the newe taikwa, tamme _________________. That’s language. Not the
written part. That’s just symbols representing language. So that, you know, I’m really
happy that you’re teaching. That’s all I could say for that. But that was about, Pia isan
peentsi, furry wolf. Pia isan peentsi. Furry wolf, [sings the song back to herself quietly]
he carries him away, carries him away, carries him away—there’s one of those
repetitions again. Carries him away, on his tail he carries the child away. [Shoshone at
11:26] Upi naah kwasipi ____. When the—now, I’m 79, and back then a lot of the
parents were still telling their kids that “Ukka kai”—if you don’t mind, a misbehaving
kid, [11:43] “Ukka kai en tenankanku, Itsappe en kwasi pinnookkwanto’i!” “If you don’t
behave yourself, Coyote’s going to carry you off on his tail.” So, it’s just more—the song
has to do with more of that part of our culture, not so much talking about Wolf. Not—or,
Itsappe, either one. It’s not talking about either of them. It’s talking about that short
saying. Every language in the world has sayings. Well, Shoshone’s no different.
To children, how to keep them in line. [Laughter]
NC:
So the stories had a way of, having a moral to the story, of letting children—
BC:
Yeah! Yeah, without being preachy. A song is one of the good, really nice ways, yeah.
Well, the saying, though, is hitting it pretty well over the head: if you don’t behave
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yourself, Coyote’s going to carry—who wants to be carried off by Coyote? I don’t know
whether the kids would still be afraid of Coyote this day and age, I don’t. Or anything
else, for that matter. Anymore, what is their bogeyman? [Shoshone at 12:54] You don’t
know? It’d be a nice research. [Laughter]
EC:
But, first I’m going to start with a handgame song. It’s about snow coming down. Well,
[__inaudible at 13:15__].
[Begins singing in Shoshone at 13:16]
[Concludes at 13:44]
That’s Doc Blossom’s handgame song. [Laughter] Anyway, maybe it’s not his, but that’s
what he learned from somebody else.
NC:
Okay, can you tell—or Beverly, can you elaborate, on the handgame? And maybe tell a
little bit about what is a handgame song. How is it played?
BC:
It’s changed, over time. Remember how they do it in Fort Hall? Do you remember? How
did they do? Do they use sticks anymore?
NC:
Not hardly.
BC:
Really? It’s more the drum?
NC:
The drum…
BC:
Remember when it was all stick? They used the stick, completely. [Shoshone at 14:27]
Oh, that was exciting to me, it was exciting! [In the background, tapping of a drum stick
on the side of a drum, imitating the sound of two sticks clicking.] Like that. Oh, yeah! It’s
changed. I remember, as a child, the women had their own group, and the men had their
own. And the women had a nice, slower—I was too young to really know what they were
saying, but to me, the guys were really into it, pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum-pum,
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they were much more, what do you call them? Not pum-pum, but, the stick. It was much
more peppy than, whatever.
EC:
They put a log in the front, long one, front of the players. And they beat on that log. Like
if they sit the log, then you’d hear [taps on object in room]. You’d hear it like that. And in
unison. And they sure sound good!
BC:
Yeah. They lost something by stopping that, I think.
EC:
They got four—two sets of bones, who hands them out. They say, well, this is the white
bone. The one’s got a black marker on it. And you supposed to guess that unmarked one.
But the players put it in their hand, the marked one and the unmarked one. The unmarked
one is the main one. And so, they psych the other people out. They sing, and it goes:
[Sings a handgame song at 16:05] See, it’s got no words, they just sing that. Anyway,
then you’re going to have to try to guess me, which one’s got the unmarked bones. And if
you guess wrong, well, you know. They got ten sticks over there. Well, yours, and ten
sticks on this side. Then if you can’t guess it, you’ve got to give up one stick for the
people on this side. And if you can’t get guess at all, it’s ten times wrong, you lose all
your sticks. You lose that game. And you start all over again. And—
NC:
Can you tell about what they played for? What’s at stake?
EC:
Well, nowadays they play for money. They bet any amount of money they want. Twenty
dollars, 10 dollars. One dollar. Even the audience can get into it, offer money, you know.
Then they put the money in a pot, in the middle, you know. And there’s a judge over here
that’s, they’re keeping track of everything that’s going on. And that’s what they’re, what
they bet on. They bet on, whoever wins get that pot. Then they divide it among each
other. You bet all your money that way. You bet 100 dollars, you win 200 dollars.
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[Laughter] So, you win your own back and, you know. That’s the way it’s played. One
dollar, you get, you double it. [Laughter] That’s gambling! Anything else?
NC:
So, prior to the way they play it now, what did they used to play for? What did they used
to bet?
EC:
Oh, a long time ago?
NC:
A long time ago.
EC:
They bet, they said they bet, you know, something of value. Maybe a deer hide, a badger
hide, or… any kind of a skin. If it has value, then they bet that. But when [__inaudible at
18:28__] come, then it goes back [__inaudible at 18:34__]. Coyote was gambling,
playing handgame, and he lost everything that he had. The only thing he had left was his
mukua. You know what mukua is? That’s your soul. And he bet that soul, and if he lost
his soul, they say there would be no more Shoshone people.
BC:
[Laughter] [Shoshone at 19:08]. He’s sitting there crying for fear that—
EC:
He got lucky; you know, they get luck come in. He got lucky, they said that he won back
his soul. But not only that, won that soul back, but he won all the stuff he lost. He had it,
he won all that back, and then some from other people, the opposing players. He won
their tradition, too. [Laughter]
BC:
There’s the bad luck—the one story he has, he not only won his soul back, his mukua
back, but he won, they mention all the illnesses. All the human illnesses. He won all that
besides! [Laughter] So, you know, the stories are really unbelievable, you know. Well
made. They’re second to none, in storytelling. Oh, just so good!
EC:
That’s where the handgame come in. You know, they were talking about.
BC:
The earlier handgaming.
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EC:
The earlier, yeah. But see how it’s changed. And now it’s all money, you know.
NC:
Okay, Earl. If you could talk about the Bear Dance. And maybe have you sing a song for
us, and then I’ll have one of you explain what the Bear Dance is. About it, and how
people danced the Bear Dance, and why it was called the Bear Dance.
EC:
Well, long time ago, when I was a boy growing up in Battle Mountain, the Indians used
to do the Bear Dance. They took a washtub, an old-fashioned washtub, and they turn it
upside-down. And they get the stick, they get the stick, and then they rasp it. They call it
“rasping” that, so [uses drum stick to make rasping noise on drum]. It makes that kind of
sound. And then, they have the men and women, they’re standing in a row here. Like, the
men on this side, and then over there, the women will stand over there. They face each
other. Then, they get to singing. At first, they choose partners. So women choose. The
women would pick out any man they would choose, she’s interested in dancing with. So
she pick that man out. And the men are, there’s a circle of people here, like in this area
here. Then there’s an outer circle. Those people are spectators. But the inner circle are the
people who’s going to perform the dance. And the women, it’s their choice, they could
pick a man out, and the man can’t refuse. If he refuse, he’s got give her money. So, she
has, then she’ll go pick out someone else. But, if it’s okay with her man, then those two
pair off, and then other women will go and do the same thing. And they pick their
partners. Now, for this dance you have a whole bunch of dancers. Say there’s a partner in
a row, and the other partner over there. And the singers will start to, they warm up, you
know. [Rasps with the stick.] Start singing their songs then. Then when they dance, they
stand facing each other. Like we’re facing each other now. When the music start, they
come toward each other. And they intertwine hands, like this. Then they go around like
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this, and then go back around, their original position. They go together. This is one, that’s
one way. Other, they start dancing. They dance with each other, and they go back and
forth, back and forth, like this. And that’s the way it was done.
BC:
I’ve heard it referred to as [Shoshone at 23:52], you know, the Hugging Dance? Or else
[Shoshone at 23:55]. The rasping dance. It wasn’t called “Bear Dance.” Don’t know
where that came from.
EC:
Anyway, I’ll sing that song for you. This is, not all Bear Dances is about Bear. There’s
lot of them, but this one’s about the bird. This is what I learned from our old folks.
[Sings in Shoshone from 24:33-25:31]
They say that the song is about a bird. The flicker. You know what a flicker is? It’s like a
kind of woodpecker? Anyway, the bird, it’s real—it’s got a certain style of flying, like
this. [Makes rhythmic motions with arms.] If you ever observe it, that’s the way he flies.
And [__inaudible at 25:55__], that’s the name of the bird, some people call it that.
[__inaudible at 26:00__]. Because of the sound that it’s making, the noise from the
throat. It’s got its own special cry. And then their [__inaudible at 26:15__] are red, you
know. Like this. [Taps.] That’s a rope. They write it in that song, [Shoshone at 26:22], it
needs to [Shoshone at 26:29]. We use that word now, but, [Shoshone at 26:33], the old
people use that word. He’s pecking at the wood. [Taps to imitate pecking sound.]
[Shoshone at 26:42]. Because that’s, that mean. [Sings in Shoshone from 26:50-26:55].
That’s, that’s the flying motion that it makes. That’s what that song is about.
NC:
So the Bear Dance was like the mating dance for native songs? Where people got
together at the—
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BC:
Not mating, but more… social. Not so much—mating songs are more, animals.
[Laughter]
EC:
It might. It might lead to marriage, but you know, it’s fun. Supposed to be, anyway.
Anyways, there’s something about Bear.
[Sings in Shoshone from 27:39-28:41]
[Sings second song in Shoshone from 28:44-29:50]
BC:
Haiyowainna. [Laughter]
NC:
And what was that song about, there?
EC:
[Repeats lyrics in Shoshone at 29:57]. It’s, over there, other side of us, there’s a
mountain that’s covered with evergreen forest. The bear is over there, scratching on trees.
He’s marking his territory. [Laughter] That’s what that song is about.
NC:
Well, in the time we’ve got left, could you both share just a little bit about yourselves and
your childhood? Where you grew up, and how things were when you were growing up?
Maybe Earl, you could go ahead and start it, and then we’ll finish with Beverly.
EC:
Okay. When I was growing up, lived in Battle Mountain, during that time of the Great
Depression, what they call the Great Depression. Hundreds of men used to ride the
freight cars. They’d go back and forth on the Union Pacific, probably between
Sacramento and Ogden, Utah, or wherever, you know. It was a time of unemployment.
People were looking for jobs, and they can’t find any. So all these men were idle. They
go back and forth, back and forth. And we used to listen to them—when we were kids,
we used to listen to them. And they talk about Ogden or Reno, you know. And they
always warn each other about the bull. Back then I couldn’t understand, I thought it was
real bull, you know. [Laughter] They’re referring to cops. You know, the railroad
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policemen? They’re talking about it. They taught each other how to avoid ‘the bull.’
[Laughter] Anyway, that’s some of my experience then. Occasionally, one or a few of
them used to come to our house. Used to live at the west end of Battle Mountain. That’s
where all Indians live, in one place. And occasionally, couple of them have come over,
and they would beg for food. And we had bunch of old dried-out bread. So, they say
ranching life was hard, you know. So, Gram make a big pot of coffee. Probably can’t sip
it that high. And when they come over, she’d give them coffee and the hard bread. Then
they dip that hard bread in the coffee, and they eat it.
BC:
Sounds good.
EC:
And then, in appreciation, you know what they did? In appreciation, they steal a sack of
coal from the coal trains. And they bring it over to the house. That’s what we used to
burn. That’s the only one thing I remember, when [__inaudible at 33:24__].
NC:
How big was the Indian Colony there in Battle Mountain at that time?
EC:
I imagine there was about, anywhere from 150 to 200 people. Counting everybody, men
and children. And women. You know. My grandfather, he was the shaman, the Indian
doctor. And different old men would come over, and they did bloodletting. They made a,
go out there and make a little [__inaudible at 34:03__], with a sharp, pointed end. And
they would place that on the side of the podium, maybe on this side, and then take a
large, like a weight, and hit it like that. And a pool of blood would pour out down there.
That’s what they call bloodletting. I don’t know whether it’s, that was to prevent stroke,
or… But anyways, it was for my doctoring people. That I remember as I was growing up.
NC:
What was his name? What was your grandpa’s name?
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EC:
They call him Shoshone, [34:48] Natapaibui. “The one who sees the sun.” Or, some of
them call him “sharp arrow.” Mutsipaka [34:58]. Others would call him, [35:04]
Puyapekken, “duck down.” He had all the names. Those are two main ones that he used.
But his English name was Dick Crum. And he got that name from, he’s a Shoshone, he’s
a white associates. Somewhere, he got along good with the white people. Mainly, his
peer group, his own age group. So one of the ranchers close by—my grandfather had a
land there, and when the homesteading came in, the white rancher came and claimed that
land and homesteaded there. Telling my grandfather, he said, “Dick,” he told him, “you
were here before we were. This land is really your land.” So, the old man believed him.
And he lived on that ranch where they claimed, and they claimed that was the—actually,
it was a part of the Homesteading Act. And the old man, that old Crum died. That’s why
he has the name Crum. From the white man. And he died, and his son took the ranch.
And one day, he had a confrontation with my grandfather. And that young Crum told my
grandfather, “Get off my land!” You know. So, Grandfather moved to the town of Battle
Mountain, just on the west side of that—which later became the Indian colony. Then dad
had a—in them days, he used to live like a white man. So he bought two lots in town.
And he built three little houses, made it with two-room houses. And Grandpa and
Grandma living alone. He live in the other one. Us and the kids live in one. Third one
was for my mother’s moon house. And I guess Frances was up in the house. That’s how
we lived. Anyway, about early part of 1930, an Indian activist came through Battle
Mountain—I’ll never say the name. I know who it is, though. He even told my dad. He
said, “You know, Jim”—my dad’s name was Jim—“You know, Jim, Indians aren’t
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supposed to pay taxes.” My dad was paying taxes on our land. My dad quit paying taxes.
And the county foreclosed his land.
BC:
So much for doing it like a white man, huh?
EC:
That’s when he moved to Owyhee. [Laughter] That’s the way—yeah, so that’s a true
story.
NC:
So that’s how you guys, that’s how you ended up in Owyhee?
EC:
Yeah.
BC:
Had no more land. [Laughter] I think one of the joys of my childhood was when my dad
and mom would go up to the mountains in the falltime of the year, because, you know,
you had to have burning wood? Everybody went after wood, up to the mountains. So
we’d do that. While we were up there, it was the time of the year we could pick
chokecherries, see, because mom and dad had a lot of us kids where we was spending a
lot of time picking chokecherries. And so when my mom gets home, she could make
patties out of them and dry them for the winter. That I remember really well. The times
when I’d be there at home.
NC:
So most of your childhood, you grew up in Owyhee?
BC:
Not most of my—some of our childhood. Because of my health, I had to be sent off to a
TB sanatorium in Idaho.
NC:
In regards to your family, that’s where you learned a lot of your stories, as well? The
Indian stories and the legends?
BC:
Yeah. My mom was a storyteller. But my dad worked with Julian Steward and those
early anthropologists. Then he’d come home at night, and he’d tell us about what those
old people told Julian Steward. That was in the 1930s. Some of the really old people were
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still living, who were probably… I doubt it’s when the reservation started, was the 1930s.
They were very old already. And so he just said, “You could spend days with one
particular old people, because [Shoshone at 40:33(?)].” They were just full of stories to
share, and were fun to work with. And others, he said, really had—they were not able to
do that well. I tend to the conclusion some people must be storytellers, and so are maybe
able to retain more or something. So…
NC:
Okay. Is there anything else you want to add, Earl, or Beverly, before we complete the
program?
BC:
Well, I would say that the passing out—the reason we wrote the Newe [Hupia]—the
songs, Shoshone Poetry songs, is that we could pass it on to other people. Because the
language is quickly—if we’re not careful, we don’t have too many more years for it to
continue, right? Less and less children are speaking it. And a lot of the old people, either
aren’t willing, or whatever the reason, is not passing it on. I keep telling them, “When
you die, it’s going to go with you. When you die, it’s going to go with you.” So for that
reason, it was important for Earl and I to do something like this. It took us a lot of soulsearching. Honestly, it’s like we’re giving something away to taibo—but that’s not the
purpose. We had no choice. We had the opportunity to do something, to save something.
Desperate measures, as it were. You really do.
NC:
Okay, well, that’s hitting hard, there, Beverly, what you two have done in regards to
putting the songs—
BC:
And the grammar. The grammar, all this was a spirit of love. But we never got any grants
to do either that, no money, no grants, zero. The same way with the grammar. I’d already
gotten a lot of it translated before Jon Dayley, the linguist, joined me. I had really done it
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for four years, working, and—the thing he did was expertise. Realistic expertise about the
sound system. But Wick had already put the grammar together, so we already had
something to work with. The orthography was already done. It was not never intended for
Owyhee, it was intended for Goshute. But it’s applicable to all of Shoshone—because
we’re the same sound system. Little tiny of changes, like someone would say, [43:16]
tso’o. Tso’o, with a distinct “ts.” Others say tho’o. Tho’o. But then you could still spell it
the same way. And still know that they could still say it that way: [Shoshone at 43:30].
So there’s stuff like that. And I’m saying, no big deal if we have such a big stake at hand,
us losing it completely, with nothing left. And it could happen to little small tribes like
the Shoshone—because we are a tiny little tribe when you think in terms of the world
globe. It’s really small.
[End of recording]
�
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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
Earl Crum and Beverly Crum
Location
The location of the interview
Elko - GBC (Campus Studio)
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Transcript is available: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/426
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.)
00:46:00
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
Earl and Beverly Crum - Oral History (02/01/2006)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Earl and Beverly Crum, Western Shoshone from Duck Valley Reservation, Owyhee, NV on 02/01/2006.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Earl and Beverly Crum speak about the different types of traditional Shoshone songs sung during different ceremonies and events. They speak about how songs are more than just a melody but include a story and sometimes a moral. They also talk about how the language is put together and how it is culturally significant. Earl and Beverly also tell about the customs of the Shoshone Bear dance and hand games as well as provide a tale explaining the hand game: Coyote and the hand game. They play an array of traditional Shoshone songs. Earl describes his childhood in Battle Mountain, Nevada during the Great Depression.</p>
Video pending <br /> <a title="Read Earl and Beverly Crum Oral History Transcript" href="/omeka/files/original/7fd3c0dc61c03af54cc104e7396bb57b.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read Earl and Beverly Crum 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 004
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
02/01/2006 [01 February 2006]; 2006-02-01
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 © 2016.
(Administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/427
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
streaming video
Language
A language of the resource
English; Shoshoni
Battle Mountain
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley
folktale
GBIA
language
Shoshone
Story
Swayne school
traditional songs
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/6814638123cde0a0dd7c23dc6c856bf7.jpg
8b7a69401abc105f79c9843dc60dd9af
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/829d7ca56931893c9927470050846924.pdf
c93c1c4642de3b278b9f535f0dbbf6db
PDF Text
Text
Helen Walker
Great Basin Indian Archive
GBIA 051
Oral History Interview by
Norm Cavanaugh
March 18, 2016
Duckwater, NV
Great Basin College • Great Basin Indian Archives
1500 College Parkway
Elko, Nevada 89801
http://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced in partnership with
Barrick Gold of North America
�GBIA 051
Interviewee: Helen Walker
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: March 18, 2016
W:
Nia natepinniah Helen Walker. Ne Duckwater naitthe.
C:
Has your family always been here in Duckwater?
W:
No, [Shoshone from 0:49 to 2:47]. [Laughter] Well, like I said, my family, they’re not
around here. It’s just two of us left from us. It was just—I’m the oldest one out of the last
group. And then my sister, she’s the youngest. The rest, the oldest one, they’re all passed
on. So their kids is, some are in Reno, some in California. They’re just scattered all over.
Like, my kids, they work. They work in their tribe buildings, in their tribe—working for
their tribes. My son, he works down here at the oil rig—refinery. And two of my girls
works here at the Tribal building, at the clinic. One at the Tribal building. And then I got,
my sister, the youngest one, she’s in, up in—oh, my God—Missouri. Missouri?
Montana? I think it’s in Montana. She’s up there. And then, my other daughter’s in
Vegas. She works for the lawyer down there. Then, I got a lot of aunties and you know,
uncles, but they’re not around here. They’re just scattered all over.
[Break in recording]
I went school here. All my eighth graders, up to eighth graders. I think it was Indian
school, because we had all kinds of teachers. You know, they hire a teacher, then they
stay with us for a while, then they take off, and then we have another one. You know, it
wasn’t a steady teacher like the county had. The county had a teacher that lives down
here. So that’s, that Kathy was talking about. But this is, these guys are from all over.
From—then they come teach us. But seemed like they’re okay with us. We never had no
problem. Then, we had a cook that used to cook for us. We eat at lunchtime. She’s—
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
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you’d probably know Virginia Sanchez and Lilly Sanchez? Yeah, she was our cook, Lilly
Sanchez. She was our cook for long time.
[Break in recording]
Yeah, we speak Shoshone. We speak Shoshone. We never had no problem with—well,
then, that years, I think all the kids, they talks Shoshone. Not really, not much speaks
English. But now, the kids, they all speak English. Not much Shoshones. See, my kids
all—they all understand it, but they just don’t talk. That’s—I know that’s my fault. I
should’ve teach them when they were small. Because we would live down the ranch,
down Moapa for ten years when they were smaller. Then they went school with the
tsippans and taipos. Like I say, it’s my fault; I know I blame myself on that part. But
they’ll understand if you’re talking to them. I talk Indian to them all the time. Then
they’ll understand me. But my grandkids are the different story; when I try to talk to them
in my language, they’ll just mock you. “[Makes gibberish noises.]” They don’t know
what I’m talking about. Then I try to explain it to them; but still they don’t.
Stewart Boarding School, I didn’t really care for it. Because you know, there were
different tribes, and some they don’t treat you right, and they’re kind of mean to us. But
that’s where I learned how to do things with the teacher, one of the teachers. One of the
dorm lady. She used to let me clean her apartment. She had apartment, so I used to clean
that all the time, maybe twice a week, three times a week, or something like that. That’s
where I start learning how to clean house and stuff like that, in, just to iron her clothes,
like her top, and stuff like that. I iron for her all the time. I think that’s where I learned
how to iron, and clean house, and stuff like that. I still iron. I know lot of people don’t
iron nowdays, but I still do. I think that’s where I learn lot of those stuff, from Stewart.
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
3
Then, on the one summer, we were shipped to up Lake Tahoe. They got a big wash house
or something up there, laundrymat. Like laundrymat. There’s bunch of us girls got
shipped up there for the summer. So, that’s where we worked all summer, at the
laundrymat. Then school start, then we come back. Then I went school up there for a few
months, and then I took off. So, that was the end of my Stewart! [Laughter] Twenty-five
cents an hour.
C:
Twenty-five cents an hour?
W:
Yep. Twenty-five cents an hour I used to get. That was lot of money! Yep. That’s how
much I was getting, twenty-five cents an hour. That’s not much, huh? [Laughter] Then I
remember, I worked for—when I came back, and about maybe what, three or four years
later on, I found, somebody got me a job at Tonopah at a laundrymat. And that was
seventy-five cents an hour. So, it was going up little bit. Then I worked there for a little
while, and then I came home. Just trying it out, see how I would like staying by myself.
But I didn’t care for it. So I came home. So I been working here and there around here. I
worked in the—drove bus for a while. Six years I was a bus driver. Then I worked at
Currant over there. They had a café and stuff like that. I worked there on weekends.
Then, later on, I start working for the Seniors [Center] over here. I worked long time for
the Seniors, ‘til I retired. I was there cook job—Theresa. Didn’t she tell you that, Theresa
Sam? Me and her, we cooked for the Seniors. We both retired about the same year. We
said, “You know what, we should never retired. We should have just stood there.”
Because there now, ever since we got retired, we kind of both went down. Getting sick
and everything. See, I end up with knee surgery, and her leg I think is hurting, or I don’t
know, something else is hurting now. That’s what we say now: “We should never quit!”
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
4
But, we enjoyed that. We used to take our seniors to powwows. Elko, Battle Mountain.
We even went pinenuts picking in [inaudible 10:18] one year. Then, where else did we go
with our seniors? Oh, to Goshute. But mostly, it’s Ely. Ely powwow and stuff like that.
We enjoyed that. You know, we used to go with them. But now, all the seniors that we
cooked with, they’re all gone.
[Break in recording]
Yeah, we had a ranch. Dad had a ranch. He was one of them, had ranch. We started from
way up there, way at end of our Rez up there. That was our first ranch we had. He had
some cows, and he raised some hay. And then mom and us, we had to help her with the
garden. She had a big garden. We’d plant our own potatoes and stuff like that. Like,
potato, carrots, all that stuff you could store in a cellar. So what you do, she’ll make a
hole in there, make a little hole in there, and she’ll put all her carrots one side, and beets
one side, and potato on the open side, and then she’ll cover the rest of them up. Have it
for all winter long. But now, you don’t see that. Nobody do that. Nobody raise garden
here.
C:
So, how many people live here on the Duckwater reserve?
W:
Maybe pretty close to two hundred with the kids. Because we got lot of little kids here.
It’s not a big reservation.
[Break in recording]
Well, you could see it, just down the valley. Mostly down here. This where mostly us
lives.
[Break in recording]
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
5
Well, the guys are the ranchers. Yeah, the guys are ranchers, and then I think there’s three
of them that—let’s see, there’s Eddie, Tony; those guys got the ranch. They work here at
the tribal buildings. You know, at the shop. And most of them, they work—some works
in Ely at the mine, and then there’s few of them works at the oil rig. My son works there,
and my grandson works down there. Well, they started over here at the tribal building,
but then they had problem and they quit.
[Break in recording]
Mostly, the ladies, they work at the school, and they work at the tribal building. The guys
there, the janitors over there. They got a job as a janitor. Then, the ladies, they work in
the office and stuff like that.
[Break in recording]
Now, once in a while, me and my son and my other daughter, we go up to Elko, do our
big shopping at that Walmark. Like, some big stuff up there. In Ely, it’s just—boy, it’s
really high! So what we need, really need, you have to buy. But everything is so high!
But we’ve kind of noticing in Elko, the meat are getting really high up there. Because we
used to buy lot of meat up there. But this last time we went up there, God, that’s so high!
So I guess they’re going up, too. Once in a great while, we’ll go to Vegas, and we’ll buy
the big stuff, like at the Costco. Big stuff, like meat and stuff, we’ll just pack ‘em up.
Bring ‘em home, and then we cut them up in small pieces and freeze them. That’s what
we do, sometimes. What we need really bad, in Ely, then we buy it in Ely, but we go to
doctors in Ely, and the hospitals in Ely.
[Break in recording]
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
6
They got health clinic over here, but they still don’t have no doctor yet. But right now,
they’re adding on to the building. Did you see that part on the north side? The Health
Department? They’re adding on. So, it’s going to be a big clinic. So they going to, what
they going to do in there I guess is them exercise for the guys, you know? So after that’s
finished, we’ll probably get a doctor. Right now, we don’t have a doctor.
[Break in recording]
When I was growing up, Schurz. Schurz, that was our hospital. That’s where we used to
get all our help. If we need a, like our tonsils removed, or anything like that, they’ll take
us over to Schurz. Then we get all that taken care of. Dental; dental over there. All that
stuff. So we, I remember that, we used to go there. Then, Elko got part of us. We go up to
the Newe clinic up there, too. Is it Newe Clinic, the name of it? That’s where we go,
some of them goes there. Then, we used to go, I even remember we used to go up to
Owyhee, too. They’ll take a load of us, and take us up there. Then we spend a night up
there at, where is it, that one little motel they used to have up the canyon? We stay there
overnight, and then go up to the hospital the next day. Then we’ll have our dental work
up there, too.
[Break in recording]
If we need help, you know, like an Indian doctor? Well, Willie Blackeye was the only
one that was, he was the best one we used to have. But he’s gone. And then, before that,
then we had another guy; his name was some kind of Bullcreek, that used to do those
things. And now he’s gone. So now, only one that kind of comes around and help us out
little bit all the time is Gonnie. Gonnie Gomez, or what is it? Gomez? Is it a Gomez?
Gonnie?
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
7
C:
Mendes.
W:
Mendes. He’s the one that kind of we go help for, from him, if we need help. He help me
couple times. He sings to you. He sings all that time. Then he’ll have a break. Then he’ll
sing again. Then at the third time, I think it’s the third time, he stops. Then he’ll tell you
what’s bothering you, or you know, what’s happening to you, who’s bothering you, and
where’d you get that sickness. And he’ll tell you that. And then he’ll sing again, and then
that’s it. That was interesting though, to listen to. Because I was little older when I used
to remember him doing those things. But he’ll tell you who’s bothering you. Where’d
you get that sickness. Mostly, it’s from handgame and stuff like that. That’s where you
mostly get it.
[Break in recording]
No, I don’t play handgame. I was just—I usually just watch. I just stand there and watch
them. Or I’ll sit with somebody’s—like some ladies I know from Battle Mountain. They
play handgame. Or Goshute, they play handgame. So, I just sit there and, you know,
visiting them. So I don’t do that no more. After he told me not to. Don’t be too close to
them handgame players no more. He says, “Somebody in there don’t like you.”
C:
So, back when Willie Blackeye doctored people, did he charge people, or was it just—?
W:
Fifteen dollars. He used to be fifteen dollars. Now, it’s just donation. Like Gonnie, I think
he’s just a donation. If you want to give him something, like Gonnie always ask for a bag
of smoke, whatever the—like, used to be Bull Durham. I don’t know what it is now.
You’ll just donate that to him. Because he’ll use it in his sweat. In his sweat. You know,
they have that sweat building? They use that smoke in there, to get their rock really hot,
and they sprinkle that smoke on it. Because that’s where I go. I go in that sweat.
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
8
[Break in recording]
They usually have one, I think—well, if they wanted to have one, if somebody wanted
one, and then they’ll have one. But they usually have one before their Sundance. You
know, when they have Sundance up in the mountains? Then they’ll have one here on the
reservation. Then, they—somebody from Elko comes down. Helps Jeff and them. Then
they usually let me know, so me and Theresa go down there and get in there. We make it
through. Just that one time I didn’t make it through there. It got too hot in there.
They have sweat, and you know, he’ll just tell you what it’s about, and what he believe
in, and then he’ll sing a song, and then he do a little prayer. A prayer in there, and then
they got some singers in there. Like Janey, and Shasta, and I don’t know, some of these
guys, they’ll sing a song, their—what is it called? Sweat song? The sweat? Or something.
They sing that. And then they’ll have a maybe half hour opening in there. If you want to
bless your family, then you say your—you know, while they’re singing, you bless your
family. Like, I always bless my family. Somebody probably sick or some I usually tell
them I was thinking about them, and we bless them and stuff like that. We’ll do that, and
then—it’s neat. And he’ll sing again, and then all the one that’s working in the sweat
building, like they’re going to be—like Jeff, he’s trying to be helping along Gonnie. And
then, we used to have another guy that was trying to be doing that too, but he got in a car
accident, so we don’t have him there now. So there’s just few of them that sings their
song and stuff like that. And then, couple of them from Elko comes down. Some kind of
Collins, I can’t remember him. They come down. That’s all they do in that. They just
bless each other, or you want to bless somebody, you bless somebody in there.
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
9
They have classes at the school. Actually, my little granddaughter always tell me that.
“See Arvilla there today, she teach us this and that,” and she’ll tell us what they learned.
And they sing song, too. When a Christmas program comes, they’ll have a—Kathy and
Arvilla, they’ll have the little kids’ class. You know, the little kids are like kindergartens.
They’d be singing their Indian song. About the animals, or whatever they teach. And I
think those are little neat ones, the little ones. They sing songs, and they say their little
whatever. One little girl, she’s got a little bag, and she’s got all kinds of stuffed animal in
there. And she’ll take them out and she’ll name them, what that is. She’ll say “This is a
horse,” then she’ll say the Shoshone word. And it’s all, she’ll have maybe six of them in
there. Then she’ll say them all. That’s the way they teach them.
[Break in recording]
Lot of our youth, I don’t think they’re interesting any those things. Not like the little
ones. The little ones are, they’re more into that than the older kids. Older kids are busy
with—I never see them over there. Just see them little ones there. You ask them, “You
want to go to the class?” Say, “Oh, I dunno. Maybe.” That’s their answer. I think the little
ones just really starting this year. They started from the daycare. Then, now they’re in
that preschool over there, so they’re over there in the afternoons. So I think the little one
is, they’ll speak more Indian language than the older groups. I don’t think the older
groups will. The teenagers. Oh, they’re busy; they’re going to go to movie, or they’re
working. I don’t know where they’re working, but. When they get their jobs and stuff like
that, then the people there, the who is their supervisor will tell them to do things and that,
and then holler at them. I don’t know about this teenagers.
[Break in recording]
�GBIA
051;
Walker;
Page
10
The only thing I do a lot is I make quilts. Embroidering. Dish towels, and my pillowslips.
Those things I do a lot. I tried beadwork, but my eyes are not good. I can’t see good. So I
can’t do that. And the willow, the willowing, and—I don’t know. My hand’s not, I can’t
do it. It’s same way with crocheting? My hand gets really stiff; I can’t crochet. Like I
said, that’s only thing I do is embroidering. I do lot of embroidering. I quilt, yeah. I do lot
of quilts. I used to make lot of baby quilts. All those kids from way back had my quilt. I
make little homemade quilt for their. But the young ones nowdays, I think my baby quilt
thing is going down little bit, I think! [Laughter] Yeah, lot of these kids don’t have my
quilt now!
[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
Helen Walker
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:25:43
Location
The location of the interview
Duckwater, NV [Duckwater Reservation]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/527
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD, MP4 and AVI format
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
Helen Walker - Oral History (03/18/2016)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Helen Walker is from Duckwater Reservation near Eureka, NV she had 3 older sisters, 2 brothers, and 1 younger sister. Her family was originally from the Smoky Valley area then they were given a house by the government and started ranching in Duckwater. Her father worked the ranch while she helped her mother garden. She went to Stuart Indian School and learned housekeeping she also lived in a Ranch in Moapa, NV. Later in life she worked at the Senior Center in Duckwater as a cook and took the elders to powwows and to go pine-nutting. She also talks about hand games, sweat lodge and Indian doctoring. She ends by telling us about the Shoshone language class and the young children taking it.</p>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rbDXzLxDX_0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh<br /><br />Transcript Pending</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 051
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
03/18/2016 [18 March 2016]; 2016-03-18
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Aldun Tybo [community member]; 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 © 2016.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/309
Language
A language of the resource
Shoshoni; English
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Helen Walker, Western Shoshone from Duckwater, NV, on 03/18/2016
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
DVD and AVI format
Community
Crossroads
Duckwater
GBIA
language
ranching
Shoshone
Shoshoni
Story
Stuart Indian School
traditions
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/9c1caaf71c811a358d9861027e140347.jpg
3f9f0f637f243d6fb1352e76fcb2f34c
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/9543623c8550bc4198e22a5adaf9565b.pdf
b472f6f1a24ac7c96b2e674482f2148d
PDF Text
Text
Lester Shaw
Great Basin Indian Archive
GBIA 052
Oral History Interview by
Norm Cavanaugh
June 1, 2016
Owyhee, NV
Great Basin College • Great Basin Indian Archives
1500 College Parkway
Elko, Nevada 89801
http://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced in partnership with
Barrick Gold of North America
�GBIA 052
Interviewee: Lester Shaw
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: June 1, 2016
S:
My name’s Lester Shaw Jr. I was born in Boise, Idaho, from my mom—Lester Shaw and
Lillian Thomas Shaw. We are enrolled Paiute, Shoshone-Paiutes, here on Duck Valley
reservation. I have two sisters, Karen Temoke and Adrianne Whiterock. And one brother,
Virgil Shaw, and one deceased brother, Irwin D. Ridley. They are all enrolled here on the
Shoshone-Paiute reservation. I remember I went to school here in Owyhee all my life,
when I was—from first grade, to twelfth grade. I finished my school in 1961. Younger
days, when I was growing up here on the reservation, my dad and mom had hay fields
down here. Had to put up all summer! [Laughter] And we learned, had to learn how to
run equipment, like the mower and the rake. And we had a buckrake. Because in them
days, we had to use horse-drawn mowers, and horse-drawn rake, and buckrake, and stack
hay—loose hay—stack it up there. And all of us had to get out there for help, anyway,
even when you’re little, all the way up to, until I got into—almost got to high school by
then, before we switched over to tractors, and stuff like that. But it’s something that we
had to do. And I enjoyed doing it, but it was hard work. We all got together: my mom—I
worked with my mom, she even went up there to be our cook and stuff, to get on the
fields. And we had to move from one field way down to another, and clear down to
Pleasant Valley, that’s where we put up hay last. But then, in the springtime, everybody
has to get out for branding, ride horses, and gather up the cattle, push them out on the
range. Branding, and then, yeah, pushing cows, then up on the mountains again. It was
just regular ranch work, but it was just pretty tough, hard work. Enjoyed that. During my
high school years, I played in the band, high school band. And I was the president of the
FFA. I played basketball, football, track, and I was in the rodeo club. We did pretty good
�GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 2
in the basketball, because we were undefeated my senior year, but we got beat out in the
zone tournament by the lowest team. It just happened that way, I guess. I’d like to talk
about my younger days when I was playing in the Indian basketball leagues. We had a
team here in Owyhee that, we’d travel all over to a different reservation to play in a
tournaments. Lot of our guys are all, they’re getting pretty old now, they don’t play
anymore, but I like to remember that, when we win that championship, or I used to like to
go to Fort Hall because it always has good tournaments up there. Or sometimes, just to go
up there and play, you know just the regular games. And participate in tournaments down
Schurz, and Reno, and Elko. We’d play all over. And up here. At here, at home, we used
to have about five tournaments a year, basketball tournaments. We’d have young men’s,
and old men’s. Now, we have—one of the older, we got a older league, thirty and over,
and now it’s forty and over. Fort Hall, I used to go up there and play in the thirty and
forty and over. Now, it goes clear up to sixty and over! That’s guys still playing ball!
[Laughter] It’s lot of fun, but now I can’t do it. Most of us are injured. All injured. But
we had lot of fond memories, it was lot of fun. After I graduate from here, I worked out at
Spanish Arts to make money to go to school. I went, the fall I went to Haskell Institute
in Lawrence, Kansas. That was through study of masonry and construction. And I was
there for, got out of there in 1963. I worked in Raytown, Missouri as a apprentice
bricklayer for six months. And then, I moved back to—I moved to California, I moved to
San Jose. And I couldn’t find any work for my trade, so I moved back to Reno, then I
found a—I got a job as apprentice bricklayer for L.A. Dunson Masonry contractor out of
Sparks, Nevada. And I enjoyed working there with older guys that would teach us. I’d
learn. Learning, I did all the—you start doing the dirty jobs first. So like, helping to carry
�GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 3
mud, and pack bricks and blocks. Yeah. Then I, they taught me quite a bit, lot of those
older bricklayers. Got to work with them, and I enjoyed working with them, because I got
to know them and got friendly with them, and then I was kind of scared first time. Like,
kind of, because of my race I guess. But they kept—encouraged me, and that’s what I
enjoyed: working as a bricklayer.
That was the love of my life, that masonry and construction, because you finish the job,
you look at it, and you could see, “Hey, I built that! Helped build that building!” And lot
of buildings in Boise that we completed, and I look back and when I go up there
sometimes, I look and, “Hey, look at that old building we built long time ago.” Like the
university, Boise State University, we worked lots on there: the student union, the
dormitories.
[Break in recording]
When I was young, I started out with three sixty-five an hour. [Laughter] It’s not even
nothing now. It’s probably up about—it’s about twenty-five, twenty-six dollars an hour
now, as far as I know. I don’t know, I haven’t been—what, real long time, since 1972,
since I done any kind of brick work, or block work, or stuff like that. It’s good, though. I
got drafted in 1964. July. And I went into the Army. I went to Fort Ord, California. I
finished my Basic Training in Fort Ord, and then I came home on leave, and then went to
my AIT training in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. And I was there for another eight weeks, and then
I got my orders to go to Germany. And there, I spent eighteen months over there on
artillery, as artilleryman. We were on eight-inch howitzers. And when I was about ready
to get out, I re-enlisted and got sent back to the States. When I was about done, then I
spent five months at Fort Hood, Texas. And then, I got orders to go to Vietnam, Republic
�GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 4
of Vietnam, and that’s when I went to the Vietnam War. I was assigned to the First
Cavalry Division, Airmobile. And I was—our base camp was An Khe, Vietnam. From
there, I was out in the field most of the time on different landing zones. And then, I lasted
out there for five months, until I got wounded in January 3rd, 1968. We come under
hostile mortar attack and rocket attack, and we were about almost ready to get overrun. I
got wounded. I knocked out a rocket position with my squad, and then I received a
Bronze Star from that, for heroism. It was pretty tough over there. I don’t remember
getting loaded up in the medevac chopper, and next thing I know I was in Qui Nohn,
that’s a hospital there. Then there for short time, and then I was sent to Japan to see what
they could do to fix up my wounds. They couldn’t do anything for my jaw right there.
My jaw was disappeared, and knocked out all my teeth, and my left mandible was gone.
[Laughter] So, they sent me back to the States, to Letterman General Hospital in San
Fransisco. There I spent the rest of my tour, at the Letterman’s. I finally got out, and I
was home on convalescent leave about three times when I was in there. Until I had to go
back for more surgery, and then I finally got my honorable discharge. And then, I came
back here, home, here in Owyhee. I spent about a year just kicking back. I couldn’t do
much. I finally, after I got on as a bricklayer, apprentice bricklayer, in Boise Idaho, and I
worked there for the Local #2 Bricklayers’ Union, until I got my journeyman card for
bricklaying. Then I worked there until I decided to go on to school a little bit more, and I
went to Idaho State University vo-tech, and I got a certificate for furniture maintenance.
Trying to rebuild furniture, and upholstery and stuff. But I used it for about maybe five
months or so, but I decided I couldn’t do that, because the pay wasn’t too much, but it
was worth something—something I had to fall back on if I needed to. And then, from
�GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 5
there, I came back here to Owyhee, and worked for the BIA maintenance department.
Worked down there for, let’s see—I have ten years there, service, as a maintenance
worker. As a laborer first, then I moved up to a maintenance worker, and that I worked
for a while, then I finally worked for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe as an instructor for the
AIT program. I worked there until I got hired at the Human Development Center as a
coordinator of events and building superintendent. Then I worked there for a short while,
and then I also worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a forestry technician, in Boise
National Forest in Idaho. And then, I transferred to Ruby Mountain Ranger District with
the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. After that, I finished there, then I decided to look
for something else, and I found work at the Owyhee Community Health Facility as a
maintenance mechanic helper. And that’s all my work I did so far. Plus, I worked on
various ranches. But I didn’t count that too much. [Laughter] That was lot of interesting
fun, though. The last job, that’s when I was injured on the job and I had to take a medical
retirement. So now, I’ve been laid up for—can’t do much for, oh, sixteen years now. I
was injured in year 2000. I’ve enjoyed going to powwows, watching kids play basketball,
and just staying home with my family. My wife is deceased. So I live here, but I have my
nephews and whoever come over and visit. I am a member of the American Legion, Post
48—Jack Hanks 48. And I’m Adjutant for them, and I belong to the Military Order of
Purple Heart. And Disabled American Veterans. And I enjoy working with the veterans,
keep it going here at home. And I like to go to their meetings, and we keep everything up
with our old post. We started after World War II, with Art Manning as our commander
and stuff. We’re down to about very many—oh, we had about seventeen when I first
joined. Now we’re down to about ten. [Laughter]
�[Break in recording]
GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 6
I was a teacher for, to teach these young guys around here how to lay blocks. So then
they started on a building, a shop down here that they built. Went up with my teaching.
They built it, they laid the blocks, all these younger guys here that learned that trade. I
enjoyed teaching them. Yeah, it’s something they can fall back—if they want to continue,
they have to go further up, though, to get their journeyman’s card and stuff for that.
There’s not too many, very many brick layers left around here I don’t think. Most of them
are either passed on or moved away. And they have to go to town, move to the city
mostly, to find good work. But you get in that apprenticeship program, you can start off
as a apprentice, bricklayer’s apprentice, or cement finish. Or then they—you have to get
indentured into, with a contractor. And most of them recommend to get into the union so
you can go to work, unless you know somebody that does that kind of work. You can
work for him, then work your way on up. It’s good. Good trade.
[Break in recording]
I like to see these younger people stay with their powwows and their, the Indian, Native
American language. They have to try to keep that up, because it’s going, we’re going to
lose it pretty soon if we don’t. There’s lot of—here at home, they have classes for the
Shoshone language, and Paiute, and to keep it up. You got to listen to the elders and try
not to—because it’s kind of getting lost now because of, they don’t listen. Nobody tells
you, the younger ones, what’s going on with our culture and stuff. It’s good to keep that
up. And I sure enjoy it, to watch these younger little ones out there, the peewees, clear up
to the golden age, that are still dancing. It’s good to see. And I believe in that eagle staff,
you got to watch our eagle feathers and stuff, we got to keep that sacred, and not to abuse
�GBIA 052; Shaw; Page 7
it in any way. Yeah, the eagle feathers are the main things I like that the—to me, that’s
what we respect. To our Mother Earth here, and our water, and our wild game, and the
fish in the water. And that’s what we survived on when we were little, and we ate rabbits,
and deer, and antelope, and elk, and—just keep up the language, that’s what I say. But I
want the younger generation to know that, just continue learning your language and
listening to the elders up here.
[Break in recording]
What I recommend to the kids of the younger generation now is to continue your
education, because it’s getting pretty hard to get any kind of employment. You got to
have education to find any kind of work, you know? If you go off the reservations, hard
to find work, a job or something—a decent job, anyway. Even here at home, it’s hard to
get on something like a—get trainings or something anyway, so you can have something
to fall back on to support your family. That’s what I recommend. I’ve been through a lot,
and I enjoyed every bit of what I did. Went through hard times and good times, and lot of
fun times. So, just think about that. Thank you.
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Lester Shaw, Jr.
Duration
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00:20:40
Location
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Duck Valley Reservation - Owyhee (Shaw residence)
Transcription
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http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/528
Original Format
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DVD, MP4, and AVI format
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
Lester Shaw Jr. - Oral history (06/01/2016)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Lester Shaw Jr. was born in Boise, ID and was son to Lester Shaw and Lillian Thomas Shaw. Lester currently resides on the Duck Valley Reservation where he attended school until 1961 and became president of the FFA and participated in various sports. During this period he helped out at his dad’s mom’s ranch pushing cattle, branding horses, and putting-up hay. After he finished High School he worked at Spanish Ranch to save up to attend Haskell Institute in Kansas until he was drafted into the military in 1964. While serving in the military he was sent to Germany and Vietnam during the war, at which time he received the Bronze star and was inducted into the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He also spent much of his life learning masonry which he taught to the youth which he advises to keep up their traditions and Native language.</p>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MgUniui0jCQ" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 052
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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06/02/2016 [02 June 2016]; 2016 June 02
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; 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.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/id/172
Language
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English
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Lester Shaw Jr., Western Shoshone from Duck Valley Reservation (Owhyee) on 06/01/2016
Format
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MP4
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley Reservation
GBIA
language
masonry
ranching
Shoshone
Story
traditions
veteran
Vietnam war