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NORTHEASTERN NEVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
SPANISH
RINGH
SPANISH RANCH [ETIERS
COMPILED BY EDNA B. PATIERSON
_,...--,-
CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS
ELKO COUNTY: 1933-1942
BY DIANA L. NEEF
QUARTERLY INDEX: 1983
COMPILED BY LAURA HAWKINS
WINTER 1984 (84-1)
ELKO, NEVADA
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SPANISH RANCH, INDEPENDENCE VALLEY
NORTHEASTERN
NEVADA
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SPANISH RANCH LETTERS
COMPILED BY EDNA B. PATIERSON
In the 1840's five Basque brothers left their native Spain and sailed for South America.
Here they developed a bonanza in the Argentine cattle: industry. After ten years of
prosperity two of the brothers, Pedro (born in 1829) and Bernardo (born in 1831),
liquidated their assets and came to the United States while the other three remained in
Argentina.
Settling near San Mateo, California, Pedro and Bernardo Al tube ran a dairy until the town
of Sarr-Mateo bought their property for a cemetery. Pedro moved to Palo Alto and Bernardo
to Fresno, both acqu iring land and cattle interests. Finally they decided to seek less
populated country. They sold their California property, became equal partners and began
plans for a cattle operation in Nevada.
Purchasi ng 3,000 head of cattle in Mexico, they drove them to Nevada. In 1871 they
reached Independence Valley in the Tuscarora area of Elko County and established the
Spanish Ranch which became a thriving cattle kingdom .
Both men were in their forties when they launched their new enterprise. They first lived in
a log cabin and then built a larger home, bunkhouse, storehouse and blacksmith shop.
The Altubes adopted the common practice of acquiring more land by having
employees fi le land claims then later buying the property from the workers. Bernardo
handled the livestock while Pedro supervised the Home Ranch. It was a privilege working
for them - pay was good and paid in gold coin.
The brothers reigned over their kingdom until the severe winter of 1889-1890 wiped out
years of work. By selling property, tapping financial sources in California and borrowing
from the Henderson Bank in Elko they rebuilt the herd. The ranch extended 20 miles in
length and four or five miles in width besides occupying thousands of acres of open
country. Spani sh Ranch cattle grazed from Independence Va lley in northern Elko County to
Parad ise Val ley in Humboldt County and north into Idaho.
After 1890 haying grass meadows provided winter feeding and barbed wire fences
began to surround some of the land. The operaton required 15 to 20 cowboys with more
added for seasonal work.
The A ltube family helped smaller local spreads by purchasing supplies from them but
their world was centered on the ranch . Pedro's four daughters rode as well as the best
vaqueros and Bernardo's wife and two sons, Felix and Jules, participated in ranch work.
�4
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Pedro Altube, one of the founders of the Spanish Ranch in northern Elko County.
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�Felix, an all around cowboy, died while a young man. Jules eventually managed the ranch .
As Pedro grew older, his family insisted upon a move to California. He built a palatial
home on Pacific Avenue in San Francisco and entertained on a lavish scale. He died in 1905.
Bernardo retired to Berkeley, California where he passed away in 1916. His son Jules and
Amelia had twin sons named Pedro and Bernardo after their grandfathers. Soon after the
birth of the boys Amelia died and Jules later married the Spanish nurse who had cared for
his wife. Jules died in California in 1944.
In 1902 the ranch operated on a grand scale. In addition to the Spanish Ranch, the Palo
Alto Land and Livestock Company owned the Thompson, Taylor and IL ranches and their
range extended over thousands of acres.
When the Altube properties were liquidated in 1907 there were 20,000 cattle, 2,000
horses and 20,000 sheep. Land controlled by the company consisted of 400,000 acres with
66,000 in meadow and 40,000 acres fenced .
The ranch still operates in Independence Valley. Ownership over the years has passed
from the A ltubes to H.G. Humphrey et al (Humphrey, WH Moffat, Peter S. Garat and Lewis
L. Bradley); Union Land and Cattle Company; E.P. El li son and Associates; and finally to the
Ellison Ranching Company.
The following letters are from Theodore Dierks of San Francisco to Ramon Lugea who
worked at the Spanish Ranch . Dierks was 55 when the letters began and about seventy
when the last was written. Lugea was eleven years older than Dierks.
In 1902, young Theodore Dierks was in a doctor's office in San Francisco and passed
through the waiting room where Jules Altube, son of Bernardo, was waiting to see the
doctor. Jules was the next patient called into the doctor's office.
The physician remarked, "That young man who just walked out of my office will be dead
in six months. He has tuberculosis. This damp climate and the disease will kill him unless he
gets to a drier climate."
Bernardo Altube.
�6
Jules thought for a few moments, then said, "He can go to the the Spanish Ranch near
Tuscarora. There the climate is dry, the sun shines bright and the air will be conducive for his
recovery."
So it was that "Teddy" Dierks came to Tuscarora as a lad of 17 years. He was ill, lonely and
afraid. The boy was lost in the rural environment and spent his days wandering about the
ranch complex finding companionship with the cowboys and other ranch help. He
developed a friend in Ramon Lugea whose father sailed from Spain with the Altubes in their
migration to the Americas. Ramon was the blacksmith at the Spanish Ranch. He later owned
his own ranch in Lamoille Valley, south of Elko.
After Dierk's health improved he returned to San Francisco and he and Ramon Jost
contact with each other. Forty years later they renewed their friendship. It was due to the
death of Al Shannon, an old-time cowboy at the ranch, who died in San Francisco. He was
buried by Halstead-Dierks Funeral Directors.
The Dierks letters follow:
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Jules J. Altube, Spanish Ranch.
San Francisco, Calif
April 24, 1940
Ramon Lugea
Lamoille Valley
South of Elko
Dear Mr. Lugea:
This is to inform you that Mr. Al P. Shannon died April 21, 1940 in San
Francisco - peacefully in his sleep, aged 75 years. Of late he Jived in the past,
in memory of the happy old days on the Spanish Ranch. He spoke often to me
of you and that is why I am writing you, because you knew him then. Funeral is
Thurs. April 25 with internment in the National Cemetery in San Francisco.
Some day I am going to look you up and say hello because I think I knew you
too.that time.
Theo. Dierks
�7
Three vaqueros in the Spanish Ranch bunkhouse.
San Francisco, Calif.
December 9, 1945
Mr. Ramon Lugea
Lamoille, Nevada
Dear Mr. Lugea:
I find an envelope in one of my desk drawers with your name on it and
postmarked Elko, May 18, 1940. As I remember I put it away with the intention
of visiting you the next time I went to Elko, but I haven't been there since. I think
that was the year that Al Shannon died and I wrote you about it as he told me
you were on the Spanish Ranch in 1902 when I was up there. Were you there
then? I remember there was a Ramon who was a blacksmith. Was that you? At
that time I was 17 years of age and sort of a guest at the ranch. A big tall thin
blond boy. If you are the Ramon that was blacksmith there at the time, you will
remember me, for I spent a lot oftime in the blacksmith shop. I'll mention a few
of the names I remember:
Old Al Buker, Mormon
Gene, Italian
Joe, the Mexican
Castro, dropped dead in Elko in 1902
Chappo, milker
Chappo, ex-vaquero foreman
Chappo
Ramon, the blacksmith
Pat, the Chinese cook
�8
Al Shannon in his later years.
�Two of Pedro Altube's daughters.
Joe, the vaquero cook
Old Dan Man
Ben Lainez
These are the only names that I remember, but they whose names they are
and were standout (sic) in my mind in warm memory and friendship . Nearly all
are dead of course, for that was 43 years ago, and they were men then, whereas
I was only a boy.
If you were there then, and if you happen to rem ember one of the vaqueros
that was short, of slight build, brown mustach, wore yellow chaps, and
invariably packed a 45 Colt, and was the only man on the place that packed a
gun, and if you happen to remember his name and what became of him, I will
be very glad to receive what information you might give me about him. But I am
Just as interested in knowing about you. If you are that Ramon you must be
pretty well along in years now, for I am 61. You must be at last ten years older.
I buried Jules Altube last year. In the end he was very humble and a devout
Catholic. May his soul rest in peace! I see his son Bernardo often, but Pete
seldom because he lives at Red Bluff.
I will appreciate it if you will answer my questions. Someday I hope to visit
you .
Yours Truly
Theo Dierks
901 Divisadero St
San Francisco, 15,
Calif.
�10
Spanish Ranch bunkhouse, c.1920.
San Francisco, Ca.
Dec. 23, 1945
/I/Ir. Ramon Lugea
138 Pine St.
Elko, Nevada
Dear Ramon:
So you are that Ramon I knew so well and whom I had for such a warm friend 43
years ago. Well! Well, Well! Shannon told me that you were, but I didn't believe he
was right. Now I know he was and now that you have confirmed it I am most happy to
hear from you. Memories surge through my mind, strange how they come, of those
days and of those friends, pictures from out of the kaleidoscope of memory. Only a
few live to have those memories - they are a section from out of our lives.
Yes, I spent many happy hours, sometimes entire days in the blacksmith shop, and
you were one of those that through your friendliness and interest in me made me feel
that life had some meaning for me. For that I am grateful to you, even today and
always will be. If you remember the people in the house with the fence around it
hardly spoke to me at all and I would have been lost if I had not had the friendship of
the men. I say this without intending any disparagement of my friends; but the .truth is
the truth.
After I left the ranch and came down here with Jim Tunnel (I) and 33 carloads of
cattle, I resolved to complete my education, and did four years of high school work
�11
in one year, and entered the college of Pharmacy in 1903, and completed the course
in 1905, and after clerking around in various stores for one year, was just ready to enter
the University College of Medicine, when the earthquake and fire came along, and I
abandoned that plan to help my father in this business, and have been an undertaker
ever since. That was a big mistake because today I know my father could have gotten
along alright without me. I call it a mistake because I do not have the nature requisite
to success in this business, and the associations and conditions involved in it were
bad insofar as a career went. Sometimes I think ones life is predestined, and one had
to do what a super-natural will ordains. So now you know what I did with virtually my
li fe, virtually because when one reaches 61 it virtually is a lifetime, isn't it?
Yes, I am married. I married when I was 25 and I have one son, now 34 years of age,
just twice the age I was when I was on the ranch . I am glad that the good Lord gave
you a wife and family, and that you have not had to go through all these years alone.
As I remember you I am sure you made a good husband and father.
Those were happy and comparatively care free days for me that time up on the
ranch, yet I had my worries but had I known then, as I know now, I would have had
none, for they were all imaginary.
It is strange you don't remember old Al Buker. He bunked in the same room with
Shannon and Joe - he was quite old then - partially paralized - brown beard always chewed tobacco - was an old hand under old Pedro and Bernardo Altube.
He couldn't work, so he devised that little water wheel or mill to turn the grindstone
to sharpen mowers teeth, and he also devised a contraption to cut wood by means
of a foot pedal. He usually emerged every morning with a tomato can in his good
hand . Shannon used to have to dress him. When the ranch was sold he and Gene
were placed in the County Home at Elko, and both died there and are buried there.
Both I understand, had been most unfortunate in life, for one had the syphillis (sic)
and the other the gonnerea (sic) of the spine. I tried to find their graves many years
ago, but did not succeed although I looked at almost every headstone in the
cemetery.
Yes, you have identified Jose Urias very well. I think you are mistaken about
Chappo, the milker going to Spain, unless you mean the very youngest Chappo there were three at the time: ex-foreman of vaquero, Chappo the ranch hand or
milker, and the boy Chappo who was younger than I. I understand that Chappo the
ranch hand died heating dynamite in a stove.
Old man Mann owned a small ranch at the foot of the mountain range south of the
ranch and sold out and retired to San Jose, Calif. I am trying to remember the name of
the Mexican that they had up there that year to break broncs, but it just will not come,
but he is alive and living at Hollister, Calif. I'm sure you could remember him if I could
name him. He too is now quite an old man. If you ever hear where Chris Aguillar is I
wi ll appreciate it if you will let me know. Yes, I heard about Ben Loinez dying at
Winnemucca. I didn't know him hardly at all as those days he stayed aloof from us.
They say he became a pretty hard drinker, and that it had a lot to do with the
pneumonia overcoming him.
The two A ltube sons are in California - one has a ranch, Pedro at Red Bluff, and the
other Bernardo a hotel on Jones street in this city. Both are married and have families.
The w ife and daughter of Jules are in Spain. The daughter is by the second wife.
I buried old A l Shannon in the presidia at San Francisco. He was a peacetime
soldier at one time and entitled to burial in a National Cemetery. He was a good
hearted man even though in those days he was so profane and cruel with animals, but
�12
strange to say he became freed of profanity in his last years. Profanity was the
language of those men those days, and while they were profane, I know they were
not conscious of it. Gosh, that was a long time ago, Ramon, when you think there were
no automobiles, no movie, no aeroplane.
I've been back to look at the ranch three times since - the first time in 1904 just
before they sold out to Humphrey and Moffitt. At that time everything was just as it
used to be. There were new faces, of course. Then a second time, years later and I
found all changed and not a familiar face on the place. The same old valley and the
same old hills were there, but all the old landmarks and houses had disappeared and
no where could I find a single one of my old friends. All the romance, adventure, and
friendships had disappeared as though they had been only a dream. The third time it
was even more so, and it was then that I decided that the place held nothing for me
but memories.
I understand that the Garats are still ranching, but all the original Garats are now
dead. Also that the Fairchild family still ranch in the west end of the valley. Of course I
didn't know those people, and know them only through hearsay, although I have
buried some of them.
About the horse bucking me off - it was a big raw boned roan called Cigarette,
and he bucked when Shannon and I were in one of the Fairchild's fields cutting two
horses out of a bunch. I still count myself lucky not to have been killed that time. I
could have very easily have been the way I lit on my head, down hill. I don't
remember Joe Yraguen by name, but would probably recognize him if I saw him.
Some day you and I will go over and visit him. As to Jefferies Francisco Goicoaechea
- maybe you refer to him of the enormous build - he came to the ranch just before
I left. I am sorry to hear that he is dead too.
I am one of those people that just can't realize the passing of time - to me those
days exist as vividedly as though it had been only a couple of years ago - isn't that
strange? It has been almost half a century ago! But when I think how nearly all those
men are gone - it makes me sick with apprehension - apprehension that life is
slipping by and many years are gone forever.
Yes, I am certainly going to look you up the next time that I am in Elko and have the
great pleasure of shaking your hand and giving you a pat on your back, mi amigo! And
now I am going to close this letter, first with thanks for answering my letter and giving
me the information that I asked, second with the best wishes to you and yours for a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thirdly with kindest regards to you
personally.
Yours very truly,
Theo Dierks
Sunday, Dec. 21, 1952
Dear Ramon:
There was a mail delivery this morning and on going through the envelopes I saw
that one was evidently a Christmas Greeting from Elko. I was amazed because I could
think of only one person in all of Elko County who would possibly send me a card
and that would be you. Yet it is hard to believe for we have riot seen each other for
fifty years. I took the mail upstairs to read while at breakfast and when I opened your
envelope and saw who it was from I was overwhelmed. I seld?m pay much attention
�13
Spanish Ranch chuckwagon.
to Christmas cards because so many are sent as a social obligation and without any
reference to the true reason of the occasion and its meaning. But I read every word
of your prayer and a surge of happiness and gratitude welled up within me to know
there was someone who cared enough for me to wish me peace and God's
Blessings. I thank you and Mrs. Lugea for your prayer and for your good wishes and
greetings. I wish to say that I wish the same for you. It has been a great pleasure to
receive a card from you.
Only this morning as I walked down the street I couldn't help but feel the cold; and
the thought occurred to me that up in Elko County nature prepares one for the change
and one doesn't feel it as much as down here. And then when I got back a message
from Elko!
It has been 50 years since I used to watch you work in the blacksmith shop at the
Spanish Ranch. That is a long time ago. I can still hear your "A dios Amigo" as I left. I
was a peculiar boy. I left without saying goodbye to anyone. I don't know why that
was . It was just my nature I suppose. But even today, I still carry memories of you all just as though it were only yesterday. I have stopped in two or three times to the
ranch just to look around, but no one is there that we used to know. The hills and the
va lley and the spring and the meadow are there but that is al l. Their beauty merely
a es the sorrow of old friends gone. As for you and me, it means not only that,
e 'ay of our youth also. I am 68 now and you must be older. There is one
; w e are wiser.
a d Jules Altube are dead as you know. Al was buried at the Presidio
Cross. Jules became very religious before he died and went to mass
Id me, " I am only human, and I have my sins to repent for." It was
a I became a convert. May all be well with both of them .
�14
I hope that all is well with you and your family, and in closing I wish to again thank
you for thinking of me and your good wishes, and I want to assure you and Mrs. Lugea
that I wish the same for you both. Your voice is truly a voice from out of the past. The
half century that has passed makes it all the more wonderful. God Bless you both.
Sincerely,
Theo Dierks
Spanish Ranch bunkhouse.
Dec. 23, 1955
San Francisco, Calif.
Ramon and Grace Lugea
Dear Friends:
This is to acknowledge receipt of your lovely Christmas card and your very kind
thoughts. I am grateful to you for thinking of me and remembering me in your good
wishes. Please accept my reciprocal good wishes to you:
May the Holy Infant bless you
May His peace enfold you
May His love overshadow you
And may He pour into you abundantly
The graces that He has won for you
By His Holy Incarnation.
I tried hard to get up to Elko this year and couldn't make it. Pete writes that
Bernardo is ill with aheart attack in Spain. Please light a candle for him, and I will do so
too.
�15
A lways regards, best wishes and fond memories.
Adios Amigoes,
Theo Dierks
San Francisco, Calif.
March 2, 1956
Mr. Ramon Lugea
138 Pine St.
Elko, Nevada
Dear Ramon:
This is just a few hurriedly scribbled lines to inform you that Manuel Larios died
yesterday at Hollister, California. He was very old, about 87 years - and looked it.
He, if you will remember, was breaking horses to ride up at the ranch in 1902. He
made pre-need arrangements for his funeral with me and I went to Hollister and
arranged for his funeral at the mortuary there. He will have a mass at Sacred Heart
Church, Monday at 9:30, and then be buried in his grandfather's private cemetery at
San Juan Bautista. His grandfather had a large Spanish Land Grant, when California
was owned by Spain and he donated the land for the township. All the land grants
were raided by Congress and the old Spanish Dons pauperized. The Larios family
was one of them. And so fades out of sight another memory of the days ofouryouth. I
thought it right to let you know. He leaves a sister at Azusa, California, and a nephew,
Anthony Marios at Hollister.
Regards to you and Mrs. Lugea.
Resp.
T. Dierks
Ramon Lugea, born July 2, 1874, died November 27, 1958. He is buried in the Catholic
Cemetery in Elko.
Edna B. Patterson
Condensed Spanish Ranch history from
Nevada's Northeast Frontier
by Edna B. Patterson, Louise A Ulph and Victor Goodwin
�
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ad55d1d98293e4f5d6d96b76b344a979
Dublin Core
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Title
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Northeastern Nevada Museum Quarterly
Subject
The topic of the resource
Collection of the Northeastern Nevada Museum Quarterly journal.
Description
An account of the resource
Quarterly journal of the Northeastern Nevada Museum, located in Elko, Nevada.
Creator
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
Publisher
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
Date
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1978-2015
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
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.pdf files
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English
Document
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Title
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"Spanish Ranch Letters"
Description
An account of the resource
<p>A selection of letters from San Franciscan Theodore "Teddy" Dierks and Ramon Lugea from 1940 through 1956. Dierks as a young man had been encouraged by Jules Altube of the Spanish Ranch to stay in Tuscarora in 1902 as a treatment for Dierks' tuberculosis. Dierks struck up a friendship with Ramon Lugea, a Basque immigrant on the ranch, which was renewed through this exchange of letters starting around 1940. Compiled by Edna B. Patterson.</p>
<p><a title="Spanish Ranch Letters article" href="/omeka/files/original/f0e23813722a4c18a76827af38476a11.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View "Spanish Ranch Letters" as pdf</a></p>
Creator
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Edna B. Patterson, editor
Source
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<em>Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly</em> 84.1 (Winter 1984): 3-15.
Publisher
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
Date
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1984
Contributor
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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VHC Deposit Agreement on file:
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/items/show/185
[administrator access only]
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pdf; 15 pages
Language
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English
Coverage
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1940-1956
Basques
Community
Crossroads
Independence Valley
NNM
ranching
Spanish Ranch
Story
-
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215d6366cd19cd2181ca7251f9228bb2
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a487b4d15bd5efa22bc757c13e3e9d5a
PDF Text
Text
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Elko Basque Festival Programs
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of the programs for the annual Elko Basque Festival, held annually on the July 4th weekend. The National Elko Basque festival began with a celebration that brought sheepherders and cattle ranchers into town for a day of celebration. The State of Nevada celebrated its centennial in 1964, and the Elko Basque Club decided to organize another grand scale Basque festival to commemorate the event. They invited all of the existing Basque clubs to participate and to send musicians, dancers, and athletes to Elko for the event. Because of the success of the activities, and the geographical centrality of Elko to other Basque communities, Elko assumed the position of the site of the annual National Basque Festival.
Creator
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Elko Euzkaldunak Club
Contributor
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Cassandra Stahlke [Elko Euzkaldunak Club]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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Deposit Agreement on file [admin access only]
Relation
A related resource
<p>Collection: <a title="Memoria Bizia Oral History Collection" href="/omeka/collections/show/22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Memoria Bizia: The Basque Diaspora Living Heritage Project</a></p>
<p>Web Collection: <a title="Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths" href="/basques/neh_basques_generation.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Intertwined: Basques and Americans Crossing Paths</a></p>
<p>Exhibit: <a title="_blank" href="/omeka/exhibits/show/elkokoak">Elkokoak: The Basques of Elko</a></p>
Format
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.pdf
Language
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English; Basque
Coverage
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1964-present [collection incomplete]
Document
Documents such as transcripts, pdf files, legal documents, letters, etc.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
2008 Elko National Basque Festival Program
Description
An account of the resource
The official program from the 2008 Elko National Basque Festival, held 4-6 July 2008. This was the 45th year of the Festival. The Festival Theme celebrated the Basque sheepherder. The program featured an original cover drawing by Anna Urrizaga and Basque Sheepherder photos and documents from the collection at the Northeastern Nevada Museum. The program also featured short histories of Basque hotels in Elko, such as the Star Hotel.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elko Euzkaldunak Club
Source
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Scanned copy of original program
Publisher
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Elko Euzkaldunak Club
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
4-6 July 2008
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Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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VHC Deposit Agreement on file
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pdf/a2-b; 20 pages
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English; Basque
Basques
Community
Crossroads
EEC
Elko National Basque Festival
NNM
Play
ranching
sheepherding
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/3430fad176d478b11bf46a817fcaa032.pdf
1e021109ea91d3888f7eef4fe83763c2
PDF Text
Text
NORTHEASTERN NEVADA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
QUARTERLY
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
BY MRS. LEWIS SHARP, SR.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE CPRR:
CHINESE L'ttMIGRAlVI' CONTRIBL"'llON
BY HOLLY LAKE
BASqUESIIEEPIIERDERS
BY ELVA AYLESWORTH
94-4
ELKO, NEVADA
�200
Basque tree carvings located high in the mountains of E lko County.
�201
BASQUE SHEEPHERDERS
BY ELVA AYLESWORTH
Over 100 years ago, the Basques began immigrating from Spain and France to
this country . Their determination. ability to work hard , desire to succeed, and
wi llingness to sacrifice in order to attain tomorrow's security , are the major strengths
that enabled the Basque people to immigrate to and succeed in America . They saw
this new land with its sparsely inhabited West and possible business opportunities as
the land of dreams , a place of future financial security. 1 For some, the hope of
financial security was fulfilled in the new land of America and some were able to
enjoy their success back in the old country. For many , the strong determination that
enabled them to endure the sacrifice and hardship of life in the American West was
accompanied by a pain that lingers today.
Land was scarce in the Basque countries : therefore. to stay meant living and
working in the cities. Basque culture taught that rural life was one of " personal
dignity and independence , .. a way of life to be treasured: whereas life for the city
worker was one of hard work under someone else·s direction . In Basque society, the
eagerness to do hard work is greatly respected . However, the Basques prefer to work
for themselves only, even to the exclusion of working for other Basque people. 2
Continually being under another person's authority was seen as a loss of identity and
independence. 3 America, a land where hard work and determination produced
security and freedom, became a dream for many of the Basque people.
Trad ing their berets for hats. they journeyed to the United States, 4 leaving family ,
friends , homes , and culture . They left as teens 5 and some went back as old men , but
almost all left parents, sisters, or brothers whom they would never see again. Close
association with others has always been very important to the Basque people as they
are a remarkably social society .6 Leaving this society to take up the life of a solitary
sheepherder often took more endurance than the average person has.
Due to a famine throughout the Basque country, political unrest, and lack of work
opportunities, the Basques began immigrating into California in the 1850s. 7 The gold
rush attracted them at first ,8 but the insecurity of the mining industry soon
discouraged them. At this time , the Industrial Revolution in Europe caused an
increase in the demand for wool , sheep tallow, and mutton , which required additional
numbers in sheep and sheepherders. 9 The promise of $25 to $50 a month was
attractive enough to entice many of the immigrant Basques to begin the solitary life
of the sheepherder. Some of the Basques had herded sheep in Argentina , 10 and
others had come from families which owned sheep. But for the most part, they
learned their herding skills in the United States.
Fifty years prior to the Industrial Revolution , California's governor at the time, a
Basque man named Diego de Borica , promoted the sheep industry by buying and
distributing sheep on his own to various California ranches. During his term in office
from 1794 to 180 0 , sheep numbers quadrupled , and by 1822, there were more
than 200 ,000 head in the state. 11 By 1860 , investing in the sheep business was the
safest and most profitable venture possible , with a 100% profit per year. 12 This
�202
opened the door for the hard working, success-oriented Basque immigrants. The
large majority of native Californios were cattle ranchers who inherently had a very
low conception of sheep, shying from the task of herding them , so the early
sheepherders were of many different backgrounds, having been brought in from all
over by the gold mines. 13 However, in Los Angeles, City of Dreams, Harry Carr
wrote that by 1887, the Basques were in control of the sheep in California. He
remarked , " Possibly no race with less fighting qualities could have held their own
against the cattlemen .. . , the Basque herders and Mexican cattlemen shot on
sight... " 14
Cattlemen had been accustomed to uninhibited use of the public lands bordering
their deeded ranches , and the arrival of the roving sheep operators was a rude
awakening. Although the itinerant sheepmen were on public ground , cattle ranchers
and land-owning sheepmen openly resented them. 15 The opportunity for future
financial independence prompted many herders to take their wages in live sheep.
This further increased the number of roaming sheepmen with no land base, who
continued to crowd the land-owning ranchers. Friction between the landowners and
the landless continued. William A Douglass wrote, in Basque Sheepherders of the
American West , that the itinerant sheepherder usually moved on after a confrontation with a cowboy about trespassing. Sometimes "tempers flared and reason was
replaced by violence. More than one herder was roped and dragged behind a horse ,
just as more than one buckaroo fell to a herder's .30-30 rifle. " 16 However,
Amerikanuak , written by William A. Douglass and Jon Bilbao, states to the contrary:
"The resort to serious violence was both rare and limited to the particularly hottempered. " 17
Along with the growth in sheep numbers and in the number of sheepherders came
the expansion of crop farming, leaving little room for any of the ranchers or
sheepmen to expand . In addition to that was the increasing hostility of the rancher
and established sheepmen toward the " tramp" sheep operator. As a result of these
numerous hindrances, the itinerant sheepmen began the hunt for new country.
Nevada winters being what they are , cold and risky for raising livestock, these
traveling sheep outfits still preferred Nevada over the crush of the California ranges. 18
Beginning around 1870, sheep were trailed into Nevada until, by 1910, there were
1, 154, 795 sheep registered. Depending entirely on public ground , these early sheep
operators trailed their bands to the southern dry areas in the winter, then back to the
high mountain pasture for the summer. Some bands traveled up to 500 miles or
more making their way from summer to winter ranges , than back again. 19 Sometimes
as many as 10 bands in one outfit would travel together, grazing slowly along the
way . Ten bands of sheep could number between 15,000 and 20 ,000 head,
according to Sarah Bixby in Adobe Days. 20 Ten herders traveled with a herd this
size. but when they were settled on their separate ranges , one herder and a couple
of good sheepdogs could handle more than 1,000 head of sheep alone. Being of a
nervous nature and vulnerable to attack from predators, sheep required constant care,
to the point that sheepherders often slept on the ground with them. 21 The
conscientious herder left nothing to chance in caring for his charges, as his reputation
was on the line in the weight and number of the lambs at shipping time .22
Most herders slept on the ground , using sagebrush for a mattress. Immigrating
from France at age 24. Mrs. Anna Hachquet has resided in Elko , Nevada, for the
�203
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Winter sheep camp for Elko County sheep being driven to winter ran ge
near Hamilton , Nevada .
past 70 years . She is the widow of a successful sheepman and remembers from her
days of cooking for her husband at the sheep camp , " You had to look every day in
the bed for snakes, always you watch for snakes. Oh. yes, I remember that! .. The
snakes liked the cool familiarity of the sage, so even though it made a good mattress,
it had to be checked often fo r visitors . Sixty-five years ago , Jean-Baptiste Ardans
came to American to herd sheep. He recalls an experience of unknowingly sharing
his bed with a rattlesnake . He had just gotten into bed when he heard it slither past
his head . "Oh boy, I jumped' I was scared' I couldn't reach it the first time with my
shovel. .. When he did connect. you can believe he made short work of that
unwelcome guest.
All cooking was done in the open over a campfire, regardless of the weather.
Bread that would put many housewives to shame, was cooked in a dutch oven in the
ground . Frank Lespade , long-time employee of Elko Lumber Company and retired
superintendent of maintenance for the Elko County School District. began
sheepherding at 13 in the country around Currie , Nevada . He states that a fire was
built in a hole dug in the ground. When the fire had burned down and there were
plenty of coals, the Dutch oven containing the bread dough was placed down in the
coals and left for a time. This browned the bread and gave it a crust. Next, the oven
was completely covered with dirt for about an hour while the bread baked . Pete
Amestoy, a herder for 25 years and well known for his bread-making skill , says this
was much better than "town bread. "
Herders today live in sheep wagons which have modern day luxuries, such as a
bed, table , and cupboards. They do not. however, have electricity. plumbing, or
refrigeration . The early sheepherder used a tent or teepee and made do . Transportation for the early herder was a burro or horse . Camp was moved on the back of a
packhorse. 23 Pete Amestoy came to America when he was 17 to herd sheep. He has
�204
been out of the sheep business for about 40 years , but clearly remembers the
harshness of the sheep camp ... It was a terrible life , had tents and used jackasses. Ifs
good now , with cars and trailers. Live like a king. It used to be nothing. "
In the early days the camp tender would resupply the herders once or twice each
month with beans, dried fruit, coffee , and ingredients for bread. When bands
belonging to the same outfit were near each other, the herders would butcher one
sheep together and share the meat, one animal being too much for one man before
it spoiled. 24 In later years , camp tenders came every four to six days, bringing canned
meat, fresh vegetables, pop, and wine along with the usual fare. Frequency of visits
and extent of supplies varied from outfit to outfit. Frank Lespade tells of working with
his dad for Pete Itcaina and being sent to Wells to pick up cases of moonshine. · ·I
was pretty young , but I drove all the way over there by myself, then back to Pole
Canyon (Ruby Valley) where we were camped. " Jean Ardans , nephew of Pete ltcaina
and employed by him for 24 years , laughs as he recalls the five-gallon containers
they were supplied coffee in. He remarked, •·1t was good to haul water in after the
coffee was gone. "
Many sheepmen who employed the herders would hold back their wages for a
year at a time. Some would hold these earnings until the herder quit , even if it was
25 years after he was hired. Pete Amestoy tells of working for several outfits and
only staying a year or two at the longest at each. His answer as to why he moved
around so much was: " Can 't get paid' Shorter you stay, quicker you paid. " Some
herders , trusting years of wages to employer's keeping , lost all when the employer
went bankrupt. Pete Itcaina was one of the many sheepmen who operated on the
wages held back from the herders. He came to America some time before 1900 ,
homesteaded a place between Deeth and Charleston, and became a very successful
businessman by the time he sold out in 1951. Obviously, some of his success came
from being able to forego paying wages to many employees for many years. He
employed 15 herders , including two brothers and four nephews. Jean Ardans , one
of the nephews, drew his first and last paycheck on the same day when he quit after
24 years of employment with Itcaina.
Physical danger was an everyday companion to the herders in the form of
weather, predators, snakes, illness, and injury . The major probiem , though , was
psychological , living with the boredom and isolation from other humans. 25 Numerous
herders were unable to deal with this facet of their occupation. Many quit. Others
remember crying themselves to sleep. Some actually went crazy. The term " Crazy
Basco " was not uncommon or without meaning. In early 1900, an organization in
Boise was formed to supply the return fares for the mentally and physically ill
immigrants .26 Some of the Basque herders killed themselves if they felt they were
going crazy. Others didn 't " catch it" in time. 27 Archer B. Gilfillan, in his book.
Sheep , claims that some think no one can herd sheep even six months and not go
crazy, "while others maintain that a man must have been mentally unbalanced for at
least six months before he is in fit condition to entertain the thought of herding. " 28
There were many herders who toughed it out, "putting in their time" for the
monetary security they would realize after years of loneliness and danger. Unable to
speak fluent English, or for most , any at all , town was not a preferred alternative.
Conmen and prostitutes were only too ready to relieve the herder of his money. 29
There are as many stories as there were outfits. For the itinerant sheepman, traveling
�205
Early photograph of sheep shearing operation. Pete El ia is on the far
right in white shirt.
around with no home base , completely alone except for the short time he enjoyed
visiting with the camp tender, the loneliness could be, and in many cases was,
unbearable. Herders for some of the bigger outfits would pasture their band of sheep
close to other bands belonging to the same outfit during the summer. This relieved
some of the loneliness. For young Frank Lespade , who moved to a sheep camp at
Currie from a Catholic boarding school in California , there were many adjustments
to make. Living and working around 10 other herders, learning to herd sheep,
handle a team of horses , ride a mule, and drink moonshine. Lespade doesn 't recall
loneliness as being one of his problems. He only remembers. "There was work to
do and you did it. ,. Pete Amestoy recollects a much different experience . He was
alone most of the time and remembers the loneliness well . After 24 years of herding ,
Pete moved to town (Elko) and bought the Blue Jay , a bar he ran for 11 years. He
then sold the bar and bought apartments instead. Now, looking back, Pete excitedly
points out. " It was like being in jail! Can 't go fishing! "
Throughout the western rangelands, generations of Basque sheepherders have left
the mark of their passing by carving messages into plaques nailed to trees , the tree
bark or even the handle of a scrub brush. Each year the message is added to with the
date of their stay or just a short note : "This is a sad and bitter life. " Another one
notes, " No good camp. " In the barren , treeless country, a rockpile was built. These
were called harrimutilak, or "stone boys ." This evidence for future herders of
another's presence in this camp was one common way for these men to deal with
the boredom and loneliness. It gave them a feeling of connection , knowing that other
herders would some day see their message , and it was also encouraging to them to
read the words of another who had been there before them. 30 But with the Basques·
desire to work hard , live honestly , and be self-reliant, they eventually earned the
respect of Americans 3 1 and were soon believed to be the best and the most
dependable sheepherders. 32 Elko resident Loyd Sorensen owned and operated a
�206
Old sheep wagon at the Goicoechea Ranch at North Fork, 1970.
sheep business for over 50 years. He hired many Basque sheepherders and claims
they are " honest and efficient workers. Efficient workers, that says it all. ·· Another
testimony to their integrity comes from a commonly held belief by the bankers that
''The word of the Basque is as good as a written contract. ·· 33 Mrs . Anna Hachquet
recently discovered this is still considered true. Upon hearing that her favorite
restaurant was no longer accepting personal checks, Hachquet questioned her
waitress. She was asked: ··Are you Basque?" When hearing the answer: "Yes,· · the
waitress replied that she would take her check.
Of the various people who have herded sheep, the Basques were the most
successful , due to their value of hard work , endurance , and staying with one
occupation. 34 Other people tried herding for a short time , but only the Basque could
see this path to financial security many years in the future . For most people , to say
"sheepherder" is to say ··Basque.·· No other ethnic group has been related to any
occupation so completely as the Basque to the herding of sheep. 35
Beginning in 1862 and continuing until 1934. laws were continually being passed
that hurt the sheepmen, 36 culminating in the Taylor Grazing Act (1934). which
stopped the itinerant sheepmen from using public lands exclusively to produce their
livestock. This also ended the opportunities for herders to start their own business 37
and, with the European economy improving. the Basques no longer desired to
immigrate. The century-long period of the Basque sheepherder had ceased.
�207
When the Basques left their homeland. the intent was to stay only long enough
to earn the capital required for the trip home and a business when they got there. 34
In the early days of the booming sheep industry and plentiful opportun ities. many
were able to go home within 10 years. Later on. the financial security they sought
took longer to find.
A large majority of these immigrants left their country never to return. Money. or.
for some , the willingness to spend it, is one reason. 38 For others, it is the emotional
expense of a return to a home where many loved ones have passed on , and where
" things are so different now.· · For many. the official arrangements necessary for such
a trip and the language barrier that is still there must seem too much to deal with.
Others still firmly state: "Next year , I'll go home next year . · · J G For many, "next year ..
never comes.
After 40 or 50 years , a Basque herder may return to his homeland only to find
that it is not the same place and that he is certainly not the same man. With a
saddened but firm step , he turns back to the America that has claimed him. 39
The percentage of success stories is small of the Basques returning to their
homeland within a few short years after immigrating , as prospective businessmen
happy to remain in the old country. However, as immigrants desiring to make
something of themselves and be recognized in their new country as the honorable
upright citizens that they are , the Basques have ultimately succeeded .
FOOTNOTES
'Douglass, Amerikanuak, Basques in the Ne w World, pg. 128.
" Basques in the West ,, . Sunset Magazine. June , 1976, pg. 64.
3
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg. 128.
4
Laxalt, Sweet Promised Land , pg . 22.
5
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg. 263.
6
" Basques in the West ,·, pg. 64.
7
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg. 129.
8
" Basques in the West ," pg. 64.
9
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg. 139.
10
" Basques in the West," pg . 64.
11
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg. 218.
12
/bid.' pg . 223.
13
/bid.' pg. 222.
14
/bid. ' pg. 229.
15
" Basques in the West," pg. 64 .
16
Douglass, Basque Sheepherders of the American West , pg. 9.
17
Douglass, Amerikanuak , pg . 276.
18
/bid. ' pg . 248.
19
Douglass, Basque Sheepherders , pg. 6.
20
Douglass , Amerikanuak , pg. 229.
21
Frank Lespade interview.
22
Douglass, Basque Sheepherders, pg . 43.
23
/bid .' pg. 53.
2
�208
24
Lespade interview.
Douglass. Basque Sheepherders , pg . 59 .
26
/bid .. pg. 29.
27
Laxalt, Sweet. pg. 39.
28
Douglass. Amerikanuak. pg. 298.
29
Douglass. Basque Sheepherders , pg . 101.
30
/bid., pg . 7 .
31
Douglass. Amerikanuak. pg. 259.
32
/bid. , pg. 274.
33
Douglass. Basque Sheepherders , pg . 27.
34
/bid .. pg. 25.
35
Douglass, Amerikanuak. pg. 289.
36
"Basques in the West,'' pg. 64 .
37
Laxalt, Sweet, pg. 40.
38
/bid.' pg. 38.
39
/bid. ' pg. 176.
25
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amestoy, Pete. Personal interview, March 12, 1993.
Ardans, Jean-Baptiste. Personal interview. March 28 , 1993.
" Basques in the West. " Sunset Magazine , Volume 156, June, 1976: 62-67.
Bradbury, Margaret. The Shepherd 's Guide. Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Publishing, 1977.
Douglass, William A. , and Bilbao, Jon. Amerikanuak, Basques in the New World.
Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1975 .
Douglas, William A. Basque Sheepherders of the American West. Reno: University
of Nevada Press, 1985 .
Hachquet, Anna . Personal interview, February 10, 1993.
lrigaray, Louis and Taylor, Theodore. A Shepherd Watches , A Shepherd Sings.
New
York: Doubleday and Company, 1977 .
Laxalt, Robert. Th e Basque Hotel. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1989.
Laxalt, Robert. Sweet Promised Land. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1986.
Lespade, Frank. Personal interview, March 28, 1993.
Ott, Sandra. The Circle of Mountains . New York: Oxford , 1981.
Sawyer, Byrd Wall. Nevada Nomad. San Jose: Harlan-Young , 1971 .
Sherlock, Patti. Alone on the Mountain. New York: Doubleday, 1979.
Sorenson , Loyd. Personal interview, April 5, 1993.
Editor 's note: This paper was written by Elva Aylesworth for Englis h 102 at
NNCC during the spring of 1993.
�
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Northeastern Nevada Museum Quarterly
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Collection of the Northeastern Nevada Museum Quarterly journal.
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Quarterly journal of the Northeastern Nevada Museum, located in Elko, Nevada.
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
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1978-2015
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Scott A. Gavorsky
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
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Title
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"Basque Sheepherders"
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<p>An history and analysis of the life of Basque sheepherders from the 1850s into the mid-20th century. Particular emphasis is placed on the experience of those in Elko County, Nevada, in the 20th century <span>as recounted in personal interviews with former Basque sheepherders in the Elko area. Interviewees included Jean-Baptiste Ardans, Anna Hachquet, Frank Lespade, and Loyd Sorenson.</span></p>
<p><a title="Basque Sheepherders article" href="/omeka/files/original/3430fad176d478b11bf46a817fcaa032.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View "Basque Sheepherders" as pdf</a></p>
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<em>Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly</em> 94.4 (Winter 1994): 200-208.
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Northeastern Nevada Museum
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Winter 1994
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1850 - 1950
Basques
Community
Crossroads
GBC50
ranching
sheepherding
Story
Students
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ACE Events 2013-2016
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Recordings of selected ACE events for the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 academic years.
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Selected events sponsored by ACE (Arts and Cultural Enrichment) Committee at Great Basin College. Included is the 2015 Cowboy Poetry Speakers Series (Teresa Jordan and Gary Nabhan).
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2013-2014; 2014-2015; 2015-2016
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Gary Nabhan: <a href="http://kaltura.tmcc.edu/index.php/extwidget/openGraph/wid/0_0duq4gd2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Collaborative Conservations of Ranchlands, Their Traditions, and Livelihoods</a>
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Collaborative efforts to conserve western farm and ranch lands and their traditions.
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Discussion of efforts of ranchers, environmentalists, and other groups to collaboratively work together to preserve family farms and ranchlands throughout the West, as well as their traditions and customs.
Part of the 2015 Cowboy Poetry Speakers Series.
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ACE Events 2013-2015
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29 January 2015
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Cowboy Poetry Gathering
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ranching
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PDF Text
Text
Ellison
Jackson
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
003
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
and
Joe
Duce>e
January
27,
2006
Owyhee,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hCp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 003
Interviewee: Ellison Jackson
Interviewers: Norm Cavanaugh and Joe Ducette
Date: Jan 27, 2006
J:
As I remember, we used to live in a tent when I first remember it. On side of the road, by
the Presbyterian Church that’s out of town out here. And I remember I lived there in a
hard winter. My grandpa used to get up and paw the snow off the tent, so he said it won’t
break it, it won’t rip the tent. We get a lot of snow. And that’s what I remember about
that.
Well, our Indian diet mostly… meat, dried meat. You know, you make venison, you
make a jerky out of it, and a berries that my grandmother and grandfather get, we put it in
a patties like a hamburger and grind it. During the winter, eat that. And usually make
bread out of a flour, we called Indian bread. You know, they put it in the oven, you know,
cook it like that. Or over a open stove, like with a grease, lot of grease. And they call it
“grease bread.” That’s what we loved to eat. And our old-timers, if you set up a table and
there’s no Indian—we called it Indian bread—if there’s no Indian bread, you put a white
bread on, they said, “Throw that white bread away! That’s no good. We want Indian
bread.” So the womenfolks usually always making that bread, they don’t buy that readymade bread, Wonderbread.
As I remember first, we used to have a wash tub stove. Like, in a tent? In a wash tub, you
cut a hole in there, put a pipe in there, and put a little door in the front. Use that for stove.
And they cook on it.
Yes, or sagebrush, or willows. Whatever that you get. My parents were Robert Jackson,
and my mom was Lena Jackson. When he first moved to Owyhee—in [19]30s, I guess,
I’m not too quick on that—and I was born here in [19]34.
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I moved here because my mom’s dad, my grandfather, they lived here. They raised
horses, cattle, you know. So he move here and work on odd jobs around Owyhee
reservation.
Well, we used to grow up playing all the time. In the snow, in the winter; sometime we’d
go swimming; and sometime we go hunting, with the slingshot. You know, with the
slingshot, we’d go out and kill these squirrels, and we cook them over open fire out there
someplace and have it for lunch. That was our life.
I had two sisters and one brother. I’m the second. Second to my sister, my sister was
oldest and I’m the second.
School was, they called—what was they call it—Swayne school, I guess. Because I
remember, went to kindergarten. I don’t know how old I was. I didn’t know how to speak
English. Maybe “yes” or “no,” as I remember. [Laughter] And I always tell this story
when someone ask that question. Said I went to school. And the teacher got a paper, and
calling people’s name out. So they said, “Raise your hand up when you hear name.” Kids
start raising here and there, you look around. And there was lot of people that we don’t
know everybody, because they come from different areas. And we only knew people in
town because we live in town. Surrounding area, we’re not too acquainted with these
other kids. So I said, “Whose name is that?” Look at them. So pretty soon, the teacher
said, “Ellison Jackson.” I was looking around. Who’s Ellison Jackson? Nobody raised
their hand up. And the teacher pointed at me. And I said, “me?” They say yes. Says,
“Raise your hand!” So I raised my hand. It was a funny name, I never did like since! I
said growing up, “I hate that name!” Because my Indian name my grandfather gave me
was Bombo. Everybody called me Bombo. So I thought that was my—well, that was my
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name. Still they call me that today! [Laughter] They don’t use Ellison! I thought that was
so funny.
Well, I went to seventh grade. I went to seventh grade here, I go to work on a ranch.
C:
And what did you do at the ranch? What was life like?
J:
I was a buckaroo. Horse riding life, you know, ride a horse? Cowboying for different
ranch. Wherever they hire me, I go to work.
Well, generally, it’s mostly… You work with cattle. On a horse.
Early. Four in the morning.
Sometime, if you work close to the house, you work long hours. Like, eight hours, nine
hours. And sometime you’re far away, you don’t come home until late, like couple
twelve hours in fall. In roundup time, you’re busy.
We used to make hundred and quarter a months. It’s a room and board. So, I thought that
was great.
When you get in in the morning, there’s a buckaroo boss there. In the corral, there’s a lot
of horses. Then you tell the buckaroo boss which horse you’re going to ride. You’ve got
about six horses that yours, like they belong to you. You keep them in good shape, you
put shoes on them, make sure they’re not sick. You feed ‘em, take care of them like you
really own it. So you tell the buckaroo boss, “This horse I want.” So they’ll go out there
and rope it for you. So you saddle up, get ready for—other cowboys get ready. Then
everybody ready, then you go. The cow boss take the lead, so you follow. Like he’d say,
“Well, we’re going to work that area.” Certain area of the hills, mountains, you know.
You’re working cattle. You’re moving from, move a cattle from different places to
different area. Like, fall, spring, summer, then branding time. You know, you do all that.
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C:
And how many buckaroos would you have on a ranch?
J:
It’s a big ranch, usually about ten. Small ranch, maybe five.
C:
Were they married?
J:
Mostly young, young buckaroos. There are about eighteen, seventeen, eighteen, up to
twenty young buckaroos. A few of them married, you know.
Well, my dad, he was… He became a operator, cat operator. Later on in years, learn how
to run the Cat. The big D… D8 or something like that. Anyway, he worked on a Cat. And
he worked as mechanic, here. But he don’t—he’s always busy, so he don’t, he really
didn’t teach me anything as I remember. But my grandfather, Jim—his name was Jim
Cavanaugh. James Cavanaugh. He’s the one that give me a lecture on, you know, learn
how to work. Mostly ranch work he was talking about. Like fixing fence, stacking hay,
being buckaroo, being nice to people, and always be polite at the table. You know, these
things which, were never taught that at home. He said, “You go work with these ranchers,
you’re going eat. Everybody eat together. There be twenty people there, maybe fifteen.
So you always say, ‘Please.’ When you order something, always say ‘Please.’ Then don’t
point at things.” He taught me all that. Then later on, I learned that my grandfather came
from Battle Mountain, that area. They’re the people that was called Western Shoshones.
And my dad came from Austin, Nevada. They’re also Western Shoshone people. Western
Shoshone band, I mean.
Well, it’s a long story… [Laughter]
C:
That’s okay!
J:
It goes—a legend, way back in legend times, the story goes like… There was a Coyote.
They go into Coyote, like this. Well, the Coyote’s our father. No, Wolf’s our father, and
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the Coyote is Wolf’s brother. So, us Indians, we’re all Coyote’s children. So, he was our
father. And he had whole bunch of kids, in different race, I guess. But there was only two
that he brought home. And to Nevada, I guess, to his home. After he got this woman
pregnant. And anyway, so he brought two home. Where they live in the mountains, where
there was a stream. And, so early in the morning, when he woke up, he thought his little
boys need cleaning, like a bath. Stream running, so he got up, and he give them a bath.
He use, the Indians use that mud, the fine mud, for soap. [Rubbing hands together] You
use that for soap. Put that on them and clean them up. But the two little boys, when they
first, when he let them go, after he let them go—they always fighting. You know how
boys… They fight each other. So, then the Coyote said, “Well, this not going to work.
You’re both my boys, you guys fighting.” But he said, he put a curse on them, he said,
“What I’m going to do is I’m going to separate you two. Apart.” So, he took one of his
boys, he got to live on the south, and one on the north. So the guy who going to give you
a, you be the—well, I don’t know where the Shoshone came from, but “you be the…”
They call them a newe, Indian. Shoshone word means, you’re your person, newe. And the
Paiute separated to the north. But he was your brother, and he was separated from you.
Then I don’t remember where he get the name Paiute, but they was both neme, because
they’re both brothers, they’re both Indians, that’s what was given to them. But the curse
put on them was, “Whenever you two meet someplace down the trail, no matter where at,
since you don’t like each other you guys going to fight. The Paiute and the Shoshone, you
meet each other on the trail somewheres, you just going to battle it out. You won’t like
each other.” That was the curse put on them. And they said, “The way you can recognize
each other is, the Shoshone will have a round eyes, like a owl.” Kind of round eyes.
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That’s a Shoshone. You look at the other guy, he’s a Paiute, he’ll have a slant eyes. Like,
upwards? So that’s the way you can recognize each other. So that’s the way the story go,
end up like that! [Laughter] So, that’s where we came from. That’s what the legend told
us. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. But in life, today, when you tell that to a Paiute, they
get hostile. I tell that story lot of times, and they say, “We’re all Indians! How come you
don’t like us, the Shoshones don’t like Paiutes?” “But it’s a legend!” I said, now, yes,
once.
Well, this one I always tell. You ask us where we came from. You know, I always—well,
my grandfather said, well, this is… When—we don’t say “God.” We have our own
religious way of live, I guess. Our own belief, the Western Shoshones. So, that’s what my
grandfather told me.
There was this world. It was up there. There was nothing on it. But that’s where they
believe that Wolf—they call it a Wolf and a Coyote—that’s where they came from. From
this, uh… the world was getting made, and that’s where they came from. So we, like a
Bible say, we came from our Father, the God. And it’s similar to that. But in Indian way,
that’s the way they tell. But they said, “That’s where we came from!” And when the,
after the world was, people on it already. There’s human beings on it. But the sun was
going too low. Instead of up high. It was too low. It was so hot. So the people that live on
this earth, they live underground. But when he cool off, they’ll come out. At night. So,
you roam around. So, then they go back underground, when the sun coming out. So the
chief decide—they had a chief—but Coyote wasn’t one of it [16:30]. There was some
chief, they had, I can’t remember the names. But the mostly animals they talk about. The
Indians said, “Well, we should do something about this sun. It’s too low, too hot up there.
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Why don’t we set it up higher, so it won’t burn us?” So they decided, “Well, we could do
it.” Then they said, “Well, how?” Then their chief said, they decide, “Well, we could kill
the sun. Because Sun’s alive, because he come out every morning. He’s alive.” So they
said, “We’ll kill it.” Then they said, “Well, if we kill it, it’ll come down to earth and burn
us,” somebody said. Then they said, “Yeah, that’s true.” Then they said, “Well, we’ve got
to find somebody that could run fast and dig a hole underneath the ground and jump in
there before the sun come down to earth, after they shoot it.” So the Coyote said, “Pick
me!” But they said, “Don’t pick Coyote, he’ll do something wrong” because, see, they
don’t trust him, the Coyote. “So what? I could run fast.” So they put a test, who could run
fast. You know, so many yards, who could run fast that distant. So the people keep
trying, Coyote keep saying, “I’m fast!” He’ll go up there and come back. Real fast. But
they don’t trust him. So there was, two people was pick. There was a Cottontail, and the
Brush Rabbit that was picked. So they said, “Well, you two kill the sun.” So they went
out, went to hunt for the sun. So they went to the mountain where the sun came out. They
settled to wait for the sun. So the next morning, when they sit up there, the sun didn’t
come out. [Laughter] He come over the other mountain, across. So they never did caught
up to the sun. But keep traveling, keep traveling. But every night when they camp out, or
dig a hole where they going to live, under the earth. So, finally, I don’t know how long
they travel, try to catch the sun, but finally they… One morning the sun came out on top
of that mountain where they were staying. Close. It was so hot! So they came out of their
hole, and they had a bow and arrow to shot at it. And their bow and arrow just burned.
Pwoosh! The arrow. They don’t had it. Or they shoot it, and it burnt before it reach the
sun. It was so hot. So the, they decide, “Well, if we use a medicine”—the Indian people
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use certain type of medicine that’s strong. So they decide, “Well, we’ll just use a
sagebrush bark and wrap it real tight around that arrow. And they pray to it. Put their,
whatever medicine they have, they put it on and pray to it. And they shot that. And that
thing burn, Pwoosh! And hit the sun. Once it hit, Sun got hit, he came down. Fall off the
sky to the ground. So they took off and jumped under a hole. So the brush rabbit and the
cottontail jump in their hole, but that brush rabbit didn’t dig a deep hole. And the
cottontail, it was a deeper hole. So pretty soon, the Cottontail, he hears his buddy Bush
Rabbit crying. Screaming. But it was so hot! The Cottontail put his foot in that hole,
where they dig to keep the heat off. So I don’t know how long, it took quite a while for it
to cool off. So after he cool off, the Cottontail came out of the hole looking at his brother.
His brother was all cooked, blacked. Singed. So then he notice, the sun was laying there
on the ground. But the sun was still alive. So, then he told the sun that’s what’s
happening. “You’re burning us,” you know, “You run too low. Why don’t you go up
higher?” So he grab it and send it up higher, up into the sky. So he won’t be traveling
close to the earth after this. But he cut his, Brush Rabbit’s gut, and use the
[cut in recording from from 21:33 – 21:36]
you travel up there, you make a star. Became a star. And the gut here became a Milky
Way. And what else they made out of that? [Laughter] I can’t remember—That’s what he
did! So, like, they say, “Well, today when you look up at the sky, you’ll think, ‘Well,
that’s the Brush Rabbit’s eyes shining.’” Oh, they made a moon out of the kidney! Throw
it up there and made a moon out of it so you could travel at night. You could see the light.
So he done all that. So the job was completed. So the next morning, the sun came out
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over the mountain, it was up higher. So they done their job. [Laughter] That was legend.
So, it was told to me.
Well, the Indians, they get together. It’s a get-together. On a big holiday, like that. So at
the Indian Colony up in Elko, they had this hand game going. And the womans play
cards, and Round Dance every night. And they’ll four days, four-five days, and that fair
going on. And lot of people, they came in from different areas. And Fourth July, people
do the same. They came over to Owyhee. And they do the same thing. Hand game, card
games, races, rodeo here. And a Round Dance.
Well, if you work on a ranch, you go with the boss. They usually haul the workers in for
holiday. But if somebody had a car, you jump in with them. To Owyhee, if it’s short
ways. Like if you work in WP, or Flying H Ranch [23:34]… But other areas, the boss
go to town, and jump in with him, and come back to work with, to the ranch with him.
Yeah, there’s Indian celebration going on all the time. And there’s some singers. You
know, they call a Round Dance? People take turns singing a song, about… Singing
Indian song is telling a story. Instead of telling a story, you put it into singing. So… And
that’s whats it’s all about, and people enjoy that as celebrations.
Everybody dance together, you know, you hold hands and… Women, old lady, young
kids… They just have all kinds of fun.
Yeah, that’s how I brought my drum and that. Maybe I’ll sing a one song. This is, my dad
used to sing that. I remember that. When I was a little kid, he always singing a song. So I
always, I pick it up when I was a young kid. So. he always sing a song. So. This talk
about a mountain. You know, that big mountain. How the mountain looked, it’s kind of
blue, all this and that. Put it into song, and he always singed it. It’s—he always say, “In
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Austin, where I live, there was a big mountain. So that’s what my song about.”
[Laughter] He always say that! Never been to Austin, so I always remember what he used
to say. So this is it:
[sings in Newe at 25:19]
[song concludes at 26:32]
So that’s that Round Dance song. You could go over, I don’t know, two-three difference
in, if you’ve got a good wind here, because you sing it over and over about two, three
times, same wording. And people dance to it. When they like that song, they said, “Come
on, sing that song again!” Then you have to go over and over. And that’s a Round Dance
song.
Yes, I did, uh-huh. Made out of a elk hide. So I made that.
Well, you had to have a board inside, and soak the hide. After you scrape the hair off the
hide, then you stretch it when it’s wet, over this. Then they dry out like that. So got to be
tight. So, that’s what I made for a trip down Fort Hall. I made some. They invite me over
to tell a story, so wanted a, I thought I needed a drum to sing a song. [Laughter] I made
one!
Okay, um… When I was a young kid growing up, there was our neighbor. His name was
Stanley Gibson. He was cripple. He was in a wheelchair. And used to visit him all the
time. I’d carry water for him, he was real nice. He give us nickel now and then for candy.
Was growing up, and he’d do rawhide work. Sit in wheelchair and do all that. Talk to us,
and laugh, and then we push him out to the store in the wheelchair, and was good friend
of ours. So I learned little bit about rawhide from him. So… But as time went on, I
always want to work a rawhide because when you work on ranch, somebody know how
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to work rawhide. Cowboys, maybe tie a knot, maybe somebody working rawhide. And
they willing to teach you. But, as I was growing up, I hate to ask somebody. You know,
because they’re busy doing something, you hate to ask them. It’s so complicated. So,
what I did was, my brother-in-law have a ranch south of Elko. His name was Raymond
Darrough. I live one winter with him there, helping him, feeding cattle. So he said, “Well,
let’s make reata, we’re going to run horses.” Wild horses, mustang. So says, “I’ll show
you how.” So he taught me how to make reata. Slow process, and he’d braid it together,
and he use it. So, then he taught me how to braid and tie a few knots. Simple one. But it
was so complicated. I keep asking him. And pretty soon he get tired of me, and he said,
“Well, this is last time I’m going to tell you. You better pick it up!” So I went so far, and
that was it, I kept making mistakes. But later on in years, there’s a book called Cowboy
Horse Gear. It show how to tie a knot, and all the rawhide knots the cowboys use. So, I
learned how to tie knots from studying that. Kinda complicated at first. Then I learned
how to cut it, how to soak it, how to treat it, everything. Then braid, you do lot of
braiding. Hard on your hands, the knot-tying’s. You know, on that set arrange that, lot of
different knots I put on. And that’s the way I learned. Because whoever work rawhide,
they don’t want to waste time teaching you, because you’ll never learn in one day or two
days, or a week. Take forever! And the person that teach rawhide, they… You go to
school nowadays, I think they cost about, for six week, about $2000 to attend a class. Just
for couple hours a day. So nobody got no time to teach a person. So that’s where I learn
how to work rawhide, then. And I had some—I donated some to Elko Museum, my work.
And it was hanging at Stockman’s that one year.
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Well, I wouldn’t say don’t count it, just... [31:12] I always say, “Forever!” [Laughter]
Because you braid it during the summer. You clean the hide, you braid it during the
summer. Cut the strings into fine—fine strings, all even. Then wintertime, you tie the
knots. Sit there at night through the cold weather. Slow process. Then complete it finally.
And then you’re happy. Then you want to look at it, then somebody come along and said,
“Hey! How much you want for it?” Say, “Nah, not for sale.” But I sell it all the time.
[Laughter] So… It’s a good art, because then people knew I, since I had my work
hanging in Stockman’s and people knew my, who I am and what type of work I done,
good rawhide work they say, so they want to order. They call me and said, “Hey, make
me one!” And I tell them, “Well, if I get around to it, I’ll make one, but right now I don’t
have any.” So that’s the way I got a clean up [32:22] with that.
Growing up is… I don’t know how old I was—well, maybe ten or something—but our
favorite pastime was hunting, fishing, riding horse, swimming during the summer, and
playing all the time. That’s all we did. Nothing much. But, I love to ride horse. My
grandpa let me ride a horse, I’ll ride a horse. My grandpa was real strict on the horses.
You can’t—he got to be with you, if you ride his horse. He always say, “Don’t run your
horse to death!” You know, when you’re young kid, you just want to run, run, run!
[Laughter] You don’t want to run slow! So, he said, “I got to be there!” So that was fun
part. And he took, grandpa took me fishing. I enjoy that. Go up the river to go catch some
fish. Trouts, usually.
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
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GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Ellison "Bombo" Jackson
Location
The location of the interview
Owyhee Hospital, Owyhee, NV - Duck Valley Reservation
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
Transcript available: http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/ca19c29d24318e8927a3aa630ba1e8a3.pdf
Original Format
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DVD; VOB format
Duration
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00:35:30
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Ellison "Bombo" Jackson (01/27/2006)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History Interview with Ellison "Bombo" Jackson, Western Shoshone from Duck Valley NV, (01/27/2006)
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Ellison Jackson was the son of Robert Jackson and Lena Jackson. He is best known by his Native name Bombo. Bombo tells us of his childhood growing up in a tent near the Presbyterian Church in Owyhee, Nevada. He also tells us of his experience at the Swayne School. Bombo also tells us about his buckaroo and cowboy days riding horses, and what his grandfather James Cavanaugh told him to expect. He also tell us a Shoshone tale about Coyote, the Shoshone, and the Paiute. Also tells us about another tale about the Sun, Brush Rabbit, and Cottontail.<br /> <br />Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive
Source
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Great Basin Indian Archive, GBIA 003A
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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01/27/2006 [27 January 2006]; 2006-01-27
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 © 2016.
Consent form of file administrator access only:
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/2e823d76c4f4bd92f31936e2d966dcef.pdf
Format
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streaming video
Language
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English
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley
folktale
GBIA
Paiute
ranching
Shoshone
Story
Swayne school
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/4d39c7244ee9e08ada9c31a5b12fec1c.jpg
a1b76b4497e076bda2efcd725bb3b1a6
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
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GBIA Oral History Collections
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
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Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Dan Blossom
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Elko, NV (GBC Campus)
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00:48:30
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Dan Blossom Oral History (03/27/2012)
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Oral History Interview with Dan Blossom, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV on 03/27/2012
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<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; height: 50px; width: 50px;" title="Shoshone Language Marker indicating Shoshone content" src="/omeka/files/original/79de1f8d7d9a264c3fb9973a5346a076.jpg" alt="Shoshone Language Marker" />Oral History Interview with Dan Blossom, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV on 03/27/2012<br />This oral history contains significant Shoshone language conversation, and is recommended for usage by community language teachers.</p>
<p>Dan Blossom (Cho Cho Kunn) was born in Battle Mountain (Dona Muzza), Nevada in 1924. His mother was Miley Jackson-Cavanaugh. He is part of the Jackson Clan. Dan Blossom describes how he grew up on the outskirts of Battle Mountain. He describes how he would hunt for food such as gomba (type of desert ground squirrel), and eat other foods such as deer, duck, etc. He describes how his grandmother Aggie Jackson and his family lived while he was growing up in Battle Mountain. Dan also tells us of his school experience, and how he was not allowed to speak Shoshone. He later describes his life while he was in the Army during the Korean War. He later tells us a traditional Shoshone Tale: Coyote and Wolf.</p>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 027
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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03/27/2012 [27 March 2012]; 2012 March 27
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; Aldun Tybo [community member]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2016.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/id/308
Language
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Shoshone; English
Community
Crossroads
folktale
GBIA
heritage
hunting
Korean War
ranching
Shoshone
Story
veteran
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51c2484236d525bc56e452f40e1b5f7c
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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
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Oral histories compiled
Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
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Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
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2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Barbara Ridley
Location
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Elko, NV; Beowawe, NV
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Transcript in process [10 June 2015]
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DVD
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42:55
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Title
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Oral History - Barbara Ridley
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Oral History Interview with Barbara Ridley, Western Shoshone from Elko, NV
GBIA
Description
An account of the resource
<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; height: 50px; width: 50px;" title="Shoshone Language Marker" src="/omeka/files/original/79de1f8d7d9a264c3fb9973a5346a076.jpg" alt="Shoshone Language Marker" />Oral History Interview with Barbara Ridley, Western Shoshone from Crescent Valley, NV on 06/30/2014<br />This oral history contains significant Shoshone language conversation, and is recommended for usage by community language teachers.</p>
<p>Barbara Ridley discusses her family and garden at home in Elko, and then travels to Beowawe to discuss her family and neighbors.<br /><br /> Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh</p>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdnapi.kaltura.com/p/2096981/sp/209698100/embedIframeJs/uiconf_id/39808892/partner_id/2096981?autoembed=true&entry_id=0_oxlm4n4y&playerId=kaltura_player_1501884779&cache_st=1501884779&width=560&height=395&flashvars[streamerType]=auto"></script>
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Creator
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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Great Basin Indian Archive - Western Shoshone Oral Histories - GBIA
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2015
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017.
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/486
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mp4
Language
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Shoshone; English
Beowawe
Community
Crossroads
family
GBIA
ranching
Shoshone
Story
-
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/38875e47eec013bb915c89af64d2ac43.jpg
ccf5944e8fbc8dacfceb57f4ce19c56a
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/aa3766f4fe58fc6783ed1d03f4f8f30c.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
Naomi
Mason
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
034
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
April
23,
2014
Owyhee,
NV
Great
Basin
College
•
Great
Basin
Indian
Archives
1500
College
Parkway
Elko,
Nevada
89801
hDp://www.gbcnv.edu/gbia/
775.738.8493
Produced
in
partnership
with
Barrick
Gold
of
North
America
�GBIA 034
Interviewee: Naomi Mason
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: April 23, 2014
M:
I’m Naomi Mason. I’m 84 years old, and I would like to start by talking about my mom
and dad. My dad’s name was Tom Premo, and his mother, on that side of the family,
came from the Jarbridge area. So his mom came from there, and his dad came from the
Elko area, as part of the—people called themselves Tosawihi [White Knife]. So, they
were, that’s my dad’s side. Then my mom came from, she was actually born—she’s
listed as being born in J.D. Ranch. And that’s in the Roberts Mountains area. And her
mother died after she was about two, and her uncle raised her. And they moved to Ruby
Valley. So she grew up in Ruby Valley. But, you know, she was born in 1890. And those
were very difficult years. And my dad was born—according to the Census—1855 or
1853. So it’s just matter of two year difference. So, my mom and dad—all I can say is in
the 1800s, it was really a bad time for all the Indians in Nevada. In every little valley,
every little canyon. It was very difficult times. So, my mom grew up there. While she was
growing up, my dad somehow—when he was small, he was back and forth. His family
apparently moved back and forth to Owyhee. I think most Indians did that, because there
was not a reservation at that time. So, he… Well, one moment. Did I have—well, they
moved back and forth. And not too many people were on the reservation. And early on,
they did have a school here. And the earliest time my dad appears in the Census is 1855,
he was four months old. And he’s listed there with a dad. And my grandpa had two
wives, which was not uncommon then. And I don’t know what happened with the wives,
but he had two listed. So my dad was four months when he first appeared on the Census.
And I followed him through the different Censuses, and the next significant thing that
happened to him was, he was—maybe he said he was 14, when he went to Carlisle.
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Maybe he was a little older. He was never clear on that. And I guess I always wondered,
how’d he get picked to go to Carlisle? And the really interesting thing is that, we had a
doctor here in 19—oh, let’s see, what time did that man come through? A doctor named
Dr. Montezuma. He was here for two years in Owyhee. And he wrote to Washington,
D.C., and said we were in a very deplorable state healthwise, and wrote letters to D.C.
asking for hospital. And Montezuma happened to know the man that ran Carlisle, which
is really the very first Indian school. And so, I think that’s how about six people went
from Owyhee to Carlisle. So my dad went in 1905, or 1904, and it was kind of like an
industrial school. And he came home in 1909, I think is what it says, because we’ve got
papers from Carlisle and that’s what we figured out it was. So, that’s what happened to
my dad in 1905. He—it seems to, he came home to recruit students for Carlisle when he
was home. But my mother was always irritated with him, because she said she wanted to
go to Carlisle, but according to her, she was tricked by my dad, and so instead they got
married. So, she didn’t ever get to Carlisle. But then my dad and mom, they lived in the
Elko area, and in 1913, after they had my oldest sister, Laura, and they had my oldest
brother Thomas, they moved to Owyhee. Because by then, Owyhee was offering 40 acres
of land that you could cultivate and live off of it. So, that’s why they moved here. But
remember, my dad as a child had already been back and forth with his family, as many
other families. So that’s when they moved here. And the rest of us were born here after
they moved here. And my mother, you know, she never did—she never adjusted to
Owyhee. She always wanted to be back in Ruby Valley. That’s where her heart was. She
loved it there. And her aunt was still there, that raised her. So, I became very attached to
Ruby Valley just from hearing the stories about it. I thought it must be a magnificent
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place. And it is, because since then I’ve been there many times. And so—I’ve lost my
train of thought. One moment there. So, in—the Treaty was signed in 1863, but actually
it didn’t become a reservation here in Owyhee until 1877, when President Hayes signed
the papers to make this Duck Valley. And temporarily, they were at the Carlin Farms. All
the people, that’s where they had been moved. The movement from all the areas, that’s
how my grandmother—my dad’s mom—that’s how they ended up in the Elko area. They
were kind of all living on the Carlin Farms. But many of them already were coming back
and forth to Owyhee because, you know, it was to avoid the military people. The military
people really was very abusive to a lot of Indians. A lot of, you know, tragedies happened
with the military, everywhere. And so people were back and forth to Owyhee. And so in
1877, after it was made a reservation, some people trickled here and were already living
here. So then, shortly after that, they begin to have the people, kind of like a forced move
to Owyhee. As many people as they could. Because this was the Western Shoshone
reservation. But not everybody wanted to come here. Many wanted to stay where they
were, where they were employed as cowboys, or they worked in the mines, and many
worked on the railroads. So sometimes, people came to Owyhee, and tried to farm, and
maybe they were not farmers. They had nothing to start with. And so, a lot of the people
went back, you know, wherever. To Austin. To Ely. Everywhere. They just… life was
very difficult, here. There was really nothing. No employment. No housing. Sometimes
the water was scarce. It was just the events of the weather, and the environment. Some
years were good, other years was very dry. Just as it is today. So there were actually years
even the game was down, and they couldn’t find enough food to put on their plates, I
guess you would say. So then, life here in Owyhee was really very, very hard. And then,
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in—my mom and dad worked away, and originally my dad was, you know, addicted to
alcohol while they were still in Elko. But my mother temporarily left him, and he really
did sober up. So when he came to Owyhee, he and my mom, they became Christians, I
would say. They became very attached to the Presbyterian Church, and at that time we
were getting a lot of Nez Perce missionaries—native Nez Perce missionaries—that were
coming here to share their religion, or the Protestant religion, with whoever would listen.
And my mom and dad really did become devout Christians from there on. So, you know,
all the children, our lives became divided between what they knew from the olden times,
and the church. The church rules. So I guess we kind of grew up kind of a split
personality, I always think of it. But he became, they both became—he became an elder,
for his lifetime, with the Presbyterian Church, and my mother taught Sunday school, in
Shoshone, and she just devoted a lot of time to the Presbyterian Church. And then in
1910, that’s when my sister was born, my eldest sister. And when they moved here, in
1912 or [19]13, they were still giving out commodities to people that were good. If you
left the reservation, or if you were bad in the ideas of the Indian agents, you were denied
commodities or any kind of help. It was very restrictive living, and probably painful for
those people that had a lot of freedom before they came here. So, but, you know, my
mom and dad worked very hard. And their 40 acres, they cleared it together by using
picks and shovels until the 40 acres had no sagebrush. But that particular 40 acres burned,
and then they had to move to a different spot, and then they had to do the same thing
there. But you have to remember, all their peers were doing the same thing. Or I should
say, most of them. They were working very hard to clear the fields so they could plant.
And that is exactly what they did. So my dad was always busy planting, and I always
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look at my life in periods like the dates. Like in 1924, before I was born, you know that’s
when the natives became U.S. citizens. And that was very significant, because my
mother, especially, was really geared into all kinds of history, and she would always
bring that up. That, you know, we were lucky to be citizens. And so during World War I,
of course, we were not citizens, but some of the Indians participated in that. That World
War I. I was born in 1929, during the Crash, which was worldwide. And I, maybe
because of that, and because it was still very difficult to live here, it seemed—everyone
was poor. Even the non-Indians. That’s when they had a lot of hobos, a lot of riding of
the rails, and it was a very hard time for many many people. And the Dustbowl.
Historically, it was just a very hard time. But it affected Indians on reservations, because
the rations were even shorter, and if you were not a planter, I don’t know what you ate
besides beans and bread. You know, fry bread is not a traditional Indian food. That’s a
later food. We didn’t fry. So, we had—there was a lot of beans. Good thing, that’s a very
nutritious food. So we had beans, and my parents always planted—originally, without
Wild Horse Dam, most of the people had to go to the springs along the mountainsides,
where they planted. So it really involved all day to go up there to take care of your
garden, and then come back, and water it from the spring. Many people did that. Almost
every spring here in Owyhee, there were garden spots. And the remarkable part then is
everybody was so honest, and so hard-working, that no one ever pulled any of your plants
up. It was always the honor system. I can’t believe the integrity those old people had. We
didn’t have to worry, and everyone was helpful with each other. So that’s what was
happening in 1929, and I was the next to the last in a family of 10. The third one died at
four months. It was a flu. And my family’s kind of divided in half: the older half and the
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younger half. That’s because the older half, they were already going to school in
government schools when we were younger—the younger half. And also, the older ones
experienced a very stern dad and mom, and when we came along, I would say that, you
know, they had mellowed. And we had very mellow parents compared to the older ones.
That’s what I remember. Of course, then they were also very active in church. So, you
know, we were very geared to all day Sunday for church, and all day Wednesday for
prayer services. And that’s just the way I grew up. And always, we had the tone of the
importance of education. Always, always. But, you know, it was not that easy to become
educated, other than to go away to boarding schools, which all of my brothers and sisters
went to Sherman Institute in Riverside, California. And I even went for one year, but
that’s all I attended Sherman for. And let me see… Then, and Owyhee, only had grades
up to eight when I was growing up. And after that, you had to either go away, or not go to
school anymore. So that’s why many of the students, my peers, went to either Stewart
Indian School or Chemawa. Apparently, they had a choice. I went to Sherman because all
my siblings went there. And so, life, you know, continued on like that. It was
everything—you had to work hard so things could get better. There was no other thought
in your head. Everything you did is so it could get better. And so, I think that’s why
everybody really did work hard. And I don’t ever remember having—I only remember
two alcoholics on the reservation when I was growing up. Never saw an empty liquor
bottle or empty beer cans. Just except for those two people that were obviously, now in
retrospect, they were alcoholics. So, I guess in so many ways, my life was just kind of
ideal. We were very, very poor. We didn’t go too many places. We went to the mountains
a lot to get wood, and also fish, and hunt. So time was spent between the mountains and
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home. And so then comes along 1931, and the school became a high school, but it was
not enough time to accommodate my need for high school. Just my brother only went.
My youngest brother went to high school here in Owyhee. Because by then, unless you
were a social service case, you didn’t need to go to a boarding school anymore. So, in
about 1931, I think the Elko school system, I don’t know if they embraced us that year,
but we became part of the Elko school district. And the big change happened in about
1934, when they started talking about the Reorganization Act, where all the tribes were
offered to adapt by-laws and develop rules and laws to govern people on the reservation.
So, that’s when my father became active in the politics. And from then on forward, he
was always involved with the politics in Owyhee. Very involved. And I think maybe the
training he had in Carlisle helped him. Because I remember once he told me one of the
things that they did at Carlisle that he really enjoyed was, they actually got to go to D.C.
and sit in on the Senate hearings. So, he enjoyed that, and I think he always remembered
that. So actually, he was a pretty decent politician, and he was very honest. So, you know,
from there on, from 1934 on, well, he was always very political. And I guess because of
that, the rest of the people in his family, his children, had a lot of politics at home.
Discussions and what was going on. So, that was at—[19]36 is when we really adopted
the by-laws, Constitutional by-laws, which was kind of based on the U.S. government bylaws and Constitution. And it was completely different concept. And then in 1938, the
Wild Horse Dam was built so that we could have water to irrigate our lands. And that was
very good for us, because we had years that we actually were flooded or really droughtridden. So—let me correct myself. It was 1946 that the high school was added by the
Elko County School District. And so then, kids could go here and didn’t have to go away.
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I was just going to talk a little about families, because it happens to pop into my head.
You know, my mother grew up in Ruby Valley, but she explained that most people kind
of lived in little groups, like mini-communes. And she said that she grew up with Ralph
Jim and Isaac Jim. That was in her little commune. She and her uncle, Honteko [19:08]
was his Indian name. And I can’t remember the third family. So she always knew them.
She thought she was related to Ralph Jim, and Ralph Jim always called her aunt,
paha’me. And so, I guess over the years, my mom and dad moved here and kind of lost
track of him, but finally, when Ralph’s dad’s wife died, he moved here to Owyhee. And
by then, he was an older man, and he was living with that old man Crow’s sister. You
know, the Crows. You know the—I can’t remember his old name, just a blank. Well
anyway, that’s who he was living with. And I think she passed away. And my dad
became very close with him also. And they said he became so depressed that he actually
hung himself. And my dad officiated at his funeral. And he was so full of remorse and so
unhappy, that Earl remembers that he was actually crying while he was trying to conduct
the service. And that’s just the one family that I really learned about. And it was a sad
thing. And as with my uncle that raised my mom, well, my mom left Ruby when she was
with my dad, and her aunt remarried. And so, that left her uncle. He moved here to
Owyhee because my mom was living here. And Mildred remembers that really well. She
said he arrived on a little tiny buggy with a horse tied in back, and about six dogs behind
him. And then he moved into, she said he built a little tent in the back. And that’s where
he lived. But he was very much a part of their life. This is before I was born. And so, she
said every morning—in the evenings—Owyhee was different. The land had not been
subjugated. So in front of our house was like a slough. And she said every night, he had a
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fish trap. And she says in the evenings they’d set that fish trap in that slough, and dam it
on each side, and in the morning they would go out and pick out the fish, and she said
that fish would be what they would have for breakfast. That was Honteko [21:34], my
uncle, as it turned out. Well, actually, my grandpa. Excuse me. So, but he moved here,
and I guess he had already been ill. And he, my mother kind of took care of him, but that
was the early years before they knew how to take care of tuberculosis. And when he was
diagnosed with tuberculosis, and we didn’t have a hospital here, she thought they shipped
him to either Fort Bidwell or to Schurz. And he died there. And she, they didn’t have the
money to go after his body. So to this day, I really don’t know where he’s buried.
Possibly in Fort Bidwell, or maybe in Schurz. But that was a sadness for my mother. And
she did follow her aunt, her Aunt Sally—Tup’a pitnawina nanaihen, e newe naniha
[22:25-22:28]. And she died, and her burial site is in Elko, and we still continue to
decorate her grave, because that was my mom’s aunt that raised her, and she was very
close to her. So that was… And I guess, when they picked up my mom, it sounds like it
was in the Roberts Mountains. Because if you look at the map, and look at Steward’s
maps of all the Indian camps, there are all kinds of Indian camps along at the foothills of
the Roberts Mountains. And in that area is where she—actually, her mom died, and when
the group moved to come toward the Elko area—because remember, they were like
nomads. They went from place to place looking for whatever food was available. You
know, whatever it might be—rabbits, antelope, whatever. And so, she was kind of
abandoned. Because the old grandfather said the mom was dead, and they didn’t want her
as an extra burden. An extra mouth to feed. So I guess they made, set up camp and left
her, and the uncle heard her crying, and picked her up, and that’s how he raised her. She
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was an abandoned person, poor thing. That’s my, that’s another little incident. I
remember that. Because I was thinking of her uncle, Honteko. And that’s, that’s just a
little family incident right there.
C:
So were they from—so, did they roam through the Rubies, mainly?
M:
Yeah, it—it really is puzzling. They even talked about wandering all the way down to
Lund. I think, people don’t appreciate the fact that they wandered everywhere. And a lot
of people, they say they stayed in one spot, but I challenge that, because the stories show
that they wandered. Then on my dad’s side—because he came from the Jarbridge area, he
knew. He knew all the names of places, like the mountains going toward Salt Lake, and
he said his mother and his grandmother from that side, they actually made fishing trips up
there by Twin Falls. There was an existing falls there where the people fished for salmon.
And one of the dams, of course, obliterated it. But he said they migrated up there just to
fish. And that was my dad’s mom’s side. Her name was Hainne [25:04], that was her
Indian name. But we’ve had a really hard time trying to trace her, because there was no
written documentation of her family. But, you know, some of them have faded away.
Taibo pekkaipe’na [25:18]. And so, there were a number of people in our family, but
they just sort of disappeared from the face of the earth. Some of them, you know, became
very dilute. One of them, Strickland is one family portion. [Laughter] It’s on dad’s side of
the family! Yeah. So that’s just another little family story that I know of. Yeah. So my
mom was born in the Tubattsi Tewatekka [25:46]. She was what you would call a Pine
Nut-Eater. And, because her grandpa—who was not very kind, apparently, people talk
about how mean he was—and so, during his lifetime, he had six or seven wives. Not all
at once, but some died in childbirth. Some, you know, just died. Death rate was huge.
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And so, I can almost say that I’m probably related to everybody over in that Te-Moak
area. Because of that! [Laughter] But unfortunately, you know, we grew up here, and we
were growing up—we didn’t travel a lot, because mainly finances and crops. And
animals. So we didn’t, we were disciplined. That was our first responsibility. And I used
to wonder, how do all these people that come to visit my mom, how did they do it?
Because they were just as poor as we were, but yet they would appear Fourth of July or
any old time. Some of them worked on the railroad, and I could see that they could afford
it. But, we just, we never, we were responsible for our place. You know, we all had our
duties, and we just didn’t go any places. But it was very interesting. But mother would
always tell all the stories. And so we kind of knew who we were related to. And if we
went to town, she always visited them. Fourth of July, when they came—because during
my lifetime, the encampment was almost an entire circle. You know, that’s early on, in
the 19—maybe, early [19]30s, they were still doing that. And so, the encampment was
entire circle. And one end would be where the people came from the Elko area, Austin.
They would all be encamped on one end. So I would go with my mom, and we would
visit one relative here. We move to the next encampment. A whole, it seemed the south
side is where most of the people from the Tubatekkate niikwai sikka naakkan [27:46]
the Pine Nut Eaters, they seemed to gather around there, and they had their homes there.
And on the other side, [27:54 in Shoshone]. Fort Hall, lot of people came from Fort Hall.
So there were a lot. And then they were still, when I was young, they were still on Fourth
of July day. The parade began at the rodeo grounds. So these people on horses. And we
still had these people in, especially for Fort Hall, they came with their headdresses on,
and with their leggings on. To’pararak [28:33] that little front apron that the men wear.
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On bareback horses, painted horses. So I got to see that in my lifetime, that you see in
pictures. And I think that was the tail end of it, because after that, it just kind of stopped.
And then, that’s when the young people were in boarding schools, and all those young
people, they used to even put down a huge floor that they, in the evening, you could
either go to the waltzing and the jitterbugging, or after that—seemed to only last a certain
length of time—and then there would begin the round dancing, which went on all night
until morning. And what I remember most about it is that different men sang during the
night. Somebody from Goshute, somebody from Ely, somebody from Duckwater. All
those amazing voices. It’s too bad no one recorded them. I remember that so well.
Soonde hupiakande [29:20; (Had many songs)].You know, it was—I didn’t realize that I
really experienced a good treat. But gradually, that faded away until everything just had
to stop, I guess. One of the things, it depended a lot on the superintendent, too. Because
Fourth of July is when you start harvesting your crop. And many of those people, you
know, it used to last a whole week. People’d be camped there for a whole week. And
their crops would be drying. So then he had to put his foot down, because remember, they
kind of ruled us then. And people had to cut it short to, like, two or three days, instead of
the full week. Sometimes two weeks. [Laughter] So, it gradually changed. But my dad
said the way it really started, was when they first got on the reservation, to tell the
Indians, like a newspaper, they had a crier. A town crier. He said what would happen is,
the Indian agent would be on a horse, and the people would be gathered, and he’d circle
around them to tell them what is happening. These are the new rules, this is what you
have to do. And he’d just—like a town crier. He said that’s what Fourth of July started
from. It started as an informational gathering. Then, well, Indians love to celebrate. So
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from that, it grew into Fourth of July that we started celebrating. But it came as a
practical method for informing people what changes the Big Father was making. That’s
what it started as. [Laughter] But, it’s turned into a big, big celebration after that. And so,
then they had better means for trans—for giving information to you, you know. They, by
then, I think they must have had an office, or an agent had an office. So, he didn’t have to
be a town crier like he used to be. [Laughter] I always love that. So that was one thing
they did, that happened Fourth of July. Yeah.
C:
So what type activities did they do during the Fourth of July?
M:
Well, when I look at it now, they loved activity. Now, let me tell you, I don’t think there
was a fat person around there! They loved to race, they loved to bet. They loved anything
that seemed as competitive. I remember that so well. They would have races. And I have
a sister that’s one year older than I—two years older—than I am, and she always won.
Beverly. She was like an antelope. She could beat everybody. So, she always raced.
[Laughter] And we, we couldn’t, we weren’t allowed to camp there, because we had to
come from home daily. And I think we only got to go twice. Unless my mother won the
argument, then we’d go three days in a row. But we would come early in the morning,
stay all day, and then leave when it got dark. Or sometimes, special occasions, stay up all
night to hear the singing. But that was, you know, that was very special to do that. But I
think they—everything they did was very competitive. And then, I remember they danced
also. Until daylight. You know, the singing went on ‘til daylight. Then, in the early
mornings, they had all those little competitive races, and tug-of-war. Anything that was
competitive, they did. And it was very exciting. I think the Indian just was meant to be
active. And they were. I remember growing up, everything was activity. Nothing was
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sitting down except handgames. And that was very active also. It was like a sideshow:
you know, those people that were holding the bones; they just would fly. They have their
arm and then their draped blanket or whatever, wherever they were hiding their bones.
[Laughter] And all the motions they would go to. It was wonderful! And all his
teammates would encourage him. Even that was so active. Now—then I didn’t see any
handgames for years, about 20 years. So I finally went to see a handgame in Fort Hall.
And lo and behold, they were sitting on rocking chairs, on stools… [Laughter] Not even
on the ground! That was a real shock to me. Because they always sat on the ground with
a log in front. So that’s evolution. [Laughter] That was, I really enjoyed that. That was
good, too. Yeah. That’s what I remember of some of the activities. Then of course, at the
rodeo grounds, they had a lot of competitive racing. Because we used to have a race track
down there. And everybody who thought they had a good horse to beat everybody else’s,
they entered and they raced around the race track. And sometimes they had no saddle.
Many of them had saddles, and they would race with a saddle on, saddlehorse. They
didn’t have the regulations and rules that they do today. So they were—everything was
competitive. Everything they did. And I think that was a good thing. Yeah, I think that
was very good. Yeah. It was really good. So, that’s what I remember about that activity.
Let me see what else… Oh, and then school, of course. That was also—at the end of
school day, we always had a barbecue the last day. And they had a racing again. And
three legged race, and tug of war. And all kinds of games that they had last day of school.
And of course, my sister Beverly would always win. But I could win at one thing, and
that was three-legged race, because I happen to be coordinated. I could win that. But I
couldn’t win anything else! [Laughter] So that was fun. And they would have a barbecue
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for—everybody came to that. All the school children, because that was the last day of
school. And that was where I was, it became already Swayne School by that time. So it
was Swayne School, so that was at Elko School District we were part of. So by then, we
had teachers, and every class had a teacher. They didn’t have a one-room schoolhouse
anymore. We had our own teacher, I had a third grade teacher. You know, every class
had their own teacher. And that’s where that Glenn Nutting that you remember, the dad,
he was our principal when I was here. Yeah. Before I left Owyhee, he was still principal.
Mmhm, Yeah.
C:
When you left Owyhee, I mean, where did you go to pursue your education and—?
M:
Well, first I went to Riverside. Because remember, it only went to the eighth grade. And I
went to Riverside, Sherman Institute, when I was in the ninth grade. And you know, I
wasn’t really happy there. I don’t know why. I just felt like a misfit. Although I enjoyed
every minute of it. Then when I came back that summer, you know, because every
summer I worked. I can’t remember where I worked that summer. Maybe in that ranch,
101 Ranch, that big white house? I think I worked there. It seems we all worked there.
And then I just felt like there was more to Riverside—more in life than Riverside. You
know? I just didn’t want to go there. So then, my poor mom and dad, they didn’t know
what to do with me, because of course, I wasn’t the kind that ran around or did anything
that was out of order. It’s just that I just wasn’t going to go back to Sherman. So they
didn’t have a solution, but at that time Rush Juney was the minister. And his wife was
named Arta. And she had been our minister before he came. Then they got married, and
Rush Juney was very forward-looking, and he was always talking about education. And
he actually came from Berkeley, and the Bay Area. So once he spoke of people living
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with families, and working your way through school. So I went to them, and I asked them
if that could happen to me. So, I think within a week, they found me a place in Berkeley
with a family from a part of the Presbyterian chain. So I went to Berkeley, and I stayed
with that family, and I was a babysitter, their bottle dishwasher, and whatever they
needed, and I got to go to school. So I graduated from Berkeley. And then from there,
you know, I just went, I worked a whole year, and then I went into a nursing program.
Then I got halfway through my nursing program, and then I just fell in love and married
somebody and never finished. Didn’t do that until later, then I went back to school and
finished nursing program. But that’s how I got there. I think that, in that time, you had to
be innovative if you really want to do something. You know? It was out there. And that
was always my mom’s attitude, is that if you really wanted something, it’s possible. She
was a great one for that. Like, she’d just—at least, she didn’t think anything was
impossible. But she knew better, because during her time there was a lot of prejudice.
And you know, she was very intelligent. It was frightening, she was so smart. I think she
taught herself how to read. And during the World War II, when my brothers were in the
service, she kept up with all the campaigns that Willis was in. She had maps that people
would give her, because she was so different that people gave a lot of literature to her. So
she kept up with all the campaigns worldwide, what was going on where, in Japan and—
it was just amazing. So, I guess that kind of made us all aware of history, and aware that
there was a world outside of Owyhee, outside of the United States. I think that’s what she
did for us. But it was her personal interest. She just had so many interests. She was just
amazing. You know. So, I think that’s how I got interested in the world outside of
Owyhee, and outside of Sherman. So that’s what happened. You know? And I think there
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were others that did that, too, that went through the church, the help of the church. So
that’s how I got there, and that’s how I went to school. Thanks to my mom and dad and
all their interests. They had a lot of interests. Yeah.
C:
So where’d you finish your nursing school, and then where did you go during your career
as a nurse and that—?
M:
Well, I worked in Redding, because my kids grew up in Redding. My children were all
born in San Fransisco. Because that’s where my husband worked. Then from there, when
we realized that it wasn’t such a hot place for our children, we moved to Redding,
California. Because he was working for Ward’s and then they transferred him.
Montgomery Ward’s? So, that’s where the children grew up the rest of the time. And
that’s where I went to school, and I worked in the—and a T.B. sanitarium was next door
to us, it wasn’t very far. So I worked there nights, because that was most convenient. You
know, that’s what I did. And when I was in San Fransisco, I worked nights, too, like that.
Because I couldn’t work—you know, we had to work it so somebody was home with the
children. So that’s what happened. And then I finished in ISU up there in Pocatello.
Yeah, I went back to school, finished there.
C:
What degree did you get when you finished, or what—?
M:
Bachelor of Nursing, science, in nursing. That’s what I did. Then I started working on my
master’s program, but I just had too much to do to be over. I was overwhelmed, because
then my children were growing, and they had their needs, and it seemed that was where
my money went, was to help this one, and then help this one, and then help this one. It
was unending. And you know—and no one can tell me about child rearing, or how hard it
is to raise them when they go crazy. I told them I have been to Hell seven times and back.
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So. [Laughter] There’s nothing you can tell me! The tragedies that happen in families.
But you know, I’m, they have been very good. They have moved along themselves with
encouragement. They’ve done well. I’m very proud of them.
C:
So you have seven children?
M:
Yeah, I have seven children. Yeah. I have four boys and three girls. So you know. So
that’s just what happened. [Laughter] Yeah.
C:
So I understand you worked for Indian Health Service for quite some time. Can you
share—?
M:
I did. When I came back, that was like a second career for me. I went into the Indian
Health Service, and I actually worked at this hospital for a year, I think. And from there, I
moved on to the satellite clinic in Elko, and from there I was their public health nurse,
and covered all the little reservations. And I really loved that job. That was my favorite
job of all the things I ever did. And it was really—for me, I felt like I was being useful
and helpful. And they were all Shoshone-speakers, so I could speak Shoshone. And that
was an advantage. And I guess I could see their needs, and I felt like I was being useful.
So I think that was the most exciting work period I had. You know, because it was—it
was a little of everything when you do public health nursing. Just a lot.
C:
So what were kind of the needs during that time? It wasn’t T.B. anymore, was it?
M:
No. No, it wasn’t T.B., but as a public health nurse, it really is kind of exciting because,
you know, you still are with the diseases. And if something breaks out, and one person
gets something, you do all the investigating and follow-up. And I guess the most
exciting—it’s not exciting, but it was very… I guess it was. It was, because it was
challenging—was a case of syphilis. Because you know, as they say, you could even
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trace syphilis back to God. Because, you know, it’s traceable. So that case, I think I even
worked with Canada, people out of Canada. Trying to solve that case. Which eventually,
we did. We did solve that case and found out who was the person that contacted
everybody else that ended up with syphilis. So that’s what I liked about public health
nursing. You know, the investigation, and how to figure it out. The analytical part of that.
I really like that. That’s part I like the best. I worked in Intensive Care, too—neonatal,
when it was first creating, and I thought that was fascinating—but I really loved public
health nursing the most. That, to me, was a—people with people. Trying figure out their
problems, trying to plug them into—crippled childrens and whatever. Yeah. I really liked
that.
C:
So what type of diseases did you—did the patients have then?
M:
By then, I think we were already beginning to see diabetes. Diabetes was quickly and
rapidly becoming out of control. You know? It just was already out of control. It just…
And diabetes, it’s very hard to teach people about self-care and diabetes, because for
years you can have it and feel okay. You just maybe feel lousy sometimes. And you’re
not real sick, you know. Over time, you get sicker. So they’re not going to listen to you.
They’re not going to listen to, “You need to eat differently. You need to exercise.”
They’re not going to listen to that. Because they don’t feel that bad. And over time, of
course, they get sicker. And soon, they’re so sick, they have to be admitted to a hospital.
And then they find out they’re a diabetic, and their kidney’s already in failure, they’re
losing their vision… Because over time, it’s very destructive, diabetes is. And I think
that’s how come we have so many diabetics. Because it’s just unteachable at the
beginning. Or I would say the people are unteachable. They won’t listen. Because they
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feel okay. They’re not real sick. Until, you know, the little vessels have been destroyed in
their heart, and you’re going blind, and you’re in renal failure. So… that part is the really
hard part. That’s the first thing I saw here. Then I came in on the tail end of alcoholism
that I had never faced before, out in the white society. All the World War II veterans
were kind of on the tail end by then. Including my own brothers. And the hospital was
where they would end up, after going on about. And they, we would have to treat them
for immediate care, because by then, they just, they just were coming off of a big drunk.
They had to have care. And it was really kind of sad to see that. Because by then, it was
all the people—all the young men that I knew as I was growing up, my own brothers—
and it got to the point where you knew all of them. Well, what they, they would go into
DTs, after they’ve been off to somewhere, after two days they would go into DTs. And
when they were in a full-blown DTs, lot of times we would have to cuff their hands and
their legs, and then you used what you call a leather straps. They don’t do that any more.
It’s not treated that way, thank Heaven. But at that time, that was the mode of treatment.
And I think I really—because, remember, when I was growing up, they only had two
alcoholics that everybody was aware of. So then, when I come home, all these—by then,
they’re not young anymore—they’re in their thirties and late twenties. And here they
were. You know, in full-blown alcoholism. And I think that’s when Owyhee started
initiating the large workshops on alcoholism. That’s when they started doing that. And
then, AIDS was kind of like that. AIDS came in the same way. Those were the things that
they were worrying about at that time. You know. And then, I noticed something when I
was out in the field: that’s when the young girls—and it was gradual, I think that they—I
noticed that young girls that I was following, that just had children, babies, they didn’t
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know how to care for the baby. And they didn’t know how to clean house, let alone
washing dishes. And it seems to, they were not taught at home, I don’t know whether it’s
because they came from alcoholic parents, but I noticed that trend, which I think has
gotten worse. They, I don’t know what caused it, because of course we were taught at
home. My daughters were taught at home. So, I don’t know what happened to make that
change, but I noticed that the girls were not—and if they didn’t know what they were
doing, how could they take care of their little babies, you know? It was, it was really a
concern. And I did share it with a few people when I worked with the different, you
know, Duckwater and Ely, and stuff like that. And they did have programs to help them.
But somehow, I think we may have caught some, but probably a lot fell through the
cracks. And I think it was just, everything was so free. You know, everything. Everybody
was open for having a good time. Drugs, you know, it’s just a whole new life. Not one I
grew up with. So. But you know, you can adjust to it, and try to figure out how to, what
to do. Somewhat. Yeah.
M:
I just want to talk a little bit about my dad, when he was growing up, and how he got his
name. Well, we never really decided where he was born. Probably in the Elko area. Or
some say he was born in Owyhee. But I, all I know is that, where his life changed was,
they were coming from Elko on a wagon, because that’s the way they traveled. And his
dad was on horseback. And his sister-in-law was driving. And the grandma was there.
My dad’s mom was there. And they were coming to Owyhee, and it sounded like it was
falltime, and it was very cold. And originally, they didn’t want to come, but the sister-inlaw, her name was Paakkappeh [50:32]. That means ice. She insisted—they said she was
kind of like a man, and could handle any team. And so she was driving. So she came, and
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then when they got to Wilson Mountain—that’s by Tuscarora, by, you know, how else
can I identify that? Well, the Indian name is… [speaks Shoshone at 51:00] Well wait,
I’ll think of it in a minute. Senior moment. So, they waited there. Because he went on to
hunt. Because they said right there, at the bottom of Wilson Mountain, used to be a
spring, and that’s where Indians stopped on their way to Owyhee. And they would camp
there. So they decide to stay there, because they were waiting for him. He was hunting.
His name was Elko Jack. Areko Jack, ne nanihan [51:28]. That was my grandpa. Well,
he never came back. And they waited and waited, and it felt like it was going to snow. So
they finally had to leave. And they left. And my dad was a little baby. And they left and
came on to Elko, because my grandpa, Areko Jack, never came back. And he never did
ever return. When they got to Owyhee, they waited for him there, but he never came
back. And so, they just kind of thought maybe he just ran off and left them. But
apparently, somebody had, in the springtime—his horse returned with the saddle. But he
was not on it. And it was too late. By then it snowed, and they couldn’t find him. But in
the spring time, they went looking for him, and they did find his skeleton, or whatever
was remained. And he had a bullet hole in the skull. So during that time, you only had a
few reasons you received a bullet hole. I mean, you were somebody’s enemy, or you
were in a fight, or else you were a kind that was a womanizer, and they said that’s what
he was, a womanizer. And they felt like the gentleman of the lady he was womanizing is
the one that shot him. That was what they surmised, but we don’t know. But what that
did, was it created, my grandmother went to work in Tuscarora. She worked there when
my dad was little. And then also, my, Elko Jack’s brother, who was a MacIntosh, stepped
in and took over the family, because that’s what they used to do. So he raised my dad,
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and also they had three children. But according to the Census, they all died. The three
died. It was very difficult times; diet, and the flu. And they all died. That’s all I can see
according to the Census. And so, my dad kind of grew up when he was little in
Tuscarora, and they worked for a family, Antone Primeaux, and it’s spelled the French
way, P-R-I-M-E-A-U-X. And his dad let them work there, and he’s the one that gave my
dad the name “Premo.” Over time, they shortened it to P-R-E-M-O, but it’s really P-R-IM-E-A-U-X. And those two boys played together, and the little Primeaux boy learned
how to speak Shoshone. Of course, my dad learned how to speak English, too. So that’s
how my dad grew up part of the time in Tuscarora. So, that’s how we got our name. And
we never knew who killed my grandfather, it just, that was it. But that’s how he died.
Oon Natsippata [54:26, (Spread Out Lava Rock Hill)]. It comes to me, [Shoshone at
54:27] nanihade Wilson Mountain. Oon Natsipatta. That means a sliding lava rock, flow
of lava rock. That’s what that is. That’s where they waited, that’s where the Indians used
to camp. Yeah, that’s it. So, my dad became very good friends with the Primeauxs. And
when he was ill in the hospital, before he died, they came to visit him. And I have some
letters from them, when he passed away. And I went to the son’s funeral when he died in
Elko, and you know, they were just very good friends with my dad forever. Yeah.
[End of recording]
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Western Shoshone Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
Description
An account of the resource
Oral histories compiled
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
GBIA Oral History Collections
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Great Basin Indian Archive
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Naomi Mason
Location
The location of the interview
Owyhee, NV [residence of Naomi Mason]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
<a href="/omeka/files/original/aa3766f4fe58fc6783ed1d03f4f8f30c.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">English transcript with some Shoshone transcriptions available as pdf file</a>
Original Format
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DVD, AVI, and MP4 Format
Duration
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00:55:27
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History - Naomi Mason (04/23/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history interview with Naomi Mason, Western Shoshone from Owyhee, NV, on 04/23/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Naomi Mason was born in 1929 and is currently a member of the Duck Valley Reservation. Naomi begins her oral history by speaking of her mother and father’s lives, and how they belong to the Dosa Wihi (White Knife) clan. She speaks of the Carlin Farm reservation, Duck Valley Reservation (Owyhee), and how the Shoshone would ranch these areas or be employed as cowboys. Naomi also speaks of the Native Agents during the 1910s in Owyhee. She also tells us of her fellow peers going to Stewart Indian School or Chemawa as well as the Reorganization Act of 1934. She also speaks of her schooling from Berkley and ISU, as well as her career as a public nurse. She draws attention to the culture and history of the Shoshone people within the Nevada area.</p>
<p>Interviewed by Norm Cavanaugh, 23 April 2014, in Owyhee, NV</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 034
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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04/23/2014 [23 April 2014]; 2014 April 23
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Scott A. Gavorsky [GBC Virtual Humanities Center]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/items/show/328
Language
A language of the resource
English; Western Shoshone
Carlin Farms
Carlisle Indian School
Community
Crossroads
Duck Valley
GBIA
Nursing
Owyhee
ranching
Reorganization Act
Shoshone
Stewart Indian School
Story
-
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8ad6ba597233ef820b601335f37b6bc6
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Western Shoshone Oral Histories
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Oral histories of Western Shoshone elders collected by the Great Basin Indian Archive.
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Oral histories compiled
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Great Basin Indian Archive, in partnership with Barrick Gold of North America
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GBIA Oral History Collections
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Great Basin Indian Archive
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2006-2015
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
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Norm Cavanaugh
Interviewee
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Evelyn Temoke-Roché; special guest Clifton Gardner
Location
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Ruby Valley, NV [Harrison Pass and Temoke-Rochés ancestral residence]
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Transcription in process [10 June 2015]
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DVD and AVI format
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00:44:48
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Oral History - Evelyn Temoke-Roché (09/15/2014)
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Oral History interview with Evelyn Temoke-Roché, Western Shoshone from Ruby Valley, NV, on 09/15/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Evelyn Temoke-Roche is a member of the Te-Moak tribe of Western Shoshone. She begins by discussing the land of her ancestors around Harrison Pass and Ruby Valley, and how they were known as the Wadda dikka clan (rice-eaters). She goes on to speak about the Union Soldiers and the atrocities brought to the Western Shoshone which occurred before, during, and after the Ruby Valley Treaty. She then goes on to tell about the Shoshone living near Cherry Creek, NV, and the types of food that were hunted and gathered by the Shoshone as well as the type of creatures living there. She also speaks of the ranching and homestead conflict her father went through in Ruby Valley. The oral history ends with Clifton Gardner relating what he knows of Medicine Springs, and of the traditions of the Native people in Ruby Valley.</p>
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Great Basin Indian Archives
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Great Basin Indian Archives - GBIA 009C
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Great Basin Indian Archives
Date
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09/15/2014 [17 September 2014]; 2014 September 17
Contributor
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Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah SYLAP [streaming video]; Great Basin College; BARRICK Gold of North America
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Non-commercial scholarly and educational use only. Not to be reproduced or published without express permission. All rights reserved. Great Basin Indian Archives © 2017
Consent form on file (administrator access only): http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/465
Format
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mp4
Language
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English; Shoshone
1863 Ruby Valley Treaty
Community
Crossroads
GBIA
Harrison Pass
Land claims
ranching
Ruby Valley
Shoshone
Story
traditional food
U.S. Cavalry
-
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557ed2fe50738af4325b41900d8e704c
https://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/files/original/76daf31ab0c6397b2f4782684882a7bd.pdf
65e5eaa13bb8472b4e0a0f4f75f82c53
PDF Text
Text
Georgianna
Price
Great
Basin
Indian
Archive
GBIA
044
Oral
History
Interview
by
Norm
Cavanaugh
December
19,
2014
BaCle
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 044
Interviewee: Georgianna Price
Interviewer: Norm Cavanaugh
Date: December 19, 2014
P:
My name is Georgianna Price. I’m part of the Battle Mountain Band, which is now the
Te-Moak Band. I have lived in Battle Mountain all my life. I remember us living like,
very poorly when we were young. We had no electricity, and we had no—we did have
outside running water. But we had no restrooms, and lived in small houses that were
originally built as summer homes, and they were kind of chilly inside of it all the time
because the government, I guess, was going to eventually build a regular home. These
houses were supposed to be temporary homes until the new ones were built. And they
have never—they didn’t do that. So, later years, I don’t know under what program it was,
they came and put that foam insulation into our homes. And originally, there’s only a few
of those homes sitting in the old colony now at this present time. I think there’s one,
two—actually, I think about two homes, plus two private homes that’s been there for
years, which are, one was owned by my dad’s niece, Maryjane Blossom. And that house
is still sitting there, and it is built out of tie. And then the Saggie Williams home was next
to ours, and our home eventually burned down. Me and my sister burned it down!
[Laughter] We were cooking french fries, and we set the house on fire, so we lost our
original home. And my grandmother lived next door, thank goodness, because she helped
us out. My grandma’s name was Annie Muncy. Annie and Jack Muncy. Jack was my
step-grandfather. And my grandfather would have been Dewey Jim from Owyhee. I have
never met the man, but I remember his brother Sam Jim that used to come and see us all
the time. That was my mother’s father, this Dewey Jim. And Mom had, I think, two halfbrothers from this Sam Jim. And at the time that—well, when we were little, they always
told us that if a family member dies, mainly a woman, then the widowed man would
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marry the next sister down. And that’s how my grandmother did at that time. And I think
my grandfather—my step-grandfather—ended up coming from Austin area. And he had a
daughter, and named Jessie Leach. Well, Jessie Muncy, it would be. And she had—her
mother had passed away when she was little, so she never knew her mother. But, after the
mother died, Jack, my step-grandpa, married her sister Annie. And that’s how we come
about with all these half-uncles, half-whatever, cousins and whatever. You know. But
that was a tradition of passing on the family member, whoever died, the other marries the
next sister down. And that’s what happened in our family. So, my mother and my aunt
were half-sisters. Step-sisters, and they were also cousins, is the way it turn out. Well,
Jessie was always our real aunt, you know? And they grew up as two sisters. The Indians,
in the olden days, used to camp outside the town of Battle Mountain. And there was a
white house with a spring there on this end of town, on the west end of town, where my
Aunt Jessie says they used to go and get their water. They would carry the water in
buckets. And they kind of just built a lean-to shack, is what they lived in. And the thing
was, if some member of the family passed away, they would burn down the house and
then build another little place to live in, see? That’s the way they used to do it. And I
don’t know what year it was, but there was a spring out here where the old colony is now,
that had nice running water. And that’s where, I believe it’s the government that moved
Indians over to this area, this old colony there. And that’s where we had—they did pipe
our running water in to the front of each home. And us kids used to go around in that,
where the spring was, and play over there all the time. Wade in the water, you know. And
there was just one big pipe that stuck up, and we’d go into the water like a shower.
[Laughter] We’d just go run around in that water over there. But the tribal building was
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always there. I don’t know what year that came, either. But we used to go over there
every once in a while, and there was a laundry room. They had, looked like steel tubs, or
I don’t know what kind of tubs they were, against one wall. And they had stoves in there.
But they were wood stoves, you know. Cooking stove, couple of them. They had dishes
of all types, and I don’t know whatever became of all those things that are in there. But
they had cupboards in there with all these dishes, and heavy dishes at that, you know.
And they slowly disappeared. [Laughter] Kids probably broke them up, or whatever. But
I know we used to go in there every once in a while, that was your laundry room. They
built, like the modern-day laundromat, I guess, you know? They probably had machines
in there at one time, gas machines or something. And, so that’s where I grew up. And like
I say, we didn’t have no running water inside the house. We didn’t have no inside
bathrooms. And we had no electricity. We had to use kerosene lamps, and us girls, as
we’re teenagers, we got them little curling irons. And you could stick that curling iron in
the chimney of the lamp and heat it up, wipe it with a cloth, then you curl your hair with
it. That’s how we did it. It was just kind of crazy, now that I think about it—I guess that’s
the hot curling iron, now! [Laughter] And, but we grew up very poorly. Like I tell my
grandchildren, I said, “We didn’t have everything you kids had. Things came hard.” And,
so then we moved to South Fork for a little bit when they put up that reservation over
there. But we didn’t stay there too long, because my mother started getting sick, so Dad
just moved us back to Battle Mountain. And when we moved back to Battle Mountain,
we lived in a tent. But we stayed in that tent all winter. But it was nice and cozy. Dad put
up a wood stove in there, and put plyboard around the bottom of the tent, and it was nice
and cozy home. We survived in there, but we ate with my grandparents, until those
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people left and then we move into the house. My grandparents lived next door, and they
really helped us a lot. We had an aunt who worked around town, she was dishwasher for
some people who owned a restaurant. To us, when we lived in South Fork, being very
poor we didn’t get too much of anything. But Christmas was our big day. And Dad had a
pickup—he always had a pickup. And he’d load us kids up in the back of that pickup in
the middle of winter, in December, and we’d come all the way to Battle Mountain. We’d
sit under quilts. And we’d see the airport and we’d get so happy because we’re coming to
Grandma’s. And our biggest thing for Christmas was color crayon and books! [Laughter]
That was—my aunt gave us that every year. We didn’t have too much of anything, you
know? And that’s how we were raised. There was nine of us at one time, in my
immediate family. And then, my aunt only had one daughter. And then, I had, my
uncle—I had two uncles. One was killed in Germany, I think, during Second World War.
And my other uncle lived here. They both was in the Service, but he came back. And I
think I was three years old when my uncle was killed in Germany. For some reason, I
remember the policeman coming to the door with a piece of paper—kinda odd, how that
stuck in my mind—and told my grandmother what happened. I know Mom had lost a
couple children, but there was Delores Conklin—now Delores—she passed away a
number of years ago. And then, I had my brother, then myself—no, then I had sister
Louise, who passed away from heart problem in Phoenix. And then I was the next one.
Then my brother George who passed away with, he had diabetes, pretty serious diabetes,
and we lost him. And then we had Rosalie, who lives in Salt Lake at this time. And then
Ronnie. We also lost two twins, a boy and a girl. She died of a thyroid problem in
Owyhee—no, in Boise—and then, her brother couldn’t stand it because he was so close
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to her. He went and committed suicide when he was living with the Atkinses, Ed Atkins’
family in Owyhee. So we lost our twins that way. Then we had our youngest sister Anna
Sue, who now lives here at the same colony I live in here. And she works at the hospital
for the long-term care, is what she works on now.
C:
So you had a big family.
P:
We had a big family, plus we had about two others that’s buried at the cemetery as
babies. It’s kind of like our private cemetery. There’s an old cemetery right along the
freeway, on the right side of the freeway. And I was told that it didn’t start out as our
cemetery. An old man, which my aunt and mother didn’t know the names anymore at that
time, but they said he was hit by a train in north Battle Mountain. And said, put him on a
little handcart and brought him this far. And they got tired. Rather than go any further,
they buried that old man in that cemetery. Buried him on that spot. And then my family
eventually, I guess, started burying their people, their old people, over there at that
cemetery. After the time my dad was alive, they was all—they all worked at ranches.
They didn’t get much pay, but they made a living enough to get by with, you know. And
then we’d go with my family. My older sister didn’t go, she was already working here in
Battle Mountain. Delores. But the rest of us would pack up, and we’d go to that Rancho
Grande ranch toward Owyhee, where Dad and they would hay all summer. Or we’d go to
the Buffalo Ranch, which is down south of Battle Mountain, and we’d camp there all
summer, too, while they were haying, see? And that’s what we did every summer, every
summer, is what we used to do. And then, Dad used to tell us spook stories. He was good
at that, always telling us stories about different things. And he was telling us about, I
guess now we call it “the rock man,” I don’t know what they call it in Indian. But one
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night, he was telling us stories about the rock man, how he built a—like a helmet, like,
out of pitch and pine. Pine pitch, and made a hat. And he says that’s how he killed the
people, was by putting it over the head and circling that off, or something! And he was
telling us a wild story about that one night, and we were sleeping in a tent. And—like a,
more like a bunkhouse, all our bedrolls in a row, and he was telling us that story, and the
wind was blowing. And all of—he says, he said, “Wooo!” The wind knock our tent
down! You should have seen us jump all over him! [Laughter] But he’d tell us stories
about, like, he used to tell us the pinenuts supposed to be bigger than what they are. And
he always talk about the Coyote being the bad guy. And he was sent, the Coyote was
sent, to deliver some of this pinenut so that they can—I guess pine seed is what they
are—to deliver to them a different area. And they told them, “Don’t mess with it. Just
take it straight on over there.” Well, Coyote got hungry halfway, and he bit off some of
the pinenut in half, took one piece off, and he said, “Oh, they won’t notice.” And that’s
why we ended up with half a pinenut, instead of a point on each end and being big. It was
only half a pinenut is what we get now, see? And, he got over there, and he had eaten half
of the pinenuts, so we ended up with half a pinenut now. See, there’s only one point to it,
one end. There should be a point on each end, see? But we don’t have that, you know.
And that’s what, he told us about that. And then Water Babies. I don’t know how many
people know about Water Babies. And Humboldt River’s not too far, walking distance
from here, and I was telling my nephew, Shawn Conklin, and my kids, about the Water
Babies. Because they’re always going to the river and swimming over there when they
were kind of little, and I didn’t like that too well. So Dad had told us about Water Babies.
And he said they lived along the river here, and he said they take a form of the baby. The
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Indian woman used to wash at the river, and put the babies in their basket. This Water
Baby would get in and suck up the baby, and take the form of the baby, and get inside
this basket. So when the mother nurses the baby, he would suck up the mother and kill it!
Is what we used to be told. And they say, they play with—when the guys are riding
horses, they chase them, and they say they kind of go glug-glug-glug, sound like water as
they’re running. And they jump on back of the horse, jump off, just teasing the riders all
the time. And they said they’re pretty swift when they run. You know. I don’t know
whatever became of Water Babies, but I scared my grandkids—my children and my
nephews. So they never went to river for a long time. And that’s the only time I ever hear
of Water Babies. I don’t know. And they say you can hear them at the river when it’s
quiet, you can hear them crying, these Water Babies. Of course, I’ve never gone to river
in the evening, so I wouldn’t know! [Laughter] That was one of those stories. And then,
they told us about, he told us about, we’re supposed to not die once, and we’re supposed
to come back alive. But again, Coyote did this bad thing to us. He said there was—
Coyote and Rabbit lived in a hole. And this bad Coyote, he’s always doing something
bad anyway. So the Rabbit said that the army was coming—I guess that would be
considered something like a cavalry. And he told, he had to go do something, or
somewhere, and they were in that hole, and he told the Coyote, he says, “Don’t look out!
No matter what happens, I’m going to go”—do whatever errand he was going to go on.
And these—it wasn’t actually calvaries that started out. They said, it was a certain
people, he said they went to bathroom on top of the hill then, you know, and their
whatever you call it rolls down the hill, and they turn into army. That’s what happened!
[Laughter] And he told the Coyote, he says, “Don’t look out while I’m gone. You stay in
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that hole. Because if you look out, we’re going to die just once and we’re gone.” Well,
Coyote didn’t listen. But he heard those cavalry coming, or whatever kind of soldiers that
were coming. So he peeks out the hole. And that was it, see? And it killed him. That was
end of Coyote. But I never did hear whatever became of the Rabbit—if he came and
found him or what. [Laughter] But that’s why we die only once. They say we’re
supposed to die at least twice anyway, and come back alive. But Coyote did that to us, so
we only die once now.
I knew of an old man, Rice, that lived in—I think Ely? I think he was in Ely, or Wells.
When my sister and brother were getting sick, the twins, one would get sick, and the
other would be nice and chubby. It was an opposite. They were going back and forth.
One would get skinny, and one would gain weight, you know? This went on for quite
some time when they were babies. And we got this old man Rice. He probably had an
Indian name, but he was a real tiny little guy that came. So Dad and they went and got
him. He was ready when they got there. They said he was packed and ready to come,
because somebody was coming after him. But I can’t remember if it was—I think it was
Ely, is where he was. And so they invite him back, and they doctored them for I think
two nights, the two babies. And broke them apart from each other so this wouldn’t
happen. And then, he told them—the babies used to sleep, they were twins, and they
would sleep on one little cot, opposite directions, feet to feet. And he told them, “Don’t
do that to them. That’s not good for the babies.” And my sister had already passed away,
my older—next to me, older than I am—and so that was her babies, she used to play with
them a lot. She was older than us. And as I said, because she’s out there, outside by the
side the house there. She’s waiting for them, she says. “So separate the two, and break
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them apart.” And so that’s what they did. That’s the way they—so they got over their
sickness. They didn’t get sick no more after that. This old man did that to them. And I
enjoyed that, because at midnight, they’d have refreshment. They’d have cake and coffee,
or whatever. And then, they pass a cigarette around, everybody take a puff of cigarette.
That was a big event for us kids, and we’d make sure that we were up there, up and at it,
when they’re doing their cake thing, you know? [Laughter] But, and he—that’s the only
one I really knew as a real Indian doctor, that man. He was a real tiny little guy, but I
never knew his real name. They just called him “Rice.” Little tiny guy. So, besides my
aunt Josie. Yeah, she was a—she’d pray with us, and pray for us, all the time. And then, I
think there’s a book in the museum in Elko that mentions her, because some of the
doctors go, and go to her when they not feeling good or whatever, and she’d pray with
them or whatever. The old-time doctors would go over there. So.
C:
So, the doctors from Elko recognized her as a healer?
P:
Yes, uh-huh. Yeah, the old-time doctors. But there’s an article in the museum about her.
C:
What can you tell us about, how was Battle Mountain named “Battle Mountain?” Was
there a battle here, or how did that come about?
P:
There’s about three different versions, and I see that in the museum. And there’s
supposed to have been a fight between the Shoshone Indians and the Paiutes. See, Paiutes
are in Winnemucca area, and Shoshones on this side. That’s one version, and then there
was another one where the Indians attacked at the wagon train that was going through by
the river, is the way it was told. And there’s another version, I can’t remember what it
was. But who knows what actually happened to make it Battle Mountain? Yeah, there’s
about three different versions of how it came about. So who knows what really happened.
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I believe the wagon train probably was attacked. I don’t know why I feel that way, but,
you know, then it became Battle Mountain. And Battle Mountain actually isn’t, shouldn’t
have been Battle Mountain right here where it’s sitting. Battle Mountain should have
been in Argenta. You see that little Argenta, that hill you kind of go by just when you
leave town? Other side the airport there, and then you kind of make that little swing? But,
the railroad moved—I don’t know if you call it “railroad,” or cars, I guess, there’d be
railroads. They come from Austin to Battle Mountain. So rather than having to come
along the mountain edge, they came straight, decided to come straight and build a
railroad directly to where Battle Mountain is now, is how they come about. See, we
should’ve been sitting by the hillside over there, you know. [Laughter] And then, if you
happen to be in a higher area, you can see where the old railroad came from Austin to
Battle Mountain. In fact, back of town here, you can still see this little high spot where
the railroad ran through, railroad tracks were on. But you can still find places along in the
Austin Canyon there where the railroad was built. Was kind of built high like a highway.
We didn’t have too many people living here at the time at the old colony. But my mother
and my aunt went to school at a old Indian school. They didn’t go to school in the white
school. And the courthouse now used to be the white kids’ school, and there was a gray
building next to it that was wooden building, good-sized building. And that’s where the
Indian children went to school. They didn’t go to school at the beginning with the white
children. I don’t know what year they finally let them go to school in the main building.
But by time I went to school, we went to what is now the courthouse. That was our
school, up to the eighth grade. And we used the old Indian building as a gym in the front
part. It was good-sized building. And then, the back part was a little, they made into a
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band room for the band students. So, but we had no problem going to school. There was
only, I think in about our class, there was people coming and going, little mining people,
whatever—I’d say about eleven to twelve children from Battle Mountain that went to
school there. But rest of them come and go, come and go, all the time. And they, but
more people started coming in, so they moved us—I think I was in eighth grade at the
time—they moved us into the high school. Seventh and eighth grade they moved to the
high school, because high school was a bigger building. And the bigger kids didn’t like
us. [Laughter] They’d pick on the seventh and eighth graders; the high school kids
resented us being there with them, you know? Because for a long time they were like
that, and they finally accepted it. “Hey, this is where they’re going to stay.” So that’s
where I went to school, at the high school—which is now the site where the hospital is
sitting. The old trees are still there, but they tore down the newer building. Why they kept
this old courthouse I don’t know, because that’s a lot older than what the other building
was. So, I don’t know what year they moved them. Then they built the newer schools,
and that’s when they moved them over to the high school over there, and then the
hospital; county, I guess, took the building over as hospital, and they tore it down, and
build a new hospital there now. And around Battle Mountain, that hospital is sit on the
end of where it’s sitting now, and there was an airport and sagebrush on the other side.
There was not all these buildings that they got now, you know. You didn’t go too far.
And the rest was just all sagebrush, sagebrush country. Now there’s buildings, and there’s
trailer courts, and high school’s sitting where the sagebrush used to be in the back, and
things have grown quite a bit. Now, it seem like there’s lot of people here. Copper,
Copper Canyon was one of the mines, and Natomas. Copper Canyon, Copper Placer,
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Natomas: they were small mines at the time. Copper mines and gold mines, and
whatever. And the people would come and go. They’re just miners. And then, when they
really found that Duval mine came in. They found a lot more gold, I guess! And then, it
started booming. So, we were living at the T.S. Ranch, and we and my husband, they
didn’t like the way the BLM was doing it. The BLM was fencing everything. And they
said, oh, they had quit. They were not going to work here no more. They were going to—
he was a buckaroo boss at T.S. Ranch. So we moved to town. And then we went to work
for Duval. We couldn’t find a house in town! We lived—it was horrible! We moved into
town, and there was an old bar across the tracks here, and he had a couple old tin shacks.
That’s all we can find, so here we move into one of them old tin shacks, and it was
horrible! [Laughter] The kids were embarrassed, they didn’t want to go to school. They
said we were living in the ghettos. We couldn’t find nothing! And you hear the mice. And
so, we cleaned it out and everything, but you can hear the mice in the walls. Oh, it was
horrible! I don’t like mice. [Laughter] And then, so then, we eventually found a trailer
down the street for sale, so we bought that. But the six of us that lived in that little, teeny,
two-bedroom trailer. We managed! Then we moved across the tracks. But I kind of grew
up with the Marvel family. When our house burned down, she asked me to come live
with her. I lived with her for three years. Freshman to junior high school, is where I lived;
I lived in luxury. [Laughter] And, because they owned all the ranches around here. And I
lived with her for a long time.
[Break in recording at 28:41]
P:
I had a good life. In the summertime, I’d go with the Tom Marvel family, and we’d go—
I’d babysit for them, and they went on the buckaroo wagon. So, we’d go on the buckaroo
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wagon. They’d help with the kids all the time. So, I kind of—as I got into teenage area, I
kind of just got away from the Colony, you know? Didn’t stay too much, have to spend
too much time here at the Colony. Because my sister worked for the Tom Marvel family,
my oldest sister Doris. So she was helping raise the Tom Marvel’s children here, as a
teenager. And then, later on, after she and Earl Conklin got married, they stayed at the 25
Ranch and worked for them. And we all stayed with the Marvel family until they sold
out. And that’s when we moved with the T.S. family—I mean, family, T.S. Ranch. And
then we moved to town after that. We enjoy—I was a buckaroo cook. I moved with the
wagon. Me, and my kids were little then, and I used to—as soon as it start warming up,
it’s time to move out. Spring, you know. So, I would put the kids on the bus at seven in
the morning, school bus at the crossing over there at the ranch, and then I’d go on—the
guys would cook breakfast for themselves. They’d start out from other side of Argenta,
and move up into the hills all the way to north of Carlin, about—I guess you would say
northeast of Carlin, up in the hills. Coyote Ranch, that’s as far as we would go. But when
we’d move camp, they had an old cookhouse, sheepherder cookhouse. That was our
kitchen, you know. Then they’d load up big old tables, and chairs, and benches, and
whatever; we would look like a bunch of gypsies. And we moved to different places. We
moved one, two, three, about four different places, and then we get to—well, three, and
then we get to Coyote Ranch. And that was our main camp, see? And we stayed there all
summer. From there, we come directly back to T.S. Ranch. And then the—what’s so
good about that, it’s time for the kids to start school. So, it turned out good for us. And
one thing, we never had no TV. We had nothing up there, just no electricity, nothing.
And the kids liked it. We had to wash and give them a bath in the creek. [Laughter] You
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know? It’s the way we lived! And that’s where they got their love of reading. They love
to read, because that’s all they had was books. And we joined that Elko book club at the
library, and we’d get books from them. They sent us different books. We’d send in a list,
and then they’d send us some books, because we were out in the sticks. Living out in
sagebrush. Some places, no trees! Couple of places, there was no trees whatsoever. You
know? But we enjoyed it. It was good to live like that. So, there was no problem. And
that’s the way I like to camp: just load up and go. Heck with these travel trailers they
carry around. [Laughter] That’s not camp! Yeah, that was our life. And we enjoyed living
like that for a long time. Twelve years. Twelve years. And then, if I wasn’t cooking on
the buckaroo wagon, in the winter months, I cooked at the cookhouse when the cooks
quit. And it seems like every time I’d get in there, they’d look for a cook, and I’m stuck
there for quite a while before they would find a cook. But it was a good life, to live like
that. I don’t remember what my pay was at that—they paid pretty good, though. But I
can’t remember what it was. Because I got paid, my husband got his pay, and the two
older boys got their pay. And they were only in the eight and tenth grade, but they paid a
man’s wages on weekends when they worked there, because the boss from California
said, “Well, they’re doing man’s work; they may as well get paid like a man.” So. And
the boys been working ever since! [Laughter]
C:
So, what kind of work did they do on the ranch?
P:
They did, they buckarooed. They buckarooed, they watched cattle, and worked with
cattle a lot, is what our part was. And the ranch part was more irrigating and working on
machinery and repairing things. So, they had the ranch crew, and then they had the
buckaroo crew. I used to cook for about, originally started out with cooking for about
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fifteen people, three times a day. And that wasn’t—I couldn’t do it now. I don’t think I
could do it now, because you get up, and cooking breakfast, and have it ready by six
o’clock, and then you got to fix lunch. And do the last, their supper. Three times a day,
have two different types of dessert every meal. Next day, you had leftover desserts.
[Laughter] And, because you got to make sure—but we had the meat, we had the big
commissary, whatever you needed, it was all right there, so that wasn’t bad at all. And
they paid us to do it. And we ate over there with my four kids. So we were doing pretty
good. We lived in a ranch house. They furnished the ranch homes to us, and the utilities
and all, so we didn’t pay for anything as far as ranch renting part. So, that was an easy
life, really. I’d like to go back to that now—without the cooking part! [Laughter]
[Break in recording at 34:12]
P:
With our youth here in, around this area, I would strongly recommend that they finish
their high school education, and get some kind of training. There’s lot of idle children
around here that’s not doing anything. I mean, older people that’s gone—should have
finished school, but they’re not. Nobody’s encouraging them too much to finish school.
Get that high school diploma if nothing else. And they don’t seem to be too interested in
the education. And at least go on and further your education. Get off of the reservation
right here, because there’s nothing here. There’s nothing to offer. No type of job training
or nothing here on our reservation. And the only thing we got around here is mining. And
then, for mining even, you have to have some kind of training. But our children, they do
need some kind of training in our area. I don’t know about other places. They need to be
encouraged to go on into it there. Regular, further their education. I’m sure there’s funds
for financial help with things like that if they want it. But nobody’s looking into that or
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anything. Yeah. And even parents. Like, when I was growing up, our parents were
uneducated. They didn’t really push us to study or whatever. So when my kids were
growing, made sure that they studied! [Laughter] You know? And then I try to join
different things for them, to help them along. Like, I watched how to write with the
homeroom, when they were small. Then we went into Brownie scouts with my daughter.
And I was always into the homeroom, helping there. And then, when they got older—
well, I worked for the school for a while, until they’re—Title IV run out of money. And
then I get a job at the smoke shop. Yeah, they close that program off. I was teacher’s aide
for two years over there. And, so then, I just kind of encouraged my children to do the
best they can in everything. And they had no problems as far as school and getting along
with other students or whatever. We went in from Brownies. Like I say, from Brownie
scouts. And homeroom teachers, and then I worked as teacher’s aide, so I was connected
to all the little Indian children. You know, number of them. Now they’re children with
kids getting out of high school, almost! [Laughter] And there’s not, we never did have
too many Indian students. Just, our population’s kind of small here. Then I went in to
Little League. I was a Little League coach for one team, baseball. Went to baseball, and I
made—then my niece, my sister Rosalie’s daughter, too, was in there, so they were in
sports, and we made two trips to Denver for the All-Little League, with our Little League
team. And then I took up umpiring. Started umpire the boys’ baseball—well, I didn’t
intend to go into boys’ baseball, little boys’ baseball. Took umpire training, and I ended
up with the little boys. And I had no little boys! But that’s who, I umpired their games.
And then, from there, Patricia went on into high school, and she went on into volleyball.
So I ended up refereeing volleyball games. I was a state volleyball referee. We had to
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take tests to be that, and there was number of us here in town that did that for a long time.
Then she graduated, and I was there for two years, and I thought, “What am I doing here?
She’s gone!” [Laughter] You know, and I’m still umpiring volleyball games! So, I finally
dropped that, and that was the end of my career. So, we’ve been pretty active in our
home, doing things. I see parents don’t encourage their kids in sports or nothing anymore,
either. And I think if they did, maybe they’d make better grades and try harder, you
know, if they were given that chance. But it’s not working out that way, seems like. And
my sister Delores and her group, one time, when the kids were younger, they tried
teaching the Shoshone language to the kids. But the kids weren’t interested! Few of them
went once in a while, and then the teachers finally—Glenda Johnson and my sister
Delores tried with them. They finally gave up on them. Because if they weren’t showing
up—just once in a while, their kids pop in. So, that didn’t go over very well. And now, I
don’t think we have too many people here on the reservation that do speak Shoshone. I
don’t know who would. I can’t even think of anybody that talks Shoshone. No, I’m just
saying that I hope the parents would encourage their children to further their education.
And living on small reservation like ours, I prefer that they will go out and go elsewhere.
[End of recording]
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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
Georgianna Price
Location
The location of the interview
Battle Mountain, NV [residence of Georgianna Price]
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound
http://humanities.gbcnv.edu/omeka/admin/files/show/510
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
DVD, MP4, and AVI format
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
00:39:54
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History - Georgianna Price (12/19/2014)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral History interview with Georgianna Price, Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, NV, on 12/19/2014
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Georgianna Price is a Western Shoshone from Battle Mountain, part of the Te-Moak Tribe. Georgianna begins her oral history by highlighting her time growing up and going to school in Battle Mountain. She speaks about the Battle Mountain camp, and how it came to be. She then goes into her family lineage describing traditions among Western Shoshones and history of Battle Mountain. Price then goes on to tell the audience about some Shoshone tales told to her. She ends her discussion by giving details of raising her kids while she was cooking for the buckaroos around Battle Mountain, and she also addresses younger audiences encouraging them to go to school.</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 044
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
12/19/2014 [19 December 2014]; 2014 December 19
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Norm Cavanaugh [interviewer]; Andrew Moore [GBIA]; Scott A. Gavorsky [VHC]; James Hedrick [GBIA/VHC]; University of Utah [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/files/show/489
Format
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mp4
Language
A language of the resource
English
Battle Mountain
Community
Crossroads
family
folktale
GBIA
ranching
Shoshone
South Fork
Story
T.S. Ranch
traditions