Burns-Paiute Tribe

[Okwes]

Burns-Paiute Tribe

Part 1 of 2

"Paiute Wadatika Ma-Ni-Pu-Neen"

The Burns Paiute Reservation is located north of Burns, Oregon in Harney County. The current tribal members are primarily the descendants of the "Wadatika" band of Paiute Indians that roamed in central and southern Oregon.

History and Cultural Background of the Burns Paiute Tribe

Nine thousand years ago the northern Great Basin, which is now desert, was probably a series of very large lakes. The ancestors of the Burns Paiute people lived in caves near their shores. Horses, camels, mammoths, bison, elk and deer roamed the hills. These people used the fibers of the tule plant, willow, Indian hemp, and sagebrush bark to make woven sandals, coiled and twined baskets, and rope. They also made duck decoys, fish nets, and traps for small game with these fibrous plants. A beautiful soft blanket woven from the furs of rabbits and child's sandals made from sagebrush fibers were found preserved for close to 10,000 years in a cool, dry cave. Archeologists also found clothing made from deer, animal and bird hides. Their diet included a wide variety of items, such as fish (including a great deal of salmon), birds, deer, small animals, plants and seeds.

During the next one to 2,000 years, the climate slowly became drier and warmer. The lakes began drying up and food sources were less readily available. By 7,500 years ago, large mammals such as horses, camels and mammoth were extinct. People began seasonal migrations to take advantage of plants and animals in certain areas. Small family groups would travel separately collecting seeds, berries, roots, hunting small animals, deer, mountain sheep, elk and fish.

These smaller groups came together to harvest, socialize and intermarry with other Paiutes, as well as other Indian tribes. Spring offered roots to be gathered on the sunny hillsides and meadows, and fishing for salmon during the salmon runs. During the summer, berries and fruit were collected as food and stored for winter use. By late summer and early fall, seeds were the main resource to be gathered. Families also came together during this time of the year for communal antelope and rabbit drives. Late fall was the time to collect plant material to make items such as sandals, baskets, and clothing during the long winter months. By November, the families had gathered the cached goods they had put away during the months of harvesting. Materials were then gathered from the area (sagebrush in the desert or tules near the lakes) and they built houses near springs in which to live out the winter. The Paiutes lived in this manner for thousands of years.

The Paiute people believe that the Paiutes have lived in this area since before the Cascade Mountains were formed as they have learned from their stories and legends. Recent researchers, on the other hand, believe that about 1,000 years ago an influx of Paiute-speaking people came from the south and migrated throughout the Great Basin. They brought with them not only their language but also certain types of atlatl and spear points, and brownware pottery. Pottery was not found in the Great Basin before this time. However, the people of the Burns Paiute Tribe were basket makers and did not make pottery. According to the researchers, the language spoken here before the arrival of the Paiute is unknown. This, however, contradicts the Paiute stories and legends that are handed down from generation to generation which tell of the Paiute people living in the Great Basin for thousands and thousands of years.

The Burns Paiute Tribe descended from the Wadatika band, named after the wada seeds they collected near the shores of Malheur Lake to use as food. Bands were usually named after an important food source in their area. The Wadatika's territory included approximately 5,250 square miles between the Cascade Mountain Range in central Oregon and the Payette Valley north of Boise, Idaho, and from southern parts of the Blue Mountains near the headwaters of the Powder River north of John Day, to the desert south of Steens Mountain.

The Appearance of the White Settlers

The first Europeans with whom the Wadatika had contact were trappers who explored the area looking for beaver in the 1820's, 30's and 40's. By the late 1840's, the relations between the Indians and the Whites were already strained. By that time many Whites were moving through the area on the Oregon Trail on their way to western Oregon and the coast. Epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and other diseases brought into the area by Europeans had swept through the tribe in the 1830's and 1840's. The diseases killed many Indians, especially the young and the elderly tribal members.

Settlers first moved into what is now Harney County as late as 1862, years after settlers poured into western Oregon. Cattlemen then quickly began to take land or buy up homesteads to run their huge herds of livestock over the land. The limits of the native ecology were severely stressed due to the grazing of livestock by the expanding foreign population and the increase in hunting and fishing by those same people. Resources depended upon by the Paiute people were depleted or destroyed. But, as the Paiutes noticed, the settlers brought with them resources of their own--those very livestock and horses that were eating and trampling the Wadatika's food supplies. Raiding wagon trains and camps increased as more outsiders came through the Wadatika's territory and destroyed their livelihood. By the 1840's the northern Paiute bands had acquired horses and guns, and such raids became an important way for the Wadatika people to defend themselves and survive. In response, the U.S.
Army set up its first military outpost, Camp Alvord, in 1864. By 1867 Fort Harney was established.

While the tribes to the north (the Cayuse, Umatilla, Wallawalla, Wasco, John Day, Deschutes and Tygh) were confined to the Umatilla and Warm Springs reservations by 1856, the northern Paiutes continued their seasonal migrations for another decade. During these years the fighting between the Indians and the encroaching Whites became bitter, with the raids on wagon trains and army surveyors increasing. Punishing parties were sent out by the Whites to kill any Indian seen, whether man, woman or child. The Indians were fighting for their land, culture and their very lives.

Treaties and Reservations Created

In 1866, General Crook was appointed to the area to squash the resistance of the northern Paiute bands and to force them onto a reservation. For the next two years, he carried out a devastating and relentless campaign. He broke their usual circular migration pattern and harassed and killed them during the winter, their usual season of rest. By spring of 1868, the Indians had suffered a terrible winter, losing half their total population to starvation, freezing and fighting. General Crook then made an offer of "Peace or Death." That year Paiute Chiefs We-You-We-Wa, Gsha-Nee, Po-Nee, Chow-Wat-Na-Nee, E-He-Gant (Egan), Ow-Its (oits), and Tash-E-Go signed a treaty guaranteeing them a reservation in their homeland. Included were promises that raiding and hostilities toward the Whites would cease in return for army protection from the hostile, encroaching settlers. Unfortunately, the cutoff date for signing Indian treaties was passed before the treaty went before Congress,
therefore, Congress never ratified this treaty.

Several attempts were made in the next four years to move and confine the various northern Paiute tribes to reservations outside their territory. Finally, however, the President signed into law the Malheur Reservation, taken from the larger area of Oregon's entire southeastern corner, which was the first set aside for that purpose. The 1,778,560 acres of reservation land included Castle Rock, Strawberry Butte, the Silvies River, Malheur Lake and the North and South Forks of the Malheur River within its boundaries. This area was reserved for all bands of Indians still "wandering" in eastern Oregon. Samuel Parrish was appointed Special Indian Agent in 1873. He was well liked by the Indians, treated them fairly, and went into debt in order to provide the food, shelter, education, and resources needed to begin farming. This did not make him popular with the local Whites, and he was replaced by Harrison Linville the next year. There was a great deal of corruption while Linville
was in charge--rations were sold rather than handed over to the Indian people for whom they were intended. Finally, in July of 1874 Parrish was reinstated after Linville left fearing for his life.

The numbers of Indians on the reservation grew under Parrish as groups came down from the hills. By the fall of that year, there were over 800 on the rolls. Unfortunately, funds were not increased with the increase in population and they were having great difficulty surviving on the scarce resources, both federal and natural, available to them. Parrish wrote several letters to the President pleading for money and resources. He argued that this was a critical time for the tribe as they were eager to become self-sufficient. They only needed a bit of capital to start a cattle herd and other industries.

Treaties Broken

During the same period, the stockmen and ranchers were pressuring the government to turn over reservation lands for settlement and grazing of cattle. They were not even waiting for a federal mandate but began to run their livestock and even build ranch homes on the reservation. A particular area of dissention was the valley southeast of Fort Harney, an area important to the tribe for gathering camas. Ranchers fenced this location in order to run cattle there and did not allow Indians in. In January of 1876 President Grant, under pressure from settlers, ordered the northern shores of Malheur Lake open for settlement, an area important to the tribe for wada seeds. This was a blow to the Indians, as was the replacement of Agent Samuel Parrish that summer due to the urging of the settlers. His replacement, William Rinehart, had fought under General Crook and his derogatory attitudes toward Indians had not changed since the war.

Under Agent Rinehart, hostile settlers continued to invade reservation land and appropriations dwindled. Chief Egan gave an eloquent speech against Rinehart and the taking of the reservation by Whites. He said,

"Did the government tell you to come here and drive us off this reservation? Did the Big Father say, go and kill us all off, so you can have our land? Did he tell you to pull our children's ears off, and put handcuffs on them, and carry a pistol to shoot us with? We want to know how the government came by this land. Is the government mightier than our Spirit-Father, or is he our Spirit-Father? Oh, what have we done that he is to take all from us that he has given us? His white children have come and taken all our mountains, and all our valleys, and all our rivers; and now, because he has given us this little place without our asking him for it, he sends you here to tell us to go away. Do you see that high mountain away off there? There is nothing but rocks there. Is that where the Big Father wants me to go? If you scattered your seed and it should fall there, it would not grow, for it is all rocks there." (Hopkins, Life Among the Piutes, pages 133-34.)

[Okwes]

The Bannock Indian War

The Indians began to leave the reservation fleeing the worsening conditions. By June of 1878 tensions came to a head. The deprivations suffered from lack of rations and supplies during the winter and the lack of support from their government agent set the stage for revolt. Then, too, the news came in that an Indian village in the hills had been destroyed by soldiers. Forty-six Bannocks looking for allies against the Whites visited the Malheur Reservation and brought news of the Bannock uprising at Fort Hall. Some Paiutes became increasingly convinced that war was the only effective way to bring attention to their plight. They understood the hopelessness of such a war, but they preferred to fight rather than to starve to death.

The Bannock Indian War, as it was later called, consisted of few actual battles, but a resurgence of raiding by the Indians and killing of Indians by the Whites. By mid-July the army got the help of Umatilla Indian scouts to the north in a scheme to kill Chief Egan. The Paiutes believed the Umatillas to be friendly and were hoping to find allies at the meeting. Instead, they walked into an ambush. The scheme succeeded, and Chief Egan was killed. With the last of their leaders dead, the Bannocks and Paiutes surrendered. The northern Paiutes, who had numbered close to 2,000 ten years before, had lost two-thirds of their people.

"Trail of Tears"

All Indians were then rounded up and held as hostages at Fort Harney, regardless of who sided with the Whites or those who fought against them. Many of the Indians did not understand why they were being rounded up and brought to Fort Harney. In the coldest time of year, January 1879, over 500 Paiutes were loaded into wagons or ordered to walk under heavy armed guard to Fort Simcoe on the Yakima Reservation and Fort Vancouver in Washington state. In knee-deep snow the men were forced to march, shackled two by two, while the women and children were later taken to Fort Boise. The fate of yet another group is unknown. Perhaps they were massacred by the soldiers, or maybe they faded into the hills and disappeared. The tribe suffered great loss of life due to this forced abandonment of their home. It was the Paiutes' own "Trail of Tears."

The majority of those who survived the journey to Yakima found little welcome there and did not stay long. After approximately five years, the Wadatika people were allowed to make their long way back home. Many had not survived the experience; others chose to stay with the Yakima; while still others left to live with relatives on reservations of neighboring tribes. The ones who chose to made the long, difficult journey to Burns. They would travel in small groups or individually. Swimming the Columbia River holding onto their horse's tail, and walking the long miles through the mountains, they eventually arrived in Harney Valley. None returned to the empty reservation still staffed by Agent Rinehart. They were considered outlaws, so they lived on what they could find hunting and gathering in the hills, and quietly working for local ranchers.

In January of 1883 the reservation was made into public domain, open for settlers to claim under the Homestead Act. As Peter Teeman, a 90 year old elder, testified in 1948 at the Warm Springs Reservation:

"The Bannocks kept their reservation but we, the Paiutes, who remained friends with the soldiers, lost our reservation and were taken to Yakima and turned over to our enemies. We did not give up our reservation." (Burns Paiute Colony: Its History, Population and Economy, p. 19)

The federal government then gave out 160 acre parcels of marginal land in the Rye Grass area to anyone who had lived on the Malheur Reservation. Only 115 parcels were ever given out, although many more of the Wadatika survived. Distrust and fear of the government were running high and more than a few tribal members thought this new offer to be a trick.

Many Indian families camped near the towns of Burns and Drewsey in tule or gunnysack "wickiups" or lived on their allotment. The men found seasonal work with ranchers. Women washed clothes and made buckskin gloves to trade occasionally for flour, sugar and coffee. After the Edward Hines Lumber Mill opened in 1928 in Hines and later near Seneca when the mill opened there, more jobs were available to the Indians.

Problems Finally Addressed

During the beginning of this century, some attention was brought at last to the Burns Paiute Tribe. A Cherokee Indian came to visit the tribe during a hard winter in 1923. He must have taken word of the desperate conditions under which the tribe was living to the proper authority, for the following spring a superintendent from the Warm Springs Agency came to Burns. Soon after, army tents were brought in and set up where the Burns Cemetery is now located. In 1928, the local Egan Land Company gave the Burns Paiute 10 acres of land just outside the city of Burns. The land was the old city dump which the Indians cleaned and drilled a well to make ready for the houses. Twenty two-room homes, a small school and a community center were built by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A small church was built by the local Catholic Church in 1932. The school, church and community center were moved to the new reservation after it was established.

Schooling was a problem for the tribe. The public school for many years would not accept Indian students for health reasons since many children had tuberculosis and trachoma. A school opened on the reservation in 1934. However, some families continued to send their children to boarding schools far from home on reservations such as Fort Bidwell Indian School, Fort Bidwell, California. Health care for the Indians did improve and in 1949 Burns' public schools were finally opened to the Indian children.

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Christianity is Introduced

Father Heuel, a Catholic priest, who was the first to meet the spiritual needs of the tribe, came to the area in 1927. Before this the tribe had no Catholic or Christian religious leader. The earliest visit of a priest to the Burns Paiute people was mentioned by Peter Teeman. He said that a Chinese priest, Father Chan, stopped by on his way to Canyon City in 1861. Today, many tribal members follow a Christian faith.



The Fight to Regain the Land

Father Heuel was a friend to the Burns Paiute people. He encouraged the tribe to seek payment for Malheur Reservation that was taken from them without their agreement. The case dragged on for 35 years. In 1969, after enormous legal fees were subtracted from the total settlement, 850 Paiute people received as little as $741 each for the loss of their land. This was because the price of the land was set at 1890 prices, approximately .28 to .45 cents per acre.

In 1935, 760 acres of homestead and submarginal land was purchased with a loan provided by the National Industrial Recovery Act. The tribe repaid the loan with money earned from leasing the small arable farmland of the new property. This land is held in trust by the U.S. government for the Burns Paiute Tribe. In 1938 the Bureau of Indian Affairs built 27 two-bedroom homes on the new land.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1936, tribal elections were held for the first time. This early government consisted of a five-member governing body, elected by position. It was not until 1968, however, that the Constitution and Bylaws for the tribe were written and approved. This formalized and made operational the current tribal government. The tribe was then able to receive government contracts and grants which are the basis of the tribal administration today. Finally, on October 13, 1972 the Burns Paiute were recognized as an independent Indian Tribe.

At that time, the 760 acres bought in 1934 plus the 10 original acres of land were established as the Burns Paiute Reservation. The jurisdiction for this reservation was placed in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Warm Springs, 191 miles northwest of Burns. Individual tribal members still own over 11,000 acres of allotment lands scattered over four townships east of the reservation. Local ranchers lease these allotments for grazing cattle. Allotment lands are also held federally so that they are exempt from taxes, but unlike the reservation, they are within county jurisdiction.

Burns Paiute Tribal Administration Today

The Constitution and Bylaws of the Burns Paiute Colony, adopted May 16, 1968, delineates the objectives, membership, powers of the General Council, and bill of rights of the Burns Paiute Tribe. the Constitution and Bylaws were revised in 1988 changing the five-member Business Council to the seven-member Tribal Council of today. This was necessary to avoid conflict between the two governing bodies, the Tribal Council and the General Council. Now the Tribal Council is directly responsible to the General Council.

The Constitution and Bylaws of the Tribe also outline the format of the governing body, elections, and duties of officers. The governing body, or General Council, consists of all qualified voters. To qualified to vote one must be a tribal member 18 years of age or older who lives on the reservation, or be an absentee voter. The General Council meets twice a year to discuss and vote on important matters.

The standard business of the tribe is conducted by the seven-member Tribal Council, which includes a chairperson and a vice-chairperson. Each member of the Tribal Council is nominated and elected to a three-year term by the General Council. The Tribal Council meets several times a month, overseeing the tribal government and carrying out the decisions of the General Council.

The tribal government includes nine departments and various committees. The departments provide essential services to the community and uphold tribal interests when working with state and federal agencies. For example, the tribal administration takes care of day to day management and accounting of the tribal government. They also assist in the formation and implementation of plans for community development and the administering of federal and state grants and contracts. The Education Department, on the other hand, works to help students of all ages stay in school, while the Health Department provides the community with health care and social services. Other departments cover such areas as environmental and energy issues, lease compliance for all the allotments and tribal lands, mitigation for fish and wildlife, cultural preservation and enhancement, law enforcement, and maintenance.

Whereas the departments are made up of tribal employees, the committees are small groups of community members appointed by Tribal Council. These committees advise, oversee, and are responsible for some of the important aspects of the tribe's organization. A five-member Election Committee organizes and runs any elections held and any recalls or initiatives called for by the tribe. The incorporated Farmland Board contracts out for hay to be produced on the farmland and puts any funds received from the selling of the hay back into supplies and production. The Parent Committee works as an advisory board tot he Education Specialist. There are also committees on culture, housing, social services, and the annual Mother's Day Pow Wow, among others. Some tribal members also are involved in committees in the nearby community of Burns.

Wadatika Today

Tribal members continue to hunt and gather traditional foods. Roots such as camas, bitterroot, and biscuitroot are dug in the spring. In late summer chokecherries and berries are gathered. People also gather willow and tule for making baskets and cradleboards. Other crafts traditional to the Burns Paiute, which are practiced in the community, include beadwork and drum-making. The hunting of elk, deer, quail and groundhog as supplemental food sources continue as well.

A yearly celebration and gathering of tribal members and neighboring tribes is the recently started annual Burns Paiute Reservation Day Pow Wow, which occurs in October. This was declared a tribal holiday in honor of the day the land held in trust for the tribe became a reservation. The Pow Wow includes traditional dancing and drumming, dance contests, a raffle, and crafts and food booths. This is a continuation of a tradition of dance in the community. During the 1950's there was a vigorous boys dance group. Later in the 1960's and 1970's, a girls dance group was active.

Today there are 341 members of the tribe, less than 35.5% of which reside permanently on the reservation. Both the small numbers and the relatively recent formation of the tribal government and reservation have added challenges and difficulties in starting the economic and social programs that other Oregon tribes already have in place. Nonetheless, the Burns Paiute Tribe is proud of its history and culture. The tribe is currently working to gain a greater understanding of their culture, and preserve what knowledge they have of their past, all the while looking toward the future and developing a stronger, healthier community to pass on to the next generation.

[Okwes]

Burns-Paiute Tribe

Part 2 of 2

Paiute (sometimes written Piute) refers to two related groups of Native Americans— the Northern Paiute of California, Neveda and Oregon, and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California, and Nevada, and Utah, who spoke languages belonging to the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan family of Native American languages. The use of the name "Paiute" for these peoples is misleading. The Northern Paiute are more closely related to the Shoshone than to the Southern Paiute; the Southern Paiute are more closely related to the Ute than to the Northern Paiute. Usage of the terms Paiute, Northern Paiute and Southern Paiute is most correct when referring to groups of people with similar language and culture, and should not be taken to imply a political connection or even an especially close genetic relationship.

The origin of the word Paiute is unclear. Some anthropologists have interpreted it as "Water Ute" or "True Ute." The Northern Paiute call themselves Numa (sometimes written Numu); the Southern Paiute call themselves Nuwuvi. Both terms mean "the people." Early Spanish explorers called the Southern Paiute "Payuchi" (they did not make contact with the Northern Paiute). Early Euro-American settlers often called both groups of Paiute "Diggers" (presumably due to their practice of digging for roots), although that term is now considered derogatory. The Northern Paiute are sometimes referred to as "Paviotso."



Captain John, Leader of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes

The Bannock, Mono, Panamint and Kawaiisu people, who also speak Numic languages and live in adjacent areas, are sometimes referred to as Paiute.

The Northern Paiute speak the Northern Paiute Language, while the Southern Paiute speak the Ute-Southern Paiute Language. These languages are not as closely related to each other as they are to other Numic languages.

Northern Paiute

The Northern Paiute traditionally lived in the Great Basin in eastern California, western Nevada, and southeast Oregon. The Northern Paiute's pre-contact lifestyle was well adapted to the harsh desert environment in which they lived. Each tribe or band occupied a specific territory, generally centered on a lake or wetland that supplied fish and water-fowl. Rabbits and pronghorn were taken from surrounding areas in communal drives, which often involved neighboring bands. Individuals and families appear to have moved freely between bands. Pinyon nuts gathered in the mountains in the fall provided critical winter food. Grass seeds and roots were also important parts of their diet. The name of each band came from a characteristic food source. For example, the people at Pyramid Lake were known as the Cui Ui Ticutta (meaning "Cui-ui eaters"), the people of the Lovelock area were known as the Koop Ticutta (meaning "ground-squirrel eaters") and the people of the Carson Sink were
known as the Toi Ticutta (meaning "tuleeaters").

Chief Winnemucca – Chief of the Paiutes. He was also named Poito.

Relations among the Northern Paiute bands and their Shoshone neighbors were generally peaceful. In fact the distinction between the Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone is not sharp. Relations with the Washoe people, who were culturally and linguistically very different, were not so peaceful.

Sustained contact between the Northern Paiute and Euro-Americans came in the early 1840s, although the first contact may have occurred as early as the 1820s. Although they had already started using horses, their culture was otherwise largely unaffected by European influences at that point. As Euro-American settlement of the area progressed, several violent incidents occurred, including the Pyramid Lake War of 1860 and the Bannock War of 1878. These incidents took the general pattern of a settler steals from, rapes or murders a Paiute, a group of Paiutes retaliate, and a group of settlers or the US Army counter-retaliates. Many more Paiutes died from introduced diseases such as small pox. Sarah Winnemacca's book "Life Among the Piutes" gives a first-hand account of this period, although it is not considered to be wholly reliable.

The first reservation established for the Northern Paiute was the Malheur Reservation in Oregon. The federal government's intention was to concentrate the Northern Paiute there, but its strategy didn't work. Due to the distance of that reservation from the traditional areas of most of the bands, and due to the poor conditions on that reservation, many Northern Paiute refused to go there and those that did soon left. Instead they clung to the traditional lifestyle as long as possible, and when environmental degradation made that impossible, they sought jobs on white farms, ranches or cities and established small Indian colonies, where they were joined by many Shoshone and, in the Reno area, Washoe people. Later, large reservations were created at Pyramid Lake and Duck Valley, but by that time the pattern of small de facto reservations near cities or farm districts often with mixed Northern Paiute and Shoshone populations had been established. Starting in the early 1900s
the federal government began granting land to these colonies, and under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 these colonies gained recognition as independent tribes.

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Southern Paiute


Southern Paiutes – Moapa - Las Vegas Paiutes wearing traditional Paiute basket hats. Paiute cradleboard and rabbit robe

The Southern Paiute traditionally lived in the Colorado River basin and Mojave Desert in northern Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southern Utah. The Utah Paiutes were terminated in 1954 and regained federal recognition in 1980. A band of Southern Paiutes at Willow Springs and Navajo Mountain, south of the Grand Canyon, reside inside the Navajo Indian Reservation. These "San Juan" Paiutes were recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1980.

First European contact with the Southern Paiutes occurred in 1776 when Fathers Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Dominguez chanced upon them during their failed attempt to find an overland route to the missions of California. In 1851, Mormon settlers strategically occupied Paiute water sources, which created a dependency relationship. However, relations between the two peoples were basically peaceful, in large part due to the diplomacy efforts of Mormon missionary Jacob Hamblin. But there is no doubt that the introduction of European settlers and agricultural practices (most especially large herds of cattle) made it difficult for the Southern Paiutes to continue their traditional lifestyle.

Southern Paiute communities are located at Las Vegas, Pahrump, and Moapa, in Nevada; Cedar City, Kanosh, Koosharem, Shivwits, and Indian Peaks, in Utah; at Kaibab and Willow Springs, in Arizona; and at Death Valley and Chemehuevi on the Colorado River in California. Some would include the 29 Palms Reservation in Riverside County, California.

Pah Ute War

The Pah Ute War, also known as the Paiute War, was a minor series of raids and ambushes initiated by the Native American tribe, the Paiute, that had an effect on the development of the Pony Express. It took place from May through June of 1860, though sporadic violence continued.

Background

Early white settlement of what is now northwestern Nevada had a tremendous disruptive effect on the Northern Paiute people. The fragility of the Great Basin ecosystem magnified this disruption despite the relatively low density of white settlers. These disruptions included the felling of Single-leaf Pinyon groves (a major food source for the Paiute) for the mining industry and monopolization of water sources. In addition, settlers and Paiutes competed for grazing lands.

Several murders of whites, including famed mountain man Peter Lassen, were widely attributed to Paiutes. Murders of Paiutes by whites also occurred. The lack of effective government in the area meant that there was no formal judicial response to these incidents, leading to private retribution and a general atmosphere of fear and distrust.

The winter of 1859-1860 was particularly cold and snowy in the Great Basin, and was a great hardship to the Paiute. Paiute bands from across the Great Basin gathered at Pyramid Lake for the spring fish run due to failure of local food supplies. In addition, Captain Truckee, who was widely liked by whites and influential among the Paiute and therefore served as a go-between, died in the winter of 1859.

Williams Station Incident

Williams Station was a combination saloon, general store and stagecoach station located along the Carson River at the modern-day Lahontan Reservoir. On May 6, 1860 Williams Station was raided by Paiutes. Three whites were killed and the station was burned. According to Sarah Winnemucca, this raid was in retaliation for the kidnap and rape of two young Paiute girls by the proprietors of the station. One white managed to escape to Virginia City, and his story caused a general panic in the region.

A militia was quickly formed from volunteers from Virginia City, Silver City, Carson City and Genoa with the purpose of apprehending the perpetrators. This force consisted of about 105 men and was under the overall command of William Ormsby.

First Battle of Pyramid Lake

Ormsby's command assembled at the ruins of the Williams Station, and then proceeded north to the Truckee River, and then along that river towards Pyramid Lake. On May 12 it was ambushed and routed by Paiute forces under the command of Numaga approximately five miles south of the lake. Seventy-six of the 105 militiamen were killed and many of the others were wounded. The number of Paiute killed is not recorded, but thought to be quite small in comparison.

Second Battle of Pyramid Lake

In response to the first battle of Pyramid Lake, Federal troops and elements of the California militia were sent to the area. In late June this force retraced the steps of Ormsby's command, but met only slight resistance. The Paiute forces scattered across the Great Basin, and after a minor skirmish in the Lake Range north-east of Pyramid Lake the federal force gave up the chase.

Aftermath

After the inconclusive second battle of Pyramid Lake, the federal forces built a small fort at the southern end of Pyramid Lake to deny that area to the Paiutes. Small skirmishes and raids continued until August, when an informal cease-fire between Numaga and white surveyors working in the area north of Pyramid Lake was agreed to. In 1861 the fort at Pyramid Lake was abandoned in favor of Fort Churchill, which was further south, along the Carson River.

While the number of Paiutes killed in action during the Pyramid Lake War was probably quite small, the disruption to food gathering activities, especially fishing in Pyramid Lake, may have killed more from starvation.

The Bannock War of 1878 may be viewed as a continuation of the Pyramid Lake War, as some Paiutes and Bannock fought in both wars.

Effect on the Pony Express

The war is of particular note because of its effect on the famed Pony Express. Several stations were ambushed and the service experienced their first and only delays in delivery.



Numaga, chief of the Paiutes during the Pyramid Lake Paiute War. He was named the “Peace Chief”.

The Paiute War, also known as the Paiute Indian War, the Pyramid Lake War and the Pah Ute War, was a war between Northern Paiutes (along with some Shoshone and Bannock) and white settlers that took place in 1860 in the vicinity of Pyramid Lake in the Utah Territory (now Nevada) of the United States. The war was preceded by a series of increasingly violent incidents, culminating in two pitched battles in which approximately 80 whites were killed. The number of Paiutes killed in action is unrecorded, but was probably fewer. Smaller raids and skirmishes continued until a cease-fire was agreed to in August of 1860. There was no treaty.

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Sarah Winnemucca - Paiute writer and lecturer

Sarah Winnemucca

Northern Paiute lecturer, educator, and writer
Born: c. 1844
Birthplace: near Humboldt Sink, western Nevada

Sarah Winnemucca, whose Indian name was Thocmetony, or “Shell Flower,” lived during a period of dramatic change for her people and played an active role in Indian affairs during the 19th century.

Her maternal grandfather was Captain Truckee, a Northern Paiute chief who fought for Gen. John C. Fremont against Mexican control of California during the mid-1840s. Truckee welcomed the white settlers and even served as a guide for various parties crossing the Sierra Nevada. When Sarah was about six years old, he took her and her mother and sister to California, where Sarah had her first introduction to white people and white culture. Later Sarah learned English when she and her sister stayed with a white family in Mormon Station (now Genoa), Nev., and she also briefly attended a convent school in San Jose, Calif. By the time she was 14, Sarah could speak English and Spanish as well as several Indian dialects.

From 1866 to 1875, Sarah Winnemucca served as an interpreter for the military at Fort McDermitt in Nevada and at Camp Harney in Oregon. In 1871 she married her first husband, Lt. Edward C. Bartlett, whom she'd met at Fort McDermitt. However, the marriage broke up after a few years, and she rejoined her tribe at the Malheur Reservation in Oregon, where she worked as an interpreter and teacher's aid from 1875 to 1878.

Following the Bannock uprising in 1878, which also involved the Northern Paiute,Winnemucca turned activist and went on a lecture tour throughout the West to publicize the injustices suffered by the Paiutes, who were being held on the Yakima Reservation in Washington. Although her efforts did not bring about the release of the Indians or the restoration of their lands, she continued to fight for their rights in Washington, DC, where she traveled in 1880 to speak with President Rutherford Hayes and Secretary of the Interior Charles Schurz.

Between April 1883 and Aug. 1884, Winnemucca gave nearly 300 lectures in various East Coast cities such as Boston, New York, Baltimore, and Washington DC. During this period, she also came in contact with many prominent Indian advocates and sympathizers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Massachusetts senator Henry Dawes, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody. With their support and encouragement, she wrote her autobiography, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883), which described the Paiutes' sufferings at the hands of corrupt white Indian agents. It is believed to be the first book published by a Native American woman. Her work helped lead to the passage of the Dawes Act(1887), which ultimately turned out to be disastrous for the Indians, although at the time it was thought to benefit them.

With Elizabeth Palmer Peabody's help, Winnemucca opened a school for Paiute children near Lovelock, Nev. (1886–1887), but it closed after two years when federal funding failed to come through. Following the breakup of her second marriage, to Lt. Lewis H. Hopkins, she moved to Idaho to be with her sister. She died at Henrys Lake, Idaho, probably from tuberculosis, at about age 47.

The Warm Springs, Wasco, & Northern Paiute



Located in north central Oregon, just south of Mount Hood is the 644,000 acres Warm Springs Reservation. This reservation is home to eight bands from three separate tribes that function as a unit. The Warm Springs Indians lend their name to the reservation. They are represented by four bands, the Taih, Wyam, Tenino and Dock-spus. The Wasco are from the Dalles, Dog River and Ki-gal-twal-la bands. One band of the Northern Paiute is the remaining tribe.

The 3,000 residents of the reservation engage in farming and logging for sources of revenue. They also maintain the Kah-Ne-Tah vacation resort in the hills in the northern part of the reservation. It is at this modern resort complex that one can most readily see the flag of the "Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation".

The flag is light blue It bears a yellow ribbon across the top bearing, in red, the line "The Confederated Tribes of the" and another, similar ribbon arcing across the bottom bearing "Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon". Between the two ribbons are two eagles, one approaching the center from either side. This recalls the most sacred of all animals to the Native American and the abundance of local wildlife to be found on the reservation.

In the middle of these ribbons and eagles is a central disc representing a traditional Indian shield. This symbolizes the protection and safety that the three tribes find within their sovereign boundaries. The shield bears a map of the reservation upon which appears a picture of Mount Jefferson, the highest peak on the reservation. Below it are three tepees and above the mountain are three stars. Both represent the three nations. The three tepees emphasize the fact that the three nations territory lies at the foot of magnificent Mount Jefferson which is half on the reservation.

Of the three nations, the Wasco or Wascopam is a very very small tribe about which little has been written. This small size is not uncommon amongst tribes in the Pacific north west. The Northern Paiute stretch across central and western Oregon, northeastern California and southwestern Idaho. Their southern cousins can be found in Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and southeastern California. The name Paiute means either "True Ute" or "Water Ute" pointing to an ancient relationship with that tribe. The Warm Springs are better known by their former name -the Walla Walla. The Walla Walla have traditionally lived in northern Oregon and southern Washington.

WallaWalla is a Penutian word menaing "Little River". Today Walla Wallas still employing that original name reside on the Umatilla Reservation further inland from the Warm Springs.