Western Shoshone Mary and Carrie Dann, Nevada

 Mary and Carrie Dann were Western Shoshone Native American ranchers and activists in fighting the federal government over land issues and grazing rights.  They were sisters.  They did not feel they should have to pay grazing fees for land that was Native American land.  The contention is the Shoshone did not give away their land but granted rights to Whites to pass through only.  This was based on the peace treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863.  Their case went all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled based on precedent the land did not belong to the Shoshone.  However international court said this was a violation of human rights. In 1979 the Indian Land Commission awarded to the Western Shoshone $26 million for their land.  However the Shoshone have refused to take the money and it is just drawing interest.  The Dann sisters conducted civil protest by refusing to pay grazing fees.  

Even though the United Nations have asked the government to leave the Western Shoshone alone this has been ignored by the federal government.

Mary dann passed away in 2005 from a ranching accident.  Carrie Dann passed away in 2021.  She with the Shoshone Defense Fund sued U.S. and Canadian Barrick Gold and the expansion of Cortez Hills Project at Mr. Tenabo which is considered sacred by the Shoshone.

Book Review: The Shoshone People

 The Shoshone People: Native American Cultures by Kristen Rajczak, Garret Stevens Publishing, 2015.

There are three distinct groups of Shoshone.  There are the Northern, Eastern and Western Shoshone.  The Northern and Eastern Shoshone had earlier access to horses.  They hunted buffalo and lived in tepees.  These facilitated their nomadic style.  The Northern Shoshone lived along the Snake River in western Wyoming and Idaho.  They and also ate salmon.  They Eastern Shoshone extended farther into Wyoming in the Green River area.  They would also travel into northern Utah.  The Comanche in Texas were once part of the Shoshone.

The Western Shoshone did not have as meny horses as the Northern and Eastern.  They lived in brush huts called wickiups.  There territory included eastern Utah, Nevada and extended into the Death Valley region of California.  The were gatherers, including pine nuts and roots and seed.  They also hunted small game.  

The book lacks information about specific Shoshone, but it does tell the story of Sacagawea who jioned the Lewis and Clark expedition.  She was Shoshone but living with the Hidatsa as she had been taken slave.  She was able to serve as a guide and help the companhy purchase horses from the Shoshone.

The book also mentions the Bear River Massacre.  In January of 1863 U.S. soldiers attacked them because of issues along the Oregon Trail and attacks on Mormon settlers.  250 Shoshone were killed, including women and children, the largest loss of Native American life in a battle.  

After this defeat the reservation system was established.  Chief Washakie worked with the government to establish the Wind River Reservation in 1868 for Eastern Shoshone.  Also Fort Hall and Lemhi Reservation were established for Northern Shoshone.  However in 1905 those at Lemhi were forced to move to Fort Hall.  There are numerous reservations and colonies that dot Nevada and eastern Utah.  

Very good information but where this bok says it is about the people, I would have liked more information on Shoshone people.

Shoshone Legend: Giants

Danny Millett, a Duckwater elder told me the story of a legend of the rock family.   He talked about a family from the Reese River area.  Somehow the family had been turned to stone.  He said they were giants.  He said he had actually seen the stone family.  They are now giant rocks.

I have reviewed different stories in Nevada.  There is a story of a race of giants who lived in the Lovelock area.  They were cannibals.  The people finally had enough of them, chased them into a cove, sealed the entrance after starting a fire inside the cave.  This killed them all.  The mummy of a man 6'6" has been found in the Lovelock cave.  

But part of the legend told me by Danny Millet was that mountain took the shape of the family of giants and it could still be seen today.  

Shoshone Legend: Water Baby

 

Indian Legends: Water Baby and Stone Family

Dan Millett was a tribal elder at the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe when I worked there.  A couple times he came by my office just to talk.  One time he told me the legend of the water baby.  I wish I had been able to take notes, or record them as the story was fascinating.  In the case of his version of the "water baby" you could easily see how this would encourage a young mother to take good care of her babies.

Being from Duckwater, this has a local slant.  The water baby is a kind of spirit creature that inhabits the water, in this case the Duckwater ponds which are formed by the springs.  It is the custom in Duckwater to put babies in a cradle board.  The cradle board raps them up tight, which is very soothing to babies.  However in can lead to a mother being lazy.  They might hang the baby in a tree, where the wind will gently rock the baby.  However, if left in the tree, the baby may be inhabited by a water baby.  This is most likely to happen if the baby is fussy.  If a baby is inhabited by the spirit of the water baby, then it will also inhabit the mother while nursing.  If this happens the mother becomes a zombie like creature--half alive and half dead.

Many of the Great Plains tribes have similar legends.  The water baby or Paakniwat, is a protector of the water.  They are beautiful babies with fish tails.  Sometimes the make baby like noises in an attempt to lure someone into the water.  They can be an omen of misfortune.  Ute, Paiute, Washoe, Shoshone and several California tribes have water baby legends

Video Review: Newe The Shoshone People

Newe: The Shoshone People - Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. Turtle Island, USA

This movie is mostly drum music playing with written narrative.  Shoshone comes from the word for high grass.  They refer to themselves as Newe.  They were first called Shoshone by Meriweather Lewis.  This video tells a brief story of the Shoshone culture and talks of some of the differences between groups of Shoshone; Western, Northern, Eastern and Gosiute.  Eastern took the customs of the plains Indians.  The were driven south  by other tribes and the Comanche in Texas may have been Shoshone.  The Northern and Eastern peoples livied in tipis (teepees) which could be easily taken down like a tent.  This allowed them to follow the animals they hunted, such as buffalo.  The Northern Shoshone would also sustain themselves with salmon which the caught in nets or baskets.  A camp could be torn down in an hour and ready to move.  The used dog pulled travois.  However the Western Shoshone made lodges out of grass.  These were more permanent and harder to move.  They relied more on eating roots, pine nuts and seeds.  They would hunt smaller game such as deer or rabbit.  

This video introduced me to a new game, Shinny ball.  This game is most similar to field hockey.  It is played with sticks made from willow, which are heated and bent to make like a hockey stick.  

This movie has many pictures of Shoshone people, but they are not labeled.  It talks of the different tribes being lead by a chairman, and their having their own governments.  It talks about many conflicts and wars--especially the Bear River Massacre which saw the largest loss of life in Shoshone history.  

Native American Biography: Sarah WInnimucca: Paiute

Sarah Winnimucca was Paiute, and a political advocate for her people.  Her father was Shoshone, who had married into the Paiute Tribe.  She also wrote the first known Native American Autobiography written by a woman, "Life Among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883).  During her life she traveled East to lobby for her people, and was promised improvements, which did not happen.  Consequently she lost the trust of her people.  She spent periods of her childhood away form her people, in  California or Nevada.  During her times away bad things would happen to her people, the worse being the Pyramid Lake War in which many of her people were killed.  Because her family traveled widely, (at times play acting to replace their livelihood) she picked up many languages, including three Indian languages, English and Spanish.  She used this knowledge in bargaining, interpretation and scouting for the federals.