Paiute
History
The people who are called the Northern Paiute today consisted, at the time of Euro-American contact, of several linguistically homogenous but culturally and politically distinct populations. They spoke a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family.
Geography and Climate
The territory of the Northern Paiute was vast. On the west, there was the western edge of the Sierra Nevada and the watershed separating the Pit and Klamath rivers from the interior draining northern sector of the Great Basin. On the north, the territory continued beyond the summits dividing the drainage systems of the Columbia and Snake rivers. The eastern limit of the territory continued from the east side of Mono Lake diagonally north through central Nevada. It further coincided approximately with the present Oregon-Idaho state line as far north as the outlets of the Weiser and Powder rivers beyond the great bend of the Snake river. The southern border was the smallest. It was south of Mono Lake and extended east to west. The territory of the Northern Paiute was environmentally diverse. It can be divided into several subareas: Piedmont, Lake-Riverine, Freshwater Marsh, Columbia-Snake River Drainage, and Generalized. The generalized subarea is characterized by a more generalized Basin and Range topography and a flora and fauna typical of “cold deserts”.
Pre-European Contact
A clear archeological record for the various Northern Paiute peoples does not extend beyond around 1000 AD. However, some investigators have suggested that there are interesting continuities (and discontinuities) between the material culture of the Northern Paiute of west-central Nevada and that of the archeological Lovelock culture. Similarities and differences in the historic and archeological records in south-eastern Oregon prior to 1000 AD have been noted as well. Northern Paiute speakers from eastern Oregon, and perhaps principally those in contact with the Northern Shoshone in the Owyhee-Snake-Weiser river basin, first obtained horses sometime in the mid to late 1700s. They joined with their Northern Shoshone cousins, traveling widely through the Snake River plain and well beyond. Those with horses ultimately became known as the Bannocks. They were the first Northern Paiute speakers to change their culture in response to the introduction of the horse. These Paiute developed fully mounted bands with shifting leadership and personnel that habitually made forays beyond the Rocky Mountains to the Plains for buffalo. They became involved in a raiding complex for horses and other booty, generally taking on the appearance in material culture of their Plains neighbors.
Post-European Contact
In 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark learned of the “Snakes” (in all likelihood Northern Paiutes) living in large numbers on the Deschutes River in north-central Oregon, but apparently without horses. Peter Skene Ogden, Hudson’s Bay Company trapper and the first individual to document in detail his journeys through Northern Paiute territory, noted in 1826 that most of the “Snake” groups he met in Oregon were either unmounted or had but a few horses. In 1827, the trapper Jedediah Strong Smith encountered 20 to 30 horsemen at Walker Lake, far south of the Oregon country. Ogden had a similar encounter in 1829 with an estimated 200 natives at the Humboldt Sink, at least some of whom were mounted. The people encountered by the two men had Spanish blankets, buffalo robes, and Euro-American goods. Mounted parties were rarely mentioned by trappers and explorers in these same areas in the 1830s and 1840s. Most Northern Paiutes were still unmounted and carrying on traditional subsistence pursuits. The Joseph Reddeford Walker party found numerous Indians in 1833 and 1834 at the Humboldt Sink and on the Carson River, seemingly without horses or firearms, but subsisting upon grass seeds, frogs, fish and the like. John C. Fremont visited a large village of fishermen at the mouth of the Truckee River in 1843. He described the people as living quite well on large salmon trout they caught behind numerous weirs in the river. They did have several items of Euro-American manufacture. Some of the trappers were undoubtedly responsible for the beginnings of hostile encounters between the Indians and Euro-Americans. For example, the Walker party massacred nearly 100 Northern Paiutes in 1833 and 1834. Trapper bands, sometimes with 100 or 200 horses and occasionally cattle and sheep, had important but probably only temporary effects on the local forage and game supplies. Sustained movements of wagons and livestock were more devastating.
Mass Migration of Euro-Americans
The opening of Oregon to settlement in the early 1840s and the discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought continuous streams of traffic across fragile ecosystems. The California Trail came straight through the heartland of the region in Nevada. In 1849, it has been estimated that some 6,200 wagons, 21,000 people, and 50,000 head of livestock passed over the Overland Trail down the Humboldt River to California. Native subsistence resources, particularly seed plants and large game, were virtually destroyed for miles on either side of the road. Water holes were fouled or drained. Some groups reacted to this by withdrawing from the region and seeking refuge in Oregon. Others found new opportunities in misfortune: wagons and stock offered alternatives for subsistence and exploitation of the region. There was a rise in mounted predatory bands among the Northern Paiute in parts of Nevada and Oregon. Some white traders suggested to the Indians that they steal stock. In exchange, the traders would give them guns, ammunition, and blankets for the stolen animals. By the end of the 1850s, a number of mounted groups under named leaders were operating in the region. Some clearly used the horse for greater mobility in aboriginal subsistence pursuits, or for an economy that included only occasionally taking livestock for food. A number of these groups began to have spokesmen or “chiefs”, a post-contact solidification of the older pattern of headmanship. In 1859, gold and silver were discovered in two areas in Northern Paiute territory: the Virginia Range in western Nevada and the Owyhee basin in Oregon and Idaho. These discoveries led to new emigrations along old and new trails and to the founding of large settlements such as Virginia City, Nevada, Canyon City, Oregon, and Silver City, Idaho. Ranches to support the larger population base also usurped good grazing lands in outlying areas.
Conflict
On May 12, 1860, Northern Paiutes at Pyramid Lake killed 43 members of a volunteer unit sent to avenge a justified raid on Williams’ Station on the Carson River. Two weeks later, a large force from California routed the groups in several additional skirmishes. Later that summer, Colonel Fredrick West Lander, special government envoy, held a council with some of the leaders, including Numaga and Winnemucca, and quieted the troubles. The Pyramid Lake War ended. Some of the people involved returned to Pyramid Lake to be settled on newly set aside lands. Others, including Winnemucca, withdrew to northern Nevada and south-eastern Oregon where they were involved in later conflicts. Additional skirmishes occurred throughout the 1860s in northern and western Nevada, often involving troops station at Fort Churchill. Similar circumstances existed in Oregon during the same period. Many groups throughout the region had been displaced, and were operating in small groups as predatory bands on emigrants, miners, and ranchers, who took reprisals on any Indians encountered. Military campaigns were waged from Fort Klamath and Fort Boise as well as from local posts established in Warner Valley and Harney Valley. The region was mostly pacified in late 1868. Campaigns waged by Captain George Crook between 1866 and 1868, known as the Shoshone or Snake Wars, were particularly decisive. Treaties negotiated in 1864 and 1868 laid the foundation for the beginnings of reservation life.
Reservation Period
Reserved lands were set aside for Northern Paiute people by the federal government beginning in 1859. The first to be proposed were Pyramid Lake and Walker River reservations in Nevada (each initially set aside in 1859 but not formally established until 1874) and Malheur Reservation in Oregon (established in 1871). It was thought that these three areas would be quite sufficient for all the people. However, this solution proved to be unworkable. Many people refused to go to any of these reservations. Well into the 20th century, additional colonies and small reservations were being established throughout the region. The Malheur Reservation was occupied only between 1871 and 1878, when the groups abandoned it to participate in the Bannock War of 1878. The short-lived campaign ended in the death of Egan and the surrender of Oitsi at Malheur. Winnemucca, who spent most of the campaign in the Steens Mountains of southeastern Oregon, was apparently an unwilling participant. But a number of his people, together with others who were not participants, were interned for several years on the Yakima Reservation in Washington. In 1883, most of these groups returned to Nevada on their own, some settling at Fort McDermitt, some at Pyramid Lake, and the remainder at Miller Creek on the Duck Valley Reservation. Pyramid Lake, Walker River, and Malheur were intended as areas where the former hunting, gathering, and fishing Northern Paiutes would learn to be farmers. The degree to which this was ever accomplished was limited, largely due to the unsuitability of the areas chosen for agriculture and to the lack of water. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, day schools were established at Pyramid Lake and Walker River. Sarah Winnemucca established and ran a school for Northern Paiute children at Lovelock from 1885 to 1887. Boarding schools were established at Pyramid Lake in 1883 and at Carson City in 1890. Day schools were not established at colonies and other reservations until much later. Many traditional subsistence modes had to be abandoned, particularly harvesting seeds and in some cases roots and berries. For a number of years, Pyramid Lake and Walker River remained as active fisheries. However, the 1920s diversion of water by upstream users and poaching on the lakes and rivers by non-Indians led to a major decline in fish supplies. Ghost Dance movements were initiated by Wodziwob in 1869 and by Wovoka in 1887.
20th Century
Shamanism was still active in the 1930s. People still received and sought power through traditional means. Shamanism had gradually declined since that time, with a few practitioners operating in the 1960s and 1970s. Around the same time, the Native American Church was actively promoted among the Northern Paiutes and adjacent Washoes. In the 1960s, another religious movement diffused to some Northern Paiute people from sources to the north. Under the leadership of Raymond Harris of the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, the Sweat Lodge movement became active in several localities in western Nevada. Reservation communities and colonies changed drastically during the 1970s. Most groups undertook successful federal housing programs and had basic services like electricity and sewers. In the 1980s, a number of Nevada families still gathered pine nuts, buckberries, and chokeberries. A few families at Burns took various roots and berries. Men at Pyramid Lake took cui-ui and trout, both species showing signs of recovery. And various individuals hunted game and fowl or went after other resources as much for enjoyment as necessity. Tribally owned, operated, or leased businesses brought income to the Northern Paiute reservations and colonies. Most of the groups elect tribal councils, who handle tribal funds, often oversaw law and order in communities, and planned for tribal and economic development. Poverty and health problems were still significant in 985. Colonies, especially near urban centers, were overcrowded, underserved, and in need of additional lands and resources. Out-migration throughout the historical period has led to a significant non-reservation and non-colony population scattered throughout the west.
The Present and The Future
In the present day, the Northern Paiute live on and off several reservations in the western United States. In 2000, the population of the Pyramid Lake reservation was reported to be 1,734. Walker River population was reported as 853. There were around 700 speakers of the Northern Paiute language in 2007. In 2005, the Northwest Indian Language Institute of the University of Oregon formed a partnership to teach Northern Paiute and Kiksht in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation schools. In 2013, Washoe County, Nevada became the first school district in Nevada to offer Northern Paiute classes. Elder Ralph Burns of the Pyramid Lake Paiute worked with University of Nevada linguist Catherine Fowler to help develop a written language, which uses 19 letters. They also developed a language learning book and a series of computer disks of language lessons. Since the beginning of their history interacting with Euro-Americans, the Northern Paiute have undergone great changes in their lifestyle and culture. Despite this, they have persevered into the 21st century, remembering their past traditions.
Paiute Factoids
A child’s umbilical cord was ultimately placed in a mole hole if a girl (to insure good root digging and seed gathering skills) and in a bushy tailed woodrat’s nest if a boy (to insure good hunting).
The Northern Paiute believed that power (puha) could reside in any natural object, including animals, plants, stones, water, and geographic features, and that it habitually resided in natural phenomena such as the sun and moon, thunder, clouds and wind.
Stars were thought to cause illness, particularly to boys or young men through their desires to have them as husbands.
Raider
As the number of white settlers to the western United States increased, so did the number of mounted predatory bands among the Northern Paiute. The increase in outsiders and the damage to subsistence resources (seed plants and large game were virtually decimated for miles on either side of the road, water holes were fouled or drained) contributed to the transition in lifestyle. The raiding was also encouraged by White traders, who desired the stolen livestock and gave the natives guns, ammunition and blankets. Not all the mounted Paiute used the horses for raiding. Some continued their traditional subsistence modes. The raiding parties would eventually bring about conflict with the US army and to the placement of the Northern Paiute in reservations.
Dance Circle
In all the Northern Paiute areas, dances and prayers were offered prior to communal food-getting efforts, such as antelope and rabbit drives. In areas with lakes and marshes, coot drives were also celebrated communally. Pyramid Lake and Walker River peoples likewise held dances and offered prayers for fall, winter, and spring fish runs. All groups within the distribution of pinon had a fall festival in preparation for the harvest. Each of these activities were under the direction of a specialist. In all instances, group prayer and dancing were also times of merriment. Night dances were followed by gambling, foot races, and other forms of secular entertainment.