MOJAVE-APACHE
(See YAVAPAI)
MULTNOMAH
The Multnomah tribe occupied what is now western Oregon, near Portland, and the few remaining members have been almost entirely assimilated into the white cultures which surround them.
NAVAJO
The Navajo are an Athapascan tribe that drifted down from northwestern Canada into the Southwest around 1300. They call themselves Dineh, the People, as do their linguistic cousins in Canada and Alaska, from whom they are separated by some 1,500 miles. Fierce, skin-clad, nomadic raiders, they terrorized the sedentary corn-planting tribes of the Southwest. The Pueblos called them apachu, meaning “enemy-strangers.” This led to the mixed Tewa and Spanish “Apaches de Nabahu,” which ultimately became “Navajo.”
The Navajos adopted many cultural practices from their Pueblo neighbors, such as masked dances (yebichai), basketry, and pottery. They became fine silversmiths, learning the craft from the Spaniards, just as they learned weaving from the Pueblos. During the mid-nineteenth century they began making jewelry and weaving rugs; their simple chiefs’ blankets have evolved into the well-known Navajo rugs of today.
With a population of over 130,000, the Navajo are the largest tribe in the United States. Their reservation extends over 200 miles of New Mexico and Arizona, from the Gallup area all the way to the Grand Canyon, and contains such natural wonders as Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly, as well as large coal and oil deposits. Navajos are a comparatively wealthy nation; they farm and raise large herds of sheep, as well as some cattle. The women still wear their traditional costume—velveteen blouses, colorful ankle-length skirts, and silver and turquoise necklaces. Their traditional home is the hogan, a low, dome-shaped structure of mud-covered logs with a smoke hole at the top.
NEZ PERCE
The Nez Percés (French for “pierced noses”) got this name from their custom of wearing a piece of dentalium shell through their septum. They belonged to the seminomadic Plateau culture, roaming over the dry, high country of Idaho, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington. They were known for their trading acumen, their bravery and generosity, their skill in breeding the famous Appaloosa horse, and the fine basketry of their women. They were consistently friendly to the whites. A large tribe of the Shahaptian language family, they lived in large communal houses containing several families. Unjustly driven from their beloved Wallowa Valley, they fought fiercely and skillfully during the Nez Percé War of 1877 under their great leader, Chief Joseph, who won the admiration even of his enemies by his courage and humanity in conducting this war. Today some 1,500 members of the tribe live on the 88,000-acre Nez Percé Reservation with headquarters at Lapwai, Idaho.
OJIBWAY
The Ojibway, or as the whites misname them, the Chippewa, are an Algonquian tribe living today on a number of reservations, mainly in Minnesota. They migrated from the East late in the sixteenth or early in the seventeenth century. They were usually allied with the French, swapping beaver and other pelts for firearms, which they used to drive the Sioux to the West. The Ojibway took part in Pontiac’s uprising, and by 1851 white settlers had pushed them beyond the Mississippi. Their most valuable food plant is wild rice. Their culture hero is Manabozho, the Great Rabbit, whose deeds they depict on bark paintings.
OKANOGAN
The Okanogan (or Okinagan) were a small Salishan tribe of seminomadic plateau people who were scattered over the high country of Idaho, western Oregon, and eastern Washington. They were grouped in small, roving bands of hunters, fishermen, and gatherers of cama roots, wild seeds, and berries. Like many Salishans, they were good basket makers. In 1906 there were some 525 Okanogans left in Washington state and a further 825 in British Columbia. Today about 3,000 people, descendants of related tribes, live on the Colville Reservation in Washington, among them the former Okanogans.
ONEIDA
The Oneida—the People of the Rock—are one of the original Five Nations of the Iroquois league. Like other Iroquois, they live in longhouses occupied by several families and owned by women. They traced their descent through the mother. The tribe originally lived near Oneida Lake in New York but, under pressure, sold their ancestral lands and moved to Wisconsin in 1838. Unlike other Iroquois tribes, the Oneida at first stayed neutral and eventually joined the Tuscarora as the only Iroquois nations siding with the Americans against the British in the Revolutionary War. Today roughly 1,800 people reside on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin.
OSAGE
The Osage, or Wazhazhe, are Plains Indians of the Siouan language group. Their original villages were situated in Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. According to their legends, they originated in the sky and descended through four layers of sky until they alighted on seven rocks of different colors near a red oak tree. Later the people received four kinds of corn and four kinds of pumpkin seeds which fell from the left hind legs of four buffalo.
The tribe was divided into gentes, which monopolized certain tasks, such as making moccasins, pipes, war standards, or arrowheads. One gente furnished heralds (camp criers) to the tribe.
The Osage were eventually removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where they now live.
OTO
The Oto, also called Otoe and Wat’ota, are a Siouan tribe, probably an offshoot of the Winnebago, from whom they are said to have separated at Green Bay, Wisconsin, as they wandered westward in pursuit of buffalo. This group later split further into three closely related tribes—the Oto proper, the Iowa, and the Missouri. Marquette knew of them, and Le Sueur met them in 1700 near Blue Earth River in what is now northwest Minnesota.
They lived in earth lodges, though they used skin tipis when traveling or hunting. They were rudimentary farmers but avid buffalo hunters, and they early adopted Plains Indian culture. In 1882 the last remnants of the tribe left Nebraska, where they had been living along the Platte River, and settled in Oklahoma.
PAPAGO
The Papago—the Bean People—are a Southwestern tribe closely related to the Pima. They are probably descendants of the ancient Hohokam. The Papago are an agricultural people who irrigate by flooding. Though frugal and peaceful, they could be tough when attacked, and they defended themselves stoutly against raiding bands of Apaches. Papago women are renowned for their wonderful baskets woven from yucca fiber. Their traditional houses were round, dome-shaped, and flat-topped, 12 to 20 feet in diameter, and usually had a brush shelter (ramada) attached. They now live on a four-part reservation of almost three million acres in Arizona. Some offshoots of the tribe also live in Sonora, Mexico.
PASSAMAQUODDY
The name Passamaquoddy comes from peskede makadi, meaning “plenty of pollock” (a species of herring). They are a tribe of forest hunters and fishermen speaking a coastal Algonquian dialect. They were experts at canoeing, fishing, and trapping and lived in conical wigwams covered with birch bark or woven mats. Several families often shared one dwelling. They belonged to the larger Abnaki confederation, an alliance of Northeast woodlands tribes that also included the Penobscot and Maliseet. Some 600 Passamaquoddy now live on the Pleasant Point and Indian Township Reservations in Washington County, Maine.
PAWNEE
The Pawnees, members of the large Caddoan family, were a federation of tribes living near the Platte River in what is now Nebraska. They were semisedentary, lived in earth lodges, planted corn, and hunted buffalo and other game. Their tribal name comes from pariki, meaning “horns,” probably because they used to dress their hair in a horn-like coil stiffened with grease. Their own name for themselves was Men of Men. Their chief deity was Tirawa Atius, the Creator, who “threw down from the sky to the human beings everything they needed.” Hereditary keepers maintained their sacred bundles, and they had secret societies related to supernatural animal spirits.
The Pawnees, who once numbered 25,000, lost half their population to cholera between 1840 and 1850, owing to contact with westbound settlers taking the Platte River Trail. By the end of the century their number
s had dropped to a few hundred. Though many Pawnees had served the U.S. Army faithfully as scouts during the Indian Plains wars, they shared the fate of many other tribes, being removed in 1876 to Oklahoma, where they settled with the Ponca and Oto.
PENOBSCOT
The name Penobscot means Rockland or It Flows on the Rocks, alluding to a waterfall near their village of Old Town, Maine, a few miles above Bangor. The Penobscot are a once-powerful New England tribe of Algonquian stock. They belong to the Abnaki confederation, which included such tribes as the Malecites and Passamaquoddies. They made canoes, fishnets, shell wampum, carved pipes, and intricate beading and quillwork. They had a reputation for peacefulness and hospitality.
Some 500 Penobscot now live on a reservation comprising 4,500 acres at Indian Island, Old Town, Maine.
PEQUOD
The Pequod, or Destroyers, once a much-dreaded Algonquian people, were originally part of the Mohegan tribe. They occupied a strip of land reaching from what is now New London, Connecticut, into Rhode Island. The Pequods were conquered by English settlers in 1637 during the so-called Pequod War. Spurred on by Puritan preachers who called the Indians “fiends of hell” and “children of Satan,” the settlers stormed the Pequod village on the Mystic River in Connecticut, slaughtering and burning to death more than 600 of the inhabitants. Surviving prisoners became slaves of New England colonists; some were even sold to West Indian planters. In 1832 there was a remnant of about 40 mixed-blood Pequods left. In the early 1900s about 12 people remained who considered themselves in some way the descendants of the Pequods and Mohegans. They are now considered completely exterminated.
PIEGAN
(See BLACKFOOT)
PIMA
The Pima, and their closely related neighbors and cousins, the Papago, are thought to be descendants of the ancient Hohokam—Those Who Have Gone Before—prehistoric makers of a vast system of irrigation canals. Members of the Uto-Aztecan language group, the Pima live in southern Arizona near the Gila and Salt rivers. Their earliest contacts with Spaniards occurred in 1589, when they lived in scattered rancherías tending their fields of corn, beans, squash, cotton, and tobacco. Like their Hohokam ancestors, they had an advanced system of irrigation. They were consistently peaceful and hospitable to whites.
The typical old-style Pima house was a windowless daub-and-wattle dwelling shaped “like an inverted kettle.” Today these dwellings have been replaced everywhere by the typical Southwestern adobe house. The Pima are possibly the best Indian basket makers. Their women weave beautiful baskets of all shapes, designs, and sizes, from huge, man-high storage baskets to miniature horsehair baskets.
Most Pima, together with members of the Maricopa community, now live on the Gila River Reservation in Arizona, with headquarters at Sacaton.
POMO
The Pomo are a large and thriving community in northern California, well known for their beautiful basketwork.
PONCA
The Ponca, a Siouan tribe closely related to the Omaha, Kansa, and Osage, lived in permanent villages of earth lodges. They planted corn, hunted buffalo, and adopted a number of Plains customs, including the annual sun dance, which they called the Great Mystery dance.
After several migrations, the Ponca lived for some time near Lake Andes, South Dakota. There, according to their traditions, they received the gift of the sacred pipes. They finally settled at the mouth of the Niobrara River in Nebraska where, Lewis and Clark reported in 1804, their number had been reduced by smallpox to a mere 200.
For reasons never quite satisfactorily explained, the Ponca land was given to the Sioux in spite of the fact that the Ponca had always been friendly to the whites while the Sioux had fought them. By 1870 their numbers had increased to about 800 but later, due to the enmity of their Sioux neighbors, they were removed to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Half of them died as the result of their forced removal, malnutrition, and new diseases against which they had no immunity. A few Ponca remained behind in Nebraska seeking a home among related tribes.
SALINAN
The Salinans, a Californian Indian language group, were named for the Salinas River, which flowed through their territory in the Monterey–San Louis Obispo area. Their native name was Hokan. In the late 1700s the Spaniards established two missions among these small tribes. After contact with Europeans, and especially after the gold rush, their numbers declined rapidly. Though they had once been counted in the thousands, by 1906 there were only 20 persons described as Salinans. The tribe is now practically extinct.
SAN JUAN
San Juan, the home of one of the authors of this book, is the largest Tewa-speaking pueblo. Located on the banks of the Rio Grande 25 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, it is a traditional village in which the old culture, language, and ceremonies are still maintained in spite of some intermarriage with whites. Its native name was Oke, but in 1598 the Spanish Governor Onate established his capital at this pueblo and renamed it San Juan de los Caballeros. In 1782 the village was ravaged by epidemics introduced by contact with Spaniards. Today some 700 Tewa Indians occupy about 12,000 acres of San Juan land.
SENECA
The Seneca, meaning Place of the Stone, were one of the tribes making up the Six Nations League of the Iroquois. They were also known as the People of the Mountain and in the confederacy occupied the place of “keepers of the great black doorway.” The great Iroquois religious leader and prophet, Handsome Lake, was a Seneca. He combined traditional Iroquois religion with certain white concepts, teaching his people to build houses like those of white farmers, to work hard, to instruct their children, and to abstain from the white man’s intoxicating drinks. The code of Handsome Lake is still kept by many Iroquois people.
The Senecas originally lived west of Lake Erie and along the Allegheny River. Believing that the English would protect them against land-grabbing colonials, they joined the Mohawks under Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) to fight for the British during the American Revolution.
They now live in various places in the Northeast, including the Allegheny, Cattaraugus, and Tonawanda Reservations in New York State. In the 1950s the Army Corps of Engineers built the Kinzua Dam, which inundated a great part of the Allegeny Seneca Reservation, in spite of a treaty of 1794, signed by George Washington himself, guaranteeing the Indians this land inviolate and in perpetuity.
SERRANO
The Serrano still live in California, though a long history of contact with white missionaries and other settlers has eroded their cultural integrity considerably.
SHASTA
The Shasta were a group of small tribes in northern California near the Klamath River and in the Mount Shasta Valley. They were sedentary and lived in small villages of half-sunken plank houses. Their main food was fish, particularly salmon, which they netted, trapped, and speared. They preserved their fish for winter by drying and smoking it. Acorns, seeds, and roots augmented their diet; hunting played a comparatively small role, and their main weapon was the bow. The intrusion of gold miners and prospectors in 1855–1860 spelled the Shasta’s doom, and they have now virtually vanished.
SIA
The Sia, or Zia, are a small Keresan-speaking pueblo in New Mexico.
SIOUX
The Sioux nation is comprised of three divisions, the Lakota or Teton-Wan, the Dakota, and the Nakota. Lakota or Tetons are the seven westernmost trans-Missouri Sioux tribes; they refer to themselves as Ikche-Wichasha—the Real Natural Human Beings. The Seven Tribes, or Ocheti Shakowin (Seven Campfires), which compose the Lakota are the Hunkpapa, the Oglala, the Minneconjou, the Brules (also known as Sichangu or Burned Thighs), the Ooenunpa or Two Kettles, the Itazipcho or No Bows, and the Sihasapa or Blackfeet, not to be confused with the Algonquian Blackfoot (Siksika) of Montana. The Lakota are the hard-riding, buffalo-hunting Plains Indians par excellence, the Red Knights of the Prairie, the people of Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse. Theirs was the nomadic culture of the tipi and the dog—later horse—travois. They worship Wakan Tan
ka—Tunkashila, the grandfather spirit—pray with the sacred pipe, go on vision quests involving a four-day-and-night fast, and still practice self-torture (piercing) during the sun dance, the most solemn of all Plains rituals.
Originally friendly to the whites, the Lakota fought hard when they were finally forced to defend their ancient hunting grounds. They defeated General Crook at Rosebud, and annihilated Custer on the Little Bighorn. They fought their last battle against overwhelming odds, and in the face of quick-firing cannon, at Wounded Knee in 1890.
SLAVEY
The Slavey Indians (whose name, incidentally, has no connection to the English word “slave”) lived inland in British Columbia, and are related culturally and linguistically to the Plains tribes to the south. Their Plateau region culture, as it is termed, represents a transition between the northernmost of the northwest Plains tribes and those of the subarctic. They still make their living as hunters, fishermen, and trappers in this economically marginal geographic area, too far north for much agricultural productivity.
SNOHOMISH
The Snohomish lived in tiny communities scattered across the Olympic Peninsula in what is now western Washington. Only remnants of the original tribes still exist.
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