Nevada History I First Heard

Nevada History

I first heard about Sarah Winnemucca while attending a seminar on prominent Native American women. Already interested in the "wild west," I thought that visiting Nevada during the late nineteenth century would be an optimal way for me to see first hand what Native American relations were like. I also wanted to see for myself what one Native American woman might be able to accomplish in spite of both her gender and her ethnicity. Because Sarah Winnemucca was drawing quite a following around the United States I decided to first hear her speak on the East coast, in Boston in 1883. Winnemucca was adept at public speaking, and I thought it would be important to hear her speak before meeting her in person and seeing what her impact on the state of Nevada was when she started the school for Native American children in 1884. When I saw her speak in Boston, she was with her husband Lewis H. Hopkins. Winnemucca and Hopkins met in San Francisco, and the two of them were on a lecture circuit together. While on the circuit, Winnemucca delivered about three hundred lectures related to Native American experiences, rights and relations (Library of Congress). Her impact was especially poignant in Nevada, so I spent the rest of my weeklong sojourn in Sarah Winnemucca's home state.

Sarah Winnemucca was a member of the Northern Paiute tribe, the son of Chief Winnemucca. According to the Library of Congress, Winnemucca was born in the Humbolt River and Pyramid Lakes area of western Nevada. Thus, I was determined to visit the place of her birth in order to see where she came from and to interact with some of the Paite people who might have known Sarah in her youth. Her Paiute name was Thocmetony, meaning Shell Flower. I learned that Sarah became one of only two Paiutes in Nevada who could read, write, and speak English (Library of Congress). Her being a bridge between Native Americans and the settlers stemmed partly from the work of her grandfather Chief Truckee. Chief Truckee encouraged Sarah to pursue a career in translation working for the United States Army because he had worked for many years with John C. Fremont in local cartography expeditions.

The Paiute people I met on my first and second days in Nevada knew Sarah and her family. Each person noted that they admired the work of the Winnemuccas, and hoped that they could pave the way for improved relations between Native peoples and the settlers. One of the Paiutes gave me a copy of Sarah's newly published book, Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims, as a gift. The book detailed broken promises made to the Paiute tribe, and contained much of the lecture material I heard Winnemucca speak of in Boston.

On my third day in Nevada, I was excited to meet Sarah Winnemucca herself. Sarah was dressed in her traditional garb and was gregarious and passionate when she spoke about the issues that mattered most to her: the plight of the Paiute people. Sarah told me that "the white emigration west continued to encroach on Paiute territory," and that "whites insisted on moving all Indians onto reservations," ("Sarah Winnemucca"). The Paiutes, Sarah said, had been moved around first to a reservation called Pyramid Lake in Nevada, then to the Malheur Reservation in Oregon, and finally to the Yakima Reservation in Washington State. The Bannock people in Washington State had held some Paiutes hostage during the Bannock War, including Sarah's father. Winnemucca said she then felt compelled to travel to Washington to help rescue her father and the other Paiutes. Her role in the Bannock War was integral and spurned Sarah to go on her speaking tours: Winnemucca worked for the United States Army translation service against the Bannock to help her people. Thus, she pitted herself willingly against another Native tribe. The conflict of interests was apparent to Sarah. When she relayed the story I noted the sadness in her eyes, but she did not regret helping the Paiute escape from Yakima and return to Nevada.

For several days, I toured the state's many burgeoning silver mines, lead mines, and frontier towns as well as the Nevada-Oregon railroad that had recently been built with a hub in Reno. The frontier land was wild and dotted with numerous white-capped mountains. The governor Jewett Adams had been a farmer and rancher in the region, even before Nevada became a state. Adams met me in Reno when he heard of my interest in touring his state. Adams admitted that lawlessness had been a problem in his state and that their sheriffs had a lot of work cut out for them. When asked about Sarah Winnemucca, Adams revealed his views on Native Americans. His ethnocentricism was shared by many of the white settlers I met while there. Many claimed that Native Americans were better off on the reservations and were considered outside the world of white politics and society. Others claimed that the Native Americans would be better off joining the Mormon Church, which had a stronghold in Nevada during the time I visited.