Bahsahwahbee

Last updated

Bahsahwahbee
2014-08-09 17 21 03 View of Wheeler Peak from Nevada State Route 893 (Spring Valley Road) about 11.3 miles north of U.S. Routes 6 and 50 in White Pine County, Nevada.JPG
View of Wheeler Peak from Nevada State Route 893, looking southwest. Bahsahwahbee lies in the valley below.
USA Nevada location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location5 miles northeast of Majors Place, Nevada
Coordinates 39°08′N114°27′W / 39.14°N 114.45°W / 39.14; -114.45
Area14,175 acres (57.36 km2)
NRHP reference No. 100000464 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 1, 2017

Bahsahwahbee is a grove of Rocky Mountain juniper trees, locally called swamp cedars, in White Pine County, Nevada, where multiple massacres of Western Shoshone people occurred in the 19th century, two by the U.S. Army and one by vigilantes. [2] [3] The name means "sacred water valley" in the Shoshoni language. [4] The area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is located 8 mi (13 km) northwest of Great Basin National Park, 5 mi (8.0 km) northeast of Majors Place. [5]

Contents

The grove was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017 as a traditional cultural property.

Ecology

Spring Valley is a north–south valley between the Snake Range and Schell Creek Range in the Great Basin region that covers much of Nevada. More than 100 springs are in the valley. [6] The valley's abundance of water in the soil, trapped by a shallow layer of clay forming a perched water table, allows the Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum), also called swamp cedars, take root at ground level. This is the largest of three areas they grow in a valley rather than dry, rocky mountainsides. [7] [3] [6] The cone-bearing evergreen trees reach up to 40 feet tall. [2] The slender thelypody (Thelypodium sagittatum) is also endemic to this region of the Great Basin. [7]

History

Western Shoshone and Goshute people (Newe) have their homeland in northern Nevada and have lived in the Bahsahwahbee area since time immemorial. Archaeological artifacts in Spring Valley date to at least 10,000 years ago. These peoples typically lived in small family groups, but Bahsahwahbee was the place where they came together to engage in ceremonial activities. At seasonal events, including the Round Dance in the fall and Grass Dance in the spring, they took part in giving thanks to Mother Nature, religious customs, gathering food and hunting, and meeting with other tribes. [4]

Westward expansion of the United States accelerated in the late 1840s and 1850s as American settlers sought gold in California and new lands and opportunities. The California Trail, one of the Emigrant Trails, and the Overland Trail passed through Newe lands in northern Nevada. The emigrants depleted the Indians' food and water supplies, causing the starvation of Newe, whose population had already suffered from smallpox epidemics. Conflict between Indians and white Americans continued as emigration increased, but an 1855 peace treaty with the Newe was not ratified by the United States, allowing for tensions and violence to worsen. [4]

Spring Valley Massacre of 1859

Beginning in May 1859, Army Captain James H. Simpson surveyed a new route across the Great Basin to California, resulting in increased emigrant traffic through Newe territory and further disruption of their resources and lifestyles. On August 13, 1859, a detachment of U.S. cavalry led by Lieutenant Ebenezer Gay tracked down a band of Indian warriors that had massacred an emigrant train to California. His troops engaged the warriors at Devil's Gate Canyon, about 30 miles northeast of Swamp Cedars. His report of August 15 stated: "I went into camp, and two hours afterwards had reliable information that a large body of Indians were probably encamped somewhere in the canon leading from this valley to Cache valley. I was informed at the same time, that within five or six days past they had stolen a number of animals from this and the adjoining settlements, and that they were the same party who had murdered and robbed an emigrant train on Sublett's cut-off. I immediately resolved to attack them... After a rapid march of two hours, the encampment was indicated by a number of ponies grazing, and in a moment afterwards by the Indians jumping up from their beds under the bushes... I immediately formed my men and charged upon the main body of them; in this charge several of the enemy were killed and wounded. They then scattered and took position behind rocks, &c., &c.; here they were charged and driven up precipices beyond the reach of men on horses... The guide and many others estimated the Indian force at from 150 to 200 warriors. The number killed was about twenty, as near as we can calculate. I had no men killed, but four severely though probably not mortally, and two slightly wounded... The company behaved nobly on this occasion." [8]

In November 1859, Gay's commander, brevet Brigadier General Albert Sidney Johnston reported the incident to Major General Winfield Scott: "I have ascertained that three [emigrant] parties were robbed, and ten or twelve of their members, comprising men, women, and children, murdered... The perpetrators of the robbery of the first party were severely chastised by a detachment of dragoons, under the command of Lieutenant Gay. The troops failed to discover the robbers of the last two parties that were attacked. They are supposed to be vagabonds from the Shoshonee (sic) or Snake and Bannack (sic) Indians, whose chiefs deny any complicity with these predatory bands. There is abundant evidence to prove that these robber bands are accompanied by white men, and probably instigated and led by them. On that account I am inclined to believe the disclaimer of the Indians referred to, of having any knowledge of the robberies or any share in the plunder." [9]

The Mountaineer Newspaper reported that on August 14, 1859, "Brevet Brigadier General Albert S. Johnston, Colonel 2nd Cavalry, commanding department of Utah, having received information that a band of northern Indians had robbed and murdered a party of emigrants on the California road, detached 2nd Lieutenant Ebenezer Gay, 2nd Dragoons, in command of Company G, 2nd Dragoons, from Camp Floyd, to take such steps as circumstances might require. The latter learning, near Box Elder, that the Indians were not distant, resolved to attack them... Lieutenant Gay surprised the encampment of the Indians, and charged upon the main body, killing and wounding several. The number of the Indians is estimated from one hundred and fifty to two hundred warriors, of whom some twenty were killed; twenty horses were captured, nearly half being American horses; four men severely, and two slightly wounded; and nine horses wounded." [10]

Possibly referencing the same event, Elijah Nicholas Wilson, who claimed to be one of the army's interpreters and guides, published a book of anecdotes in 1910 that claimed that 350 Indians were killed by the troops on an unspecified date in somewhere in the Utah Territory in 1859. Wilson's account has no mention of Spring Valley. [11] Oral histories that rely heavily on Wilson's account also reference the event but there is no substantiation by contemporary documentary evidence. [4] In addition, there is some evidence that suggests that Wilson was not the actual author of his account. The Morgan County News reported in its 28 August 1959 edition that "'White Indian Boy', was written by a man named Howard Driggs." [12] There are no other written accounts of the claimed incident.

Swamp Cedars Massacre of 1863

The U.S. Army established Fort Ruby in White Pine County in 1862 to protect white emigrants. At this time, the Newe faced severe starvation and resorted to eating grains given by the Overland Mail Company and even undigested barley from horses' manure. [4] Stationed at Fort Ruby, Colonel Patrick Connor instructed his troops to "destroy every male Indian whom you may encounter." [4]

On March 22, 1863, Goshute warriors attacked a stage station near Spring Valley, killing the company operator and taking stock animals. In retribution, Captain S. P. Smith led a cavalry company to seek out those responsible. Discovering an Indian encampment at Duck Creek on May 3, they massacred 24 Indians in their sleep and five more who arrived at the camp the next day. Two days later, the company attacked another Indian camp in the Bahsahwahbee area. Military records state they massacred another 23 Indians, though others were able to escape because some of the Army's horses became stuck in the swamp. Goshute oral history states "most of them" were killed. [4]

Five months after this Goshute War, the Newe signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley that gave the United States significant rights to the use of their land. [4]

Swamp Cedars Massacre of 1897

The third massacre at Bahsahwahbee, as reported through oral histories, was committed by vigilantes in 1897. False accusations that the Newe's gatherings were to prepare for war led settlers to target the Newe at their seasonal events. Self-appointed militia members are told to have followed Indians to the Swamp Cedars site where tribal members were gathered for a harvest festival. The attackers raped the women and killed almost everyone there, who were largely women, children, and elders, as the men were away hunting. [4] Only two young girls survived the massacre. [6]

By the 1930s, 16 small villages remained in Spring Valley. [4]

Modern use

Since the three massacres, the Newe have a spiritual connection to Bahsahwahbee as a place where their ancestors lived and died. The site went from being a place of celebration to a place of commemoration, where the swamp cedar trees each represent those killed. The site's waters and springs are considered sacred, and the Newe – now organized as the Ely Shoshone Tribe, the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, and the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation – also continue to use it for gathering of plants and hunting. [4]

Designation and protection

The Bureau of Land Management designated 3,200 acres (13 km2) as the Swamp Cedar Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) in 2008, affording that portion protections including limits on off-road vehicle use, plant collection, cattle grazing, and surface mining. [13]

In 2017, an area encompassing 14,175 acres (57.36 km2) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property. [1] It lies between White Pine County Road 893, White Pine County Road 37, U.S. Route 50, and the Spring Valley Wind Farm, entirely on Bureau of Land Management land.

The Swamp Cedar Natural Area is a historic resource of the Great Basin National Heritage Area. [14]

Native American tribes opposed a water pipeline that would have brought groundwater from Spring Valley and others in the county to Las Vegas; the potential depletion of the aquifer could have affected the swamp cedars, and plans for the pipeline were canceled in 2020. [15] A 2021 Nevada law made it illegal to cut or destroy any swamp cedars in the Bahsahwahbee area without a permit. [16] The bill was requested by Native American advocates, though state agencies stated protection of the area is the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management, rather than the state. [17]

In 2021, the Nevada Legislature passed a resolution in support of federal protection of the area, the Senate doing so unanimously. [3] [6] [18] Advocates have proposed the site, with a suggested area of 27,240 acres (110.2 km2), be added to Great Basin National Park or protected as a national monument managed by the National Park Service. [2] [6] [19] In 2023, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen called on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to support making the site a national monument. [20] Cortez Masto visited the site in July 2023 and Rosen in August. [21] [22]

A portion of the proposed Bahsahwahbee National Monument that is outside of the ACEC would be open to solar power development under the BLM's Western Solar Plan, resulting in objections from local advocates; any potentially proposed project would be subject to further consultation. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tooele County, Utah</span> County in Utah, United States

Tooele County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 72,698. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele. The county was created in 1850 and organized the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Basin</span> Large depression in western North America

The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin in Death Valley to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Paiute people</span> Native American people in eastern California

The Northern Paiute people are a Numic people that has traditionally lived in the Great Basin region of the United States in what is now eastern California, western Nevada, and southeast Oregon. The Northern Paiute 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 waterfowl. Communal hunt drives, which often involved neighboring bands, would take rabbits and pronghorn from surrounding areas. Individuals and families appear to have moved freely among the bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear River Massacre</span> 1863 massacre of Shoshone by U.S. military

The Bear River Massacre, or the Engagement on the Bear River, or the Battle of Bear River, or Massacre at Boa Ogoi, took place in present-day Franklin County, Idaho, on January 29, 1863. After years of skirmishes and food raids on farms and ranches, the United States Army attacked a Shoshone encampment gathered at the confluence of the Bear River and Battle Creek in what was then southeastern Washington Territory, near the present-day city of Preston. Colonel Patrick Edward Connor led a detachment of California Volunteers as part of the Bear River Expedition against Shoshone tribal chief Bear Hunter. Hundreds of Shoshone men, women, and children were killed near their lodges; the number of Shoshone victims reported by local settlers was higher than that reported by soldiers.

The Shoshone or Shoshoni are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goshute</span> Tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans

The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin</span> Cultural classification of Native Americans

The Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin are Native Americans of the northern Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and upper Colorado River basin. The "Great Basin" is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, in what is now Nevada, and parts of Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. The Great Basin region at the time of European contact was ~400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km2). There is very little precipitation in the Great Basin area which affects the lifestyles and cultures of the inhabitants.

The Snake War (1864–1868) was an irregular war fought by the United States of America against the "Snake Indians," the settlers' term for Northern Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone bands who lived along the Snake River. Fighting took place in the states of Oregon, Nevada, and California, and in Idaho Territory. Total casualties from both sides of the conflict numbered 1,762 dead, wounded, or captured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Dann and Carrie Dann</span> Native American Western Shoshone activists

The Dann Sisters, Mary Dann (1923–2005) and Carrie Dann (1932–2021), were Western Shoshone elders who were spiritual leaders, ranchers, and cultural, spiritual rights and land rights activists. They challenged the federal government over uses of their tribe's traditional land, in a case that reached the United States Supreme Court as U.S. v. Dann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Shoshone</span> Grouping of Shoshone tribes in the Great Basin

Western Shoshone comprise several Shoshone tribes that are indigenous to the Great Basin and have lands identified in the Treaty of Ruby Valley 1863. They resided in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Utah. The tribes are very closely related culturally to the Paiute, Goshute, Bannock, Ute, and Timbisha tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation</span> Indian reservation in Utah and Nevada, United States

The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation is located in Juab County, Utah, Tooele County, Utah, and White Pine County, Nevada, United States. It is one of two federally recognized tribes of Goshute people, the other being the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah.

The Timbisha are a Native American tribe federally recognized as the Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. They are known as the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and are located in south central California, near the Nevada border. As of the 2010 Census the population of the Village was 124. The older members still speak the ancestral language, also called Timbisha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Utah</span>

The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duck Valley Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in United States, Shoshone-Paiute

The Duck Valley Indian Reservation was established in the 19th century for the federally recognized Shoshone-Paiute Tribe. It is isolated in the high desert of the western United States, and lies on the state line, the 42nd parallel, between Idaho and Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corbin Harney</span> American activist

Corbin Harney was an elder and spiritual leader of the Newe people. Harney reportedly inspired the creation in 1994 of the Shundahai Network, which works for environmental justice and nuclear disarmament. The Shundahai Network plays a key role in organizing non-violent civil disobedience aimed at bringing about the closure of the Nevada Test Site, used for testing nuclear weapons, which is located on Western Shoshone land.

The Treaty of Ruby Valley was a treaty signed with the Western Shoshone in 1863, giving certain rights to the United States in the Nevada Territory. The Western Shoshone did not cede land under this treaty but agreed to allow the U.S. the "right to traverse the area, maintain existing telegraph and stage lines, construct one railroad and engage in specified economic activities. The agreement allows the U.S. president to designate reservations, but does not tie this to land cessions."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gosiute dialect</span> Dialect of the Shoshoni language

Gosiute is a dialect of the endangered Shoshoni language historically spoken by the Goshute people of the American Great Basin in modern Nevada and Utah. Modern Gosiute speaking communities include the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation and the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada</span> Ethnic group

The Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada is a federally recognized tribe of Western Shoshone people in northeastern Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Valley Wind Farm</span> Wind farm in Nevada, USA

Spring Valley Wind Farm is Nevada's first wind farm. The farm is owned and operated by Pattern Energy. The facility is located in Spring Valley, northwest of Great Basin National Park and approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Ely, Nevada. The 151.8 megawatts (203,600 hp) plant utilizes 66 2.3 megawatts (3,100 hp) wind turbines and occupies 77 acres (31 ha) in the center of Spring Valley, which consists of 7,673 acres (3,105 ha).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native Americans in Utah</span>

Indigenous peoples have lived in the area now known as the state of Utah for thousands of years. Today they are divided into five main groups: Utes, Goshutes, Paiutes, Shoshone, and Navajo. Each occupies a different region within the state, many of which regions extend across borders into other states. In the 2010 census, there were a total of 32,927 American Indian and Alaska Natives living within the state, which totaled to 1.19% of the total population of Utah.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Database and Research". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Marvar, Alexandra (October 18, 2021). "This sacred valley could become America's next national monument". National Geographic. Archived from the original on May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "'Their bodies are in those trees': Nevada tribes seek national monument status for sacred trees". Reno Gazette Journal. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Bahsahwahbee" (PDF). National Park Service. June 30, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 22, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ely District Update" (PDF). September 2017. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Bahouth, Brian (March 15, 2021). "Spring Valley swamp cedars - more than trees for Western Shoshone". Sierra Nevada Ally. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Appendix Q: Areas of Critical Environmental Concern" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  8. ↑ Lieutenant Ebenezer Gay to Major Fitz John Porter, 15th August 1859. Senate of the United States, First Session of the Thirty-Sixth Congress, 1859-1860, Volume II, p. 219-220.
  9. ↑ Senate of the United States; First Session of the 36th Congress, 1859-60; No. 42, p. 26
  10. ↑ The Mountaineer Newspaper, 31st December 1859 edition, Salt Lake City, Utah, pp. 3
  11. ↑ Wilson, Elijah Nicholas (1926). The White Indian Boy: The Story of Uncle Nick Among the Shoshones. New York: World Book Company.
  12. ↑ Morgan County News, 28 August 1959 edition, page 5.
  13. ↑ "Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Ely Field Office, Nevada". Federal Register. Archived from the original on April 24, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Management Plan for the Great Basin National Heritage Area" (PDF). Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership. April 30, 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  15. ↑ Lochhead, Colton (March 16, 2021). "Legislature moves to protect swamp cedars considered sacred". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  16. ↑ Solis, Jeniffer (May 26, 2021). "Swamp cedar protections, no-knock warrants among dozens of bill signed". Nevada Current. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  17. ↑ Solis, Jeniffer (March 16, 2021). "State balks at tribes' request to protect sacred trees". Nevada Current. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  18. ↑ "AJR4". Nevada Legislature. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Bahsahwahbee National Monument (Swamp Cedars) Information Sheet". Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  20. ↑ Jessica, Hill (April 26, 2023). "Another national monument in works for Nevada?". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved June 6, 2023.
  21. ↑ Timko, Steve (July 8, 2023). "Cortez Masto visits sacred swamp cedar site in eastern Nevada". KOLO. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Rosen Visits Bahsahwahbee, Meets With Tribal Leaders and Local Stakeholders to Discuss Support for Proposed National Monument". Jacky Rosen. August 11, 2023. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Biden's energy push sends Nevada into Bizarro World". Politico.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.