Northern Paiute

ETHNONYMS: Mono Pi-Utes, Numa, Oregon Snakes, Paiute, Paviotso, Py-utes

Orientation

Identification. The people designated here as "Northern Paiute" call themselves nimi "people." They are sometimes also referred to as "Paviotso" or merely "Paiute"—their name has long been a source of confusion. "Paviotso," derived from Western Shoshone pabiocco, who used the term to apply only to the Nevada Northern Paiute, is too narrow. It also has a slightly derogatory ring among those who use it. "Paiute," of uncertain origin, is too broad, as it also covers groups that speak two other languages—Southern Paiute, and Owens Valley Paiute. "Northern Paiute," which has been in the Literature for roughly seventy-five years, is the clearest alternative. But the Indian people when speaking English often use only "Paiute," or they modify it with the name of a reservation or community.

Location. The Northern Paiute held lands from just south of Mono Lake in California, southeastern Oregon, and immediately adjacent Idaho. Linguistic relatives adjoined the people of the South and East: the Owens Valley Paiute along the narrow southern border and the Northern and Western Shoshone along the long eastern one. The western border was shared with groups speaking Hokan and Penutian languages. The region as a whole is diverse environmentally, but largely classified as desert steppe. Rainfall is scant, and water resources are dependent on winter snowpack in the ranges.

Demography. Population figures for people identified as Northern Paiute are largely inaccurate, owing to the uncertain number of persons living off-reservation and the growing number of members of other tribes on reservations. The 1980 census suggests that there are roughly five thousand persons on traditionally Northern Paiute reserved lands, and roughly another thirty-five hundred people residing off-reservation. The population at the time of contact (1830s) has been estimated at sixty-five hundred.

Linguistic Affiliation. The Northern Paiute language belongs to the widespread Uto-Aztecan family. It is more closely related to other languages in the Great Basin that together form the Numic branch of the family, and most closely to Owens Valley Paiute, the other language member of the Western Numic subbranch. The Owens Valley Paiute are close enough culturally to be included in this sketch, although linguistically they are part of a single language with the Monache (the language referred to as Mono). The Bannock of Idaho also speak Northern Paiute. Native language fluency over much of the region is now diminished, although some communities have attempted language salvage programs.

History and Cultural Relations

Linguistic, and to some degree archaeological, evidence suggests that the ancestors of the Northern Paiute expanded into their ethnographically known range within the last two thousand years. Although these data are controversial, they support a generally northward movement from some as yet undetermined homeland in the South, perhaps in southeastern California. Arguing against this view are a number of tribal traditions that tie groups to local features (especially Mountain peaks) for origins. With neighbors to the east there was considerable intermarriage and exchange, so that bilingualism prevailed in an ever-widening band as one moved northward. With people on the west, relations were less friendly. First encounters with non-Indian fur trappers and explorers in the 1820s and 1830s were on occasion hostile, prefiguring events to come near mid-century. With the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and gold and silver in western Nevada in 1859, floods of immigrants traversed fragile riverbottom trails across Northern Paiute territory and also settled in equally fragile and important subsistence localities. Environmental destruction led a number of groups to adopt a pattern of mounted raiding for subsistence and booty. Scattered depredations on both sides led to clashes with troops beginning in 1860. After that time, reservations were established to settle the people, principally at Pyramid Lake and Walker River. Those who did not settle on the reservations continued to live near emerging towns and on ranches where wage labor provided a meager living. In the early twentieth century, populations at several of these localities were given small tracts of federal land, generally referred to as "colonies." Both reservations and colonies persist to the present, although few are economically well developed or self-sustaining.

Settlements

In aboriginal and early historic times, the Northern Paiute lived by hunting, gathering, and fishing in recognized subareas within their broader territory. Given that natural resources were not equally distributed across the landscape, there were some variations in settlement systems and sizes of local groups. The large lake basins (Pyramid Lake, Walker Lake) had extensive fisheries and supported people in most seasons of the year. Major marshes (Stillwater, Humboldt, Surprise Valley, Warner Valley, Malheur) also served as settlement foci. Within these areas, people usually resided in more or less fixed locations, at least during the winter. They established temporary camps away from these locations during spring and fall in order to harvest seeds, roots, and if Present, piñon nuts. Camp sizes in settled seasons varied, but probably fifty persons constituted the norm. During periods of greater mobility two or three families often camped together (ten to fifteen persons). In areas other than those with lakes or marshes, settlements were less fixed, with the exception of winter camps. In the Owens Valley, a unique area for the proximity of a number of resources, settled villages of one hundred to two hundred persons were reported, all located in the valley bottom. With the establishment of reservations and colonies, these patterns were greatly altered. Clustered housing prevails on colonies with a small land base, and allotment of lands on reservations allows for a more dispersed pattern.

In aboriginal times, houses of different types were built according to the season and degree of mobility of the group. The common winter dwelling, especially near wetland areas, was a dome-shaped or conical house made of cattail or tule mats over a framework of willow poles. Cooking was done outside the house in an adjacent semicircular windbreak of brush, which also served as a sleeping area during the Summer. The windbreak was the primary shelter at temporary camps, unless people chose to overwinter in the mountains near cached piñon reserves. In that case, they built a more substantial conical log structure covered with brush and earth. In the 1870s these traditional house types gave way to gabled one- to two-room single-family dwellings of boards on reservations and colonies. Today nearly all these early houses are gone from Indian lands, replaced by modern multiroomed structures with all conveniences.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. In the pre- and immediately postcontact periods, the Northern Paiute lived by hunting a variety of large and small game, gathering Numerous vegetable products, and fishing where possible. Local seasonal rounds were conditioned by the particular mix of resources present. Names of subgroups (such as "trout eaters") often reflected a common subsistence item, but nowhere was the named resource used to the exclusion of a mix of others. Some people today hunt and collect a few of their former resources, but for the most part, they are engaged in ranching and wage labor and thus purchase food. Although the large reservations support some agriculture, most of it is oriented toward hay and grain production to feed cattle. Except for dogs, there were no domesticated animals in aboriginal times. Today, horses are common in areas where cattle ranching is possible, and a number of people keep them as pleasure animals.

Industrial Arts. Aboriginal arts included extensive work in basketry, and less extensively in crafts such as bead making, feather work, and stone sculpture. Baskets were primarily utilitarian, being used in harvesting and processing plant foods, storage of food and water, trapping fish and birds, and so on. Beads were made of duck bones, local shells, and shells traded into the region from the west. Feather working was related to that complex in California and included the manufacture of mosaic headbands and belts and dance outfits. Stone sculpture was confined to smoking pipes and small effigies. Pottery was present only in Owens Valley. In the historic period, work in buckskin and glass beads became prominent, as the influence of the Plains Culture filtered into the region from the north. Presently basketry, hide working, and beading are the most common, although all except beading have Declined within the past twenty years.

Trade. An active trade in shells was maintained in aboriginal times with groups in California. Obsidian trafficking was also important internally, as major sources were not equally distributed. Some trade in pinenuts for acorns occurred across the Sierra Nevada. In historic times, people sold or traded buckskin gloves and wash and sewing baskets to ranchers and townspeople. An active market in fine basketry developed for the Mono Lake and Owens Valley people from the turn of the century to the 1930s.

Division of Labor. In the precontact period, men were hunters and fishermen, and women, plant food gatherers. Women prepared foods and reared the children, although the latter was also the province of grandparents. Both sexes harvested pinenuts and cooperated in house building. In historic times, men have taken primary responsibility for ranching duties. Wage labor was done about equally by the sexes in early historic times as well as at present.

Land Tenure. Lands were not considered to be private property in aboriginal times, but rather for the use of all Northern Paiute. Subgroups exercised some rights to hunt, fish, and gather in their districts, with people from outside usually required to ask permission of the local group. Usufruct rights occurred, especially in Owens Valley and the Central Northern Paiute area. Rights to harvest piñons in certain tracts, and to erect fishing platforms or game traps at certain locations, were included. In Owens Valley, these rights extended to harvesting wild seed tracts, especially those purposefully irrigated. A few people today attempt to maintain piñon rights. Otherwise, land tenure on reservations and colonies is determined by tribal and federal regulations.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. From birth to death, an Individual was surrounded by a network of kin and friends that included the immediate family, a larger group of close relatives (the kindred), the camp group of which the family was a part, associated camp groups in the district, and individuals (kin, non-kin) who resided outside the local area. Of all these units, the most important were the immediate family—at base nuclear, but often including one or more relatives or friends, especially grandparents or single siblings of parents—and the kindred—a bilaterally defined unit that functioned to allow the individual access to subsistence but inside of which marriage was prohibited. Only the former was a residence unit, the latter being likely to include people even outside the local subarea. Today the family and the kindred are still the primary functional units.

Kinship Terminology. Kinship terminology is of the Eskimo type, for those who are still able to recall the native forms.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. Prohibitions against marriage of any kinsperson, no matter how distant, were formerly the reported norm. Parents attempted to arrange suitable matches, using communal hunts and festivals as opportunities for children to meet. Token gifts were exchanged by the two sets of parents, but little by way of ceremony occurred. Most marriages were initially monogamous, but later a man might take another wife, often his first wife's younger sister. Fraternal polyandry was reported, but thought to have been rare. Initial matrilocal residence as a type of bride-service was common. Marriages were intended to be permanent unions, but little onus attached to either party if divorce occurred. Children always had a place with either side.

Domestic Unit. The nuclear to small extended family was formerly the norm and remains so today. Most families can and do incorporate relatives and friends, but the arrangement is more temporary than in former times.

Inheritance. Given bilaterality, usufruct rights came from either side of the family. In some areas, however (for example, Owens Valley), a matrilineal preference was reported for the inheritance of piñon trees.

Socialization. In precontact times, given the subsistence duties of both parents, children often spent a great deal of time with grandparents. Children were considered to be responsible for their own actions from an early age, thus parents and grandparents advised more than sanctioned beyond that point.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. In aboriginal times, age conferred the greatest status on individuals. Younger men and women participated about equally in decision making, given that each had important roles in subsistence. Distinctions based on wealth were lacking. Only the shaman was in part supported by the group. Generosity and sharing, as primary values, function even today as leveling mechanisms.

Political Organization. Prior to contact, political authority was vested in local headmen. These individuals served as advisers, reminding people about proper behavior toward Others and often suggesting the subsistence activities for the day. Occasionally such persons were leaders of communal hunts, although headmanship and task leadership might not be coterminous. Headmen tried to get the individual parties involved in disputes to settle their differences on their own, but if that were not possible they rendered decisions. Most decisions were reached through consensus, achieved in discussions with all adults. Modern tribal councils, most organized under the Indian Rights Act, also attempt to govern by consensus. Each operates independently on its own reservation or colony.

Social Control. Shame and ridicule by relatives and peers were effective means to bring about conformity.

Conflict. Precontact conflicts were primarily with tribes to the west and north, but were characterized by raids and skirmishes rather than large-scale battles. Postcontact relationships with Whites were likewise sometimes hostile, although this varied from area to area. In the North, and as far south as central Nevada, small groups of mounted raiders operated from roughly the 1850s to the mid-1870s. A few of the Leaders of these groups, such as Winnemucca, Ocheo, Egan, and others, achieved a degree of prominence for their prowess in warfare. In Owens Valley, with displacement of the people from rich irrigated wild seed lands by ranchers, open conflict flared from 1861 to 1863. Troops finally waged a scorched earth policy against the people, and in 1863, nine hundred prisoners were marched to Fort Tejon in California's Central Valley. After three years they were returned to their own Valley to eke out a living as best they could. Raiding groups in the North were induced to settle on reserved lands, especially at McDermitt, Nevada, and Surprise Valley, California. After that time, individuals and groups had to adjust to more subtle types of conflict over land, water, access to jobs, and the exercise of personal rights. In recent years, several groups have been engaged in lengthy court battles over land and water.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. The Northern Paiute believed that power (puha ) could reside in any natural object and that it habitually resided in natural phenomena such as the sun, moon, thunder, clouds, stars, and wind. Any individual could seek power for purposes such as hunting and gambling, but only shamans possessed enough to call on it to do good for others. Supernatural beings could include any or all of those who acted in myths and tales. Not all modern representatives of animal species were necessarily supernaturals, but occasionally such a special animal was encountered. Anthropomorphic beings, such as water babies, dwarfs, and the "bone crusher," could also be encountered in the real world. Water babies, in particular, were very powerful and often feared by those other than a shaman who might acquire their power. Prayers were addressed each morning to the sun for a successful day. Ghosts could remain in this world and plague the living, but specific ghosts could also be sources of power for the shaman. Personal relationships with power sources were private matters. Leaders of communal hunts usually had power—for antelope, always. A rich body of myth and legend, the former involving the activities of animal ancestors, set values and taught a moral and ethical code. Today, people remember parts of these old narratives and often mix them with various Christian beliefs. The Native American Church is active in a few areas, as are the more recent Sweat Lodge and Sun Dance movements.

Religious Practitioners. The shaman was the primary Person who put his power to use to benefit others, particularly for healing. Shamans could be either men or women. They acquired their first power unsought, usually in a dream. After that time, and an apprenticeship under a practicing shaman, they might acquire other powers either unsought or courted. Powers were highly specific, and the instructions they gave regarding food taboos and other activities had to be followed to the letter or the power would be withdrawn.

Ceremonies. Group approaches to the supernatural were limited. In all areas dances and prayers were offered prior to communal food-getting efforts. Most of these activities were directed by specialists. All times of group prayer and dancing were also times for merriment. Night dances were followed by gambling, foot races, and other forms of secular entertainment.

Arts. Oral tradition was a major area for the development of personal skill and expression. Gifted narrators were recognized among all groups, and people would spend many winter evenings listening to their performances. Singers were also greatly respected. Some songs, especially round dance songs, have lovely imagery in their texts.

Medicine. The primary function of shamans was the curing of serious illness, which was accomplished in ceremonies held at night in the home of the patient with relatives and friends attending. The shaman went into a trance and attempted to find the cause of the illness and then a prescription for a cure. Since 1900, the number of shamans has been declining, and today very few are active, modern Western medicine prevailing. Less serious illness was formerly treated with home remedies made from over one hundred species of plants. Some families still use plants from this repertoire. Death and Afterlife. At death the person was buried in the hills along with his or her personal possessions. Cremation was reserved for individuals suspected of witchcraft. In Owens Valley and the extreme southern portion of the Northern Paiute area, the Mourning Ceremony of southern California tribes has been practiced since about 1900. This is accompanied by stylized singing and the burning of the Personal property of the deceased. In all areas, funerals remain the most important events of the life cycle.

Bibliography

Fowler, Catherine S., and Sven Liljeblad (1986). "The Northern Paiute." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, 435-465. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Kelley, Isabel T. (1932). Ethnography of the Surprise Valley Paiute. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 31(3), 67-210. Berkeley.

Liljeblad, Sven, and Catherine S. Fowler (1986). "The Owens Valley Paiute." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, 412-434. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Steward, Julian (1933). Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 33(3), 233-350. Berkeley.

Stewart, Orner C. (1941). Culture Element Distributions, XIV; Northern Paiute. University of California Anthropological Records 4(3), 361-446. Berkeley.

CATHERINE S. FOWLER