Washoe

ETHNONYMS: Wah-shoes, Wahshoo, Washaws, Washew, Washo, Washoo

Orientation

Identification. The spelling "Washo" became standard in the ethnographic and linguistic literature of the twentieth century, but "Washoe" is the official spelling used by the People and has been firmly established as local usage in Nevada. The people refer to themselves as wá·šiw or waší·šwíw which appears to mean "people from here."

Location. In early historic times the Washoe inhabited a region of about four thousand square miles between Honey Lake to the north and the upper reaches of the West Walker River to the south. On the east, the Pinenut and Virginia ranges separated them from the Northern Paiute, and on the west the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains separated them from the Miwok and Maidu peoples. The state boundary between Nevada and California roughly bisects their ancient territory, running through Lake Tahoe at an approximate center. Their major year-round settlements were in the well-watered valleys along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at an altitude of about forty-five hundred feet and where there was an abundance of vegetation and game. They also made extensive use of alpine areas up to elevations of six thousand or more feet for seasonal hunting, fishing, and gathering except during the severest winters. Regular treks were made to the acorn oak groves in the foothills over the crest of the mountains as well as to fishing sites shared with the Northern Paiute at Pyramid, Walker, and Mono lakes. Today, the remaining Washoe live in small colonies and scattered settlements at Reno, Carson City, and Dresslerville, Nevada, and around Woodfords, California. The headquarters of the modern tribal government is at Gardnerville, Nevada.

Demography. The estimates of an aboriginal population of fifteen hundred or so Washoe people are much lower than what might be expected from the size and resources of the area they inhabited. But they did suffer a sharp drop in numbers owing to disease and poverty in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when figures as low as three hundred were reported. After the 1950s, with increased federal support for education and improved economic conditions, there has been a rapid population recovery indicated by the registration of well over fifteen hundred persons on the tribal rolls.

Linguistic Affiliation. Linguists tentatively agree that Washoe (Washo) belongs to the Hokan stock of Amerind Languages. Evidence is uncertain for earlier conjectures that the Washoe migrated eastward from a prehistoric association with other Hokan-speaking peoples in what is now California to their present location, or that they represent the remnant of an ancient distribution of Hokan-speakers some one thousand or more years ago. The isolation of Washoe from related languages, together with linguistic and archaeological Evidence, suggests that it has been in place for many thousands of years. The language reveals little dialectic differentiation, but some borrowing has occurred with Numic and other neighboring languages. The number of fluent speakers of Washoe has declined drastically in recent times.

History and Cultural Relations

The Washoe people and their country were unknown to Americans until the early nineteenth century when explorers such as Joseph Walker, Jedediah Smith, and John Fremont traversed the central Great Basin seeking direct routes to California. Although they had some earlier contact with the Spanish to the west, actual intrusion of their territory did not occur until the hordes of immigrants began to appear from the east during the gold rush of the 1840s and 1850s. Many Whites were attracted to the verdant valleys occupied by the Washoe, fencing the lands for cattle, restricting access to water sources, and establishing numerous trading posts and settlements. By the 1870s the lowland forests, grasslands, and the large game so essential to Washoe subsistence had become depleted. The completion of the transcontinental railroad signaled the end of the old life-way and its conquest by a new, alien society. For the next one hundred years, the Washoe were forced into the status of servile, unfranchised dependents in an aggressive frontier world. Appeals by Washoe spokesmen or by the occasional sympathetic Indian agent for aid and lands went unheeded. A reservation was never assigned to them, and the land allotments provided under the Dawes Act of 1887 were largely unfit for habitation or development. Many families leased their allotments at extremely low rates to sheep ranchers, which, in turn, led to the rapid deterioration of the piñon groves whose harvesting had provided one of the major staples in aboriginal times. The people lived in squalid camps on the outskirts of White towns or on the ranches where many were employed.

In 1917, a few small parcels of land with inadequate facilities were set aside at Reno, Carson City, and Dresslerville primarily for Washoe use. Schools for Indian children were segregated, their language and traditional customs were discouraged, and discriminatory policies restricted social interaction. Citizenship was not granted until 1924. Some improvement in conditions began to take place after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 when the Washoe became a legally constituted tribe with a written constitution and official tribal council.

Major change, however, did not occur until after 1970 when the Washoe won a compensation of $5 million (of a $43 million claim filed in 1948) before the Indian Claims Commission. Through effective investment of 70 percent of the funds and issuing per capita payments only to older Members, considerable advancement has been made in tribal organization and services. With the emergence of new Leadership and planning, state and federal funds were procured for housing, employment opportunities, educational programs, tribal businesses, and additional lands. Young people began to remain in the area or to return from relocation with a sense of hope and renewed identity. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California has become an active participant in intertribal affairs, and many of its members are pursuing successful careers in the larger local and national communities.

The aboriginal Washoe were a peaceable people who nevertheless staunchly defended their core habitation and subsistence areas from hostile intrusion yet tolerated access by others except in times of extreme scarcity. Likewise, Neighboring peoples such as the Northern Paiute, Miwok, and Maidu allowed some use of resources in their own domains. The few brief skirmishes were between small groups over matters of unnegotiated trespass, perceived insult, or revenge. Networks of intermarriage reinforced long-standing friendly relations with families of surrounding peoples, and this practice has continued into historic times. The Washoe at first accommodated incoming Whites during the early nineteenth century and resorted to sporadic resistance only when the intruders threatened their resources and autonomy. But they were quickly overwhelmed and forced into passive acquiescence during a century of frontier conquest.

Settlements

Aboriginal Washoe settlements were generally placed on elevated ground near sources of water. Domiciles tended to be widely spaced for privacy and reduced visibility from afar. Permanent year-round settlements were maintained in Traditionally established locations in the six or seven major lowland valleys along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Housing sites, or even entire settlements, might be moved about within these areas upon the death of family members, changing relations between households, or other conditions. During seasonal hunting and gathering activities, small groups set up temporary camps in the mountains or while trekking to distant locations in search of desired resources, returning to their permanent settlements for the Winter months. This pattern of mobility and option was terminated by White usurpation in the 1850s. Today, the Washoe continue to live mainly in the small colonies established in the early twentieth century, though many live and work in local towns or in other areas. The traditional winter house was most common in permanent settlements and was a conical construction of bark slabs supported by interlocked poles set over a shallow depression in the ground with an entrance facing eastward. Dome-shaped summer houses of willow frame thatched with tule and brush were used as well as the simple lean-to for shade or for temporary shelter on seasonal treks. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, versions of these structures were made of discarded Materials from White settlements. Standard colony housing up to the 1960s involved rows of dilapidated board shacks surrounded by the accumulated rubble of attempted repair and scavenged materials. Owing to the advancements of the past twenty or thirty years, the quality of Washoe housing today exceeds that of most low-income residences in the area.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Washoe aboriginal economy was based on hunting, fishing, and gathering. The environment provided an abundance of large and small game, fish in the lakes and streams, and seeds and other plant products requiring a highly skilled pattern of seasonal exploitation over the year. Although the local pinenut and the acorn from over the mountains were much desired foods (and continue to be in modern times when available), other food resources provided a major part of the diet. The destruction of the subsistence base in early historic times resulted in a rapid transformation of diet to one of starches, fats, and sweets prevalent among rural western White settlers. During the frontier period many Washoe lived and worked on ranches—the men as laborers and cowhands, and the women as laundresses and cooks. Other men were employed in the mines or the construction of roads and dams. Some brought wood, fish, and game into the towns for sale until they were restricted by local laws. A few women supplemented income by selling baskets and pinenuts or hiring out to domestic Service. Most, however, were destitute. Today, many younger Washoe men and women participate in the general economy and are employed in an expanded tribal government or in a number of tribally operated businesses. In precontact times, the dog was the only domesticated animal. A few Washoe had acquired ponies from the Spanish in California and, later, from American settlers. But conditions did not permit the development of an equestrian mode such as that appearing among their Northern Paiute neighbors in the early nineteenth Century. Sporadic attempts to raise cattle and sheep on tribal lands have been unsuccessful.

Industrial Arts. The aboriginal Washoe produced a range of manufactures in stone, wood, fiber, bone, or skins, and utilized a repertoire of technologies typical of the hunting and gathering economies of the western Great Basin. American implements, utensils, clothing, and ornament quickly replaced the traditional forms. The basketry produced by the women was admired by all surrounding peoples and continued to be developed as an art of renown well into the twentieth century.

Trade. Aboriginal trade seems not to have been extensive in the region, though the Washoe did exchange by barter and gift giving some salt, pinenuts, and deer and rabbit skins to westward peoples, such as the Miwok and Maidu, for shells, obsidian, certain medicinal plants, and other items which, in turn, were traded eastward to the Northern Paiute for antelope skins, kutsavi and cui-ui fish. In the early postcontact period, they engaged in a small exchange involving firewood, pinenuts, game, and fish to White settlers.

Division of Labor. Traditionally, the gathering of plant products was almost exclusively a woman's activity, as were preparation of food and other household tasks. Women might also participate in major fish runs, rabbit drives, and surrounds of large games such as deer or antelope. Hunting and combat, however, were men's activities, as well as the making of weapons and stone implements. Yet considerable cooperation obtained for major tasks requiring group effort. Among the modern Washoe, even when both men and women are wage earners, traditional gender roles tend to be maintained.

Land Tenure. Except for traditional habitation or hunting and gathering sites in regular use, Washoe territory was an open range accessible to any but hostile or uncooperative trespassers. Individual families claimed rights to certain plots in the Pinenut Range, but these were generally shared in times of abundance. There was no concept of sectional or Tribal land ownership but, rather, flexible and traditionally recognized domains of privilege with regard to natural resources. Notions of land ownership imposed by Whites during early contact, and in the arbitrary assignment of land allotments in the late nineteenth century, were alien and continue to engender stress in social relations. Many Washoe now own land individually, and certain new acquisitions are owned by the tribe in federal trust.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Variant forms of the bilateral extended family constituted the basic Washoe kin groups. These composed the small local communities that were essentially family compounds referred to as "bunches." networks of intermarriage in long-established areas of habitation led to the formation of larger regional communities, or "bands," which people identified as places of relatively Permanent residence and close kinship. Ties with more distant communities were weaker and relationships less traceable, but conditions of limited population distribution, mobility, and common language and culture induced a sense of "tribal" identity among all sections. Groups were not corporate, and notions of descent functioned mainly to determine the possible range of kinship obligations and of permissible sexual or marital relations.

Kinship Terminology. All siblings and cousins were referred to by the terms for brother and sister (a "generational" system) and further distinguished only by the relative ages of their parents. Terms in the parental generation were bifurcate-collateral; that is, they provided distinct terms for each of the parents and their siblings. Some change toward the general American system has been taking place in the twentieth century.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. No marriage with known consanguineal relatives was permissible. Despite the small population, potentials for marriageability were maintained by the extensive mobility of individuals and groups and shallow genealogical reckoning that limited the tracing of relationships. Monogamy was the most common marital arrangement, but Polygyny (both sororal and nonsororal) frequently occurred. The sororate and levirate also were practiced. First marriages were usually arranged by parents. During the first years of marriage, residence was bilocal but with a tendency to matrilocality. Separation because of incompatibility, infidelity, or improvidence could be initiated by either spouse and was recognized by the community. Intermarriage with other Native Americans and with Whites is increasing in recent times, and Marriage practices in general follow the American pattern.

Domestic Unit. The members of a localized bilateral extended family together with some affines, distant relatives, and visiting friends formed the minimal domestic unit. Individuals shifted residence frequently to live in communities of relatives or friends elsewhere. Where feasible, modern Washoe residential arrangements follow earlier patterns.

Inheritance. There is no clear evidence that statuses or property were passed down through any rule of inheritance in aboriginal times. Personal possessions were disposed of at death, and headships and other offices were determined by group consensus. Today, the American system of descent and inheritance prevails legally, though the traditional orientation often is expressed in practice.

Socialization. Nurturing and permissive guidance were the model for ideal parenting. Expression of hostility or violence toward children was strongly discouraged. Admonition and punishment were relegated to third persons or to the threat of supernatural intervention. This pattern continues to predominate among modern Washoe families where personal autonomy and individualism are respected and asserted.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Washoe society was egalitarian in orientation with no fixed distinctions of wealth or status groups. Leadership and roles of special skill were acquired through demonstrated ability and legitimized by local group recognition. Women frequently attained positions of authority and expert specialization. Personal attributes of generosity, modesty, and wise counsel were expected if the Community were not to withdraw its support by turning to another. Today, differences in education and income do obtain, but the traditional social values are effective in minimizing the development of class divisions.

Political Organization. Aboriginal Washoe communities were autonomous, each represented by local headmen or headwomen whose role was essentially that of admired adviser or spokesperson. Ties between local communities were voluntary and could be activated for cooperative enterprises such as festivals, game drives, and defense. Renowned shamans, hunters, or warriors sometimes were solicited as temporary leaders for these purposes. Communication was maintained with distant Washoe sections for periodic communal gatherings and, though rarely, during emergencies where additional warriors might be needed. During historic times, the forced concentration of the Washoe in the small areas allocated by Whites disrupted this pattern of organization. Certain spokesmen, either familiar with English or amenable to negotiation with Whites, were designated as "Captains" under the erroneous assumption that they represented most of the people. A few of these men, such as the renowned "Captain Jim" in the late nineteenth century, emerged as vigorous pleaders for the Washoe cause. Attempts at tribal reorganization in the early twentieth century were ineffective Because of the strong sense of family autonomy and resistance to centralized representation. In more recent times, however, an elected Washoe Tribal Council representing each of the colonies as well as off-reservation persons has developed a successful tribal government under federal supervision. It administers collective Washoe affairs and relations with state and federal agencies.

Social Control. Internal cohesion was maintained by intensive socialization for group solidarity. Aggressive behavior, except for defense of the group, was rigidly proscribed. Infractions were dealt with by collective avoidance or the threat of supernatural reprisal. Recalcitrant individuals might be driven from the group or even assassinated. Modern Washoe communities have the services of a tribal police force and courts. Law enforcement agencies of local towns and counties exert a degree of jurisdiction.

Conflict. Warfare among aboriginal Washoe subgroups appears to have been absent, though occasional feuds Between individuals or families erupted briefly into open violence. These were resolved when a wrong was deemed to have been avenged or through the intervention of elder negotiators on each side. As the first people in the western Great Basin to experience the full brunt of White invasion, the Washoe were quickly reduced to helplessness in defense of their interests. A deep sense of hopelessness and betrayal permeated their lives during most of the postcontact period and conditioned Washoe-White relations. Homicide, factionalism, gambling, suicide, and accusations of witchcraft increased throughout the small Washoe settlements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Some individuals and families managed to escape the worst effects of these circumstances, but all endured the stigma of oppression and degradation. Today, the ravages of the recent past are being obliterated by a remarkable economic and social recovery. Internal conflict has greatly diminished and a positive cultural heritage is being reasserted.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Prayers and ritual manipulation of Spiritual powers believed to be invested in nature were the active instruments of Washoe religion and were deemed essential to any successful human endeavor. Nature must be propitiated to ensure its bounty and goodwill. All natural phenomena were thought to be imbued with sentient spirit power. Animals in particular were personified as autochthons in myths of geologic and human origins. Spirits of the dead were feared, and there is little evidence that notions of a supreme being existed prior to the historic period. The modern Washoe retain many of these beliefs and the practices associated with them. Some have been participants in the Native American church while the Assembly of God and the Baptist church have attracted others.

Religious Practitioners. In former times, the shamans were the principal specialists in the use of magical powers for rites of diagnosis, curing, and divination. Their skills also might be exerted to defend against the hostile powers of Others or to destroy one's enemies. There were many other Individuals acknowledged to derive their abilities from tutelary Relationships with specific powers of nature, especially those persons exhibiting exceptional skill in subsistence, Ceremonial, medicinal, or martial activities, but they did not command the degree of obeisance afforded the shamans. In the 1930s and 1940s the shamans had obtained such a powerful hold among the Washoe that they were finally denounced by an irate community for conspiracy to defraud and for their exorbitant fees. This movement was led by the new local Native American church which was itself under attack by many White as well as Washoe citizens for its use of peyote as a sacrament. Nevertheless, the control of the shamans was weakened and, in recent times, none is acknowledged in the area. Christian ministers, itinerant preachers, and a few remaining roadchiefs of the Native American church continue to provide religious guidance, while Western medical practitioners and some native herbalists administer to the ailing.

Ceremonies. Important annual ceremonies involving large numbers of people took place at the first harvest in the Pinenut Range, in the easternmost extension of the acorn oak groves near Honey Lake, and at the locations of major fish runs associated with the rivers and lakes of the region. A more localized, but equally important rite was the celebration of the commencement of menses by a girl's family and friends. Other special rites also took place at the birth of a child, boy's puberty, marriage, and death. Many of these observances continue today in diminished and variant forms among some families.

Arts. Most expressions of aboriginal artistry disappeared early in the historic period. These included ornament in shell, bone, and seed; distinctive styles of body painting and tattooing; feathered headdresses; decorative skin and fur accessories; and dyed and woven fibers. There was also an extensive repertoire of songs, tales, and legends, very little of which has been retained. The major surviving art has been the exceptionally fine basketry that became internationally renowned in the early twentieth century through the work of the famous Datsolalee and a number of other expert weavers. Elaborate woven cradles still are constructed for infants, and fancy beadwork and some baskets are made for sale.

Medicine. Illness was attributed to the intrusion of alien objects, offended supernatural agencies, sorcery, or bad feeling. A wide range of herbal and mineral substances was employed in treatment by shamans and various categories of curers endowed with special derived powers. Modern Washoe rely mainly on Western medical facilities, but many also utilize traditional knowledge of herbs and customary practices passed down through elder family members.

Death and Afterlife. Except for old age and chronic infirmity, death was seldom attributed to natural causes. Thus, the occasion of a death was fraught with concern for the safety of the living: every effort must be made to protect the immediate family from whatever malevolent forces might be at work. The spirit of the deceased must be pacified by a period of public mourning and prayers beseeching it to leave the area swiftly and without rancor. Burials in a remote place or cremation were the most common. The personal belongings of the deceased were interred or burned with the body. There was a prohibition against speaking the name of the deceased in the presence of close relatives, for this might call the spirit. Ideas of an afterlife were ambiguous: recorded lore suggests variously that the dead live underground, that some are reluctant to leave the area where they died and wander aimlessly about doing inadvertent or purposeful harm, or that there is a land to the south where spirits of the dead reside. The cosmological beliefs of the modern Washoe are generally similar to those of the American society of which they are now a part but also are influenced by the spread of pan-Indian Philosophical concepts among Native American communities. Funerals are of major importance, and though they are usually conducted in accordance with the contemporary rites of local Christian churches, traditional prayers and funeral customs are often observed as well.

Bibliography

d'Azevedo, Warren L., ed. (1956). The Washo Indians of California and Nevada. University of Utah Anthropological Papers, no. 67. Salt Lake City.

d'Azevedo, Warren L. (1986). "Washoe." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 11, Great Basin, edited by Warren L. d'Azevedo, 466-498. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Downs, James F. (1966). Two Worlds of the Washo. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Nevers, J. Ann (1976). Wa-She-Shu: A Washo Tribal History. Reno: Intertribal Council of Nevada.

Price, John A. (1980). The Washo Indians: History, Life Cycle, Religion, Technology, Economy, and Modern Life. Nevada State Museum Occasional Papers, no. 4. Carson City.

Siskin, Edgar E. (1983). Washo Shamans and Peyotists: Religious Conflict in an American Indian Tribe. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.

WARREN L. D'AZEVEDO