Intermountain Power Project
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Nuvagantu: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project Item Type Report Authors Stoffle, Richard W.; Dobyns, Henry F. Publisher Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management Download date 26/09/2021 20:09:14 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/270834 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NEVADA NUVAGAN TU: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project Richard W. Stoffle Henry F. Dobyns CULTURAL RESOURCE SERIES No. 7 1983 BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NEVADA CULTURAL RESOURCES SERIES No. i The Pony Express in Central Nevada: Archaeological and Documentary Perspectives. Donald L. Hardesty 0979). 175 pp. No. 2 A Cultural Resources Overview of the Carson & Humboldt Sinks, Nevada. James C. Bard, Colin I. Busby and John M. Findlay (1981). 214pp. No. 3 Prehistory, Ethnohistory, and History of Eastern Nevada: A Cultural Resources Summary of the Elko and Ely Districts. Steven R. James (1981). -387 pp. No. 4 History of Central Nevada: An Overview of the Battle Mountain District. Martha H. Bowers and Hans Muessig (19821. 209pp. No. 5 Cultural Resources Overview Carson City District, West Central Nevada. Lorann S.A. Pendleton, Alvin McLane and David Hurst Thomas (1982). Part 1, 306 pp., Part 2, tables. No. 6 Prehistory and History of the Winnemucca District: A Cultural Resources Literature overview. Regina C. Smith, Peggy McGucician Jones, John R. Roney and Kathryn E. Pedrick (1983). 196 pp. No. 7 - Navagante: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project. Richard W. Stoffle and Henry F. Dobyns (1983). 279pp. Bureau of Land Management Post Office Box 12000 300 Booth Street Reno, Nevada89520 NUVAGANTU: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project Cultural Resource Series Monograph No. 7 Published by the Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management 300 Booth Street, P.O. Box 12000 Reno, Nevada 89520 September, 1983 FOREWARD "Ndvaganta: Nevada Indians Comment on the Intermountain Power Project" presents informationon a facet of cultural resource management which has been gaining increased attention in recent years. In compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act of 1969 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978,the Nevada BLM is attempting to ensure that Native American groups have the opportunity to express theirconcerns regarding the effects of Federal and Federally- sanctioned actions on resources and areas important tothem in terms of their religious belief and traditional values. Considerable contact with Native American groups in Nevada was established during 1980 -81 in connection with the proposed deployment of the MX Missile System. However, that project was abruptly terminated at an early stage and no final report resulted. "Ndvaganta"thus breaks new ground representing the results of the first application to a major project on public lands in Nevada of Federal legislation intended to protect religious practices and traditional interests of the indigenous Native American population. For this reason, "Ndvaganta" offers an important example in addressing many of the issues involved in assessing project impacts on Native American traditional practices. Because this effort was essentially the first of its kind in southern Nevada, the investigatorswere instructed to comprehensively review the published literature and archivalsources, primarily anthropological and historical, concerning Native American traditional culture and history in the region. By reviewing and synthesizing available information, Chapter IV provides a comprehensive background from which investigatorson future projects in southern Nevada may draw. This chapter is in no sense a mere reiteration of previous interpretations_ On the contrary it offers new interpretations and emphases concerning the socio- political organization of the Southern Paiute prior to white contact, their use and manipulation of the native plant environment, and the devestating effects of white contact on aboriginal population size. Contemporary expressed concerns of Native American groups regarding construction of the Intermountain Power Project transmission lines are presented in Chapter V, and methods for obtaining thecomments described in Chapter III. These comments were considered in combination with similar comments gathered earlieron other development projects in nearby southeastern California. Since completion of the report, portions of the proposed route have been altered. Southern Paiute groups were contacted once again and an addendum report written. However, this circumstance does not detract from the value of the earlier work published in this volume. "Ndvaganta" is similar to the previous volumes in this series in that it includesan overview of published and unpublished data. However, instead of being primarily archaeological or historical in character, its principal focus is the ethnohistory of the Southern Paiute. Treatment of this subject has naturally included a discussion of major historical events in the settlement of southern Nevada, much of which isnow public land administered by the Bureau's Las Vegas District. Thanks are due to Applied Conservation Technology, Inc., Fullerton, California, the primecontractor for environmental studies on this project, for their cooperation in the development and publicationof this report. Richard C, Hanes Nevada State Office Bureau of Land Management Reno September, 1983 MINN Sl Ot 9 0"'ç W010C SL OL 91 01 S 0 S f1 OL St 0t 9 0 S 000'osL:l NS NOIlO3S VOVA3N -- I 3lOd18 O1NVl3OV-NIV1Nf1OWö31N1 103fOMd N3MOd NIV1Nf1011ö31Nl . 1.0v'7mr. SVJ3A SVl diNf1EIHVd 1W p1NVORARN S 0 SN\dyp`N it a 2 NOI1VnH3S3E1 I NVIONI VdVOW ñ T sl w ¢ o w o SNI b1Nn04Y4134070 m/ a/ A377NA 00tIHYd 3bb öY030 yY/ / § W 2 5,p z a a á a5 VOVNVd án ky/ . ó ,.-i a n S' o T _---'"``- ''' Z c 2 2a ñO x r a J ,no 3H001- _ < O a a < i iNISEIfI T 1> N$VAGANT$: NEVADA INDIANS COMMENT ON THE INTERMOUNTAIN POWER PROJECT Report Submitted by APPLIED URBAN FIELD SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN -PARKSIDE to APPLIED CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGY, INCORPORATED Contributing Scholars: Submitting Officer and Editors: Steven D. Boyd, BS Richard W. Stoffle, PhD Dan Bulletts, NAC Director, Applied Urban Field Pamela A. Bunte, PhD School Michael J. Evans, MA Robert Franklin, MA David B. Halmo, BA Henry F. Dobyns, PhD Florence V. Jensen, BA Director, Native American Kristine L. Jones, MA Historical Demography Project Andrew C. Sanders, BS Newberry Library Omer Stewart, PhD University of Wisconsin -Parkside Kenosha, Wisconsin July 19, 1982 N$VAGANTH- "it has snow," the Paiute name for Charleston Peak, the place where nengw - the people - were created A PAIUTE RELIGIOUS LEADER AND ELDER COMMENTS ON IPP PROPOSAL In our Indian way I could say it...nengwer *vwip*xaip mart. Axani, axani, axani, nengwux4tpi ura'navach4 uamH kíyakapi ura'pexaivyach, the sacred places you know. Axan uru'as aik, mara' rat nengw. r .vwipur ava ur mara' r-t. Marty sewaxantk apa urempur kunur avikuvani aik. Ich ma nttngwttr ..vwipur s. wavttxianar. Arukwaiaip nengwttr*vwip aik. Maya nttngwtrnchingwung kanixaip txantum. Ichtt manoni ichtt apa nttngwttrttvwip. Ur-tt upa nttngw}tnchingwtt unipengttr. Nttngwexup ura'navach ur*s.. (translation by line) In our Indian way I could say it...that former Paiute country. How, how, how, there must be Paiute graves there use tobe places where they round -danced the sacred places you know. There, I said, how it is, that is Paiute land there. I think the electricity will lie on sacred things. This Paiute country is sacred. So is that part of the Paiute country that was underthe ground. The Paiutes used to have camps there. All that is Paiute Country Paiutes used to live out their lives there. There must be Indian graves... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project of this scope is the product of dozens of hands and hundreds of minds. Special thanks go to the many Indian people who accepted the challenge of reaching across time and miles to help protect Native American cultural resources potentially impacted by the IPP power transmission line. The names of these people will not be mentioned in order to protect their privacy. The project was immeasurably facilitated because of the able assistance of the Official Tribal Contact Representatives, the OTCRs. While this was a new experience fór each of them, they attended training sessions, arranged for public meetings on their reservations, communicated with tribal chairmen when appropriate, helped arrange for in depth interviews, and have reviewed this manuscript for their councils. In alphabetical order, the OTCRs are: Richard Arnold, MA Pahrump Paiute Tribe Geneal Anderson Indian Peaks Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Cynthia Keoke Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation Philbert Swain Moapa Indian Reservation Gloria Yazzie, BA Las Vegas Paiute Tribe Additional thanks go to the staffs at the Newberry Library in Chicago and the Wyllie Library at UWP for their many hours of help. Typing was provided by Alice Hill through the Committee on Research and Creative Activity and Shirley Mandernack andMarcy Cayo through the Office of Assistant Chancellor for Education Service at UWP. The cover layout was by Gale Grimmenga, Graphic Designer while additional graphics and photographs were provided by Evelyn Hui in Media Services at UWP. Cover graphic was provided by Anita Duschak. Editorial assistance was provided by Douglas G.Edenhauser and Patricia J. Falduto. Survey data was compiled byPeter A. Cramer. Finally, we would like to thank the staff of ACT for their extensive technical, professional, and personal support during this research: Gary Dudley, Vice President of ACT and overall Project Manager; Sally Higman, Project Manager; Ed Weil, Cultural Resources Project Manager; Mike Macko, Cultural Resources Specialist; Cory Christensen, Graphic Technician. They performed the difficult task of guiding individual research projects such as this one while coordinating it with others beingconducted at thesametime. Information from other research projects shared with this study team during our research greatly increased the quality of thi's report. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Frontispiece Nuvaganti Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv Tables xvii Photographs xix CHAPTER I.