Gone The Way of The Earth Continued on Page 2 Page on Continued Earth The of Way The Gone Preserving Our Past For Our Future f the tribes. the f metal pots, knives and hatchets, fire-starting devices, and—very decisively–-guns and horses. These items changed the values o values the changed items These horses. and decisively–-guns and—very devices, fire-starting hatchets, and knives pots, metal MORONGO BASIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY mirrors, Then Euro-Americans (French, English, Spanish and later Americans) came looking for furs and hides. Indians exchanged furs for for furs exchanged Indians hides. and furs for looking came Americans) later and Spanish English, (French, Euro-Americans Then P. O. Box 2046 • Yucca Valley, CA 92286 tribe. capturing prisoners, torturing them sometimes, trading them, and often accepting women and children as adoptive members of the the of members adoptive as children and women accepting often and them, trading sometimes, them torturing prisoners, capturing www.mbhs.net revenge, Indian culture was often brutal, depending on tribal customs and their neighbors. Most tribes had some sort of ritual warfare, warfare, ritual of sort some had tribes Most neighbors. their and customs tribal on depending brutal, often was culture Indian Email: [email protected] lasted even after Americans took over the Southwest. the over took Americans after even lasted and ry territo whole the permeated Slavery slavery. Indian with Mexico of Republic the of provinces two the tied Trail Spanish Old The sold them in California. On the return trip, they also took Indians captives and sold them in New Mexico. New in them sold and captives Indians took also they trip, return the On California. in them sold ns and ns India desert defenseless relatively captured traders Mexico, New from territory Paiute through went Trail Spanish Old the Where California mules; conversely, New Mexicans found a market for their fine New Mexican and Pueblo Indian woolen products. woolen Indian Pueblo and Mexican New fine their for market a found Mexicans New conversely, mules; California oveted hardy oveted c and horses excess of hundreds selling by profited Californians . route. arduous and circuitous mile 1,200 a over California New Mexican businessman Antonio Armijo initiated what became the Old Spanish Trail in 1829-30 which ran from New Mexico to Mexico New from ran which 1829-30 in Trail Spanish Old the became what initiated Armijo Antonio businessman Mexican New Check the expiration date on the label. * * * * * It may be time for your Renewal Date. rid past. rid hor this of incidents of thousands in happened what of pieces some in fill imagination your Let experienced. perpetrators slave s and s victim slave what imagine us help can empathy, our and emotions our perhaps humanness, Our imagination. our to left is rest The even less opportunity, or perhaps inclination, to narrate their tragic experiences. tragic their narrate to inclination, perhaps or opportunity, less even The victims had victims The historians. or press the to adventures gruesome their relate didn’t they outsiders; with forthcoming not were Southwest.Slavers But that’s all we have to work with. work to have we all that’s But . .tries to capture a little, very little, of the Indian slave activity in the in activity slave Indian the of little, very little, a capture to .tries . Gone the Way of the Earth the of Way the Gone . imagine what happened in the past. The infinitesimal minutiae that remain are but grains of sand in the vast desert. vast the in sand of grains but are remain that minutiae infinitesimal The past. the in happened what imagine present generation. Historians and anthropologists try to piece some fragments together and together fragments some piece to try anthropologists and Historians generation. present wrote or newspaper accounts; unfortunately, only scraps of words passed on to the to on passed words of scraps only unfortunately, accounts; newspaper or wrote have some clues: diaries, artifacts, sales memos, articles or letters they letters or articles memos, sales artifacts, diaries, clues: some have We spoke, the songs they sang, their dreams that died. that dreams their sang, they songs the spoke, from, the good or bad things they did. A spear point can’t tell us the language they language the us tell can’t point spear A did. they things bad or good the from, just don’t know who they all were, where they were going or coming home coming or going were they where were, all they who know don’t just We their dreams. their written or passed on to become a record of the heroic struggle to survive and fulfill and survive to struggle heroic the of record a become to on passed or written disappeared. Scarce artifacts were recovered along these tracks; few diaries were diaries few tracks; these along recovered were artifacts Scarce disappeared. the earth.” These people left only occasionally scars, and their untold stories untold their and scars, occasionally only left people These earth.” the From Voices of the Past by Sallie Brown dreamed, and survived until their time came to leave, until they had “gone the way of way the “gone had they until leave, to came time their until survived and dreamed, STAY UP-TO-DATE evidence of those who came before, all scars left by travelers who lived, breathed, lived, who travelers by left scars all before, came who those of evidence RUNNING FAWN For the latest on events, or to check out historic photo slide-shows, wagon ruts of the 49er road—all traces of the past—are found in the Southwest, all Southwest, the in found past—are the of traces road—all 49er the of ruts wagon My name is Running Fawn. I am a twelve-year-old Native American. interesting stories and links or to download old newsletters, you’ll want to check out the MBHS website. The Indian path, the mule trail of the Old Spanish Trail caravans and the and caravans Trail Spanish Old the of trail mule the path, Indian The . We are the Serrano Indians. Our village area is now called Morongo Valley, where there is much water. Our villages are always near water. www.mbhs.net Clifford J. Walker J. Clifford I spend my days helping my mother hunt for seeds and fruit for food. E-Mail: [email protected] Indian Slave Trade in the Old Southwest Old the in Trade Slave Indian We use honey mesquite to grind into flour. We shell and grind acorns Gone the Way of the Earth the of Way the Gone to make mush cakes. We gather grasses and reeds for weaving pots. BOARD MEETINGS The cooking and storage pots are called ollas (OY-yahs). My brother Board Meetings are scheduled for the works with my father to make arrowheads to hunt animals for food. 2nd TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH book give an overview of the extent of slave trade near the Morongo Basin. Morongo the near trade slave of extent the of overview an give book They find small animals in the desert but must go into the mountains for JANUARY 12 • FEBRUARY 9 • MARCH 9 rail and its link to Indian slave trade. Excerpts below from his introduction to his to introduction his from below Excerpts trade. slave Indian to link its and rail T large ones. 1:00 P.M. at the MBHS Museum & Research Center in Landers. presentations in the Morongo Basin to recount the significance of the Old Spanish Old the of significance the recount to Basin Morongo the in presentations We children play many games to have fun. One favorite game is a Members are welcome to attend. E ditor’s Note: Historian and author Clifford J. Walker has given several given has Walker J. Clifford author and Historian Note: ditor’s football game with a small stone ball. Another game is when two teams try to guess which colored object is in someone’s closed fist. We love EASY, NO-FAIL Box 2046 • Yucca Valley, CA 92286 • 760-365-1877 • www.mbhs.net • Email: [email protected] Email: • www.mbhs.net • 760-365-1877 • 92286 CA Valley, Yucca • 2046 Box O. P. the storytelling times and singing. We make whistles of bone. CHRISTMAS VOLUME 12 NUMBER 4 NUMBER 12 VOLUME DECEMBER 2009 DECEMBER It’s important for me to learn from my mother so that I can develop SHOPPING the skills I will need when I become a wife. I must know how to make a pot that will not crack, weave a basket that will hold water, and use yucca fibers to make blankets, sandals, and hunting nets. I must also Give know which plants and herbs can be used for medicine. For example a MBHS Membership creosote is good for making tea from the stems and leaves to cure colds and is good for our health. to enjoy programs and We are a gentle, peaceful people. We live among nature and respect field trips, a book about everything in nature. the history of our area, Book a “VOICES OF THE PAST” programs for your next event. a DVD to see and hear FOR NFORMATION CONTACT: SALLIE BROWN about our history from 1-760-364-4446 OR E-mail: [email protected] area settlers. Gone The Way of The Earth Continued From Page 1 For example, instead of Native Americans killing their brother the deer MEMBERSHIP NEWS MBHS 2010 CALENDAR just for food and clothing, they killed animals for furs to trade. They often had aggressive fights over lucrative hunting areas. Across the Carole Kester, Membership Chair, OF PROGRAMS country these forces changed the values of the Native Americans, who and E-mail Coordinator [email protected] or 760-365-4096 1st WEDNESDAY PROGRAMS then “needed” metal conveniences, guns and horses.