310 Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) | pp. 311–325 1990 Aboriginal Settlement in the Lake Abert-Chewaucan Sampson, C. Garth Marsh Basin, Lake County, Oregon. In Wetland Adapta- 1985 Nightfire Island: Later Holocene Lake-Marsh Adapta- A New Look At Some Old Data: tions in the Great Basin, Joel C. Janetski and David B. tion on the Western Edge of the Great Basin. University Madsen, eds., pp. 183 – 205. [Museum of Peoples and of Oregon Anthropological Papers 33. Eugene. The Nisenan Photographs of Alexander W. Chase Cultures Occasional Papers 1.] Provo: Brigham Young Seaman, N. G. University. 1946 Indian Relics of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Ore.: 1999 An Examination of Wetland Adaptive Strategies in Binfords & Mort. THOMAS C. BLACKBURN Harney Basin: Comparing Ethnographic Paradigms and 527 Clark Avenue, the Archaeological Record. In Prehistoric Lifeways in the Skinner, Craig Claremont, CA 91711 Great Basin Wetlands: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction 2014 X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Artifact Obsidian and Interpretation, Brian E. Hemphill and Clark Spencer from Rattlesnake Cave, Lake County, Oregon. Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory Reports 2014 – 51. Larsen, eds., pp. 203 – 218. Salt Lake City: University of In 1877, Stephen Powers wrote an extended passage on the topic of money and wealth among Native Californians, Utah Press. Spier, Leslie 1930 Klamath Ethnography. University of California and illustrated it by itemizing the treasured possessions of a specific Nisenan chief’s family. His account was originally Oetting, Albert C., and Richard M. Pettigrew Publi ca tions in American Archeology and Ethnology 30. accompanied by four woodcuts based on photographs created in 1874 by Alexander Chase; those photographs 1985 An Archaeological Survey in the Lake Abert- Berkeley: University of California Press. are reproduced here, and compared with several additional images from the 1850s to suggest other possible social Chewaucan Basin Lowlands, Lake County, Oregon. Univer sity of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural Tasa, Guy L., and Thomas J. Connolly ramifications of some of the ‘wealth’ items on Powers’ list. History Reports 85 – 5, Eugene. 1997 Archaeological Recovery and Reburial at the Klamath River Bridge Cemetery Site (35KL1121), 1987 Archaeological Investigations in the Lake Abert- Green springs Highway-Midland Junction Section of The Chewaucan Basin, Lake County, Oregon: The 1986 Dalles/California Highway (US 97), Klamath County, he purpose of this brief report is twofold— basket-maker, doctor, and revered elder referred to by Survey. The Cultural Heritage Foundation Reports 1. Oregon. University of Oregon Museum of Natural and first, to call attention to the existence and signifi- all as Koto Jane. The photographs of the Lewis family, in Portland. T Cultural History Reports 1997– 02. Report on file at the cance of several additional photographs taken by1 the form of woodblock prints (Powers 1976: Figs. 26, 28, Pettigrew, Richard M. Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem. Alexander W. Chase; and second, to show how those 30, 31), were used to supplement and partially illustrate 1980 The Ancient Chewaucanians: More on the Prehistoric Weide, Margaret L. images can be used in conjunction with other newly Powers’ text, but some of their informational content was Lake Dwellers of Lake Abert, Southeastern Oregon. 1968 Cultural Ecology of Lakeside Adaptation in the Western recovered data to clarify some issues concerning inevitably lost as a result of the process involved in their Association of Oregon Archaeologists Occasional Papers Great Basin. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, 1, Martin Rosenson, ed., pp. 49 – 67. Albany: Association of Los Angeles. wealth and the use of regalia in traditional societies in reproduction. The portraits of Captain Tom and his wife Oregon Archaeologists. Weld, Ted, and Willamina Weld Central California. Chase, whose career has been briefly (Figs. 1 and 2) were eventually published a century later 1985 Archaeological Investigations on the East Shore of n.d. Narrative of and ancillary materials. MS on file at Fort outlined elsewhere (Blackburn 2005; Lyman 1991), was in the Handbook of North American Indians (Heizer Lake Abert, Lake County, Oregon, Volume 1. University Rock Valley Historical Society, Fort Rock, Ore. a major contributor to Stephen Powers’ pioneering 1978:391, Figs. 4 & 5), and are often reprinted, but those of Oregon Anthropological Papers 32. Eugene. Wingard, George F. work, Tribes of California (1877, 1976), and seems to of the daughter and son2 (Figs. 3 and 4) have seldom, if Ray, Verne F. 2001 Carlon Village: Land, Water, Subsistence, and Seden- have provided most (if not all) of the photographs and ever, been reproduced. 1963 Primitive Pragmatists: The Modoc Indians of Northern tism in the Northern Great Basin. University of Oregon sketches that eventually illustrated Powers’ monograph. The primary significance of the Chase photographs California. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Anthropological Papers 57. Eugene. Most of Chase’s extant photographs, which primarily lies in the way in which they both complement and clarify depict people from northwestern California, have now a rather extraordinary passage in Powers’ volume in been published (Blackburn 2005); however, several which he discusses in considerable detail money, wealth, others have recently been identified at the Smithsonian and comparative economic values in contemporary Institution (two of which, to my knowledge, have rarely, native societies, and then provides an inventory and if ever, been reproduced elsewhere) and all are shown description of the economic capital and prestige items here for the first time. owned by one specific, prominent family. Because of its The images in question (Figs. 1– 4) depict the importance, I will quote the entire passage here: members of a Nisenan chief’s family attired in their The subject of shell-money has hitherto received little traditional finery and with all of the family’s accumulated more than casual mention. Immense quantities of it wealth very much on display. The chief involved, Captain were formerly in circulation among the California Indians, and the manufacture of it was large and Tom Lewis of K’otomyan, was a well-known figure constant, to replace the continual wastage which was in the Auburn, California Indian community in the caused by the sacrifice of so much upon the death 1870s, and figured prominently in Powers’ account of of wealthy men, and by the propitiatory sacrifices the Nisenan (Bibby 2005:68 –70). According to Bibby, performed by many tribes, especially those of the Coast Range. From my own observations, which have Captain Tom’s wife Jane was a highly respected member not been limited, and from the statements of pioneers of that community for many years and was a noted and the Indians themselves, I hesitate little to express 311 312 Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) ARTICLE | A New Look At Some Old Data: The Nisenan Photographs of Alexander W. Chase | Blackburn 313 Figure 2. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s wife in partial native dress, wearing a ten-yard necklace Figure 1. “Portrait of Captain Tom, from Auburn, California, in partial native dress 1874.” of 1160 clamshell money beads, and deerskin girdle and headdress with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7500. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7600. 312 Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) ARTICLE | A New Look At Some Old Data: The Nisenan Photographs of Alexander W. Chase | Blackburn 313 Figure 2. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s wife in partial native dress, wearing a ten-yard necklace Figure 1. “Portrait of Captain Tom, from Auburn, California, in partial native dress 1874.” of 1160 clamshell money beads, and deerskin girdle and headdress with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7500. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7600. 314 Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) ARTICLE | A New Look At Some Old Data: The Nisenan Photographs of Alexander W. Chase | Blackburn 315 Figure 3. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s daughter in partial native dress, wearing abalone shell necklace, and deerskin girdle and Figure 4. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s son in partial native dress, wearing yellow hammer’s feathers headband, abalone gorget, headband with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7700. and belt with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7800. 314 Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology | Vol. 36, No. 2 (2016) ARTICLE | A New Look At Some Old Data: The Nisenan Photographs of Alexander W. Chase | Blackburn 315 Figure 3. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s daughter in partial native dress, wearing abalone shell necklace, and deerskin girdle and Figure 4. “Portrait of Captain Tom’s son in partial native dress, wearing yellow hammer’s feathers headband, abalone gorget, headband with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution NAA INV 0152 7700. and belt with abalone pendants 1874.” National Anthropological