Customs and Legends of Utah Indians: II, Joshua Terry’s Story

Customs and Legends of Utah Indians BY ENOCH JORGENSEN, PRINCIPAL JORDAN HIGH SCHOOL II. Joshua's Terry's Story* Father Joshua Terry, (if Draper, Utah, is one of the few men now living who knows Indians as they were in Pioneer days, and who can speak of life at Fort Hall, and at Fort Bridger, as it really was in those strenuous times. Father Terry was born in Home District, Canada, Aug. 11, 1825. He was baptized a member of the "Mormon" Church, June 20,1840. He pissed through the Missouri persecutions of the "Mormons" with his father's family, and later settled in Nauvoo, 111., where he assisted in the erection of the Nauvoo Temple. In 1846, he, with the main body of "Mormons," was driven into Iowa. Soon after he pooled his interests with an old man, Levi Savage, and tojoshua terry gether they came on to L tali in Geo. L>. Wallace's Company, arriving in Salt Lake Valley Sept. 26. 1847. He assisted that fall in the building of the Old Fort. He drove the first team around what is now Beck's Hot Springs, in Davis county, and in Oct., 1847, he walked over to *Related personally to the author by the old scout and pioneer, Joshua 1 erry. in December, 1912.

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF UTAH INDIANS 665 Church Island in Great Salt Lake on dry ground. He and Savage worked at odd jobs in the harvest field and the canyons, and soon after their arrival made a camp on the Little Willow Creek, now Draper, Salt Lake county ; Savage then married a widow whom he had met on the journey. Then Terry's troubles began, for this woman proved to be a termagant, and Terry "had to get out or starve." He was given one peck of wheat as his share of the pooled harvest earnings, and with this and his gun he started for pastures new. It chanced that James Pollock, an overland freighter, was camping in the valley, on his way to California, so Terry hired out to this man agreeing to give his services, his peck of wheat, and his gun, for transportation and board to California. They went as far as Fort Hall, on Snake river, when a report of Indian troubles on the Humboldt reached them, and Pollock decided to abandon the trip ; he got in with the agent at Fort Hall, and left Terry to herd horses and do drudgery around the camp while he spent his time at the fort. With no prospects of getting to California, Terry became discouraged, and decided to try something else. Through the influence of Pollock, the agent at Fort Hall refused to employ him, even for his board, and hence, it was either be a slave to Pollock or strike out afoot and alone without gun and almost half naked to try to find some other fort or some Indian camp. He says : "One kind heart at Fort Hall, a Doctor Rogers, gave me some dried biscuits and a little jerked beef, and advised me to try to reach Fort Bridger, two hundred miles away. This was in April, 1848, about two months after our arrival at Fort Hall. On the way I lived chiefly on segos and the thistle root ; my moccasins were badly worn, and Photo by C. W Carter. JIM BRIDGER, WESTERN SCOUT AND PIONEER

666 IMPROVEMENT ERA my feet often raw and bleeding, so I could not travel fast. The only human beings I met on the way were some roving Indians; east of Soda Springs I came across one lone tepee, and to the inmates I made signs for food and sleep. An old squaw was good to me, and here I began to learn the Shoshone language. "the best supper of my life" "The old mother prepared a soup or broth from the paunch of an antelope, without salt or condiment of any kind ; the entire paunch, contents and all, was boiled in a kettle and I was given a liberal portion — it was good, very good. I slept well in the tepee, and next morning, after another portion of the paunch broth, I went on my way. "After this I met but one lone Indian who had some buffalo meat which he sold me for a little ammunition I had saved. The native took special pains to instruct me how to prepare the meat and how much it would be safe to eat at a time, as it would prove to be a very strong physic to the beginner, especially to one famished as I was. "As soon as I reached Fort Bridger the sun seemed brighter. Good Old Jim Bridger employed me as a regular hand, and I worked for him two years. He was a man of honor, rough and ready, but he had a warm heart, and he proved a friend to me in every way ; so, life at Fort Bridger was pleasant, interesting and free. .As all the honest men there had squaw wives, Bridger insisted that I should take one. My Indian wife was good and true, and she loved me with a devotion unsurpassed. When I became ill, and she had done everything possible to relieve my suffering, she and others around concluded I could not live, so she left camp, and soon came back saying she had taken poison-root, as she did not wish to live when I was gone ; but I got well, and she died a martyr to her love. "Shortly after this, I married another squaw with whom I had two children, George and Jane. George was educated in the schools of Salt Lake county, and later he became the chief of the Shoshones, but he was killed five years ago out in Rush Valley. Jane married and lived in Idaho ; she, too, is dead, but her daughter lives there now. The second wife, like the first, was good and true. We moved to my first home, Draper, where the white man's ways of living in the house caused her to get consumption. THE MEDICINE MAN "We sought what medical help was then available in Draper ; an Indian medicine man happened to be camping at Union Fort, so I took my wife there. T agreed with the doctor that if he could

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF UTAH INDIANS 667 cure my wife he should have my best horse; but if no cure, he should get nothing. He began immediately a systematic rubbing and sucking of spots on portions of the body seemingly to draw inflammation to those spots. He did actually seem to draw something from the skin, and the pain would be eased in different places, for every now and then he would spit into his hand a pulpy substance that looked like liver ; this he would examine carefully and then bury it in the ashes. He worked faithfully until neatmidnight, and then he said it was no use to try further, as the woman would die before the sun rose again. I asked him how he knew, and he said he could see her spirit in the lodge, and it would not leave even for a moment ; she seemed to be unconscious. He explained that if the spirit would go off, and come back, she might get well. 'But it won't go away, can't you see it there,' he said, 'so I know she shall never see the sun again.' She died just as day was breaking, and I took her back to Draper and buried her. We had lived together seven years. My first wife lived two years after our marriage ; nine years in all I lived with Indian wives, and they were happy years." COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE "How did you court your wife, and what was the marriage ceremony?" I asked. "We didn't do any courting. Several bucks offered me their daughters, I looked them over, picked out the one I wanted, gave the father a horse I had earned, for the girl, and we went off together and that was all there was to it." "Did you have any ceremony?" "The girl came with me to my tent and began her work, and that was all. The average price of a wife was a good horse. If the father said 'go' she went ; but now it was up to the husband tc treat her so she would stay." DIVORCE "No, there was no divorce other than if she didn't like the man she would just leave. It was his business to provide for her and make her love him. There were some separations, but seldom any after children were born. The grass-widow was not imposed on ; she might marry some one else. No, she did not become a bad woman, in fact sexual relation out of wedlock was most rare. White men's actions in this regard were often the cause of trouble. POLYGAMY "Yes, polygamy was practiced without much fuss. Occasionally the old squaw would pull hair with the young one, but

668 IMPROVEMENT ERA oftener would pay little attention to her or would treat her as a daughter. No, they did not have many children, i. e., not many were reared ; but many died as infants. All might live in one tepee, or perhaps each squaw had her own lodge. But the buck didn't pay any attention to little differences in the family. THE SICK AND AILING "Little attention was given to minor ailments. But in real sickness, the Medicine Man was called. He v.T?..« always deformed in some way from birth, and he was usually spiritual-minded. He offered a few simple herbs, did much rubbing (and sucking the skin in certain diseases), chanted incantations, etc., until he was convinced there was no hope, then the patient was neglected and just left to die, often carried away from the camp and abandoned." Mr. Terry then told of a case that came under his personal observation : BURIED ALIVE "Indians were camped near Draper; a middle-aged man was very ill and no remedies gave him any relief. He was taken up into Bear Canyon, and covered with brush and rocks, only his head being exposed. A few days afterwards he came back to the camp, and he lived with his tribe for many years. No, he did not consider he had been unjustly dealt with." THE AGED AND INFIRM While a youth hunting in the mountains around Grass Valley the writer frequently came upon lone old Indians who had no regular tepee, but usually were in a rude brush camp or in a cave under some overhanging rock. On more than one occasion they asked him to share his sandwiches with them. He didn't understand then why they were thus alone, but he has it from Mr. Terry, Mr. Behunin, and others that they were the old and infirm left to die : "When they no longer were able to care for themselves and were a burden to the tribe," says Mr. Terry, "they were given ten days' ration of food and then left to die. Relatives would usually be on the lookout, and come later and either throw the bodies into a crevice in the rocks or cover them with brush and earth. Independence Rock on the Sweetwater was a common place for such burials ; there were many deep cracks in that great rock mass.

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OF UTAH INDIANS 669 FAMOUS DURIAL GROUND "In a side canyon near the Sweetwater are six or eight large mounds or heaps of cobble, tens of thousands of stones. Legend says this once was a famous battle ground between the Arapahoe tribes and the Shoshones. Indians regard the place with veneration and never would camp near it, in fact, Indian superstitions regarding the dead are very marked and may be said to be part of their religion." INDIAN SUPERSTITIONS As a youth I often wondered why Indians avoided certain ideal camping places, i. e., ideal from our view point ; but I learned later that they never again would pitch tent where one of their people had died. To avoid such a spot they often make camp far from water and in what to us would seem to be most unsuitable places. For this reason, too, they often remove the sick and dying far from camp and abandon them, especially if they are in a place which they do not wish to leave. Father Terry confirmed my observations in these things, as in all others here recorded, of manners and customs of Western Indians. SANDY, UTAH ["Superstitions and Legends" is the title of the next chapter in this series.] Vocations The father of a bright young son went to a wise friend for advice as to what profession the youth should be fitted for. The sage was brusque. "Let the boy choose for himself," he said. "But," protested the father, "he's too young." "Well," responded the wise man, "put him in a room alone with a book on theology, an apple, a knife and some small change and see what he plays with. If he chooses the book make a minister of him; if he takes the knife make him a surgeon; if the apple, he'll make a farmer, and if he chooses the money, a banker." Much relieved, the father went away, but returned the next day in great distress, saying the plan hadn't worked at all. "Why not?" demanded the wise man. "What did he do?" "When 1 went in," said t lie father, "he was sitting on the book, with the knife in one hand, and the money in his pocket, and eating the apple." "Ah!" said the sage, "that's easy. The boy is a natural-born lawyer." — Ladies' Home Journal,