Customs and Legends of Utah Indians: III, Superstitions and Legends

Customs and Legends of Utah Indians BY ENOCH JORGENSEN, PRINCIPAL JORDAN HIGH SCHOOL /// — Superstitions and Legends Utah Indians had rather indefinite views regarding pre-existence, but all believe in "life after death." The Shoshones say that they come from the gray wolf, and all things in their country belong to him, and when they die their spirits go back to the happy hunting grounds presided over by him. For this reason they don't kill the wolf: but they despise the coyote and his ilk, and about the most uncomplimentary epithet one can hurl at another is to call him a "coyote." Special festivals were arranged in honor of the gray wolf, and calamities were often attributed to the fact that some member of the tribe had offended him. When a prominent brave died his friends would kill his horse his dog, and in some instances his squaw and his servants, and these with his bow or gun and other equipment were buried with him to accompany him to the happy hunting grounds. But the custom of killing squaw and slaves was not so common in the West as it was with some tribes east of the Rockies ; still it was not uncommon for the squaw to take her own life when her brave died, particularly if they had no dependent children. I recall the finding of the remains of an Indian under a ledge of rock in New Canyon, east of Ephraim, and with them was a broken gun, part of an old army saddle, bow, arrows, remains of a Navajo blanket, and some other things. But the local Amerind believed in spirit existence, and in the spirit's relation to the "Great Spirit," and that conditions in the future life depend on the activities in this life. THE HAUNTED SPRING "On Henry's Fork of the Sweetwater, in Wyoming, about thirty miles from Fort Bridger," says Father Terry, "is a famous spring, which is revered, yet feared, by the red man. The legend says: At one time, while the Shoshones were camping there, a strange white man came to their village and preached to them. He eluded them for making war on other tribes, and advised them about many things. Then he went away, refusing to eat with them." (Refusal to eat with your host was usually regarded as a grievous insult, but in this instance, Terry says, it inspired

810 IMPROVEMENT ERA them with fear.) "They tracked him in the new-fallen snow, his tracks getting farther apart at every stride until they vanished. They say he flew away, and they never dare go near the spot since, as they say the place is haunted !" tooele john's vision "John, chief of the Tooeles, who lived west and south of Great Salt Lake, says that at one time when his people were hungry and he was praying to the Great Spirit for them, two white men came into his tepee and told him to leave that country FORT BRIDGER IN 1866 Photo by C W. Carter and go to a place they would show him, a place where there was plenty of grass and game, and where some day a great city should be built. He says they marked out on the sand of the tepee floor the roads he should take to get there, and the places to camp ; then he says the walls of the tepee were gone, and he could see the whole country to pass through, and a panorama of the place in which they were to settle, on the Malad river in Idaho. He followed their instructions and led his people there where they live to this day. Chief John says he saw it all in vision as plain as the day he told me the story." WAS IT THE LIAHONA "Tooele John says that at another time when he was puzzled about what to do, the Great Spirit brought him an instrument like a watch, and told him to follow its directions. He and his wife

CUSTOMS AND LEGENDS OE UTAH INDIANS 811 were riding along when a voice spoke to him and told him to look ahead near the side of the trail ; there lay the instrument on the ground. He ordered his wife to get off her horse and pick up the instrument. He examined it carefully and then gave it to his wife to take care of. She placed it carefully in her saddle bag, but when they made camp at night it was gone. John declares the Lord took it again because he, John, trusted so important a thing to a woman." "No, he didn't see the Lord, but he knew the Lord was there, and John heard the voice. Chief John related this story to me while we were camping in Box Elder canyon, and I am convinced he was telling the truth as he knew it, for he was never more earnest in his life in my extensive converse with him." — Father Terry. LEGENDS The Shoshones say that Teton Lake once was alive with large animals like the sea-otter, only they were very large, in some cases being as large as a horse, and they would break up the ice in the spring with a great roaring sound. Similar noises were heard in Bull Lake, Wyoming, only here they were attributed to monsters like the buffalo. Stories are told of great monsters in Utah Lake, and in Fish Lake. It is said that a young chieftain was once challenged to swim across Fish Lake at Twin Creeks to prove his valor and title, and to win the hand of a fair maiden ; but as he neared the shore a great sea-serpent swallowed him. For this reason Indians never bathe in Fish Lake, nor could I ever induce one to go with me in a boat on its waters ; however, they would paddle around on Mud Lake and on Jorgensen Lake, since these were less closely connected with the main body of water. Many stories are told of great serpents in Utah Lake — told even by some of the early white settlers, and of the noises made by the monsters, especially in winter. These noises certainly are hideous enough to originate almost any weird tale. I have heard similar sounds at Fish Lake when the ice was cracking or the air escaping from one of the "man-holes" in the ice. Legend says the Teton peaks were formerly a mile higher than they now are, but the Great Spirit was angry with the Shoshones, so he made the earth shiver and the mountains sank. Similar tales are told of Chimney Rock on the Platte, and of other marks. Father Terry says he positively remembers when Chimney Rock was 20 to 30 feet higher than it was when last he saw it. Weathering caused parts of it to topple over. ("The Walker and Black Hawk Wars" will be discussed in the next chapter.)