Apache Tracker

2011-03-15T23:37:00.001-07:00

Although this book is classified as a work of fiction, I would like to say a word about it. This novel is based on my experiences of growing up in Arizona, and most of it is fact based. The exercises or techniques in the chapter "teaching the techniques" are real, and I encourage you to try them. The Tantric and Yogic descriptions are also authentic. This book is full of esoteric and shamanistic teachings.
My purpose was to entertain while informing. The “Twin Soul” concept offered a "way" to do that. Many have asked me about Hopi prophecy and the fifth world. This novel includes my visions and ideas regarding that, and more. Many writers claim authenticity. Authenticity is like that old saying, "The proof is in the pudding." My view is, try some of the techniques and ideas in this book. There are also advance (tantric) sexual techniques described in this book, in a tasteful and thoughtful way, along with some incidents of fighting. The techniques described regarding the martial arts that are used, are also real and fact based, as are the concepts and traditions surrounding them. The author suggests you seek professional training regarding any fighting art. The bottom line? This book might best be described as, “A Shaman’s Bible” hidden within a novel.

Good Reading
Roger "Thunderhands" Gilbert

Available now at the following locations.

Amazon

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Lozen

2010-09-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

Born into the Chihenne band during the late 1840s, Lozen was a skilled warrior and a prophet. According to legends, she was able to use her powers (Diya) and (Inda-ce-ho-ndi = "Enemies-Against-Power") in battle to learn the movements of the enemy. Victorio is quoted to have said that "Lozen is my right hand... strong as... a man, braver than most, and cunning in strategy. Lozen is a shield to her people."

OK this my rendering or graphic art of Lozen,,famous Apache women warrior,,I wasn't able to find any paintings of her, except one, so I did this.
-Thunder

Acoma Pueblo

2010-01-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

Acoma Pueblo (pronounced /ˈækəmə/; Western Keresan: Aa'ku; Zuni: Hakukya); Haak'ooh in Navajo, also known as "Sky City", is a Native American pueblo built on top of a 367-foot (112 m) sandstone mesa in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States.

History

The pueblo, believed to have been established in the 12th century or earlier, was chosen in part because of its defensive position against raiders. It is regarded as one the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States,^[3]^[4] along with Old Oraibi, Arizona, as both communities were settled in the 11th centuryAccess to the pueblo is difficult as the faces of the mesa are sheer (a topographic map shows this best). Before modern times access was gained only by means of a hand-cut staircase carved into the sandstone.
There are several interpretations of origin of the name "Acoma". Some believe that the name Acoma comes from the Keresan words for the People of the White Rock, with aa'ku meaning white rock, and meh meaning people. Others believe that the word aa'ku actually comes from the word haaku meaning to prepare; a description that would accurately reflect the defensive position of the mesa's inhabitants.
Acoma Pueblo comprises several villages including Acomita, McCarty's, Anzac and the newer subdivision of Sky Line. Acoma people dry-farm in the valley below Aa'ku and use irrigation canals in the villages closer to the Rio San Jose.
In 1598, Spanish conquistador Don Juan De Oñate, under orders from the King of Spain, invaded New Mexico, and began staging raids on Native American pueblos in the area, taking anything of value. Upon reaching San Juan Pueblo, Oñate had all the Native Americans who were living there removed from their homes and used it as a base to stage more raids on other Native American pueblos in the area. In response, the Acoma fought back, and several Spaniards were killed in the battle to re-take the pueblo from the Spaniards. During the battle, the Spaniards brought a small cannon up the back of Acoma Mesa, and began firing into the village.
According to Acoma oral traditions, the average Spaniard at the time weighed much more than the average Acoma, and the Spaniards also brought with them attack dogs, which were believed to be fed on human flesh and trained to eat humans alive. The Acoma people lost the Battle of Acoma, and the indigenous population of the pueblo, which had been approximataly 2,000 people before the Spanish attacked, was reduced to approximately 250 survivors; as women, children, and elders were killed by the Spaniards in that battle as well.
After the survivors were herded to Santo Domingo Pueblo, all the surviving children under the age of 12 were taken from their parents, and given to Spanish missionaries to raise; but most of them and the other survivors were sold into slavery. Of the few dozen Acoma men of fighting age still alive after the battle. Oñate ordered the right foot chopped off of each one. Oñate was later tried and convicted of cruelty to Indians and colonists, and was banished from New Mexico. However, he was cleared of all charges on appeal and lived out the rest of his life in Spain.

Culture

Tracing their lineage to the inhabitants of ruins to the west and north, the Acoma people continue the traditions of their ancestors. Acoma people practice their traditional religion and some also practice the Catholic religion that came with Spanish settlers in the 1500s. Acoma people have traded and interacted with their neighbors for centuries, some of which extended beyond the local Pueblos. Trade between Aztec and Mayan people was common prior to European settlement. Only more recently has trade and interaction with other tribes been hampered by international boundaries. Traditional alliances still exist between the Pueblos who often speak different dialects or different languages. The Acoma Pueblo and Laguna Pueblo have many ties, including location, language and a shared high school. Throughout the year feasts are held in celebration of historic occasions. Visitors are allowed to attend these feasts but are encouraged to be respectful and aware of local protocol.
The Spanish settlers had the mission church of San Esteban del Rey built at the pueblo from 1629 to 1641, under the direction of Friar Juan Ramírez. Its 30-foot beams were carried 30 miles from Kaweshtima or Mount Taylor Mountain, and the dirt for its graveyard was carried up the mesa from the valley below. Both the mission and the pueblo are registered National Historical Landmarks. In late 2006 the Acoma Pueblo was also named as a National Trust Historic Site.
Like other pueblos, Acoma and the surrounding area are considered federal trust land, administered by the federal government for the pueblo. Several families still live on the mesa itself year-round, while others elect to live in nearby villages (Acomita Village, New Mexico, among them). The 2000 US Census lists 2,802 inhabitants of the Acoma Pueblo and off-reservation trust lands, which encompasses territory in parts of Cibola, Socorro, and Catron counties.
Today Acoma's culture is practiced almost the same as before the 1589 invasion. The traditions are always oral traditions, in which dancing, music, art, theology, astrology, philosophy and history are taught. The traditional foods that are planted there are beans, pumpkins, corn, chili, onions and fruits like apples, apricots, peaches, plums and cherries. All of the sowing is done as a group.
The pueblo is located 60 miles (100 km) west of Albuquerque on Interstate 40 and 12 miles (20 km) south on Indian Route 23. The pueblo is open to the public only by guided tour. Photography of the pueblo and surrounding lands is restricted. Tours can be arranged and $10 camera permits obtained from the recently renovated Sky City visitor center at the base of the mesa. However, videotaping, drawing and sketching are prohibited, with big signs warning visitors not to do any of them (but especially not to videotape

Hopi

2010-01-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hopi Snake priest

Hopi

The Hopi are a Native American people who primarily live on the 12,635 km² (2,531.773 sq mi) Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the much larger Navajo Reservation. The two nations used to share the Navajo-Hopi Joint Use Area. The partition of this area, commonly known as Big Mountain, by Acts of Congress in 1974 and 1996, has resulted in seemingly endless controversy.
The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people.
Contents

Old Oraibi Village

The Oraibi village is the oldest Hopi village and has been occupied since at least 1150 A.D. It has the most importance to Hopi history. It is the oldest continuously inhabited village in the United States. In the 1540s there were at least 1,500 to 3,000 members of the Oraibi Village

Early European Contact, 1540-1680

The first recorded European contact with the Hopis was by the Spanish in 1540. Spanish General Francisco Vasquez de Coronado had come to America on an expedition to explore the land. While at the Zuni villages, he learned of the Hopi tribe. De Coronado dispatched a man named Pedro de Tovar along with other members of their regime to find these Hopi villages. The Spanish wrote that the first Hopi village they visited was Awatovi. They later noted that there were about 16,000 Hopi and Zuni people. A few years later another Spanish explorer by the name of Garcia Lopez de Cardenas came to investigate the Rio Grande and met the Hopi people. The Hopi warmly entertained de Cardenas and his men and directed him on his journey. In 1582-1583 the Hopis were visited by Antonio de Espejo’s expedition. He noted that there were around five Hopi villages and around 12,000 Hopi people. During these early years, the Spanish were exploring and dominating the southwestern region of the new world. Although they were present in many other areas, there were never a large number of them in the Hopi country. Their visits to the Hopi were random and spread out over many years. Many times the visits were from military explorations The Spanish colonized near the Rio Grande and, because the Hopis didn’t have any rivers to give them access to the Rio Grande, the Spanish never left any troops on their land. When they first arrived they brought with them Catholic Friars. 1629 is considered the Franciscan Period when 30 Friars came into Hopi country and created missionaries and churches at Awatovi. The Hopi Indians originally were against conversion, but after an incident where Father Porras restored the sight of a blind youth, by placing a cross over his eyes, the Hopis at Awatovi believed in Christianity. Most Hopis in the other villages continued to remain anti-Christian.

Pueblo Revolt of 1680

The priests weren’t very successful in converting the natives so they persecuted the Hopis for keeping their religion. The Spaniards also took advantage of Hopi labor and the products they produced. The harsh treatment and selfish acts of the Spanish caused the Hopis to become less tolerant of them. Out of all the Hopi Indians, only the Awatovi village disagreed with this statement. Eventually the Rio Grande Pueblo Indians suggested a revolt in the year 1680, and Hopis supported them. This was the first time that all the Pueblo Indians worked together to drive the Spanish colonists away. The Hopi people revolted against the Spanish, attacking missions, killing friars and destroying the Catholic churches that had been built. The revolt proved to be a success as the Spanish stayed out of the area of the Pueblo Indians and the Hopis until 1700. Years after the revolt, the Hopi Indians living in the village of Awatovi returned to Christianity despite the disapproval of the rest of the Hopi Villages.

Hopi-U.S Relations, 1849-1946

In 1849, John S. Calhoun was appointed official Indian agent of Indian Affairs for the Southwest Territory of the U.S. He had a headquarters in Santa Fe and was responsible for all Indian residents of the area. The first formal meeting between the Hopi Indians and the U.S Government happened in the year 1850 when seven Hopi leaders made the trip to Santa Fe to meet with Calhoun. Their objective was to ask the government for protection against the Navajo Indians. At this time, the Hopi leader was Nakwaiyamtewa. As a result of this meeting, Fort Defiance was established in 1851 in Arizona and troops were placed in Navajo country to deal with the Navajo threats. General James J. Carleton, with the assistance of Kit Carson, was assigned to travel through the area. They “captured” the Navajo natives and forced them to the fort. As a result of the Navajo Long Walk, the Hopis were able to enjoy a short period of peace. In 1847, Mormons founded Utah and tried to convert the Indians to Mormonism. Jacob Hamlin, a Mormon missionary, first made a trip into Hopi country in 1858. He was on good terms with the Hopi Indians and in 1875 a Mormon Church was built on Hopi land.

Education

In 1875, an English trader by the name of Thomas Keams escorted the Hopi village leaders to meet President Arthur in Washington D.C. Lololoma, acting chief at the time, was very impressed with Washington. He believed that education allowed the whites to be able to live in such a way. This belief caused him to want a school built for the Hopi children. In 1886, twenty of the Hopi leaders signed a petition sent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs requesting that a school be built on their land.In 1887, Thomas Keams opened Keams Canyon Boarding School at Keams Canyon for the Hopi Indians. The Oraibi people were not supportive of this school. They refused to send their children to a school that was 35 miles away from their villages. The main objective of Keams School was to teach the Hopi youth the ways of civilization by pushing Anglo-American values on them. This boarding school was a way to rid the Hopis of their Indian past. The children were forced to abandon their tribal identity and completely take on the white American culture. They received haircuts, new clothes, took on a “white” name and learned English. The boys learned farming and carpentry skills, while the girls were taught ironing, sewing and “civilized” dining. Keams School also reinforced American religions. The American Baptist Home Missionary Society provided the students with services every morning and religious teachings during the week. In 1890, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs arrived in Hopi country with other government officials to investigate the progress of the new school. They saw that few students were enrolled. They later returned with federal troops who threatened to arrest the Hopi parents if they refused to send their kids to school. The parents backed down and the Commissioner took children to fill the school.

Hopi Land

The Hopis have always viewed their land as sacred. Agriculture is a very important part of their culture and their villages are spread out across the northern part Arizona. The Hopi and the Navajos both never knew of land boundaries, including state boundaries, and just lived on the land that their ancestors did. The Navajos have a history of harassing the Hopis, occupying their land and wandering freely over it. The Navajos stole crops and livestock from the Hopis and set up villages on Hopi land. On December 16, 1882 President Chester Arthur passed first executive order of 1882, creating a reservation for the Hopi Indians. Their reservation was much smaller than the Navajo reservation, which was the largest in the country. The Hopi reservation is a perfect rectangle 55 by 70 miles, in the middle of the Navajo Reservation and their villages only take up about half of the land within their reservation. This reservation kept white settlers from coming through their land, but it did not protect the Hopis against the Navajos. Significant amount of time has been spent between the Hopi and the Navajos fighting over land. Eventually the Hopis went before the Committee of Interior and Insular Affairs to ask them to help provide a solution to the dispute between the two tribes. The tribes argued over around 1.8 million acres of land in northern Arizona. In 1887 the U.S Government passed the Dawes Allotment Act. The purpose of this Act was to divide up tribal land into privately owned individual family plots of 640 acres or less. The remaining land would be free for U.S citizens to purchase. For the Hopis, this Act would destroy their ability to farm, which was their main means of income. Fortunately the attempt of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to set up land allotments in the Southwest never resulted in the division of Hopi land.
Oraibi Split

The history of the Oraibi split is one of the most famous about the Hopi tribe. The chief of the Oraibi at this time, Lololoma, was very excited about Hopi education but the Oraibi people were divided on this issue. Most of the village was conservative and refused to allow their children to attend school. These Indians were referred to as the “hostiles” because they opposed the American government and their attempts at assimilation. The rest of the Oraibi Hopis were called the “friendlies” because of their liberal attitude and acceptance of the white people. The “hostiles,” unlike the “friendlies,” refused to let their children attend school. In 1893, the Oraibi Day School was opened in the Oraibi village. Even though this school was within the village, the hostile parents still refused to allow their children to attend. In 1894, a group of Hopi parents announced that hey were against the ideas of Washington and did not want their children to be exposed to the culture of the White American people. They also said that this argument couldn’t be settled peacefully, so the government sent in troops to arrest the nineteen parents and sent them to Alcatraz Prison where they stayed for a year. Another main Oraibi figure at this time, Lomahongyoma, competed with Lololoma for leadership in the tribe and of the Hopi people. Eventually the village split in 1906 after a battle between Hostiles and Friendlies. The conservative Hostiles were forced to leave the village and form their own village, called Hotevilla.

Hopi Recognition

At the turn of the century, the U.S Government put a policy into effect that created day schools, missionaries, provided farming assistants and physicians on every Indian reservation. This policy required that every reservation set up its own Indian-police and Tribal courts, and appoint a chief or leader who would represent their tribe within the U.S Government. In 1910 in the Census for Indians, the Hopi Tribe had a total of 2,000 members, which was the highest in 20 years. The Navajos at this time had 22,500 members and have consistently increased in population. During the early years of this century, only about 3% of Hopis lived off the reservation.In 1924 Congress officially declared Native Americans to be U.S citizens. The Indian Reorganization Act helped the Hopis to establish a constitution for their tribe and in 1936 also helped them to create their own Tribal Council. The Preamble to the Hopi constitution states that they are a self-governing tribe, focused on working together for peace and agreements between villages in order to preserve the “good things of Hopi life.” The Constitution consists of thirteen different “Articles” all with a different topic of interest. The articles cover the topics of territory, membership, and organization of their government with a legislative, executive and judicial branch. The rest of the articles discuss the twelve villages recognized by the tribe, lands, elections, Bill of Rights and more.

Hopi-Navajo Land Disputes

From the 1940s to the 1970s, the Navajo Indians kept moving their villages closer and closer to Hopi land, causing the Hopis to once again bring up the land issue with the U.S Government. This resulted in the establishment of “District 6” which placed a boundary around the Hopi villages on the first, second, and third mesas, thinning the reservation to 501,501 acres. In 1962 the courts issued the “Opinion, Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Judgment” which stated that the U.S government did not grant the Navajos any type of permission to reside on the Hopi reservation that was declared in 1882 and that the remaining Hopi land was to be shared with the Navajos. Between 1961-1964, the Hopi tribal council signed leases with the U.S Government that allowed for companies to explore and drill for oil, gas and minerals within Hopi country. This drilling brought over 3 million dollars to the Hopi Tribe. In 1974, The Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act was passed and begun the Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Commission that made sure every Hopi and Navajo Indian living on the other’s land was to be removed. In 1992, the Hopi Reservation was increased to 1.5 million acres.

Hopis Today

The Hopi tribe today receives most of its income from natural resources. On their 1.8 million acre reservation, there is a significant amount of coal mined yearly. Today tourism is very prevalent and important to Hopi life. There is not much set up specifically for tourists with the exception of their Cultural Center and a few campgrounds. Through a grant-loan from the Economic Development Administration and some of the tribe’s own money, the Hopi tribal council constructed the Hopi Cultural Center including a restaurant, motel, craft shops, museum on the Second Mesa. Before arriving, tourists must know the laws and rules of the Hopi reservation. Typically photography is prohibited, as well as participating and viewing certain tribal ceremonies. The Hopi are a relatively poor tribe and as of 1990, 45% of families fell below poverty level. The Hopi Tribal Government provides 45% of jobs and most individuals make their income from agriculture and livestock products. Because the U.S Government holds Indian owned land “in-trust,” the Hopi land cannot be taxed by any state, county, city or other local governments. Although there have been controversies regarding education in the past, today the Hopis acknowledge that education is top priority for their children. The tribe has realized the need to create funds for the education. In 2000, the Hopi Tribal council, through tribal law, created the Hopi Education Endowment Fund. The HEEF, through funding, gives financial assistance to Hopi students. The mission of the HEEF is to make sure that every Hopi Indian, present and future, has a chance to graduate high school and if they wish, continue on to a higher education.

Culture

The name Hopi is a shortened form of what these Native American people call themselves, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu, "The Peaceful People" or "Peaceful Little Ones." The Catholic Encyclopedia lists the name Hopi as having been derived from "Hopita", meaning those who are "peaceful ones". Hopi is a concept deeply rooted in the culture's religion, spirituality, and its view of morality and ethics. The Hopi religion is anti-war. To be Hopi is to strive toward this concept, which involves a state of total reverence and respect for all things, to be at peace with these things, and to live in accordance with the instructions of Maasaw, the Creator or Caretaker of Earth. The Hopi observe their traditional ceremonies for the benefit of the entire world.

Traditionally, Hopi are organized into matrilineal clans. When a man marries, the children from the relationship are members of his wife's clan. These clan organizations extend across all villages. Children are named, however, by the women of the father's clan. On the twentieth day of a baby's life, the women of the paternal clan gather, each woman bringing a name and a gift for the child. In some cases where many relatives would attend, a child could be given over forty names, for example. The child's parents generally decide the name to be used from these names. Current practice is to either use a non-Hopi or English name or the parent's chosen Hopi name. A person may also change their name upon initiation into one of the religious societies such as the Kachina society.

The Hopi still practice a complete cycle of traditional ceremonies although not all villages retain or ever had the complete ceremonial cycle. These ceremonies take place according to the lunar calendar and are observed in each of the Hopi villages. Nonetheless, like other Native American groups, the Hopi have been impacted by Christianity. The Hopi have been affected by the missionary work carried out by several Christian denominations, however, with relatively little impact on Hopi religious practices.

Traditionally the Hopi are highly skilled micro or subsistence farmers. The Hopi also interact in the wider cash economy; a significant number of Hopi have mainstream jobs; others earn a living by creating high quality Hopi art, notably the carving of Kachina dolls, the expert crafting of earthenware ceramics, and the design and production of fine jewelry, especially sterling silver.

The Hopi people

When a child is born, they receive a perfect ear of corn and a special blanket. On the 20th day of their life, the child is taken to the mesa cliff and held facing the rising sun. When the sun touches the baby, it is given a name.

Kachinas or Kat'sinas or Qat'sinas are referenced extensively in the Hopi. Kat'sina literally means "life bringer" in Hopi. A Kat'sina can be anything: an element, a quality, a natural phenomenon, or a concept. There are over 300 to 400 different Kat'sinas. Traditionally, Kat'sina dolls, which are made by the maternal uncles, are given to young uninitiated girls at the spring Bean Ceremony and Home Dance.

] Famous Hopi

* Thomas Banyacya, (born c.1909 - 1999) Hopi Traditionalist and spokesman/translator for traditional religious and spiritual leaders. Appointed 1948. Born in Munkapi or Lower Moencopi Village, lived in Kykotsmovi Village.
* Frank Dukepoo (1943-1999), PhD, geneticist
* Dan Evehema, Hopi Traditionalist
* Jean Fredericks (b. 1906), Hopi photographer and former Tribal Council chairman
* Diane Humetewa, United States Attorney for the District of Arizona
* Fred Kabotie (c.1900 - 1986), painter and silversmith
* Charles Loloma (1912-1991), artist. Best known for his jewelry
* Linda Lomahaftewa, printmaker, painter, and educator
* David Monongye, Hopi Traditionalist
* Dan Namingha, (born 1950) Important Native American painter and sculptor of the Hopi-Tewa tribe.
* Iris Nampeyo (ca. 1860–1942), fine arts potter
* Tyra Naha, fine arts potter
* Elva Nampeyo, fine arts potter
* Fannie Nampeyo, fine art potter
* Lori Piestewa (1979-2003), US Army Quartermaster Corps soldier killed in Iraq War
* Don C. Talayesva (b. 1890-?), authobiographer and traditionalist
* Lewis Tewanima (1888-1969), Olympic distance runner and silver medalist
* Tuvi aka Chief Tuba (c. 1810 – 1887), first Hopi convert to Mormonism after whom Tuba City, Arizona, was named by Mormons who settled there
* Yukiuma, foremost and first modern Hopi Traditionalist. Famous for standing up to the newly arrived agents of the US government who came to take Hopi children away from their families and place them in boarding schools. Was imprisoned, along with others, at Alcatraz. Fire clan kikmongwi from the Third Mesa village of Hotevela or Hotevilla. Has been likened to a Hopi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi·

Pueblo

2010-01-23T13:35:00.000-08:00

Pueblo is a term used to describe modern (and ancient) communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish Explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe communities that consisted of apartment-like structures made from stone, adobe mud, and other local material. These structures were usually multi-storied buildings surrounding an open plaza and were occupied by hundreds to thousands of Pueblo People.

The Castilian word pueblo, evolved from the Latin word populus (people), means "town".

On the central Spanish meseta the unit of settlement was and is the pueblo; that is to say, the large nucleated village surrounded by its own fields, with no outlying farms, separated from its neighbours by some considerable distance, sometimes as much as ten miles or so. The demands of agrarian routine and the need for defense, the simple desire for human society in the vast solitude of the plains,dictated that it should be so. Nowadays the pueblo might have a population running into thousands. Doubtless they were smaller in the early middle ages, but we should probably not be far wrong if we think of them as having had populations of some hundreds.

Of the federally recognized Native American communities in the Southwest, those designated by the King of Spain as Pueblos at the time treaties ceded Spanish territory to the United States are now legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as Pueblos. Some of the Pueblos also came into the United States by treaty with Mexico, which briefly gained jurisdiction over territory in the Southwest ceded by Spain. There are 21 federally recognized Pueblos that are home to Pueblo people. As listed by their official federal names:

* Hopi Tribe of Arizona
* Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico
* Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico
* Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexic0
* Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico
* Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico
* Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas
* Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico

Historic places

Taos Pueblo, circa 1920

Pre-Columbian towns and villages, which of course were not yet called pueblos, were located in defensive positions, for example, on high steep mesas such as Acoma. Anthropologists and official documents often refer to earlier residents of the area as pueblo cultures. For example, the National Park Service states, "The Late Puebloan cultures built the large, integrated villages found by the Spaniards when they began to move into the area." The people of some pueblos, such as Taos Pueblo, still inhabit centuries-old adobe pueblo buildings. Residents often maintain other homes outside the historic pueblos. Adobe and light construction methods resembling adobe now dominate architecture at the many pueblos of the area, in nearby towns or cities and in much of the American Southwest.

In addition to contemporary pueblos, there are numerous ruins of archeological interest throughout the Southwest. Some are of relatively recent origin; others are of prehistoric origin such as the cliff dwellings and other habitations of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples or Anasazi.

I'm Back...New Music Video / Thunder on Dragoon Mountains

2010-01-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

Yep! I said I will be back from time to time..so you never know! (laughs)

Thunder on Dragoon Mountains is the title track from the CD "Desert Spirits" by Thunderhands. Video features majestic and awe inspiring views of the Dragoon mountains in southern Arizona.The title is named after the Dragoon Mountains where Geronimo and Cochise had their stronghold when on the run from the blue coats.

Reflection, Renewal,

2010-01-10T13:20:00.001-08:00

Reflection, Renewal, Rejuvenation, meditating, or just merging with the universe is all good. So I am parking my trusty steed by the waters, so I may partake in all of the above. Not to worry, I will be around from "time to time." In the meantime there is enough in the "Archives" on the sidebar to the right to keep you busy for quite some time. Think of it as a book!
-Thunder

The sword of no sword

2010-01-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a foot.' This is called marshaling the ranks where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.
There is no calamity greater than lightly engaging in war. To do that is near losing (the gentleness) which is so precious. Thus it is that when opposing weapons are (actually) crossed, he who deplores (the situation) conquers.

Geronimo: The Last Free Apache

2010-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

Effecting Change / Another view

2009-12-31T14:52:00.000-08:00

The movie "Che" with Benicio Del Toro directed by Steven Sodenberg

From "The Motorcycle Diaries" the early life of Che Guevera and his odyssey
across the Americas.

Effecting Change / Another view

Comment by Thunder:

I like to present different viewpoints regarding the situation we find ourselves in. The world and the governments are not in any way changing the deplorable conditions faced everyday. The injustice to our own (native) people, the homeless, the elderly, and the earth, just isn't going away. The Apache was one of the greatest guerrilla fighters of all time. (See Video Below) They faced a supreme injustice and were the last standouts against the genocide. But now we all face an uncaring, invasive, manipulative giant today with no idea of what their agenda is or who is pulling the strings. Is armed struggle an answer? Is revolution useless? How about pacifistic attempts? Do they work? I will present information from both sides and you decide. Although I must say waiting for things to change in my lifetime is getting a little old. I have seen revolutions peaceful and otherwise make a difference.

Many think that the sixties and seventies in this country was all flower power and non violent. Need I remind them of the students killed at Kent State, the Violence at the Chicago democratic convention, and the take over of wounded knee by A.I.M, not to mention the thousands of my generation killed in Vietnam.
As a young man, I lived and participated in the struggle in the sixties. I saw change come about by some of our tactics. Che Guevara was a poster boy for our generation! If you want to see how his opinion was formed and how a young medical student from a good family became a Revolutionary hero, who was eventually ordered executed by the CIA. I suggest watching the new Movie "CHE" and another called The Motorcycle Diaries. Both available at Netflix or amazon.
-Thunder

Introduction: Why Take Up Armed Struggle?
From an article; Author (anonymous)-The Online Green Anarchy Archive

The question of whether or not to take up arms and fight for liberation is a difficult one to answer. There has yet to be a successful armed Anarchist revolution. To be fair, though, no substantial change in recent world history has been effected through non-violent means, either. We live in a world of violent domination, where people are either compliant with corporate rule or done away with. As first-world consumers, we are all guilty of directly causing the subjugation of marginalized people the world over, the destruction of the global eco-sphere and the deaths of those in political opposition to any government ours has relations with. I don't point this out in order to cause guilt or make accusations, but mostly to point out to Americans who claim to be believers in non-violence that they are fooling themselves. As I write and you read this, people in Central America are picking our fruit and coffee for us at wages that keep them from starving to death quickly, even with the whole family working; in Indonesia, mountains are being strip-mined for ores that will go to make our cars, computers and bikes, literally over the dead bodies of the people who once lived there...I could go on and on along these lines, but the point is that - unless you grow your own food on land that a Native American family has invited you to share with them and likewise grow the fabrics that provide your clothing - you are a benefactor of the most atrocious, blood-thirsty, ruthless nation-state the world has ever seen. But, I digress.

The legitimacy of armed uprising is always debatable, and it is my opinion that this is an issue that each of us has to decide for ourselves. Therefore, I won't spend much time debating it, as I consider pacifism to be a sort of self-therapy to dismiss anything the pacifist doesn't wish to confront on a personal level. There are plenty of articles, essays and books to counter my viewpoint, and please feel free to read and learn from them, as I have. But please do not try to argue the pacifist point of view with me, and don't censure me.

Some of the views in the artical above do not neccesarily reflect the views of myself or this blog, but are presented in the spirit of consideration of all viewpoints.
-Thunder

Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival

2009-12-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

FROM AN AMAZON REVIEW - (I agree) Thunder

5.0 out of 5 stars I frickin' love this book, October 9, 2008

I have numerous survival manuals, including an air force manual written by one of my best friends who is a retired survival instructor with the air force, and actually got this book as a gift from him.
It is one of my favorite books ever, and is definitely my favorite survival book. I have never seen the debris hut information anywhere else and it may be the best survival technique of all time. I can't believe it isn't more widely known.
The book is very thorough on many subjects that are spoken little of in other survival manuals. Get it.

To all my readers and friends worldwide!

2009-12-21T17:10:00.001-08:00

Red-Tailed Hawk vs. Rattler

2009-12-20T22:26:00.001-08:00

Kicking it in the Canyon: Track from cd "Tribal Unity" by Thunderhands

2009-12-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

Music video produced by wakiya records for the CD "Tribal Unity" by Thunderhands.
Features Solo Native american flute combined with breathtaking images of some of the most awe inspiring Canyons on the Planet!

Seasons Greetings and Blessings

Red Tailed Hawk Flight

2009-12-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

American Bison (buffalo)

2009-12-08T11:59:00.000-08:00

The American Bison (Bison bison) is a North American species of bison, also commonly known as the American Buffalo. "Buffalo" is somewhat of a misnomer for this animal, as it is only distantly related to either of the two "true buffaloes", the Asian Water Buffalo and the African Buffalo. However, "bison" is a Greek word meaning ox-like animal, while "buffalo" originated with the French fur trappers who called these massive beasts boeufs, meaning ox or bullock – so both names, "bison" and "buffalo," have a similar meaning. In reference to this animal, the term "buffalo," which dates to 1635, has a much longer history than the term "bison," which was first recorded in 1774. The American Bison is more closely related to the Wisent or European Bison.

These bison once inhabited the grasslands of North America in massive herds; their range roughly formed a triangle between the Great Bear Lake in Canada's far northwest, south to the Mexican states of Durango and Nuevo León, and east along the western boundary of the Appalachian Mountains. Two subspecies or ecotypes have been described: the Plains Bison (Bison bison bison), smaller in size and with a more rounded hump, and the Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae), which is the larger of the two and with a taller, square hump. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the Plains Bison consists of a northern (Bison bison montanae) and a southern subpecies, bringing the total to three. However, this is generally not supported. The Wood Bison is one of the largest species of cattle in the world, surpassed only by the Asian gaur and Wild Asian Water Buffalo. It is the largest extant land animal in North America.

Bison were hunted almost to extinction in the 19th century and were reduced to a few hundred by the mid-1880s. They were hunted for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to decay on the ground. After the animals rotted, their bones were collected and shipped back east in large quantities.

The US Army sanctioned and actively endorsed the wholesale slaughter of bison herds. The federal government promoted bison hunting for various reasons, to allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines, and primarily to weaken the North American Indian population by removing their main food source and to pressure them onto the reservations. Without the bison, native people of the plains were forced to leave the land or starve to death.

According to historian Pekka Hämäläinen, Native Americans also contributed to the collapse of the bison. By the 1830s the Comanche and their allies on the southern plains were killing about 280,000 bison a year, which was near the limit of sustainability for that region. Firearms and horses, along with a growing export market for buffalo robes and bison meat had resulted in larger and larger numbers of bison killed each year. A long and intense drought hit the southern plains in 1845, lasting into the 1860s, which caused a widespread collapse of the bison herds. In the 1860s, the rains returned and the bison herds recovered to a degree.

The railroad industry also wanted bison herds culled or eliminated. Herds of bison on tracks could damage locomotives when the trains failed to stop in time. Herds often took shelter in the artificial cuts formed by the grade of the track winding though hills and mountains in harsh winter conditions. As a result, bison herds could delay a train for days.
This map based on William Temple Hornaday's late-nineteenth-century research.
A pile of bison skulls in the 1870s.

The main reason for the bison's near-demise, much like the actual demise of the Passenger Pigeon, was commercial hunting.

Bison skins were used for industrial machine belts, clothing such as robes, and rugs. There was a huge export trade to Europe of bison hides. Old West bison hunting was very often a big commercial enterprise, involving organized teams of one or two professional hunters, backed by a team of skinners, gun cleaners, cartridge reloaders, cooks, wranglers, blacksmiths, security guards, teamsters, and numerous horses and wagons. Men were even employed to recover and recast lead bullets taken from the carcasses. Many of these professional hunters, such as Buffalo Bill Cody, killed over a hundred animals at a single stand and many thousands in their career. One professional hunter killed over 20,000 by his own count. A good hide could bring $3 in Dodge City, Kansas, and a very good one (the heavy winter coat) could sell for $50 in an era when a laborer would be lucky to make a dollar a day.

The hunter would customarily locate the herd in the early morning, and station himself about 100 yards (90 m) from it, shooting the animals broadside through the lungs. Head shots were not preferred as the soft lead bullets would often flatten and fail to penetrate the skull, especially if mud was matted on the head of the animal. The bison would drop until either the herd sensed danger and stampeded or perhaps a wounded animal attacked another, causing the herd to disperse. If done properly a large number of bison would be felled at one time. Following up were the skinners, who would drive a spike through the nose of each dead animal with a sledgehammer, hook up a horse team, and pull the hide from the carcass. The hides were dressed, prepared, and stacked on the wagons by other members of the organization.
A bull bison, illustrated in The Extermination of the American Bison. Used on the obverse of the 1901 American Bison $10 bill.

For a decade from 1873 on there were several hundred, perhaps over a thousand, such commercial hide hunting outfits harvesting bison at any one time, vastly exceeding the take by American Indians or individual meat hunters. The commercial take arguably was anywhere from 2,000 to 100,000 animals per day depending on the season, though there are no statistics available. It was said that the Big .50s were fired so much that hunters needed at least two rifles to let the barrels cool off; The Fireside Book of Guns reports they were sometimes quenched in the winter snow. Dodge City saw railroad cars sent East filled with stacked hides.

The building of the railroads through Colorado and Kansas split the bison herd in two parts, the southern herd and the northern herd. The last refuge of the southern herd was in the Texas panhandle.

As the great herds began to wane, proposals to protect the bison were discussed. Cody, among others, spoke in favor of protecting the bison because he saw that the pressure on the species was too great. Yet these proposals were discouraged since it was recognized that the Plains Indians, often at war with the United States, depended on bison for their way of life. In 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant "pocket vetoed" a Federal bill to protect the dwindling bison herds, and in 1875 General Philip Sheridan pleaded to a joint session of Congress to slaughter the herds, to deprive the Indians of their source of food. By 1884, the American Bison was close to extinction.

Wushu, Warriorship Applied to life

2009-12-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Trials from life usually encompass the sender and the receiver....That seems to be the case anyway, always something to learn. How people treat us,,,yes sometimes it's like a full body blow or a kick to the heart...(I use a lot of martial arts terminology, because Wushu, Kung fu, or whatever... is like life, that's the beauty of it.) We have to learn to feel the intention, because sometimes we aren't aware enough of the impending kick. When we see the knee raise up (warning sign) it's time to side step and deflect. But silly us, and I have been guilty of this.. we take the blow to the heart, and we keep taking the blows until we have been trained to avoid them or see them for what they are. We should train just like in Kung fu...until not only can we move aside and deflect but we can also have the choice to return a devastating blow. But "the sword of no sword" is more about deflecting then returning the blow. The fact that we know we can return a devastating blow, and don't that's where honor comes in. knowing we can.. gives us courage and confidence, but the fact that we don't is the honor.
In Tai Chi another Chinese art, the momentum of the persons kick is redirected or used to throw the person off balance and fall on their face... better to loose face and to learn, then to have to receive a lethal blow. Think about that in terms of putting a person in their place with softness or crushing them with devastating blows (sharp cutting words). I have been through so many kicks to the heart physically and mentally, as many of us have. You train so you don't have to worry about it. When you are first learning, the ego says devastate that S.O.B.,,but as you progress, you don't see the need, because they are devastating themselves, or you can avoid it entirely (the sword of no sword)... this can apply to how we deal with our internal thoughts that become opponents, or self induced hate that tries to kick us to the heart.

Role Models

As far as role models, that's ok if we know our role models,,,or we take the good from the role model, because no one is perfect...take the good, overlook the imperfection. Lets remember though that's the problem with titles...even when we take on a Sensei or Sifu, to learn the martial arts,,the person is not to be worshipped but just respected for what they know and can pass on to us. Usually the motive for a sifu is to help us cope with the violence around us but teach us spiritual values too. He is not out to hurt us for glee! He is beyond that! The problem with modern warfare or even some historical warfare is that its built on devastating the opponent, it's about body count. It's about shock and awe. It isn't about applying enough force to redirect or make them say uncle (tapping out or slapping on the floor with your hand) its about complete destruction. Where is the honor in that? I highly recommend taking some form of Martial art both hard and soft and applying the spiritual principles or concepts in your life as a means to insure your well being and survival.

-Wakiya

Primitive Fishing Hook / Gouge From Wood or Thorn

2009-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

DEBRIS HUT / How to make one

2009-11-29T14:59:00.001-08:00

NATURAL SHELTERS
Do not overlook natural formations that provide shelter. Examples are caves, rocky crevices, clumps of bushes, small depressions, large rocks on leeward sides of hills, large trees with low-hanging limbs, and fallen trees with thick branches. However, when selecting a natural formation—

*
Stay away from low ground such as ravines, narrow valleys, or creek beds. Low areas collect the heavy cold air at night and are therefore colder than the surrounding high ground. Thick, brushy, low ground also harbors more insects.
*
Check for poisonous snakes, ticks, mites, scorpions, and stinging ants.
*
Look for loose rocks, dead limbs, coconuts, or other natural growth than could fall on your shelter.

For warmth and ease of construction, the debris hut is one of the best. When shelter is essential to survival, build this shelter

To make a debris hut, you should—

*
Build it by making a tripod with two short stakes and a long ridgepole or by placing one end of a long ridgepole on top of a sturdy base.
*
Secure the ridgepole (pole running the length of the shelter) using the tripod method or by anchoring it to a tree at about waist height.
*
Prop large sticks along both sides of the ridgepole to create a wedge-shaped ribbing effect. Ensure the ribbing is wide enough to accommodate your body and steep enough to shed moisture.
*
Place finer sticks and brush crosswise on the ribbing. These form a latticework that will keep the insulating material (grass, pine needles, leaves) from falling through the ribbing into the sleeping area.
*

Add light, dry, if possible, soft debris over the ribbing until the insulating material is at least 1 meter (3 feet) thick—the thicker the better.

*

Place a 30-centimeter (1-foot) layer of insulating material inside the shelter.
*

At the entrance, pile insulating material that you can drag to you once inside the shelter to close the entrance or build a door.
*

As a final step in constructing this shelter, add shingling material or branches on top of the debris layer to prevent the insulating material from blowing away in a storm.

Comment: Debris huts have been known to save people in 20 to 40 below weather.
When built properly some people even complain of being to hot. Make sure you stuff debris or leaves all around inside the shelter.
-Wakiya

Inuit Woman Saves Downed Pilot

2009-11-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

"The Snow Walker" Touched my heart and brought everything to bare concerning Native Spirituality, survival, giving, and tracking all in one ball of wax. This Movie is based on a true story.

A Young Alaskan Bush pilot "Charlie" on a routine run delivering fuel oil and food to a small Inuit fishing camp in the remote wilderness of Alaska, concedes to fly a young Inuit women "Kanella" in need of medical attention to a hospital in "Yellow knife." On their way back the float plane loses oil pressure and goes down in the middle of nowhere.

The ex-world war two pilot who thought he had seen and done it all was now at the mercy of the elements and wilderness. As he goes through his tantrums, cussing and anger, the native women looks at his antics calmly and with compassion. His reputation as a macho swaggering two fisted drinking pilot doesn't go far when confronted with survival.

In a vain attempt to venture off on his own, he soon finds himself unconscious due to the lack of knowledge concerning the land, the elements, dehydration, and an attack by a swarm of Mosquitoes. He looses his shoes, gun and half his clothing.

When he wakes up he finds the Native Women who had followed him without his knowledge by his side . His feet and wounds are already wrapped in herbs from the surrounding wilderness and he is given something warm to drink from an old can.

As the story progresses, the Young women employs all of her skills such as fishing with a simple nature made block and tackle, catching rodents with snares made from natural vines etc. She also happens to have in her pouch a knife for skinning, and other useful items like bone needles.

Not only does she nurse him back to health, and sew clothes for him to survive but provides him with hope, companionship and a sense of spirituality and morality which is sorely needed. He finds himself looking at life and his past war experiences as a fighter pilot in a whole new light. He is literally transformed by a twenty year old woman, who is ailing in the first place. She provides him with views on everything from mortality and living in oneness with nature, to self healing, tracking, hunting and survival.

On a scale of five I give this a ten. I recommend this movie highly or the book for that matter. This is work of art. It could have just as easily been a documentary. I have just scratched the surface regarding the content and feelings conveyed.

As a footnote: I found a resonance in my own life, having been a Bush Pilot and Flight instructor, (see photo below) in the wilds of Mexico and the south pacific and at one time was even declared missing. Fortunately for me all turned out ok. My story could very well have been this one in many ways.
-Wakiya (Thunder)

Earth Houses

2009-11-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

Compared to traditional residential houses built on the ground, the aim of building an earth house is another: Not to live under or in the ground, but with it. The earth house is a flexible construction which can be built according to the wishes of its owners, fulfilling the need for individuality, environmentally friendly construction and energy saving. The earth house concept uses its surroundings as an advantage – the surroundings are not adapted to the building, the house is shaped in order to preserve the natural environment. Modern earth-house architecture incorporates the latest interior finishing, such as contemporary kitchens, bathrooms and house-control systems.

As an energy efficient home, underground homes excel, as the ground temperature varies little, so little heating or cooling is necessary, and the home can be impervious to outdoor environment. Natural heating and cooling can save as much as 85% on your energy bill.

Comment: I have been thinking about this a long time, so I went to my computer art program quite some time ago and pieced together what I thought would be an awesome cave dwelling,,with indoor fireplace, bath or hot tub, fire place, drum, sacred pipe, sleeping space and of course I added a companion too. That's extra and not included in the construction. (laughs) -Thunder

Wilderness

2009-11-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

What is a Wilderness Area

"In the end, dedicated, inspired people empowered by effective legislation will ensure that the spirit and services of wilderness will thrive and permeate our society, preserving a world that we are proud to hand over to those who come after us." Vance G. Martin and Ian C. Player, Forward, A Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy

Defining “wilderness” is sometimes challenging because the word has many different usages: it is sometimes used very loosely or metaphorically in casual conversation, and sometimes very precisely, for example as a biological descriptor, or as a protected area classification in land use statutes. Adding to the complexity is the fact that the term “wilderness” refers to a set of qualities, such as wildness, intactness, and remoteness, all of which are to some degree contextual and subject to interpretation.

Despite its many subjective values, the word wilderness is not so elusive that it defies definition. Broadly speaking, The WILD Foundation defines wilderness areas as: The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet – those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with roads, pipelines or other industrial infrastructure.
A wilderness area can have two dimensions:

* A place that is mostly biologically intact ; and,
* A place that is legally protected so that it remains wild, and free of industrial infrastructure, and open to traditional indigenous use, or low impact recreation.

A wilderness area is not necessarily a place that is biologically “pristine”. Very few places on earth are not in some way impacted by humans. Rather, the key is that a wilderness area be mainly biologically intact: evidence of minor human impact, or indications of historical human activity does not disqualify an area from being considered wilderness. Nor must a wilderness area be free of human habitation: many indigenous populations live in wild areas around the world, often playing a key role in keeping wilderness intact and free of development.

The essence of a wilderness area is that it is a place where humans can maintain a relationship with wild nature. Whether that relationship is characterized by recreational use or traditional, indigenous use does not matter, so long as the relationship is predicated on a fundamental respect for – and appreciation of – wild nature.

Wilderness areas are protected for a broad range of biological, social, economic, spiritual and recreational benefits – they often also have powerful iconic value, holding great significance as spectacular, awe inspiring places.
-The wild foundation

Comment by Thunder

The above description is an attempt to describe Nature or how all of the planet was at one time. Now we designate certain areas as quote: "Wilderness Areas" because of our encroachment and destruction of a good deal of the pristine environment, or nature. Nature meaning natural or as it should be.

The Native American considered himself one with the nature of things, "The living spirit that moves in all things" he believed the supernatural and natural to be one, until others tried to convince him they were separate.
The Taoists consider Nature supreme and part of "The Tao" or that force which cannot be described. A force we should flow with and live in harmony with. The real problem is we built our living environments out of sync with our surroundings, because of some misguided notion that we were separate. Now we pay the price unless we do a 180, which seems unlikely. Its more like nature will do a 180 on us.

Earth friendly homes / Modern Teepees

2009-11-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

No matter how you spell it; tipi, tepee or teepee, a Reliable Tipi is a charming lodge that kindles nostalgic memories of a simpler time in history. The materials in use today are modern and durable; the designs are authentic and replicate the tribal traditions of the western plains Indians. The Crow, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet styles. The original dwellers of tipis were nomadic peoples attuned to the spirits, the land and its' animals, as well as, the seasons. Today we can enjoy a similar spiritual experience that seems to exist within all tipis.

Info: Colorado Yurts

Reliable Tent and tipi

Apache Dwellings

2009-11-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

The Apache are a Native American people located throughout the southwest. Most Apache tribes were nomadic and their territory stretched from present day Mexico to the southern plains of the US.
The Apache used several different types of dwellings depending on where they lived and the construction materials found in the area.

History of
Because they were nomads, Apache dwellings were semi-permanent for easy construction. Apache dwellings were as diverse as the areas in which they lived. They adapted their homes to different climates and sometimes adopted new building techniques from neighboring Native American tribes.

Type # 1 The most widely used Apache dwelling was called a wickiup or wigwam. Large wooden branches and poles were the frame and surrounding brush covered the entire structure as protection from the elements. These dwellings could be constructed very quickly if enough resources were in the area. Due to their religious beliefs, most Apaches would burn a wickiup or wigwam if one of the current inhabitants died.

Type# 2 The hogan is another type of dwelling adopted by the Apache tribes. This structure is more commonly associated with the Navajo tribe, but some southern Apache used this type of housing as well. Hogans were more permanent homes as they were built of mud and sticks. A frame was made from logs and mud, sticks and even dried earthen bricks were used to finish the home. The entryway or front door of a hogan will always east to face the rising sun.

Type# 3 The kowa was a dome-shaped dwelling with a wooded frame, thatch and grass were used for the covering. Much like the wickiup or wigwam, the kowa was easily assembled and taken down for travel. Like all Apache dwellings, the construction of the kowa was done by the women of the tribe.

Type# 4 The teepee or tipi, is the most recognized Native American dwelling. This home was commonly used by the Plains Indians. The Lipan and Plains Apache often used this type of dwelling. The teepee is a cone-shaped structure supported by large poles and covered with animal skins. The top of the teepee had a hole that allowed smoke from a central fire to escape. The most common skin used to cover a teepee was buffalo skin. Teepees were very versatile for the Plains Apache as they could be built and taken down quickly as the tribe moved from place to place in search of game.

Modern Native American Warrior

2009-11-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Although the Apache Indian tribes may be known for their historical conflicts with the Mexicans throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries, Master Sgt. Gabriel Fierro Sr. is proud of his blended heritage. Tracing his family's roots back to the Apache and Aztec Indian tribes, his parents' ancestors set foot on American soil long before the creation of our nation and the Army. His father, who is part Apache Indian and part Mexican, and mother, who is part Mayan and part Aztec Indian, raised Fierro to be proud of his heritage and devoted to the land in which he lived. The Soldier, who is the fourth family member to serve in the Army, uses his blended background to help others, including the younger enlisted Soldiers in his unit and his own children.

The self-proclaimed "cultural chameleon" has been able to use his blended American Indian and Hispanic heritages to better relate with both cultural groups, speaking Spanish to Hispanic Soldiers and discussing the warrior ethos of the Indian tribes with American Indian Soldiers. However, regardless of a Soldier's heritage, Fierro is committed to helping them prepare for life within the Army. In addition to mentoring and leading the Soldiers in his unit, Fierro is also a dedicated father, striving to instill Army Strong values in his children.

"Everything I teach my Soldiers, I teach my kids, and vice versa. I want everyone to be treated for who they are, not what they look like," said Fierro.

Drawing on his own blended cultural heritage, Fierro emphasizes to both his fellow Soldiers and children the importance of being open-minded and accepting, as well as teaching them to base opinions on others' actions, not their race or heritage.

When Fierro enlisted in the Army in the late 1970s, he was following in not only a tradition of excellence for Noncommissioned Officers (NCO), but his family as well. With Fierro's father and two brothers serving as NCOs in the Army, he joined right out of high school, thinking he would serve for a few years before starting a civilian career. However, he has continued to serve, knowing that his Army service provides him with a meaningful career and enables him to do what he loves most - helping others.

An extension of Fierro's commitment to helping others, the Soldier deployed to Balad, Iraq in 2007-2008 to serve as a Civil Affairs Team Sergeant. While deployed, the 431st Civil Affairs Team successfully completed more than 130 combat missions working with local provincial government to improve employment options for Iraqis. One of the most notable projects during his deployment was helping to institute the first micro-loan program in the Salah- Ah-Din region, to create economic stability. For meritorious service throughout his deployment, the NCO was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. True to his commitment as a leader and mentor, Fierro took it upon himself to maintain the morale of the unit, frequently sharing care packages with other Soldiers who didn't have an active support system at home.

Fierro, along with his wife and children, currently lives in Charlotte, N.C., where he serves with the 108th Training Command (Initial Entry Training) as a Human Resources Manager. In that role, he works to prepare Soldiers for mobilization, as well as help them balance their roles as citizens and Soldiers. With more than three decades of Army service, the Reservist has plans to retire in the fall of 2010, and feels confident that the Army has provided him with skills transferable to many civilian occupations.

lakota lanquage / Inyan / Rock

2009-11-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

Chief Spotted Eagle Sans Arc Sioux

2009-10-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

Spotted Eagle's Village was the last great leather lodge village seen on the Yellowstone. These lodges were pitched in the fall of 1880 near Fort Keogh when the Spotted Eagle hand numbering nearly 2500 people of the Sioux nation surrendered to General Nelson Miles. At this point in time, most lodges in other camps were made from White Man's canvas. This is also the village where Rain-In-The-Face was a prisoner of war and where Huffman smuggled him away from the camp and into his studio where numerous photographs were made of him

The Sun Dance

2009-10-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Sun Dance is a religious ceremony practiced by a number of Native American tribes, primarily those of the Plains Nations. Each tribe has its own distinct practices and ceremonial protocols, but many of the ceremonies have features in common, including dancing, singing of traditional songs in the tribe's native languages, praying, drumming, the experience of visions, fasting, and in some cases piercing of skin on the chest, arms or back. Most notable for early Western observers was the piercing many young men endure as part of the ritual.

The object of being pierced is to sacrifice one's self to the Great Spirit, and to pray while connected to the Tree of Life, a direct connection to the Great Spirit. Breaking from the piercing is done in one moment, as the dancer runs backwards from the tree at a time specified by the leader of the dance. A common explanation, in context with the intent of the dancer, is that a flesh offering, or piercing, is given as part of prayer and offering for the benefit of one's family and community.

Though only some Nations' Sun Dances include the piercings, the Canadian Government outlawed some of the practices of the Sun Dance in 1880, and the United States government followed suit in 1904. However, the ceremony is now again fully legal (since Jimmy Carter's presidency in the United States) and is still practiced in the United States and Canada. Some dancers do not do pierce at all, such as the Shoshone in Wyoming. They may pierce if they desire to. A Sundancer must commit to dancing for four years.

American Indian Teepee

2009-10-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

American Indian Teepee

Since many Native American Indians were nomads at one point, and many would travel and move with the buffalo that would serve as a food staple for them, they had to have housing that was easy and quick to move, this is one of the reasons that certain plains tribes created the American Indian teepee. For the times the teepee was an ingenious invention and still to this day when you really analyze how the teepees were constructed, it is still quite amazing for the primitive times.

The Native people made the American Indian teepee out of an armful of small but strong trees all cut to equal lengths. They would tie these together with a rope type material that was made from animal sinew and then they would use an animals hide to cover the hand made frame. A door was also made out of a piece of the hide and there was also and inner layer of animal hide, so both sides of the frame of the American Indian teepee were covered. When finished the teepee was an A-frame structure and the top would have flaps that could be opened or closed to allow smoke to escape. The base was also made wider so there would be plenty of room for the fire.

Fire was another integral part of the Native American Indians lifestyle, so the creation of the American Indian teepee was perfect since it allowed the Indian people the ability to have their own fires to cook with in their homes. The other great thing about the teepees was the fact that they were so mobile, and the nomadic tribes could just take them apart very quickly and move them as they followed the buffalo. Other times the American Indians would have to move their homes quickly to avoid the stampeding buffalo, which would occur frequently since they lived in such a close proximity of the buffalo. The buffalo hide was the main hide that the American Indian teepee would be made from, and many times the tribal families would decorate the outside of their teepees with their family of tribal symbol.

Native American Warriors

2009-10-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

Blackfoot warrior

Native American Warriors

The art of war was a common part of life for ancient Native Americans. Native American warriors were an integral part of every Indian tribe, and were considered brave heroes.

In most tribes Native American warriors were sculpted from birth. In fact, legend has it that after birth a future warrior’s umbilical cord was often buried on the battle field. This would signify that the child was born a warrior, and would dedicate his life to fighting for his people. In fact, some tribes a young Native American was only considered a man once he had made his first killing.

Many ancient Native American warriors wore the skin and hide of animals. This battlefield attire usually included a headpiece that was made from a head of a real animal. This apparel had both practical and spiritual origins. The animal skins would help the warriors hide from their enemies, and Native Americans also felt that it kept them closer to nature. They thought that this would help protect them.

Native American warriors would often use homemade weapons. One of the most common was the spear, which was little more than a sharpened stick, measuring two feet long.

Before going to battle the tribe would usually have a celebration for the Native American warrior. This celebration would consist of dancing, singing, and praying for the safe return of the fighter. At this time the warrior would paint his face with the blood of a sacrificial animal. This was thought to keep the fighter safe during battle.

A similar celebration would be given once the warrior had returned having beaten the enemy. During this celebration, warriors were often presented the feathers from an eagle to acknowledge their accomplishments. These feathers would then be proudly displayed in a headdress. The warrior with the most feathers was usually considered the bravest and most accomplished.

Modern Native American Woman Warrior

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Oklahoma Army National Guard Maj. Vickie Morgan Jones, a Seneca Indian, posed for this painting called "Heritage of Valor" by visual artist and Oklahoma state senator Enoch Kelly Haney. Haney painted Jones pictured as a Seneca woman righteously defending her camp with a club in hand. In the upper right of the painting is a shadow of helicopter pilot Jones in her flight suit as a 20th century Native American protecting her homeland. Photo of painting courtesy of Maj. Vickie Morgan Jones

Seneca Indian Army Maj. Vickie Morgan Jones, the first woman in Oklahoma and first American Indian woman in the nation to become a helicopter pilot. She said she was also the first woman to complete air assault school.

When she was 19, the Army major said, she considered following her father's footsteps into the Air Force, but decided she "wasn't mature enough to make a commitment like that." Then, a few years later during a time of "self- discovery," she joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 279th Infantry Regiment on March 24, 1978, and as her self-discovery evolved, she became heavily involved in American Indian religious ceremonies.

I did talks last year to schools in my area, educating them about Ira Hayes (a Pima Indian Marine who helped raise the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II), Navajo code talkers and our Medal of Honor recipients," she noted. "Also, many individuals have never been to a powwow. We have beautiful dances that have meanings."

Her father, Carl Glass Sr., was a full-blooded Cherokee. He retired as an Air Force senior master sergeant in 1968. Her mother, Cordellia Bernice Conner, the product of the Seneca-Cayuga and Quapaw tribes, was a licensed practical nurse. "Both of my parents have left this world for one better," Jones said.

Medicine Wheel

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Medicine Wheel

To understand the significance of the medicine wheel, we need to go back to a time when most Indian nations were constantly at war with each other. Tribes were obsessed with wiping out their "enemies." Then a dramatic shift in perception occurred, and a peace was realized, which lasted for a period of 150 to 200 years. This long truce was the result of a great Iroquois chief, (sounds like Agonawila), later to become Hiawatha, who urged the tribes to cease the madness of brother killing brother, and formed an alliance, which came to be known as the Confederation of Nations. The Confederation recognized that Indian peoples were more alike than different. Even though they spoke different dialects, they had the same basic belief systems and followed similar traditions.

An important part of this transformation was the medicine wheel, which was placed in front of every tepee, and decorated in special symbols, colors, and stones, to let people entering the tribe know about its inhabitants. The medicine wheel was a reflection of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses, and it gave people guidelines to follow for personal growth. It told people what they needed to learn and what they needed to teach. Everyone was ordered to work on themselves, or else leave the tribe. After several generations of this work, people lost the concept of blame and anger. This, in turn, resulted in the longest peace in modern history.

Brother Eagle Soaring, from Arizona, explains the powerful impact of the medicine wheel: "If I said to you, ‘Does anyone ever make you angry?’ you would say yes. But in reality, this is totally impossible. You choose to be angry by the way you process the event. This is something you were taught to do as a child. If you could imagine not one person in all of New York City having the concept of anger, that’s what it was like during that time period of no wars before the white man came."

The medicine wheel is a circle divided by a cross to create four directions--the north, east, south, and west. A forerunner to astrology, each person is represented somewhere within that circle, depending upon their birth date. That placement is associated with a special moon, power animal, healing plant, color and mineral, as outlined below. Though more complex in actuality, here Brother Soaring Eagle gives an overview of the special meanings the medicine wheel can have for individuals:

Apache Wedding Prayer

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Apache Wedding Prayer

Now you will feel no rain,
for each of you will be shelter for the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there will be no loneliness,
for each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two persons,
but there are three lives before you: his life, her life and your life together.
Go now to your dwelling place to enter into your days together.
And may all your days be good and long upon the Earth.

Apache women / Maa-ya-ha (Grandmother Nellie)

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Maa-ya-ha (Grandmother Nellie)

The maternal grandmother of Ernestene Cody Begay, Maa-ya-ha, was born around 1879 into the band of Western Apaches living near Cibecue Creek. She knew a great deal about herbs, was an accomplished basket weaver, farmer and midwife. She also served as an attendant during many Sunrise Dances. Maa-ya-ha had ten children with her husband, Eskin-na-chik

Maa-ya-ha's mother was present at the battle at Cibecue in 1881. When fighting broke out she was told to hide and not to move as people ran everywhere. She remembered running with her shoes under her arm and suddenly realizing that they had been shot. She spent hours hiding under a bush until it became dark and she saw smoke coming from the wickiups and heard voices.

Maa-ya-ha's life was difficult when she was very young and food was scarce. Later on, however, she and her husband made a good life for themselves as skilled farmers and ranchers. Community members often turned to the couple for help. Maa-ya-ha died in 1970.

Great Apache Chiefs / Geronimo

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Geronimo (Spanish for Jerome, applied by the Mexicans as a nickname; native name Goyathlay, `one who yawns'). A medicine man and prophet of the Chiricahua Apache who, in the latter part of the 19th century, acquired notoriety through his opposition to the authorities and by systematic and sensational advertising; born about 1834 at the headwaters of Gila River, New Mexico, near old Ft Tulerosa. His father was Taklishim, `The Gray One,' who was not a chief, although his father (Geronimo's grandfather) assumed to be a chief without heredity or election. Geronimo's mother was known as Juana.

When it was decided, in 1876, in consequence of depredations committed in Sonora, of which the Mexican government complained, to remove the Chiricahua from their reservation on the south frontier to San Carlos, Ariz., Geronimo and others of the younger chiefs fled into Mexico. He was arrested later when he returned with his band to Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, and tilled the ground in peace on San Carlos reservation until the Chiricahua became discontented because the Government would not help them irrigate their lands. In 1882 Geronimo led one of the hands that raided in Sonora and surrendered when surrounded by Gen. George H. Crook's force in the Sierra Madre. He had one of the best farms at San Carlos, when trouble arose in 1854 in consequence of the attempt of the authorities to stop the making of tiswin, the native intoxicant.

During 1884-85 he gathered a band of hostiles, who terrorized the inhabitants of south Arizona and New Mexico, as well as of Sonora and Chihuahua, in Mexico. Gen. Crook proceeded against them with instructions to capture or destroy the chief and his followers.

In Mar. 1886, a truce was made, followed by a conference, at which the terms of surrender were agreed on; but Geronimo and his followers having again fled to the Sierra Madre across the Mexican frontier, and Gen. Miles having been placed in command, active operations were renewed and their surrender was ultimately effected in the following August. The entire band, numbering about 340, including Geronimo and Nachi, the hereditary chief, were deported as prisoners of war, first to Florida and later to Alabama, being finally settled at Ft Sill, Okla., where they now reside under military supervision and in prosperous condition, being industrious workers and careful spenders. (J. M. C. T. )

Great Apache Chiefs / Mangas Coloradas

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Mangas Coloradas (Span: `red sleeves') . A Mimbreno Apache chief. He pledged friendship to the Americans when Gen. S. W. Kearny took possession of New Mexico in 1846. The chief stronghold of the Mimbremo at that time was at the Santa Rita copper mines, south west New Mexico, where they had killed the miners in 1837 to avenge a massacre committed by white trappers who invited a number of Mimbrenos to a feast and murdered them to obtain the bounty of $100 offered by the state of Chihuahua for every Apache scalp. When the boundary commission made its headquarters at Santa Rita trouble arose over the taking from the Mimbreno Apache of some Mexican captives and over the murder of an Indian by a Mexican whom the Americans refused to hang on the spot: The Mimbrenos retaliated by stealing some horses and mules belonging to the commission, and when the commissioners went on to survey another section of the boundary the Indians conceived that they had driven them away. In consequence of indignities received at the hands of miners at the Pinos Altos gold mines, by whom he was bound and whipped,- Mangas Coloradas collected a large band of Apache and became the scourge of the white settlements for years. He formed an alliance with Cochise to resist the Californian volunteers who reoccupied the country when it was abandoned by troops at the beginning of the Civil war, and was wounded in an engagement at Apache pass, south east Arizona, that grew out of a misunderstanding regarding a theft of cattle. His men took him to Janos, in Chihuahua, and left him in the care of a surgeon with a warning that the town would be destroyed in case he were not cured: According to one account, soon after his recovery he was taken prisoner in Jan., 1863, by the Californians and was killed while attempting to escape, goaded, it is said, with a red-hot bayonet (Dunn, Massacres of Mts., 365, 374, 382, 1886), while Bell (New Tracks, ii, 24, 1869) states that in 1862 he was induced to enter Ft McLane, New Mexico, on the plea of making a treaty and receiving presents. The soldiers imprisoned him in a hut, and at night a sentry shot him under the pretext that he feared the Indian would escape.

Great Apache Chiefs / Cochise.

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A Chiricahua Apache chief, son and successor of Nachi. Although constantly at feud with the Mexicans, he gave no trouble to the Americans until after he went, in 1861, under a flag of truce, to the camp of a party of soldiers to deny that his tribe had abducted a white child. The commanding officer was angered by this and ordered the visiting chiefs seized and bound because they would not confess. One was killed and four were caught, but Cochise, cutting through the side of a tent, made his escape with three bullets in his body and immediately began hostilities to avenge his companions, who were hanged by the Federal troops. The troops were forced to retreat, and white settlements in Arizona were laid waste.

Soon afterward the military posts were abandoned, the troops being recalled to take part in the Civil war. This convinced the Apache that they need only to fight to prevent Americans front settling in their country. Cochise and Mangos Coloradas defended Apache pass in southeast Arizona against the Californians, who marched under Gen. Carleton to reopen communication between the Pacific coast and the east. The howitzers of the California volunteers put the Apache to flight . When United States troops returned to resume the occupancy of the country after the close of the Civil war, a war of extermination was carried on against the Apache.

Cochise did not surrender till Sept., 1871. When orders came to transfer his people from Canada Alamosa to the new Tularosa reservation, in New Mexico, he escaped with a hand of 200 in the spring of 1872, and his example was followed by 600 others. After the Chiricahua reservation was established Arizona, in the summer of 1872, he carne in, and there died in peace June 8, 1874. He was succeeded as chief by his son Taza. The southeastern most county of Arizona bears Cochise's name.

Great Apache Chiefs / Nache

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Nahche (Na-ai-che, `mischievous,' `meddlesome.'-George Wrattan). An Apache warrior, a member of the Chiricahua band. He is the second son of the celebrated Cochise, and as hereditary chief succeeded his elder brother, Tazi, on the death of the latter. His mother was a daughter of the notorious Mangas Coloradas.

As a child Nahche was meddlesome and mischievous, hence his name. He was the leading spirit in the many raids that almost desolated the smaller settlements of Arizona and New Mexico and of northern Chihuahua and Sonora between 1881 and 1886, for which Geronimo's, a Medicine-man and malcontent rather than a warrior, received the chief credit. In the latter year Geronimo's band, so called, of which Nahche was actually the chief, was captured by General Miles and taken as prisoners of war successively to Florida, Alabama, and finally to Ft Sill, Okla., where Nahche still resides, respected by his own people as well as by the whites. In his prime as a warrior he was described as supple and graceful, with long, flexible hands, and a rather handsome face. His height was 5 ft. 10½ in, for four years in charge of the Chiricahua prisoners in Oklahoma, speaks of Nahche as a most forceful and reliable man, faithfully performing the duties assigned to him as a prisoner, whether watched or not. He was proud and self-respecting, and was regarded by the Chiricahua at Ft Sill as their leader. In recent years, however, he has lost his old-time influence as well as some of his trustworthiness (inf'n from Geo. Wrattan, official interpreter, 1907).

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua Part 6

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The Indians met the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Interior and were presented to President Cleveland. But no decision was reached concerning a new location, nor was anything important accomplished. Chatto was presented with a large silver medal, and Secretary Endicott of the War Department gave him a certificate to carry away. These gifts pleased Chatto and set his disturbed mind at rest, for he supposed, naturally, that they were marks of approval from the highest officers of the Government and carried with them the assurance that he and his people were not to be removed from the Apache reservation. He was soon disillusioned. While the delegation was still in Washington, Cleveland and Sheridan had made up their minds that all of the Chiricahuas, both the delegation in Washington and those at home on the reservation, should be sent to Fort Marion, Florida, and held there as prisoners. Sheridan telegraphed to Miles, July 31: "The President wishes me to ask what you think of the proposition to forcibly arrest all on the reservation and send them to Fort Marion, Florida, where they can be joined by the party now here." Miles replied by wire, August 2, giving his reactions, pro and con, to the President's proposal. On the whole, he favored it; but he pointed out this serious objection: "As the delegation went to Washington by authority of the Government with a view of making some permanent arrangement for their future, I fear it would be charged that the Government had taken advantage of them, and believe the Indians would consider it an act of bad faith. . . ." However, he protested against the return of the delegation to Arizona; for he had already taken steps for the forcible removal of the Chiricahuas in Arizona. Colonel Wade, in command at Fort Apache, had been directed to keep them completely under his control. Accordingly, Chatto and his party were delayed at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for five days; and then, notwithstanding Miles' request that they be detained still longer, were again started on their way to Arizona. By the time they reached Kansas, the War Department, yielding to Miles' repeated request, ordered that they be stopped and taken to Fort Leavenworth; and there they were held, in fear and great anxiety of mind, until September 12. The Secretary of War then sent the following order to the Commanding General of the Division of the Missouri: "You will cause the Apache Indians now at Fort Leavenworth to be sent under charge of Captain Dorst, Fourth Cavalry, by the most direct and expeditious route to St. Augustine, Florida, and upon arrival to be turned over to the commanding officer at that post for confinement with other Indian prisoners now there." This disposition of the delegation met the approval of President Cleveland, Endicott, the Secretary of War, L. Q. C. Lamar, the Secretary of the Interior, and Lieutenant-General Sheridan.

During August and September, while the delegation was confined at Fort Leavenworth, Miles had made ample military preparation for the removal of the four hundred and twenty-eight Indians on the reservation. He had added to Colonel Wade's five troops stationed at Fort Apache a troop from San Carlos, two from Fort Thomas, and one from Alma, New Mexico. The Indian men were placed under guard and disarmed; and on September 7 the whole camp--men, women, and children--were started for Holbrook, one hundred miles away, where they were put on the Atlantic and Pacific Railway train and sent by way of Albuquerque, St. Louis, and Atlanta, to Fort Marion, Florida, which they reached on September 20, the same day that Chatto and his party arrived.

It has seemed to citizens of sensitive honor--particularly to men like Captain John G. Bourke, Lieutenants Charles B. Gatewood and Britton Davis, and General George Crook, humane and chivalrous soldiers--that these Chiricahua and Warm Spring Reservation Indians were dishonorably dealt with by the Government. In the closing pages of his excellent book, Britton Davis, with caustic force, arraigns the Government for its treatment of these Indians; and the valiant John G. Bourke, at the close of Chapter XXIX of his great book, On the Border with Crook, has this to say about Miles' campaign against the outlaw Chiricahuas and concerning the final disposition of the well-behaved Indians who had remained on the reservation:

"Not a single Chiricahua had been killed, captured, or wounded throughout the entire campaign--with two exceptions--unless by Chiricahua-Apache scouts who, like ' Chato,' had kept the pledges given to General Crook in the Sierra Madre in 1883. The exceptions were: one killed by the White Mountain Apaches near Fort Apache, and one killed by a white man in northern Mexico. Yet every one of those faithful scouts--especially the two 'Ki-e-ta' and 'Martinez,' who had at imminent personal peril gone into the Sierra Madre to hunt up 'Geronimo' and induce him to surrender, were transplanted to Florida and there subjected to the same punishment as had been meted out to 'Geronimo.' And with them were sent men like 'Goth-Kli' and 'Toklanni,' who were not Chiricahuas at all, but had only lately married wives of that band, who had never been on the war-path in any capacity except as soldiers of the Government, and had devoted years to its service. There is no more disgraceful page in the history of our relations with the American Indians than that which conceals the treachery visited upon the Chiricahuas who remained faithful in their allegiance to our people. An examination of the documents cited [on a preceding page] will show that I have used extremely mild language in alluding to this affair."

General Crook, in a report dated January 6, 1890, to the Secretary of War (who had asked him to assist in finding a suitable reservation for these Chiricahua Apaches after they had suffered four years of blighting confinement in Florida), with his usual gravity and calm clarity, shows just how callous and unjust was the action of Cleveland and the military authorities in their dealings with Chatto and his fellow scouts:

"In the operation against the hostiles, Chatto and others of his band were enlisted as scouts in the service of the United States and rendered invaluable services in that capacity. It is not too much to say that the surrender of Nachez, Chihuahua, Geronimo, and their bands could not have been effected except for the assistance of Chatto and his Chiricahua scouts.

"The final surrender of Geronimo and his small band to General Miles was brought about only through Chiricahuas who had remained friendly to the Government.

"When the services were no longer required Chatto received an honorable discharge and returned to his farm. He planted wheat and barley, raised sheep and owned horses and mules. Before his crops had ripened he was summoned to Washington. After an interview with the President he left the capital expecting to return to his farm at Camp Apache. On the way he was stopped at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and kept there for two months. At the end of this time he was taken to St. Augustine, and placed in confinement with the captive hostiles, whose surrender he had been so instrumental in securing. Ever since, he has been continued in confinement with them on the same terms, and with the yet more guilty band of Geronimo, which subsequently joined them. . . ."During my interview with him at Mount Vernon Barracks, Chatto took from his breast a large medal that had been presented to him by President Cleveland and holding it out, asked, 'Why was I given that to wear in the guard-house? I thought that something good would come to me when they gave it to me, but I have been in confinement ever since I have had it.' I submit that this Indian has received but scant encouragement from the Government in his efforts to become a self-sustaining citizen."And Chatto is not alone in this experience. By far the greater part of the tribe remained true to the Government in the outbreak of 1885, and the most valuable and trustworthy of the Indian scouts were taken from among them. For their allegiance all have been rewarded alike--by captivity in a strange land." (Fifty-first Congress, First Session, Executive Document No. 83.)
The End

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua Part 5

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October 20 L. Q. C. Lamar, the Secretary of the Interior, gave his approval of the above order. The prisoners for both Fort Pickens and Fort Marion left San Antonio by special train, October 22. October 25 General Schofield telegraphed the Adjutant-General that the fifteen male hostiles had been delivered at Fort Pickens.

At the same time that Miles was pressing the campaign against the renegades in Mexico he was deeply employed in an attempt to remove forever from Arizona the Chiricahua and Warm Spring Indians located on the military reservation near Fort Apache. Men, women, and children, they numbered four hundred and forty. Their status was that of prisoners of war. They were kept under strict surveillance by the military, but had never been disarmed or dismounted. Among them were Chatto, Loco, Ka-ya-ten-na, and many other scouts who had served faithfully and efficiently under Crook in his campaigns against Nachez, Chihuahua, Mangus, and Geronimo in 1885, and in 1886. These four hundred and forty prisoners of war had been more or less industriously cultivating little farms near Fort Apache, accumulating cows, sheep, horses and mules, and cutting and selling hay and wood to the Government. The leaders seemed to be doing their best under the very difficult circumstances to live the life of the white man so earnestly pointed out to them by Crook. They were intensely hated and feared by the citizens of Arizona and heartily disliked by the White Mountain and other Apaches.

In July Miles went to Fort Apache for the purpose of working out some plan by which these Indians could be removed to a remote location in the East. He talked with the leading men, holding before them rosy pictures of what the Government might be persuaded to do for them in money and farms and stock if they would consent peaceably to leave their native mountains and mesas and give up their plots of ground for Larger and more productive holdings in some new land. He was able to induce a delegation of ten or twelve of the principal men to go to Washington for the purpose of inquiring what the Government would be willing to do for them if they moved. It was an ill-advised step on the part of Miles; there was no good ground to believe that the Government would or could relocate them satisfactorily on an Eastern reservation. However, about the middle of July, the delegation journeyed to Washington in charge of Captain J. H. Dorst, with Mickey Free, Concepcion, and Sam Bowman as interpreters. Chatto was the leading man in the delegation.

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua Part 4

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Howard's telegram was referred to Sheridan, and September 25 he returned it to the Secretary of War with this endorsement: "It was my understanding that Geronimo and the hostiles surrendered unconditionally, and it was on that account that I recommended that they should be turned over to the civil authorities of Arizona and New Mexico for trial and such punishment as might be awarded them."

September 24 Miles made his belated special report. It contained nothing that had not already been included in the annual report summarized above by Howard. September 25 the Secretary of War wired Miles: "It would appear from disdispatches received through division headquarters that Geronimo, instead of being captured, surrendered, and that the surrender, instead of being unconditional, was, contrary to expectations here, accompanied with conditions and promises. That the President may dearly understand the present status of Geronimo and his band, he desires you to report by telegraph direct the exact promises, if any, made to them at the time of surrender." In reply, on the twenty-fifth, Miles telegraphed to the President requesting that he might report to him in person. The following day Cleveland wired denying this request on the ground that it was important for Miles to remain with his command at that time. He also emphatically repeated his request of the previous day. At last poor Miles telegraphed, September 29: "On the 6th instant, I forwarded telegraphic report of 153 words, and on 19th forwarded special report, together with report in full of Captain Lawton, also my annual report. These give as full an account of facts, circumstances, and conversations as language can express, and as this matter involves the lives of men, I beg that they may be carefully read before any further action is taken."

The President was a man slow to get impressions, but determined in his efforts to learn. So, September 29, the following telegram was sent by the Secretary of War to Stanley at San Antonio: "That there may be no misunderstanding here as to the status of Geronimo and the Indians who surrendered with him, the President desires you to ascertain, as fully and clearly as possible, the exact understanding of Geronimo and Nachez as to the conditions of the surrender and the immediate circumstances which led to it."

Stanley's report showed that Geronimo and Nachez had clearly understood all that Miles promised them--and quite a little more. "Both chiefs say they never thought of surrender until Lieutenant Gatewood, interpreter George Wratten, and the two scouts came to them and said the Great Father wanted them to surrender; that they believed this, but did not believe Crook, because he talked ugly to them, and that they thought he would put them under Chatto, and that when Geronimo met Miles at Skeleton Cañon, the latter said: 'Lay down your arms and come with me to Fort Bowie, and in five days you will see your families, now in Florida with Chihuahua, and no harm will be done.' "

October 11 the Secretary of War directed Stanley to supply by telegram the name, age, sex, and condition of health of each one of the hostile Apaches in his custody at San Antonio. Stanley replied the same day giving details concerning the fifteen men, eleven women, and six children in the band, and also the names of the two enlisted scouts who had gone with Gatewood into their camp to demand their surrender. October 19 the Secretary of War issued an order to Sheridan to send the fifteen adult male hostiles under proper guard to Fort Pickens, Florida, to be kept there in close custody. The same order decreed that the eleven women, six children, and two scouts should be sent to Fort Marion, Florida, to be placed with the other Chiricahua and Warm Spring Indians who had been taken there in September. (There is a discrepancy between this report and that of Lieutenant Gatewood. Stanley reports thirty-two Apaches in all. Gatewood states the thirty-eight surrendered. The contradiction is accounted for by the fact that the night before Lawton reached Fort Bowie with his prisoners, three men and three women slipped out of his camp and escaped into the mountains.)

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua Part 3

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Now what Miles had actually reported to his superior officers was this: "I informed [them] should they throw down their arms and place themselves entirely at our mercy we should certainly not kill them, but that they must surrender absolutely as prisoners of war to the Federal authorities, and rely upon the Government to treat them fairly and justly. I informed them that I was removing all the Chiricahuas and Warm Springs from Arizona, and that they would all be removed from this country at once and for all time." Did Cleveland and Sheridan misinterpret Miles' words because they lacked adequate training in logic and the correct use of the English language, or did Miles report an unconditional surrender and the conditions upon which the surrender was made in one and the same breath? It is for the reader to decide. What is plain is that Miles was handling a very hot potato and desired to pass it on just as soon as possible. In reality, on the morning of September 8, before he had read Sheridan's telegram of September 7, he had entrained the hostile, and started them for San Antonio in charge of Lawton, Wood, and a strong escort. Howard, Miles' immediate superior in command, charged Miles with starting the hostiles for Florida "in direct contravention of the Lieutenant General and without waiting to hear the decision of the President or of the War Department." Miles denied this. But there are other ways of killing a cat than by choking it with butter. Hagedorn, basing his statement upon an entry in Leonard Wood's Diary for September 8, 1886, says: "The acting adjutant-general on Miles' staff [ Captain William A. Thompson] . . . received the telegram as the troops were preparing to take the Indians to the railroad, read it, tucked it in his pocket. . . . Wood, arriving with Lawton and the balance of the hostile, with orders to go with them as far as San Antonio, had time only to refresh his tattered wardrobe before the escort wagons drew up. . . . Captain Thompson, riding down to the railroad at Wood's side, very mellow and friendly, patted his pocket. 'I've got something here which would stop this movement, but I am not going to let the old man see it until you are gone.'"

Miles must have drawn a long breath of relief the moment that the entrained Indians crossed the limits of his Department. September 10 the Secretary of War telegraphed to General D. S. Stanley at San Antonio, commanding the Department of Texas: "You will take charge of these Indians and securely confine them at San Antonio barracks and hold them until further orders." The same day Stanley replied by wire: " Geronimo and party have arrived and are quartered in quartermaster's depot under guard. There is no permanent or safe guardhouse and no place of security at the post proper, which is only now in course of construction." Miles' disposition of the hostiles was playing hob with the plans of the President and the higher Army officials. Not until September 11 was Sheridan informed that the Indians had been stopped at San Antonio. September 13 he instructed Miles "to forward without delay a special report of the capture of Geronimo and the hostile Apaches." Evidently Miles did not report promptly. September 17 General Howard sent this telegram to the Adjutant General at Washington: "The special field order of General Miles directing that Geronimo and his band be sent to Fort Marion, Florida, states it is issued in obedience to telegraphic instructions from the Acting Secretary of War, dated September 4. Will you please furnish me with a copy of these instructions?" September 18 the Acting Adjutant-General replied to Howard: "There is no record of a telegram of September 4, or any other date, from the Acting Secretary of War to General Miles, directing him to send Geronimo and band to Fort Marion, Florida. No such order has been given." September 23 the Acting Secretary of War sent the following telegram to Howard: "The President desires you, without delay, to send him by telegraph a full report of the capture of Geronimo and the Apaches who were with him." The same day Howard replied: " General Miles was ordered by telegraph on the 13th instant to forward without delay a special report of the capture of Geronimo and the Apaches who were with him. On the 18th instant he acknowledged the receipt of the telegram, and stated the report would be forwarded by mail." September 24 the President wired Howard that he would "be satisfied with a detailed account of the immediate circumstances attending the capture." That same day Howard replied in a dispatch of considerable length that concluded with this paragraph:

"I believed at first from official reports that the surrender was unconditional, except that the troops themselves would not kill the hostiles. Now from General Miles' dispatches and from his annual report . . . the conditions are plain: first, that the lives of all the Indians should be spared; second, that they should be sent to Fort Marion, Florida, where their tribe, including their families, had already been ordered."

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua Part 2

2009-09-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

During the march toward the border Miles himself was on the anxious seat. Much was expected of him. He had promised much. Yet for four months his army of five thousand men had been employed against these thirty-eight Chiricahuas. His troops had suffered serious fatalities and casualties, yet not a single renegade had been killed or captured. Now they were coming to surrender to him. Would they hold fast to their intention? And would they yield on terms that matched his promises to the public and that fulfilled the requirements laid upon him by the President and the commanding General of the Army?

To Gatewood, Lawton, and other officers who were bringing in the hostilities the uncertainty as to the outcome became agonizing, for Miles refused for several days to meet Gatewood, Lawton and the Indians for the conference that had been agreed upon. He ordered Lawton not to bring the Chiricahuas on American soil unless they delivered hostages into his hands. But Lawton had promised them safe conduct into Miles' presence. He was bound by the honor of an American officer! Miles would not stir. The Indians were growing very restive and suspicious. More than once they had urged Gatewood to run away with them through the mountains toward Fort Bowie so that they could get into direct contact with Miles; but knowing that Miles was not then at Fort Bowie and fearing that if he left them to go in search of the General, they might be attacked either by the Mexicans or by one of our own commands operating in that neighborhood, Gatewood refuse their pleas. Lawton at last, in desperation, said to Lieutenant Abiel Smith, next in command, that he saw no way out but to let them go, give them a start of twenty-four hours in accordance with a promise made to them, and then go after them again. Smith's soldierly honor did not irk him to the degree Crook's did, or Gatewood's, or Lawton's. He said with a grim and knowing smile:

"I haven't promised them anything. You stay here [at the San Bernardino Ranch] and communicate with Miles and I'll take command." Days went by and still Miles refused to come to meet the Indians. Lawton wrote to his wife, September 2: "I am too anxious and worried to write you much. I cannot get the General to come out and see them and they are very uneasy about it. What will occur, no one can tell."

Lawton being temporarily absent, there was talk of attacking the Indians and killing Geronimo. The renegades got wind of this, and mounting their horses, took the back trail. But Gatewood followed them at once and was able to restore their confidence. Abiel Smith was rather strong for direct action. Geronimo asked Gatewood what he would do if the soldiers fired upon his people. Gatewood said he would try to stop it, but that, if he could not do so, he would run away with them. Nachez then said: "Better stay right with us lest some of our men believe you treacherous and kill you." Gatewood was in a very difficult situation, indeed. He was so sensitive to any mention of attacking the Indians that he asked to be transferred to some other command; but Lawton gave him to understand that, if necessary, he would use force to compel him to remain with his command. At last, at Skeleton Canyon on September 3, Geronimo's brother having been sent to Miles as a hostage, the General met Gatewood and Lawton for the promised parley with the renegades.

September 4 Miles met Geronimo and Nachez and agreed upon the terms of surrender. There was tremendous commotion in officialdom following Miles' report that the hostiles had surrendered. It developed into a "battle above the clouds," and ended in a Senate investigation during which every order, report, telegram, and comment dealing with the event was introduced. The language of war is best adapted for the elucidation of the matter. It began with a machine-gun chatter of telegrams from such high officials as President Cleveland, Lieutenant-General Sheridan, the Secretary of War, and General O. O. Howard, Commander of the Division of the Pacific. This was replied to by a smoke screen of rhetoric on the part of General Miles: "their surrender as prisoners of war to the troops in the field," "the last hereditary chief of the hostile Apaches," "direct result of the intrepid zeal and indefatigable efforts of the troops in the field," "Skeleton Cañon, a favorite resort of the Indians in former years and well suited by name and tradition to witness the closing scenes of such an Indian war." Then came the camouflage that led the effete gentlemen of the East to suppose that Geronimo and his band had been captured or had surrendered without conditions; the disappearance of one telegram--"sunk without trace"--and the temporary suppression of another one at a very crucial moment by Miles' Adjutant-General--these are some of the colorful aspects of this battle of words.

Unfortunately, Cleveland, Sheridan, the Secretary of War, and Howard all interpreted Miles' account of the submission of the hostiles as meaning that they had been captured or had surrendered unconditionally. The news was immeasurably gratifying to Cleveland and Sheridan. As early as August 23 Cleveland had telegraphed to the War Department: "I hope nothing will be done with Geronimo which will prevent our treating him as a prisoner of war, if we cannot hang him, which I would much prefer." September 7 he telegraphed to the Secretary of War urging that "all the hostiles should be very safely kept as prisoners until they can be tried for their crimes or otherwise disposed of." The same day, September 7, Sheridan telegraphed Miles as follows: "As the disposition of Geronimo and his hostile band is yet to be decided by the President and as they are prisoners without conditions, you are hereby directed to hold them in close confinement at Fort Bowie until the decision of the President is communicated to you." This same day, September 7, Sheridan telegraphed Cleveland recommending "that Geronimo and all the adult males that have surrendered with him to General Miles be held as prisoners by the military at such point in the Department of Arizona as General Miles may determine, subject to such trial and punishment as may be awarded them by the civil authorities of the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico." In reply to the above telegram came one from Cleveland, September 8, saying: "I think Geronimo and the rest of the hostiles should be immediately sent to the nearest fort or prison where they can be securely confined. The most important thing now is to guard against all chances of escape."

Five Thousand Men against Thirty-Eight Chiricahua: part 1

2009-09-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

During the march toward the border General Miles himself was on the anxious seat. Much was expected of him. He had promised much. Yet for four months his army of five thousand men had been employed against these thirty-eight Chiricahuas. His troops had suffered serious fatalities and casualties, yet not a single renegade had been killed or captured. Now they were coming to surrender to him. Would they hold fast to their intention? And would they yield on terms that matched his promises to the public and that fulfilled the requirements laid upon him by the President and the commanding General of the Army?

To Gatewood, Lawton, and other officers who were bringing in the hostilities the uncertainty as to the outcome became agonizing, for Miles refused for several days to meet Gatewood, Lawton and the Indians for the conference that had been agreed upon. He ordered Lawton not to bring the Chiricahuas on American soil unless they delivered hostages into his hands. But Lawton had promised them safe conduct into Miles' presence. He was bound by the honor of an American officer! Miles would not stir. The Indians were growing very restive and suspicious. More than once they had urged Gatewood to run away with them through the mountains toward Fort Bowie so that they could get into direct contact with Miles; but knowing that Miles was not then at Fort Bowie and fearing that if he left them to go in search of the General, they might be attacked either by the Mexicans or by one of our own commands operating in that neighborhood, Gatewood refuse their pleas. Lawton at last, in desperation, said to Lieutenant Abiel Smith, next in command, that he saw no way out but to let them go, give them a start of twenty-four hours in accordance with a promise made to them, and then go after them again. Smith's soldierly honor did not irk him to the degree Crook's did, or Gatewood's, or Lawton's. He said with a grim and knowing smile:

"I haven't promised them anything. You stay here [at the San Bernardino Ranch] and communicate with Miles and I'll take command." Days went by and still Miles refused to come to meet the Indians. Lawton wrote to his wife, September 2: "I am too anxious and worried to write you much. I cannot get the General to come out and see them and they are very uneasy about it. What will occur, no one can tell." Lawton being temporarily absent, there was talk of attacking the Indians and killing Geronimo. The renegades got wind of this, and mounting their horses, took the back trail. But Gatewood followed them at once and was able to restore their confidence. Abiel Smith was rather strong for direct action. Geronimo asked Gatewood what he would do if the soldiers fired upon his people. Gatewood said he would try to stop it, but that, if he could not do so, he would run away with them. Nachez then said: "Better stay right with us lest some of our men believe you treacherous and kill you." Gatewood was in a very difficult situation, indeed. He was so sensitive to any mention of attacking the Indians that he asked to be transferred to some other command; but Lawton gave him to understand that, if necessary, he would use force to compel him to remain with his command. At last, at Skeleton Canyon on September 3, Geronimo's brother having been sent to Miles as a hostage, the General met Gatewood and Lawton for the promised parley with the renegades.

Apache Wife

2009-09-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Apache Wife

While her husband hunted game, instructed the sons, raided enemies, made war and pursued personal and tribal glory and prestige, the Apache wife took charge of nurturing the family, instructing the daughters, tending the home and crafting clothing and household goods.

According to James F. Haley in his book Apaches: A History and Culture Portrait, the Apache woman harvested wild food plants, including – according to the season and location – yucca bloom stalks and fruit, prickly pear cactus fruit, cattail (or tule) roots and shoots, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, sumac fruit, one-seed juniper berries, pinyon pine cone nuts, walnuts, acorns, screw beans, mesquite beans, sunflower seeds and many other wild plant foods.

In late spring, she joined with other women to harvest the hearts of agave plants, the Apaches’ most important wild food plant. She had to dig up the hearts – each roughly two to three times the size of a fist – and cut away the spiny leaf tips. She participated in digging a communal roasting pit, perhaps 15 feet in diameter and three to four feet in depth. (I have seen Apache agave roasting pits which were significantly larger, for instance, in the desert basin just west of the Guadalupe Mountains in western Texas.) According to Haley, the women filled the pit with firewood, which they topped with flat stones. After a ceremony and prayer, they lit the firewood, which they allowed to burn down to coals. They covered the coals and heated flat stones with a layer of damp grass, then the agave hearts, then another layer of damp grass. They capped the pit with soil, then built another fire on top of the earthen cap. They roasted the agave hearts for a day or more, until the plants had cooked fully. After they uncovered the roasted agave hearts, they carried them on their backs, in burden baskets, back to their encampment where they preserved them by drying them in the sun.

The Apache woman worked unendingly to answer the call to provide food for her family, but she also helped build shelters (brush and hide structures called "wickiups,") gathered firewood, processed and tanned hides, cut and sewed leather clothing and bags, carved gourd water containers and utensils, wove basketry and crafted pottery and caulk-lined wicker water jugs. Somehow she also found time to have modest cosmetic designs tattooed on her cheeks and forehead. She made necklaces and pendants of trade beads and mirrors. She took elaborate care of her hair, shampooing it with the lather from soap tree yucca roots, parting it down the middle, allowing it to fall freely across her shoulders and down her back. Meanwhile, she taught her daughters the disciplines and arts of the life of an Apache woman.

Decision on this blog / We Shall Remain

2009-09-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have decided to keep this Blog independent of my other site and will continue posting.
The resources on here are valuable for those interested. However it won't be a daily posting and will be about quality rather then quantity.. But look for some good stuff coming up!!

Thunder

The Apache Part 5

2009-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

The Mescalero band consisted of followers and a headman. They had no formal leader such as a tribal chief, or council, nor a decision making process. The core of the band was a "relative group", predominantly, but not necessarily, kinsmen. Named by the Spanish for the mescal cactus the Apaches used for food, drink, and fiber.

One author's characterization of the Mescalero Apache people of the past is as follows: They moved freely, wintering on the Rio Grande or farther south, ranging the buffalo plains in the summer, always following the sun and the food supply. They owned nothing and everything. They did as they pleased and bowed to no man. Their women were chaste. Their leaders kept their promises. They were mighty warriors who depended on success in raiding for wealth and honor. To their families they were kind and gentle, but they could be unbelievably cruel to their enemies--fierce and revengeful when they felt that they had been betrayed. (Sonnichsen 1958:4)

The Apaches were nomadic hunter-gatherers. They chased any wild game located within their territory, especially deer and rabbits. When necessary, they lived off the land by gathering wild berries, roots, cactus fruit and seeds of the mesquite tree. They planted some corn, beans, and squash as crops. They were extremely hardy prior to the arrival of European diseases, and could live practically naked in zero temperature.

Many Apache bands were so influenced by the tribes they came into contact that they took on many of their customs and practices. Western Apaches living near the Pueblo Indians became farmers. Jicarilla Apaches pursued the great buffalo herds like other Plains Indians, mounted on horses they acquired through raids on the Spanish and Pueblos in the late 1600's. Kiowa-Apaches became more like the Kiowa, a Plains tribe, than their own Apache kin. The Lopans raised dogs for meat as many Mexican tribes to their south.

In 1871 , the original White Mountain Reservation was established. It contained today's Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations. In 1897, the land was divided into two independent reservations.

The Apache Part 4

2009-09-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Apache bands that roamed the same area admitted to a loose cultural kinship. The Jicarilla of northeastern New Mexico hunted buffalo in the plains, planted corn in the mountains. The Mescalero to the south were hunter-gatherers who developed an appetite for the roasted heads of wild mescal plants. The Chiricahua, fiercest of all tribal groups, raided along the Mexican border. The more peaceble Western Apache of Arizona spent part of each year farming. Two other tribal divisions, the Lipan and Kiowa-Apache, lived as plainsmen in western Kansas and Texas.

A strict code of conduct governed Apache life, based on strong family loyalties. Each Apache group was composed of extended families or clans. Basic social, economic, and political units based on female inherited leadership. The most important bond led from an Apache mother to her children and on to her children. Marriage within one's own clan is forbidden. When the son married his obligations from then on were to his mother-in-law's family.

Beyond this code of propriety and family obligations, the Apache shared a rich oral history of myths and legends and a legacy of intense religious devotion that touched virtually every aspect of their lives.

Medicine Men presided over religious ceremonies. They believed in many spirit beings. Usen, the Giver of Life, the most powerful of them all. The Gans, or Mountain Spirits, were especially important in Apache ceremonies. Males garbed themselves in elaborate costumes to impersonate the Gans in ritual dance, wearing kilts, black masks, tall wooden-slat head-dresses, and body paint carrying wooden swords.

The Apache Part 3

2009-09-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

The Apache saw themselves differently, they faced constant struggle to survive. When they raided a village, they did so from pure necessity, to provide corn for their families when game was scarce. Most of the time they went their own way, moving from camp to camp in pursuit of deer and buffalo, collecting roots and berries, sometimes planting seeds that they later returned to harvest.
They set up their camps on the outskirts of the pueblos. They dressed in animal skins, used dogs as pack animals, and pitched tent like dwellings made of brush or hide, called wikiups. The wickiup was the most common shelter of the Apache. The dome shaped lodge was constructed of wood poles covered with brush, grass, or reed mats. It contained a fire pit and a smoke hole for a chimney. The Jicarillas and Kiowa-Apaches, which roamed the Plains, used buffalo hide tepees. The basic shelter of the Chiricahua was the domeshaped wickiup made of brush.

The Apache regarded coyotes, insects, and birds as having been human beings. The human race, then, but following in the tracks of those who have gone before.
The Apache lived in extended family groups, all loosely related through the female line. (Matriarcial).... Each group operated independently under a respected family leader....settling its own disputes, answering to no higher human authority.
The main exception to this occurred during wartime, when neighboring groups banded together to fight a common enemy. Unlike ordinary raiding, where the main object was to acquire food and possessions,war meant lethal business. An act of vengeance for the deaths of band members in earlier raids or battles.
Leaders of the local family groups would meet in council to elect a war chief, who led the campaign. But if any one group preferred to follow its own war chief, it was free to do so.

The Apache Part 2

2009-08-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

They exchanged buffalo hides, tallow and meat, bones that could be worked into needles and scrapers for hides, and salt from the desert with the Pueblos for pottery, cotton, blankets, turquoise, corn and other goods. But at times they simply saw what they wanted and took it. They became known among the Pueblo villages by another name, Apachu, "the enemy".

The Apache's guerrilla war tactics came naturally and were unsurpassed. The name Apache struck fear into the hearts of Pueblo tribes, and in later years the Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American settlers, which they raided for food, and livestock.

The Apache and the Pueblos managed to maintain generally peaceful relations. But the arrival of the Spaniards changed everything. A source of friction was the activity of Spanish slave traders, who hunted down captives to serve as labor in the silver mines of Chihuahua in northern Mexico. The Apache, in turn, raided Spanish settlements to seize cattle, horses, firearms, and captives of their own.
The prowess of the Apache in battle became legend. It was said that an Apache warrior could run 50 miles without stopping and travel more swiftly than a troop of mounted soldiers.

In the late 1800's, one U.S. Army general who had fought them meant it as a grudging compliment when he described the Apache as "tigers of the human species."

The Apache Part 1

2009-08-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

The word Apache is believed to be derived from a Zuni word meaning "enemy".
The Apache Indians are divided into six sub-tribes
Bedonkohe....Be-don-ko-he
Chieahen....Chi-e-a-hen
Chihenne....Chi-hen-ne, (Ojo Caliente), (Hot Springs) Apaches
Chokonen....Cho-kon-en, Chiricahua Apache
Nedni....Nendi
White Mountain Apache

The Apache people (including the Navajo) came from the Far North to settle the Plains and Southwest around A.D. 850.
They settled in three desert regions, the Great Basin, the Sonoran, and the Chihuachuan.
The Navajo are not part of the Apache nation. They are their own honored nation. They only share the Athabscan language with the Apache.
The Apache speak the Athabscan language,
which originated in their former homeland of
northwestern Canada.

These distinct groups can be organized by dialects:
The Western Apache (Coyotero) traditionally occupied most of eastern Arizona and included the White Mountain, Cibuecue, San Carlos, and Northern and Southern Tonto bands. San Carlos, Aravaipa, White Mountain, Northern Tonto, Southern Tonto, and Cibecue in Arizona, Chiricahua and Mimbreno in Arizona and New Mexico, Mescalero (Faraon) in New Mexico and Mexico, Jicarilla (Tinde) in New Mexico and Colorado, Kiowa-Apache (Gataka) in Oklahoma, and Lipan in Texas and Mexico. Western Apache (Coyotero), Eastern Arizona.

Geronimo

2009-08-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

This self produced video is a description of the life of Geronimo and his battle for freedom. His devotion to his people and the land. The Video contains rare photographs of Geronimo, the Apache people, and the land. The soundtrack is from the album (cd) "Desert Spirits" by "Thunderhands" a native American musician who appears courtesy of Wakiya Records.
www.wakiyarecords.com

Desert Animal adaptations:

2009-08-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Animal adaptations: Desert animals include many kinds of insects, spiders, reptiles, birds and mammals. They are adapted to the heat as well as scarcity of water.

Deer, foxes, wolves and other animals may visit a desert after a rainfall in search of food. Butterflies and bees emerge from their pupa state to feed on the flowers that bloom. The insects breed quickly so that the next generation reaches the pupa stage before the desert dries up.

The jackrabbit's light-colored fur helps it blend into its surroundings and its large ears help it to keep cool by giving off heat. Many small animals hide under rocks or dig burrows underground and stay there during the day to escape the heat and the sun. Most desert animals are nocturnal - they avoid the extreme midday heat by feeding at night, when the temperature has dropped and the air is much cooler. Some of them are dormant (inactive) in the summer.

Larger desert animals try to stay in shady areas during the day. They obtain water from the food they eat and from the few water holes that exist in a desert. The camel stores its food as fat in large humps on its back. The stored fats are broken down to help the camel survives long periods without food and water.

Desert Spirits: CD Sampler: Longer Cuts

2009-08-18T04:18:00.000-07:00

To order my new CD Click here

Debut of the CD "Desert Spirits" by Thunderhands: Release date August 11, 2009. This album features Native American Flute and world rhythms. Also featured in the tracks are the healing sounds of nature, including rain, thunderstorms, a flowing creek and birds of the Desert. In addition there are some Native American chants and singing on the track "Spirits of Turkey Creek."
Thanks for you interest in this multifaceted album, may you find it a pleasurable listening, and healing experience. Please read more about me and this album project, on the product page (link above Video) to the right under Bio.

Mitakuye Oyasin
Thunderhands

Questions RE: Purchase can be e-mailed to me at the e-mail link on the side bar to the right.

Stone Blades for Wilderness Survival - Part 1

2009-08-14T01:08:00.000-07:00

Balance Training

2009-08-04T21:55:00.001-07:00

Figure Four Deadfall - Wilderness Survival Skills

2009-07-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Throwing Sticks For Wilderness Survival - Part 1 & 2

2009-07-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Fox walking and wide angle vision pt 1 & 2

2009-07-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

I will be featuring many of Paul's videos because he teaches some of the same techniques taught at Tom Brown Jr's survival school.

Apache Spirits / Dancing

2009-07-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

Like other native tribes, the Apache had a number of dances they performed primarily for religious reasons. Some of these included a medicine dance for healing, rain dances, spirit dances, and a puberty ceremony for Apache girls called the Sun Dance. Each noted event was generally celebrated with a feast and a dance, with tribal medicine men presiding over all religious ceremonies.

They believed in many supernatural beings including Usen, the Giver of Life, to be the most powerful of them all. The Gans, or Mountain Spirits, were especially important in Apache ceremonies. Males garbed themselves in elaborate costumes to impersonate the Gans in ritual dance, wearing kilts, black masks, tall wooden-slat head-dresses, and body paint.

Music for dances was sung by warriors, without words, but only tones and sounds, often accompanied by a buck-skin-on-a-hoop. For many of these ceremonies, the dances were followed by amusements including horse and foot races and other games.

Tracking wild cats and wild dogs

2009-07-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

The Apaches: America's Greatest Guerilla Fighters by Blaise Loong from BLACK BELT MAGAZINE Jan.1987

2009-07-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Nana was an old Apache man. He was a fierce and crafty warrior, as were all Apache men. For centuries, his people had roamed freely throughout Arizona, New Mexico and old Mexico, raiding and making war. To the Apache, life was combat.

But things had changed. "White Eyes" had come to Apacheland. These strange, new visitors were welcomed by the Apache in peace, as brothers. In return, the Apache's home was stolen from him. He found himself imprisoned upon desolate wastelands (innocuously called reservations), where his people died in droves due to starvation and disease. He watched in helpless despair as his sacred mountains were desecrated and raped by those lusting after the yellow rocks. His beloved weapons were confiscated and he was forbidden to hunt. They even tried to stop him from worshipping Ussen, his One-God, the Creator and Life Giver. Yet, the Apache endured all this. He kept his love of battle, a forgiving heart and a sense of humor.

Nana squinted wryly from atop his mountain lair down to the burning desert plains far below. The cavalry patrols were still many miles away. Nana suffered from arthritis and limped rather noticably. His chief, Victorio, and the majority of his band, the Chihenne Apaches, were dead -- slaughtered mercilessly by a large Mexican army at Tres Castillos. Nana had known nothing but war ever since his birth. He now had vengence on his mind.

After praying to Ussen for justice, strength and wisdom, Nana and his handful of 15 surviving warriors set out on the warpath. In less than six weeks, the rheumatic old man led his warriors over more than 1,000 miles of enemy territory, often traveling over 80 miles a day. Nana realized that mobility and obscurity are essential to the guerrilla fighter's success. During their campaign, the Apaches foraged off the land and fought a dozen firefights with U.S. troops -- winning all of them. They killed over 50 American troops and wounded many more. They captured more than 200 horses and mules, eluded pursuit by 1,000 soldiers and several hundred civilians, and finally returned to their mountain strongholds without losing a single man. Nana continued to fight alongside other Apache renegades until he was over 80. He died a prisoner of war in his late 90s, incorrigible and unreconstructed.

Of the many groups of American Indians whose subsistence formerly included raiding and warfare, few are as familiar to the general public as the Apaches of Arizona and New Mexico. Renowned for their tenacious resistance to U.S. military forces in the late 19th century, the Apaches have been glorified by historians, glamorized by novelists, and distorted beyond recognition by filmmakers. Apache war leaders such as Cochise, Geronimo and Victorio have become the victims of exageration and caricature, a fate which has left them enshrined in contemporary folklore as the epitome of belicosity and brutality. Indeed, one is led to conclude that the Apache has been transformed from a native American into an American myth, the haunting symbol of a vanished era in the history of the Southwest.

However, one truth remains irrefutable, standing undaunted amidst all the misconceptions and falsehoods sallied at the Apache people: The fighting and survival skills of an Apache warrior were so complete, so honed, and so expert, that many military historians today believe him to be the finest example of a guerrilla fighter in the history of North America, and possibly even the world.

Traditional Apache weaponry is quite simple and even rather crude when compared to those arms carried by the warriors of other pre-modern cultures. The Apache bow is primitive next to a Hunnic or Mongol horsebow. The English longbow and the samurai war bows far outclass any bow ever made by an Apache. Even though it is a definite advantage on the battlefield to possess superior weapons, success in a fight ultimately boils down to the hand that wields the weapon and the brain that wields the hand. It is a well-documented fact that the average Apache could keep 7 arrows in flight (shot upwards) at any one time. And Apaches rarely, if ever, missed their targets. Being able to always hit what one was aiming at was the result of a lifetime of training, numerous contests (the 'wild Apaches' loved to gamble), daily hunts and, of course, continuous warfare.

The wood of the wild mulberry is used in making the ideal Apache bow. Oak can be substituted if mulberry isn't available. The bowmaker prays and then begins searching through the many tree branches until he finds a solid piece that is straight and has no knots. After cutting off the length he requires, the Apache works the bow into shape with his knife and by bending the still-green wood. Once the desired shape is reached, the bow is hung up to dry for 5 days to a week. Apaches make their bows in two shapes: single arc and double arc. The single arc is preferred; there is more room to draw an arrow, and there is no hump in the middle.

The next step is making the bowstring. Bowstrings are made out of sinew from the back of a deer, or from the muscle on the back of his hind legs. Several long strips of sinew are peeled off and allowed to dry. Then, after wetting the ends of these strips, they are spliced together to form one long string. The length of the bowstring is determined by the size of the bow. The string should be a bit longer than the bow to allow for "twisting." The long, single string is doubled over and a stick is placed through the subsequent loop. Turning the stick twists the sinew together tightly. If any bumps occur on the string as it's being twisted, they must be chewed down. When the bowstring is finished, it is tied loosely on the bow and allowed to dry. Three more times after the string is dry it is progressively tied tighter on the bow. Following the fourth and final tightening, the bowmaker pulls the bowstring to test the weapon. With that, the bow is finished.

Arrows are made out of cattail reeds or various hard woods. Points vary from sharpened wood and chipped stone to steel, if available. The arrows are fletched with 3 feathers, usaully from a red-tailed hawk, turkey, dove, or quail. Various poisons were also put on arrow tips for hunting and for war. Most warriors wrapped a tanned hide or a leather guard around their wrists to protect themselves from being cut by the bowstring.

Arrow quivers are made from the hides of horses, steers, deer, wolves, wildcats, javelinas and mountain lions. Mountain lion quivers are the most prized. The average quiver held 30-40 arrows, which are drawn from above the right shoulder (for a right- handed person.)

When shooting, the bow is held horizontally for a long shot, vertically for a close shot. The effective range for an Apache bow is about 60 meters. At fairly close range, a strong shooter can send an arrow through a man or deer. Unlike other warriors whose bows were crafted solely by a few specialists, every Apache warrior and male child could make a bow, arrows and quiver. Thusly equipped, the Apache could both feed and defend his family at a pretty fair distance.

Apaches were also very adept with the war lance. Warriors would pick out a dry, dead sotol stalk for a handle, usually 8 or 9 feet long. If the stalk was curved, it was straightned and smoothed in a small fire. The early lance points were made of sharpened mountain mahogany. Later, bayonet and saber blades replaced mahogany. The lance points were stuck into the end of the handles, and an 8-inch piece of cow's tail was slipped over the point and haft, and was left to dry. The shaft of the lance was usually painted: the upper half was generally painted blue or black, the lower half either red or left plain. Two eagle feathers would then be tied at the point end of the handle, finishing the lance.

Apache signal Only warriors who were good fighters and who could run fast used lances. Lancers fought either on foot or on horseback. In combat, the Apache was required to hold the lance in his hands at all times and to fence with it. A portion of the shaft rested below the warrior's rear elbow, sticking out a foot or two behind him. The point was waved in a circular motion and then thrust at the very last moment, giving the enemy little chance to dodge or deflect the attack. Thrusts were typically single-handed with the lead hand guiding, or with both hands near the butt and overhead, stabbing downwards. In times of peace, lances brought down horses, steers, and even buffalo.

Apaches have two basic types of war clubs, used for close-quarters combat. The main war club, a uniquely Apache weapon, was made by sewing a solid round stone inside a round piece of rawhide. The handle was made of a cow's tail, peeled back and uncut. A straight hardwood stick was shoved down inside the tail and the hide-covered rock was then sewn onto the handle. Sometimes a warrior simply sewed the tail around the handle and the rock, making the club one single unit. The maces and morningstars of medieval Europe closely resemble these war clubs.

If there wasn't adequate time or supplies to make the traditional war club, a simplified version served almost as well. This club consisted of a rock fastened to the end of a stick with rawhide. The handle would be split and scraped out, allowing the rock to settle into the end more securely. Apaches targeted their attacks for the head, the area on the side of the skull a few inches beyond the temple was considered the ideal impact zone.

In close-range fighting, Apaches preferred the knife over any other weapon. Warriors and women alike always carried a knife, whether they used it around the camp, or for combat.

In using the lance, warclub, knife or empty-hands, the Apache warrior was extremely aggressive, but never to the point of recklessness. The Apache strategy in battle centered on overrunning and completely overwhelming the enemy. This tactic worked well (before firearms), as the Apaches were generally outnumbered. One warrior would most likely face several opponents. If the odds were too great, or if a chance for the entire war party to escape unharmed presented itself, the warriors would gladly retire. For life was, and still is, quite dear to the Apaches.

The Apaches were not the brainless savages portrayed in most Hollywood films. To the contrary, when firearms became prevalent on the battlefield, Apaches easily adapted. They obtained rifles and ammunition and became even more skilled in their use than they were with their traditional arms.

Much of the Apache strategy was based on their knowledge of their mountains. They knew every water hole, every canyon and ravine, and every trail that ran through them. If they were pursued by enemies, they would disappear into one range or another, where no one dared follow. For it was almost impossible to find them, and the opportunities for an ambush were numerous. The Apaches also utilized the mountains as safe north-south travel routes. Only when they crossed the divides or valleys were they exposed to attack, and they usually made this part of the journey at night. Thus, they could travel freely and unobserved over thousands of miles of terrain.

If an Apache was traveling in unfamiliar territory and became thirsty, he climbed to a high point of land and looked for green foliage. If he saw some, he knew water was nearby, but he would never venture into the area during the day. That was the time when other men went to the water holes, including enemies, so the Apache always waited until dark. If he was hot during the day, he didn't seek out shade, for shady places were where Mexicans, White Eyes and other Indians went to rest. Instead, the Apache searched for some small bush that others would overlook, using it for shelter from the sun. Young, would-be warriors learned that cunning and trickery were more highly prized than bravery. A warrior who could fool the Mexicans and steal a few horses without a shot being fired was more respected than one who stole a hundred horses but lost a man in an ensuing battle.

Apaches weren't great horsemen, unlike the Commanches of nearby Texas. In fact, an Apache would just as soon eat his horse as he would ride it. As soon as an Apache child could walk, he or she was taught to run...and run, and run. Young boys would run several miles up and down steep mountains every morning, their mouths filled with water. As they finished, they would spit the water out at the feet of the warriors, showing that they had breathed properly (through the nose) and had further developed their inner spirits. Countless U.S. Army after-action reports tell of Apache warriors on foot outdistancing entire cavalry troops. Apaches could run 70 miles in a day, several days in a row. Warriors would often go up to four days without sleep in order to wear down or evade pursuers.

Apaches were also masters of the ambush, often felt but never seen. Raiding parties averaged between 2 and 8 men , sometimes more, depending on the situation. Enemies often accused Apaches of being cowards because they never stayed around long enough to fight any sort of major engagement. When cornered, however, they fought ferociously. No man was more dangerous than a wounded Apache who knew he was going to die. At such a time, there were no limits to his bravery or the length he would go to kill his enemies.

Apache warfare tactics were brilliant. They used lightning fast hit-and-run attacks, which conserved their limited strength whilst slowly grinding down U.S. and Mexican forces in a long and bloody 40 year war of attrition. As General William T. Sherman once said of the frustrating and difficult fight against the Apaches, "We had one war with Mexico to take Arizona, and we should have another to make her take it back."

The final chapter of the Apache Wars was written in 1886, when Geronimo, after almost a year of constant fighting, made peace with General Nelson Miles. The last Geronimo campaign saw the U.S. government field over 5,000 troops -- one third of America's entire standing army (at that time) -- just to deal with one Apache war chief and 23 warriors. It took half as many U.S. troops to subdue the united Sioux and Cheyenne nations, whose warriors numbered well over 3,000 at any one time. The ironic thing is that Geronimo went to the soldiers -- he was never captured. But his people were weary, so he brokered a deal to cease hostilities if, in return, he and his people could return to Turkey Creek near Fort Apache and live there forever, unmolested by soldiers or civilians. General Miles and the U.S. government eagerly agreed.

Geronimo and his warriors accepted the large U.S. Cavalry escort out of Mexico and back to their beloved Arizona. However, treachery on the part of the United States caused Geronimo to always regret his decision. The entire Apache Nation was shipped via railroad boxcars to malaria-infested swamps in Florida as prisoners of war. There, many Apaches died as a direct result of disease, starvation, exposure, and of broken hearts. Apaches are a dignified people and honor means much to them. The warriors were stripped of their manhood and were subjected to constant humiliation. The United States kept the Apaches as POWs for 27 very long and cruel years.

The Apache warriors will be remembered for their great skills in battle and for their undaunting courage. They fought, not for profit or empire, but only for the two causes Americans respect most -- their homeland and their freedom.

Pride and Separateness / Tom Brown Jr.

2009-07-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

The values of pride and seprateness are deeply woven into the fabric of our society, and they are not easily challenged or uprooted. Nor do I believe we should try to attack them or tear them out, for that would only give them more power. As with any mental habit, it is best to change slowley and gently, nudging in a new direction with out being to judgemental.

I have found that the best antidote to pride is an extended stay in the wilderness, living on it's own terms. There is no way that false pride can stand up to the demands of survival. Paradoxically such an experiece can instill a healthy respect for one's human powers while teaching the values of humility and empathy.

From Tom Brown's field guide to Nature observation and tracking

The bald eagle

2009-07-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click Here to watch KPBS Video...Nova American Eagle

Weaponry / The philosophy of samurai swords

2009-07-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

The philosophy of samurai swords
By:Gamit Ana

Decorating your 21st century interior in a Japanese manner has become very popular. The Japanese artifacts, like the samurai swords, are proof of great taste not only because of their eye catching colors and shapes but because they hold a lot of meaning. They represent moral values like patience, discipline, honor, loyalty and determination. The modern world has forgot some very important codes, but their symbols still exist as a reminder in the Japanese works of art that distinguish some homes or offices.

The samurai swords, for example, are very used objects of decoration. People who appreciate martial arts or the Japanese life style often hang them on walls. Owning samurai swords means you appreciate Japanese history and the virtues that this object stood for in an antique society. For those of you with the good idea of buying samurai swords here are some hints about these beautiful and meaningful objects and their philosophy. Knowing how they are made and their value will make them more treasured decorating objects.

The value of the samurai swords comes not only from their handcrafting, but also from the fact that they are a symbol of the worrier. The samurai swords define power, duty, responsibility, self-defense and ethics. The samurai swords were weapons used by a class of people who cherished their freedom above all and defended it with great skill. The samurai swords were used in hand to hand combat which was a very demanding perhaps the most, form of combat. Having to fight with a sharp weapon required skill of body and mind, abilities, reflexes and technique. Only through a lot of practice, exercise and patience one could become able to handle the samurai swords in order to protect the code of honor.

The Samurai (knights-retainers) were also called Bushi (warriors) and their most treasured weapons were the samurai swords. They considered the swords a part of themselves and sometimes believed the swords were the soul of their worriership. They gave their samurai swords names and awarded them medals. Some samurai worriers even died trying to retrieve their treasured samurai swords for their Shogun (the most powerful samurai worrier for a period). Bushido means Way of the Warrior and the heart of the Bushido philosophy, which lead their beliefs and conduct, is freedom from fear. This meant they had no fear of dying. They were able to use their peace of mind to give themselves power to serve their master faithfully to the death. Therefore, duty and loyalty were a great part of their philosophy. Their way of life ranked them at the top of the social hierarchy in Japan for hundreds of years until 19th century.

Artisans of ancient time put a lot of thought in the creation of samurai swords. They had to create weapons that were not too heavy to handle, nor too rigid to brake off. They discovered sharp samurai swords, used against an armor, broke and that samurai swords made of soft steel were flexible and light. So, they considered the most appropriate weight for samurai swords would have been around 2-3 pounds. However, to create such samurai swords would have meant a lot work.

There were many methods used to handcraft samurai swords. Some used the repeated and tiring process of heating and folding of steel. The blades had to be polished afterwards carefully and the smiths engraved their signature on their work of art. The samurai swords were proof of great handcrafting skills, which meant that the person who created them possessed some unique virtues. Like for any art object, to create samurai swords meant to put soul in your creation, to invest patience and will together with intelligence to obtain the best results possible. A lot of artists worked on their detailed ornaments of the hilt, on their handle bindings and sheaths and the results were samurai swords worth being worn by worriers.

These virtues have been forgotten as the modern society no longer cares, respects or praises the military man as much as in the past. The samurai were (and still are) highly appreciated figures of history. The samurai swords were priceless and were identified with the worrier class. Made from the heat and pounding of skilled smiths, the samurai swords brought honor and the spirit of the true worrier to those who carried them. Because of this, many modern people buy samurai swords as a reminder of that time and those values. Samurai swords decorate today's homes, as symbols, for those who know what true beauty means virtue and honor.

KPBS Special Nova video on The Samurai Sword

Horned lizards

2009-07-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Horned lizards (Phrynosoma) are a genus of the Phrynosomatidae family of lizards. The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad," "horny toad", or "horned frog," but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which make it resemble a toad or frog. (Phrynosoma literally means "toad-bodied.") The spines on its back and sides are made from modified scales, whereas the horns on the heads are true horns (i.e. they have a horny core). There are 14 species of horned lizards in North America, 8 of which are native to the United States. The largest-bodied and most widely distributed of the U.S. species is the Texas horned lizard.

"The Tracker" A tribute toTom Brown Jr.

2009-07-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

A tribute to the legendary tracker Tom Brown Jr. with images relating to the stories and events in the book "The tracker," and Tom Brown Jr's achievements in life. This includes his books, Knife design, and technical assistance on the movie "The Hunted." This video was produced by "Thunderhands" and www.thenativeamericantaoist.com and it's sister site Apache tracker. Music on the track features the drums and Native American flute playing of Roger "Thunderhands" Gilbert.

Music and Video by Thunderhands

How to Track Animals : What Is a Track Pack in Animal Tracking?

2009-07-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Black Bear Skulls & Tracking Black Bears

2009-07-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

There might be a Short commercial before video

Black Bear Skulls & Tracking Black Bears -- powered by eHow.com

Tom Brown Jr. on nature

2009-06-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

"There is a place I know where everything lives in harmony. Nothing is envied or stolen, or killed. Instead, everything is shared. The land is everyone's and no one's. Life is sacred there. A dweller in this place thinks highly of human life because he lives so close to the earth. He understands his part in the scheme of nature and is not lost or searching for Himself."
Tom Brown Jr. from the book "The Search"

Gouyen

2009-06-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Gouyen

Gouyen, meaning "Wise Woman," was born into Chief Victorio's Warm Springs Apache band around 1880. One day, while the group was resting at Tres Castillos, New Mexico, it was attacked by Mexicans. When the offensive was over, seventy-eight Apaches had been murdered and only seventeen had escaped, including Gouyen and her young son, Kaywaykla. Her baby daughter, however, was murdered and shortly afterwards her husband was killed in a Comanche raid while visiting the Mescalero Apaches.

A legendary tale is told about the revenge of Gouyen. One night following her husband's death, she put on her buckskin puberty ceremony dress and left the camp carrying a water jug, dried meat, and a bone awl and sinew for repairing her moccasins. She was looking for the Comanche chief who had killed her husband. Finally, she found him engaged in a Victory Dance around a bonfire with her husband's scalp hanging from his belt. Gouyen slipped into the circle of dancers, seduced the chief, and killed him, avenging her husband's death. Then she scalped him, cut his beaded breechcloth from his body and tore off his moccasins. She then returned to her camp to present her in-laws with the Comanche leader's scalp, his clothing and his footwear.

Gouyen remarried an Apache warrior named Ka-ya-ten-nae. Later, she and her family were taken prisoner by the U.S. Army and held at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where she died.

Animal tracking: The Gallop

2009-06-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Peaceful Blessings

2009-06-24T22:57:00.001-07:00

Peaceful Blessings a video by "Thunder" the Native American Taoist.
Flute, drums, and relaxing imagery with a message.

Apache Nations and Tribes

2009-06-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

Apache Nation

Apache is the collective name for several culturally related tribes of Native Americans, aboriginal inhabitants of North America, who speak a Southern Athabaskan language. The modern term excludes the related Navajo people.The origin of the name Apache is uncertain. It may derive from the Yavapai word epache, meaning "people". The origin has also been claimed to be the Zuni word apachu, meaning "enemy" (but this may have been the Zuni name for the Navajo people) or an unspecified Quechan word meaning "fighting-men".

The Apaches formerly ranged over southeastern Arizona and north-western Mexico. The chief divisions of the Apaches were the Arivaipa, Chiricahua, Coyotero, Faraone Gileno, Llanero, Mescalero, Mimbreno, Mogollon, Naisha, Tchikun and Tchishi. They were a powerful and warlike tribe, constantly at enmity with the whites. The final surrender of the tribe took place in 1886, when the Chiricahuas, the division involved, were deported to Florida and Alabama, where they underwent military imprisonment. The U.S. Army, in their various confrontations, found them to be fierce warriors and skillful strategists. The Apaches are now in reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, and number between 5000 and 6000.

The word "Apache" comes from the Yuma word for "fighting-men". It also comes from a Zuni word meaning "enemy". The Zuni name for Navajo was called "Apachis de Nabaju" by the earliest Spaniards exploring New Mexico. They called themselves Inde, or Nide "the people".

The Apache Nation is composed of six regional groups:

* Jicarilla - Tinde - an Apache people currently living in New Mexico and to the Southern Athabaskan language they speak. The term jicarilla comes from Mexican Spanish meaning 'little basket'. During their zenith in the SouthWest, two divisions of the Jicarilla Apache were known: the Llanero, or "plains people," and the Hoyero, the "mountain people." They roamed from central and eastern Colorado into western Oklahoma, and as far south as Estancia, New Mexico. As a result of their eastern contacts, the Jicarilla adopted certain cultural traits of the Plains Indians, as did the Mescalero who also ranged the eastern plains. The Jicarilla of northeastern New Mexico hunted buffalo in the plains, and planted corn in the mountains.

* Mescalero - Faraon - Native American tribe of Southern Athabaskan stock currently living on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in southcentral New Mexico where they live with other Chiricahua and Lipan Apaches. The Reorganization Act of 1936 consolidated the tribes onto this reservation, which currently has an Apache population of approximately 4,000. The population is integrated with the rest of Lincoln county, which includes ranching and tourism as major sources of income.

The Mescalero to the south were originally hunter-gatherers who developed an appetite for the roasted heads of wild mescal plants. The Mescalero band consisted of followers and a headman. They had no formal leader such as a tribal chief, or council, nor a decision making process. The core of the band was a "relative group", predominantly--but not necessarily kinsmen. They were named by the Spanish for the mescal cactus the Apaches used for food, drink, and fiber.

They moved freely, wintering on the Rio Grande or farther south, ranging the buffalo plains in the summer, always following the sun and the food supply. They owned nothing and everything. They did as they pleased and bowed to no man. Their women were chaste. Their leaders kept their promises. They were mighty warriors who depended on success in raiding for wealth and honor. To their families they were kind and gentle, but they could be unbelievably cruel to their enemies - fierce and revengeful when they felt that they had been betrayed.

* Chiricahua - southwestern New Mexico, southeastern Arizona, and adjacent Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora. They were the fiercest of all tribal groups, raided along the Mexican border. The band was the informal political unit, consisting of followers and a headman. They had no formal leader such as a tribal chief, or council, nor a decision making process. The core of the band was a "relative group," predominantly, but not nessarily, kinsmen. Named by the Spanish for the mescal cactus the Apaches used for food, drink, and fiber. The basic shelter of the Chiricahua was the domeshaped wickiup made of brush. Similar the Navajo, they also regarded coyotes, insects, and birds as having been human beings; the human race, then, but following in the tracks of those who have gone before.

* Lipan - Lipan Apache are also known as Nide buffalo hunters, called by anthropologists and historians for many years as Eastern Apache, Apache de los Llanos, Lipan, Ipande, and other names. Today it is known that the Cuelgahen Nde Lipan Apache of Texas comprise the descendents of the Tall Grass People known as Lipan Apache - Apache following Chiefs Cuelga de Castro, John Castro, and Ramon Castro. Lipan Apache is also an Southern Athabaskan language spoken by Meredith Begay, Ted Rodriguez, and others on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. The general consensus of the Lipan Apache Committee on the same reservation is that linguistic and anthropological considerations of their cultural extinction are mistaken and incorrect.

* Kiowa - Gataka Nation of Native Americans who lived mostly in the plains of west Texas, Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico at the time of the arrival of Europeans. Currently the Kiowa Nation is a registered tribe, with about 6000 members living in southwestern Oklahoma in 1989. The Kiowas originated in the northern basin of the Missouri River, but migrated south to the Black Hills around 1650 and lived there with the Crow. Pushed southward by the invading Cheyennes and Sioux who were being pushed out of their lands in the great lake regions by the Objiwe tribes, the Kiowas moved down the Platte River basin to the Arkansas River area. There they fought with the Comanches, who already occupied the land. Around 1790, the two groups made an alliance and agreed to share the area. From that time on, the Comanches and Kiowas formed a deep bond; the peoples hunted, travelled, and made war together. An additional group, the Plains Apache (also called Kiowa-Apache), also affiliated with the Kiowas at this time.The Kiowas lived a not atypical Plains Indian lifestyle. Mostly nomadic, they survived on buffalo meat and gathered vegetables, living in tipis, and depended on their horses for hunting and military uses. The Kiowa were notorious for long-distance raids as far north as Canada and south into Mexico. After 1840 the Kiowas joined forces with their former enemies, the Cheyennes, as well as the Comanches and the Apaches, to fight and raid the Eastern natives then moving into the Indian Territory. The United States military intervened, and in the Treaty of Medicine Lodge of 1867 the Kiowa agreed to settle on a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma. Some bands of Kiowas remained at large until 1875. On August 6, 1901 Kiowa land in Oklahoma was opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation. While each Kiowa head of household was alloted 80 acres, the only land remaining in Kiowa tribal ownership today is what was the scattered parcels of 'grass land' which had been leased to the white settlers for grazing before the reservation was opened for settlement.

* Western Apache - Pinal Coyotero - most of eastern Arizona which include the White Mountain, Cibuecue, San Carlos, and Northern and Southern Tonto bands. They are reputed by tradition to have been the first of the Apache to have penetrated below the Little Colorado among the Pueblo peoples, with whom they intermarried (Bourke in Jour. Am. Folklore, III, 112, 1890). They possessed the country from San Francisco mountains to the Gila until they were subdued by Gen. Crook in 1873. Since then they have peaceably tilled their land at San Carlos.

The Apaches are well-known for their superior skills in warfare strategy and inexhaustible endurance. Continuous wars among other tribes and invaders from Mexico followed the Apaches' growing reputation of warlike character. When they confronted Coronado in 1540, they lived in eastern New Mexico, and reached Arizona in the 1600s. The Apache are described as a gentel people; faithful in their friendship.

The Spirit that moves in all things

2009-06-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

When I first begun to understand the essence of this "spirit" the things of the wild ceased being "wild" because I realized that my spirit was one with theirs. Our life force was the same.
-Tom Brown Jr.

Apache method of hunting antelope

2009-06-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Apache method of hunting antelope
as witnessed by John Cremony, ca. 1850

Indians hunting deer

"About eighteen or twenty miles east of the Copper Mines of Santa Rita, is a hot spring, the waters of which exhibit a heat of 125 degrees Fahrenheit, and after having crossed the Mimbres, the whole party directed its course to this spring. After examining it thoroughly and having the qualities of its water tested by Dr. Webb, we prosecuted our march; but my attention was soon after arrested by a number of antelopes feeding on the plain, not more than half a mile distant. Anxious to procure one, I left the party, and, galloping in the direction of the herd, arrived within five hundred yards of it, when I dismounted and tying my horse to a yucca bush, proceeded cautiously on foot, carbine in hand. Crawling from bush to bush, and hiding behind every stone that offered any shelter, I got within handsome range of a fine buck, and feeling sure that the animal could not escape me, I raised to fire, when, just as I was taking aim, I was astonished to see the animal raise erect upon its hind legs, and heard it cry out, in fair Spanish, "No tiras, no tiras!" --"don't fire, don't fire!" What I would have sworn was an antelope, proved to be a young Indian, the son of Ponce, a chief, who, having enveloped himself in an antelope's skin, with head, horns and all complete, had gradually crept up to the herd under his disguise until his operations were brought to an untimely end by perceiving my aim directed at him. The Apaches frequently adopt this method of hunting, and imitate the actions of the antelopes so exactly as to completely mislead those animals with the belief that their deadliest enemy is one of their number."

Havasupai

2009-06-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Havasu ’Baaja (meaning the-people-of-the-blue-green-waters), or more commonly the Havasupai, are a Native American tribe located in the northwestern part of the American state of Arizona. The tribe is well-known for being the only permanent inhabitants in the Grand Canyon, where they have lived for over 800 years. It also holds the distinction of being one of the only places left in America whose mail is still delivered by mule, the other being Phantom Ranch But the main "claim-to-fame" for the Tribe is its richly colored waters and its awe-inspiring waterfalls, both of which have made this small community become a bustling tourist hub that attracts thousands of people every year.

Click here for more

Where Spirits Get Eaten/Drunken Indians

2009-06-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

View more about John

I honor your words John Trudell!
-Thunder

Leonard Peltier's Long ride home

2009-06-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

Below is a letter that you can copy and send (snail Mail) to the address indicated. This is of supreme importance that you do this before his parole hearing on July 27, 2009. We have hopes that with the new administration something good will happen. Take a few minutes of your time please, because the more letters they get the better the chances. You can make a difference. For more Information, go to The group on Facebook called Leonard Peltier Global.

Parole boards are parole boards and if it doesn't come out with a good result, we will try other means, like marching on Washington.

PAROLE HEARING LETTER TEMPLATE

United States Parole Commission

5550 Friendship Blvd., Ste. 420

Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286

(Insert Date)

Re: LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132

Dear Commissioners,

I am writing in behalf of support for Parole for Leonard Peltier . While I am aware of the seriousness of the conviction I am also aware that people have the ability to go forward out of the past and give to the larger society. I believe that is the case with Leonard Peltier.

I ask you to consider the humanitarian work he has done during his 33 years of incarceration. More than most people can ever do who are not locked up.

I ask you to consider his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for the 6th straight year. There are those who make light of this but who else among us have had that honor.

He consistently donates his art work for charities such as battered women's shelters, half way houses, alcohol and drug treatment programs, and Native American scholarship funds.

Mr. Peltier has won several awards including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award; Federation of Labor (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement.

He has expressed sadness for the tragedy that occurred that day at Oglala and pain for the families of the two agents and the Indian man that died that day.

Thirty-three years is a long time. I ask you to look with empathy upon a 64 year old man who over the 33 years has done so much good while in prison, and I think has the ability to do even more good for the community if he were to be allowed parole.

While I know of the misconduct by government officials in his case, I will not bring details up because I am certain that you are aware of the misconduct, and will consider that as you have the discretion to rule above or below the guidelines. I would hope that you will exercise that discretion in favor of Leonard Peltier. It seems to me it would be a gross miscarriage of justice if he were left to die in prison.

Please grant parole.

Respectfully

Your name

The Apache Knife: A Way of Life

2009-06-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, an Apache always has a lot of different blades on him for multiple uses. He'll holster them in different places and deploys them at different times. In close-range fighting, Apaches preferred the knife over any other weapon. Warriors and women alike always carried a knife, whether they used it around the camp, or for combat. In using the lance, war club, knife or empty-hands, the Apache warrior was extremely aggressive, but never to the point of recklessness. The Apache strategy in battle centered on overrunning and completely overwhelming the enemy. This tactic worked well (before firearms), as the Apaches were generally outnumbered. One warrior would most likely face several opponents. If the odds were too great, or if a chance for the entire war party to escape unharmed presented itself, warriors would gladly retire. For life was, and still is, quite dear to the Apaches. The legendary skills and endurance of the Apache warriors have been documented through the testimonies of the soldiers who fought them. They even referred to them as the ‘tigers of the human race’ as they were deemed most ideally adapted to fighting in their rugged homeland. Warriors wore a shirt, breech cloth, and moccasins normally reaching above the knee; they carried a rope, blanket, water jar, fire stick, rations of mescal or jerky, and their weapons. The Apache might employ a shield, bow, arrows, lance, club, Knife, and during the Apache Wars, a gun and cartridge belt. They also blackened their weapons to camouflage them.

The Apache attitude toward pain was altogether different from that of the Mexicans and Americans. Pain was a fact of life and to endure it stoically and silently was the sign of good character. From early on, boys were taught how to endure pain. The Apaches, in contrast to the Plains Indians, applauded courage but derided heroics; their numbers were too few for flamboyant risks and needless loss of life. Stealth and caution were encouraged. However, when the Apache was wounded or cornered, there was no more ferocious adversary.

The Ultimate Track.

2009-06-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

"The first Track is the end of a string. At the far end, a being is moving; a mystery, dropping a hint about itself every so many feet, telling you more about itself until you can almost see it, even before you come to it. The mystery reveals itself slowly, track by track, giving it's genealogy early to coax you in. Further on, it will tell you the intimate details of it's life and work, until you know the maker of the track like a life long friend."

"A skull is the ultimate track a creature leaves. When everything else has been unshaped by time, when every scratch and print is gone, the skull remains. When I find a skull, It's as if I am standing within touch of the second greatest mystery in the universe, the mystery of where creatures go when they leave this greatest mystery of all, the pattern of life living itself, the visible design of the invisible we call nature.
-Tom Brown Jr.

We all leave a track in this life as we walk the path, sometimes it might be beneficial to observe what kind of track we are leaving. This in turn can give you insight as to where you are and which way to go. -Thunderhands

Mangas Colorado

2009-06-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

Mangas Colorado
as witnessed by John Cremony, ca. 1850

"Mangas Colorado, or Red Sleeves, was, undoubtedly, the most prominent and influential Apache who has existed for a century. Gifted with a large and powerful frame, corded with iron-like sinews and muscles, and possessed of far more than an ordinary amount of brain strength, he succeeded at an early age, in winning a reputation unequaled in his tribe. His daring exploits, his wonderful resources, his diplomatic abilities, and his wise teachings in council soon surrounded him with a large and influential band, which gave him a sort of prestige and sway among the various branches of his race, and carried his influence from the Colorado river to the Guadalupe mountains. Throughout Arizona and New Mexico, Mangas Colorado was a power in the land. Yet he could assume no authority not delegated to him by his people. He never presumed to speak for them as one having authority, but invariably said he would use his influence to perform certain promises and engagements. Mangas, in one of his raids into Sonora, carried off a handsome and intelligent Mexican girl, whom he made his wife, to the exclusion of his Apache squaws. This singular favoritism bred some trouble in the tribe for a short time, but was suddenly ended by Mangas challenging any of the offended brothers or relatives of his discarded wives. Two accepted the wager, and both were killed in fair duel. By his Mexican wife Mangas had three really beautiful daughters, and through his diplomatic ability, he managed to wive one with the chief of the Navajoes, another with the leading man of the Mescalero Apaches, and the third with the war chief of the Coyoteros. By so doing, he acquired a very great influence in these tribes, and, whenever he desired, could obtain their assistance in his raids. His height was about six feet; his head was enormously large, with a broad, bold forehead, a large acquiline nose, a most capacious mouth, and broad, heavy chin. His eyes were rather small, but exceedingly brilliant and flashing when under any excitement--although his outside demeanor was as imperturbable as brass. This is the man we met at the Copper Mines; but as his name will be mentioned in the course of this narrative, in connection with his acts, no more need be added at present. His most immediate counselors and attaches were Delgadito, Ponce, Cuchillo Negro, Coletto Amarillo, El Chico, and Pedro Azul. These were all appellations bestowed by Mexicans, and not their Apache names, which I never learned."

Mangas Colorado's New Clothes
as witnessed by John Cremony, ca. 1850

"Mr. Bartlett, in order to retain the supposed friendship of Mangas, had a fine pair of blue pants, ornamented with a wide red stripe down the outside of the legs, made for that respectable individual. To this were added a good field officer's uniform and epaulettes, given by Col. Craig, a new white shirt, black cravat, and an excellent pair of new shoes, such as are furnished to our soldiers. It was my duty to invest Mangas in his new suit, but some difficulty was experienced in getting him to wear his shirt inside of his pants instead of outside. After a time he made his appearance in grande tenue, evidently in love with his own elegant person. During the whole day he strutted about the camp, the envied of all beholders, and as vain of his new dress as a peacock of his feathers. The next day Mangas failed to put in an appearance; but the day after he came, with his pantaloons wrapped around his waist; his shirt, dirty and partly torn outside; his uniform coat buttoned to his chin; one epaulet on his breast, and the other fastened, bullion down, between the hind buttons of his coat. In this guise he fancied himself an object worthy of universal admiration; and as he walked along, he would turn his eyes over his shoulder to relish the brilliant flashes of his posterior ornament. In less than a week, coat, shirt, pants and epaulettes were sported by another Indian after his fashion. Mangas had gambled them away, and the wearer was the fortunate winner."

The spirit keepers: Words of Holy (Wakan) men

2009-06-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

Geronimo /Quote

2009-05-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

It makes no difference as to the name of the God, since love is the real God of all the world.
Even your silence holds a sort of prayer.

When Usen created the Apaches, he also gave them their homes in the West. He gave them such grain, fruits and game as they needed to eat... and all they needed for clothing and shelter was at hand. Thus it was in the beginning; the Apaches and their homes, each created for the other. When they are taken from their homes they sicken and die.
-- Geronimo, Chiricahua Apache

Apache camouflage

2009-05-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Apache camouflage
As witnessed by John Cremony, ca. 1864

While crossing an extensive prairie, dotted here and there by a few shrubs and diminutive bushes, Quick Killer volunteered, while resting at noon, to show me with what dexterity an Apache could conceal himself, even where no special opportunity existed for such concealment. The offer was readily accepted, and we proceeded a short distance until we came to a small bush, hardly sufficient to hide a hare. Taking his stand behind this bush, he said: "Turn your back and wait until I give the signal." This proposition did not exactly suit my ideas of Apache character, and I said: "No, I will walk forward until you tell me to stop." This was agreed upon, and quietly drawing my pistol, keeping a furtive glance over my shoulder, I advanced; but had not gone ten steps, when Quick Killer hailed me to stop and find him. I returned to the bush, went around it three or four times, looked in every direction--there was no possible covert in sight; the prairie was smooth and unbroken, and it seemed as if the earth had opened and swallowed up the man. Being unable to discover him, I called and bade him come forth, when, to my extreme surprise, he arose laughing and rejoiced, within two feet of the position I then occupied. With incredible activity and skill he had completely buried himself under the thick grama grass, within six feet of the bush, and had covered himself with such dexterity that one might have trodden upon him without discovering his person. I took no pains to conceal my astonishment and admiration, which delighted him exceedingly, and he informed me that their children were practiced regularly in this game of "hide and seek," until they became perfect adepts. We have far-reaching rifles and destructive weapons, but they must ever be ineffective against unseen enemies; and it is part of a soldier's duty, while engaged in Indian countries, to study all their various devices.

Another excellent illustration of their skill in concealment was given me by Nah-kah-yen. We were hunting together, when a large herd of antelopes made its appearance. Nah-kah-yen immediately tore off a small strip from an old red handkerchief and tied it to the point of a yucca stalk, at the same time handing me his rifle and saying: Ah-han-day anah-zon-tee--"go off a long way"-- he instantly buried himself under the sand and grass with the ease and address of a mole. I at once moved away several hundred yards, and sought to creep up to the antelopes, who were evidently attracted by the piece of red rag fluttering on the yucca stalk. Not wishing to interrupt the sport of my savage comrade, and anxious to witness the upshot of his device, I remained a "looker on and a spectator" of the affair. In a little while a marked commotion was noticeable in the herd, which galloped off very rapidly for a hundred yards or so, but soon recovered their equanimity, and again approached the attractive red rag. These strange agitations occurred several times, until the antelopes finally dashed away over the plains with wonderful speed. Nah-kah-yen then arose and beckoned me to come, which I did, and found that he had killed four of the herd. We had all the meat our horses could well pack, but the distance to camp was only five miles and soon made.

Traditional Apache scouts

2009-05-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

The traditional Apache scouts were members of secret societies within various clans of the tribe. Only Lipan, Chiricahua and Mescalero Apaches had Scout societies. The scouts' original purpose was to protect the clans people from enemies, and to locate game and new campsites.

It is important to distinguish between these scouts, and the "Apache scouts" hired by the U.S. Army during the Apache Wars.

Training

The scouts trained their own clansmen in an intense process that lasted over ten years. Young children within the clan would be closely observed by current scouts and elders. Those who showed promise in skills--such as awareness, tracking and hunting, physical fitness, and selflessness--would be selected to undergo the training process.

Training included advanced techniques of camouflage and invisibility as well as of observation and stalking. These skills led to their nicknames as "shadow people" and "ghosts". The scouts became masters of wilderness survival, excelling beyond the skills of the lay clansmen. This was necessary, for they often had to leave the clan for extended periods of time with little more than knives.

Moreover, the upcoming scouts were taught a highly complex system of tracking, utilizing miniature topographic features within each footprint. These features could tell the trackers anything from the speed at which the animals were moving, to the directions the animals (or humans) were looking at the times they left the track. Some tracking experts, such as Tom Brown, Jr., assert that scout-trained trackers could know whether the makers were hungry, pregnant, or had to urinate, and to what degree.

An Apache Scout Prayer
"Grandfather of all Scouts...
Teach me to be the eyes of my people.
Teach me to move like the shadow.
Allow me to become the winds, the rocks,
the soils, and the life forces in all its forms.
Allow me to suffer for my people and take
away their pain.
Honor me by allowing me to die for my people.
For I love my people beyond myself and I will
sacrifice my all for my people, my earth,
and for you.
Test me beyond all hardship and pain.
Create me as you would forge a tool, and
if you find I am worthy, then bless me
as your servant - your Scout."

"Shadow Walker" 1807
Panther Ridge
Age 91

Poison Oak Info!! for would be trackers

2009-05-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Poison Oak

If you've spent time in the back country, there's an excellent chance you've had a Poison Oak experience. If not, well, it's probably a matter of time. Nearly every Search and Rescue member is quite familiar with poison oak and has a favorite story to tell. Below are some of the remedies we have found that work well, as well as some links to other pages to help out those afflicted.
A Brief Summary

Poison Oak Sketch

Poison oak is a woody shrub that is related to poison ivy and poison sumac. It is plentiful below 4,000' and is generally identified by its oily leaves in groups of three. The leaves can be green, yellow, or red and fall off each year. The leaves and stems contain an oil (Urushiol) that causes an itchy rash in 85% of the population. It's powerful stuff - 1/4 ounce would give a rash to every person on earth and the oil can remain active for up to five years.
Search and Rescue Remedies

Since the oil is the nasty part of the plant, most of the remedies include some surfactant to break up the oil and wash it away. Everyone reacts differently, so try as many remedies as you need to until you find one that works. The important thing is that you wash your gear and clothes so you don't expose yourself again the next time you use them. The treatments described below are all over-the-counter, but for extreme cases, consider consulting a physician.

Adventure Race Team Remedies - C. Hare
Poison Oak Leaves "My adventure race team has a variety of remedies. I've found green soap works well for me. My teammates use a variety of remedies. One uses Oil of Oregano, found in health food stores. Just rub it on, it will sting/itch for less than an hour and then that's it. Applied 2-3 times and the itching is done. Another has had luck with 1% hydrocortisone creams, just be sure to follow the precautions."

Lots of Personal Experience - M. Winter
Poison Oak Patch "Unfortunately, I have had several opportunties to try treatments and have found the following the most effective for me. I remove my contaminated clothes as soon as I can since the oil works through fabric (especially behind your knees and inside your elbows). Then I take a cool shower with regular soap to remove any oil. Everything (clothes and gear) that might have oil on it is washed twice in a five-gallon bucket with regular laundry detergent. The itching starts 2-3 days after exposure, with blisters three days later. When the itching is bad, I use ice cubes or ice packs for a few hours of relief. Before sleeping, I run the affected areas under very hot water. It itches like mad for a few minutes, but goes away for several hours. A layer of 1% hydrocortisone cream (not ointment) generally gets me through the night itch free. If I do wake up, I use the ice treatment. If I follow this routine, the itching lasts a few days. I always crack after the blisters form and scratch them (but it feels SO GOOD!!), so I use ice to stop the itching and a hair dryer to stop the weeping.

Someone told me oatmeal works the best on poison Ivy, Some people aren't affected by it, but if you have a low tolerance, this article might help, at least with the photos so you know what to avoid. -Thunder

Making a bow

2009-05-25T21:19:00.001-07:00

Feathers

2009-05-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Native American Indians believed that feathers were gifts from Great Spirit. Birds were regarded as the highest spirit animal on earth and feathers were used to carry prayers to Great Spirit. They were decorated with stones, beads, and sometimes bones. Each Indian had their own power symbol for their prayer feathers.

Apache: Early Special Operations warrior

2009-05-22T21:36:00.001-07:00

This video just got updated at: 10:31 pm On Friday may 22, 2009

Cochise's Stronghold / Dragoon Mountains

2009-05-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

Colorized Photo off Cochise by -Thunderhands

Cochise

Capture, escape, and retirement
Cochise Stronghold, Dragoon Mountains, southeastern Arizona.

Following various skirmishes, Cochise and his men were gradually driven into the Dragoon Mountains but were nevertheless able to use the mountains as cover and as a base from which to continue significant skirmishes against white settlements. This was the situation until 1871 when General George Crook assumed command and used other Apaches as scouts and informants and was thereby able to force Cochise's men to surrender. Cochise was taken into custody in September of that year.

The next year, the Chiricahua were ordered to Tularosa Reservation located in New Mexico, but refused to leave their ancestral lands in Arizona, which were guaranteed to them under treaty. Cochise managed to escape again and renewed raids and skirmishes against settlements through most of 1872. A new treaty was later negotiated by General Oliver O. Howard, with the help of Tom Jeffords who had become blood brother to Cochise, as the Americans relented to some of the Apaches' terms. Cochise quietly retired to an Arizona reservation, where he died of natural causes.

Red Feather

2009-05-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

"RED FEATHER"

Wilderness Survival - Part One - Heat loss

2009-05-19T23:02:00.001-07:00

The Scorpian / Surviving in the desert / Spiritual view

2009-05-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Painting by Jessa Huebing-Reitinger

In some Native American societies, the stars we call Scorpius played a significant role in determining annual milestones. The Navajo called the upper body of Scorpius "First Big One." When they saw this group rising, they knew spring would soon be over. They referred to the three stars forming the stinger of the scorpion as "Rabbit Tracks," because they looked like the meandering tracks a rabbit leaves in the snow. The position of the Rabbit Tracks in the sky helped tell the Navajo when it was appropriate to hunt game. When the open end of Rabbit Tracks tips toward Earth, as the tail does when the constellation dips toward the western horizon, it is fall, and hunting season begins. When the open end points upward, as it does upon rising in the spring, hunting season ends.

The Skidi Pawnee referred to the two stars comprising the scorpion's stinger as the "Swimming Ducks." When the ducks first appeared just before dawn in late February, they knew that spring and the "time of thunder" were close at hand. They thought Swimming Ducks represented loons that rose late at night in the spring to tell the water birds to fly north again.

Today, most sky watchers associate the appearance of the scorpion with the onset of warm, fragrant nights and hot days: summertime. Still, there was a time long ago when the first people to inhabit this country depended on these star patterns to help them live. See if you can find First Big One, Rabbit Tracks, and Swimming Ducks tonight!

On a practical level / make friends and live in tune with them.

Crossing the threshold into the Sonoran Desert can be an extreme experience. Tucson and Arizona and its environs have more wildlife habitat than most metropolitan areas: Animals—from tiny bugs to large mammals—thrive there, and coexisting with them can run from awe-inspiring to downright scary. Use common sense, and watch where you step and reach.

BARK SCORPIONS

These straw-colored friends grow to about two inches long and have crablike claws, a flat belly, and a segmented tail with a stinger. Outdoors they live in woodpiles, plant debris, or cracks in masonry. Indoors they like sinks, cabinets, or floor drains. New homes can attract scorpions—fresh concrete and plaster create a tempting, moist environment for them.

Scorpions sting humans in defense, they are not out to get you. All scorpions will hide in clothing, shoes, gloves, or bedding, so it's a good idea to shake out these items before use. Although reactions to the venom vary, a bark scorpion sting is never pleasant. If you get stung, call your doctor or Arizona Poison Control (626-6016) for advice.

Sacred Visions of an Apache Elder

2009-05-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Night of the Red Sky: The Prophetic Vision of 'Grandfather'

By Tom Brown Jr. (1991), from Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 1 (Dec '99 - Jan '00)
December 22, 1923

In the 1920s, an Apache wise man had a Vision of four prophecies that foretold death and destruction for mankind, unless we incorporate Spirit in our daily lives. Two of these prophecies may already have come true.

A number of people can predict the future, but few get the timing correct. "Grandfather" was an Apache wise man and scout, named Stalking Wolf, who grew up outside white man's influence. His many predictions not only came true in the manner he predicted, but also when he predicted...

Grandfather had been wandering for several years and was well into his forties when the Vision of the four signs was given to him. He had just finished his third Vision Quest at the Eternal Cave when the Vision made itself known. He had been seated at the mouth of the cave, awaiting the rising Sun, when the spirit of the warrior appeared to him. He felt as if he were in a state somewhere between dream and reality, sleep and wakefulness, until the spirit finally spoke and he knew that it was not his imagination. The spirit called Grandfather's name and beckoned him to follow.
As Grandfather stood, he was suddenly transported to another world. Again, he thought that he was dreaming, but his flesh could feel the reality of this place; his senses knew that this was a state of abject reality, but in another time and place.

The spirit warrior spoke to Grandfather. "These are the things yet to come that will mark the destruction of man. These things you may never see, but you must work to stop them and pass these warnings on to your grandchildren. They are the possible futures of what will come if man does not come back to the Earth and begin to obey the laws of Creation and the Creator. There are four signs, four warnings, that only the children of the Earth will understand. Each warning marks the beginning of a possible future, and as each warning becomes reality, so too does the future it marks"...

The First Sign

..."Welcome to what will be called the 'land of starvation'. The world will one day look upon all of this with horror and will blame the famine on the weather and the Earth. This will be the first warning to the world that man cannot live beyond the laws of Creation, nor can he fight Nature...

There will come starvation before and after this starvation, but none will capture the attention of the world with such impact as does this one. The children of the Earth will know the lessons that are held in all of this pain and death, but the world will only see it as drought and famine, blaming Nature instead of itself"...

In his dream, the spirit spoke to Grandfather. "It is during the years of the famine, the first sign, that man will be plagued by a disease, a disease that will sweep the land and terrorize the masses. The white coats [doctors/scientists] will have no answers for the people, and a great cry will arise across the land. The disease will be born of monkeys, drugs and sex. It will destroy man from inside, making common sickness a killing disease. Mankind will bring this disease upon himself as a result of his life, his worship of sex and drugs, and a life away from Nature. This, too, is a part of the first warning; but, again, man will not heed this warning and he will continue to worship the false gods of sex and the unconscious spirit of drugs." [Author's note: This is presumably a reference to AIDS.]

The Second Sign

The spirit looked at Grandfather for a long moment, then finally spoke. "Holes in the sky... will become the second sign of the destruction of man. The holes in the sky and all that you have seen could become man's reality. It is here, at the beginning of this second sign, that man can no longer heal the Earth with physical action. It is here that man must heed the warning and work harder to change the future at hand. But man must not only work physically, he must also work spiritually, through prayer, for only through prayer can man now hope to heal the Earth and himself"...

"These holes are a direct result of man's life, his travel, and of the sins of his grandfathers and grandmothers. These holes, the second sign, will mark the killing of his grandchildren and will become a legacy to man's life away from Nature. It is the time of these holes that will mark a great transition in mankind's thinking. They will then be faced with a choice-a choice to continue following the path of destruction, or a choice to move back to the philosophy of the Earth and a simpler existence. It is here that the decision must be made, or all will be lost"... [A reference to harmful radiation from holes in the ozone layer caused by burning fossil fuels.]

The Third Sign

Grandfather spent the next four days at the cave entrance, though for those four days nothing spoke to him, not even the Earth. He said that it was a time of great sorrow, of aloneness, and a time to digest all that had taken place.
He knew that these things would not appear in his lifetime, but they had to be passed down to the people of the future with the same urgency and power with which they had been delivered to him. But he did not know how he would explain these unlikely events to anyone. Surely the elders and shamans of the tribes would understand, but not society, and certainly not anyone who was removed from the Earth and Spirit.

He sat for the full four days, unmoving, as if made of stone, and his heart felt heavy with the burden he now carried.

It was at the end of the fourth day that the third Vision came to him. As he gazed out onto the landscape towards the setting Sun, the sky suddenly turned to a liquid and then turned blood-red. As far as his eyes could see, the sky was solid red, with no variation in shadow, texture or light. The whole of Creation seemed to have grown still, as if awaiting some unseen command. Time, place and destiny seemed to be in limbo, stilled by the bleeding sky. He gazed for a long time at the sky, in a state of awe and terror, for the red color of the sky was like nothing he had ever seen in any sunset or sunrise. The color was that of man, not of Nature, and it had a vile stench and texture. It seemed to burn the Earth wherever it touched. As sunset drifted to night, the stars shone bright red, the colour never leaving the sky, and everywhere the cries of fear and pain were heard.

Again, the warrior spirit appeared to Grandfather, but this time as a voice from the sky. Like thunder, the voice shook the landscape. "This, then, is the third sign, the night of the bleeding stars. It will become known throughout the world, for the sky in all lands will be red with the blood of the sky, day and night. It is then, with this sign of the third probable future, that there is no longer hope. Life on the Earth as man has lived it will come to an end, and there can be no turning back, physically or spiritually. It is then, if things are not changed during the second sign, that man will surely know the destruction of the Earth is at hand. It is then that the children of the Earth must run to the wild places and hide. For when the sky bleeds fire, there will be no safety in the world of man."

Grandfather sat in shocked horror as the voice continued. "From this time, when the stars bleed, to the fourth and final sign, will be four seasons of peace [that is, one year]. It is in these four seasons that the children of the Earth must live deep in the wild places and find a new home, close to the Earth and the Creator. It is only the children of the Earth that will survive, and they must live the philosophy of the Earth, never returning to the thinking of man. And survival will not be enough, for the children of the Earth must also live close to the Spirit. So tell them not to hesitate if and when this third sign becomes manifest in the stars, for there are but four seasons to escape."

Grandfather said that the voice and red sky lingered for a week, and then were gone as quickly as they were manifest.

The Fourth Sign

He did not remember how many days he'd spent at the mouth of the cave, nor did it make a difference, for he had received the Vision he had come for.

It was in his final night at the Eternal Cave that the fourth Vision came to Grandfather, this time carried by the voice of a young child.

The child said, "The fourth and final sign will appear through the next ten winters [that is, ten years] following the night that the stars will bleed. During this time, the Earth will heal itself and man will die. For those ten years, the children of the Earth must remain hidden in the wild places, make no permanent camps, and wander to avoid contact with the last remaining forces of man. They must remain hidden, like the ancient scouts, and fight the urge to go back to the destruction of man. Curiosity could kill many."

There was a long silence, until Grandfather spoke to the child spirit, asking, "And what will happen to the worlds of man?"

There was another period of silence until finally the child spoke again. "There will be a great famine throughout the world, like man cannot imagine. Waters will run vile, the poisons of man's sins running strong in the waters of the soils, lakes and rivers. Crops will fail, the animals of man will die, and disease will kill the masses. The grandchildren will feed upon the remains of the dead, and all about will be the cries of pain and anguish. Roving bands of men will hunt and kill other men for food, and water will always be scarce, getting scarcer with each passing year. The land, the water, the sky will all be poisoned, and man will live in the wrath of the Creator. Man will hide at first in the cities, but there he will die. A few will run to the wilderness, but the wilderness will destroy them, for they had long ago been given a choice. Man will be destroyed, his cities in ruin, and it is then that the grandchildren will pay for the sins of their grandfathers and grandmothers."

"Is there then no hope?" Grandfather asked.

The child spoke again. "There is only hope during the time of the first and second signs. Upon the third sign, the night of the bleeding, there is no longer hope, for only the children of the Earth will survive. Man will be given these warnings; if unheeded, there can be no hope, for only the children of the Earth will purge themselves of the cancers of mankind, of mankind's destructive thinking. It will be the children of the Earth who will bring a new hope to the new society, living closer to the Earth and Spirit."

Then all was silent, the landscape cleared and returned to normal, and Grandfather stepped from the Vision. Shaken, he said that he had wandered for the next season, trying to understand all that had been given to him, trying to understand why he had been chosen.

Grandfather had related the story to me in great detail during that night of the four prophecies. I don't think that any event had been left out, and his emotions and thoughts were such that he actually relived it for us. Thus the power of his Vision became part of our spirit, our driving force, and a big part of our fears.

I sat for a long time up on the hill. The fire had gone out, and all had retired to sleep for the night. Creation seemed to be at a standstill, awaiting this darkest part of the night to pass by. I felt alone and vulnerable, as if all of Creation were scrutinizing my every thought.

Grandfather had this Vision some time in the 1920s.

Analysis

The prophetic accuracy of Stalking Wolf's visions are quite stunningly clear thus far, both in their highly detailed descriptions and sequence of events, as presented to the young Tom Brown and friends. Here is the prophesied time line as interpreted in the context of the ongoing magnetic polar reversal:

1st Sign............ 1975 - 1985 . African famine and AIDS spread
2nd Sign........... 1985 - 1995 . Holes form in Earth's ozone layer, permitting destructive solar rays
3rd Sign........... Dec 22, 2012 . Magnetic reversal ignites a plasma canopy seen as red skies worldwide
4th Sign............ 2012 - 2022 . Large-scale destruction of low-resonance human technology ensues

This interpretation of the time line of Grandfather's visions is based on the notion that plasmas in our skies (now seen as auroras) will become more and more visible, eventually forming a complete canopy enveloping Earth. Identical scenarios of firestorms and the Red Dawn are prophesied by several other indigenous traditions from the Americas, including the Hopi, Sioux and Maya.

Contemporary solar scientists as well as Mayan timekeepers are predicting the most intense solar event in the history of humanity, culminating in a system-wide magnetic reversal involving all of Sol's planets on December 22, 2012. The Prophecy of the Night of the Red Skies predicts an atmospheric change of epic proportions in our imminent future, however, without providing a specific date, after which time humanity is advised to abandon his technological traps before they become lethal.

The precursors of this oncoming energy wave are already manifesting, as the electromagnetically oriented patterns of weather, animal and plant activity around the world are collapsing. Even more specific to the prophetic warnings are recent incidents of anomalous electric fires, such as the igniting cellphones and shavers in Vallejo, California, as well as in the Berici Hills of northern Italy and Messina, Sicily.

The changing ambient conditions of Earth are mitigated by the world's gigantic pyramidal transducers of infra sound, the Orion pyramids at Giza, which serve to balance the energy moving through our planet to reduce erratic earthquakes. This energetic build-up process has already reached evacuation levels in various parts of the world. Piezoelectric firestorms are concurrently being experienced in waves of erratic activity, also measured as infra sound pulsation, in Ratria, India, Bodibe, South Africa, Seattle and Santa Barbara, USA.

"TheTracker" Tom Brown Jr.

2009-05-16T17:52:00.000-07:00

Tom Brown Jr. is a renowned outdoors man, tracker, teacher, and author of 16 books. He was born Jan 29, 1950 in South Tom's River, NJ. Starting when he was only seven Tom was taught by Stalking Wolf (Grandfather), an Apache elder, shaman, and scout. For ten years Tom was mentored in the skills of tracking, wilderness survival, and awareness. After Stalking Wolf's death when Brown was 17, Tom spent the next ten years living in the wilderness throughout the United States with no manufactured tools - in most instances not even a knife - perfecting these skills and teachings. Brown came back to" civilization" looking for people interested in all he had learned. He felt lost and confused until a local sheriff who knew Tom called him in to track a lost person. Tom found the missing person and in the process, found his path in life.

For the next few years, Brown earned his reputation as "The Tracker" finding lost people, and sometimes fugitives from the law. Tom has since worked with many law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and internationally on cases involving abducted children, lost hunters and hikers, and fugitives. He wrote his experiences in a book titled The Tracker which was published in 1978. Soon after, "Reader's Digest" ran a condensed version of his story, and included information on the Tracker School. That was twenty years ago, and today Tom Brown's Tracking, Nature, and Wilderness Survival School is the largest school of its kind, teaching people from all over the world in all walks of life who share an interest in learning the simplicity of a natural way of living.

Stalking Wolf

Stalking Wolf was raised free of the reservations in the mountains of northern Mexico. Born in the 1870s during a time of great warfare and violence, he was part of a band of Lipan Apache that never surrendered. He was taught the traditional ways of his people and excelled as a healer and a scout. When he was twenty, a vision sent him away from his own people, and for the next sixty-three years he wandered the Americas, seeking teachers and learning the old ways of many native peoples. Stalking Wolf traveled the height and breadth of the Americas, living on his own as a free man. He never held a job, drove a car, paid taxes, or participated in modern society.

When he was eighty-three years old, he met his grandson Rick's friend, Tom. He recognized that boy as the person he would spend his final years with, teaching him all he knew. That boy was Tom Brown, and Tom became the recipient of not only all that Stalking Wolf had learned during his travels, but the distillation of hundreds of years of Apache culture as well. These teachings are what Tom teaches at his famous Tracking, Nature, and Wilderness Survival School.

Tracking / Mountain lion tracks

2009-05-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

An Apache / Jicarilla Legend

2009-05-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

An Apache / Jicarilla Legend

Apache Tear Drop is a form of black obsidian. It is a calming translucent stone, found in Arizona and other parts of the U.S. It is composed of feldspar, hornblende, biotite and quartz. It was formed by rhythmic crystallization that produces a separation of light and dark materials into spherical shapes, and is a form of volcanic glass.

There is a haunting legend about the Apache Tear Drop. After the Pinal Apaches had made several raids on a settlement in Arizona, the military regulars and some volunteers trailed the tracks of the stolen cattle and waited for dawn to attack the Apaches.

The Apaches, confident in the safety of their location, were completely surprised and out-numbered in the attack. Nearly 50 of the band of 75 Apaches were killed in the first volley of shots. The rest of the tribe retreated to the cliff's edge and chose death by leaping over the edge rather than die at the hands of the white men.

For years afterward those who ventured up the treacherous face of Big Pacacho in Arizona found skeletons, or could see the bleached bones wedged in the crevices of the side of the cliff.

The Apache Women and the lovers of those who had died gathered a short distance from the base of the cliff where the sands were white, and for a moon they wept for their dead. They mourned greatly, for they realized that not only had their 75 brave Apache warriors died, but with them had died the great fighting spirit of the Pinal Apaches.

Their sadness was so great, and their burden of sorrow so sincere that the Great Father imbedded into black stones the tears of the Apache Women who mourned their dead. These black obsidian stones, when held to the light, reveal the translucent tear of the Apache.

The stones are said to bring good luck to those possessing them. It is said that whoever owns an Apache Tear Drop will never have to cry again, for the Apache Women have shed their tears in place of yours.

The Apache tear drops are also said to balance the emotional nature and protect one from being taken advantage of. It can be carried as an amulet to stimulate success in business endeavors. It is also used to produce clear vision and to increase psychic powers.

Black obsidian is a powerful Meditation stone. The purpose of this gemstone is to bring to light that which is hidden from the conscious mind. It dissolves suppressed negative patterns and purifies them. It can create a somewhat radical behavior change as new positive attitudes replace old, negative, egocentric patterns.

Basic Wilderness Survival Skills : Wilderness Survival: Making a Snare

2009-05-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

A snare is a noose that traps small game as they run through a trail, which is an important wilderness survival skill to learn. Discover how to make and place a snare with tips from an experienced outdoorsman in this free video about wilderness survival skills.

Expert: kevin Barrett
Bio: Kevin Barrett is an experienced outdoors man who has been honing his survival skills for many years.

A Copper Age Bow

2009-05-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Making a hunting weight bow using "copper-age" technology (A copper adz, antler wedges/chisels, and stone tools. Paleo Planet