Click Relander - Drummers and Dreamers

Question 1

Wanapum story of creation

Answer 1

Told by Smowhala, the founding of the dreamer religion at Priest Rapids

Sun, man and star were the sacred trinity, interwoven with the Washat dance which was developed to perfection by Smowhala

Question 2

Nearby tribes ceding territory

Answer 2

Nearby Yakimas and other Shahaptiaan stock tribes ceded territory in 1855 when the Yakima Reservation was created

Question 3

Initial spread of the dreamer religion

Answer 3

Spread along the Columbia

Born in the era of exploration, before the Upsuch (greedy ones) poured westwards

The faith flourished for a time, leaving its mark even on the third generation

Question 4

Prophecies before white men

Answer 4

Dire prophecies of long-braided doctors antedated by many years the coming of the white men

Life was not always easy, and suffering and sickness ravaged up and down the Columbia and Snake long before the ‘suyapos’ came

Question 5

Initial expeditions

Answer 5

A few expeditions - 1805, 1811 and 1814

Wise Smowhala sensed these first fingers of civilisation, foresaw extinction of pure Indian blood and the conquest for mother earth - fought to stem the onrush with religion

Question 6

1815-20

Answer 6

Smowhala had been born to found a new religion and preach the old Indian way of living

He preached his religion against overwhelming odds of military might and the inrushing land-mad tide of immigration

Question 7

Message of the religion

Answer 7

Smowhala set hopes alight - taught his people to expect the dawn of a new day, a resurrection leading to the overthrow of the greedy ones

Question 8

Succession of Smowhala

Answer 8

Eventually succeeded by his son, Yoyam, and then his nephew, Puck Hyah Toot (the latter providing testimony for the book)

Question 9

Eventual decline of Smowhala

Answer 9

His teachings eventually crumbled under the overwhelming weight of the white man’s civilisation and the undermining northern and southern chiefs, Moss and Homli

Followers deserted him, adopting the new soft life of the suyapo

Question 10

Principle issue for Indians

Answer 10

A fundamental determination to retain the principle heritage, the Indian religion

Question 11

Initial welcome of suyapo

Answer 11

By many tribes - soon faded after they took the choicest land and overran the favourite hunting grounds

Question 12

Fulfilment of prophecies

Answer 12

Fear that the white men represented the fulfilment of the prophecies and that the retribution of Nami Piap was returning

As such, Smowhala was a new hope for the River People, he came when they needed a clear-visioned physical and spiritual leader

Question 13

Breaking of promises

Answer 13

Smowhala looked upon each successive broken promise of the white man as fulfilment of his visions

They strengthened the River Peoples’ faith in his dreams

Question 14

Smowhala initial spirit searching

Answer 14

Yearning of his spirit was born when he was a young man at Wallula - went alone to the Solemn Hills seeking a vision

Question 15

Initial dream of Smowhala

Answer 15

Became semi-delirious after days of fasting in the hills - fell into the sleep of the dead

However awoke with a new song, a greater power, and instructions to add new rituals to the fragments of an old religion that has persisted through the dim years

Question 16

Birth of the religion

Answer 16

Above the sacred mountain (La Lac), the religion was born - flags, bird, calendar

All became part of the Washani religion - dance was added later

Question 17

Definition of dreamers

Answer 17

Those with the ability to die, go to the land in the sky, and return with rapturous messages for the faithful

Question 18

Birth of the dance

Answer 18

After the death of his first born daughter, Anh (was to be priestess), he appeared to die from grief, however he came back to life after 2 days and broke his silence with a message

Question 19

Reason for the dance

Answer 19

Brought back to go with the song - it was called the Washat

Smowhala suggested it would restore the country and the things belonging to the country to the Indians

Those who were pure would rise up form the dust and float up through the earth to live forever in happiness and peace

Question 20

Nature of Washat dream

Answer 20

He was told not to let people forget the old customs - saw his daughter happy, singing and dancing

Question 21

Importance of the drum

Answer 21

Crucial to the dance, representing the sound of life within you

Dancers also wore feathers to show their climbing up

Question 22

Neighbouring Palouses

Answer 22

One of the first nations to disappear

Disastrous 1858 war with American troops in which no US troops were lost

Question 23

Chief Wolf

Answer 23

Last chief of the Palouse nation - tried to reason with politicians in Washington; got no justice and lost the rest of his land and money

Question 24

Large growth of Smowhala’s religion

Answer 24

Band of nontreaty Indians which grew to around 2000 people, expanding in all directions and defying government efforts to confine the River People to reservations

Question 25

Smowhala’s position on reservations

Answer 25

In 1875, he made it clear that they were an evil influence on Indians - leading to drinking, gambling and marriage to white men

He fought to shield the River People from such unsavoury things

Question 26

Rights wanted by the Wanapums

Answer 26

Wanted the right to choose their own locations as the whites did

In 1877, many of the Priest Rapids people were moved by the bluecoats to the Yakima Reservation

The Wanapums were soon hopelessly entangled in the complexity of the government’s workings

Question 27

Major MacMurray

Answer 27

Met Smowhala and urged him to settle with the Indian homestead law - he refused to, as ploughing the Earth was considered to be tearing at Mother Earth’s bosom

Question 28

Captain Huggins

Answer 28

Also met Smowhala - he explained that the men refused to labour as it would bring dreaming to an end, and that dreaming was the source of all meaningful wisdom

At this point, Smowhala still believed he would soon lead the people to be wealthy and powerful as in the past

Question 29

Moses

Answer 29

Made a deal to get a reservation in 1879, however his 2000 square miles were soon examined by gold seekers and opened to home stagers and miners in 1886 (who swarmed all over their land)

Question 30

Example of white attitude

Answer 30

2 men examined a boulder given to Moses by the government

It broke, exposing silver and gold - the men told Moses that the outside was given to them by the government, but the inside belonged to them

Question 31

James H. Wilbur (Indian Agent from 1861)

Answer 31

From Fort Simcoe he oppressed Smowhala, since he was staunchly against freedom of worship

Question 32

Civil war years

Answer 32

Cattlemen and land stagers overran Indian lands and violated their rights

Question 33

Wilbur’s flaw

Answer 33

His principles of faith dominated his life and the lives of those near to him - converted Indians to preachers and believed in creating peace through the plough and Bible

Vast prejudices, as Methodists could get all the assistance they asked for, whilst it was denied to all others (Wanapums had to be self-supporting)

Question 34

Death of Smowhala

Answer 34

Before the 20th century - Yoyami took over

Question 35

Period of quiet

Answer 35

River People seemed to have been forgotten

The youth gradually moved away to reservations, etc, with only Yoyami and Puck becoming priests

Question 36

Decline of Smowhala’s power

Answer 36

As his power as a doctor deserted him, people began to lose their religious fervour, and one by one his menage abandoned his shabby lodge

Question 37

Decline of food

Answer 37

Some Wanapum were forced to plow land and plant small fields - game was scarce, and the root-digging grounds had been destroyed

Salmon runs of size ended in 1905 due to damns and fish wheels - the fish a ‘pitiful remnant of Indian glory’

Question 38

1942

Answer 38

Last Wanapums surrendered ancestral fishing grounds and Rifted Canyon at White Bluffs for the government to flood and build a damn

Last piece of land left was the ancient site of P’na at Priest Rapids

Question 39

Sources used in the book

Answer 39

A mixture of oral testimony from the last surviving members and official reports from soldiers, etc.

Question 40

Coverage of the book

Answer 40

The other tribes and surrounding geography, as well as a deep coverage of certain customs in an anthropological manner (e.g. types of roots needed for feasts)

Myth is a key part of the Indian society and is blended into the book throughout

Captures paternalistic white attitude and deep sense of oppression felt by the Wanapum