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SPRING 2017 ISSUE 01 / VOL. 02
Main: Clean-up in the front yard of the Frenchglen Hotel. Right: Welcome to the Rattlesnake Ranch.
Claims,” written by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins in 1883, granddaughter, daughter and sister of a succession of Northern Paiute chiefs. Her remarkable book is the first ever written by an American Indian in English, the eloquent personal record of a people’ s great struggle to cope with their fracturing world. She writes of her grandfather when he first encountered“ his white brothers” and unsuccessfully tried to gain their trust:“ I can imagine his feelings for I have drunk deeply from the same cup. When I think of my past life and the bitter trials I have endured I can scarcely believe I live and yet I do; and with the help of Him who notes the sparrow’ s fall, I mean to fight for my downtrodden race while life lasts.” Before leaving town, we ride to Winnemucca Grammar School( 1890) to view Sarah’ s statue that honors her in the foyer of this stunning old brick school building emblazoned with symbols of Paiute theology( appropriate since among her many accomplishments she founded an Indian school in Lovelock). Her bronze likeness is also on permanent display in the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City and in The National Statuary Hall in Washington, D. C., where on behalf of her people she once testified before Congress. She died October 16, 1891. A great, great lady. The manager of the Best Western motel on Winnemucca Boulevard where we stayed( I recommend it highly) told me that at sunset in just the right light and shadow the visages of the chief and his daughter occur naturally and are plainly visible on the reddening face of Winnemucca Mountain. I had no trouble believing it.