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Show THE GOSHUTES W E S H A L L R E M A I N : U TA H I N D I A N C U R R I C U L U M G U I D E 116 AT A GLANCE: GOSHUTE INGENUITY IN A CHALENGING DESERT ECOSYSTE M One of the hallmarks of Goshute history is the tribe's adaptability to the natural world and, more recently, to the difficulties presented by en-counters with other peoples, particularly white colonists. Kuttuhsippeh, the name Goshutes use for themselves, means "people of the dry earth." For centuries prior to white incursion, Kuttuh-sippeh lived in a delicate balance with nature on the high arid desert and mountain lands south and west of what we now call the Great Salt Lake. The entire Great Basin, of which the Goshute homelands are only one part, has less abundant plant and animal life than other areas that were home to indigenous peoples. However, as Dennis R. Defa notes, due to a combination of extremely hot temperatures in summer and extreme cold in winter, poor soil composition for plant life, and a lack of water, the Goshute area of the Great Basin "is among the most forbidding in North America and offered the resident Indians few resources needed for survival." Goshute creation stories place them in this, the most challenging environment faced by any of Utah's native nations, from time immemorial. Goshutes relied on ingenuity and on a remarkable knowledge of the natural world, passed on from generation to generation, to survive in a place that others found inhospitable. The Goshutes dealt with their homeland's tem-perature extremes and minimal vegetation by moving around the region to make the greatest use of its resources; as historian David Rich Lewis notes, they were "flexible by necessity given the dispersion and variability of resources from season to season and year to year." In spring, summer, and fall, the Goshutes grouped together as extended families rather than as a single tribe. These families moved through valleys and canyons in response to the availability of water sources and to the growth patterns of the plants they gathered and ate. Their diet encompassed forty-seven different species of grass seed, eight different types of roots, twelve types of greens, and twelve different berry types. Perhaps the most important of these was the pinyon-or pine-nut. To supplement this plant-centered diet, Goshutes collected insects and insect larvae. The Goshutes also hunted animals for food, again according to a seasonal pattern, and relied on a deep reservoir of knowledge about desert wildlife passed on from generation to gen-eration. Extended family groups hunted small mammals, birds, and reptiles. Most summers and falls, multiple extended families gathered for larger hunts, which focused on pronghorn antelope and, especially, jackrabbits. In the win-ter, Goshutes moved to more established camps in lower parts of valleys, including the Skull, Rush, Tooele, and Deep Creek. These sites held pre-positioned food caches and provided access to water throughout the winter. Although Goshute people moved around a great deal, these valleys were places of particular cultural, spiritual, and material importance. In spring, when stored food began to run short, the Goshutes would once again begin to move through the homeland in which they lived in such a balanced and symbi-otic manner. Because only the Goshutes seemed willing and able to adapt to this harsh landscape, they lived |
