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Show Sp~'ct1'um s Oedar Birthday'Sllpplement NovEuriber6:-,1980 17 . and Kanab areas. Added to this difficulty, it is now often dangerous to strip, cut and finish either willow strips in one's mouth as was usually done because of the widespread use of in; secticides. A cradel or kahn was made from a willow loop fram~ with woven backing. This' was covered with soft buckskin casing which tied in products are beautiful; and, interest among the young to the front. Such ~radles kept the children intact and were in recognition of her skills, learn the art. If tile Gary Tom she was asked to participate The materials and the . good babysitters. and Gretchen Ronnowin the Southern utah Folklife methods Leta uses are those mother wished, she would Festival held in Zion National that are provided by !,lIiture free the baby's legs so that he . Park in-8eptember. and that used to be available ~ould kick and stand and develop strength rapidly. Letta Seem iller has the A Southern utah Paiute and abundant. Leta also makes winnowing distinction of being one of a born in Santa Clara, utah, to To make baskets, Leta uses very few basket weavers left JOe and Alice Pagum'pahcuts squaw bushes. Although and gathering baskets which among ~e Southern Paiutes. over fifty years ago, Leta now some like .willows best, she are used to collect pinenuts . claims that squaw bushes and seeds and many other She is also an expert buckskin lives at Kaibab. tanner. Her methods in bot., Basketmaking, she says, is make better baskets. As the types of bask~ts for a range of arts are those on long ago, but becoming a dying art for ' white man arrived and began domestic uses. She covers sh~ . complains .that . the several reasons; the scarcity ' to farm -and fence off' private her wC\ter jugs with a mixture orIg1ll:al materIals are of original materials, the · property, the availability of of pitch and sand to make bec,?mmg very hard to get. . influx of other commodities natural materials dwindled, them airtight and waterHer baskets and buckskin _ and materials, and the lack of particularly in the Cedar City proof. Even the art of bUCKskin tanning is suffering from the effects of modern developments; for it depends upon the availability of deer and Rena splitting willows. Courtesy SUSC Special the herds are diminishing Collections Library, Wm. R. and Kate I. Palmer with so many deer hunters Western History Collection. and farms. After the deer has been killed, it is skinned and the and moccasins were made fire. The flame is then exhair scraped off with a one-' wrong side out so that when tinguished so that the. cedar edged blade or stone. Then it they .were turned, the seams chips continute to smok4;l. is hung up to dry and the would-be inside. Then, the buskskin bag is Leta describes th.e final, or placed over the smoking cooked brains are rubbed into the skin to ' soften . it. (Pig tanning, process: the whole bucket. Be sure that no brains are best today!> . buck~kin is made into a bag smoke escapes, and leave it Finally, the skin Is rubbed by patching all the holes with on until the desired color is and kneaded with the hands fJour . paste for glue . reached. If it is left too long, to soften it further. This is Sometimes, even a skirt is it will scorch. made- for the bottom. The the most tedious. A most delightful person, After buckskin items were best materials for tanning Leta is making a fine conMamie Merricats and Stella, Moroni's and Kate · I. Palmer Western History made, they were stored in the are pieces of , cedar with tribution to her area, to her wife, making baskets. Courtesy SUSC Collection. damp ground to keep them plenty of -bark. These are neighbors, and, espeCially, to Sp~c1al Collections Library, Wm. R. soft. Articles sucb as gloves placed in a bucket and set on her people. Leta Seegmiller One of adwindling few Paiute basket weavers ...... . ... In 112 SOUTH MAIN CEDAR CITY, UTAH 84720 801-586-4435 ' |
