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Show On the Uintah- Ouray Reservation squawberry bushes are reported along Deep Creek to the right ( east) of State Highway 246 after the road crosses Deep Creek and before it intersects with State Highway 121 ( 1.2), in Whiterocks and Uinta canyons ( 1.2; 3.1), along the Yellowstone River above Altamont ( 4.3), and along Cottonwood Creek and the Yellowstone Feeder Canal near Coyote Basin Pond ( 1.2; 4.2). The last area is considered a prime location ( 4.2). Ute Food Uses: The berries of this shrub were eaten by the Northern Utes according to ethnographic reports ( Chamberlin 1909a: 36; Smith 1974a: 270; Fowler, 1986: 70; Pettit 1990: 27). Ute consultants ( 1.4; 2.1) also indicated that it is a food resource which is eaten and prepared in its green as well as orange stage. In their green stage, the berries are made into a sauce or pudding ( 2.1). Titus ( Oral History, American West Center, 1967) also said that the women gathered alfalfa seeds, clover seeds, berries and squawberry bushes to dry and grind into a flour called " tattie" which they made into a bread. Fowler ( 1986: 70) suggested that Northern Utes also ate the fruits of the smooth sumac ( Rhus glabra), but this variety is not found in the Uinta Basin area ( Goodrich and Neese, 1986). Medicinal Uses by Utes: Lyman and Denver ( 1970: 86) described the use of squawberries for dysentery. Both H. Wardle ( Oral History, American West Center, 1970) and M. Harris ( Oral History, American West Center, 1969) mentioned red berries used for diarrhea or stomach trouble, which may have been squawberries. Other Uses by Utes: L. B. Titus ( Oral History, American West Center, 1967) indicated that Ute women made water jugs from branches of this bush and pinion sticks. Other descriptions of their use in basketry are found in ethnographic writings ( Smith 1974a: 91; Callaway, et al. 1986: 346). Ute consultants ( 1.1; 2.1) explained how baskets were made with the branches of this bush, and one mentioned why baskets of these bushes were preferred for gathering because they distributed the weight of the berries preventing them from being crushed. Smith ( 1974a: 109, 116) also reported that arrows and snowshoes were made from squawbush. One consultant ( 1.1) noted that Indians from other reservations sometimes trade with the Utes for this wood. Uses by Neighboring Great Basin Populations: Chamberlin ( 1911: 379). indicated that the Gosiute also ate squawberries. The Paiutes were known to use the dried and powdered fruits as an astringent for small pox sores ( Train et al. 1974: 129). Stoffle et al. ( 1990: 425- 6) reported that the Rhus trilobata had a relatively high cumulative " cultural importance" scores as calculated from interviews of Shoshone and Paiute informants. 41 |