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Show 804 INDIANS IN UTAH. the country adjacent to Thousand Spring valley, and west as far as the Humboldt. When I arrived on the Humboldt I met various straggling parties of the Shoshonee tribe, who belong to a band under the chief, Ne-me-te-kah, (man-eater,) whose band numbers about 500. I laid by two days, and sent two of his band in search of him; they brought him to my camp, accompanied by his son and several of his braves. I found him quite an intelligent Indian, noble in appearance, and a particular friend to the whites. He had never permitted any of his bands to dis-turb the whites; he told me there were had Indians on the Humboldt, they would sometimes steal from the whites; but if they did not cease their depredations upon the whites, he would collect his band together and make them. I gave him some presents, which he received very friendly, but told me he did not take them as pay for his friendship; he was, and always had been, a friend to all the whites who travelled the road; that as his great father the big captain (meaning the Presi- 1 dent) had sent them to hirn,it made his heart glad, and he never would * forget it. He sent two of his braves with me; one Pant-wa-a-mute, (the drowned man,) who has a separate band of about 200, occupying the country around and about the first crossing of the Humboldt, and directed them to find a chief, a friend of his, who resides near Stony point, called Oh-hah-quah, (yellow-skin,) who has a hand of about 450, also of the Shoshonee tribe. They accompanied me to the village, hut Oh-hah-quah was absent on a hiint, and could not be found. 1 gave them some presents, and sent some to their chief. All promised friend-ship to the whites, and seemed much pleased. Two of Oh-hah-quah's band accompanied me down the Humboldt upwards of one hundred miles. They enabled me to see many Indians, as they knew their haunts, all of whom promised friendship. About seventy-five miles from the sink of the Humboldt 1 met with a puty of , j Bannacks, belonging to a hand under their chief, Te-ve-re-wena, (the long man.) Two of them accompanied me to the sink for the purpose offinding the chief; he, with many of his braves, was out in the moun-tains on a hunt. They promised to meet me at their village, near the Big Meadows, on my return. After crossing the desert to Carson val-ley, 1 found hut few Indians until Iarrived at the Mormon station, near the head of the valley. There I met with a number of the Pintahs and Washaws; they were stragglers from their hands, hunting and fishing on the river. The Washaws reported that they had two chiefs, who were at that time in the mountains, they knew not where. This tribe is and has been very troublesome. The many depredations which have been committed on the whites in crossing the Sierra Nevada no doubt have been by this tribe. The Pintahs are in two separate bands, comrnanded by two chiefs, one es-timated at three hundred and the other at three hundred and fifty. They reside on the Carson river, and in the mountains east and south-east of the river. They have been generally friendly to the whites, and are very poor. Having exhausted my stock of Indian goods, and not being able to get a supply in the valley, I thought it advisable to send over the mountains for them, as it was very important to have some as I re-turned up the Humboldt. I had of necessity to recruit and rest my |
