Читать книгу Lost Worlds of 1863. Relocation and Removal of American Indians in the Central Rockies and the Greater Southwest онлайн

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Historically the Paiutes consisted of three related groups of indigenous peoples in the Great Basin: the Northern Paiutes of western Idaho, eastern Oregon, northeastern California, and most of Nevada (an area of over 70,000 square miles); the Owens Valley Paiutes in the arid basin between the eastern slopes of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and the western faces of the Inyo and White Mountains; and the Southern Paiutes of southern Nevada and southern Utah, northern Arizona, and southeastern California. The Owens River runs approximately 180 miles north to south through the Owens Valley. The word “Paiute” has been interpreted to mean “Water Ute,” but the term the people use for themselves is usually Numa, meaning “the people.” However, some northern Paiutes, such as the Pyramid Lake Paiutes and a scattering of Owens Valley inhabitants, prefer Numu (also Neh-muh), while Southern Paiutes call themselves Nuwuvi, both terms also meaning “the people.”⁷

Demographic estimates vary depending on the source, but a general approximation for the late 1850s would be about 6,000 Northern Paiutes in western Nevada and 1,000 Owens Valley Indians. By 1980 the figure would be 5,123 Northern Paiutes throughout California, Nevada, and Oregon, and about 1,900 Owens Valley Paiutes. Only about half of that latter number still live in the valley, the rest having moved to Los Angeles and elsewhere.⁸