Sunday, July 27, 2008

Good Eatin' Down in the Canyon

Who knew you could find so much of interest in such an old book. This is my third post about John Wesley Powell's book Canyons of the Colorado, now renamed The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons. This time we're talking culinary arts.

In 1869, Powell and his men floated the Colorado River from Green River, WY, more than 1,000 miles down to the mouth of the Grand Canyon, the first persons ever to do so. Native Americans still largely ruled the area he went through, although there were some settlers at this point.

Powell tells this amusing story of some time they spent with the Indians:
After we have partaken of goat stew and bread, a course of dumplings, melons, and peaches is served, and this finishes the feast. What seem to be dumplings are composed of a kind of hash of bread and meat, tied up in little balls with cornhusks and served boiling hot. They are eaten with much gusto by the party and highly praised.

Some days after we learn how they are made: they are prepared of goat's flesh, bread, and turnips, and kneaded by mastication. As we prefer to masticate our own food, this dainty dish is never again a favorite.
OK. I don't think I need to expand on this.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Recycling History

Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon are Anasazi Indian ruins that today draw large masses of tourists. They are historical and are protected and no one would consider tearing them down.

Such was not always the case. In Canyons of the Colorado, now renamed The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, John Wesley Powell tells of a ruin they visited as they floated down the river:
. . . here stood an extensive ruin not many years ago. Some portions of the pueblo were three stories high. The structure was one of the best found in this land of ruins.
Now get this:
The Mormon people settling here have used the stones of the old pueblo in building their homes, and no vestiges of the ancient structure remain.
Oh man. Can you imagine? I mean, you can't blame the settlers. Here was a lot of perfectly good building materials ready to be used. But think of Mesa Verde and imagine it being dismantled to build settler homes. What a loss.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

John Wesley Powell Describes How Kit Carson Conquered the Navajos

You can't really imagine the courage it took for John Wesley Powell and his men to float the until-then unexplored Colorado River until you read his report of the trip, Canyons of the Colorado, now retitled The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons. They started out with four boats and had two left at the end. Four men gave up the quest before it ended, convinced that death was too likely an outcome.

But the rest did make it through, and their journey is well worth reading about.

Aside from the trip itself, the book contains a number of pretty dang interesting sidelights, and I will discuss them here in a series of posts. This first item has to do with Kit Carson, a celebrated (among the whites) scout, who it seems the natives of the region has good reason to consider in a much less appreciative light.

Powell opens the book by setting the stage, discussing the topography and history of the region traversed by the river. One subject he touches on was the white man's triumph over the original inhabitants of the land, the Navajos.

Powell tells this story:
After the acquisition of this area by the United States they (the Indians) became disaffected by reason of encroaching civilization, and the petty wars between United States troops and Navajos were in the main disastrous to our forces, due in part to the courage, skill, and superior numbers of the Navajos and in part to the character of the country, which is easily defended, as the routes of travel along the canyons present excellent opportunities for defense and ambuscade. But under the leadership and by the advice of Kit Carson these Indians were ultimately conquered. This wily but smart frontiersman recommended a new method of warfare, which was to destroy the herds and flocks of the Navajos: and this course was pursued. Regular troops with volunteers from California and New Mexico went into the Navajo country and shot down their herds of half-wild horses, killed hundreds of thousands of sheep, cut down their peach orchards which were scattered about the springs and little streams, destroyed their irrigating works, and devastated their little patches of corn, squashes, and melons: and entirely neglected the Navajos themselves, who were concealed among the rocks of the canyons. Seeing the destruction wrought upon their means of livelihood, the Navajos at once yielded.
Wow. We all know that the whites basically came in and stole the land from the Indians, and we've read about Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears, but this is another stain that I had never heard of. "OK, you won't let us just take your land away from you? Fine, we'll destroy your civilization. How do you like that?" What in the world made those people think they had any just reason for doing this? Sometimes it makes you ashamed to be an American. Enough said.