A sculpture of a Nisenan Indian dancer by North Auburn artist Douglas Van Howd is now the focal point of Downtown Auburn’s Central Square.
The statue is installed on a brick base and finishing touches, including the addition of bronze oak leaves at the dancer’s feet, are in place.
Here’s a photo that I hired foothills photographer Ben Furtado to capture for the official Placer County Welcome Guide, coming out next month. Some background on the Nevada City Rancheria and its Tribe of Nisenan Indians is here.
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That is truly beautiful!
It really is a mesmerizing work of art.
I truly believe that we, as a society, would benefit from learning all we can about this ancient earth culture that prospered here before our arrival.
Thank you Jeff!
Mr. Van Howd definitely did his homework for this beautiful sculpture.
The Flicker band, the tremblers, the clam shell necklace, the gestures, and the youthful vigor of the dancer, elegantly portray this aspect of Southern Maidu culture.
The Nisenan of the Nevada City Rancheria and I would like to see a companion piece, of a female dancer in full regalia, here in Nevada County.
Nevada City would be a nice location, but I’m not clear on the city’s policy regarding public art and sculpture.
Judith:
In July 2006, shortly after becoming mayor, I created a new committee: Art in Public Places. Dave McKay was chair of that committee. Its purpose was to consider possible guidelines and policies for displaying art on public property — to include buildings and parks.
I don’t know if the Art in Public Places Committee still exists, but getting in touch with David might be a good place for you to start.
Good luck. Hope something positive develops.
Thank you Mr. Cotrell.
I will talk to Mr. McKay.
BTW, I understand you knew Chief Louis Kelly.
Why don’t we start a fund, Judith, and do it? I would certainly donate to an effort like that to shift our perception of legacy toward our ancient and honorable Nisenan heritage. It would feel really good to do something like that. I hope it would be just the beginning too.
Cheers to Auburn!
Wow! I’d love to see the companion piece in Nevada City!
Thank goodness! I for one am sick and tired of so much emphasis on the mining industry! I hope to see more first nation recognition in all the world, not just America.
Very nice sculpture. Excellent piece of art celebrating the areas history. However (and I don’t know why I’m bringing this up), I don’t think this is anatomically accurate.
I don’t think any tribe in this area could have enough protein in their diet to have lats, delts, pecs and six-pack abs like this! This dude is buffed. IMO, he should look more like the emaciated man he probably was.
I’m sorry, I don’t like revisionism of any type.
Chris,
I agree, Indian men I know are not typically as ripped as this figure. But this figure’s physique may have been in conformity with a contemporary male, perhaps a model. I am more focused on the posture, gesture, and regalia. which comprise the spirit pf the dancer. It is refreshing to see so much right about a work depicting California Tribal People.
I’m with Greg on this. My understanding is that the native people of California didn’t have to work anywhere near as hard as we do in our “modern” society to feed and clothe our “tribe.”
California was truly a paradise, and still could be if we learn how to walk it back.
Whoops, I meant this to be under Chris’ comment.
I don’t understand why you believe there wasn’t plentiful food in the past in this area before the 49er’s arrived.
This is an excerpt from the Placer County Historical Society
Villages with a population of over five hundred people are unusual for non-agricultural peoples, but the Central Valley supported many such Indian villages prior to the Anglo intrusion Nowhere in Nisenan mythology or folklore is there mention of starvation which indicates a great natural abundance.
Their food included acorns and seeds, tule roots, berries and fruits, Salmon, sturgeon, trout and other fresh-water fish that were obtained by using tule boats, and log canoes, weirs, nets and harpoons. Fresh-water shellfish, water fowl, game animals such as elk, deer and antelope and smaller species provided an abundant variety of food throughout the year.
http://placercountyhistoricalsociety.org/placer-history/placer-history-n-z/the-nisenan-people/
Greg,
You are correct, the Nisenan lived in a nutritious, bountiful environment.
The Nisenan were a hardy people whose lives were marked by good health and longevity.
I have always found the softer sculpting of the healthy Indian male physique preferable to the hard ripped six-pack look Anglo men like to achieve.
I like ‘em cuddly.
Perhaps that preference is encoded into my DNA?
You will appreciate this article in Auburn Journal, Judith.
The artist claims he ” did a lot of research on this”.
http://www.auburnrancheria.com/news/2011-news/new-statue-to-represent-local-nisenan
Ok, if we do a sculpture of a Nisenan woman here in Nevada County we better make sure she has some meat on her bones!
Beautiful sculpture for sure, but I’m in total agreement with Chris Bishop. Abs like those shown don’t come from existance type work, for most people. Specialized exercise is how one aquires the sculpted bodies we see in today’s world. Even viewing the earliest photographs available of various native tribes, or newcomers, I’ve never seen such definition. Doesn’t mean they weren’t in great aerobic condition.
Perhaps the Zulu, when necessary, would double time many, many miles
to reach an enemy quickly. They did this, 20 to 25,000 warriors, overnight, surprising an British column and native contingent, annialating it at Islandwhana, circa 1878 +/-. After that massacre–the greatest defeat suffered by the British from a native force in their history–a reserve unit of Zulu of about 4,000 which didn’t see action or glory, defied orders and attacked Roarke’s Drift–a partially fortified river crossing, manned by less than 150 soldiers, many in sick bay. The movie Zulu is about this event. Zulu Dawn, made years after Zulu, captures the essence of that battle fairly, per the existing historical sources. (At Islandwhana, the Zulu caught the British by surprise, in the open, all 1,400 of them.
Judith:
Yes, I knew Chief Louis Kelly. Bob Paine introduced me to Mr. Kelly in probably 1978 or ’79. When Louis died, a lot of local history died with him.
A brief (well, OK, not-so-brief) Kelly story — but re: Mrs. Kelly, not Louis:
In late 1983 or early ’84, when the county was looking for property to build what became the Eric Rood Government Center on Wet Hill, the BOS was considering other sites, including land at the top of American Hill.
During a public presentation to the BOS by a representative of the land owner, a supervisor noted a couple of small buildings on the map they were reviewing and asked if anyone lived on the property. The BOS was assured that no one lived there and that all buildings were vacant and abandoned.
I was in the audience that day and puzzled by the claim that no one lived on the property. Louis was by then deceased, but I was pretty sure Mrs. Kelly still lived up there.
That afternoon, I took the editor of a Nevada City weekly newspaper up the trail to the Kelly cabin, telling him that he might have a dandy scoop for his readers.
Indeed, Mrs. Kelly did still live there. We sat with her as she prepared tea for us on a wood-burning stove located outside the cabin. She explained that “county people” had come to visit her, promised to relocate her, and said they would take care of all expenses including the cost of a new home. They even asked her how much land she wanted with the new house.
That struck me as odd. I knew all members of the BOS, the county administrator and county counsel, and I knew that none of them would be so unethical (or foolish) as to make her an offer to move off the land.
After a pleasant time with Mrs. Kelly, I went to the courthouse and asked to meet in private with county counsel and the chair of the BOS. (I don’t recall the county administrator being present, but he was quickly notified). Needless to say, they were very surprised by what I told them, and the chair of the BOS immediately went up to the property on his own and talked with Mrs. Kelly. Turned out the “county people” she had referred to were actually real estate people. Apparently the occupied Kelly cabin was a problem they needed to take care of before the county scheduled a tour of the land?
If you sort through some late 1983 or early ’84 microfilm at the Foley, you’ll eventually come across the Independent-Messenger article (with photos) describing the meeting with Mrs. Kelly. Wish I could remember the time frame better, but it’s been a few years.
Some might say that this rambling tidbit has nothing to do with Jeff’s posting re: a possible Nisenan sculpture in Nevada City, but I think it has everything to do with it. And I have a hunch, Judith, that you will understand and agree. Thanks for helping trigger some dormant memory cells. Look forward to following this issue from afar.
Mr. Cottrell,
That was fascinating. It appears that even well into the 20th Century the Nisenan of the NCR were being victimized.
All evidence I have seen indicates that the Nevada City Rancheria was illegally terminated in the 1960′s, in a similar type of scheme.
Should the Nisenan prevail in their long and difficult quest for restored Federal recognition, and providing they are not supplanted by any other group, say a confederated tribal corporation, they will be able to offer so much to Nevada County.
People have been assuming that I am a fanatic about the Nisenan, not realizing that the NCR’s fate and that of greater Nevada County are inextricably intertwined. Whatever threatens the Nevada City Rancheria, threatens Nevada County. Conversely, whatever benefits the NCR will, in turn, benefit Nevada County.
As more and more people are coming to grasp this reality, they are wisely lending their support to the NCR.
Thank you for your story.
Judith:
Thought you might find the following three paragraphs of interest. It’s an excerpt from something I wrote a few years ago. The 1913 meeting was organized by Belle Douglass under the auspices of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce and the Native Sons and Daughters. I wrote this based on the best information I could find –– hope it’s consistent with your own research:
(I)n April 1913, the chamber of commerce arranged for a meeting at the Maidu Campoodie on Cement Hill –– a meeting designed to secure permanent ownership of the Campoodie for local Maidu. The April 16 Union noted, “A committee of the chamber of commerce, along with members of the Native Sons and Daughters and several citizens, accompanied (Federal Indian Agent C.H. Ashbury) to the campoodie, where a hearing was held. The testimony went to show that the grounds have been the Digger campoodie and reservation ever since the memory of white men hereabouts.”
Mining claims had been filed by whites on Campoodie property and there was fear that the land might be taken from the tribe. The chamber organized a campaign to convince the Federal government that title should remain with the Maidu –– a campaign that met with success on May 26 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an Executive Order described by The Union as forever setting aside 75.48 acres where, “they can now live upon it without fear that the greedy white man will some day take it from them. It is theirs.”
Although the Campoodie remained in undisputed Maidu ownership for the next several decades, one of the final surviving local Indian families sold the land in the 1960s for $20,000.
Quite right, Bell Douglas is a heroine to the Nisenan. The Native Sons and Daughters will be participating in this year’s Indigenous People’s Day at the Miner’s Foundry. Folks will learn more about her there.
The rest of your article is fairly accurate, with some understandable omissions that could become important.
Only time will tell if the Great White Father is to bless little Nevada County with his attention.
Until then we wait in hope.
OK I’m sorry I’ve even brought this up. However, we’ve all seen children’s bibles and history books where the drawings depict people bigger than life. They are all healthy and buffed.
In reality, I’m not sure we have any society that is healthy. Let alone one that could maintain a population that looks like this sculpture. I would reference indigenous people of any Continent today. I bet they’re all skinny!
I know, I need to get a life!!
Chris,
Actually, you bring up some very good points.
Early history books were illustrated by European men.
They often imposed their figurative aesthetic on their Native subjects.
We don’t have any more healthy societies, in a world drowning and suffocating in petroleum byproduct.
Today’s third world countries are experiencing the leading edge of oncoming world-wide famine.
On those cheery thoughts, have a nice Sunday.
I still wonder what your opinion was based on that he should look “emaciated”, Chris. The Nisenan most probably had a very healthy diet and life style prior to the arrival of photographers. It would be reasonable to imagine a body type seen in this sculpture.
It is the same in chemistry. Little can be known about molecules from their photograph yet a reasonable picture can be constructed by fitting together what is known about them. This is how science works and knowledge is formed.
It is too easy today to make claims missing good basis and have them pass without correction, creating an atmosphere of confusion.
There is much we could learn that would benefit us by understanding this ancient culture. They were in balance with the earth and consciously a part of nature. We need this today.
Actually, I believe that the distant reflections of this knowledge can be found in the hearts of native American descendants today. I listen to the opinions of Nisenan descendants a little more carefully for this reason. The parents of the parents of their parents may have lived on the earth happily and sustainably. Many ideas are passed along through families. Blood inheritance means very little as it is only concerned with DNA.
Hi Greg.
Perhaps emaciated is too strong a term. I just saw the picture and thought ‘wow’. He looks like a professional athlete. He looks like a commercial for some weight lifting equipment or some dietary supplement.
I recently read a free Kindle book (there a thousands of them) called Bark Covered House written in the pioneer days by a homesteader. They had lost their cows and asked a local Indian to track him. The author described the Indian as hopping like a gazel meandering back and forth following the track. The only way they could keep up was by following a more direct course well behind him. These were tough people too, where waking 30 miles was just a normal thing to do, and they were dumbfounded at the Indian’s athleticism..
When totally ignorant regarding a topic I do one of two things; admit it or keep my mouth shut. And regarding local natice populations, I am ignorant–my comment on abs is based on knowledge of physical conditioning and other factors. I am some what conversant, however, in Eastern coastal and mid-western tribes and confederations.
For instance, inter-tribal warfare was a constant before contact with Europeans, the degree and severity is debated by the “experts.” W/O gettig up to check my bookshelf, I think Wm. Eckhart’s series of books, documented from primary, contempory sources, of the interaction of white settlers and the various natives, is the source for the formation of the Iroquois Confederation being a mutual awarness among the initial five tribes that unless they stopped their incessant raiding and killing of each other, they’d wipe each other out. Like modern gangs, he writes, they’d even venture into enemy territory and carve their tribal “IDs” into trees, like tagging the turf of enemy gangs. United, many of the experts say, the Iroquois Confederation was the most powerful native group ever. (I’d modify that–it depends where the battle is fought–history proves that over and over.)
And many tribes, when their numbers were reduced by disease–after arrival of Europeans–and warfare, merged with other tribes. Also, it’s well know adoption of captives, even whites, was common.
Was this practice of assimilation of other natives, or maybe even some Russkies, part of the Nisenan culture.
Like I said, I kow nothing of the Nisenan, but don’t believe an exposed culture lasted long if they didn’t know how to fight.
Hello my name is Haley I’m 8 years old and my mom is helping me with my school project. I was wondering why the nisenan dances where for? Also we were pictures of kids. Thanks
Haley,
Thank you for your questions about the Nisenan culture.
The dances that today’s Nisenan perform, just as their ancestors did, are in the Spring and in the Fall. Just as some of us celebrate Easter and Thanksgiving, the Nisenan dancers’ main function is to thank our Creator for our life on earth.
There are indeed photos of Nisenan children. There is a beautiful one in the Nevada City Firehouse Museum on Main Street.
Contact Shelly Covert at, http://nevadacityrancheria.org/ for more information.
I wrote a book about Indian children and the boarding schools titled, Home To Medicine Mountain.
If you provide me with the name of your school I would be happy to send it to your library as a gift.
Oh I meant to say are there any pictures of nisenan children?
Haley, you should talk to Judith Lowry or Shelly Covert, that have the details on the Oustomah People: http://maidumama.blogspot.com/2009/11/let-us-not-forget-oustomah-people_26.html