Leonard Allen Oral History

Leonard Allen Oral History

Leonard Allen Oral History

Churchill County Museum Association

April 12, 1999

Analog Cassette Tape, .docx File, Mp3 Audio

English

Audio Cassette

59:23, 59:34, 23:50

Churchill County Oral History Project

an interview with

LEONARD ALLEN

Fallon, Nevada

conducted by

MARIANNE PETERSON

April 12, 1999

This interview was transcribed by Glenda Price; edited by Norma Morgan; final by Pat Boden; index by Gracie Viera; supervised by Myrl Nygren, Director of the Oral History Project, Churchill County Museum.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Churchill County Museum or any of its employees.

Preface

8700 Mission Road is a reach of land imbued with an atmosphere of contentedness. The stretch is complete with flower garden, lush green lawn, pasture, hay field, and water rights. The pretty yellow house is home to one Leonard Allen, a mild-mannered Paiute man whose soft brown eyes reflect the optimism of his surroundings.

Born in 1925 Leonard appears much younger than his years. With a memory seemingly as youthful, Leonard discusses the many years he lived in the Fallon area and describes the circumstances of the events in his life with ease. Like his peers, Leonard was raised in Churchill County during a time when Paiute/Shoshone assimilation into "White culture" was nearly complete. Leonard's views of this era offer a better understanding of the dynamics that shaped and continue to shape Churchill County.

With apparent evasion of negative subject matter, Leonard focuses on the details of his life that were important to him and that helped to shape him into the man he is today. As with many Paiute people in the area, one set of grandparents played a major role in Leonard's young life. His paternal grandfather as well as his father helped him to become the outdoorsman that he so longed to be. For Leonard this included hunting, farming, sports, and riding.

Leonard's retirement as an employee of Stewart Indian School in 1980 may have been a retirement from employment, but not a retirement from life. Farming and his commitment to keeping his grandchildren happy take up the majority of his time, and in turn, make him happy.

If prejudice has played any kind of role in Leonard's life, he refuses to lend it power by naming it. He states that he was never content to be the Number 2 Man in any aspect of his life. "I've had a good life," Leonard states, but it isn't the words that disperse any shadow of doubt. It's the way in which the words are spoken. He isn't trying to convince anybody of anything. Leonard Allen is clearly not the Number 2 Man.

Interview with Leonard Allen

PETERSON: This is Marianne Peterson of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project interviewing Leonard Allen at his home at 8700 Mission Road, Fallon. The date is April 12, 1999. Good morning, Leonard.

ALLEN:  Good morning.

PETERSON: Thank you again for allowing me to interview you.

ALLEN:  You're welcome.

PETERSON: Let's begin with your ancestors on your mother's side. Do you know the names of your mother's parents?

ALLEN:  Her father was Willy Dixon, [Damage to tape, original transcript notes “and the mother, she was married to Willy”] Dixon. I don't know her maiden name.

PETERSON: Do you know where they were born?

ALLEN:  I don't know. I don't believe they were born over here on the reservation. I couldn't say where they were born.

PETERSON: Do you know the approximate date of their birth?

ALLEN:  Jeez, no, I don't. [Damage to tape, original transcript notes “It would have to be the late 1800s”] or early 1900s. 

PETERSON: Do you know the names of your father's parents?

ALLEN:  The father’s parents? The father of my father was Carson Allen, and the mother was Nellie Williams Allen. Her maiden name was Williams.

PETERSON: Do you know where they were born?

ALLEN:  No, I don't know where they were born.

PETERSON: And you're not sure about the date that they were born either?

ALLEN:  It's probably about the same date as I previously mentioned.

PETERSON: Right.

ALLEN:  Early 1900s or late 1800s.

PETERSON: What is your father's name?

ALLEN: My father's name is Raymond Allen. They called him Ray Allen.   

PETERSON: And where was he born?

ALLEN: I believe he was born here in Stillwater.

PETERSON: Do you know approximately when?

ALLEN: It's probably the early 1900s. Around 190'5 or somewhere around in there.

PETERSON: And what did he do for a living?

ALLEN: Mostly he was a construction worker. Then he worked for the government for a long time.

PETERSON: What did he do for the government?

ALLEN: He was a heavy equipment operator. Worked on construction for building roads, and various construction jobs.

PETERSON: When he did construction work, he worked mainly here in Fallon?

ALLEN: No, when he worked for the government he traveled throughout the state and sometimes out of the state for construction work.

PETERSON: So he was gone a lot while you were growing u?

ALLEN: Not really. He worked some in Fallon here on various jobs, but he was away quite a bit from home.

PETERSON:  Did any member of your family go with him when he left?

ALLEN: [Tape damage. Original transcript notes “The family went to different places,”] but I've always stayed with my grandparents. I didn't care to travel anywhere, so I stayed with my grandparents all the time I was growing up.

PETERSON: Which set of grandparents?

ALLEN: The father's side.

PETERSON: And what is your mother's name?

ALLEN: My mother's name was Nina Dixon Allen.

PETERSON: Do you know where she was born?

ALLEN: I believe she was born around here somewhere, Stillwater area. I couldn't say where.

PETERSON: Do you know approximately when?

ALLEN:  Probably around the early 1900s. [The cemetery marks Nina's birth to be 1905.]

PETERSON: Did she have a job while you were growing up?

ALLEN:  She worked in various homes in Fallon as a maid. That's about all she done. She didn't have too much education. She worked and lived in Fallon.

PETERSON: Can you remember some of the families that she worked for?

ALLEN:  One of the families was the Wallaces and the Dodges. There might be several others. I can't remember.

PETERSON: How many children did your parents have?

ALLEN:  My parents had a family of seven. Five girls and two boys.

PETERSON: What were their names?

ALLEN:  The oldest sister was Alvina [Allen Hale, born 1922], and I was the next. There were Viola [Allen], Leora [Allen Crawford, born 1930] , Rose [Allen] , Betty [Allen] , and Gerald [Allen, born 1937], my brother. That was our family.

PETERSON: What tribe is your family from?

ALLEN:  Paiute.

PETERSON: So you are full-blooded?

ALLEN:  I'm full-blooded.

PETERSON: What is your full name?

ALLEN:  Leonard Allen.

PETERSON: Do you have a middle name?

ALLEN:  William

PETERSON: Did your parents tell you how you received your name?

ALLEN:  No, they didn't. They just gave me a name, and that's what it was. [laughing]

PETERSON: You don't have a Paiute name then?

ALLEN:  No, I don't.

PETERSON: Okay, and where were you born?

ALLEN:  I was born here on the reservation.

PETERSON: What year was that?

ALLEN:  1925. July the Fourth.

PETERSON: Growing up, did your family speak Paiute?

ALLEN:  Yes, they did. We all spoke Paiute. I spoke it. [Loud distortion]

PETERSON: Do you speak it today at all?

ALLEN:  Oh, on occasion. It's not everyday conversation. I could speak it if I had to.

PETERSON: That's good. So, you were the second to the oldest child.

ALLEN:  Yes.

PETERSON: Was that a good thing?

ALLEN:  To me it was. Our family was very…

PETERSON: Tight knit?

ALLEN:  Yes, tight knit. That means we got along good. We had our problems, but we had a life for ourselves. Dad and Mom, they were pretty good providers. Pretty good parents.

PETERSON: Describe to me the house that you lived in as a very young child.

ALLEN:  The house we lived in when I was a young child growing up it wasn't too much of a home. More of a shack, I'd say. We didn't have running water. We didn't have inside bathrooms. So it just covered our head. That was about it. Had wood stoves Mother cooked on. That was about the size of it until the year…. Must have been? When did they build these homes?

PETERSON: [tape cuts] We can’t have any outside voices, I’m sorry. Sorry.

ALLEN: Oh, okay. Must have been in the sixties when they built the Indians homes. That's when they had running water. Modern homes.

PETERSON: So the shack you just described, did your parents live there for many years before you were born?

ALLEN:  I couldn't say how long they lived there.

PETERSON: Is that house still standing?

ALLEN:  No. The house is not there anymore.

PETERSON: Did your family have a garden?

ALLEN:  They had small gardens just for their own use.Not anything that they were producing for sale. Just for their own home. It wasn't too much of a garden, just a small patch.

PETERSON: What kinds of things?

ALLEN:  They raised little potatoes and onions and vegetables and things like that. Pretty sizable garden.

PETERSON: Was the soil pretty fertile?

ALLEN:  Where we lived was a sandy soil. It wasn't too bad of a soil. It wasn't where you couldn't raise anything. It was fair for a garden.

PETERSON: And who mainly did the caretaking of the garden?

ALLEN: The family took care of the garden. Mother usually took care of the garden or the grandparents.

PETERSON: Do you remember if your mother did anything special to the soil?

ALLEN:  No, not that I can remember. At that time they weren't too knowledgeable of fertilizer, and there wasn't much fertilizer being produced or anything. They just planted their vegetables, and, hopefully, it grew, and it did.

PETERSON: So, it wasn't very big?

ALLEN:  No, it wasn't.

PETERSON: Did you have any pets or livestock?

ALLEN:  When I lived with my grandfather and grandma, he was a farmer. He had a dairy, and that's how he made his living for his family. That's where I stayed. He had animals, pigs, chickens, turkeys, dairy cattle. That's how he made his living.

PETERSON: How old were you when you were living with your grandparents?

ALLEN: It was early, I was still… I must have been about nine, ten, twelve, during those years of my childhood I lived with my grandparents.

PETERSON: And these were your father's parents?

ALLEN: They were my father's parents.

PETERSON: What kind of chores were you responsible for when you lived at home?

ALLEN:  Well, when you're a farm boy, you have all kinds of chores. You're a-milking your dairy cows. You're feeding your animals. You're doing your farm work and things that go with farming. That's about the size of any farmer.

PETERSON: Did you earn money as a child?

ALLEN:  Occasionally I'd earn a dollar or two at that time when a dollar was a dollar and a day's wages. As a young child I stayed home mostly and helped my granddad.

PETERSON: What kinds of meals did your mother make?

ALLEN:  The meals were regular ordinary farm meals, I guess. Like potatoes and beans and meat, and eggs and bacon for breakfast. Things like that. Maybe there's some mixture that they'd make once in awhile. I can remember when my grandma used to barrel sauerkraut. They made their own sauerkraut, and my granddad would smoke bacon and ham.

PETERSON: How did he smoke it?

ALLEN:  They put it in a little smoke shed. Put wood in there and burn wood in there and smoke their meat like that.

PETERSON: Did you have a favorite food?

ALLEN:  My favorite food at that time was probably potatoes. That was a major source of food. Potatoes and beans.

PETERSON: They're nice and filling, huh?

ALLEN:  Yes. We didn't have too much of choice. You couldn't get anywhere near Fallon to do any shopping like we do nowadays. At that time people had to travel in wagons or horse and buggy to do their shopping when I was growing up.

PETERSON: So your mother went shopping very seldom then?

ALLEN:  This is my grandparents that I'm talking about 'cause I lived with them. That's the way they done their shopping. They went in horse and buggy.

PETERSON: Where did they go to shop?

ALLEN:  They usually shopped in Fallon.

PETERSON: Can you remember some of the stores that were there at the time?

ALLEN:  At that time I guess the I.H. Kent's was the major store in Fallon that supplied everyone in the valley including Indians and non-Indians. It was a major source. There was other little stores, bars. The previous town of Fallon, all of the stores were on the east side of the street, and there were bars on the west side. That's the way the town was laid out. There were a few stores on the west side, but the majority of stores were on the east side. Some of them were groceries and theaters, and that's about the size of our town.

PETERSON: Interesting. Were you the only child that lived with your grandparents?

ALLEN:  No, my sister would come occasionally and live with the grandparents, but I stayed there because I wanted to be with them and to do what I wanted to do. Be an outdoorsman, that's what I wanted to be. But the sisters stayed with the parents, and most of the time they lived in the city of Fallon.

PETERSON: Which sister also lived with your grandparents?

ALLEN:  My oldest sister, Alvina, and on occasion Viola and Lori would live with my grandparents, but I stayed with them for some time.

PETERSON: Do you remember family conversations or maybe adult conversations that stand out in your mind?

ALLEN:  They did visit a lot with people on the reservation. They'd talk about daily lives and what they're doing and what's going on the community and what's going to be happening. That's about the size of their conversation. At that time they didn't know.

PETERSON: Can you describe your grandparents' house to me?

ALLEN:  My grandparents' house was just an ordinary little old ranch home. It had three or four rooms. Maybe three. Kitchen and living room and bedroom and that's about the size of it with a wood stove for my grandmother to cook on. It was just an ordinary kitchen just like they are now, but things weren't modern like they have now. Running water, electricity, lights which we never heard of at that time.

PETERSON: Right. How was the wood supplied for the stove?

ALLEN: The wood supply, my granddad or my dad when he was living on the reservation would chop their wood, trees and stockpile their wood supply for the winter. Well, year-round because you had to have wood stove to cook, you know, have to have wood. That’s what they done, they just chopped it up.

PETERSON: And is your grandparents' house still standing?

ALLEN: No, the house is gone now. The place is sold. That’s… that’s [inaudible]

PETERSON: Where was it located?

ALLEN: It was located on the east side of the reservation toward the northwest. That's was my dad's parents. My mother's parents lived here, too, on the reservation, but her mother died when she was fairly young. My granddad on my mother's side was the only living person that I really remembered. I don't remember my grandmother too well because I was pretty small, and she was one of the ladies that delivered me. I wasn't born in the hospital. I was born at home. She was one of those what do you call them?

PETERSON: midwives?

ALLEN: Midwife, yeah. I don't know who else besides her, but she was one I could remember. One of my sisters was named after her when she was born. Rose.

PETERSON: That's pretty neat. Can you remember your family having a lot of company coming over? Maybe relatives or friends?

ALLEN: Oh, yeah, my folks socialized a little, with different people there. We always had company and then go visiting people. My dad was quite a baseball player. He loved baseball. He'd rather play ball than eat. He played with the city of Fallon at the time the city had baseball teams. He played for them for a number of years.

PETERSON: What years was that?

ALLEN: Gee, that was in, I think, the thirties, maybe early forties when he played baseball. Around then.

PETERSON: Did he win any pennants or anything like that?

ALLEN: No, it was just a . . . oh, what would you call it? At that time Nevada had baseball leagues in different towns, so they played one another. They won their championship in the leagues when they were playing baseball, but he loved to play baseball, and he was quite a sportsman. Hunter. He liked outdoor life.

PETERSON: So, when he was at home, did you spend a lot of time with him?

ALLEN:  When he's at home, I spent a lot of time with him 'cause toward the latter part of his life he decided he wanted to farm a little bit. After my granddad passed away, he took over the place there and ran it for awhile, lived there, and done some farming. I was still there, and I helped him along till I grew up and decided I'd leave the reservation for awhile and try to get educated.

PETERSON: Going back to your early childhood, you spent most of your time with your grandfather?

ALLEN:  I spent most of my growing years with my grandparents on my father's side.

PETERSON: As a young child, I'm sure you spent a lot of time outside. Did you have a favorite place to be outside, either at your parents' house or your grandparents' house?

ALLEN:  When I was growing up, I spent all my growing up years with my grandparents on my father's side because I wanted to be out in the open. I wanted to do what I was wanting to do as I grew up and enjoy my outdoor life with my grandparents. I wanted to be an athlete when I was growing up. So being alone, and I didn't have too many playmates because I was the only child living with my grandparents at the time. So I did things for myself. I wanted to be a cowboy, so I took advantage of his dairy cows and his horses. There I learned how to ride. And if I wanted to be a track man, I would run down the road where I'd build things to jump over. I even wanted to be a trick rider one time. We had a nice horse so I used to saddle up that horse, and she would run like a trick riding horse. I'd run down and I'd jump on her and I'djump off her and leap over her. Things like that. Things I wanted to do for myself. Nobody taught me. I was just self taught in a lot of those things.

PETERSON: Did that horse have a name?

ALLEN:  Yeah, we called her Blackie 'cause she was total black. There were other horses, too, but she was the horse I used because she was gentle.

PETERSON: She would let you act.

ALLEN:  Yeah.

PETERSON: Just do whatever. [laughing]

ALLEN:  Yeah. If I wanted to run down, she'd just run. I wouldn't have to bother turning or anything. It was fun to me. I enjoyed it.

PETERSON: Did your grandmother do anything at the time? Did she work for anybody?

ALLEN:  My grandmother was a what’d you call it? Homebuilder? home wife, and she stayed at home all the time, but she was a real religious person. I don't believe she missed church in my growing-up years. Harness up her horse, hook him up to the buggy, and go to church every Sunday all by her lonesome. Sometimes she'd persuade me to go along, and I would.

PETERSON: What church did she go to?

ALLEN:  She was a Baptist.

PETERSON: Is that church still standing?

ALLEN:  The church is still standing. It might have been remodeled some, refurbished, but the church is still at its location. Not in use anymore because it's deteriorated and not safe anymore.

PETERSON: So how often did you go to church with your grandmother?

ALLEN:  Well, as far as go to church it wasn't very often. Maybe once a month, but they had a lot of activities at the church at the time when I was growing up. They had what they called the missionaries at that time on the reservations. They had a lot of givees for the Indian people. Parties and Christmas parties and Halloween parties and Easter egg hunt at Easter time. They socialized quite a bit with each other. It was good for the people.

PETERSON: Can you remember any of the missionaries?

ALLEN:  Gee, far as names go, I can't recall any of their names. I was very young. I can see their faces, and I can see them, but I can't remember the names.

PETERSON: It seems to me that the Indians in this area were easily able to incorporate their Christian beliefs into their Paiute way of life. Is that true, or is it just that by the time your generation was born, the assimilation had already taken place, and it was just a way of life by that time?

ALLEN:  Well, before, their way of life was just like going to church for my grandparents, and then some into my early years. But since then that has changed. They don't do that anymore. Church is something that's forgotten about I guess. On the reservation they don't have any kind. Well, they do have church here on the reservation, but it's not like it was when I was growing up. They just kind of got away from going to church. There's some people that still go to church. A lot of people do.

PETERSON: When you went to church with your grandmother, did anything you learned there conflict with any of your Paiute beliefs that you may have had at the time?

ALLEN:  No, it didn't conflict with our Paiute belief. It's a non-Indian church, and they just preach the gospel on religion, and they never did get into Indian culture or things like that.      They just never did. As far as religion goes, it's just like it is now, and that's what they preached.

PETERSON: Did your parents attend church at all?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah. They weren't regular goers, but they attended church, and different things they had for the people.

PETERSON: Can you tell me about your family name, Allen?

ALLEN:  My family name, Allen, far as I can remember and what they told me when I was growing up that the name came from--my granddad got the name Allen. At that time he worked for a rancher by the name of Allen, and when they put this reservation together, and maybe before that, the government was getting names from the Indian people, and that's how he inherited his name from this ranch where he was working. Those people are still living in Fallon. They're pretty prominent people here in Fallon by the name of Allen. That's how we inherited our name.

PETERSON: I was reading Lem Allen's oral history, and he recalls an Indian family that lived in a small town about three miles outside of the family's property. He said that he would go and pick up one of the Indian woman to come and work on the ranch. Do you know what family that might have been?

ALLEN:  I couldn't tell you what family that was. That's what the Indian families did in those times. They could do little odd jobs here and there, and that's how they made their extra dollar. As far as me knowing who their family was, it could have been my family, I don’t know. [End of tape 1 side A] It could have been my family on my grandfather's side. My dad's father was the first one to have the name Allen, but my grandmother was raised here before she was married to my grandfather. She was raised on a ranch here in Stillwater. Her dad owned a ranch in the Stillwater area. Her maiden name was Williams, so there's a lot of us Williamses around, too.

PETERSON: Right. How do you feel about-the way your last name was acquired?

ALLEN: Growing up I knew my name was Allen, and I just heard how it was acquired, but far as having a feeling about the name, it doesn't bother me one way or another. I think the name's great being Allen, and that's about it. The name doesn't mean anything that much.

PETERSON: What is your earliest childhood memory?

ALLEN: I've seen a lot of things happen on the reservation as I was growing up. When they put first put this reservation together, I can remember the Indian men working and building ditches on the reservations 'cause this was all allotted land after they established a reservation for the Indians. When we first came to existence, I guess, as people, Indians were allotted about 130 acres on the west side going towards Reno in the Fernley area. 130 acres were given to the Indians. But, when they started the Newlands Project at that time, when they'd bring in people farming in the valley there, they established this little reservation where we live now. They guaranteed us water rights forever on the little ten-acre pieces that they gave to the Indians for them to make a living on. Ten acre pieces! [laughing] But we still have the ten acres, and we still have our water rights, and that's where we are living now. I think I made a mistake there. Not 130 acres, *160* acres for each Indian originally. Then we were put on the Reservation for our water rights, and that’s where we are living now. Still on 10 acres. 10 acre lots. It was lotted land to the tribe.

PETERSON: At what age did you start school?

ALLEN:  When I started school, I must have been--I was born in 1925, so six years from then would be 1931. Must be somewhere around in there when I started kindergarten in Fallon.           

PETERSON: What school was that?                          

ALLEN: I think the school was where the present Cottage School is located. At that time they had one big single brick building, and that was the school. I can't think of the name of the school now, but that's where I started school, and then I went clear on through the schools in Fallon.

PETERSON: The school where you went to kindergarten, was it a good mixture of Indian children?

ALLEN: There was Indian students, Indian children going to school there before I started going to school, but there was a mixture of Indians and non-Indians. Today there are still a lot of good friends of mine from that school that are non-Indians.

PETERSON: Can you remember any of your teachers?

ALLEN:  Shoot, I can't remember any of my teachers' names at that time.

PETERSON: How did you get to that school?

ALLEN:  I just enrolled as a kindergarten student there, and my folks took me there to get enrolled in school, and that's how I got into school.

PETERSON: I'm sorry. I meant did you get there by school bus?

ALLEN:  At that time my folks were living in the city of Fallon, and then they just took me. That's where I was going to school for my early school days. In later years when I came back to live with my grandparents that's when I was in the higher grades. We traveled by bus from the reservation to schools in Fallon. There were schools located on our Agency here--at that time it was called Agency, not tribal offices and that, but there was a day school for Indian kids. There was a lot of Indian students that went to school there, and when they closed the school down here, they all transferred and put them in schools in Fallon, so eventually every school child on the reservation was going to school in Fallon.

PETERSON: So, if you had been living on the reservation at the time, you probably would have gone to the Indian day school.

ALLEN:  I lived on the reservation at that time, but I never did go to the school here. I've always went to the public schools in Fallon.

PETERSON: What school did you attend after the Cottage Schools?

ALLEN:  After the Cottage Schools, I think that went up to grade two or three, from there I went to the old West End School.

PETERSON: How old were you about that time?

ALLEN:  I must have been nine, ten. Somewhere around there.

PETERSON: What memories do you have of West End?

ALLEN:  West End School was just like the school I was just leaving. It was an old brick building. It was two story. I think it had two grades there. Non-Indians and Indians went to school there, but the school was good.

PETERSON: What school did you attend after West End?

ALLEN:  We came to the old Oats Park School. That was the higher grades. I think it went from the fifth to the eighth.

PETERSON: Was that considered to be middle school or junior high?

ALLEN:  No, it was just the grades. It wasn't considered a middle school. Just a grade school.

PETERSON: And where was that school located?

ALLEN:  The school was located on the east side of Fallon. [East Park Street]

PETERSON: Do you remember any of your teachers or friends around this time?

ALLEN:  I had all kinds of friends here. There was one I remember, a real good friend, I think he's still living was Paul Scholz. He was the county assessor for a long time and his wife Alice [Maffi]. She was a student there. Buddy Hart, and my wife was a student there. Janet [Bowser]. There was a lot of Indian students going to school there.

PETERSON: And did you attend Churchill County High School?

ALLEN:  Yes. I went from Oats Park to the old high school.

PETERSON: So, you attended a school between Oats Park and high school?

ALLEN:  No, from Oats Park I went to the high school. After you graduate from eighth grade, you go to the high school. You didn't have your junior high at that time. You started from nine to twelve.

PETERSON: Okay. So the school in Oats Park was the elementary school. Right?

ALLEN:  Um-hum.

PETERSON: And what kinds of activities did you participate in high school? Were you into sports?

ALLEN:  I was into sports pretty much when I was in high school. Played football. Took track, and that was about the major sports outside of basketball, but I didn't play basketball 'cause I was just a little too small.

PETERSON: On your biographical questionnaire, you stated that you were a triple threat in football. Can you explain that, please?

ALLEN:  When I was in high school, my last year in school, I was a triple threat playing football. That was playing in the back field, playing defense, playing offense, and that included my triple threats. Just an all-around ball player in football.

PETERSON: Did you win any awards or anything like that?

ALLEN:  I was an All-State football player when I was playing ball then in high school.

PETERSON: Can you remember any of your high school teachers?

ALLEN:  I took agriculture, and one of the teachers was [L. C. Roy] Schank. Just some of the teachers that I can remember that was teaching there, I probably don't need to include them. My coach at that time – I had several coaches – The last one I had was Coach Wes Goodner. He was my last coach my last year of school, but there were several others here. I believe one of them was Norwood, and it seems like there was some other coach that I played under.

PETERSON: You had mentioned to Myrl Nygren at the museum that Laura Mills was one of your teachers.

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah, Laura Mills was one of my teachers, right! [Laughing]

PETERSON: What grade?

ALLEN:  I believe that was in the eighth grade. And there was Mr. Safeley, too. He was a teacher at the elementary school. He taught classes, and then he taught woodwork.

PETERSON: Did you enjoy having Laura Mills as a teacher?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah. I enjoyed Laura Mills.  She was a nice teacher. Then there was two sisters. I think their name was Taft. They were my teachers, too. That was in grammar school. In high school I've forgotten some of the teachers I had classes under.

PETERSON: How were your grades in high school?

ALLEN:  My grades wasn't the greatest, but they were average passing grades. I wasn't the greatest student. Academically I wasn't, but I got by.

PETERSON: Do you have any other memories of high school that you'd like to share?

ALLEN:  I had good high school years when I was going to school there. I was in different activities and different sports and got along with everybody real good. Didn't have no enemies, Indians or non-Indians. We were just all friends. That's about my school years. I never had any problems.

PETERSON: Did you ever travel away from home as a child?

ALLEN:  I guess I didn't travel too much from home when I was growing up. We made trips to California. My sister was married at that time to her husband in California, and we traveled to California, and that's about the size of it.

PETERSON: Where in California did you go?

ALLEN:  Oh, around Modesto area and up through there to that Sacramento Valley. Around that area.

PETERSON: Did your whole family go?

ALLEN:  At times we'd all travel together.

PETERSON: How did you get there?

ALLEN:  By car. The cars weren't the greatest at that time, and the roads weren't the greatest, but we always seemed to manage to get there and back.

PETERSON: Do you have any memories of visiting the Stillwater marshes as a child?

ALLEN:  Yeah. I can remember when I was a little boy when my dad used to hunt a lot. At that time the marshes were open for camping for hunters, and we'd go down there and camp for a night or two to duck hunt. That's what the places were there for. For hunting ducks. It was a good place. There was a lot of ducks, but since then it's changed a lot. After World War II the Army Corps of Engineers came in there and wanted to make some changes on the Stillwater Sinks there. Put this lake here and put this lake there which they did. To me growing up I see the changes that they caused and when they did make those changes. I worked there one day when the Army Corps of Engineers came in there to make those changes, I worked there for them. I told them at that time--I was a young man then--I says, "You fellows are going to dry this place up because you're moving this thing here and a lake there," and now it's a reality. They didn't believe me then because I was young, and I was just an Indian boy, but now it's a reality 'cause they have trouble again. More than what they had at that time.

PETERSON: You said you worked for them?

ALLEN:  I worked for the Fish and Wildlife at that time. They're the ones that were making the changes. I worked for them for a few months steady there.

PETERSON: What did you do for them?

ALLEN:  I was just doing labor work. We were building concrete structures and things like that to control water.

PETERSON: So, when you were there as a young child with your father hunting, what are your memories about those times?

ALLEN:  I can remember we'd get up early in the morning and have our breakfast and coffee there and walk out. We didn't have any boats. They'd walk out to where they would hunt. They'd be there hunting while the ducks are flying in. They'd do their hunting and shooting. I didn't have any kind of weapon to do any shooting because I was too small. I did go along with them even though I had to half swim in the water to get there where we were going, but that was the size of my hunting at that time when I was growing up.

PETERSON: Who else went with you?

ALLEN:  There was a lot of people from the reservation who would go hunting. A lot of men would go down there and hunt and camp. In the evening time we'd sit around and the older Indians would tell stories. Pretty interesting to me at that time.

PETERSON: Can you tell me some of these stories?

ALLEN:  Oh, they'd talk about the coyotes and the mountain range here, where they hunted and how they hunted and stories like that.

PETERSON: What would they say about the coyotes?

ALLEN:  That's how they, the Indians originated or stories like that. Where they came from. I guess there was a lot more to it, but I can't remember what. That was years ago

PETERSON: Can you remember some of the names of the older gentlemen that told these stories?

ALLEN:  There was my granddad. I guess the grandparents at that time. There was a fellow by the name of Joe Sheehan, my wife's uncle. Willy Steve, Willy Dixon, my granddad. There was others that I can't recall by name now. We'd sit around and just tell stories like anybody would do in a camp.

PETERSON: Did your grandfather or your dad talk about Stillwater and how it was when they were young?

ALLEN:  They talked some about how it was put together and it developed a little bit. When they started putting their tribal government together, I know my Dad was involved in Tribal Council what they called the government at that time and they still do now. He was involved in some of the decisions that was made besides other men that was in there.

PETERSON: What were some of those decisions? Do you remember?

ALLEN:  No, I can't remember. I was pretty young at that time. I wasn't too interested in what they were doing, I guess. They set up the government and how the reservation should be taken care of and run. That's about what I remember.

PETERSON: Can you describe to me in detail about the duck hunting? What sort of ducks would you hunt, and what would happen to them after?

ALLEN:  The ducks that they hunted was food to the Indians at that time.               It was meat. The different varieties of ducks that came in. This was their flyway through here, north to south during the winter here. There was different kinds of ducks. Mallards and redheads, all sorts of ducks going through here besides geese and swan, the bigger birds. But at that time when I was growing up, swan wasn't legal to hunt, but yet people went out and shot them for meat.

PETERSON: They're not legal to hunt now, are they?

ALLEN:  I think you can get tags or whatever they use now. I think you can hunt them. I'm pretty sure. They have a quota to hunt, and that's the way it works.

PETERSON: I've read that swans were more abundant in earlier years. Did you notice that?

ALLEN:  They were. There was a lot of ducks around at that time when I was growing up. Was quite a duck country. People came from all over to hunt ducks out here because they could camp there, stay and hunt for a few days. Not like now. But getting there was something else. The roads were terrible. They were just a terrible mess. Had to almost push your car or whatever you went with, horse and buggy or saddle horse or whatever. It was terrible, but the hunting was great.

PETERSON: So, it was worth it.

ALLEN:  Oh, yes. Hunting was great.

PETERSON: So, you went in the fall and in the spring again?

ALLEN:  Whenever duck season's open. In the fall they usually go out and do their hunting.

PETERSON: And who would care for the birds that you brought home?

ALLEN:  The men usually take care of them or whoever's at home. The ladies they'd pick the feathers off of them and preserve the ducks.

PETERSON: How were they preserved?

ALLEN:  At that time some of them just hung them out in the open air until they ate them up. That was their meat. It just hung out. And some people they had ice boxes. You know what ice boxes are?

PETERSON: Uh-huh.

ALLEN:  That's how they'd preserve some of their meat.

PETERSON: Was it ever cooked in a special way?

ALLEN:  Just like now. People cooked them or they fried them or they made stew out of them or whatever. It wasn't much different from how they do the ducks now.

PETERSON: Did you go to the mountains as a child with your relatives?

ALLEN:  OH, yeah. My dad was quite a hunter for game, too. He done a lot of deer hunting, and I traveled with him a lot to hunt in the mountains. When I was growing up at that time the Indians would go after pine nuts during pine nut season, and I traveled with them as a young child to get pine nuts. We'd camp there, and a lot of Indians would work together and get pine nuts for the winter.

PETERSON: Can you remember who all came with you?

ALLEN:  I know my parents, mom and dad, sisters, grandparents on my mother's side, and there's other Indians that all went along and picked pine nuts for their use.

PETERSON: Which mountain ranges?

ALLEN:  The mountain range was the Stillwater Mountain range. That's where most of the people done their pine nutting.

PETERSON: Can you describe to me the pine nutting process from beginning to end?

ALLEN:  To go out and get pine nuts, like I said, they made camp, and then they'd start going after the pine nuts on the pine nut trees. They'd use long hooks that they make and pull the cones off the pine trees, or some people would spread canvas around the trees and they'd shake the trees. Then the pine nuts, when the cone is open, then when you shake them, they all fall out and fall to the ground, and then you pick the pine nuts up and put them in baskets that the Indians made to use for pine nuts. Big cone-shaped baskets they used to put pine nuts in, and then they'd shake them. The ladies would cook them. That's about the size of pine nutting. When people thought they'd got enough, they'd come on home.

PETERSON: How did they cook them?

ALLEN:  Just to eat pine nuts it's like everybody that cooks them now. It's still the same. Some of them would throw them in an open fire, cones and all, and then cook the pine nuts. For some with pine nuts that are already out of the shell, they'd just take and put them in pans and cook them on the stove or open fire. Let them cook. If they had a lot of pine nuts, I can remember when my grandmother and the other ladies used to powder their pine nuts. Shell them and grind them on grinding stones that they had and make powder out of them and preserve them for winter use. Just like your wheat flour that they have now. During the winter what we called pine nut gravy, they'd make gravy and mix them up there. It was good. It was good to eat. That's how they made their pine nuts. They'd cook them and shake them in their baskets and blow off the ones that were not very good. Then they'd shell them. Then they'd work them on stone and make powder, and that's how they preserved their pine nuts.

PETERSON: Did you enjoy the taste of pine nuts?

ALLEN:  Oh, yes, I like pine nuts. But the older you get you have food that just don't agree with you, but I like pine nuts. I like pine nuts up to this day. [End of tape 1]

PETERSON: Did you go on rabbit drives growing up?

ALLEN:  Yes, I've been on rabbit drives when I was growing up with the people here on the reservation.

PETERSON: Where did you go?

ALLEN:  Oh, we went to various places where . . . the tribe would select a chief. It was called a rabbit chief, and he'd find a place where we could hunt, where he'd think the rabbits would be, and we'd go on big rabbit drives in various locations in the valley here. Not only on the reservation, but in the valley they'd go hunt rabbits, rabbit drives. They'd get the hunters all strung out for a quarter of a mile or so to move the rabbits and then the other hunters on the other end when the rabbits start coming. In the meantime they're killing them on their drive going, and that's why they called them rabbit drives when they drove them like that.

PETERSON: How was the chief selected?

ALLEN:  They'd usually select someone they'd think might know something about where the rabbits are and then you have no elections or anything, but they just kind of appointed a person that they think might be a good rabbit chief, and that's how they selected their rabbit chief. He'd try to organize the hunting on different days, and that's how they had the rabbit drives.

PETERSON: What season of the year did you go?

ALLEN:  It's usually in the fall. That's when the rabbits are fairly good. That was a source of meat for the Indian people at that time. They'd kill the rabbits, dry them out. You can dry rabbits by hanging them out. Just like dried meat. That's how they had their meat.

PETERSON: Can you remember some of the people that you went with?

ALLEN:  There were all kinds of people that I can remember. My uncles and my grandfathers. There were Bowsers. My wife's maiden name is Bowser. Her brothers, father, Dixons, Hickses, Williamses. I could go on forever, but that's just a few. There were a number of men that hunted.

PETERSON: So, basically, the rabbits are driven toward the center?

ALLEN:  The rabbits are driven toward a hillside or some place where the rabbits won't get away too much, or a lake or water. That's where they would drive the rabbits to where they could control them.

PETERSON: Do you recall the first rabbit that you got?

ALLEN: The first rabbit that I ever shot I really can't recall where or how I shot him. I remember I used to kill rabbits, and there's times when the hunting's close by, the men would use saddle horses. Saddle up their horses and go on the rabbit drives which would be a lot easier because you can walk for miles driving rabbits. It gets pretty tiresome, and once you make a big kill, you've got seven or eight rabbits tucked in your belts, and they get pretty heavy, so there's some that use saddle horses if the hunting's close by. That's how they bring in their kill.

PETERSON: So, as each rabbit was picked up, it was tied onto a belt?

ALLEN: Yeah. When a person is walking, they'd tuck the rabbit under their belt. The head part, and it would stay there. Some guys would have rabbits strung all over their body. [laughing]

PETERSON: Can you explain to me what was done with the rabbits once they were taken home?

ALLEN: Once they were taken home, the people usually dried them out after they skinned the rabbits, and then some people would save the hides. Dry the hide out and cure the hide and make blankets out of them what they called rabbit blankets for their use. They're really nice blankets once they're finished. They're warm.

PETERSON: Hot, I can imagine.

ALLEN: Yeah. That's about all you can use sometime because they're hot. They're really warm.

PETERSON: Did you ever have a rabbit blanket?

ALLEN: I've slept under rabbit blankets but I've never owned a rabbit blanket. So, that's how I know how warm they are.

PETERSON: And who skinned the rabbits?

ALLEN: Usually my grandmother or my grandfather or the men folks or whoever can go out and skin them. It's just not any special person. Anybody can go out and skin a rabbit if they want to.

PETERSON: How is your favorite way that rabbit was prepared?

ALLEN:  Usually they'd fry them or make gravy out of the meat like they do now on any kind of meat or they'd make stew or they'd roast the rabbit just they would chicken or turkey or whatever.

PETERSON: Do you still participate in rabbit drives?

ALLEN:  No, not anymore. They don't have anymore rabbit drives like they used to. Maybe there's some younger people might go on rabbit drives, but I never have gone for years.

PETERSON: When were you given your first gun to hunt with?

ALLEN:  I must have been about ten, eleven years old when I first had a gun.

PETERSON: The museum has an oral history on your cousin, Harriet Allen, and in it she describes going on a rabbit drive with her father, your uncle, Gardner Allen, and she said that she insisted on having her own gun, but she wasn't very good at shooting rabbits. Did you spend a lot of time with Harriet growing up, and do you remember her ever being there on a rabbit drive?

ALLEN:  I know she's traveled with her dad. She's a lot younger than I am, so when she got her gun I couldn't say or when she first shot her gun or got a rabbit, I don't know. But I can remember when she was small she went with her dad on rabbit drives, rabbit hunting. They hunted rabbits a lot. They didn't have to go on drives. If somebody wanted to go rabbit hunting, they'd just go out, take the gun, and hunt for rabbits or any game they wanted to hunt.

PETERSON: Do you remember your uncle Gardner?

ALLEN:  Yeah, I remember him pretty well. He was a farmer. He spent his time in World War II. He was a veteran. He was quite a boxer, quite an athlete. He played ball. But I remember him more by his boxing talent. He used to teach me when I was a little kid growing up. He'd sit on the chair, and he'd put boxing gloves on me, and we'd go at it. Boy! I thought I was the greatest boxer because his nose would bleed real easy.

PETERSON: Oh, no!

ALLEN:  I'd work for that nose. Pop him on the nose and pretty soon blood would come out. Oh, I thought I was the greatest. He's the guy that taught me to box. I guess I liked it, and that's what I done. This is me when I was in school boxing.

PETERSON: Your uncle, did he win any awards or anything like that?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah, he won. He was going for the big tournaments. He boxed in San Francisco. At that time they were called Diamond Bell boxing tournaments. He won championships there. He was a heavyweight. He won trophies, whatever they gave away in amateur boxing.

PETERSON: Getting back to your hunting experiences, when you went out on excursions like pine nutting or shooting what kinds of wild animals did you see?

ALLEN:  Usually you'd see whatever animals was around this location. You see deer, or you see bobcats or coyotes, badgers, all kinds of squirrels and birds.

PETERSON: Are there any stories that your family told you about these animals?

ALLEN:  No, I can't remember any stories that they've told me.

PETERSON: Did you ever learn to swim?

ALLEN:  Yes, I learned to swim when I was a young child.

PETERSON: Where?

ALLEN:  I learned to swim in the canals when my uncles would take me out or my dad when they were young. Just take me out, put me in the water, here, sink or drown, so I had to do it, but I learned to swim pretty well. I was a pretty fair swimmer.

PETERSON: So, you pretty much taught yourself then?

ALLEN:  Yeah, everything I did I just about taught myself. Something I wanted to do.

PETERSON: Can you remember ever being ill as a child?

ALLEN:  Yes, I remember when I was a little kid, I almost went to the happy hunting grounds. My parents took me to what they called an Indian doctor. They did their doctoring the Indian way, and he doctored me. I guess that's why I'm still here.

PETERSON: Did they tell you what they did for you?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah. I can remember how he doctored me and what to do and what not to eat and things like that and it seemed to work.              The doctors seemed to know what they were talking about or doing.

PETERSON: Do you know what that doctor's name was?

ALLEN:  His name was Jimmy George. He's gone now. He passed away, but he was a pretty well-known doctor not only for people here on our reservation, but he was called different places to do his doctoring in the Indian way. He was pretty well known around the country as a doctor.

PETERSON: What kind of illness did you have?

ALLEN:  Geez, I really couldn't tell you what kind of illness I had. I was losing weight. I didn't have no appetite. Just on the verge of calling it quits till I was doctored by Jimmy George. There were several nights that they did that. They doctored during the nights and it was an all-night affair. That was how I got my health back was through him at that time, but far as the illness goes I really couldn't say what it could have been.

PETERSON: I wonder if he gave you some plant medicines or something like that?

ALLEN:  He might have given me something, but I believe he gave me something to wear around my neck like some kind of a necklace, but that was probably some kind of Indian medicine, and it was made of buckskin. That's about all I can remember. He told my parents during doctoring not to eat certain kinds of food, especially meat. That's why up to this day, I don't really care for any kind of wild game, and that's one of the things that he told not to eat. Like fish and things like that, and I just grew up like that. I just never did care for wild game and meat. I like to hunt and all that, but far as eating the game, I just never developed a taste for it after he told me. I was real small when I got sick.

PETERSON: Wow! I wonder why he specifically mentioned the wild game?

ALLEN:  I don't know. I couldn't tell you why. The doctors go through their ritual to get that power. Like these modern-day doctors, they go to school and all that, well, these doctors, I guess they did what they called fasting for so many days. Just like they were being educated, so that's what they did. The power that they developed there just like the modern-day doctors now. A lot of these modern-day doctors they follow some of these old methods the Indian doctors had at that time, and they still do. They're still around. These doctors are still around. They're not all gone.

PETERSON: In this area here?

ALLEN:  No, not around this area that I know of offhand, but there are other doctors in different states and different tribes. See, they all have their different beliefs and their methods of doing their Indian doctoring, their Indian culture and things like that. They're not all the same even though we're Indians we don't all have the same culture that developed in that tribe, but yet we picked up a lot of the same. When the Indians started intermarrying with different tribes, then things started coming together.

PETERSON: So, you got better in a matter of days?

ALLEN:  It wasn't days that I got well. It took me time to build up again like a young child because I lost a lot of weight, and I was sick. My folks lived at what they called the Indian colony at that time near Rattlesnake Hill. That's out of Fallon there. That's where they had their Indian camp they called it. Indians lived there. They didn't have tepees. They had homes. Little shacks they lived in. That's where I spent some of my life when I was sick. She worked for people in the city of Fallon, and then walked from their home to the city of Fallon across the fields there, and I can remember her taking me on her back to her work after I was healing up and getting well. I would be with her all day at her place where she worked, and she'd take me back home. That's what I remember during my healing period.

PETERSON: Wow. So, you were quite small then if she was able to carry her on her back.

ALLEN:  Yeah, I was. I was pretty small. Well, I was small for my age anyhow, but I was young when I got sick.

PETERSON: Did she use a type of cradle board to carry you?

ALLEN:  No, I was out of the cradle board then.

PETERSON: Did she tie you around her waist?

ALLEN:  No, she just carried me on her back with my arms around her neck.

PETERSON: What else can you tell me about Jimmy George?

ALLEN:  Jimmy George was an old member on the reservation, and he was a farmer. Raised a little alfalfa and worked for different ranches besides his doctoring. I think he had a pretty good-sized family. I don't know how many children he had. He lived here on the reservation.

PETERSON: Do you remember Wuzzy George?

ALLEN:  I remember Wuzzy George, yes. She was quite active in all the Indian cultures, and she was one of the persons that they've written books about. She knew a lot of the Paiute tribe and their cultures and the ways they lived and where they were located and things like that.

PETERSON: Were you related to the Georges in any way?

ALLEN:  No, I wasn't related. Not that I know of, but Indians are all related they say, so I couldn't say for sure.

PETERSON: Did you learn any crafts growing up?                Maybe Paiute crafts?

ALLEN:  No, I never did have a chance to learn any kind of craft. Nobody ever taught me anything about any crafts. I've seen them being done, say like this basket [pointing to a cradleboard] baby baskets, baskets they make, but I never learned how to do the things.

PETERSON: Who did you watch making these things?

ALLEN:  Oh, I'd watch my folks' grandparents make baskets, tan buckskins hides, make different things out of buckskin, moccasins and gloves, things they used at that time.

PETERSON: Did you say your folks' grandparents? Who were they?

ALLEN:  Yes, I can't remember who they are now.

PETERSON: That's pretty neat that you have memories. Those would be your great grandparents.

ALLEN:  Just a little, but I can still remember. It is a wonder that I can remember that far back. [laughing] I can just barely remember my grandmother on my mother's side, how she looked. It wasn't too long after I was born where I could remember that she passed away. But I remember my grandmother from my father's side pretty well because I lived with her.

PETERSON: Did your parents tell you anything about their grandparents?

ALLEN:  Well, they said some. Where they came from and where they lived. I believe my grandfather from my father's side originally came from the south, like Walker Lake, up in that area, when they first put this reservation together, he might have been the first Indian here to get an allotment here on this reservation because his allotments were one, two, and three. My grandmother, his and my uncle's and my dad, but I believe he was one of the first ones that got an allotment here.

PETERSON: What year did you graduate high school?

ALLEN:  1944. Well, that's when I left school 'cause the War was on then. I went into the Marine Corps.

PETERSON: So, you were drafted?

ALLEN:  Yeah.

PETERSON: How old were you at this time?

ALLEN:  I just turned eighteen.

PETERSON: How did your family feel about that?

ALLEN:  I really don't how they felt. They knew I had to go 'cause everyone was going. Especially the Indians. Soon as that thing broke out, a lot of these young men just joined the various services.    They didn't hold back. Even though I was going to school, I didn't want to be left behind. I thought I wanted to get some of the action, too.

PETERSON: So, you were okay with it that you were going?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah. It wasn't the greatest thing on their part, but they knew I had to go sooner or later, so they just didn't say a thing about it. I had to go and that's about it.

PETERSON: Where were you sent?

ALLEN:  I was in the Marines. I was stateside all the time. I wasn't in actual fighting.

PETERSON: How long did you stay?

ALLEN:  I stayed almost three years.

PETERSON: What were your duties during this time?

ALLEN:  I went into the Marine Air Wings. After the War was over with, after they were discharging people, I went into the Quartermasters branch.

PETERSON: What year did you get out?

ALLEN:  The last part of 1946.

PETERSON: Were you glad to be out?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah, I was glad to be out.   Lose all that time there.

PETERSON: Where exactly were you? What state were you in?

ALLEN:  I was in California most of the time, up in Oregon, on the west coast.

PETERSON: How was Fallon different when you returned back home?

ALLEN:  The town itself didn't change very much, but they built a Naval base here what they called the auxiliary Naval air base, and that was just on a small scale at that time. The town didn't grow too much while I was gone.

PETERSON: What did you do when you came back?

ALLEN:  When I came back and when I got a discharge, I went to work for the government for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in construction with my dad. That's where I worked for awhile for the summer, and then I went back to school.

PETERSON: So you went back to high school?

ALLEN:  No, I went back to Kansas and went to school. I was out of school then.

PETERSON: Tell me about that.

ALLEN:  Like I said, I was an athlete, and I wanted to be in athletics. I wanted to take some kind of sports besides going to school. Not only sports. Sports was secondary, but anyhow I went to school back there, and I played football for the school there, Haskell Junior College, and I boxed for them.

PETERSON: How long were you there?

ALLEN:  I attended the school for the complete two-year program.

PETERSON: Is this the state of Kansas?

ALLEN:  Yes, in Lawrence, Kansas.

PETERSON: Did you earn letters in these sports?

ALLEN:  I earned three letters while I was going to school back there. I earned a letter in football, I earned a letter in boxing, and I earned a letter in track, and that’s about all the sports I could get into without killing

myself. Then I came back home and I went to work. Worked for the government.

PETERSON: And what did you do there?

ALLEN:  I was working on construction when I started, then I went to work for the Bureau at Stewart [Indian School, Carson City].

PETERSON: How old were you about this time?

ALLEN: I was twenty-one.

PETERSON: How did you come to get that job?

ALLEN: I wanted a job. I needed a job so I applied for the work for the government.

PETERSON: What did you do at Stewart?

ALLEN: When I first got hired I was in the maintenance department for the school working as a maintenance man.

PETERSON: How long were you there?

ALLEN:I was there for almost thirty years working for the government. That's where I retired from. [End of tape 2 side A] I basically worked up into the education department. That's where I retired. I was in the vocational department.

PETERSON: When you first started in the education, what did you do?

ALLEN: I was in the agriculture department, and that's where I was all of the time, was agricultural department. We taught diesel engineering, operating, some similar construction work for the students in their vocation.

PETERSON: Can you describe the grounds of the school? I've heard it's very pretty.

ALLEN: Most of the buildings are made out of rock built by Indians themselves. When I went to work there, it was just strictly high school, and that's the way it's been until I finished school. When it was first originated, it had grammar schools and small kids going to school there. Then it wound up as the high school, but the school had all kinds of vocational training for different students that wanted different vocations like electrical work, and plumbing and carpentering and painting and all sorts of vocational work. What they wanted to do when they finished school.

PETERSON: How do you feel about Stewart's early history? I've heard mixed comments about-

ALLEN:  Well, from what I hear, I never went to school there, but it was a military-type school when it was first put together, and it wasn't the greatest school 'cause they brought the kids. They just went to these various reservations and took them to the school there. That was the way it was. This is just heresay that I've heard during my time, and that's the way it's been, but it eventually wound up to be a pretty nice school till they closed it down in 1980.

PETERSON: I read that it was closed officially because it was seismically unsafe.

ALLEN:  Well, that, too. That's what they say, but it's still there, and the state uses it. They closed it down because of, I guess, when President Carter, I think it was him that was closing a lot of these Indian schools around the country at that time, and Stewart was one of the schools that was closed down.

PETERSON: What were your feelings about the controversy over the lack of funding for the school?

ALLEN:  I really couldn't say what, but that's what they say it was. It was money. The budget for the school getting costly. I've never gotten into that because the other departments handled that. All we handled was the school part of it. We'd gotten along with what there was. But the reason for it being closed down I just think they just wanted to close it down. That was the biggest mistake they ever made when they closed that school down.

PETERSON: What do you feel that way?

ALLEN:  Because it stopped a lot of these Indian students from trying to accomplish a goal in vocation or something like that. A lot of them didn't want to go to public schools, so they went to Stewart, and it was a good school. A lot of students came out of there with good vocations, and a lot of them went on to higher education after going out. A lot of them wanted to be professional people.

PETERSON: What kinds of things did you accomplish while at Stewart?

ALLEN:  While I was there I guess I had my childhood dream to try to become a coach in different sports, which I did. I coached football for a number of years there. Our record wasn't the greatest, but we played football and had some pretty good players and several players that got scholarships to universities. I was the boxing coach there for a number of years, and we had a lot of good Indian boxers. Had big tournaments there at the school and went to different tournaments around the country here. We'd fly to different places for big tournaments. Coach Travoy went to the 1978 Olympics in Montreal. One of the boys went on as an alternate, number two man on the U.S. team at that time. Then one had lost out in the tryouts went on and turned professional, and he done pretty good for himself. But the one that went on as an alternate, he fought internationally and made quite a name for himself.

PETERSON: Do you remember his name?

ALLEN:  His name was .  . oh, gosh, I can't think of it now.

PETERSON: In the thirty years that you were at Stewart, how did it change?

ALLEN:  During the time I was there, the school just kind of modernized. They built new schools there and their educational system changed a little bit. Far as education went, there wasn't too many changes. It was just like any other high school that they just build new buildings. The students stayed right there in dorms just like any other college or university. They had their dorms, and they had their kitchen. That's where they stayed during school years.

PETERSON: I read in the Reno Gazette that the school was attempting to make a change from its vocational focus to a more academic focus.

ALLEN:  They changed some. They went into academics some. They still had their vocation, but they just kind of went more into academics.

PETERSON: Do you think that was a good decision?

ALLEN:  It was in a way. All students don't care for vocational or something. A lot of them wanted to go on to school so they went into academics, and yet some stayed in their vocation. But I thought it was good.

PETERSON: I've heard accounts from some other people that either went to Stewart or knew friends that went to Stewart about supposedly a graveyard for children being in the back of the school somewhere.

ALLEN:  They used to have a hospital there at one time years ago they called the sanatorium. They do have a cemetery there at the school, but at that time it probably was just for the students, but I think now other tribes use it, but they had one there.

PETERSON: When did you retire from Stewart?

ALLEN:  In 1980.

PETERSON: And that's when it closed.

ALLEN:  The school closed, yeah, but Stewart was still in operation because they had what they called the Agency there for the tribal government. It's all state owned now.

PETERSON: How many times have you been married.

ALLEN:  Twice.

PETERSON: When was your first marriage?

ALLEN:  Back in 1950? Somewheres there, I can't remember now. PETERSON: And where were you married?

ALLEN:  Here in Fallon.

PETERSON: What was your wife's name and maiden name?

ALLEN:  The first one? Her name was Betty Millett.

PETERSON: Was she Paiute?

ALLEN:  No, she was Shoshone.

PETERSON: And where was she from?

ALLEN:  She was from Duckwater Indian Reservation.

PETERSON: Where is that?

ALLEN:  That's east below Ely.

PETERSON: How did you meet?

ALLEN:  I met her while I was working at Stewart, and she was a student there.

PETERSON: How many children did you have with Betty?

ALLEN:  Three. Two girls and a boy.

PETERSON: What are their names?

ALLEN:  The boy is Daniel [born 1951]. One of the girls is Jacquline [born 1953], and the other one is Rosalie [born 1956], tHe younger one.

PETERSON: Where were they born?

ALLEN:  One was born in Schurz, one of them was born in Fallon, and the other one was born in Carson City.

PETERSON: What was Betty's occupation?

ALLEN:  She worked for the school, too. She was a matron. Took care of the students at the dorms there.

PETERSON: Where was your first home with this family?

ALLEN:  We lived here in Fallon for awhile.

PETERSON: Then when you worked at Stewart, did you just drive back and forth every day?

ALLEN:  We moved to Stewart when I got a job there.

 PETERSON: How long were you married?

ALLEN:  I was married to her for over twenty years.

PETERSON: And during your marriage you worked at Stewart?

ALLEN:  Yeah, I worked at Stewart all that time.

PETERSON: Did she pass away, or were you divorced?

ALLEN:  No, divorced. She's remarried.

PETERSON: Can you recall the year that the marriage ended?

ALLEN:  It must have been the late sixties.

PETERSON: Did you live on the Stewart school grounds?

ALLEN:  Yeah.

PETERSON: And when did you meet your second wife?

ALLEN:  Oh, I was raised with my second wife. We went to school together, and after graduation time she went her way. went my way and got back together again in 1970.

PETERSON: What is her name?

ALLEN:  Janet Bowser.

PETERSON: Did you have any children with Janet?

ALLEN:  No.

PETERSON: Does she have children?

ALLEN: Yes, she's got three boys. [John Greene 1951, Sidney Greene 1963, Antony Greene 1964]

PETERSON: Were they already grown by the time that you met?

ALLEN: There was [my] one girl and boy and there was [her] two small boys when we met.

PETERSON: What values did you try to pass onto your children?

ALLEN: I don't know what values. Just how to look at life, I guess. What you need to be growing up and go on from there and what it takes and hardships and the good times. I guess the normal family things you try to teach your kids.

PETERSON: Were you married to Janet here in Fallon?

ALLEN: No. Was married in Vegas.

PETERSON: Did your parents play a big role in the lives of your children at all?

ALLEN: Yeah, in a way they did. My mom and my dad took my boy on hunting trips. My wife now, her children were small, but we weren't together at that time. The boys now they're men. They've got their own families now. Like my son, he's got his degree from school. My stepsons they all got their degrees. One of them graduated out of Stanford. One of them graduated out of Montana and the other one finished up in Oregon, so they're all pretty well established now and got their own good jobs.

PETERSON: Is Janet Paiute?

ALLEN: Yes.

PETERSON: So, your children from your first marriage are part Paiute and part Shoshone?

ALLEN:  Yeah.

PETERSON: Do you recall when your grandparents died?

ALLEN:  My grandmother on my father's side must have died in the thirties sometime, and my granddad on my father's side must have died in the forties. My grandparents on my mother's side, my grandmother must have died in the early thirties or late twenties far as I can recall, and my granddad must have died probably in the forties. I can't say when exactly.

PETERSON: The grandparents that you lived with growing up, it seems that you were pretty close to them. How did you feel when they were gone?

ALLEN:  It seemed like I lost my parents because I lived with them for a long time. It was kind of a sad time for me. I was pretty young when my grandmother died. She was kind of ill, and when my granddad died, I was young, and I was working out of the Fallon area. I didn't even attend his services because I was gone working, and I couldn't get back to his services when he was buried. That was a sad day because after my grandmother died, it was him and I the only ones that lived together for a long time, so it was kind of a sad time.

PETERSON: Do you know who did the funeral for your grandparents?

ALLEN:  They're buried on the reservation where our cemetery is. I can't remember who conducted the services. It was here at our church when they had these services.

PETERSON: The Baptist church here?

ALLEN:  It was the Baptist church.

PETERSON: What year did your parents pass away?

ALLEN:  My dad passed away sometime in the fifties [1956]. My mother must have passed away around the eighties. I was retired and I was here already. She was living here with my sister, so it was in the early eighties when she passed away. [1986]

PETERSON: So, you've been retired for quite awhile. Did you do anything after you retired from Stewart?

ALLEN:  I just came back to this place here and started farming a little bit on a small scale, and that's been my life since I retired.

PETERSON: How many acres do you farm?

ALLEN:  Oh, we must farm around forty-five, fifty acres, somewhere around in there

PETERSON: What do you farm?

ALLEN:  Alfalfa.

PETERSON: How do you acquire your water?

ALLEN:  Irrigation water? We get our water through Newlands Project from Lahontan Dam, and that's how we irrigate our land.

PETERSON: And that's working out okay for you?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah. That's been working out fine. It has been like that ever since they put the reservation together.

PETERSON: Do you own any livestock?

ALLEN:  No, I don't.

PETERSON: How do you view the future of agriculture in this valley?

ALLEN:  Agriculture in this valley is slowly diminishing, I think, and it's through the growth of Fallon and the air base that's there now and our water situation. That's causing a lot of problems. Especially around here in the Stillwater area, farming and ranching has diminished quite a bit. A lot of the old ranches are sold out. There's still ranchers here. It's not like it was years ago when I was growing up, but that's all through the whole Newlands Project.

PETERSON: So, you see the battle over water being the main reason why it's going away?

ALLEN:  I think so. That's one of the main reasons why ranching is just diminishing 'cause water is getting pretty scarce around here. It's just like gold anymore. Too much development where we get our sources.

PETERSON: What do you think might happen with the battle of water in the future?

ALLEN:  The way things are going, I think our ranching and farming is just diminishing to where there won't be as many anymore like there is now. There are still a lot of ranches around, but it's not like it was years ago. As the town grows, which it's going to grow, we know that. And people upstream's going to be growing and we're going to be fighting over that water, and that's about how I see it. How it's going to affect our reservation, I really don't know. What we've gotten for the reservation, that's like a guarantee because that's what they told us when they set up this reservation. These allotments, we've got water for the rest of our lives.

PETERSON: What hobbies have you kept over the years?

ALLEN:  Oh, I try to get involved in taking in a lot of sports activities. As far as my hobbies, I used to ride quite a bit, ride horses and all that. I still hunt a lot. Not as much as I used to, but now with my grandchildren I take them out to sports activities for them, keeping myself going and the missus going. We're always going to different activities. We used to like to dance quite a bit when we were a little bit younger yet. Could still slide around a little bit. [laughing]

PETERSON: [laughing] How many grandchildren do you have?

ALLEN:  Well, let’s see… I got four of my own. Together we must have… Together we got eleven.

PETERSON: Are you involved in the Paiute language classes here?

ALLEN:  Yes. I was involved in the Paiute language class trying to get back some of our language that's lost. Right now I'm not because I'm starting to farm, and I'm kind of slowed down on the classes here, but I will get involved again this fall after things quiet down. I've been involved in this for some time now.              It's kind of interesting to try and get back in the thing and try to speak your language and try to teach younger people which a lot of them just have lost.                Just like our grandchildren in our family. My kids know a few words, but far as speaking the language, they don't know.

PETERSON: Were you one of the teachers?

ALLEN:  Yes, I was one of the teachers.

PETERSON: About how many people were in the class?

ALLEN:  It varies from half a dozen to maybe a little more sometimes.

PETERSON: What was the age span of the people?

ALLEN:  They aged from about fifteen to forty.

PETERSON: Who was helping you with the class?

ALLEN:  Margie Milazzo was one of the teachers with me. It was her and I besides the directors of the program for the tribe.

PETERSON: Who was that?

ALLEN:  That was Veronica… I can’t think of her last name right now. Her first name is Veronica [Linda Valencia.]

PETERSON: That’s good enough for now. What kinds of teaching aids do you use?

ALLEN:  We try to… As far as aids go, you have pictures of different animals and trees and things like that, you try to teach them what the Paiutes would call the different things. Then you got numbers that the Paiutes use in their language. We try to teach them numbers.

PETERSON: Is the funding for the class pretty secure?

ALLEN:  I really couldn't say what the budget is or whether this is going to continue. I couldn't say. It depends on Uncle Sam.

PETERSON: Do you feel positively that if the class is able to continue that you'll be able to keep the Paiute language alive?

ALLEN:  Well, some, probably. Some are interested in the language, but they're slowly losing it, and the people that speak it are diminishing, too, like anything else.

PETERSON: How has Fallon changed over the years?

ALLEN:  We know it's growing, and they've brought in some industries which we didn't have before, and there's more companies in here that wasn't here in my growing-up years. I guess I.H. Kent Company was the major source of the valley for people here at that time when I was growing up, but now like the air base out here, it's changing the lifestyle of this town a little bit. Employment has increased. New people have come in. Homes are being built in different places.

PETERSON: Do you view these changes as positive or negative?

ALLEN:  I guess it'd be positive, I’d say.

PETERSON: Do you remember the floods of the eighties?

ALLEN:  Yes, I can remember the floods

PETERSON: Can you tell me about what happened?

ALLEN: Well, it’s a difficult- [End of tape 2]

PETERSON: Do you recall the floods of the eighties?

ALLEN: Yes, I remember some of the floods back in the eighties where most of the floods were upstream from Fallon. It done some damages in… a little on our river system from Lahontan Dam down to here out in the Stillwater area. I remember the waters coming from the north to the Humboldt river around through Winnemucca and Lovelock and where they come back into our sink areas. During that flood time there that's when our ancestors' remains were being exposed because of the high water and the water covering the ground where the burial grounds were. That's how we come across our… burial grounds, you could say, where we'd find these exposed skeletons that was found by the Fish and Wildlife. I myself went out there. I was in the Tribal Council at the time when the flood came in, and the Fish and Wildlife used to take us out and show us where they'd find these remains in these different areas in the sink area down here in Stillwater. We'd travel by air boats and go to different islands. The flood waters covered a lot of that area back in that area when it came in.

PETERSON: What was their purpose for taking you out there?

ALLEN:  We were working with the Fish and Wildlife then, and they were working with the tribal government and wondering what are we going to do with these remains that's been found. At that time I was in the Tribal Council, and I wanted to go just for myself for how we originated, what we ate, so we worked with the anthropologists and the archaeologists, and we was involved in that kind of work, and that's how we got involved in these findings that was found out there.

PETERSON: So, you were okay with the fact that some of the burials were professionally excavated?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah, we okayed them as long as they put them back where they were or just saved the remains 'cause eventually the tribe built a crypt on the hillside up here for the remains after they made their studies and after they picked up the bones there.          That's how we worked with the different agencies on the findings. Especially the anthropologists and the archaeologists. They told us a lot of things about what we should know, I guess, but somebody else told us.  It was kind of interesting to me to know how we- how our ancestors lived at that time and what they ate and what were the different places here.

PETERSON: What kinds of things did they tell you?

ALLEN:  It wasn't like jackrabbits and things like that. They were different. Big animals they were for food. They'd get on the mountain ranges here, and how they were buried and the clothes they wore, the weapons they used. Things like that that was pretty interesting to me 'cause I wanted to know just for myself. It's in books now, so we know now. But it was interesting to me to find out.

PETERSON: Many of the burial sites were looted. How did that make you feel?

ALLEN:  At that time I guess we really didn't think much about it, but as time went on the people changed, and after awhile started finding out what's going on, it did kind of bother me because we as Indians don't go looting cemeteries of non-Indians or things like that where people come and loot our graves.             That's kind of offending to our tribe, Indian tribes.

PETERSON: You mentioned a crypt where the bodies were reburied. Where is that?

ALLEN:  The crypt is right on a hillside almost directly east from here right on the foothills over here.

PETERSON: Oh, okay. I never heard of that.

ALLEN:  The tribe got a little money from the government, and they built that crypt for the remains, and they'd bring them back just like when you get cremated, a little box, and they put them in there. That's where some or just about all of what they've picked up, I guess, is buried there now.

PETERSON: How was that site chosen?

ALLEN:  I really couldn't say how it was chosen. It would have been close by to where they were actually found or something. That's why they put that crypt there.

PETERSON: Are there any areas around Fallon that you consider to be special or maybe sacred?

ALLEN:  I guess the Stillwater Range would be the only place that I would think of.

PETERSON: Do you go there often?

ALLEN:  I go there not too often. Not for that reason, but just to go there. That's about the only place that would be kind of sacred for the Indian people.

PETERSON: Did you encounter prejudice growing up in Fallon?

ALLEN:  No. I guess we just didn't know what it meant to be prejudiced 'cause we got along with everyone. Non-Indian, and we had friends. I still have friends. All kinds of friends. But far as prejudice I guess there was some at that time and probably still is, but, no, we didn't. I didn't let it bother me any because I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I didn't want to be the number two man. I wanted to be number one. That's why I get along with everybody. We always did, and we still do. We had all kinds of friends. Not only here but all over the country.

PETERSON: Who's been your closest friends over the years?

ALLEN:  Closest friends over the years? Outside of my wife? [laughing]

PETERSON: She can be your closest. You can choose her. [laughing]

ALLEN:  Yeah. Close as you can get. I really couldn't say who's my closest friend. They're all my friends, and I just never really picked someone out as my closest friends 'cause they're all friends to me. Indians and non-Indians, they're all the same. I treat them all the same. They treat me the same, and I really don't have no choices outside of my missus.

PETERSON: [laughing] That's good. Do you still ride at all?

ALLEN:  No, not anymore. I used to. I used to ride quite a bit, and that's the only thing I miss. The reason I don't ride is I got sick a few years ago, and I had to have angioplasty done. It was done and they discovered right on top of my head. That's why I had to give up riding. The doctor in San Francisco--that's why I had to go to San Francisco to get my operation, and he told me not to really jar my head or anything, so I had to give up my desire to ride all the time. That was the thing I wanted to do all the time is ride.

PETERSON: What exactly did he find?

ALLEN:  There was a blood clot in my head, so they had to use angioplasty in my . . . They couldn't do nothing here in Fallon or in Reno. This was fairly new at the time. That's what the doctor told me in San Francisco, and they found it real quick. They had to because I had about that much of a chance. Ninety-nine to one.

PETERSON: Wow!

ALLEN:  So, I told them to go ahead and do what you can, and we'll get that one percent, but guess he did a good job.

PETERSON: I guess so. When you were riding did you ever ride in rodeos?

ALLEN:  Oh, yeah, I rode in rodeos. I rode the rough stock in rodeos. I wasn't into roping at that time.

PETERSON: Here in Fallon?

ALLEN:  Different places. You know how rodeos are. They're in different places.

PETERSON: Did you ever win anything?

ALLEN:  I won some money and done pretty good.

PETERSON: Do you have any possessions that have been passed on to you from an elder person of your family?

ALLEN:  Nothing outside of guns, weapons, and that's about it outside of land.

PETERSON: And who gave you your guns?

ALLEN:  My dad. And those I'll pass on to my grandson.

PETERSON: Do you have any plans for the future or something that you're looking forward to?

ALLEN:  Well, no, just living the good life with my missus and fooling around and keeping the grandchildren happy and taking in their activities and trying to give them moral support. Just being active. That's all. When you get old, you know, you can't just sit down and be a couch potato. You gotta be active. Gotta be doing something.

PETERSON: Right.

ALLEN:  And that's what we like to do. We like to go places and see things, what we can, and we do.

PETERSON: That's great. On your biographical questionnaire you mentioned that you had entered yourself in Philadelphia's millennium celebration.

ALLEN:  Yeah.

PETERSON: Can you tell me more about that, please?

ALLEN:  The wife found it in the paper that they needed somebody from the state here, so we sent our application or whatever they want to call it, and that's about it. That's all I know about it, but she entered me in this thing to see if I can get in on the selection. Maybe I'll get lucky, and maybe I'll go ring that old Liberty Bell.

PETERSON: Who exactly were they looking for in the application?

ALLEN:  They were looking for somebody [long pause]. Okay, I entered myself in the Millennium Philadelphia Celebration. [Inaudible] found it advertised in the papers. The state they wanted so many individuals born on the Fourth of July to be in this celebration, so I entered in this celebration and, hopefully, that maybe I could get a free trip back to Philadelphia for this occasion there.

PETERSON: Is that for the year 2000?

ALLEN:  For the year 2000. Right. New millennium and I'm hoping I can be one of the selectees to get in on this thing and maybe things will work out, me being Indian. It could happen.

PETERSON: That's pretty exciting.

ALLEN: It would be really nice!

PETERSON: Who would you bring with you?

ALLEN:  My wife and I would go. If I happen to get lucky, my wife will make the trip back there for this celebration they're having for the millennium.

PETERSON: Have you ever been off the west coast?

ALLEN:  Off the west coast?

PETERSON: Oh, you were in Kansas, so you have been.

ALLEN:  Oh, I've been during my working years and working for the school, I've been throughout the states here on different occasions with teams.

PETERSON: When will you know for sure if you're going to go?

ALLEN:  I really don't know. They'll have to give us an answer on it to make the selections there. I couldn't tell you, but it'll be before the celebration before the millennium comes around here, so by next summer. Somewheres around in there.

PETERSON: So the big thing is that they're looking for a few people from Nevada who were born on the Fourth of July. Was your birthday different growing up because you were born on the Fourth of July? Did your family celebrate the Fourth of July at all?

ALLEN:  From what my mother tells me, I guess, she was the only one that I ruined her Fourth of July because I was born on that day, and it was in the afternoon that I was born. They've always celebrated. That was a big occasion around this area at that time. They had different things going, and they were usually going some place, but just at that time I happened to be born and I ruined their celebration. She's always told me.

PETERSON: Did that make your birthday more special growing up, or did it take away from your birthday a little bit?

ALLEN:  No, it didn't. I guess being born on the Fourth of July just kind of made it special for me because it was a big occasion and me being born that day, and that's about how I look at it. I always say everyone celebrates my birthday because I was born on the Fourth of July, and the celebration's all over.

PETERSON: [laughing] That's a good way of looking at it.

ALLEN:  That's how I look at it.

PETERSON: What do you hope for your family after you're gone?

ALLEN:  I hope for my family after I'm gone everybody has reached their goal and everybody's happy with what they have and things have changed around the world. As far as being Indians, I don't know how those can turn out, but I'd just like to see my family reach their goal and just have a good life for themselves. That's about it because I've had a good life. There's ups and downs, but most of the times were good. I've never had too much difficulties outside of illness.

PETERSON: What are your spiritual beliefs at this point?

ALLEN:  My spiritual belief? I'd guess you'd say you believe in the Indian culture in their spiritual beliefs yet you still believe in the non-Indian religious beliefs so you got two things going. You got your own belief in the Indian world and you got the other belief in the non-Indian world, but still you believe in the Indian beliefs which is true. It's hard to believe, but you believe in those things. Like even today I go to what they call Indians sweats, and that's just like going to church in the non-Indian world, and that's really the Indian church, but you go with the sweats there and you actually talk with God where the non-Indian world you go to church and you talk about the religion, you know, God, but the Indians are different. They're in there sweating, and they're more or less sacrificing themselves or whatever you want to call it because you do. Where you go to a church, you just set there and sing and all that, but you do the same thing in the sweats. You sing and pray and your medicine doctor there, he's just like your priest in a church, our minister, so it's our belief.

PETERSON: Can you describe to me more about the sweats? What kind of housing?

ALLEN: The sweats is more or less built kind of like if you know what an igloo is, it's built on that style. It's round and in the middle there you have a big fire pit where you bring in your hot rocks for your sweats, and the people that come there they all sit around in the circle there in that little sweat house. All the sweat houses are built facing the east, the sunrise. They're all built like that.

PETERSON: The hot rocks, are they like coals?

ALLEN: The hot rocks are just red hot just like coals, and they close up the doors when they're ready to start their ceremony in there and their doctoring. Sometimes they have Indian doctoring. A person sick they go in and this Indian doctor that's like the priest there he performs his doctoring, but everything's in the dark. You got everything closed. Not a speck of light anywhere. You close up everything and then you start your sweats in there. They sing different songs. Just like you do in a non-Indian church. They got different songs for different things. It's the same way in the sweats.

PETERSON: Are the song sung in the Indian language?

ALLEN: The songs are all sung in the Indian language. Not only the Paiutes have this, it's all tribes. Maybe they all do different methods, but the meeting's the same.

PETERSON: How long does it last?

ALLEN: It usually lasts probably about an hour, somewheres around there. Maybe even better. It depends on what they're doing. If they're having doctoring during the time there, it lasts a little longer. All the time we're in there you sweat and keep those rocks, put water on them. Water is pretty sacred to everyone. Not only Indians. That's your life, water is.

PETERSON: How often do you participate?

ALLEN: They have it every week. We go to Schurz. Every Sunday they have that. It's like going to church. Same thing. People come there. It's just like going to church. If you feel like going to church today, you go. If you don't feel like it, you just excuse yourself. That's the way it is.

PETERSON: Is it all family members at one time?

ALLEN:  No, anyone can go. It's just like going to any church. You're welcome, and that's what it is.

PETERSON: So, you have found a way to maintain your Paiute beliefs.

ALLEN: Oh, yeah. Right. You go in there, and you go to the sweats there, and when you come out, you just feel like you're a cleansed person because everything just comes out of your body. You sweat it out. You're just a different person.

PETERSON: Is it meant to be a purification?

ALLEN: Well, that's what it is. Your mind's cleared, and it just make you feel different.

PETERSON: Are there any other ceremonial things that you participate in?

ALLEN: No, that's about it. That's about all we do now are those sweats. I know a lot of Indian people up north do what they call sun dance where they get the pole and stick themselves. They still do those things. I've never 'cause that's up north that they have that.

PETERSON: Which tribe is this?

ALLEN: The Sioux tribe.  Not only the Sioux but there's different people that go to these ceremonies and go to those dances, but it's something that they believe in, and they do it.

PETERSON:  I think we've come to the end of our interview, and I thank you so, so much for allowing me to come here.

ALLEN: I've enjoyed it. I hope this can be helpful.

PETERSON: It definitely will be. On behalf of the Churchill County Oral History Project, I'd like to thank you for the interview.

ALLEN: You're welcome. I've enjoyed it. [End of tape 3]

FALLON INDIAN RESERVATION

Under the Allotment Act of 1887 the Paiute Indians were allotted 160 acres of land without water rights, the total area was 31,300 acres located in what is now the best agricultural land within the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District.

In 1902 the Corp of Engineers chose this valley to construct the Newlands Project. The Paiute Indians were pressured to relinquish their 160 acres for 10-acre allotments with paid-up water rights pursuant to Congressional Act of April 30, 1908. The Reservation to date comprises approximately 4,680 acres of allotted lands and 3,576 acres of tribal lands.

My recollection of my early life:

My grandmother drove a horse and buggy to church every Sunday morning without fail. The majority reservation residents attended church. Protestant missionaries ran the church. I believe at that time religion was very much a part of the life of each Indian family.

My grandfather was a dairy farmer and he raised 3 sons and 1 daughter. I spent most of my childhood with my grandparents because my father was a construction worker and I did not want to leave Fallon.

I remember, as a small child the times that I went with my grandfather to what was called "Rabbit Drives" where some of the men forming a large circle drove rabbits towards a hill where others waited to shoot the rabbits. These were to provide food and skins for rabbit blankets.

As a child I recall that Indians could not eat in restaurants, they ordered their food and it was served outdoors. They also could not enter bars. It was not until after World War II that this prohibition was lifted for Indians.

I do not remember the exact date when vehicles were not allowed to Double Park (north and south) on the main street. Also I recall that the west side of main street contained bars and only one meat market and on the east side was located all other stores, including the theater but no bars. The town of Fallon was always full of Valley residents on Friday evenings, as it seemed everyone had Friday as their movie night and visiting with each other.

A Sugar Beet factory was located on the present cemetery site as the Valley produced sugar beets rather rather than alfalfa and grain. I was old enough to see it torn down. Later I was told the scrap iron was sold to Japan. This occurred in the late 30's.

I believe the I.H. Kent company deserves a lot of credit for the growth of Lahontan Valley, as they provided residents charge accounts to cover their needs and these accounts were paid when harvest was completed. I.H. Kent also had a mill to process alfalfa and grain, which was shipped out of the area via a railroad spur. Without the various I.H.Kent companies the farmers and ranchers of this valley could not have survived during the early years of the Newlands Project.

FACTS ON SELF:

Athletic accomplishments during my high school years here at Fallon I was a "triple threat" in football; selected as All State Running Back and captain of the all-state team

JUNIOR COLLEGE = I was on the Football Team, Track Team and Boxing Team. I earned letters in all three sports.

As an adult:

I participated in amateur rodeos as a Saddle Bronco Rider. I coached Football and Boxing at the Stewart Indian School until it's closure in 1981. One of the Stewart Boxers boxed in the 1978 Montreal Olympics; one boxer was an alternate to the USA boxing team; and the other turned to professional boxing.

Growing up on the Fallon. Indian Reservation, I was always interested in farming and was able to do farming after my retirement. Presently I farm on a small scale of 50 acres.

I am happy and satisfied with all phases of my life; childhood, youth, young adult and as a retiree. I am fortunate to have accomplished all that I wanted to do in life.

As a parent I am proud of being instrumental in the accomplishments as follows:

My son received a four-year football scholarship to UNR and graduated with a degree in Marketing. My three stepsons have college degrees as follows: One a Computer Science Degree, U of. MT, Missoula; One a Business Administration Degree from Stanford,CA; One a Mechanical Engineer Degree from OIT Oregon.

As a grandparent, I have a total of ten (10) grandchildren.

ANTICIPATED EVENT:

I entered myself in Philadelphia's Millenium Celebration — the city advertised their desire to have 100 individuals born on the Fourth of July; one person for each year from 1900 through 1999; and to have at least one from each state. I also stated that I was an enrolled member of the Fallon Tribe and this may be a factor my selection. Each winner will get a trip for two where they will line up outside Independence Hall on July 4, 2000. There will be accommodations, parties, presents and sight-seeing. Should be a great trip.

Marianne Peterson

Leonard Allen

8700 Mission Road, Fallon