Chapter XI 



T1IK GHOST DANCE WEST OF THE ROOKIES 



The first Ghost dance mi Walker Lake reservation took place in Jan- 

 uary, 1889, about a mile above the railroad bridge near the agency. 

 Wovoka's preaching had already been attracting general attention 

 among his own people for some months. It is said that six Apache 

 attended this first dance, but the statement is improbable, as this would 

 imply that they had made a journey of 600 miles through a desert 

 country to sec a man as yet unknown outside of his own tribe. From 

 this time, however, his fame went abroad, and another large dance ill 

 the same vicinity soon after was attended by a number of Ute from 

 Utah. The Ute are neighbors of the Paiute on the east, as the Ban- 

 nock are on the north, and these tribes were naturally the first to hear 

 of the new prophet and to send delegates to attend the dance. The 

 doctrine spread almost simultaneously to all the scattered bands of 

 Paiute in Nevada. Oregon, and adjacent sections. 



In its essential features the Ghost dance among the Paiute as con- 

 ducted by the messiah himself was practically the same as among the 

 majority of the prairie tribes, as will later be described. The Sioux, 

 Kiowa, and perhaps some other tribes, however, danced around a tree 

 or pole set up in the center of the ring, differing in this respect from 

 the Paiute. as well as from the Cheyenne. Arapaho, Caddo, and others. 

 No fire was allowed within the ring by any of the prairie tribes among 

 whom the subject was investigated, but among the Paiute it seems that 

 fires were built either within the circle or close to it. When I visited 

 the messiah in January, 1892, deep snow was on the ground, which 

 had caused the temporary suspension of dancing, so that I had no 

 opportunity of seeing the performance there for myself. I saw, how- 

 ever, the place cleared for the dance ground — the same spot where the 

 large delegation from Oklahoma had attended the dance the preced- 

 ing summer — at the upper end of Mason valley. A large circular 

 space had been cleared of sagebrush and leveled over, and arouud 

 the circumference were the remains of the low round structures of wil- 

 low branches which had sheltered those in attendance. At one side, 

 within the circle, was a larger structure of branches, where the messiah 

 gave audience to the delegates from distant tribes, and, according to 

 their statements, showed them the glories of the spirit world through 

 the medium of hypnotic trances. The Paiute always dance five nights, 

 or perhaps more properly four nights and the morning of the, fifth day, 

 802 



