The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-05-17
PlUTES HOLD HIGH CARNIVAL
ON PYRAMID LAKE RESERVE
LAKE Undian r,

PYRAMID LAKE Ondian Reserva-
ption), New, May 16.-This has been
"fandango" week among the Piutes
The tide of prosperity which has
swept the country seems to have reached
the Piute Indian, and he is celebrating
its advent, or return. and declares he is
doing well and having a rip-roaring good
time.
For weeks past the redskins of the
plains have been making elaborate prep
arations for and looking forward to the
great Indian State Fair, as they now
call it, or the grand fandango,' as it has
been heretofore known. 1t opened here
last Saturday and continued throughout
the week. Just beyond the post traders
store, outside and to the north of the
agency grounds, in about the deepest
sand that could be found in the vicinity,
the Piutes put up their teepes, wickiups
and temporary abiding places of all kinds
and description, and on Saturday de-
clared the fair open. 1t is essentially
a Piute affair and this is their reserva-
ton. but tribesmen from Walker River
and Pit River, the Bannocks, Western
ShoShones Modocs, and almost every
other tribe of the plains were welcome
and most of them had representatives
present. The Washoes were the notable
exception to this rule. They have no res
ervation and considerable ill-feeling eX
lists between them and their nearest
neighbors, the Piutes; hence their al
most total exclusion from the festivities
of the reservation indiana AS a prom
inent Piute aptly put it to,dIy:
''Washoe Injun heep dam no good. NO
wantee here"
But the Piute 400" together with about
2000 other ordinary, more or less dirty,
rather good for-nothing, altogether lazy
Indians. were on hand and conspicuously
in evidence almost continually throughout
the week. 1t is probably the largest gain
ering and most extensive demonstration Ial ,t.o1
the Piutes have had since their last war,
in 1S60-6l when Major OrmSby, Captain
Storey and Lieutenant Meredith were de-
feated and killed near the scene Oh the
present fandango.
The festivities of the week consisted
principally of horse races, baseball and
football games, dances, numerous games
of chance, contests in featS or strength
and other games and contests strict
ly Piutian in character, like Plute
poker. and "NyuqIue. or, or the the, stick tick
gramme was about as follows: Com
mencing early in the forenoon, a horse
race or ball game; during the afternoon
another; throughout the day and until the
dance starts at night, numerous and dl-
versified games of chance, in which par
ties of all squaws, all bucks or con-
gregation of both, take part, on which
they wager anything and sometimes
everything they have, and around which
large crowds gather to watch the sport;
between 5 and O'Clock at night the
dances start and continue usually until
daylight all other games being for the
time suspended.
If one comes to Pyramid Lake to learn
from the Indians that State fairs or horse
races may be successfully conducted
without the evil of the betting ring, he
will be most woefully disappointed. The
Piute is, above everything else, natural !
born gambler. The Indians have no reg
ular bookmaker or pool seller and no
"touts" like they had al Ingleside TO as
sist in robbing the public, but every Piute
has his choice and he backs 1t, and backs
it high, in many cases with every cent he
has on earth.
The races themselves are grotesque.
They have no high salaried judges to
draw fine distinctions in favor of the mas
terS of the track. The whole crowd of
Piutes decides who has won, and they
make no mistakes. They have no alleged
$100-a-day starter. whose principal duty
1t is to leave at the post the horse that
carries the publfc's money; the Piutes
line up at the most and start at the firing
of a pistol. They have no strong arm
jockeys pulling to let the powers that be
to finish, Just as if he was going for the
doctor. They wear no silken registered !
colors; every Piute wears almost every
color of the rainbow.
The purses are not always large. Yes
terday Humboldt Natchez" won a purse
of only 81. But they are always honestly !
and earnestly competed for from start to |
finish.
The baseball is a truly wild and
woolly" performance Not that they do
not pitch, bat, throw. catch and run with
some degree of proficiency, but there is
such an abundance and variety of uni
form and such a lack of uniformity and
finish in both play and appearance that
ones admiration for the play is complete
~ lost in holy horror at the grand ensem-
Bile. The inherent lassitude of the Indian