In 1855 the Warm Springs Reservation was created in Oregon for the Warm Springs and Wasco Tribes. In 1869 several Paiute bands were relocated to the reservation. With regard to language and culture, the Paiutes are unrelated to the other tribes on the reservation. The Museum at Warm Springs has an exhibit on Paiute life.
Prior to the time when they were confined to the reservation, the Paiutes had a nomadic lifestyle based on gathering wild plants and hunting. In his book Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes, Carl Waldman reports:
“For the Paiute bands, their activities and whereabouts in the course of a year were dictated by the availability of food.”
The Northern Paiutes gathered about 150 species of plants. Seeds were ground into flour. In their chapter on the Northern Paiutes in the Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 11: Great Basin, Catherine Fowler and Sven Liljeblad report:
“Dried whole berries were added to soups and stews, and dried berry cakes were often taken on journeys away from camp.”
The Paiutes also hunted large game animals, such as deer, antelope, and desert bighorn sheep, and small game animals such as hares, rabbits, marmots, and porcupines.
With regard to language, the Paiute language belongs to the Numic group of the larger Uto-Aztecan language family.
One of the important aspects of Paiute material culture was basketry. Anthropologist Bertha Dutton, in her book The Ranchería, Ute, and Southern Paiute Peoples: Indians of the American Southwest, writes:
“Foremost of the Paiute arts was basketmaking, including conical baskets for carrying burdens, parching trays for roasting seeds, water jars, hats, and semi-basketry cradles for babies.”
More American Indian museum exhibits
Indians 101: Wasco homelife (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Warm Springs Home Life (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Entiat and Chelan Indians (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Wenatchi Indians (museum exhibit)
Indians 101: Plateau Indian Baskets (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Plateau Indian Basket Hats and Trinket Baskets (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: Klikitat Baskets (Photo Diary)
Indians 101: The Fowler Collection of American Indian artifacts (museum exhibit)