Street View

To find out that Marker 146 was completely gone was a bit of a shock during my tackling of northern Humboldt at the end of August 2010. Since then, all information regarding this one has been truly disappointing. 

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The truth is, we've known very little about what happened to 146. This enigma is so lockjawed it seems that even the SHPO has completely given up on this one. In fact, the only proof of its existence is the original text above. 

 

The best lead I've ever had was an email from "Jay" in 2011. Jay was a concerned local who wanted me to set the record straight on my website since he didn't know where else to go to relay the following information! Well ... I'm quite honored there. 

 

Jay was in charge of administering the East Fork BLM fire unit from 1984 to 2011. This fire station sits at the approximate junction of US 95 and North Rd, 2 miles south of McDermitt. He remembers this marker well and gave me detailed directions to the exact site of this MIA which corresponds to today's GPS at the fire station. Now, I was a bit skeptical because of the presence of Marker 144, which shares the same neck of the woods as 146. However, he waved all that way when he replied with ...

 

"No, it said Indian Reservation on it. Pretty sure it was the one you're looking for."

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Boom. I was sold. 

 

After a series of emails, we both concluded that the marker was likely removed per request of the Fort McDermitt Reservation. Let me explain.

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This marker represents the reservation itself, specifically, the Fort McDermitt Reservation -- home of the Numu TeePuwe people. This is important. To put it bluntly, the SHPO has run into trouble in this department as a handful of markers in the system have gone missing over the past twenty years. All of these markers ran the risk of removal due to the plaque's historic or cultural inaccuracies. I've covered this in detail on the following markers -- 

 

- 125 - Twelve Mile House

- 148 - The Two Battles of Pyramid Lake

- 181 - The Washo Indians

- 226 - De Ek Wadapush (Cave Rock)

 

So, what's happened to these?

 

All but - 181 - have been reinstated after decades of going missing. Yet somehow, 146 continues to be a mystery. The reason for such removals boils down to poorly and often offensive marker text that just simply hasn't aged well.

 

However, the case of this marker is truly puzzling because as you'll see, its supposed location was right alongside US 95 --  at a fairly well-traveled road junction at that! Curious at the idea, I made another trip out here in 2012 to discount any hunches of the marker having been relocated. As such, I ventured further onto the Fort McDermitt Reservation and honed in on three places on the reservation in particular ...

 

1. The Fort McDermitt Tribe Housing Department

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2. U.S. Indian Health Services

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3. Fort McDermitt Administration

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Starting in the north, I traveled the entire reservation beginning at the intersection of US 95 and North Road (Jay's initial sight), all the way to the pavement's end of North Road at the entrance to the East Fork Quinn River Canyon! No dice. So, I reversed and circled back using South Road to the highway. By doing this single loop I covered the entire reservation in about 1.2 hours. In the event the marker was replaced, I would've found it in my travels.

 

Sadly, no luck.

 

On my loop, I stopped into the Health Services building (this is where you'll find Marker 143), and I asked a few of the tribal members. Everybody referred to Marker 143 in the driveway, but one person briefly recalled "a different one on the highway." They may have been referring to Marker 144 instead but the consensus was that it wasn't "anywhere on our land."

 

Conclusion

 

We just don't know!

 

Our best guess lies with Marker 146 being removed purposely by some politically correct passerby who took offense to some of the marker's text. It wouldn't surprise me. It could've been purposely removed by NDOT per tribal request or it may have siimply been the victim of a vehicle collision. We just don't know.

 

To make things worse, the crude directions for this marker, "south of McDermitt," doesn't relay much information for us future marker hunters to follow. If we thought "south" was vague in the beginning we may never know exactly how far "south of McDermitt," this marker was! All I can go by is the recollections of Jay and a solid estimation based on the marker's content. It's also possible that 146 shared its site with 144. Again, we just don't know. 

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In my honest opinion, Marker 146 isn't too much of a loss for the State Marker System. You can almost slate (combine) 144 and 146 into one historic marker. In fact it seems to me that 146 was an afterthought to 144 considering both of them are separated sequentially by only one number. It seems to be that the concept of Fort McDermitt (the military fort) sprang before the concept of the Reservation (tribe) itself.

 

Sadly, it's likely to remain that way forever.

 

The Solution? 

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So, where do we go from here?

 

Well, instead of listing potential relocations below for Marker 146, my advice is to completely re-write the marker text and combine both texts into today's Marker 144.

 

See, 144 hasn't ever disappeared and has remained at its present location since my conquering in 2009. It was even upgraded for Nevada's 150th sesquicentennial, so the SHPO clearly knew about the MIA status of 146. Additionally and succinctly, Markers 143 and 144 represent the region pretty well on their own without the help of 146 and in my opinion, have done so for the past twenty years!

 

Thus, by combining the present text of Marker 144 and the former text of Marker 146, Marker 144 could become a proxy (stand-in) for Marker 146, thereby bringing it back to life. More importantly (and the reason why it's never been replaced), this would eliminate the cost and need for a new state marker.

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Hold on. Don't celebrate yet! We need to talk about the elephant that's slapped all over the former text of 146. Before this project could come to fruition, I would eliminate and/or change some of the text found in 146. 

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Here is how the text read at the time of its disappearance:

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In the mid-1860's many Paiutes returning from Oregon's Indian reservation here joined some from the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation (home of the "Cui-ui Eaters") because of poor treatment and dishonest dealings of U.S. Indian agents. These Indians settled contentedly about Fort McDermitt, preferring the generosity and kindness of the military. They aided the local military against Bannocks and others resisting Caucasian takeover of traditional Indian lands. Nearby mercury mines have furnished employment for Indians adjusting to the lifestyle of the "white man." Likewise the local precision assembly industry utilizes the dexterity skills of the Indians today. Red and green clays from the canyon are now made into pottery.

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Allow me to point out the problems here with this text. Sit tight, folks. It's about to get dirty. 

 

It starts right off the bat with ...

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"In the mid-1860's many Paiutes returning from Oregon's Indian reservation ..."

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Why are we using the word "Indian?" This is an old, and tired pejorative that needs to go away. Frankly, the SHPO should know better than to use this.

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"... joined some from the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation (home of the "Cui-ui Eaters") because of poor treatment and dishonest dealings of U.S. Indian agents."

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First, there is absolutely no proof of this happening in history! (See my references below)

 

The context of "joined" here implies that the Paiute ("Cui-ui") banded together voluntarily with the Shoshone. The local Numu TeePuwe people who live here know this.

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"These Indians settled contentedly about Fort McDermitt, preferring the generosity and kindness of the military."

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Again, this is simply not true! This bumbling line hides a lot of truths. At the time of military and native relations, there was no being content under the watchful eye on the grounds of a U.S. Military Fort. Using the words "generosity" and "kindness" in this context is shallow, condescending, and outright insulting.

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"They aided the local military against Bannocks and others resisting Caucasian takeover of traditional Indian lands."

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This is toxic rhetoric. The text ("and others") assumes that all "Indians" and tribes are exactly alike: cookie-cutter without individualism. It even uses the Manifest Destiny type of jargon by using "Caucasian" takeover. What a joke.

 

"Nearby mercury mines have furnished employment for Indians adjusting to the lifestyle of the "white man."

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Are we assuming that Native Americans cannot get jobs without the help and assimilating into the "lifestyle of the white man?"

 

This is dangerous and absolutely offensive in every way.

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Case in point, the last time I checked, the Numu TeePuwe and Sho-Pai today have avidly protested against the construction of Lithium Mine that occupies this sector of Nevada ... which for the most part, is on Sho-Pai land. So, I'd say they do not need adjustment here.

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"Likewise the local precision assembly industry utilizes the dexterity skills of the Indians today."

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I mean, really?

 

So, we're depreciating Native Americans to this one thing? Dexterity skills? As for the last line of the description, it's so utterly useless in this context that it doesn't even matter.

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Now can you see how it could've rattled many feathers?

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​​​​​The New Marker 146

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When all is said and done, here is my rendition of combining the texts of Marker 144 and former Marker 146. I vastly improved the text of 146 (basically rewrote!) by completely eliminating the offensive rhetoric and historical inaccuracies.

 

Notice how I'm combining both marker contexts into one seamless story so it reads as just historically educational instead of moderately one-sided! Even if that wasn't the intention of the SHPO, the end product of Marker 146 still resulted in a divisive plaque. To band it together into one concise story, I renamed the plaque and also kept the majority of the text from 144 to include the army post portion. Lastly, I stabbed in a few references from Marker 143 as well to cohesively build a story about this entire area. 

 

And most importantly, let's stop using the offensive and tired term "Indian."

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FORT MCDERMITT & RESERVATION

(1865 - 1889)

 

At the influence of Sarah Winnemucca, daughter of Chief Winnemucca, Northern Paiutes were returned

here to Fort McDermitt to escape the poor treatment and dishonest dealings by U.S. Agents at

Oregon's Yakima and Malheur Reservations.

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Established in 1865, Fort McDermitt was originally named Quinn River Camp No. 33 (on the East Fork)

then renamed after military District Commander Lt. Col. Charles McDermitt. The fort consisted

of several adobe, stone and frame buildings surrounding a square and operated as the longest

active Army fort in Nevada. Its main purpose was the protection of the Virginia City-Quinn River

Valley-Oregon Road.

 

While conflicts raged between the local military and traditional lands, Northern Paiutes were settled

here and given immediate protection as ordered by Sarah Winnemucca during her plight to agents

in Washington. 

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Fort McDermitt was the last of the Nevada Army posts when it was converted into a school in 1889.

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What do you think? Let's bring this marker back to life!

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