The PlowBoy Interview Rolling Thunder

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Fresh air and sunshine are—of course—also important to the maintenance of a healthy body and mind. One of my favorite therapies is simply taking a sunbath in the dunes. I lie right on that hot sand, and the warmth flows through my whole body . . . it's a great treatment for an aching back! In fact, that's something like my idea of what would be the most comfortable bed in the world: not a mattress and frame at all, but a simple box built from boards and filled with hot sand, and maybe a cowhide skin or two laid over it. A person could really get a valuable rest on a bed like that!

PLOWBOY: Rolling Thunder, let's talk about the problems that have existed-and, unfortunately, continue to exist-between Indians and the other peoples that have come to live on this continent. How did all the trouble start, and how would you characterize the present state of affairs?

ROLLING THUNDER: Probably the best way to describe the roots of the problem would be to relate the history of just one of the many treaties made between the United States government and this land's various Indian tribes. The story of the Shoshone treaty, as it's been handed down among our people, is a sad tale to tell. The agreement, outlining the lands which constitute the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, was made in Ruby Valley, Nevada in 1863. The treaty was signed by the principal chiefs, ratified by the Congress of the United States . . . and paid for, in blood, in a most horrible manner.

At that time, you see, the white people in these parts were few in number, and they came to the Shoshone asking for a peace treaty. The United States was at war within itself—they called it the Civil War—and President Lincoln needed gold from California in order to meet the country's military expenses. But the federal government couldn't spare enough soldiers to guard all the stage-coaches that would carry those shipments of gold across the continent, so they wanted to have a peace treaty with the local people . . . through whose land the bullion-carrying vehicles had to travel.

Therefore, the U.S. government put out the word that its representatives were anxious to meet with the chiefs of the Western Shoshone Nation for the purpose of signing such a treaty. Once a date was agreed upon, runners and horseback riders spread the word that there would be a big meeting and feast . . . and that the Indians should come unarmed.

At the appointed time, the Shoshone people and their leaders gathered in Ruby Valley. So did the government agents . . . accompanied by soldiers, who stacked their rifles in big piles. However, as soon as everyone was in place, the white soldiers brought forth an Indian prisoner—who was accused of robbing a stagecoach-picked up their weapons, and shot him. That killing would serve as a lesson, they said, to any other Indian who might have been thinking about obstructing the white people's passage through native lands. Then they cut up the dead brave and cooked him in a huge iron pot! Finally, the other Shoshone people were forced—at gunpoint—to eat the flesh of their dead brother. After that terrible event, the Treaty of 1863 was signed.

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