He was acting like a “Coyote”, which is a trickster in Paiute.Addendum 2013: (Sent to me to add)Ĭhris Brown was a great guy or so it is told by many who personally knew him and lived with him in the valley.Ĭhris Brown also knew his bread and butter came from dancing for tourists in YNP. “Why don’t you just ask…HE SPEAKS ENGLISH”.Ĭhief Lemee got mad with her, because it broke his “performance” and his mystique. The woman got tired and with all the questions and said. On several occasions he would talk “Indian” in front of a group of white tourists with an Indian woman interpeting for him.
We have heard many stories were “Chief Lemee” would “exaggerate”. The Paiute women did this because they later on got to sell many of their baskets for more money than they made doing menial work depending on the creativity and size. The only ones who kept the basket tradition were the Paiutes and Monos and a handful of Yokuts. The Park did not ask Indians in Mariposa and Madera County because the majority of the women on the western side had stopped making baskets. The Park Service even went so far as to travel to Mono County and ask the Paiute women to compete in a basket making contests. My uncle said that when the Paiute men saw that, many of them declined to entertain the white tourists in costume. Yosemite Indian field days flyer (see above), if any local area Indian dressed in “Indian costume” they would be paid 2 dollars, up to 5 dollars for two days of performing. Yosemite Park Service sent out flyers and word of mouth to Indians on both sides of the Sierra.
IMAGES OF YOSEMITE PARK AREA IN 1962 PLUS
Chris Brown was a self-described “Chief” who got a clever idea to make some extra money for himself, plus get some recognition.ĭuring the mid 1920s the Park Service Superintendent got an idea to create an Indian Days in Yosemite to attract more tourists to the Park and offer them some entertainment.
But that was not true.Ĭhris was the son of Mono Paiute Johnny Brown and Lena Dick well known Yosemite Indians. The Miwuks claim as their chief, Chris Brown led his people in tribal affairs, led ceremonies, and negotiated between the Southern S ierra Miwuk tribal group and the Yosemite Park. The Southern Sierra Miwuks claim that Chris Brown, also known by his Yosemite Park demonstrator name of “Chief Lemee”, was their chief and kept their traditions alive. This story reminded me of a story my older uncle told me about life in Yosemite. The Park even created a ‘scripted’ scene where the Indians, mainly those from the western side, whooped and hollered, attacked makeshift cabins provided by the Park, and then burnt it down. They danced and performed for the white tourists. Meanwhile on the other side of the Sierra some of the Indians, who were mostly half-breeds by now, came in from Madera and started to perform for the tourists in Lakota Plains attire and got paid to do so. Chris Brown was a ‘story teller’ and according to the 1996 testimony of one of his cousins, Sue (Wilson) Holderfield, Brown or “Chief Lemee” made up many of the so-called “Miwok tales” as they traveled to schools and other places.Ĭhris Brown, his aunt Mary Wilson, and her family with white man dressed as a trapper. He and Paiute Taboose Howard were now demonstrating for tourists on a regular basis.
This made Chris Brown extremely famous and well known amongst the Indians of California. Chief Lemee – Not Miwok – Yokut and WashoeĬhris Brown dressed early on in Lakota Sioux regalia and then in a Miwok regalia, but still wearing a Sioux beaded vest, as he performed for tourists in Yosemite.
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