Cave Rock

Climbers, Courts, and a Washoe Indian Sacred Place

Matthew S. Makley, Michael J. Makley

• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9780874178272
• eBook ISBN:
  9780874178487
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

On August 27, 2007, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier district court ruling that sport climbing on a Washoe Indian sacred site in western Nevada must cease. Cave Rock, a towering monolith jutting over the shore of Lake Tahoe, has been sacred to the Washoe people for over five thousand years. Long abused by road builders and vandals, it earned new fame in the late twentieth century as a world-class sport rock-climbing site. Over twenty years of bitter disputes and confrontation between the Washoe and the climbers ensued. The Washoe are a small community of fewer than 2,000 members; the climbers were backed by a national advocacy and lobbying group and over a hundred powerful corporations. Cave Rock follows the history of the fight between these two groups and examines the legal challenges and administrative actions that ultimately resulted in a climbing ban. After over two centuries of judicial decisions allowing federal control, economic development, or public interests to outweigh Indian claims to their sacred places, the Court's ruling was both unprecedented and highly significant. As the authors conclude, the long-term implications of the ruling for the protection of Native rights are of equal consequence.

INDEX

The page numbers in this index refer to the print edition of this book

Abbie, Ruth, 67

Access Fund, 1, 51, 54; and climbing ban at Cave Rock, 47, 59, 60; description of, 6; and John Ensign, 82; and legal suit against the federal government, 88, 91; legal strategy of, 61; and sacred sites, 58, 59; and the “Record of Decision,” 86, 87, 89; response to Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Cave Rock, 83, 84; and support for climbers, at Cave Rock, 80; and threats to sue, 71

Alcatraz, Indian seizure of, 53

American Indian Religious Freedom Act, 47, 52

American Mining Congress, 81

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 97

anchors (climbing), 4, 7, 60

Antelope Charmers, description of, 30–31

appeals of climbing ban, at Cave Rock, 86, 87, 89

Arapaho Indians, 56

archaeologists, 10

Atkins, Bill, 98

Auchoberry, Bernice, 15

Automobile, 17, 18

Avi Kwame Mountain, 25

Babbit, Bruce, 81

Bagley, Dick, 2, 10, 11, 12

Barton, Dimitri, 5, 6, 44

bears, 30

belayer, 42

Beleliwe, 2, 4; background of, 34; and mentorship of Henry Rupert, 35; and power, 25. See also Monkey Peter

Bender, Darrel: on power, 24; and Washoe use of Cave rock, 10, 11, 12

Bishop (Calif.), 1

Blackwell, Jack, 83

Bonanza Road, 3. See also Lincoln Highway Bray, Stanley, 20

Brennan, William J., Jr., 50

Bridge Canyon, 50

Bureau of Reclamation, 50

Bush, George, W., 81

Campbell, Jason, 4

Captain Jim, 13, 23. See also Gumalanga

Carlisle (Pa.), 32

Carlisle Indian School, 32

Carson City (Nev.), 32, 37, 76

Carson City High School, 35

Carson Colony, 37

Carson Indian School, 32, 33, 37

Carson Valley, 10, 13, 14, 37

Carville, Mike, 4

Ceese, 15

Cheyenne Indians, 6, 54, 56

Chicago Sun Times, 59

climbers, 7; Constitutional rights of, 6; on free climbs, 40; at Lake Tahoe, 41; meeting to address Washoe concerns, at Cave Rock, 64; on tunnels at Cave Rock, 17. See also free climbers; sport climb...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• One: The Center
• Two: The Tunnels
• Three: Real Powers
• Four: The Innovator
• Five: Slayer
• Six: Hunter-Gatherers and Courts
• Seven: Common or Uncommon Ground
• Eight: Adverse Effects
• Nine: Reactions
• Ten: Record of Decision
• Eleven: New Directions
• Twelve: Connections
• Afterword
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index