Don't Let the Sun Step Over You: A White Mountain Apache Family Life, 1860–1975
by Eva Tulene Watt with Keith H. Basso
University of Arizona Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-8165-2392-4 | eISBN: 978-0-8165-3342-8 | Paper: 978-0-8165-2391-7 Library of Congress Classification E99.A6W369 2004 Dewey Decimal Classification 979.10049725
ABOUT THIS BOOK | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
When the Apache wars ended in the late nineteenth century, a harsh and harrowing time began for the Western Apache people. Living under the authority of nervous Indian agents, pitiless government-school officials, and menacing mounted police, they knew that resistance to American authority would be foolish. But some Apache families did resist in the most basic way they could: they resolved to endure. Although Apache history has inspired numerous works by non-Indian authors, Apache people themselves have been reluctant to comment at length on their own past. Eva Tulene Watt, born in 1913, now shares the story of her family from the time of the Apache wars to the modern era. Her narrative presents a view of history that differs fundamentally from conventional approaches, which have almost nothing to say about the daily lives of Apache men and women, their values and social practices, and the singular abilities that enabled them to survive.
In a voice that is spare, factual, and unflinchingly direct, Mrs. Watt reveals how the Western Apaches carried on in the face of poverty, hardship, and disease. Her interpretation of her people’s past is a diverse assemblage of recounted events, biographical sketches, and cultural descriptions that bring to life a vanished time and the men and women who lived it to the fullest. We share her and her family’s travels and troubles. We learn how the Apache people struggled daily to find work, shelter, food, health, laughter, solace, and everything else that people in any community seek.
Richly illustrated with more than 50 photographs, Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You is a rare and remarkable book that affords a view of the past that few have seen before—a wholly Apache view, unsettling yet uplifting, which weighs upon the mind and educates the heart.
REVIEWS
"Her voice is a pleasure to listen to—kind, observant, with a this-too-shall-pass quality." —Los Angeles Times"Readers will find her unaffected honesty as enlightening as it is refreshing." —San Diego Union-Tribune"This outstanding account of an Apache woman remembering her family stories is a gem." —CHOICE Magazine“Her voice rings so clearly in the stories about three generations of her family that reading her words is almost as good as sitting at her kitchen table.” —Western Historical Quarterly
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(FMT)Contents(\)
List of Illustrations
Western Apache Pronunciation Guide
Introduction, by Keith H. Basso
Part One
"We Sure Did Travel All Over" (1860--1929)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Part Two
"A Really Good Place" (1930--1944)
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Part Three
"Leaving Home Was Hard" (1945--1975)
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Last Words
Acknowledgments
Family Genealogy
Chronology of Important Events
Notes
Glossary of Apache Terms and Expressions
References
Photograph Credits
Index
(FMT)Illustrations(\)
(S1)Maps(\)
1 Southeastern Arizona
2 San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
3 Fort Apache Indian Reservation
(S1)Photographs(\)
Rose Lupe with her daughter-in-law
Woman bringing grass to sell at Fort San Carlos
Western Apaches delivering grass
Joseph Hoffman
William Lupe
Members of William Lupe's family
John Lupe
John Lupe's home at Oak Creek
Western Apaches riding the train
William Goshoney
Government boarding school at San Carlos
Western Apaches waiting to collect rations
Western Apaches seeking rations
Western Apache homes near Fort San Carlos
Government boarding school at Rice
Western Apache girls with superintendent, Rice
Western Apache girls at Rice Indian school
Western Apache woman uprooting an agave plant
Homes of Western Apache mine workers
Western Apache women carrying firewood
Roosevelt Dam
Western Apache laborers (Eugene Case)
Western Apache homes on shore of Roosevelt Lake
Temporary Western Apache home near Roosevelt Dam
Western Apache women gambling
Western Apache laborers on the Apache Trail
Western Apache laborers working with mules
Western Apache laborers using mule-drawn sleds
Fish Creek Canyon
Apache Trail descending to Mormon Flat
Mormon Flat Dam
John Tulene and Ann Beatty with son Dewey
Silas John Edwards with assistants
Students at St. Johns Indian School (Jack Case)
Gnbsp;nbsp;n dancers at St. Johns Indian School
Western Apache students departing for vacation
Ann Beatty and Charley Marley's wickiup
D. V. Marley
Ann Beatty with unidentified children
Western Apache woman grinding corn
William Taylee
Entrance to the salt cave
Western Apache homes on Cibecue Creek
Western Apache family at home near Cibecue
Blue, Charley Marley's donkey, ridden by Jack Case
David Dale, Western Apache medicine man
Eva Tulene Case, about 1930
Joe Tulene Case
Western Apache cowboys herding cattle
Eva Tulene Case and her son Reuben Kessay
Eva Tulene Case, 1947 or 1948
Eva and William Watt, about 1952
Eva Tulene Watt with her children John and Ora Watt
Ann Beatty at home in Cibecue
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Watt, Eva Tulene, 1913-White Mountain Apache women Biography, White Mountain Apache Indians Biography, White Mountain Apache Indians History, Watt family History
Don't Let the Sun Step Over You: A White Mountain Apache Family Life, 1860–1975
by Eva Tulene Watt with Keith H. Basso
University of Arizona Press, 2004 Cloth: 978-0-8165-2392-4 eISBN: 978-0-8165-3342-8 Paper: 978-0-8165-2391-7
When the Apache wars ended in the late nineteenth century, a harsh and harrowing time began for the Western Apache people. Living under the authority of nervous Indian agents, pitiless government-school officials, and menacing mounted police, they knew that resistance to American authority would be foolish. But some Apache families did resist in the most basic way they could: they resolved to endure. Although Apache history has inspired numerous works by non-Indian authors, Apache people themselves have been reluctant to comment at length on their own past. Eva Tulene Watt, born in 1913, now shares the story of her family from the time of the Apache wars to the modern era. Her narrative presents a view of history that differs fundamentally from conventional approaches, which have almost nothing to say about the daily lives of Apache men and women, their values and social practices, and the singular abilities that enabled them to survive.
In a voice that is spare, factual, and unflinchingly direct, Mrs. Watt reveals how the Western Apaches carried on in the face of poverty, hardship, and disease. Her interpretation of her people’s past is a diverse assemblage of recounted events, biographical sketches, and cultural descriptions that bring to life a vanished time and the men and women who lived it to the fullest. We share her and her family’s travels and troubles. We learn how the Apache people struggled daily to find work, shelter, food, health, laughter, solace, and everything else that people in any community seek.
Richly illustrated with more than 50 photographs, Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You is a rare and remarkable book that affords a view of the past that few have seen before—a wholly Apache view, unsettling yet uplifting, which weighs upon the mind and educates the heart.
REVIEWS
"Her voice is a pleasure to listen to—kind, observant, with a this-too-shall-pass quality." —Los Angeles Times"Readers will find her unaffected honesty as enlightening as it is refreshing." —San Diego Union-Tribune"This outstanding account of an Apache woman remembering her family stories is a gem." —CHOICE Magazine“Her voice rings so clearly in the stories about three generations of her family that reading her words is almost as good as sitting at her kitchen table.” —Western Historical Quarterly
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(FMT)Contents(\)
List of Illustrations
Western Apache Pronunciation Guide
Introduction, by Keith H. Basso
Part One
"We Sure Did Travel All Over" (1860--1929)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Part Two
"A Really Good Place" (1930--1944)
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Part Three
"Leaving Home Was Hard" (1945--1975)
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Last Words
Acknowledgments
Family Genealogy
Chronology of Important Events
Notes
Glossary of Apache Terms and Expressions
References
Photograph Credits
Index
(FMT)Illustrations(\)
(S1)Maps(\)
1 Southeastern Arizona
2 San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation
3 Fort Apache Indian Reservation
(S1)Photographs(\)
Rose Lupe with her daughter-in-law
Woman bringing grass to sell at Fort San Carlos
Western Apaches delivering grass
Joseph Hoffman
William Lupe
Members of William Lupe's family
John Lupe
John Lupe's home at Oak Creek
Western Apaches riding the train
William Goshoney
Government boarding school at San Carlos
Western Apaches waiting to collect rations
Western Apaches seeking rations
Western Apache homes near Fort San Carlos
Government boarding school at Rice
Western Apache girls with superintendent, Rice
Western Apache girls at Rice Indian school
Western Apache woman uprooting an agave plant
Homes of Western Apache mine workers
Western Apache women carrying firewood
Roosevelt Dam
Western Apache laborers (Eugene Case)
Western Apache homes on shore of Roosevelt Lake
Temporary Western Apache home near Roosevelt Dam
Western Apache women gambling
Western Apache laborers on the Apache Trail
Western Apache laborers working with mules
Western Apache laborers using mule-drawn sleds
Fish Creek Canyon
Apache Trail descending to Mormon Flat
Mormon Flat Dam
John Tulene and Ann Beatty with son Dewey
Silas John Edwards with assistants
Students at St. Johns Indian School (Jack Case)
Gnbsp;nbsp;n dancers at St. Johns Indian School
Western Apache students departing for vacation
Ann Beatty and Charley Marley's wickiup
D. V. Marley
Ann Beatty with unidentified children
Western Apache woman grinding corn
William Taylee
Entrance to the salt cave
Western Apache homes on Cibecue Creek
Western Apache family at home near Cibecue
Blue, Charley Marley's donkey, ridden by Jack Case
David Dale, Western Apache medicine man
Eva Tulene Case, about 1930
Joe Tulene Case
Western Apache cowboys herding cattle
Eva Tulene Case and her son Reuben Kessay
Eva Tulene Case, 1947 or 1948
Eva and William Watt, about 1952
Eva Tulene Watt with her children John and Ora Watt
Ann Beatty at home in Cibecue
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Watt, Eva Tulene, 1913-White Mountain Apache women Biography, White Mountain Apache Indians Biography, White Mountain Apache Indians History, Watt family History