Adobe Gallery Blog
Northeastern California Mono Indian Bottleneck Basket - C3776X
I am inclosing a quotation by George Wharton James from his book, published in 1903, because I feel it describes the Mono Indians and a particular basket maker in beautiful detail.
"Just below the Yosemite Valley, east and south, a nation of aboriginal basket-makers is to be found. One of the counties of California, as well as a noted lake, are named after them-Monos. Little by little the lands owned by their ancestors have been stolen from them, and now they are driven in every direction higher and higher into the mountains. With an indifference to their rights that is very different from the passionate rebellion of such people as the Apaches, they have allowed themselves to be dispossessed of their homes, and have climbed away further from the white man. Doubtless the reason for this seeming indifference is to be found in the fact that there is plenty more valuable land in the higher Sierras which they can use for their simple pastoral wants.