Page 189 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

FRON I E R P L A C E : G E N D E R MATTERS
T
male f o rty-niner Byron McKinstry's portrayal of the area deserves quot­
ing in f u ll:

I can see several very high r o cks . . . one of them looks like a large
building, also more Bluff Ruins on this side 2 or 3 m. fa rther up.
I should suppose the highest of the "Bluff Ruins" were fr om
300 to 400' ft . high, and are composed of somewhat differently
colored strata. The top of one was of a hard brown rock fo r IO
fe et, then chocolate or clay color fo r IO or IS, then white fo r 3
or 4, then IS or 20 of the chocolate or clay again . . . the strata
nearly horizontal, and any of it except the hard cap r o ck could
be cut easily , and the water had worn some fr ightful chasms
among these hills.39

In 18 1 , the gold-seeker J. Goldsborough Bruff offered another
5
description f r om a male perspective. Although he acknowledged that
"this basin, among the singular and romantic bluffs, is a beautiful spot,"
he went on to say that "it appears to extend E. & W about 5 ms. and
about 3 ms. wide" and that "in a deep gulch lies a cool clear spring and
brook." Through male eyes, he also saw "a group of Indian lodges &
tents, surrounding a log cabin, where you can buy whisky f o r 35 per
gallon; and look at the beautiful squaws, of the traders."4oYet these gruff
men, so aware of whiskey and women, once in a while gathered flowers
f o r themselves or compared Court House Rock to a European castleY
Regarding Native Americans, men and women revealed additional
differences and similarities according to gender and responsibilities. In
the first category-aspects of native people, villages, and artifacts-men
noticed the physical appearance and dress of American Indians, but were
not as detailed or as judgmental as women. Unlike women (see chap­
ter 4), men were impressed by native dress when intricacy and display
were involved, and they did not find it ostentatious. One man described
several Potawatornis as "splendidly dressed in white deerskins orna­
mented with black cloth, small sleigh bells, ribbons, f e athers, and so
fo rth."Yet another described some Indians near Fort Hall as "fine look­
ing f e llows with there caps and f e athers on and there Beed shoes and
Bo and arrows."4 2 Although men enjoyed Indians' ornaments, bead­
work, f e athers, and paint, they concurred with women regarding native

1 8 1