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Show THE ZEPHYR/ APRIL-MAY 2006 ANOTHER VIEW OF NATIVE AMERICANS AND WHITE CHRISTIANS FEEDBACK (Continued) SAYS GROWTH IS GOOD...STOP WHINING Editor, Your on line article concerning the loss of the Denny property to developers back in the 90's is the same lament that we hear coming from most areas whose economy is based on tourism. The community that has an attractive natural resource nearby works hard to draw tourist dollars and prosperity for its citizens, but soon forgets the poverty of pre tourist years and regrets the loss of yesteryear when it|was all so much more quiet, quaint and pretty. Well, guess what? You are remembering things the way that you wish they were, not the way they really were. The town of Moab in the 70's had few redeeming features. Well, in a it was a pit. Moab was a place to gas up as you passed through and to then get out of... oe and related construction projects such as condos, hotels and restaurants brings money into your community. That means jobs, better schools, fire and police protection, and modern health care. All of these were lacking in the "good old pre tourist days". People, learn to enjoy and appreciate your prosperity. If not, you are surrounded by a number of impoverished towns that you can relocate to so that you may sample the joys of living in poverty. Peter Ouimette Cape Cod ps: I love visiting your town and the canyonlands. Been vacationing there and leaving my money since the 70's and can eet: you've come a long way Moal "Nice job! Learn to enjoy what you've accomplished! Editor’s Note: Mr. Quimette’s assessment of Moab is based on his experiences as a tourist, not as a resident. It may have been “a pit” to him but it was beloved Home to many of us. Yes, he’s right when he says that tourism brings more money—Moab certainly has a higher tax base now than 1986. But twenty years ago,|a family or couple or individual with a modest income could afford to buy a home here, taxes were low, crime was low, congestion was low. The “wealth” we had here then can never be measured by the Peter Quimettes of the world, Our wealth was un-quantifiable...JS SEND YOUR FEEDBACK COMMENTS TO: cezephyr@frontiernet.net moabzephyr@yahoo.com Dear Jim: Your piece on how the good and bad Christians treated the American natives was most interesting and most one sided. Indians, unfortunately, were much like the whites, not all good, not all bad. The two cultures were much different from one another in most respects, but both believed that force was the way to settle disputes, and this they did. Your piece was mostly about the Plains tribes and their difficulties. Plains Indians were aggressive enough before they got the horse from the white man but once they were mounted they were a menace to each other and the whites. The Plains culture emphasized warfare and a young man could only gain power and notoriety by his war exploits. They had no means of transportation except the dog until they acquired the horse, mostly b theft, from the Spanish. Dogs also were eaten, another gastronomic delicacy that turned the whites off. Indian women were mostly treated like chattel, they performed most of the camp duties while the men hunted and fought. That was one reason so many Indian women easily took up with the white trappers, it was a better life for them. The Indians really had little to offer the general welfare other than some of the plants they used. This included tobacco and hallucinogenics like peyote and datura, better off not adopted by the whites. They were a stone age people until the whites introduced steel, guns, gun powder, and several diseases like small pox, but the Indians passed on syphilis to even the score. They had no real responsible form of government except that exercised by strong. men or mystics. Territory belonged to the tribe that could control it by force. Stealth and intertribal tribal warfare was constant. For example, here in Utah the Utes and Navajos were constantly fighting, stealing one another's women, capturing slaves and booty. Indians were always willing to join up with the whites to fight other tribes or even their own people. Cortez was fortunate that he found tribes mad at the Aztecs who joined him to defeat them. Indians were willing to join either the British or the French as they fought their colonial battles. Some Apaches were willing to act as scouts for the U.S. Army and killed their own people. Kit Carson used Ute warriors to capture and kill the Navajos during his campaign in the 1860's As the white settlers looked at it, the amount of land it took to keep and Indian alive was excessive and wasteful. It was and as the buffalo declined it was obvious that the Plains Indians were too dependent for livelihood on one resource. The whites entering the new world came in simply as a new tribe to be reckoned with. Unfortunately for the American aborigines the whites were numerous, had superior weapons and resources and liked to fight too. Mans affinity, all men, for warfare is why we have had so many wars and are involved in one at present. The Indians who still exist in much their old tradition and with a degree of independence and are self sustaining are not the macho Plains types but the quiet Pueblo types who also had their moments of machismo but were able to adapt in a way that satisfied both cultures. All in all it is not a simple or one sided as you would have us believe. Lloyd M. Pierson Moab, Utah Editor’s Note: I don’t believe I tried to portray the Native American as saints. I merely recounted the way White American Christian soldiers dealt with their presence on the North American continent—and did it all in the mame of Jesus Christ, who in my opinion was a pacitist. To. suggest that Native Americans “had Little to oe the ee es ae ee some plants,” is white man’s hubris at its worst...JS — Canoe Outfitting and Rentals Shuttle Service Jetboat Tours 83 NORTH MAIN ST Noy SL erik) Reet iy eed - DECI: : fe : Sandstone Spine is as much a cultural and personal pilgrimage as a physical one. Searching for the stray arrowhead half-smothered in the sand, for the faint markings on a far sandstone boulder that herald a little-known rock art panel, becomes a competitive sport for the three friends... ANOTHER BIG SEASON AT TEX'S! fed ruwunye aaa nn So we're doing this You got a better again? idea? ExisTeMal Nightmare, 800-700-2859 www.backofbeyondbooks.com backobey@ciflink.net PO Box 67 691 North 500 West Moab, UT 84532 435.259.5101 info@texsriverways.com www.texsriverways.com |