Wovoka (1867-1932), the Ghost Dance Prophet, was a member of the Walker River band of Paiutes in Western Nevada. The Walker River Reservation was established in 1859, and was Wokova’s home off and on for years. Wovoka was also known as Jack Wilson, a name he acquired while he was, for some years, employed on the David Wilson family ranch in the Mason Valley. At that time in Nevada, Indians not living on a reservation often lived on a ranch. Wovoka was exposed to the pious Wilson family’s daily bible readings, and that may have helped shape his own beliefs. His father was a traditional medicine man, himself a devotee of an earlier prophet. In 1889, Wovoka followed his father in also becoming a medicine man. That year, Wovoka had a series of visions that led to what is sometimes called the Ghost Dance religion, which spread like wildfire across much of the West in 1889 and 1890.

“Paiute” is the common term for a number of bands who call themselves the Numu, which simply means “the people.” Some tribal history is relevant to his story. There are historically three main groupings of the Paiute peoples: the Northern, the Southern, and the bands in the Owens Valley. The languages of these three groups are not mutually intelligible. The various groups inhabited primarily the Great Basin region, including most of Nevada, western Utah, parts of eastern and northeastern California, and parts of Idaho, Oregon, and Arizona. Wovoka was a Southern Paiute.

The Numu peoples were hunter gatherers, living on game such as rabbits, fish from rivers and lakes, and a variety of bulbs, berries, plants and nuts, particularly pinon nuts from the pinon pines. The populations were small, widely scattered, and the environment was harsh. Once neighboring peoples acquired horses, some of the Paiute bands were subject to slave raids by the Utes, who sold captives to Hispanics in the Southwest and Mexico (Hanes and Hillstrom).

All three groups of Paiutes were adversely affected by settlement in the 1850s and 1860s. The American invasion of the Great Basin and the West began almost immediately after the Mexican War. The Gold Rush in California in 1849 quickly brought 200,000 outsiders to California, which became a state in 1850. Mormon settlement in Utah and the surrounding region developed before the Mexican War from the 1840s, and the wagon trains on the Oregon Trail also starting before the war greatly increased.

The different bands did not suffer quietly. There were many skirmishes, as various Paiute bands raided immigrant trains, killed prospectors, and raided ranches. There were two wars with the settlers and the Army: the Snake War of 1864-66, and the Bannock War of 1878. The Bannock, based in Idaho, were related to the Paiutes. “Snakes” was a term used for various Paiute bands, with the war involving guerrilla-style skirmishes in several western states. Many of the skirmishes occurred in the Snake River basin region (the Snake is a major tributary of the Columbia River). There were more than 40 recorded Paiute skirmishes with US Army and state militia groups. The end result was military defeat, and most bands being settled on a number of different reservations. Paiutes made a living as best they could, combining hunting, fishing, selling fish and game, and working as ranch hands (Hanes and Hillstrom).

Wovoka’s 1889 visions grew into a new religion that gripped the hopes and imaginations of dozens of tribal groups, and it eventually extended over much of the West. It was a kind of antidote for defeat and cultural dislocation.