My clan of Indians, the Paiutes, who reside in the Stillwater area of western Nevada, are called Toi-Ticutta which means Cattail-eaters. There are very few original Toi-Ticutta left as other people moved here to Stillwater under the Land Allotment Act of 1906. Thus the reservation became the Pai-Sho Tribes.

In 1917 a colony just outside of Fallon was established for Indians living in and around the town of Fallon. An Indian Day School was opened here in Stillwater in 1908. This Day School was established to teach Indian children trades that would help them in the future. Learning trades proved useful later on when the students obtained work with the non-Indian farmers.

It was a great hardship on the Indians when they were confined within the reservation boundaries because before that they had been nomadic hunters and seed gatherers.

Legends are stories which gifted Indian men and women relate to their children on wintery evenings and through the dreary days of the rainy season, and especially around the fire after a meal of rabbit soup. Many of their legends assume to explain the origin of things and the mysteries of existing phenomena. Other legends tell of the creation of the world, of man, sun, moon and stars, of the whale killer and other animals, especially the coyote who found a place in Indian history for his cunning activities. Indian tribes across the region showed great respect for Coyote even as they portrayed him as a source of misfortune; Coyote brings news of death even today. Coyote also enriched their brief lives by stealing fire for them and pilfering pine nuts from the first pine nut grove. He disseminated people far and wide and I shall tell you how . . .

Coyote was going to get people from up north. Mrs. Coyote went with him. Together they put all the people in one great big water jug. The jug was big at the bottom and small at the top; that is the shape of water jugs.

As Mr. Coyote and Mrs. Coyote were coming down South they could hear all kinds of noises coming from the jug.

Coyote was curious and wanted to lift the stopper and peek inside. Mrs. Coyote scolded him and said he would have to wait until the right time, then and only THEN, he could peek inside.

When they stopped to rest on their long journey Coyote was curious. When Mrs. Coyote wasn’t looking, Mr. Coyote sneaked over to the jug and took the lid off so he could peek inside. Just then Mrs. Coyote said it was time to go. Coyote, afraid of being caught, jumped back and forgot to put the lid on.

As they started off again the Indians inside noticed that the lid was off. All of them wanted to escape because they didn’t know where they were going.

Unknown to Coyote the Indians started getting out. The tall skinny ones got out first. They were the Indians that settled in the Northeastern part of the United States. Different types of Indians were scrambling out and heading in different directions.

When Mr. and Mrs. Coyote reached Nevada and looked in the water jug, there were only a few Indians left. They were too short to reach the opening and too fat to fit through the hole up top.