https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e9f140c320adb20beffd0b7482a93c15.pdf 837cad510235882f5bfd6414983f891d PDF Text Text DAISY WASHINGTON WATTS Though most people are now unaware of the fact, the famous Chimney Rocks which rise between Stollsteimer Creek and the Piedra River were once called Los Pilares de Washington. Also, the valley below the pillars was called Washington Flats. Both were named for a remarkable Indian family whose descendants still live in this area. Daisy Watts was born near Chimney Rock on January18, 1904, the daughter of Joseph and Jane Watts. When Jane died 2 years later, Daisy was raised by her grandmother, Martha, and her grandfather, George Washington. George and Martha were not still living in a tepee, but otherwise they still followed the old ways. George was, as most American school children would say a "real" Indian. He was a hunter, a fisherman and a woods-wise man little changed by Anglo or Spanish culture. People who saw him never forgot George Washington, partly because of the way he dressed. During summer and most of the winter George wore nothing but a beach cloth held in place by a string and was one of the last of his tribe to dress in this fashion. Since he, like most of his ancestors, had worn this scanty costume all of his life, his skin was very dark, weathered and tough. His appearance was one of toughness and ferocity. Louie Valencia remembers, "I saw Washington many times when I was a child and was scared of him, not because of anything he did, he was just a tough looking hombre." Liva Pacheco's grandparents, David and Adelida Sandoval were friends of Washington when they were homesteading in the Piedra Valley. Liva says "My mother Theodora, told me when she was a child, Washington came to visit every once in a while, but night or day he would never knock. The family would walk in from another room and there he would be, squatting by the fire. He would never sit in a chair." Once in the winter, Spanish people asked Washington, "Don't your legs and posterior get cold uncovered?" He replied, "Como tu cara mi nalga." (My hind-end doesn't get cold for the same reason your face doesn't.) Daisy remembers her grandparents and their way of life well. "Grandfather had many horses. Most of the time they ran wild in the hills. When he wanted some, he drove them down to the corral. He also had sheep and goats which he butchered as needed. When I got old enough, I herded sheep in the hills. Grandmother always tanned the goatskins. She had a simple way. She rubbed the inside of the skin with brains, let it dry, rubbed it with brains arid repeated this till the hide was cured. The skins had many uses. One of which was to make leggings for us in winter. Sometimes my sisters and I used the goat skins for a sled in snowy weather. We climbed the hills with the skin and put its hair down on the snow. One sat in front holding the front legs of the skin and the other sat in back holding the back legs, it would go fast. Once my uncle Fritz bought me a doll with a china head. When my grandmother saw how much I liked it, she made me an Indian cradle for it from a board, some buckskin, some willows and some beads, I think we always had plenty to eat. The hills were full of food. Every summer and fall we picked wild strawberries, choke cherries, berries and banana berries until we had all we 170 �') ') --, ~ ~ ~ ~ 'J } i ) ) J ) ' ) ) ) ) could eat and all we could dry for winter. The banana berries were my favorite. After they were dried, we would boil them and they made a sweet syrup without adding sugar. If grandfather sold sheep, he put the money in a jar and buried it until we wanted things from the Dike store. Mr. Dike's store was several miles away on the road to Pagosa. In winter when it was difficult for some of the families to get out, he brought groceries and other things on a sled and sold them to us at the house. When it was time for me to go to school, we moved over to John Taylor's place near Bayfield, I went to the Elementary Day School for one year, then to the Ute Boarding school for 4 years, and to the Indian School at Santa Fe for 4 years. Then I was transferred to school at Albuquerque for two years. When my father died, I came back to Ignacio and lived with my sister Lucille,11 Shortly afterwards, Daisy got a Job doing domestic work for the John Landers family who lived at the B.l,A, complex north of Ignacio, Daisy married Ralph Cloud November 22, 1926, at the Durango Courthouse. They moved out to Spring Creek on Ralph's father's place where they raised hay and wheat and garden produce. They had five children, Matilda, Charles (who died of double pneumonia at the age of 11 ), Joel Dean who died after he fell from a horse, Mary Inez and Roger, After Ralph and Daisy were divorced in 1946. Daisy moved to Durango to work for a year. In 1954 she bought a home in Ignacio and has lived there ever since, Daisy now has 10 grandchildren and lives a very quiet life. We value her as a living link with a past which is very much gone. ) September, 1976 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) .J .J .J _) __) _) _) ....J ....J _) __) _) ..J ....J J _) -...) 171 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Daisy Washington Watts Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-09 Subject The topic of the resource Watts, Daisy Washington; Ignacio, Colorado; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Daisy Washington Watts based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Watts, Daisy Washington Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby