The word Washoe means “people from here,” which is an apt description for a group of people who have called this area home for more than 6,000 years. Many generations have lived on and with this land, each gathering knowledge and wisdom to pass forward. It’s no wonder that The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources officially granted cultural custody over land around Lake Tahoe to the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
Oral history of the Washoe people tells about encounters with the 1846/1847 Donner party, and recent archaeologic evidence backs up their stories. More than once Washoe scouts tried to help the stranded pioneers with offerings of food, which the Donner party rebuffed, on occasion with violence. When a scout observed dead bodies being cannibalized, the Washoe people gave up and retreated. From then on they referred to the Donner party as “not people.”
After the Donner camp was deserted, the Washoe people, aiming to rid the area of bad spirits, returned to the site to burn or bury anything left behind.
Two years earlier, the Washoe had also proven their kindness by sharing food — edible pine nuts — and finding a safe passage to California for John Fremont, who was leading an 1844 government survey expedition. After struggling through the deep snow, an impressed Fremont wrote about the Washoe skill with their snowshoes.
Washoe hunters made snowshoes by bending a manzanita branch into a circle, then lacing strips of deer hide across the circle. The hunters also equipped themselves with long poles to use while snowshoeing.