A grant for telling history

Cowboy exhibit at 2009 Dragonfly Gala

© Carlos Puma for the Center

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center has received a $1,000 mini-grant from the California Council for the Promotion of History.

Thank you to the council for funding our project on Indian cowboys!

True Cowboy and Indian Tales of the Pass

A few Morongo brands © Pat Murkland Photo

Welcome to the Old West. The real Old West.

San Gorgonio Pass has a rich history of cowboys and Indians.

For starters, the first cowboys WERE Indians.

And when it came to good guys and bad guys, there's a story of how Cahuilla leader Juan Antonio caught a whole gang of bad guys.

He and his men had no guns but the bad guys did.

Want to hear this story? Want to hear more stories?

Did you know Wyatt Earp was in the Pass?

Come to Dorothy Ramon Learning Center’s family sidewalk event this Saturday (March 12) for “True Cowboy and Indian Tales of the Pass.”

The event from 1 to 4 p.m. at the corner of San Gorgonio Avenue and Hays Street is part of the Learning Center’s Second Saturday Sidewalk Storytelling series.

Here you'll find free family fun with hands-on activities for children, along with storytelling.

The first two events drew standing-room-only crowds of all ages to our nonprofit that saves and shares Southern California’s Native American cultures, history, languages, and traditional arts.

“True Cowboy and Indian Tales” will feature stories by Richard Hanks of Riverside.

Hanks has a background in journalism, public history, and archival work. We like to tell people he has an ear for listening to voices not usually found in the history books, and an eye for ferreting out telling details amid a library's vast holdings.

He can tell a good story or two or three, and on Saturday, that's just what he'll be doing. The true stories are much more interesting than the Hollywood clichés.

Hands-on activities will help teach children about real Pass cowboys and Indians — including American Indians who were and still are cowboys.

© Carlos Puma for the Center

For example, try a lasso.

Family fun! And it's free!

All are welcome.

Information: (951) 849-7736.

Indian Cowboys: The Brush Poppers

© Pat Murkland photo

A COWBOY MEMORY
By HARRY M. QUINN

(reprinted from the latest issue

of Heritage Keepers newsletter,

Autumn 2009 V. 6 No. 3)

It was while interviewing my neighbor Clarence Contreras that I first learned of a group of cattlemen who called themselves,

"The Brush Poppers."

This group herded cattle in the Santa Rosa Mountains, including the Pinyon Flats, Pinyon Alto, and Palm Canyon areas. While many had their own cattle, they also all rode for Mr. Jim Wellman. As a kid I had the opportunity to meet many of these cowboys in the Pinyon Flats area where Jim Wellman had his 101 Ranch.

At that time the area was considered to be open range and if you did not like cattle in your yard, it was up to you to fence them out.

This area was covered in thick brush, yuccas, cactus, and pinyon pines and gave the cattle a lot of places to hide. It was up to "The Brush Poppers" to flush the cattle out of their hiding places and drive them to the corrals.

I can remember watching riders trying to flush cattle out of the redshank up on the slopes of Santa Rosa Mountain. Back then, Jim Wellman had a large barbed-wire corral back at the base of Asbestos Mountain where the cattle would often be driven, separated by brand, moved to a nearby wooden corral for shipment out of the area, or released back out to graze. I assume the cattle were also branded while in the large corral, but I never saw that taking place there. Jim also had a series of corrals over at the 101 Ranch and the branding may have taken place there.

While I do not know if I have a complete listing of the names of those cattlemen who made up "The Brush Poppers," I do have the following names: Mr. James "Jim" Wellman; Mr. Clearance Contreras; Mr. Hank Lichtwald; Mr. Calistro Tortes; Mr. Arthur Guanche; Mr. Ernest Arnaiz; Mr. Castro "Chihuahua" Tortes; and the last surviving member, Mr. George Tortes.

Mr. Harry Quinn shares his memory at the 2009 Dragonfly Gala. (Learning Center President

Ernest Siva is at right). © Carlos Puma Photo for the Learning Center.

Honoring Indian Cowboys

Each year Dorothy Ramon Learning Center celebrates a theme.

In 2009 we celebrated Indian cowboys.

Our annual Dragonfly Award, for high-soaring achievements in saving and sharing cultures, this year went each to Indian cowboys Rodney Mathews and George Tortes. The two cowboys received this honor in summertime at our Dragonfly Gala.

Rodney Mathews, center, with wife Eunice, receives Dragonfly Award from Learning Center President Ernest Siva. © Carlos Puma for the Learning Center.

Rodney Mathews, 74, of Morongo Reservation was born to Margaret and Henry Mathews, Jr. He had five sisters. Mr. Mathews and his wife, Eunice, have been married more than 52 years. They had three children. He worked for Cal-Trans for 38 years and was a Morongo Tribal Council member for more than three decades. He is a lifelong member of the Morongo Cattleman's Association.

Mr. Mathews was nominated for this award by Morongo Tribal Chairman Robert Martin, himself a cowboy, for his leadership in the Cattleman's Association and for his cowboy skills.

George Tortes sent his regrets that he was unable to attend the Gala while recuperating from surgery. His message to all attendees was to live their lives fully.

Mr. Tortes was raised on Santa Rosa Reservation. His mother died when he was about six years old. He grew up riding, roping, and racing, and has lived a long cowboy life, branding his cattle with a G Bar T.

The exceptions were a brief stint at Sherman Indian School in Riverside, which ended when Mr. Tortes ran away and spent several days making his way home, and later in life, his proud service in the U.S. Navy.

Mr. Tortes is remembered fondly as the last surviving member of a group of Indian cowboys called the "Brush Poppers," for the ways they herded cattle in the steep and thick-brush-covered Santa Rosa Mountains.

Art and Humor on Nov. 16

By Gerald Clarke, Jr. for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

Our next Dragonfly Lecture features Gerald Clarke Jr. of Cahuilla Reservation.

His art often explores what it means to be Cahuilla in the modern-day world.

Sometimes it's performance art, sometimes it's sculptures made from melted-down faucets, or paintings, or any medium you can think of (and some media you probably WON'T think of).

Gerald Clarke has been a practicing artist for close to 20 years. He has exhibited his art nationally and internationally.

In 1997, he was one of five Native artists chosen to exhibit at the Heard Museum's Seventh Invitational Exhibition.

In 2007, the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis awarded Gerald with a Native Artist Fellowship Award, and this year he was nominated for a Joan Mitchell Award. Gerald's work spans painting, sculpture, installation and performance.

In his own words he refers to his medium as "kitchen sink- anything and everything I can use to convey thoughts and feelings."

Gerald will discuss his development as an artist and his beliefs on how art can engage society.

Gerald also suggests that the audience be prepared for the unexpected!

DETAILS

6 p.m. Nov. 16

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

17 W. Hays, Banning

Donations at the door help our Nonprofit save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Read more about Gerald Clarke's life here.

Dragonfly Gala in the News

For a gallery of Dragonfly Gala photos in the Banning Record-Gazette, click here.

For the news article, click here.

Gala, Gala, Gala

The Gala is this coming Saturday!

Planned Displays and Demonstrations at Dragonfly Gala 2009 include:

• Indian Cowboy history, Pechanga Cultural Resources, Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians.

• Indian Cowboy history, the Morongo Roundups, Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.

• Cahuilla Cowboy history, Dawn Wellman, curator of award-winning exhibit at Agua Caliente Cultural Museum.

• Rodeos at Sherman Indian Boarding School, Lori Sisquoc.

• Indian Cowboy history, Gabrielino Indians, Barbara Drake.

• 1800s Gadget Guessing Game, Gilman Historic Ranch and Wagon Museum.

• Yucca and dogbane cord making demonstration, William Pink.

• Art exhibit, Indian cowboys, including works by Gerald Clarke, Jr.; Robert Freeman; Billy Soza Warsoldier.

• Photo exhibit: Modern-Day Indian Cowboys, by Carlos Puma, Puma Images.

Add the silent auction, Dragonfly Award, Community gathering, traditional singing and dancing and some flute music, and all we have to say, is: still time to RSVP if you haven't yet.

Details here.

We thank our gala sponsor, San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians.

Dragonfly Gala Wear

What to wear to the Aug. 8 Dragonfly Gala?

We were asked this question just the other day. 

Stuffy formal banquet? Not us.

(The Gala this year returns with the 2008 cook, Karen Castillo.

Quite simply, the gala will again offer some of the best foods you've ever tasted. 

And Ernest Siva again will bring peach, blueberry, and other cobblers for dessert. 

Last year the cobbler commanded its own food station, where a large crowd, intensely silent, focused on decision-making: what kind of cobbler to select.)

So stuffy formal banquet clothing is OUT. 

Community get-together? Yes. Inter-tribal? Yes.

The Gala celebrates Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts. 

The event can only be summed up as The Annual Dragonfly Gala.

Say YES to Dragonfly-themed jewelry and clothing.

Wear clothes in which you can DANCE to traditional music.

© Carlos Puma for the Learning Center

Ernest Siva in 2008,

wearing his Dragonfly bolo and bighorn songs t-shirt

(At the Gala, he and his apprentice sang the Serrano bighorn sheep songs in public for the first time together).

This year's theme is Indian cowboys. 

If you'd like, go Western ... or should we say, gala Western!

Details:

Aug. 8, 4 to 8 p.m., Morongo Community Center.

History exhibits; artwork; demonstrations; history game.

$45, or tables for $1,000;$2,000;$3,000.

RSVP 951 849 4676 or info at dorothyramon.org

All proceeds benefit the nonprofit work of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.

We thank our gala major sponsor, San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians.

At Your Bidding

More items for the Dragonfly Gala's Silent Auction on Aug. 8:

Small Basket.

Maricopa Olla. 

Big Dragonfly Plate (aerial view).

Please join us! Details are HERE.

All proceeds will help Dorothy Ramon Learning Center save and share Southern California's Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

We thank San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians, our major gala 2009 sponsor.

Not Silent About the Silent Auction, 2009

The Dragonfly Gala silent auction has become THE place to find artwork you cannot find anywhere else, and this year is no exception. 

Here are a few items:

Navajo purse

Bear gourd box, open

Same bear gourd box, closed

This beautiful gourd box is very large, with hand-carving and painted designs of acorns and oak leaves.

This was found in an antique store. It looks like New Mexican pottery, doesn't it?

It IS a Pueblo pottery design, and it is signed by the Native American artist. But it's a GOURD!

Dragonfly Gala Details Are Here:

• Celebrating Indian Cowboys on Aug. 8.  from 4 to 8 p.m.

• Morongo Community Center, Morongo Reservation

• Good food!

• Indian cowboy history exhibits and demonstrations.

• Yucca and dogbane cord-making demonstration.

• Photo art exhibit of contemporary Indian cowboys, by Carlos Puma.

• Art exhibit.

• Gilman Ranch 1800s ranch gadgets game.

• Silent auction (thank you to our auctioneers from the Yucaipa Valley Historical Society).

• Traditional singing and dancing.

• Dragonfly Award.

Tickets: $45, or tables for $1,000; $2,000; $3,000. RSVP 951.849.4676 or info at dorothyramon.org

All will benefit the Nonprofit 501(c)(3) work of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, which saves and shares Southern California Native American cultures, languages, history, and music and other traditional arts. 

We thank our major gala sponsor, San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians.

You've Got Dragonfly Gala Mail

The invitations to the Dragonfly Gala are in the mail!

This year's theme for our Aug. 8 event is Indian Cowboys.

Every year Gerald Clarke Jr. of Cahuilla Reservation designs our invitation artwork, and it seems that every year he outdoes himself. 

Featured here are area Indian cowboy brands, including Gerald's.

Details: 2009 Dragonfly Gala

Aug. 8, Morongo Community Center

Celebrate our theme, Indian Cowboys:

• See exhibits, demonstrations, and more.

• Enjoy Photo Exhibit of contemporary Indian cowboys.

• Share cowboy memories and history.

• Eat delicious food!

• Enjoy traditional Native American singing and dancing.

• Join us in honoring the recipient of the Dragonfly Award for soaring achievements in saving and sharing our traditional American Indian cultures.

• Don't miss our famed Silent Auction!

It all benefits Dorothy Ramon Learning Center's nonprofit work to save and share our Southern California Native American cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts.

Tickets, please RSVP: $45 per person and $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 tables available.

We thank our 2009 sponsor, San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians. 

Dragonfly Gala 2009

Here's a micro version of a poster for our Dragonfly Gala on Aug. 8, featuring the stunning artwork by Gerald Clarke, Jr. of Cahuilla Reservation. The brands are but a few of those used by the region's Indian cowboys. Our artist is also an Indian cowboy.

Rounding Up Morongo Roundup Memories

Where was everyone?

It seemed that absolutely no one was home at the Morongo Reservation on that hot day 54 years ago. But a reporter wrote that as she coaxed her car along a winding road into Portero Canyon, “the noise of bawling cattle gradually drowned out the sound of its toiling motor.”

 

“Then,” Ruth Little reported in the May 30, 1955, Daily Enterprise, “as we reached the small grass-carpeted forest of black walnut and cottonwood trees surrounding the corral, the din crescendoed into bedlam.” It seemed everyone was there, from grandparent to infant. And so were hundreds of bellowing cattle and a blazing fire with about 40 branding irons in its coals. 

It was time for the spring Morongo Roundup.

 

Robert Martin, Morongo Tribal Chairman, will round up Morongo Roundup memories in the next Dorothy Ramon Learning Center Dragonfly Lecture starting at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 6, at 17 West Hays, Banning.

 

Each year, from generation to generation, the Morongo Indian cowboys drove hundreds of cattle from the foothills, valleys, and deserts, branded and vaccinated the calves and got them ready for market. The roundup was a major Southern California event. Reporters flocked each year to cover what they saw as a colorful story, but for the Indian cowboys the roundups meant endless hours of sweaty and difficult work.

 

Although the big roundup is no longer held and the Upper Corral stands silent, Morongo tribal members still run cattle. 

They also are still passing Indian cowboy traditions to newer generations. 

Tribal chairman Martin’s grandfather, for example, ran cattle and worked in the annual roundups, and Martin, himself now a grandfather, worked in the roundups as a teen-ager. His family’s next generations of Indian cowboys also have cattle and are riding, roping, and rodeoing.

 

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center, a nonprofit that saves and shares Southern California’s American Indian cultures, languages, traditional arts and history, this year is exploring the Indian cowboys’ often-unrecognized place in history. The Learning Center is featuring lectures such as this one, in which participants are encouraged to share their own memories. Donations at the door will benefit the nonprofit.

 

The annual Dragonfly Gala, scheduled for Aug. 8 at Morongo Community Center, also will feature an Indian cowboy theme.

 

Her Own Brand of Quilting

© 2008 Carlos Puma Photo for Dorothy Ramon Learning Center

At the tiny, not-yet-renovated space in downtown Banning where Dorothy Ramon Learning Center holds its events, all visitors immediately see a beautiful art quilt.

This quilt exudes creative energy. 

It was a gift from the artist, JoJo Martin of Morongo Reservation.

She gave the Learning Center this stunning quilt at the 2008 Dragonfly Gala.

We are thankful each and every time we look at this quilt with its uplifting artwork.

The focal center of the design is an image of Dorothy Ramon, the namesake of the Learning Center. She is surrounded by vibrant dragonflies. Their wings glisten in the light. The fabric colors and quilting create a feeling of movement. 

On each side are phrases in Serrano, including Wayta' Yawa', which means, Always Believe.

(This is the title of the book written by Dorothy Ramon with linguist Eric Elliott, in which she saved and shared the Serrano language and culture.)

At our 2009 Dragonfly Gala on Aug. 8, we again will display this quilt, sharing its beauty and joy.

Come see it.

We'll also display JoJo Martin's brand.

Brand of clothing?

Brand of quilts?

No.

This year's Gala celebrates Indian cowboys.

© Pat Murkland Photo

We'll share Ms. Martin's cattle brand (above), along with displays of other American Indian cowboy brands.

As Dorothy Ramon said at the end of her stories, and as the quilt says, 'Ama' 'Ayee'.

That's all.

Dragonfly Gala 2009

Our theme this year for our Dragonfly Gala will be Indian cowboys.

Details:

WHEN:

Aug. 8, 2009, starting around 4 p.m.

WHERE: 

Morongo Community Center, Morongo Reservation.

WHAT: 

Celebrate Southern California American Indian cultures, languages, history, and traditional arts. 

FEATURES:

• Cultural displays and demonstrations.

• Indian Cowboy Photo Art Exhibit.

• Great Food!

• Traditional Singing and Dancing.

• Famed Silent Auction.

• Dragonfly Award.

• Community Gathering to support the 501(c)(3) activities of Dorothy Ramon Learning Center.

YOU'RE INVITED!

Lasso the date on your calendar.

We'll be sending out invitations soon, so make sure you're on our mailing list.

We thank our major gala sponsor, San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians.

Indian cowboys

The first cattle came to San Gorgonio Pass in the 1700s from San Gabriel Mission.

The region's American Indians have been cowboys ever since. 

From generation to generation, the cowboying continues. It's said that some kids in cowboy families still learn to ride a horse before they learn to walk.

(Yes, mamas do let their babies grow up to be cowboys.)

A sampling of our Inland cowboy history can be found here.

Nationally, the first cowboys were Indians.

Indians gave us:

The two-step;

The pit barbecue;

The lariat.

In Southern California, some of the greatest cowboys have been Indians. 

The massive cattle roundups, such as the one at Morongo, once drew hundreds of people and were even covered by the LA Times and other big media of that era. 

Some of the children who sat atop the fence to watch the roundup action are grandparents now. And they're still riding.

Contemporary Indian cowboys also win their share of rodeo competitions.

Dorothy Ramon Learning Center is exploring the legacy of Indian cowboys this year.

Our Dragonfly Lecture on July 6 will feature Robert Martin, Morongo Tribal Chairman: "A Roundup of Morongo Roundup Memories." 

Mr. Martin rode with his grandfather, and now he's riding with his grandchildren.

Details: 6 p.m. July 6, 17 W. Hays, Banning. Donations at the door will benefit our nonprofit.

The theme of our annual Dragonfly Gala on Aug. 8 will be Indian cowboys.

Our Gala is much more than a nonprofit fund-raiser. It's a community gathering, a celebration of culture, languages, history, and traditional arts. 

Details:

When: Aug. 8

Where: Morongo Community Center, Fields Road, Morongo Reservation near Banning.

What: Great food, silent auction, Dragonfly Award, exhibits and demonstrations related to the Indian cowboys theme, traditional singing and dancing.

We thank our Gala sponsors, who include San Manuel Band of Serrano Indians.