"Uncle Nick" Among the Shoshones

 
Identifier
BOK.NAM.AD1910
Title
"Uncle Nick" Among the Shoshones
Alternative Title
Among the Shoshones
Description
The autobiography of Elijah Nicholas Wilson, nicknamed "Uncle Nick" by the Shoshone people. The book describes his time as an early settler of the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.

Wilson became a "rider for the Pony Express when he was eighteen[...,] drove for the famous Overland Stage[...,] was the leader in the settlement of Jackson Hole Valley in Wyoming[..., and] spoke five Indian languages... fluently" (Wilson). He developed a close connection with the Shoshone people and "got very well acquainted" with their chief, Pocatello, after whom the town of Pocatello, Idaho is named.

Despite his deep relationship with Native Americans, some of his writing reflects a sense of ethnocentrism common to his time. Wilson's devotion towards the Native Americans he interacted with is felt in the final paragraph of the work, coupled with his ethnocentric lens:

"I love my country, I love my own people, and I love the Indians. I am an old man now and I realize that it will not be many winters until I pass to the Happy Hunting Grounds where I expect to meet many of my dear, old, Indian friends, and where I shall find them a white and a beautiful people." (p. 222)
* * *
Wilson, Charles Alma, and Elijah Nicholas Wilson. Preface. In The White Indian Boy: And Its Sequel, the Return of the White Indian, xiii-xvi. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 2005. https://books.google.com/books?id=7V22LlNnYuEC&lpg=PR5&ots=vUeqiI9_f0&dq=Elijah%20Nicholas%20Wilson&lr&pg=PR16#v=onepage&q=Elijah%20Nicholas%20Wilson&f=false.
Date Created
1910 AD
Creator
Elijah Nicholas Wilson
Publisher
Skeleton Publishing Company
Geographical Coverage
Temporal Coverage
20th Century
Format
Print
Collecting Areas
English History of Writing Collection
Language
English
Provenance
Purchased and presented by Friends of the Library
Subject
Type
Autobiography
Bibliographic Citation
Wilson, Elijah Nicholas, 1842-1915. "Uncle Nick" Among the Shoshones. Salt Lake City: Skelton Publishing Company, 1910.

Item sets