In this interview, Toney Tillohash discusses Paiute foods and language, plants, the Heaton Family, Carlisle Boarding School, Paiute landmarks, water spirits, Jacob’s Lake, contaminated water, migration, the Shivwits Band of Paiute, farming, and people living on the reservation. He is the cousin of Mabel Dry who is also featured in this collection.
Toney Tillohash is a member of the Kaibab Band of Pauites and was born in Kaibab, Utah. In his youth he worked as Edward Sapir's liguistic informant in 1910 while a student at Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania. Shortly after marriage to his wife, Bessie, he moved to the Shivwits Reservation in Southerwestern Utah where he was a farm worker/cowboy. He and Bessie had eight children. Over the years, he was an active member of the Shivwits Band of Paiute Tribal Council and served as Chairman until 1955. At the time of the interview, he lived with his daughter, Eunice Surveyor in Cima, Califonia.
St. George, Utah