Tuba (also Tuvi or Toova; c. 1810–1887) was a
Hopi leader in the late 19th century. Tuba was the headman of the small
Hopi village of Moencopi, roughly fifty miles west of the main villages on the Hopi
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
s. However, he apparently was an important person in the village of
Oraibi
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Vi ...
as well. Eventually, Tuba joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
(LDS Church) and later received his
endowment in the
St. George Temple.
Tuba City, Arizona
Tuba City ( nv, ) is an unincorporated town in Coconino County, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, United States. It is the second-largest community in Coconino County. The population of the census-designated place (CDP) was 8,611 at the 2010 cen ...
, was named in his honor.
Early life
Tuba was born in
Oraibi, Arizona
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Vil ...
, as a member of the Short Corn Clan, or possibly the Pumpkin Clan. Hopi tradition does not record his birth name, but he told a
Mormon missionary that said his Hopi name was "Woo Pah."
Tuba related to this same missionary that during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
(c. 1846), the Mexicans were in full retreat from the environs of the Hopi
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
s. However, as they left they caused considerable trouble for the Hopis, and in fact one tried to steal a girl from
Oraibi
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Vi ...
to take south with him. Apparently, Tuba's brother challenged the Mexican interloper to a kind of duel, and the pair fought with bowie knives in the village plaza. Tuba's brother was killed, but Tuba stepped in and killed the Mexican with a spear. This story seems of doubtful historical accuracy for several reasons. Among them, the story recounts that Tuba was eighteen years old when the duel occurred although he would have been in his mid-thirties at the time of the Mexican–American War.
Whatever the case may be, Hopi tradition tells that at some point, Tuba became involved in an unremembered dissension at Oraibi, and left the village to "be at peace". From then on, "Woo Pah" was known among the Hopi as Tuuvi, meaning the outcast or the rejected one.
Moencopi
Tuba settled at Moencopi, or "Running Water," about 50 miles west of Oraibi. Moencopi had played any important part in the Hopi's legendary
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
cycle. By Tuba's time, the area was used as summer fields for the villagers at Oraibi due to its springs and streams.
[Harold Courlander. ''The Fourth World of the Hopi'', 191–92.] The Hopi say that at first, Tuba settled at Moencopi alone with his wife, living there all year long whereas before it had merely been a seasonal settlement. However, soon people of Tuba's Short Corn Clan followed him, and eventually members of other clans until a sizeable community was created.
[
Tuba told one Mormon that after he had settled at Moencopi, there came a time when the Hopis who lived with him "became lazy and wicked", refusing to "plant or tend the herds". Tuba was greatly distressed about this, and as he sat brooding, he saw an old man approach with a long white beard. The man claimed to have a message from God that the people must plant and take care of their herds or they would die in a three-year famine that was to come. Tuba then turned his head and the man disappeared. Tuba did as instructed and stored his own corn in a bin which was enough to last through the predicted famine. Purportedly, Tuba explained that a long time ago there were three men that had been left on the earth, and when the Hopi were in trouble, one would come to advise them. He believed that this stranger was one of them.
]
Visit to Utah
The first Mormon missionaries to visit the Hopi came in 1858 under the leadership of Jacob Hamblin
Jacob Hamblin (April 2, 1819 – August 31, 1886) was a Western pioneer, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and a diplomat to various Native American tribes of the Southwest and Great Basin. He ...
. It is unclear if Tuba still lived in Oraibi at this point, or if he had already moved to Moencopi. However, Hamblin writes that upon their arrival a "very aged man" (presumably not Tuba) reported a prophecy that men would come to the Hopi from the west who would bring them back blessings which they had lost and that he believed that Hamblin and the Mormons were those spoken of. Hamblin soon left, but a few Mormons stayed behind to teach the Hopi. However, these left in the middle of winter to preserve the peace after a strong contention had begun in Oraibi as to whether they were in fact those spoken of by the prophecy.[Jacob Hamblin. ''Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience'', 63–64 (1881). One may speculate that the prophecy referred to is a reference to the well known Hopi myth of the ]Pahana
The Hopi maintain a complex religious and mythological tradition stretching back over centuries. However, it is difficult to definitively state what all Hopis as a group believe. Like the oral traditions of many other societies, Hopi mythology i ...
, the Lost White Brother. However, the Pahana myth specifically states that the Pahana will return from the east, not from the west. Thus, either a mistranslation occurred, or the "very aged man" made reference to a completely separate prophecy. It might be speculated that this contention over the Mormons is the unnamed dissension that caused Tuba to leave Oraibi and settle at Moencopi. In any event, in early 1860, Tuba became acquainted with Mormon missionaries Thales Haskel and Marion Shelton in Oraibi
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Vi ...
, and invited them to settle in Moencopi and build a wool mill. However, they returned to southern Utah.[Rex C. Reeve, Jr. and Galen L. Fletcher. ''Mormons in the Tuba City Area''.] Ten years later, in November 1870, Tuba left his home with his wife, Pulaskaninki, in company with Hamblin to spend time in southern Utah in order to learn the ways of the Mormons. This was apparently in contravention of a Hopi taboo forbidding Hopis from crossing the Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
until three prophets which had led the Hopi to their current home returned.[ Upon reaching the Colorado, Hamblin recorded:
Tuba spent nearly a year in the company of the Mormons. He was able to meet LDS Church ]president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
, Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
, in St. George, Utah
St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...
. Tuba was particularly impressed by a factory where yarn was being mechanically spun. In Hopi culture, it is the men who spin the yarn for blankets, and it is spun by hand. According to Hamblin, after seeing this factory, Tuba "could never think of spinning yarn again with his fingers, to make blankets".[Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience, 113 (1887).] His wife was most impressed by the Mormon grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
s, a major improvement over grinding corn by stone.
Sacred Hopi stone
Although Tuba seems to have had various disagreements with village leaders in Oraibi
Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is a Hopi village in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, in the northeastern part of the state. Known as Orayvi by the native inhabitants, it is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation near Kykotsmovi Vi ...
, he apparently retained access to one of the Hopi's sacred stones. On one occasion, several Mormons were visiting Tuba in Oraibi and he took his visitors inside the village kiva
A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground ...
. There, he produced what appeared to be a marble slab about 15×18 inches covered in "hieroglyphic" markings including clouds and stars.[James H. McClintock. ''Mormons Settlement in Arizona'', 81–82.] The later Ethnological Report No. 4 produced by the U.S. government seems to uphold the existence of such a stone based on the testimony of John W. Young and Andrew S. Gibbons. This describes the stone as made of "red-clouded marble, entirely different from anything found in the region".[
]
Tuba City and baptism
In 1873, Tuba again invited the Mormons to come and live by his village of Moencopi. This time, the offer was accepted, although a permanent Latter-day Saint presence did not become a reality until 1875. But the resultant community became the first Mormon settlement in Arizona. Hopi tradition has it that Tuba invited the Mormons to settle near his village in order to gain protection from marauding Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
s and Navajos. Tuba was baptized into the LDS Church in 1876. In April 1877, Tuba and his wife attended the dedication of the Mormon temple in St. George, Utah, in company with missionary Andrew S. Gibbons and his wife. It was sometime during this period that Tuba shared his new faith with Tom Polacca, a headman at Hano
Hano or HANO may refer to:
* Hano, Arizona
* Hanö, an island off Listerlandet peninsula, western Blekinge, Sweden
*Arizona Tewa, a Tewa Pueblo group
* "Hano" (song), a song in the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest by Nino Pršeš
* Housing Authority o ...
on First Mesa, who was also eventually baptized. In September 1878, Tuba helped lay out the site for a new Mormon town near Moencopi which would be called Tuba City. Both Mormons and some Hopis moved into the new town, although other Hopi leaders objected when Tuba gave the land on which the town was situated to the Mormons. In 1879, a wool factory was built in Tuba City in order to "benefit the Indians and the DSChurch".[James H. McClintock. ''Mormon Settlement in Arizona'', 159.] No doubt this edifice reminded Tuba of the factory which had so engaged his imagination in southern Utah nine years before.
Later life
The settlement of his Mormon friends at Tuba City and the completion of the factory may have been a high point in Tuba's life, for it seems his last decade was marked with sadness. The woolen factory was in operation for only a short time and within a few years it had fallen into disrepair. It is reported that Tuba "took particular pride in watching over the remains of the factory, but after his death the ruination of the building was made complete".[ It also seems that at some point in his last years, Tuba's wife left him for a younger man, and afterwards Tuba spent about three years living in the home of Mormon missionary Christian Lyngaa ("Lingo") Christensen. Tuba died in 1887, and at least some of Tuba's children were still living in Moencopi into the mid-twentieth century. In 1941, a sandstone marker with a bronze plaque was dedicated in Tuba City by the LDS Church in honor of Tuba.][The Church Moves On]
, ''Improvement Era
The ''Improvement Era'' (often shortened to ''The Era'') was an official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) between 1897 and 1970.
History
The ''Improvement Era'' was first published in 1897 as a replacement t ...
'' (1941).
Notes
References
*James H. McClintock. ''Mormon Settlement in Arizona'' (University of Arizona Press, 1985)
*Jacob Hamblin. ''Jacob Hamblin: A Narrative of His Personal Experience'', (1881).
*Richard G. Oman. "Sacred Connections: LDS Pottery in the Native American Southwest". ''BYU Studies
''BYU Studies Quarterly'' is an academic journal covering a broad array of topics related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon studies). It is published by the church-owned Brigham Young University. The journal is abstracted ...
'' 35, no. 1, 107 (1995).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuba (chief)
1810s births
1887 deaths
American Latter Day Saints
Converts to Mormonism
Hopi people
Native American leaders
People of the American Old West
People of the Arizona Territory
Mormonism and Native Americans
19th-century Native Americans
Native American people from Arizona