MCDERMITT - The Queen River Station, manned by Company I of the 2nd Regiment California Volunteer Cavalry, was originally established in 1865 to protect the stage line from Virginia City, Nev., through Star City, (located in Pershing County) and on to Silver City, Idaho, Territory.
The town of Dugout was established to support the fort. When Lt. Col. George McDermit was killed in a skirmish in the area, the fort and the town were renamed in his honor. Fort McDermitt was the longest active Army fort in Nevada, lasting 24 years. On July 24, 1889 it was turned over to the Indian Service and converted into an Indian school on the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation.
Jack and Jennie Crutcher (the name of Crutcher came from Sergeant Crutcher of the California Volunteers 2nd Division) were living near Paradise Valley when one of their 12 children, Wesa (We-sha) was born in 1886.
Wesa was 7 years old in 1893 when the Native Americans were gathered up, and in the massacre that followed all six of Wesa's older siblings were killed. At that time many of the families were separated when some fled to Pyramid Lake and Burns, Ore.; some were relocated to Tuscarora and Owyhee, while others, along with the Crutchers, to Fort McDermitt, Nev.
Louie and Daisey (Phoenix) Dave were from the Pit River Modoc Tribe located at Ceaderville, Calif., and their daughter Hazle moved to Fort McDermitt when she married Wesa Crutcher. Wesa later cleared sagebrush on the Wilkinson ranches while building a string of much loved horses that he passed on to his family.
He and Hazle (who was born deaf) had several children and their daughter, Alice, was the single parent of McDermitt Combined School Alumni Alana Crutcher.
Alana was born in Winnemucca, and though she had no relationship with her biological caucasian father, she was surrounded with love from her mother's family. Instead of one dad, she had three uncles that were there for her.
She said that "Uncle Clarence" gave guidance in discipline, while "Uncle Phillip" lovingly kept her in line! Uncle Leonard took the little girl with him to work. She felt that every day with him was an adventure and she never knew what to expect.
She liked going to the UC Ranch to feed cows and to cut hay, and feels that he taught her the work ethic that she has today.
When Alana was 18 months old, her mother married and Alana has two siblings, Jayson Crutcher (MHS 1990) and Larina Bell. Through the years Alana lived part-time with her grandparents, speaking Paiute until she was old enough to go to Head Start.
Alana admits to being a spitfire, and says that when she had to have "time out" at school Christine Hardin would give her cookies through the crack in the door! Like so many, she was blessed to have Dolores Amrknecht for kindergarten and says that Dolores will always be a part of her life.
Her best memory of grade school was getting to play football in the third grade, coached by Jock Echave. She had started riding calves in the second grade and eventually graduated to the Lady Cow Riding at the Indian Rodeos.
In junior high she liked Ruth Alcorta and enjoyed basketball with Cindy Sherburn. Her freshman year she lived with her Uncle
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Rafield and Aunt Esther (her mother's sister, whom they called Cookie) Kelly, in Owyhee, returning to McDermitt her sophomore year to live with her grandparents until she graduated.
She says that she was bored with school and appreciates the fact that Barb Ferguson and John Moddrell rose to the occasion by challenging her. She also gives credit to Dottie Souza, Pattie Albisu, Mona Abel and Alvina Crutcher for always supporting and being there for her. She loved her and Auntie Florene McKee who pass on her creative skills and took her everywhere for pow-wow dancing, thus showing her there was a big world out there, and she gives a special thanks to Betty Smart for her encouragement and remembers Betty calling her "sister" when giving her "the look!"
Before she graduated she became a single mom when her daughter Martica (MHS 2008) was born. She knew she needed an education if she was ever going to be able to support herself and her daughter, so she left Martica with her mom and got on a plane not really knowing what to expect on the other end.
She landed in Kansas City, Mo., where she started classes at the Haskell Indian Nation University in the fall of 1990. Making trips back to McDermitt to see Martica when she could, she started in elementary education but ended up in juvenile justice and Indian Law in Florida in 1993.
She had continued cheerleading in college as she had in high school and met her husband, Vernon Lee Smith, of the Winnebago tribe in Nebraska, as he played sports for another school.
Alana relocated to Sioux City, Iowa, and then to Winnebago, Neb. While continuing her education she also added to her family. Her son A.J. is now 18 years old, daughter Taylyr is 16, and twins Tucker and Tanner are 13. She attended the Nebraska Indian Community College and the Little Priest Tribal College.
She says she finally connected all the dots and began working for juvenile education in Nebraska in a program set up to try to keep kids out of the justice system. It was a positive program and she was there for eight years. While holding this position she attended Northeastern Nebraska Community College, and took college classes in Omaha at the United Methodist College becoming an EMT. She began working weekends at the hospital - when she wasn't chasing after "naughty children!"
Next, she traveled to New Mexico to attend the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesian, N.M. Martica was a freshman by then and went to stay with her much-loved grandma to go to McDermitt High School. In Kingman, Ariz., Alana worked for the BIA law enforcement, only to find herself moving on to North Dakota, South Dakota, and then back to Nebraska working for the human services department, developing youth programs. She was director for the opening of a boys and girls club under the department of justice.
Her urge to learn drove her to school for a real estate license back in Nebraska and Iowa. The girl who didn't really like high school could not get enough of school now! She wanted to educate and create awareness of the checkerboard lands on the reservations that make land sales different from the ordinary. She also was a volunteer coordinator on the Nebraska Indian Youth Council.
Alana moved to Elko, Nev., in 2008 and when the opportunity that she sought didn't work out, she went to work for Barrick/Goldstrike mine as a heavy equipment operator. She says that she now "moves mountains and builds new ones!" Two and a half years ago, she moved into a custom-built brand new house with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a three-car garage. A single parent again she says she is "doing fine!"
She is close enough now to come to McDermitt to visit with her mom, Alice and Martica (who is now working at the McDermitt Library), and her granddaughter Nylia, whom she loves very much.
She feels content and fulfilled and wants to plant roots in Elko. It is nice that her half sister, Lisa (Guier) Bertalotto (MHS 1995), with whom she established a relationship when she was in high school, lives in Elko also.
When Alana was a little girl, she started sewing with her grandmother Hazle. She now makes beautiful quilts in her spare time (which must be scarce!). She found a market for the Star quilt - used in many Native American traditional communities as awards to show honor, achievement, appreciation, and for special ceremonies.
She has made hundreds of quilts, and has taught after-school quilting classes to encourage others to supplement their incomes with a very rewarding hobby. Alana's quilts have been featured in Cape Cod; as far North as Barrow, Alaska; Germany; and Italy - as well as one given to Billy Ray Cyrus and other artists, and were featured in a documentary of Nebraska University.
She was heartbroken over the loss of her uncles Clarence and Leonard and her late husband Vernon, and thinks that when she is ready to retire some day it will be "back home" in McDermitt!
She remembers her grandfather, Wesa, lovingly, telling her stories and encouraging her to get an education. He would tell her, "No one can ever take away your knowledge!" and this bit of wisdom she would pass on to the McDermitt students today.
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