[mushroomy2k]

the story of manataka-by lee standing bear moore.
the place of peace.
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The Sacred Mountain

and Valley of the Vapors
For thousands of years, this magnificent site was the gathering place of many nations. Tribal leaders and medicine people made pilgrimages to the Great Ma-na-ta-ka Mountain to sit in great peace councils with many tribes. Some came every seven years and others made the journey more frequently depending on local custom.
Tribal leaders prayed and made peace offerings to the Creator, the Great Manataka (Place of Peace) Mountain and each other. They danced and sang around huge campfires in the narrow valley surrounding the mountain. Their daughters gathered rare medicinal herbs that were found in great abundance in the area. Their sons found precious clear crystals, gold, silver, and whetstones
Everyone sought healing and pleasure in its magical hot waters called Nówâ-sa-lon (Breath of Healing) that spewed from the sides of the mountain creating dozens of crystal clear pools. No brave was allowed to enter the 'Valley of Vapors' carrying a weapon because the area was decreed by God as the 'Place of Peace'. No fighting or discord was allowed. Should anyone violate these laws, they were taken outside the valley and severely punished.
Our Grandfathers saw dense green forests surrounding the narrow valley. Steam rose from abundant hot springs on the side of the mysterious mountain. The valley was shrouded in misty vapors which feathered the lush underbrush and curled upward through the tall trees. Sometimes the vapors joined low clouds to float away in the pink evening sky. Other times they lay lightly upon the ground like a soft blanket or swirled around the bubbling crystal pools.
Manataka was a place of strange, mystical beauty. Everywhere, the sound of trickling water made sensual music as it bathed the bare faces of fractured cliffs and splashed into creeks at the bottom of the mountain. In places where the steaming waters issued from the rock, growing cones of tufa covered with exotic mosses cupped in shades of red and orange painted the calcareous rock. Particles of silica, washed by the sun, sparkled like millions of diamonds while pyrite fragments seemed to catch fire and glow.
One of forty-seven hot springs covered in
a beautiful moss found only at Manataka.
The most magnificent sight to behold at Manataka was seen from miles away in any direction. Indian elders on pilgrimage may have said to their fellow travelers, "We know we are there when the sign in the sky appears." The sign was a huge, beautiful rainbow stretching across the entire valley.
The Rainbows of Manataka did not disappear after a few minutes of glory in the sun like all other rainbows. Manataka's rainbows would build and build in size and would become more colorful throughout the day because of the constantly running hot and cold water springs.
The Rainbows of Manataka were not only a natural wonder of the world and a magical sight, they held a very special meaning. Our ancestors knew the rainbow had a sacred purpose. They believed the rainbow was a sign of the Creator's Blessing.
Wherever the rainbow appeared it was a place appointed by the Great Spirit - Creator for people to gather, especially those of differing origins and interests. It was a place where even enemies sat in peace. It is at Manataka, under the rainbows that the nations gathered by direction of the Creator for His purpose.
Manataka is truly the place of peace for all people. The area was a cultural and trade center for all native peoples - a great melting pot of American Indian culture. The Valley of the Vapors was neutral territory unclaimed by any tribe. The Great Spirit decreed that all that visited here were to lay down their weapons and bathe as brothers in the healing waters. Even tribes who were hostile to each other acknowledged the truce while in the Place of Peace.
The Caddo were the dominant people in areas surrounding the valley. The Quapaw, Osage, Tunica, Natchez, Pawnee and Shawnee were nearby. There is disagreement between some archeologists, ethnologists and historians as the exact number of tribes that may have visited Manataka. Some have indicated there may have been thirty-four language groups who considered the Valley as sacred ground. Stories of the sacred Valley of Peace still exist among some tribes today. Other tribes, whose languages have been largely lost since the European invasion, speak of Manataka as if it were a mythical place.
In the early 1500's, Spanish conquistadors mounted expeditions to find the legendary spring whose magic waters could rejuvenate the elderly and heal the sick. In 1512, Ponce DeLeon failed in his attempt to reach the mysterious hidden valley containing the "Fountain of Youth" and a "crystal fountain".
His fellow explorer, Hernando DeSoto was the first white European invader to enter the Valley of the Vapors in 1541. Desoto's chroniclers wrote about the amazing sites they beheld. "As far as the eye could see" were hundreds of lodges representing tribes from every part of the vast continent. The colorful dress of various groups was different from one another and they spoke many distinct languages. In the large central plaza where ceremonial and tribal dances were held, there was a great gathering of old men and Chiefs seated in a circle smoking the pipe of peace.
Great Chief Tuskalosa shows the human butcher Conquistador, Hernando Desoto the beauty of his homeland..
By the early 1800's, the original inhabitants began to disappear. European invaders sacked the land, spread disease and incited inter-tribal wars that all but decimated dwindling native populations.
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, white invaders began to settle in the Valley of Vapors. In 1832, President Jackson, mastermind of the Trail of Tears and other racial atrocities, was looking for a way to demoralize and disorient native populations. Jackson pushed Congress to confiscate the most holy site in the American Indian world, Manataka. He created the nation's first federal reserve and a forerunner to the national park system.
The confiscation of Manataka by Jackson was an act contrary to the terms of the Louisiana Purchase and against the Constitution of the United States. The United States government promised the French, Spanish and native tribes in negotiations preceding the Louisiana Purchase the federal government would not violate sacred sites. Prior to enactment of the "provisional" law creating the first commercial federal reservation Jackson was warned by the U.S. Supreme Court the government was prohibited by the Constitution to own land [There is still no provision in the Constitution for the government to own land].
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