(As told by Ada Rope Jordan and Irene Rope Rustin of Bylas. Both were daughters of John Rope, famous Army scout and Apache spiritual leader).

First in a series of four

It is wintertime and my favorite time of the year. This was the time of year when my grandmothers would tell me stories about the life of their father, Tlol-dil-xil (Black Rope), who was a famous Apache scout, interpreter, storyteller and spiritual leader.

John Rope, middle, is pictured with Army scouts, Corporal Jim Lane (White River) and Corporal Joe Kessay (San Carlos) in the late 1930s in Bylas .Contributed photo

Many winter days I would sit with my grandmother, Ada, and her sister, Irene, in our small, yellow brick home in Bylas Navajo Point to hear stories passed down by their father, John Rope — the English name given to him by the U.S. agency at old San Carlos.

John Rope was born in the early 1850s around the upper Black River and lived with his family near present-day Cedar Creek on the White Mountain Apache reservation.

Tlol-dil-xil came from Tuagaidn clan (White Water people). Many of his descendants still reside in the community of Bylas, while many relatives from his clanship reside on the White Mountain Apache reservation.

Young boys from his clanship would join their fathers and uncles on hunting and gathering expeditions into southern Arizona. As a young boy (early teens), he came down to the Gila Valley region with men from his clanship and first encountered the U.S. Calvalry.

We boys were scared to see the soldiers up close. We would keep our distance, and soon they would bring us food and other items. We decided to go see them one day because we wanted to get some items being offered to us that our mothers and grandmothers could use in our family camps (clusters).

This is where we first saw cattle (heads). When the soldiers were done cutting up their meat, all that was left were the guts, hide, feet and the head, so we all would rush over and cut up what was left of the cow, build a fire, cook cow parts and have ourselves a feast.

During our hunting expedition in this desert region, we mostly hunted rabbits, quail and pack rats. When a monsoon rain would pass nearby, we would run and follow its trail and find rabbits nesting in small brushes and pack rats huddled in their nest (for a quick kill).

The soldiers didn’t know where we came from, and we dared not tell them. From here, we would move onto Mount Graham (real Apache name withheld for sacred reasons) to gather medicine plants (izee) and roots for our mothers and grandmothers back home.

A few uncles would stay with us, while the other men went into Mexico to make trade. Our men were fluent in Spanish in those days because we always made trade with the Mexicans (they also communicated in Spanish with the U.S. Calvalry).

If we gathered all the needed medicine plants and roots, we would start for home without the other men that went into Mexico. The young boys had to be quick on their feet, and there was little time to rest or play around. We were constantly reminded of this as our fathers and uncles were quick to discipline us.

Several of my uncles were very skilled hunters. They would only teach their hunting skills to those of us boys who were strong on our feet and had the necessary patience and instincts to know the mind and behaviors of the animals we hunted.

Our uncles used songs and prayers to call the animals to them. We also heard stories that certain Apache men acted as elk or deer during their hunting trips in the deep wilderness as they were gone for days and weeks at a time.

Hunting was a very spiritual trait, and men took hunting as a way to survive and provide for family and relatives who lived within the family cluster.

On one of these expeditions, we came across antlers, so one of my uncles decided to use them for hunting. He cut some cedar brushes and tied them to his body and disappeared into the forest for a couple of days. He instructed our father that we should meet up with him in a couple of days at a nearby waterhole.

Days later, he told us he climbed a tree and hit the antlers (to make noises) and waited for a deer to appear. It was at this campsite that we saw three mule deer that our uncle had killed single-handedly hanging from a tree.

We already had rifles in those days from trading with the Mexicans or white men who were moving West for gold, but hid the rifles from the soldiers because our men had heard that they wanted to confiscate our rifles.

As skilled hunters, our uncles and fathers would also lie for hours or days in the open fields or waterholes to await elk or deer herds to come drink or feed in the open fields.

They also taught us young boys all the elk or deer routes to their favorite drinking holes and feeding areas in the high mountains and lower desert regions. If you did not respect the animals, it was said they would never cross your path during your hunts.

For this reason men who made a big kill would respect the animal’s spirit by offering sacred corn pollen (ha’dndin) to Usen (Creator) as a way of showing respect and thankfulness for His creations.

The meat, hide and antlers were never wasted and were dispersed amongst the clanship. The guts of these wild animals were never eaten for they were considered our spiritual brothers, but their hide was to be cherished by the hunter for spiritual purposes.