Sarah Winnemucca and the Saiduka story
In 'Life Among the Piutes' (1883) Sarah Winnemucca recorded a Northern Paiute tradition of a fierce people-eating enemy tribe driven into a cave and destroyed by fire, the core of the Si-Te-Cah 'giants' legend.
1883 CE · 40.05, -118.62 · status: legend
The account
Winnemucca, a Northern Paiute author and interpreter, wrote the first book by a Native American woman published in the United States. Her account told of a war with a hostile group that her people finally trapped in a cave and burned out. Later writers linked the story to Lovelock Cave and stressed red hair and great height, which became staples of 'lost giant race' literature. Winnemucca was born near Humboldt Lake and later ran a school for Paiute children in Lovelock.
The sceptical view
Winnemucca's account tells of a hostile, people-eating tribe but not of giants; great height was added by later popular writers. Archaeology at Lovelock Cave found people of normal stature.