If you have gone to Yosemite or seen several books about Yosemite you will see a photo of a Native American mother carrying her baby in an Indian cradle board in front of a Yosemite waterfall. She is walking in the meadows of Yosemite. The photo was taken in 1901 by J. T. Boysen, a famous Yosemite area photographer. It is one of the most iconic pictures of Native American Indian life in Yosemite Valley. The Indian mother is Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Suzie McGowan and her daughter Sadie. (See Photo 1)

The identity of one of the most famous Indians photographed goes unmentioned on the official Yosemite National Park Service’s educational website. Her photo is used to describe Miwuks in Yosemite, but the Park’s information is incorrect.

This Yosemite icon is Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Indian Suzie McGowan carrying her daughter Sadie McGowan in a Paiute cradleboard.

Boysen’s photo is a beautiful portrait of early Indian life in Yosemite, mother and daughter as they walk along the green meadows as the waterfall cascades in the background. Bringing back a time when Paiutes roamed the green meadows of Yosemite Valley during a simpler time. Suzie and Sadie McGowan were also favorites for many local photographers and tourists. Boysen took several photos of Suzie and her family and this was only one of many.

Recently in a trip to Yosemite we received a Yosemite map at the entrance. When we opened up the map there was Suzie, but this time with her husband Poker Bill and her family. (See Photo 2) In map photo, from left to right, was Suzie without her headscarf and she is holding Sadie McGowan. Next to her are her daughters Carrie and Minnie. They grew up to be some of the most famous Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute area basket makers. Their baskets were some of the largest California Indian baskets created and are showcased at Yosemite’s Indian Museum. Then next was Suzie’s husband Poker Bill. Like many Paiutes they were nomadic and traveled around their ancestral areas hunting and gathering.

Suzie McGowan’s married name was Suzie Bill. Her maiden name was Suzie Williams. She was the daughter of Rose Williams. The Bill family later acquired the name McGowan after working for a white man with that name. Like many Indians they changed their last names to white persons they worked for.

Suzie's husband, Poker Bill, was the son of Yosemite-Bridgeport-Hetch Hetchy-Mono Lake area Paiute Captain Jim and Patsy Jim. (See Photo 3)

Suzie’s father-in-law, Captain Jim, was an important Paiute leader in the area. Captain Jim was also called "Toha'eesha" translated in Paiute to English as "White Wolf", but to his family he was just "na'ah" or father. He was called "White Wolf" because his hair was pre-mature gray by a certain age. After his death the Indians and sheepherders had seen a white wolf in the northern Yosemite area and some believed it was the spirit of the chief Captain Jim.

Captain Jim was the father and grandfather of many of the Yosemite, Bridgeport and Mono Lake area Paiutes and famous basket makers. The majority of the Indian baskets located in the Indian Museum in Yosemite were made by his descendents.

Sadly even though Suzie McGowan had several photos taken of her a couple of years later she passed away at a young age. California Indian ethnologist, C. Hart Merriam, in his August 5th, 1903 notes wrote about Suzie and her death “I am told that a Paiute woman (wife of the Paiute called Poker Bill) died in childbirth a short time ago and was buried here. A fine basket bowl was put over her head when she was buried”.

So tragically this Yosemite Indian icon died only a couple of years after some of the most famous photographs of her in Yosemite Valley were taken. She left behind her family and her husband remarried Paiute Suzie Thompson. Her daughters, Carrie and Minnie, grew up to be famous Paiute basket makers.

This one Paiute person from the early Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute area caught forever on film lives in our hearts and minds and in time. Suzie will always be remembered in photographs that captured her and her family in Yosemite Valley. Snap shots in time that caught a young Paiute mother who lived a life too short, but lives on in our memory because a photographer was intrigued by her and her child. Intrigued by a Yosemite Indian woman and her child, Boysen took a photo that will live forever in time as a Yosemite Indian icon. A Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute, never to be forgotten.