Native American Women Basket Weavers

In this section of our series on Native American female artists we are looking at the lives of those working with beadwork, basketry, pottery, sculpting, quilting, patchwork, dolls, and clothing. The work of these artists helps to preserve the Native American heritage and culture. This week we feature a woman whose baskets are among the world’s most sought after Native American baskets – Dat So La Lee

Dat So La Lee – Washoe (ca. 1829? – 1925)

Dat So La Lee was born in Washoe Territory, on the California-Nevada border. Her given name was Dabuda (Young Willow). She became known as Dat So La Lee around 1899. When she married she went by the name of Louisa Keyser. Sources I read give her birth date from 1829 to 1850. If the earliest date is correct, Dat So La Lee lived a long and fascinating life. Her father was Da Da Uongala; her mother’s name is unrecorded. They lived near Carson City, Nevada and Lake Tahoe.

Her first husband was called Lame Tom and Assu. He died probably from tuberculosis. Sadly, none of her children survived childhood. During these early years of her life she worked as a laundress and cook for miners and their wives. One significant couple in her life was Abe and Amy Cohn. They owned a store in Carson City.

She later married again to a younger man, Charlie Keyser who was part Washoe Indian. This is when she took the name, Louise Keyser. We remember her today as Dat So La Lee because she became famous for her baskets.

Dat So La Lee had learned to weave baskets when she was a child. She did mostly utilitarian vessels, used for storage and carrying items. Weaving baskets was her main activity and her solace because she did not have many friends. She was fat and the other children teased and ignored her. She spent her time learning the entire process from gathering the reeds and willow stems, making dyes out of tree bark and roots. She would work all winter on her baskets and then take them down to Lake Tahoe in the spring when her tribe traveled back there. Each of her baskets was perfectly done and each one was unique. The were decorated with red and black redbud and bracken fern designs. She used symbols to tell the legends of her Tribe.

Basket weaving was important to the Washoe tribe for economic and ceremonial reasons. The baskets were beautiful and technically well done. White traders began a demand for them in the 1800’s. Few Washoe basket makers survive today although there is a resurgence in interest among the young people who see the basketmaking as a part of the heritage of their tribe.

Her career started when Abe Cohn purchased some willow-covered bottles from her and noticed her great talent. She was not just a weaver; she was an artist. He began selling them for her. He sponsored her, providing a lodge for her to live in, food, and healthcare. He encouraged her to make many baskets of the popular style – degikup – which was a special form of basket. It required great skill to form the spherical baskets that began with a small circular base and extended up and out to a maximum circumference and then got smaller again until the opening at the top was the same diameter as the base. Dat So La Lee’s were known as the best. She wove baskets for Cohn’s’ Emporium until her death in 1925.

People were copying her baskets, so Amy Cohn began recording each of her baskets in a ledger along with specific information about them. This ledger is now preserved in the Nevada State Museum in Carson City. There are a number of her baskets on display there as well. Some of them are valued at over $300,000.

In 1919 Abe Cohn took Dat So La Lee on trips to show off her baskets. Although she became famous, she really didn’t appreciate the time spent away from family. Family is the main unit in Washoe culture and it is a tradition that skills are passed down to family members only. During her lifetime baskets were sold for thousands of dollars (a huge sum in the early 1900’s). Today, it has been noted by one source, that there is an asking price of $1,000,000 for one of her baskets. It is unfortunate that none of her family or tribal members gets the money. Because the Cohn’s were supporting her, she made the baskets only for them.

Here is a documentary you can watch with lots of great pictures:

“Dat-so-la-lee – Queen of the Washoe Basketmakers”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz_Fe283TsQ

Dat–So–La–Lee died in December 1925 and was buried at the Stewart Indian cemetery in Carson City.