Washoe people: Legends and myths of the underground

Question

I am building a 6500:1 cardboard model of the Mount Rose ski resort. The whole model has a thickness of 4.5 inches at its highest point, located on one of the sides of the model. While the rest of the model tries to stick to reality as much as possible (measurements were adapted from satellite altitude data), I'm thinking about including some kind of easter egg on one of the side of the model. For instance some kind of a Bigfoot cave, or something playful in the same taste.

This being said, I'd love for this little addition to be anchored in the local native folklore. I couldn't find any reference to underground life / beings / concepts in the legends of the Washoe people with a quick google search though.

Do you know of a native Western American tale / concept / etc that could be represented underground on the side of my cardboard model?

Any help or tips would be appreciated

Answer 1

I'm not native but went to school with Acoma, Laguna, Zuni and Navajo kids. The Acoma have a very cool story about the destruction of the earth and how they lived underground for generations with the "ant people". When the disaster ended they emerged to find that they were alone and the only people left, that they must repopulate the earth. This is how they became the Original people of mankind. Their populations grew and grew and life was good until an invader from the north appeared that was horrorific looking and inhuman. The invade won and won until the tribes united and made an effort to exterminate the "ancient enemy". An army was sent north to confront them with orders to kill them all and search for their camps and origin. It became a battle of civilizations for possession of the earth. The tribes were sucessful and drove the invader out thru the same route they entered and the tribes crossed the ocean in pursuit. Their orders were to exterminate the sub-human anywhere they found them and make earth for humans only. The army never returned and for eons the tribes waited for a sign for who won the Great War. When the Spanish 1st arrived the Natives were relieved, humans had won the war and come full circle to return home. They had been gone for so long that they had forgotten their fathers yet the fathers are proud of their conquest and end their cycle of life on earth knowing that their children, all of man, will inherit the earth and that the earth will forever belong to them. The Acoma believe I am a child of their lost army. That we all are their children. This is the most beautiful creation story I've ever heard and for as long as they believe, so will I.