For the typical Anglo-Christian the only residence for a spirit is in the human body! Perhaps a few religious people concede a soul in animals and a very few admit a vital force in plants. There is a definite mindset against recognizing spirituality in earth, air, water or fire. Not so in Indian societies, even rocks are considered as part of the living world. Placing symbols on rock (Tumpituxwinap) is a significant act that requires religious preparation and all Tumpituxwinap have special meanings for the Paiute people. Further, the sacredness of the minerals used to place symbols on a rock is just as significant as the Tumpituxwinap itself because the minerals possess their own power and life force. Even Ompi (red hematite paint) smudges reflect blessings on rock walls and are as culturally significant as elaborately drawn pictograph figures.1
Some mine sources of hematite date back to late Pueblo I–early Pueblo II and early Pai cultures. One such mine is Ompi Cave near mile 200. This site is currently used and is very sacred to the Paiute people. Collections are made whenever clay is needed for ceremonies. Men mainly gather the clay, which is said to protect people and things from evil. However, there are multiple uses. The paint is said to ward off children's bad dreams, to mark the houses of people who have died, or put on the faces of children by their mothers when someone dies. It is also used in sundance ceremonies and pow wows. Sundance participants drink the paint.
San Juan Paiute representatives report other uses: drinking the paint for treating chickenpox, a traditional war paint, painting pictographs, decorating ceramics and sprinkling on burials.
Ompi Cave is connected to camping, hunting and gathering sites all along the river, as well as other paint mines such as the one at Whitmore Wash where red ochre paintings can be seen. 2
“The Pine Springs Band of the Northeastern Pai of western Grand Canyon found a cave that contains a rock deposit of red mineral pigment, mostly hematite. This pigment, when mixed with deer tallow, makes a face cream and body coating that protects the skin against sunburn or cold. Its skin-protecting properties and its bright red color made the pigment a precious commodity that the Pai traded for other valuable
goods.” 3
In a personal communication Dove Menkes, co-author of Quest for the Pillar of Gold, states that red hematite sources are not uncommon... “There are many (breccia) caves down from the rim that could be candidates. The Covington mine had red pigment.” 4 Covington's mine, mentioned above, also called the Little Chicken Mine, is located below the rim at the top of the Redwall Limestone near Toroweap Valley.
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, an explorer who accompanied Major John Wesley Powell on his Colorado River expedition of 1871–73, writes an historical account of Indian red paint: 5

All along the northern side of the Grand Canyon the Indians—as least as far as the Paria river—secured a red paint from the Canyon, in the Shivwits region, for centuries.
When the Mormons came they traded for this red paint and used it for painting furniture, etc. The way I found out about it was one day when I was in the house of Lyman Hamblin in Kanab—about 1875—and noticed the legs of a table painted the dull red. On inquiry, Lyman told me he got the paint from the Pai Utes, who, he thought, got it somewhere in the west. I followed the thing up, leading to the discovery that the ore came from a cave down the side of the Grand Canyon off the Shivwits plateau.
I could secure no specimen, so l decided to go to the place and get some, as it might be cinnabar.
Well, it was a long, hard job, especially as the Shivwits were not so kindly at that time as one would prefer.
I found the cave in a side gulch about three thousand feet down the side of the Canyon and two thousand above the river. A magnificent situation.
The small mouth was covered by bushes which we cleared away. I sent our Indian guide in first. It was a very small entrance—just large enough to wiggle through for some 20 feet. The formation was an iron-like blue limestone.
Within was a cave about fifteen or twenty feet wide, some thirty-five feet long, or forty perhaps, with a low dome-shaped roof about six feet high. We could just comfortably stand up in most of it. The walls overhead and all round were made up of the red ore and there were countless marks of the digging for it with sharp-pointed implements through a long period of time.
There may have been other parts of the cavern, but we had only one candle for light, and the air was not exhilarating. We had little grub—only what we could carry on our backs down that 3,000 feet of rough cliffs, with shovel and pick and frying-pan.
Then we felt a bit uncomfortable to be so completely cooped up, for if the Shivwits had possibly followed us down, they could have knocked us one by one on the head as we crawled out, chucked our bodies down the side gorge, and nobody could have proved anything against them.
To guard against this possibility I held the Indian back with me till the others had emerged, when I let him go too. He was eager to get out of the place, as you may imagine. I came out last and got stuck half-way, but I had been cautious enough to lead a pack rope in, and by pulling on that, with the other fellows pulling on the outside, I finally was in the open air and on my feet.
Well, the analysis of that dearly beloved ore was, ‘iron ochre.' Sometimes I wonder if the analysis was correct, for it was the greasiest, most penetrating stuff I ever saw.
So there was the place where Indians on the north side of the Colorado had been getting red paint, through the Shivwits by trade, probably, and I judge that the Walapais, Havasupais, Apaches—all on the south side—also traded for it. Perhaps even as far east as the Pueblos of the Rio Grande.

Blood is at once the solvent and mordant for red ochre (hematite) when permanent rock inscriptions are made. Kemberly Jensen experimented with red ochre mixing it with materials available in the ancient environment. 6 She combined the pigment with water, egg white, deer blood and greasy animal fat, then painted the mixtures on slabs of desert sandstone. After two months in the elements (wind, rain, sun and snow), the red ochre mixed with water had disappeared completely, the egg white mix left a very faint pink stain, the grease mixture also faded, leaving a light red stain. But the red ochre mixed with deer blood left a dark red stain, just like the pictographs seen on canyon walls that have lasted for thousands of years. It may be that the ancient ones used reptile, bird or rabbit blood as a solvent or it is conceivable that human blood was used. If the latter is true pictographs would be a potential reservoir for dna testing!
Human impacts are endangering the Ompi Cave site by widening the trail and possibly causing bank slumpage. It is hoped that this short paper will bring public awareness to the sacred and religious significance of the Cave as used by the Southern Paiutes. Hikers and river boatmen should take personal responsibility for protection and behavior about the site and use it as little as possible, saving it for ceremonies and collections by the Indian people. As a matter of fact the site is now off limits to the general public.
Wes Larsen

1. Stoffle, Richard W., et. al., Managing Southern Paiute Resources in the Colorado River Corridor. Report of work carried out under the Southern Paiute Consortium Cooperative Agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation, # 4-fc-40-15260, 1995.
2. Stoffle, Richard W., et. al., Big River Canyon: Southern Paiute Ethnographic Resource Inventory and Assessment for Colorado River Corridor, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona and Grand Canyon National Park, AZ. Report of work carried out for the Rocky Mountain Regional Office, National Park Service, under Project No. glca—r92-0071. June, 1994.
3. Billingsley, George H., Earle E. Spamer, Dove Menkes, Quest For the Pillar of Gold, Grand Canyon Association, Grand Canyon, AZ. 1997.
4. Letter from Dove Menkes to Wesley P. Larsen, March 5, 1998.
5. Dellenbaugh, Frederick S., Red Indian Paint, in The Masterkey 7:3, May 1933.
6. Kirkman, Jim, Girl Paints With Blood, ZINJ, No. 1, Utah Division of State History, 1993.