Cecilya Lundy
CIS-270-01
Help Received: Work Cited
Writing Assignment #1
Communicating With Smoke
Throughout time there have been many different ways to communicate, whether there were people walking or riding horseback, the way that people received messages has drastically changed over the years. One of the most interesting ways that people used to communicate is through the use of smoke signals. This essay will cover where smoke signals began, how and why they were created, and the process of why they stopped using smoke signals.
The culture that is most known for their use of smoke signals are different types of Native Americans. Smoke signals can be described simply as column or even just puffs of smoke that the people would cause to raise in the sky so that someone else in their tribe would get a message quickly. Smoke signals were a quick way to communicate with people of the same tribe or group short messages that they all understood.
The process that the Native Americans found to be most effective was a process that was simple and that many of them knew how to use. The first step in communicating with smoke signals is having a set of prearranged signals that are code so that only the people you are trying to send a message are able to understand it. The first step in actually creating a smoke signal involves making a fire. The Native Americans would build a fire with the materials around or materials that they took with them. When the fire began to create smoke the people would add different parts of different substances to create thicker or more colorful smoke. Once the smoke reached the correct consistency they would use a blanket or some type of tarp to create patterns in the sky and send messages to those that they desired and these messages had the ability to be seen for miles and miles.
The reason that the Native Americans created smoke signals was so that they would be able to communicate with people of their own tribes without letting everyone know what they were talking about. Smoke signals were specific to every group of people and different groups have different smoke signals for different message. If you had two different groups of people on different mountain tops, but they used the same type of smoke signals they would be able to communicate simple statements to one another; if these two groups had different smoke signals, they would not be able to communicate.
The Native Americans knew that there would be times in which they would have to send messages quickly, so one could compare a smoke signal back then to a text message in today’s time. To make sure that others would be able to see their smoke signals tribes would have to go to an area that would not have much foliage because that would cause the smoke to create distorted signal and with trees in the way it could possibly cause the smoke to not create a signal. Foliage would act as a barrier in this situation and somewhat trap the smoke. Tribes were concerned about protecting one another, so this was not related to religion but for protection.
Even though there was no standardized code of smoke signals, there were a few that were very common. These include the signals for danger is approaching, danger has left, and there is trouble or help is needed. With these signals going into the air they were seen by everyone, but they were only understood by the receiver, not the enemy which was what the whole point of smoke signals was.
Smoke signals really did not have the ability to adapt into something more than what they were. Once people began to realize that smoke signals were warnings or just notifications this way of communicating became less of a secret. There is not an account of how the use of smoke signals actually died out, but it is said that once settlers began to arrive in America they brought their culture with them and it replaced the old traditions and the way that the Native Americans lived their lives changed. One thing that vanished in this process was the use of smoke signals because the settlers brought a form of written language that took over as a form of communication.
The Native Americans used the supplies that they had around to create a mode of communication or a language that on they had the ability to understand. In my opinion I think smoke signals were an amazing invention and they can be related to the way a phone in this generation gives you short text replies when an individual is in a rush. This generation has created a type of communication known as “texting talk” and words are shortened for quicker replies that some individuals may not know because there is no standardized code, just like smoke signals.
Works Cited
1. Notes from class discussion as well as lecture
2. Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared with that Among Other Peoples and Deaf-Mutes. 1881 AccessGenealogy.com. Web. 9 February 2016.
3. “Smoke Signals. “Dead Media Archive. Web. 09 Feb. 2016.