Part 9

17. y[=i]nak[=i] (y[=i]natc[=i]) (G). On a flat, called Spanish Flat, 3/4 mi. long and 300 yds. wide between the ocean and the terrace. It has a creek at its southern end (Spanish Cr.), with a large deposit of gravel which has almost entirely buried a group of buildings. Plenty of evidence of Indian occupation but no decided pits. It is said to have been a very large village. The men of this village were killed by a band of white men who came down from the mouth of the Mattole R., which they had likewise occupied. An Indian ran down the coast to give warning but arrived too late. The women also were killed some years later.

18. seyetc[=i] (G). On a bench at the W end of a flat on the N side of the Mattole R. about a mile from its mouth.

19. sedanadaaib[=i]^{=e=} (G). On the E end of the same flat on which seyetc[=i] is situated. The site is now said to have been washed away.

20. daxdeginkatik (G). On a rocky timbered point which is an extension of the hills N of the Mattole R. This point is 25 ft. higher than the main flat, called nestik. Several indistinct pits are still to be seen. The Goff buildings are close by and occupy part of the village site. This flat was plowed for the Indians in 186..(?). There is water in a gulch W (Jim Goff Gulch).

nes-te´-be (M). On the present Goff Ranch on a bench on the N side of the Mattole R., about 3 mi. upstream from the ocean.

The names are different but the locations are identical, so these are no doubt the same village.

21. daaib[=i]^{=e=} (G). On the SW part of the large flat W of Petrolia, on the S side of the river. It was here that the Indians settled when they came back from the reservation.

seb´-bin-ne bug´-gah-be (M). An acorn camp on the S side of the Mattole R. a little below the present Hanson place, 3 mi. from the mouth of the river.

The locations for these two villages are the same but the descriptions are obviously different. It may be that this was an acorn camp in pre-white times and was subsequently used as a village site when the preferred land had been taken by the settlers.

22. bisyet'ob[=i]^{=e=}, "slide place" (G). On a point on the N side of the Mattole R. W of Petrolia, overlooking Wright's place. Buckeye and peppernut trees are growing there. It has fine exposure toward the S. There are pits still to be seen.

23. tcegiltcexb[=i]^{=e=} (G). On the E bank of the North Fork of the Mattole R.; the site is now included in the village of Petrolia. It is said to have been a large village.

24. s[=o]Lkaiye (G). On a large flat on the W side of the North Fork of the Mattole, E of the road to Ferndale. A white man's house, on a higher flat near the creek, has been burned. It was here the Indian village stood.

25. djetxeniñ (G). On the N side of the North Fork of the Mattole just W of a creek flowing into it from the N. It is at the western end of a long crooked canyon. Under a point were five very large distinct pits. There were evidences of occupation on the point above (the creek is called Wild Goose Cr.?).

26. djinsibbai, "elbow" (G). In the bed of the North Fork of McNutt Gulch. The inhabitants of sitc[=i]cb[=i] (no. 1) camped here in summer to hunt. Timber and brush.

27. djibbedaxtûkkab[=i]^{=e=} (G). On a point on the S side of North Fork of Mattole R. Opposite djetxeniñ. Joe saw people living here when he ran away from the white man who was taking him away for a slave.

28. natsinnadaat (G). At the junction of two streams which make up the North Fork of the Mattole (North Fork Mattole and East Branch, North Fork Mattole). The stream valleys are wide. The northern one (North Fork Mattole) is badly washed out, as is also the main valley of the combined streams. A group of ranch buildings belonging to Si Minor now occupies the village site, and Billy Wood once lived there. There was a pit on the W side of the stream from the N and two pits on the N side of the main stream 1/4 mi. below the junction.

29. sedjegûnk[=o][-l]diñ, "right angle" (?) (G). On a flat on the N side of the Mattole R. E of the bridge. It is now occupied by John Evarts.

30. djegaslinab[=i]^{=e=} (G). At the mouth of the creek flowing into the Mattole R. from the N, 3/4 mi. W of the county bridge SE of Petrolia (Conklin Cr.).

31. da[-l]oidiñ, "wild grape place" (?) (G). At the mouth of a creek (Indian Cr.) flowing into the Mattole R. from the SE at the northern end of a flat nearly a mile long. Saw what may have been pits, one on each side of the road by the duck pond near the buildings belonging to Cummings. This was the northernmost village of the Cooskie tribelet.

32. djan[=o]ldin (G). On a bench 1/8 mi. long and 200 yds. wide on the E side of Mattole R., which here flows N. It is at the ford.

33. saiq[=o]tLûndiñ (G). On a long flat bordering the eastern side of the Mattole R. Joe said the village was at the southern end of the flat, which is now owned by Lee Minor.

34. g[=o]danindjaib[=i] (G). Just E of the mouth of Squaw Cr., a large stream flowing into the Mattole R. from the S. The regular inhabitants were joined by others, who camped here to gather acorns.

35. n[=o]willeneb[=i] (G). On a large flat on the E side of Mattole R. upstream from the mouth of Squaw Cr. Exact location of village uncertain. The name may be that of the section, not of the particular village.

36. g[=o]nsakke (G). A large flat through which the Mattole R. flows toward the NW. Roscoe lives on the N side. Exact location of the village is uncertain.

37. L[=o]itsiske (G). On a flat on the E side of the Mattole R. The river is here no distance from the road. "Joe got very angry when I wanted to look for pits."

38. [=i]kediñ, "foot place" (G). On the N side of a small stream flowing into the Mattole R. from the E, at the SE side of a flat. There are two deep pits and several, less deep, on the E side of the wagon road. A large group of buildings are on a higher flat SE. There is a large flat on the W side of the river also. The whites killed all of the inhabitants while they were fishing for eels.

39. [-l][=i]gûcLûndiñ, "snakes many place" (G). Probably on the W side of the river where there is a large flat around which the river flows, keeping near the high bank on the E. The road runs along the eastern side of the river and climbs a considerable grade at the N.

40. [-l][=o]n[=i]tc[=i], "middle of prairie" (G). On the S end of a flat on the E side of the Mattole R. Fifteen Indians were killed here by white people.

41. n[=o]wilkediñ (gacdûlyaidiñ, "like a necktie") (G). Said to be situated between the Upper North Fork and the Mattole R.

42. djegûllindiñ (G). On the W side of the stream coming into Mattole R. from the S close to the Humboldt Meridian (Honeydew Cr.). Indians may also have lived on the E side of this stream. The application of this name is uncertain.

Goddard also gives the following summer camps of the Mattole, which I have not been able to locate.

djindillegaxye. A flat on the S side of Mattole R., near its mouth.

innaslaibi. A long level bench crossed by the county road N from Petrolia, 1-1/12 mi. from that place. Indians used to camp here to gather tarweeds. An Indian battleground.

kuntcegilcannebi. Sec. 32, T. 1 S., R. 2 W. On the E side of the county road. The section lines given by Goddard are not reliable.

sekexge. A sloping place on one of the branches of McNutt Gulch.

_Upper Mattole villages._--The following village locations were given to Goddard in 1908 by the Sinkyone named Charlie. Goddard did not visit them so they cannot be accurately located. I am giving Goddard's township and range locations, but these were made by guess from an imperfect map, hence they must be used only with the greatest care.

de'tci'. At the mouth of a big creek (de'kok) flowing into Mattole R. at Upper Mattole. Perhaps de'kok is Squaw Cr., mentioned in the Elk and Coyote stories. NW 1/4, sec. 30, T. 2 S., R. 1 W.

ne'nûnyadûñ. On the E side of the river 3 mi. above de'tci'. There are two creeks there. This may be the village, and de'tci' the whole Upper Mattole flat. Notes say 3 mi. from Mattole, which is Charlie's name for Petrolia.

k'atinta'. Above ne'nûnyadûñ on the Mattole R. at the mouth of kutsai'kok. NE 1/4, sec. 33, T. 2 S., R. 1 W.

tcûlgûnnak'e'. Some distance above k'acinta' on Mattole R.

tcintcûsk[=o]dûñ. On a hill on the E side of Mattole R.

tcûst[=i]m[=i]'. On the W side of the Mattole R. on a big flat, S of tcintcûsk[=o]dûñ. No creek empties there.

istannaladûñ. On a large flat on the Mattole R. No creek empties there.

setûggûttc[=i]'. On the E side of the Mattole R. at the mouth of setuggukkok. Sec. 14, T. 3 S., R. 1 E.

tceliñk[=i]'. On both sides of a small creek which enters a larger stream near the latter's junction from the E with the Mattole R. The valley of the river is wide at this point. A large group of buildings is now standing on this site. "I rode to this place in July, 1908, when hunting for Jack's place. The name was supplied by Charlie from my description." Sec. 31, T. 3 S., R. 2 E.

Lenill[=i]mi', "flow together in." At the junction of two streams on the W side of the Mattole R. There were formerly many grizzlies there, and the Indians were afraid of them. This was the last village S of the Mattole R. Sec. 7. T. 4 S., R. 2 E.

Merriam gives a number of other village names with rather vague locations. No doubt each of them corresponds to one of Goddard's, since both men used the same informant, but I have been unable to identify the villages either by location or name.

tah-tah´-ke-ke. On a small flat on the S side of the Mattole R. about 1/4 mi. back from the ocean.

tahn'-hr[=a]´-lah-be. At the mouth of the Mattole R. (on a lagoon near Indian Joe Duncan's place).

yes-s[)a]-cheb´-be. On or near the site of an old barn S of the junction of the North Fork with the main Mattole R., near Petrolia.

e-nah-sal-li´-be. On a flat on Mattole R., 1/2 or 3/4 mi. S of Petrolia.

choo-wil^{ch}´-kah-be. On the North Fork of the Mattole R. at Petrolia. The name tek-ko-li-be is also given for a village on the site of present Petrolia.

BEAR RIVER

This small group, occupying the entire drainage of Bear River and the coast near its mouth, has been fairly well documented by ethnographers. Aside from linguistic material, our chief source, a paper by Nomland (1938), gives as complete an account as could be obtained at such a late date. Although some villages are noted by Goddard (1929), Nomland, and Merriam, they do not appear to have been recorded by any of the scholars in a systematic fashion. The village count therefore is probably not complete.

The resources of the Bear River group are substantially the same as those of the Mattole, except that the salmon run is smaller.

Merriam's information on the Bear River tribe is limited but it helps to augment the data now in print (Nomland, 1938; Goddard, 1929). Merriam's informant among these people was an old woman named Mrs. Prince. She came from Bear River, but at the time Merriam spoke to her (July and September, 1921) she was living at the Rohnerville Reservation. She used to visit her granddaughter, Ethel Hecker, at Scotia.

Merriam gives the following brief note about these people.

Nek´-an-ni´ ... Athapaskan coast tribe formerly inhabiting Cape Mendocino and adjacent region from Bear River Hills southward to Mattole River, and reaching inland (easterly) to the headwaters of the Bear River. [Nek´-an-ni´ was] their own name for themselves.

TRIBELETS

All evidence would seem to indicate that the Bear River people constitute a single tribelet as well as a single dialect group. Even the village on Oil Creek (village no. 7) was evidently in the same political division; Goddard (1929, p. 291) says: "There was, however, one village at the mouth of Van Duzen creek which was allied to Bear river both in its dialect and politically."

VILLAGES

Some villages are given by Merriam (M), Nomland (1938) (N), and Goddard (1929) (G), but most of the locations are not very certain.

1. chal-ko´-chah (M). Name of the village N of the mouth of Bear R., used for both the place and the village.

tc'alko´ (N). Largest and most western village in the area. It included the flat at the mouth of Bear R.

Goddard mentions two villages as being on the ocean N of the mouth of Bear R. -- [-l]'adAlk'AsdAñ and goldElco'dAñ. He gives the word tc'alko as the word for Bear R. In Nomland's personal copy of Goddard's paper (1929) she has written the word "tchankok" as the word for Bear R. She gives the following explanation of the discrepancy (1938, p. 92): "In checking words given by Goddard with my Bear River informant, Nora Coonskin, it developed that most of his information (gotten from Nora's uncle, Peter) was not in accordance with hers. Upon close questioning, the latter told me that her uncle preferred to speak Mattole. I checked Peter's words with Isaac Duncan, my Mattole informant, and found this to be true."

2. s[=a]-cho-tung (s[)e]-cho´-tah) (M). On the ocean on the S side of the mouth of Bear R.

setcodAñ, "rock big" (G). By the lighthouse, a populous place. The present-day lighthouse stands about 2 mi. S of the mouth of Bear R.

3. chil-sh[)e]ck (N). On the site of the present town of Capetown.

atcAnco'xEbi' (G). Said to have been where the store and hotel are at the town of Capetown.

4. chil-en-ch[)e] (N). Near the present Morrison Ranch.

chul´-l[)o]-ko (M). This was the name of the village at Morrison's, 5 or 6 mi. above the mouth of Bear R.

5. sels-che'o-ch (N). About 3 or 4 mi. up the river from the Morrison place. The site is now marked by a large red rock. It may correspond to Goddard's sEtcixEbi, "rock stand in the water", which is not located.

6. seht-lá (N). About 7 mi. up Bear R. from Capetown.

7. ko-stah-che´ (k[=o]s-tah-che´) (M). Name of the camp on Oil Cr.

Each author gives some additional villages, which cannot be located.

esta-kana (N). On the largest flat in the upper valley, Gear's place.

IstE=g=nadaibi', "madrone stands place" (G).

klaht-el-k[=o]s´-tah (M). Name of the village near the head of Bear R. (at least 15 or 20 mi. upstream). It was a large town with a big dance house.

[-l]'adAlk'AsdAñ (G). Where a schoolhouse stands on Bear R.

tlanko (N). Above chil-sheck.

ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES

At low tide in the spring the Bear River people waded out to lighthouse rock to gather the eggs of seabirds--gulls, shags, and others. They would climb up a sort of stairs in the steep rock, wrap the eggs in buckskin, and let them down with long ropes.

The illustration (fig. 1, _c_) is of an old woman, about ninety years old, from Bear River, sketched in the fall of 1921.

WHILKUT

As stated earlier in the discussion of boundaries (p. 164) I have, following Merriam's data, assigned the Whilkut different territory than has heretofore been customary. In the present scheme they occupy the drainage of Mad River from the mouth of North Fork Mad River to the mouth of Bug Creek, the drainage of North Fork Mad River, and all the drainage of Redwood Creek above the lower ten miles. The subdivisions of the Whilkut are: Chilula Whilkut (Kroeber's Chilula) on lower Redwood Creek, Kloki Whilkut (part of Kroeber's Whilkut) on upper Redwood Creek, Mad River Whilkut (part of Kroeber's Whilkut) on Mad River above the mouth of North Fork, and North Fork Whilkut (part of Kroeber's Wiyot) in the drainage of North Fork Mad River.

Goddard (1914_a_) and Merriam together give a fairly complete picture of the organization of villages and subgroups of the Whilkut but aside from this we have next to nothing in the way of ethnographic information. They were evidently closely akin to the Hupa in both language and culture. With the Hupa they form a dialect group as against the Tolowa on the north and the other California Athabascan groups on the south.

The territory of the Whilkut lies in the dense redwood forest of the northern coast of California. Thus their economy was based primarily on the produce of rivers, and this fact is reflected in the placement of their villages.

Merriam has left a relatively complete record of his visits to the group which I am calling Whilkut and which he called Hoil´-kut or How´-wil-kut and M[=a]´-we-n[)o]k. (Merriam uses various spellings.) His first visit to these people was in 1910. The following account is taken from his California Journals for September 15, 1910.

Talked with several Indians at Blue Lake. The boundary between the Pah-te-waht [Wiyot] of Lower Mad River, and the 'Hoil´-kut or Ho-il-let-ha of Redwood Valley lies along North Fork of Mad River near its mouth, between Korbel and Blue Lake. The Pah-te-waht I saw today live on Mad River at Blue Lake (on south edge of town), while the Hoi-let'ha live on the extreme northeast beyond the town and cemetery.

Merriam's second visit there was in 1918 and the following quotation is from the California Journals for August 11, 1918.

Sunday, August 11, 1918 was foggy and misty in the forenoon; partly clear P.M. Took the early morning auto stage from Eureka to Korbel, but got off between Blue Lake and Korbel and went on an Indian hunt, landing back at Blue Lake without entering Korbel proper at all. Returned to Eureka in afternoon.

Went particularly to get additional material from the Redwood Creek Indians ('How´-wil-kut´-ka or 'HWilkut tribe) who were living in this region when I was here in September 1910 (see Calif. Journals, Vol. 1, 90-93, Sept. 15, 1910). Tried to find O'Haniel Bailey and John Stevens of Redwood Creek, and Stevens' daughter Laura, from whom I got much information before. After a fruitless search over the old ground, learned that O'Haniel Bailey died several years ago; that John Steven is visiting in Hoopa Valley, and that his daughter Laura is married to a white man.

But after a while I found two old men of the same tribe, who were born and raised at the Blue Lake rancheria 'Ko-tin´-net, the westernmost village of the H[)a]-whil´-kut-k[=a] tribe. They call themselves and their language by the same name, 'Ho-tin´-net [North Fork Whilkut]. One is blind and both are old. The blind man's name is Nelinjak; the other's Denbrook. They were eating breakfast of fried potatoes, dried fish, and coffee in their poor old shack. I got some good material from them and after some persuasion took their photographs.

The blind one said he dreamed last night that a white man with a book was coming to see them.

I got from them the names of some Pah-te-waht [Wiyot] villages on lower Mad River and about Arcata.

Merriam's third visit to this group was in 1920. The following account is from his notes.

About the middle of September, 1920, I visited the site of the old Hoilkut rancheria called T'chil-kahn´-ting (or T'ch-kahn´-ting) on the east side of Redwood Creek near the Berry ranch, about a quarter of a mile below the highway bridge on the road from Arcata to Willow Creek and Hoopa. It was then abandoned, the Indians having established another village on higher ground about a mile below, and like the old one, on the east side of the river.

The old site is on an open sand and gravel bar or flat a little above high water mark and very near the river. The living houses were square--never round. The house excavations were about two feet deep. The excavation for the ceremonial house ("sweathouse") was sixteen or eighteen feet across and deeper than the others, averaging about three feet below the surface. The ground floor within was covered with large flattish pebbles. The building had fallen but I was told that it had a low gabled roof, with entrance toward the river (on the west side). Under the north end and still plainly visible was a ditch or flume to supply air and for a draft when starting the fire. The fireplace was in the middle.

The graveyard is on the downstream end of the same flat.

The flat is in a forest of Douglas spruce, black and white oaks, maples, tree alders, and dogwood, with a dense undergrowth of hazel, spirea (_Spirea douglasii_), syringa (_Philadelphus lewisii_), huckleberry (_Vaccinium ovatum_), and the wild lilac (_Ceanothus integerrimus_). The "three-leaf" or "deer-foot" also called "sweet after death" (_Achlys triphylla_) is common throughout the shady forest.

In the immediate neighborhood the large gray tree squirrel (_Sciurus griseus_) was common, the big gray ground-squirrel (_Citellus beecheyi_) was abundant, and a few red squirrels and chipmunks were running about.

Ruffed grouse, mountain quail, and many pigeons were seen; also crested jays, robins, and flickers.

A few days later I visited the modern inhabited rancheria, nearly two miles below the bridge. It is on a rather steep slope about 500 feet above the river.

Among the Indians present were two very old men, the Wilson brothers, and a half-breed named Ned Woodward from Blue Lake, and his wife, the former widow of Nathaniel Bailey--with all of whom I had worked in previous years. With their help I checked my former vocabularies and added many words.

At Blue Lake during the latter part of October of the same year I found a number of Indians, mainly Hoilkut, and obtained additional material, including village names from Ned Woodward. Worked also with others, especially the Hoilkut Chief, Frank Lowry, and his wife. She is a full blood with the characteristic chin tattooing consisting of three broad vertical bars with a narrow one on each side between the middle and outer ones. [See fig. 1, _a_, _b_ for different styles.] A married daughter had three children, a tiny girl and two boys--one of three and the other five, both big for their age.

Also of interest are Merriam's ideas about the position of the Whilkut groups. The following excerpt, taken from his notes, is dated 1939, but refers to a trip he made to Blue Lake in September, 1910.

M[=a]´-we-n[)o]k [Mad River Whilkut] ... An Athapascan tribe on Mad River, reaching from the junction of North Fork with main Mad River near Korbel (where they came in contact with the Pah´-te´waht of Lower Mad River [a Wiyot subgroup] and the h'Whilkut of North Fork and Redwood Valley) upstream (southward) for many miles to the ranch of a white man named John Ahlgren, where their territory ended. This is on or near Bug Creek.

It was told me by a h'Whilkut ('Hoilet´-hah) who stated further that the M[=a]´-we-n[)o]k spoke a language so similar to his own that he could understand most of their talk.

The statement in the last paragraph comes from an informant Merriam had in Blue Lake in 1910. Merriam returned to the region in 1920 and at that time spoke to a member of the Mad River Whilkut group itself. Presumably the village list given for that group is derived from the second visit.

Merriam discusses the other Whilkut groups as follows.