USA > California > Napa County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 70
USA > California > Lake County > History of Napa and Lake Counties, California : comprising their geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber, together with a full and particular record of the Mexican Grants, also separate histories of all the townships and biographical sketches > Part 70
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Mr. Powers says : " Among the Lolsels, the bride frequently remains in her father's house, and the husband comes to live with her, whereupon half of the purchase money is returned to him. Two or three families live often in one wigwam, and they are very clannish, and family influence is all-potent. That and wealth create the chief. The chief of the Lolsels was, at one time, long ago, named Clitey ; but his brother became more powerful than he through family alliances, and created an insurrection, involving the tribe in civil war, which resulted in the expulsion of Clitey and his adherents- nearly half of the tribe-from Long Valley to the head of Clear Lake. They remained there for several years; but when the Americans came, they effected a reconciliation. The Lolsels and their neighbors on the south, the Chenposels, were noted for the savage vendettas which prevailed among them.
" These Indians undoubtedly committed infanticide before the arrival of the Americans, but less frequently than now." This is a handsome tribute to pay to the civilized, and supposed to be Christianized American citizen ! Can it be that they are more brutish than brutes, more heathenish than heathens ; that they have out-Heroded Herod, by being lower down in the scale of humanity than the despised and persecuted "Digger Indian ?" In this connection Mr. Powers relates the following: "In Long Valley, a squaw who was about to give birth to an infant was so strongly threatened
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
by its American father that she consented to destroy it. But the neighbors interfered, collected a sum of money and a quantity of supplies, and pre- sented them to her on condition that she should preserve its life, to which she gladly consented. Afterwards they bought the child of her for ten dol- lars, and it lived with its purchasers eighteen years."
Mr. Powers proceeds : " In Long Valley I saw a phenomenon in physiol- ogy. Clitey, the chief, eighty years old, perhaps, was turning gray in spots. The process had been going forward slowly for several years, not by any sloughing off, but by an imperceptible change from black to a soft, delicate white. The old captain seemed to be rather proud of it than otherwise, hoping eventually to become a white man. When asked by the interpreter, J. F. Hanson, where he expected to go to after death, he replied that he did not know, but he intended to follow the Americans wherever they went. The Lolsels speak of a divinity whom they call Kemmy Salto, which signi- fies, literally, 'The White Man of the Skies ;' but this is too manifestly a modern invention, made to please their patron, Mr. Hanson. Neither is there any ceremony which may properly be called religious.
" There is a ceremony of raising the dead, and another one of raising the devil, but both are employed for sordid purposes, the farthest removed from religious feeling. When the dead are to be raised, there is first a noisy powwow in the sweat-house, and then a number of muffled forms appear, before whom the women pass in procession in the darkness, with fear and trembling and weeping, and deposit gifts in their hands. This ceremony was formerly observed merely to keep the women in subjection, but in these days it enables the men, without using coercion, to extort from their female relatives the infamous gains of their prostitution. In raising the devil there is still greater ado. About the time of harvest, they go out and kindle fires on all the hills around at night ; they whoop, halloo, and circle together as if driving in game to the valley ; finally they chase the fiend up a tree, and throw shell money underneath it to hire him to take himself off. Some- times he makes for the sweat-house, fantastically dressed, and with harlequin nimbleness capers about it for a while, then bows his head low and shoots into the entrance backward. He has now got possession of the stronghold, and, literally speaking, the devil is to pay. Presently they follow him in, and for a while there prevails the silence of the grave. Then they fling down money before him and dart out with the greatest agility. After a proper length of time he steals out by a trap door, strips off his diabolical toggery, and reappears as a human being. The only object of this egregious foolery appears to be simply to assist them in maintaining their influence over the squaws.
" A widow wears tar on her head as long as she is in mourning, and when she removes it, it is a sign that she wishes to remarry. Among the
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Indians of Lake County.
Patweèns a mixed usage prevails in disposing of the dead, but most are buried. Those living near Clear Lake are influenced by their western neighbors, the Pomos, in favor of cremation. Previous to interment the body is laid in state, outside the sweat-house, and then each of the relations in turn pass around it, wailing and mourning; then ascends the dome of the sweat-house, smites his breast, faces towards the setting sun, and waves the departed spirit a long, last farewell, for they believe it has gone to the happy western land.
" Of legends there are not many to relate, as it is a nation not very ingenious or fertile. The Corusias (Colusas) hold that in the beginning of all things, there was nothing but a great turtle cruising about in the limit- less waters, but he dived down and brought up earth with which he created the world. The Lewytos related that there was once a great sea all over the Sacramento Valley, and an earthquake rent open the Golden Gate and drained it. This earthquake destroyed all men but one, who mated with a crow and so repeopled the world. The Chenposels account for the origin of Clear Lake : Before anything was created the old frog and the old badger lived alone together. The badger wanted a drink and the frog gnawed a tree; sucked out and swallowed the sap, and discharged it in a hollow place. He created other frogs to assist him, and together they finally made the lake. Then he created the little flat white fish, and it swam down Cache Creek and turned into the great salmon, pike, sturgeon, and whatever other mighty fish there are in the waters.
" This same tribe also relate the following legend : There was once a man who loved two women and wished to marry them. Now, these two women were magpies (atchatch), but they loved him not and laughed his wooing to scorn. Then he fell into a rage and cursed these two women who were magpies, and went far away to the north. There he set the world on fire, then made for himself a tule boat, wherein he escaped to the sea, and was never heard of more. But the fire which he kindled burned with great burning. It ate its way south with terrible swiftness, licking up all things that were upon the earth-men, trees, rocks, animals, water and even the ground itself ; but the old coyote saw the burning and the smoke from his place in the far south and he ran with all his might to put it out. He took two little boys on his back in a sack and ran north like the wind. So fast did he run that he gave out just as he got to the fire and dropped the two little boys. But he took Indian sugar (honey dew) in his mouth, chewed it, spat it on the fire, and so put it out. Now the fire was out, but the coyote was very thirsty, and there was no water. Then he took Indian sugar again, chewed it up, dug a hole in the ground in the bottom of the creek, spat the sugar into it and it turned into water, and the earth had water again. But the two little boys cried because they were
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
lonesome, for there was nobody left on earth. Then the coyote made a sweat-house, and split a great number of little sticks, which he laid in the sweat-house over night. In the morning they were all turned to men and women, so the two little boys had company and the earth was repeopled.
" The subject of shell-money possesses some interest, and as I have had opportunities of studying it most among the Neeshenams of Bear River, I shall speak of it as seen there. Their common white money is called ' hawock,' and is made of the bivalve shell known as the Pachyderma cras- satelloides, found on the coast of Southern California. It is cut into flat rounded discs or buttons, varying in thickness according to the shell, and from a quarter-inch to an inch in thickness. These are strung on a string made from the inner bark of a kind of milk-weed (Apocynum), and gener- ally all the pieces on a string are of the same size and value. They are subject to all the evils of a fluctuating currency. This may be considered their silver, or common circulating medium, while that which answers to gold with us is made of the red-backed ear-shell (Haliotis rufescens) and is called ' uhllo.' This money is in oblong pieces, varying from an inch to two inches in length and about one-third as wide."
We were shown several specimens of shell money by Augustine, the chief of the Hoolanapos at Lakeport. He stated that the various styles and sizes of it ranged in value in accordance with the American coins; the white representing silver and the red gold, as stated above. The smallest buttons were valued at five cents ; then came a size larger for ten cents, and twenty-five and fifty cents and one dollar followed in regular succession. The smallest red piece was valued at two dollars and a-half, and was per- haps an inch long by one-third in diameter. From this the scale advanced to ten dollars, which was a piece about three inches long and one inch in diameter. This "money" all'had a hole through it longitudinally, and were strung on strings, some of the strings being all of one value, and others having several varieties on it, but all assorted. Augustine stated that the white shells came from Bodega Bay, and that the red was a kind of a stone which was found in the mountains. We had no way of testing the truth of the latter statements as to its being made of stone, but will state that it had that appearance. Like many other old Indians, Augustine had the most of his wealth in this kind of money. He stated that it was always exchangeable for coin, and that sometimes Americans would come around and purchase it for the purpose of speculating upon it with interior tribes. One man last spring, (1880) had invested $500 in gold in that kind of an enterprise, purchasing his shell money from the Lake Indians. Augustine exhibited, with a degree of pardonable pride, a large and handsome bead head-dress for a woman, which was an article of native manufacture. The entire fabric was about a foot square, and the beads were strung so as to
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Indians of Lake County.
form triangles of the different colors about an inch in height. When we come to consider the rude appliances these people had, and the almost entire absence of tools, and the entire absence of metal instruments of any kind, and consider also the wonderful patience and perseverence they exhibited in the construction and manufacture of whatever they had, we are forced to accord to them a great amount of credit. While their acumen and skill is not to be compared with a white man's, yet for the chances they have had, and the inducements they have had for improvement, they have done well.
As some interest is attached to the manner in which they produced fire in the early stages of their existence, anterior to the advent of civilization, we will append the following description of the process as witnessed by George H. H. Redding, among the Wintoon Indians on the Cloud River, and recorded in the Californian of December, 1880 :
" After long negotiations and the exercise of considerable diplomacy, an Indian came to me, bringing his beaver-skin quiver filled with arrows. From among these he took a dried branch of buckeye (Esculus Califor- nica) about as long as the shaft of an arrow, but much larger at one end. From his quiver he also produced a piece of cedar (Libocedrus decurrens). This was about eighteen inches in length, an inch thick, and two inches . wide in the center, but tapering to a rough point at each end. Its general appearance might be described as boat-shaped. In the center of this piece of cedar, on one side, he had made a circular hole a quarter of an inch deep with a piece of obsidian, and from this hole he had cut a channel extending to the edge of the wood. He now gathered a handful of dry grass and some fine, dry, powdered wood from a decayed pine. Each end of the boat- shaped piece of cedar, with the side containing the hole and channel upper- most, was placed on a couple of flat stones and held firmly by another In- dian. The dry grass was piled loosely under the cedar, and on it was scat- tered the fine powder of the decayed wood. The fine powder was also scat- tered in the channel leading to the hole in the center of the boat-shaped piece of cedar. He now took the branch of buckeye and placed the larger end in the circular hole, and spitting on his hands, commenced revolv- ing it back and forth rapidly between his palms, and at the same time bear- ing down with considerable force. At the end of ten minutes smoke made its appearance, and in a few seconds the powdered dust of the decayed wood took fire, and the fine coals communicated this fire to the dust in the chan- nel and rolled down to the dust scattered on the dry grass. He now took the bunch of dry grass in his hands, and carefully blowing upon it, soon created a blaze."
The tribal boundaries of these Indians have been variously stated by dif- ferent writers, varying in some cases very materially, yet when the subject is carefully studied the difference can be readily accounted for. For instance,
3
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Archeology, states that "the Sanels live at Clear Lake," while Mr. Powers, in his Pomo MS., states that "the Snakes occupy Russian River Valley, in the vicinity of the American village of Sanel." This latter statement is the real truth in the matter, yet the Sanels and the West Lake Indians are so closely allied that a stranger in an early day could be easily led to believe them one tribe, with different branches or divisions.
We will now give the tribal boundaries as laid down by Mr. Bancroft in his work, and then give them as related to us by Augustine. As has been before stated, all the Indians in Lake County, except those in Long Valley and Cache Creek, belong to the great general family of Pomos, and to the second division of that family known as Russian River Pomos.
" The Guenocks and Locollomillos lived between Clear Lake and Napa." This was in what are now known as Coyote and Loconoma Valleys respect- ively.
"The Lopillamos, or Lupilomis, lived on the borders of Clear Lake." This is so indefinite that a real location cannot be established.
" The Mayacmas and Tyugas dwell about Clear Lake," and they " inhab- ited the vicinity of Clear Lake, and the mountains of Napa and Mendocino Counties." The latter is, more probably, their true habitat, though it is probable that they made frequent incursions to the lake country for fishing and other purposes; and if found there, they were located by the party as being regularly established in that section.
"The Wye Lakees, Nome Lakees, Noimucks, Noiyucans, and Noisas, lived at Clear Lake;" so says Gieger, in Indian Affairs Report of 1859.
"Napobatin, meaning 'many houses,' was the collective name of six tribes living at Clear Lake. Their names were Hoolanapo, Habenapo, or stone house, Dahnohabe, or stone mountain, Möalkai, Shekom, and How- kuma." These tribes were situated on the western shore of the lake, and remnants of some of them still remain, and are known by the same name.
" The Bochheafs, Ubakheas, Tabahteas, and the Moiyas live between Clear Lake and the coast." This is doubtless the names of the people in Scotts Valley and the adjacent country, as no such names are indicated as being further west.
We will now give the following facts concerning the Indians of Lake County, which were given to us by Augustine, chief of the Hoo-la-nap-os, premising by the statement that Augustine is a very intelligent man, about fifty years of age, and well versed in Indian lore and legend, and bears a good name among the white citizens for probity and veracity. His state- ments are as follows :
" The Ki-ou tribe had their rancheria at the west end of Tule Lake, and at the time of the coming of the white settlers they numbered one hundred and twenty. The name of their chief is (or was) Ba-cool-ah. We con-
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Indians of Lake County.
versed with him through an interpreter, a young and very intelligent Indian, but are inclined to the opinion that he misapprehended the question asked about the names of the chiefs; we asked for the names of the chiefs at the time of the killing of Stone and Kelsey, and we think he gave us the name of the present incumbent, though of this we are not at all sure. It is pro- bable that in many cases the person who was chief at that time is still alive. As we asked for the name of the chiefs at that stated time, if any are now alive and hold that position, who are given as holding it then, it is safe to assume that they have continued ever since. This tribe numbers now only about forty.
" The Yo-voo-tu-ea tribe were neighbors of the Ki-ous, and were just east of them, on the borders of Tule Lake. Their former number was one hundred and fifty, which is now reduced to forty-five. Ja-ma-toe was their chief.
" The Quoi-lack, or Hwoi-lak, tribe was located just north of the town- site of Upper Lake, and near the residence of Benjamin Dewell. They numbered one hundred and twenty, but have only fifty now. Da-mut was their chief.
" The Di-noo-ha-vah tribe were on the north side of the head of Clear Lake, but further east than the last named. They numbered one hundred, and are now reduced to about twenty. Goo-ke was their chief.
" The She-gum-ba tribe lived across the lake from Lakeport, where Mr. Morrison now resides. They once numbered one hundred and sixty, but only about fifteen of them are left now. Leu-te-ra was their chief.
" The Boil-ka-ya tribe lived in Scotts Valley, and their number was one hundred and eighty, which has dwindled down to forty. Che-boo-kas was their chief.
" The Cum-le-bah tribe were located in the upper end of Scotts Valley, on the Deming place. Their number was ninety, but are now reduced to thirty. Du-goh was their chief.
" The Hoo-la-nap-o tribe were just below the present site of Lakeport, on the place formerly owned by Dr. J. S. Downes. At one time there were two hundred and twenty warriors, and five hundred all told in the ranch- eria. They are now reduced to sixty. Sa-vo-di-no was the chief before their present one, Augustine.
" The Ha-be-nap-o tribe were located at the mouth of Kelsey Creek, on the north side. They numbered three hundred, but only about forty of them are left. Ba-cow-shun was their chief.
" The Lil-la-a-ak tribe had their location near the foot of Uncle Sam Mountain, on the west side. They numbered one hundred, and about fifteen of them are left. Mim-ak was their chief.
" The Shoat-ow-no-ma-nook tribe had their homes on an island near the
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
lower end of the lake. They numbered one hundred and twenty, but only thirty are left. Their chief was called Sam Patch.
" The Cow-goo-mah tribe had their rancheria at the Sulphur Bank. They numbered one hundred and thirty, but are now reduced to forty. No-tow was their chief.
" The Le-mah-mah lived on an island just west of the Sulphur Bank. There was at one time one hundred and forty of them, but only about twenty remain. Beu-beu was their chief.
" The Kai-nap-o tribe was located just at the lower end of Long Valley, and at one time numbered one hundred and sixty, but are now reduced to twenty. So-yu-done was the chief. These were evidently members of the Patweèn family, and probably a branch of the Olposels spoken of by Powers. .
" The Now-wa-ke-nah tribe lived in Long Valley, and their number was one hundred and twenty. There are probably thirty of them left, Li-e-ta was their chief." These are the Lolsels of the Patween family mentioned by Powers. They call themselves Lolsels.
" The Koo-noo-la-ka-koi tribe live in Coyote Valley. They had once one hundred in their rancheria, but twenty is all that they can now muster. Ba-san-nak was their chief." These are the Guenocks spoken of above in Bancroft's catalogue.
" The Lal-nap-o-een tribe had their habitat on the St. Helena Creek, just west of the present site of Middletown, in Loconoma Valley. They num- bered ninety, but have dwindled down to ten. Chu-puh was their chief." These are the Locollomillos of Bancroft's list.
It will be remembered that in the above list those names have been ap- plied to the tribes which were the local appellations for them by the Hoo- la-nap-os. It will be noticed that these names are not, oftentimes, the name that the tribes apply to themselves. In fact, tribal names were a "fluctu- ating currency " also, having really no stability, and, above all, only a very limited "local circulation." By summing up the estimates given by Aug- ustine above, it will be found that the original number foots up two thousand six hundred and eighty, and that the present number is five hun- dred and twenty-five. The last census, 1880, shows that there are seven hundred and sixty-five Indians in Lake County, which is about one-third more than Augustine's estimate. Taking that as a basis, it would indicate that there were, in all probability, between four thousand and five thousand Indians in Lake County when the whites first began to invade their ter- ritory.
From Augustine we ascertained the meaning in English of the names of the several tribes. It is well known that the Indian tongue is made up of appellations for concrete subjects, and but little or nothing of the abstract
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Indians of Lake County.
enters into their language. Hence all names have a literal significance. The language is a guttural, being similar to the Semitic tongues of Asia, and is rather pleasant and musical than otherwise. We append the list below as a souvenir of a fast disappearing race of people :
Ki-ou, head of the Lake people.
Yo-voo-tu-ea, a small hill. Nap-o, village or town.
Hwoi-lak, a city of fire.
Di-no-ha-vah, a city built in the cut (cañon) of the mountain.
She-gum-ba, a city built across the lake.
Boil-ka-ya, a city built in the west.
Cum-le-bah, a kind of mineral water.
Hoo-la-nap-o, a lily village.
Ha-be-nap-o, a city of rocks.
Lil-la-a-ak, a people close by the mountain.
Shoat-ow-no-ma-nook, a neighboring people.
Cow-goo-mah, lower end of the lake.
Le-mah-mah, on an island.
Kai-nap-o, a wood ranch, or, in consonance with the Pomo tongue, vil- lage of the valley or valley people.
Now-wa-ke-nah, a city over the hill.
Koo-noo-la-ka-koi, a coyote.
Lal-nap-o-een, goose village.
Augustine gives the following as the names of the places in the county : Clear Lake-Ka-ba-tin, big lake.
Uncle Sam Mountain-Sha-hul-gu-nal-da-noo, big mountain. This was called by many tribes " Konockti."
Big Valley-Yo-ka-koi, a big valley.
Kelsey Creek-Noo-na-po-tea, a big dust or ash heap.
Scotts Valley-Ye-mah-bah, over the hill.
Tule Lake-Now-ga-shoi, a separate lake.
Blue Lake-Kah-nel, a small separate lake.
Upper Lake-Sa-kah-ko, brush land.
In speaking of the future of his people Augustine stated that he was hopeful for the best. Like all Indians everywhere they had been blighted by the withering touch of civilization, which is to an Indian only another term for demoralization and extermination, but the dires iræs is almost past now, he hopes. Within the past few years their numbers have been increasing, instead of diminishing as is the case elsewhere. Their women are healthy, and bear strong children. They are honest and trustworthy to a great degree, and are employed and well paid for their services as a con- sequence. Contracts are let to them just the same as to a white man, and they take as much pride in filling the contract as any man can. Some
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History of Napa and Lake Counties-LAKE.
years ago a man was found drowned in the lake under suspicious circum- stances. It was at once laid at the doors of the Indians adjacent, and Augustine was arrested and held as a sort of hostage until the guilty one should be forthcoming. Time failed to bring to light the offender, if indeed he was an Indian, and Augustine was soon liberated. On the day on which he gained his freedom there was a large concourse of Indians in Lakeport, and he gathered them about him and delivered to them an exhortation that created a wonderful commotion among them, causing many to shed tears, and all to show signs of deep emotion. It was said by those who witnessed it to have been one of the most affecting sights ever beheld in the town. Here was a savage, a heathen, incarcerated in a Christian prison, without the slightest evidence of his or any of his people's guilt, and there confined till the pleasure of his captors let him free, and he, the injured savage, goes before his people, but not with a word of malice, not a word of upbraiding and discontent, but with words of good and holy counsel, with advice to do right, and exhortation to flee from the paths of crime. / In such a sav- age's breast there must be just a little of that Christ spirit inborn which said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
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