Redwood Reader

16. Giving back what was theirs
Eureka Times-Standard editorial
Saturday, May 22, 2004 - "Whereas, the sacred lands of Tuluwat comprise the physical and spiritual center of the Wiyot world, and there is factual evidence of Wiyot Tribal presence on the island for at least 1,000 years ..." With those words, the Eureka City Council, in part, laid the basis for returning a portion of Indian Island (Tuluwat) to the Wiyot Tribe. The resolution acknowledged "the intolerable historical injustices suffered by the Wiyot people on Tuluwat and elsewhere."
Indeed, Tuluwat is a black mark on the history of the North Coast. It was the last Saturday of February in 1860 when a small band of white men, known to have been landowners and businessmen, used axes, clubs and knives to slaughter between 60 and 200 women, children and elders. Now, 144 years later, the city of Eureka resolves that "Tuluwat will return as a tribal gathering place for all Wiyot people."
The brutal massacre ended centuries of ceremonial dancing and celebrations. U.S. troops gathered the surviving Wiyot people and confined them to the Klamath River Reservation. Over the years, they were moved to other areas. They ceased performing their ceremonies and speaking their language; their culture was almost completely forgotten.
Today, there are more than 300 enrolled members of the Wiyot Tribe struggling to restore their culture and identity. The action taken by the city of Eureka is a big step in helping the members of the Wiyot Tribe reclaim what never should have been taken from them. The City Council, staff and audience all rose for an emotional standing ovation after the council passed the resolution. A few people shed tears of joy.
It will never erase history. History should not be rewritten. It should serve as a reminder of the past and help aim us in the right direction for the future.


The Sinkyones, World Renewal and the Flood
From: Humboldt Redwoods State Park: The Complete Guide, Rohde & Rohde, Miles and Miles, Eureka, Ca 1992 pp. 78-79
“The Sinkyones word for their highest deity meant” the great traveler.” The name was so sacred that it was seldom spoken aloud; instead the deity was usually called “That Man” or something similar. Shortly before he died, Jack Woodman told a story about this figure.
According to Woodman, each year That Man appeared to the Sinkyones shaman and told him when and where to hold the tribe’s dance for world renewal. The shaman then informed the chief, who in turn notified the rest of the people. When the time for the dance came, the families moved to a campground outside a special brush enclosure. After some preliminary ceremonies inside the enclosure, the shaman told the story of That Man who
‘ …made this world and patted it down so that everything would stay in place. But bad men were not satisfied and tore it down, tore up the ocean banks, tore up the trees, tore down the mountains. Since that time we have had sing and dance every year to make it right again.’
Then the songs and dances commenced, lasting three or four hours and resuming on each of the next few nights.
One time That Man visited Woodman. He told Jack that he had come over Elk Ridge, which lay southwest of Bull Creek, and had seen where the white men had peeled tanbark. “It looks just like my people lying around,” That Man said, “lying around with all their skin cut off.”
According to Jack, that Man “looked, he looked, he looked once more and hung his head. He was sad, sad, and he would not look again, he felt so grieved.” That Man also “saw men breaking rocks and plowing up grass. He saw all things leaving and going back to where they came from.” Then That Man told Jack that he “wanted to make another freshet from the ocean – make everybody die so the world would come back as it used to be.” Jack argued with That Man, telling him “don’t do that,” until finally nothing more was said about it.
Jack Woodman died in 1929. By then the Sinkyone world renewal dance was no longer danced. The white people who had taken over the tribe’s territory continued plowing the grass and harvesting the tanbark. In 1937 a “freshet” swept the area, followed by even bigger ones in 1955 and 1964. They washed with a vengeance over the old Indian lands, wiping out much of what the whites had grown and built. The Sinkyones were long since gone, and there wasn’t anyone left to tell That Man not to bring the floods.”

Commentary:
Sometimes reading creates its own coincidences, like this one last night. Lolangkok was our regional tribe for MMC. There are some stone artifacts but the land has been so disturbed it is about impossible to say what was there before. Salmon and steelhead had filled the creek. Tanoak was the mainstay of the diet, with managed groves. Aerial photos from the forties of large tracts of large Douglas fir reflect tanbarking as release cutting, and Native selective management of tanbark for food ending. In other areas we see management for Oregon white oak acorns. South and southwest slopes with little or no Douglas fir or side pressure growing into huge round crowns and very short trunks with large acorns. Fungi that attack the wood of this tree are mycorhizzial with Douglas fir. Clean management of the floor was the only way to protect the oaks. Regular meadow burning prevented dead wood buildup, food source for fungi, killed off the host Douglas fir which feeds the armillaria, interrupted insect breeding schedules, and provided abundances of shoots and other necessary woodland resources. Many examples of this unrecognized silviculture remain in the Eastern parts of the county. This is the exact type of thing JR Smith warns of in ‘Tree Crops’, to be aware of- generations of selection and work about to disappear before acorns are recognized as an important crop, and opportunities for men with their eyes open.