The eleven bands of the Pit River Tribe originally spoke two related languages, nine of them speaking Achumawi and two speaking Atsugewi (Atsuge and Apwaruke). They are closely related and are classified as the Palaihnihan family of languages, with uncertain external relations.[1]
Most members of the tribe now speak English. Achumawi is critically endangered, and Atsugewi is extinct.[5][6][7]
The tribe conducts business from Burney, California.[1] They were officially recognized as a tribe in 1976 and ratified their constitution in 1987. Each of the eleven bands is represented in the tribal council.[8]
Constitution of the Pit River Tribe and claims
In August 1964, a Constitution was formally adopted by the Pit River Tribe. The Preamble states:
"... for the purpose of securing our Rights and Powers inherent in our Sovereign status as reinforced by the laws of the United States, developing and protecting Pit River (Ajumawi - Atsugewi) ancestral lands and all other resources, preserving peace and order in our community, promoting the general welfare of our people and our descendants, protecting the rights of the Tribe and of our members, and preserving our land base, culture and identity, ..."[10]
While the Pit River group originally filed a separate land claims, after the Indian Claims Commission was created in 1946, the Pit River tribe was encouraged in 1963 to participate in the larger claims—Indians of California vs U. S. – but ultimately there was disharmony within the tribe and they rejected their monetary award.[11]
History
Map of the Pit River course and watershed in northeastern California. The Pit is a tributary of the Sacramento River
Overview of Some Prehistoric and Historic Events and Periods:
Approximately 200 AD: New technology, the bow and arrow, is introduced into the Pit River area.
Pre-1800 - Pit River bands of indigenous natives were living in abundance for thousands of years. For thousands of years, numerous indigenous villages were situated around and along Achoma (the Pit River) and out onto the surrounding plains, hills, mountains, and valleys. The people utilized the natural resources of their land to the fullest. In addition to harvesting deer, salmon, trout, rabbit, birds, and other small mammals, they often moved around their territory and gathered acorns, roots, herbs, and fruits, as each came into their season.
Before the European-American immigration, the Native Americans of the Pit River region were thriving. The eleven bands in the region had similarities and differences in their language and ways. Some downriver bands lived in simple pit houses in small familial villages along Achoma (aka, the Pit River). They led a somewhat nomadic life, following opportunities to harvest foods from the rich resources of this valley, and ready to move to higher ground when the creeks and rivers flooded in the rainy season. Archaeological evidence and some information collected by ethnographers in the early 1900s gives only minimal details of the thriving culture and communities that existed in the vast Pit River territory.
Pit River artists and craftspeople apparently used both basalt and much obsidian from Glass Mountain to make tools and weapons. Obsidian arrowheads and obsidian flakes from tool-making have been found all over the valley from the river banks to the hillsides and high in mountain hunting camp areas.
1827-1830s - European-American/Canadian fur trappers and explorers began passing through the Pit River area
1830s - Many Pit River natives died from imported disease epidemics.
1848 - California became part of U.S.A. through Treaty of Hidalgo with Mexico (in 1850 California became a state).
1849- Gold Rush begins, bringing a new huge wave of migrants into California, many of whom were ruthless abusers and murderers of Indian people.
1851-53 - U.S. Congress and California Legislature created various laws that deny Indians of land rights and effectively extinguished all aboriginal title in the state, paving the way for continued genocide and land theft, with no treaties or protections for the Pit River Indians.
1850s and 1860s: The movement of white emigrants into Pit River territory caused more and more Pit River displacement and changes to the environment. The emigrants often had no respect for the delicate balance of nature, grazing their cattle and horses in prime hunting and gathering areas. A steady flow of emigrants arrived determined to occupy Pit River land and began the process of confiscating and fencing off the land.
1850s - European-American immigrant expansion interest and activity in Pit River region began. USA government, military forces, and settlers invaded, attacked, displaced, and killed the majority of Pit River Indians, with no treaties or compensation made for land seized.
Regionally (intensifying in the mid 1850s), the European invaders ruthlessly and tragically destroyed most of the Pit River natives, and their way of life. The Pit Rivers (and virtually all California indigenous bands) were repeatedly abused, killed, and brutally massacred, as the invaders raided village after village in countless incidents, including some more well-known battles, such as the "Wintoon War" and the "Pit River War"...
Here is one account of some of those ruthless attacks: "War was declared on the Indians in 1858. General William Kibbe and Captain I. G. Messec led military and civilian soldiers against the Indians from Trinity County all the way to the Fall River Valley. These soldiers were known as Kibbe's Guards and were ruthless, efficient Indian killers." Many Indians surrendered under the threat of death or starvation, others were captured, untold numbers were killed, and their villages and food supplies were destroyed in the battles.
In 1859, 700 captured Pit River Indians were forcibly taken to the Round Valley Reservation in Mendocino County for internment. The number of soldiers reported killed in the attacks varies; one account mentions 25, while another mentions 90. The main war ended in 1859. Although the vast majority of Pit River Indians had been killed or forcibly moved out of the area, some remained, hidden away, and over 500 of those who were sent away eventually returned to their homeland, only to find white settlers taking over more and more property.
By 1868, the US Army under General George Crook took control of many upriver Achoma areas. Many stories of brutal massacres and senseless racist killings of Pit River people have been handed down through the oral tradition. The Pit River area was also impacted by economic factors. Government timber land went on sale in 1878, and allowed the purchase of up to 160 acres at $2.50 an acre. Outlying areas were victim to a speculative boom as a result, and large tracts of land passed into private hands. The area was subsequently heavily logged. The over-harvesting of timber in Big Bend region remains an ecological problem today. Most of the once vast and diverse forests in the area have been destroyed by clear-cutting and other industrial logging practices and replaced by tree farms.
The arrival of European-American settlers and the occupation of the Pit River territories disrupted the safety of the Pit River people and their traditional food supply. The Pit River people never signed a treaty with the United States or the State of California; their land was simply illegally confiscated. Many "Pit Rivers" were displaced against their will, and some were murdered for their land. Some returned or resettled nearby when they could, but countless people were cut off from their extended families and their traditional food sources. Into the 1900s, many Pit River people survived in poverty and some were hired out as ranch hands, mill workers, forestry workers, and other forms of manual labor.
In 1974, the Pitt River tribe claimed almost one million acres of land that was then held by Pacific Gas & Electric Co, Southern Pacific Railroad, the Hearst Corporation, the Los Angeles Times, and four other companies. However, despite the judge presiding over the case agreeing that the Pit River tribe had not received justice and that the loss of land was wrong, rejected the case.[12]
Today, the Pit River people continue to live in what is now called Shasta County, as well as throughout the West. Some continue to hunt and gather in their traditional places, and pray at their sacred sites throughout their homeland. They are a federally recognized tribe (headquarters located in Burney, CA) with a tribal council that includes representation of each of the eleven bands making up the Pit River Nation. The tribe operates several "Rancheria" and allotment "satellite" reservations, a casino, a gas station and convenience store, and a large commercial cannabis growing facility which was raided by US and California drug agents in July 2015.
Ethnobotany
They would use amelanchier to create a sort of body armor, the wood was made into a heavy robe or overcoat and corset armor and used for fighting.[13] Members of the Pit River tribe would also sell taxus brevifolia to the Ukiah.[14]
The bulbs dug from meadows and acorns from oaks were an important source of food. A ground up form of these plants were stored for winter use.
Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park is a state park of California in the United States. It is located in remote northeastern Shasta County and is only accessible to the public by boat.
Achomawi are the northerly nine bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands of the Pit River Indians historically spoke slightly different dialects of one common language, and the other two bands spoke dialects of a related language, called Atsugewi. The name "Achomawi" means river people and properly applies to the band which historically inhabited the Fall River Valley and the Pit River from the south end of Big Valley Mountains, westerly to Pit River Falls. The nine bands of Achumawi lived on both sides of the Pit River from its origin at Goose Lake to Montgomery Creek, and the two bands of Atsugewi lived south of the Pit River on creeks tributary to it in the Hat Creek valley and Dixie Valley.
The Atsugewi are Native Americans residing in northeastern California, United States. Their traditional lands are near Mount Shasta, specifically the Pit River drainage on Burney, Hat, and Dixie Valley or Horse Creeks. They are closely related to the Achomawi and consisted of two groups. The Atsugé traditionally are from the Hat Creek area, and the Apwaruge are from the Dixie Valley. They lived to the south of the Achomawi.
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range.
The Achumawi language is the indigenous language spoken by the Pit River people in the northeast corner of present-day California. The term Achumawi is an anglicization of the name of the Fall River band, ajúmmááwí, from ajúmmá "river". Originally there were nine bands, with dialect differences primarily between upriver and downriver, demarcated by the Big Valley mountains east of the Fall River valley.
Atsugewi is a recently extinct Palaihnihan language of northeastern California spoken by the Atsugewi people of Hat Creek and Dixie Valley. In 1962, there were four fluent speakers out of an ethnic group of 200, all elderly; the last of them died in 1988. The last fluent native speaker was Medie Webster; as of 1988, other tribal members knew some expressions in the language. For a summary of the documentation of Atsugewi see Golla.
Palaihnihan is a language family of northeastern California. It consists of two closely related languages, both now extinct:
The Shastan peoples are a group of linguistically related Indigenous peoples from the Klamath Mountains. They traditionally inhabited portions of several regional waterways, including the Klamath, Salmon, Sacramento and McCloud rivers. Shastan lands presently form portions of the Siskiyou, Klamath and Jackson counties. Scholars have generally divided the Shastan peoples into four languages, although arguments in favor of more or fewer existing have been made. Speakers of Shasta proper-Kahosadi, Konomihu, Okwanuchu, and Tlohomtah’hello "New River" Shasta resided in settlements typically near a water source. Their villages often had only either one or two families. Larger villages had more families and additional buildings used by the community.
The Redding Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe with a reservation in Shasta County, Northern California. The 31-acre site (13 ha) of the Redding Rancheria was purchased in 1922 by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in order to provide Indigenous peoples with a place to camp and live. They had been made landless by European-American settlers in the area. Three groups of Native Americans in the area organized as a tribe and were recognized in 1979.
The Pitt River Expedition is a series of expeditions in the U.S. state of California in the 1850s. The expeditions are named for the Pit River, one of many tributaries of the Sacramento River, and the Pitt River Indians. The expeditions were part of the larger American Indian Wars and took place during the California Gold Rush.
The Redwood Valley Rancheria is a federally recognized Indian tribe located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California. The tribe is primarily composed of Pomo Indians. Redwood Valley Rancheria is a sovereign Indian tribe with the powers of self-governance.
The Alturas Indian Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Achomawi Indians in California. The tribe controls a 20-acre (81,000 m2) reservation near Alturas, California, in Modoc County. Tribal enrollment is estimated at 15. The tribe operates the Desert Rose Casino and the Rose Cafe in Alturas. The reservation lies about one mile southeast of downtown Alturas.
The Potter Valley Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo people in Mendocino County, California. They were previously known as the Little River Band of Pomo Indians and Potter Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California. The tribe is descended from the first-known inhabitants of the valley, which the Pomo called Ba-lo Kai. Europeans first settled there, at the headwaters of the East Fork of the Russian River, in 1852.
The XL Ranch is an Indian reservation located in Modoc County, north of Burney, California.
The Likely Rancheria is a federal Indian reservation belonging to the Pit River Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California. The ranchería is located in Modoc County in northern California.
The Lookout Rancheria is a federal Indian reservation belonging to the Pit River Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California. The ranchería is located in Modoc County in northern California.
The Montgomery Creek Rancheria is a federal Indian reservation belonging to members of the Pit River Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California. The ranchería is located in Shasta County in northern California.
The Roaring Creek Rancheria is a federal Indian reservation belonging to Achumawi and Atsugewi members of the Pit River Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California. The ranchería is located in Shasta County in north-central California.
The California Indian Wars were a series of wars, battles, and massacres between the United States Army, and the Indigenous peoples of California. The wars lasted from 1850, immediately after Alta California, acquired during the Mexican–American War, became the state of California, to 1880 when the last minor military operation on the Colorado River ended the Calloway Affair of 1880.
The Madesi tribe are an Indigenous group of Native Americans who once thrived in the Big Bend region of the Pit River in northeastern California of the United States, the most down-stream section of the Pit River (Ajumma) in the Pit River Tribal territory. They are one of nine autonomous bands of the Pit River Tribe who spoke dialects of the Achumawi language or more commonly "Pit River Talk". The other two bands of the Pit River Tribe speak dialects of a second, distinct but related language, called by anthropologists Atsugewi. The historic homeland of the other eight bands that share the Achumawi language extended to Goose Lake. On the south side of the Pit River the Atsugewi language group consisted of two distinct bands living in the Hat Creek Valley and Dixie Valley.
References
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN978-0-19-513877-1
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