ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 16:5 CALIFORNIA ATHABASCAN GROUPS BY MARTIN A. BAUMHOFF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY AND LOS ANGELES 1958 CALIFORNIA ATHABASCAN GROUPS BY MARTIN A. BAUMHOFF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. i6, No.5 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Editors (Berkeley): J. H. Rowe, R. F. Heizer, R. F. Murphy, E. Norbeck Volume 16, No. 5, pp. 157-238, plates 9-11, 2 figures in text, 18 maps Submitted by editors May 6, 1957 Issued August 1, 1958 Price, $1.50 University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles California Cambridge University Press London, England Manufactured in the United States of America PREFACE In March, 1950, the University of California assumed custodianship of an extensive collection of original and secondary data referring to California Indian ethnology, made by Dr. C. Hart Merriam and originally deposited with the Smithsonian Institution. Since that time the Merriam collection has been consulted by qualified persons inter- ested in linguistics, ethnogeography, and other specialized subjects. Some of the data have been published, the most substantial publication being a book, Studies of California Indians (1955), which comprises essays and original records written or collected by Dr. Merriam. The selection and editing of the material for the Studies volume made us aware of the extent of the detailed information on ethnogeography which a thorough survey of the Merriam data would provide. We therefore approached Dr. Leonard Carmichael, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, with the proposal that a qualified graduate student be appointed as research assistant to study and prepare for publication a discrete amount of Merriam record material, remuneration for this work to be paid from the E. H. Harriman fund, administered by the Smithsonian Institution for prepa- ration and publication of Dr. Merriam's ethnological data. This proposal was approved, and Mr. Martin Baumhoff began his one year of investigation on September 15, 1955. After discussion, we agreed that the area where tribal distributions, village loca- tions, and aboriginal population numbers were least certainly known--and also a field where the Merriam data were fairly abundant--was the territory of the several Athabascan tribes of Northwestern California. Under our direction, Baumhoff patiently assembled all the available material on these tribes, producing what is certainly the most definitive study yet made of their distribution and numbers. In this monograph the importance of the Merriam data is central, although they are compounded with information collected by other students of the California Athabascans. We believe that the maps showing group distribution represent the closest possible approximation to the aboriginal situation that can now be arrived at. The Department of Anthropology hopes to be able to continue the work of studying and publishing the Merriam data on tribal distributions. It takes this opportunity to express its appreciation of the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution in this under- taking. A. L. Kroeber R. F. Heizer [iii] CONTENTS Page Preface .1.1.1................................. iii Introduction . 157 Athabascan culture ..... 158 Athabascan boundaries ............................ 160 Exterior boundaries .......................... 160 . Interior boundaries . 161 . Groups . 166 Kato ..... 166 . Wailaki . 167 . Pitch Wailaki . 176 . Lassik . 178 . Nongatl . 181 Sinkyone . 184 . Mattole . 195 Bear River . 200 Whilkut . 201 Hupa .................................. 209 Population . 216 Sources . 216 Estimates based on village counts .... 216 Estimates based on fish resources .... 218 Gross estimate ...... 220 Appendixes I. The Tolowa: Data from Notes of C. Hart Merriam ...... 225 II. Notes of Upper Eel River Indians, by A. L. Kroeber ... 227 Bibliography . 230 Plates ....... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 233 MAPS 1. Athabascan Boundaries--Kroeber vs. Baumhoff ............ 162 2. Athabascan Boundaries--Baumhoff ................... 162 3. Athabascan Boundaries--Merriam vs. Baumhoff .. ...... 163 4. Athabascan Boundaries--Various authors vs. Baumhoff ........ 163 5. Villages and Tribelets of the Eel Wailaki and the North Fork Wailaki . 168 6. Villages and Tribelets of the Pitch Wailaki ... ....... 177 7. Presumed Nongatl Villages in the Bridgeville Region . ...... 180 8. Lassik Villages in the Alder Point Region . 180 9. Nongatl Villages on Yager Creek .................... 182 10. Nongatl Villages in the Blocksburg Region . .............. 182 11. Villages of the Lolangkok Sinkyone ................... 186 12. Villages of the Shelter Cove Sinkyone ..190 13. Place Names of the Lolangkok Sinkyone . .192 14. Villages and Tribelets of the Mattole .................. 197 15. Villages of the Chilula Whilkut, North Fork Whilkut, and Kloki Whilkut . 204 16. Villages of the Mad River Whilkut, the South Fork Hupa, and Kloki Whilkut .. ..... 208 17. Villages of the Hupa and South Fork Hupa . ......... 211 18. Yuki "Tribes," according to Eben Tillotson (App. II) ... .......228 [v] CALIFORNIA ATHABASCAN GROUPS BY MARTIN A. BAUMHOFF INTRODUCTION In 1910 C. Hart Merriam, already well known as a body of Athabascan texts and linguistic analyses but, ex- naturalist, came to California and began the study of cept for his Life and Culture of the Hupa (1903a), almost California ethnography which was to occupy him for the nothing on the culture of the Athabascans. rest of his life. Almost every year from then until his The net result is that the California Athabascans are death in 1942 Merriam spent about six months in the virtually unknown, and Merriam's fresh data provide an field, talking to Indians and recording their memories of opportunity to piece together the available evidence. aboriginal times. All this field work resulted in an im- The Merriam files, deposited at the Department of mense collection of data on the California Indians, most Anthropology of the University of California, contain in- of which has never been published (see Merriam's bibli- formation on each of the tribes of California, some of it ography in Merriam, 1955, pp. 227-229). being information gathered by Merriam himself, the rest In 1950 the greater part of Merriam's field notes was clippings and quotations from various historic and ethno- deposited at the University of California, with the inten- graphic sources. The primary and secondary materials tion of making them available for study and publication. are easily distinguished, since Merriam gave scrupulous One volume of papers has already appeared (Merriam, citations to his sources. 1955), and the present study is part of a continuing pro- Merriam's own data consist of word lists, ethnogeo- gram. graphical material, and random notes on various aspects The California Athabascans were selected as the first of native culture. I have not used his word lists, since group for study at the suggestion of A. L. Kroeber, the their usefulness is primarily linguistic and I am not reason being that the Athabascans have been and still re- competent to perform the necessary linguistic analysis, main one of the least known aboriginal groups in theState. but all the random ethnographic notes which he recorded This is not because they were conquered early and their for the Athabascan groups are here included under the culture dissipated, as is true of the Mission Indians; discussion of the appropriate tribes. there were scarcely any whites in the California Atha- Most of the Merriam Athabascan material is geo- bascan area before the 1850's. Indeed, as late as the graphic, consisting of lists of villages and place names, 1920's and '30's there were many good Athabascan in- of descriptions and lengthy discussions of tribal bounda- formants still available. The reason for the hiatus in ries. Obviously Merriam attempted to gather a complete our knowledge lies in an accident in the history of eth- file of this sort of information, and he was largely suc- nology rather than in the history of California. cessful. His work provides a good basis for establishing The early work among the California Athabascans was boundaries and for locating tribelets and villages. done by Pliny Earle Goddard. Goddard began his studies Another important source of information, serving the of the Athabascans in 1897 at the Hoopa Indian Reserva- same purpose, is the Goddard material. Evidently tion, where he was a lay missionary. He stayed there Goddard very much enjoyed the long horseback trips he until 1900, when he went to Berkeley to work for his doc- made with an informant, who could point out the village torate in linguistics under Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Presi- sites, landmarks, and other points of interest of his dent of the University of California. Between 1900 and native territory. This information, carefully recorded 1909 Goddard was associated with the University as by Goddard, has proved extremely valuable in the present student and professor and during this time he visited the work, the more so since it represents firsthand observa- Athabascans periodically, until he had worked with virtu- tion. ally all the groups considered in this paper. Goddard's ethnogeographic work for three of the Cali- During this same period A. L. Kroeber was engaged fornia Athabascan groups has already been published in gathering material for his classic Handbook of Cali- (1914a; 1923a; 1924). Besides this, the present writer fornia Indians. Because of the scarcity of ethnographers has been fortunate enough to have