The Indians of the Coast

If anyone has input, either text form or photographic form, I would welcome the information to place on this site. I do not attempt to show fact or fiction. I place the information on the pages and let the viewer decide the validity of the text.

I take input and will consider any request to add information or delete information if in error...

Tolowa People

The Tolowa people have called Northwestern California home for thousands of years. Today, Native American people play a vital role in the life of Del Norte County.

When native people were the only residents of this region, there were three distinct Tolowa communities in the region: the He-nag-gi, living along the lower Smith River; the Tolí-o-wa, living around Lake Earl; and the Ta-ta-ten, living in the Crescent City area along Pebble Beach and Point St. George. Today the Tolowa people manage the Smith River Racheria and the Elk Valley Racheria.

Language

S aving Sounds
Tolowa

Speaking Out and Saving Sounds to keep Native Tongues Alive

By John Schwartz

When Loren Bommelyn speaks his last words, Tolowa could all but die with him. He's one of a handful of people who speaks the American Indian language fluently. Although there might be 2,000 Tolowa left, the only other native speakers are in their twilight years. Bommelyn recalled looking around as a child and realizing that others his age weren't learning Tolowa. "In my mind I saw a big heavy stone door, and it was closing real slowly," Bommelyn said. "It had only two or three inches to be shut on the language."

Bommelyn taught himself Tolowa. There were no classes, no teachers; he recalled pestering his elders about tenses and vocabulary: " 'How would you say this? How would you express this thought?' I knew that when they left - it's an oral tradition - it's gone."

Preserving Culture

Bommelyn teaches high school in the Northern California town of Crescent City and offers an elective course in Tolowa language. "My goal is not to make [the students] fluent," he said, but to show them the beauty of their language and culture; "If I give them that sense, I think I have accomplished something."

This page will depict the Native American, in particular, the Tribes of the Northern California and Southern Oregon Coast. Most of the photographs we have are Black and White with some color pictures borrowed from various books. We have captured old photographs on video and then grabbed images from that video to place on this page. We intend to place as much information as possible on this page to identify what the photographs depict. We will credit the images we use as to ownership and or copyrite laws. The majority of the old photographs belong to us and you are free to copy and use for your personal use. Any other use, prior written permission is needed.

Indian Baby Basket

It was believed that a person must not carry a baby on the right arm. The child should always be carried with it’s head resting on the left arm where the knott (Elbow) is, or the owl (Taquich) would take the baby high into the mountains and parent would never see the baby again.

The baby was usually carried in a baby basket (Nawaws), with a carrying strap fastened under the basket and over the mother’s forehead. The ends of the strap were woven together to form a band.

The baby in the basket was on the mother’s back facing from her. Once the baby was placed on the mothers back, the mother would not see it again until the basket was taken off. Indian babies were very comfortable in this position and seldom cried.

They are placed in the basket in a sitting position with their hands and arms wrapped down to their sides, then they were safely secured by being tied in with raw hide ties going back and forth like lacing a shoe.

The baby basket was of willow stick and the tight binding around the rim of the basket was made of spruce roots, that were gathered in the spring along the river banks.

The basket had to have a string of bead work that went across the top of the basket that was decorated with beads or what ever they deemed would bring the baby luck. Baskets always had something there as it was believed it be bad luck otherwise. The basket also came with a sunshade that was woven of the same material and could be attached to keep the sun out.

Sweat House

The native word for sweat house was " Tcimaha". The sweat house played a special role in Indian life. It was made of heavily planked siding and roof to hold the heat and was constructed partially underground.

This structure was almost always located near a body of water. Single men and boys slept there and used it somewhat like a clubhouse or school.

The sweat house was also used as a place to treat many of the common illnesses and ailments. An ill person desiring treatment would enter, close the door and lie or sit beside a brisk fire. When the perspiration started to flow freely, he would scrape some from his body and would then go out and jump in the nearby stream or lake to bathe.

General Information
Clothing/Value System

The coastal people have been considered the cultural heart of Northwestern California. Their social organization was generally family centered, with great emphasis upon wealth for the establishment of social position.

Dentalium shells traded from tribes to the North were especially prized as a medium of exchange, although the smaller shells were used for decorative purposes. Dentalium was strung together with fibers of "Cholo Nenap", a weed that is very strong and fine. It was also used to string beads, nuts and shells as well.

Dentalium (a tooth shaped shell) was valued by their length and the size of the shells. The usual string extended from the thumb to the shoulder and would average twenty five to thirty inches in length. The shells on each string were about the same size.

In the 1800’s, a string of that size was worth about $20.00 in white man’s money. Some of the shells were carved and therefore worth a little more.

Other Forms of Exchange

White deer skins, large blades of obsidian and flint, blankets, furs, tobacco and other such items were highly valued. Possession of such property in quantity established a man’s status in is community. Men of wealth confirmed their status and enhanced the position of their children by paying large sums for their wives. A divorce could be accomplished simply by repayment to the husband. Persons who became indebted and who were unable to pay or whose family was unable to redeem them, might become the slave of the creditor.

Clothing

Clothing with the Coastal Indians was simple. Women were inclined to wear a buckskin apron often fringed with shells or pine nuts. Their capability in basket making was demonstrated in finely woven, snugly fitting hats. Men might wear a folded deer skin or in warm weather go naked. (This was not uncommon in warm weather).

Housing

Although the "plank" design may look like it was borrowed from European houses, it was not. There are Indian plank homes that date back many many hundreds of years associated with various local Northern California Tribes including Karuk, Yurok, Tolowa, and Hupa. The structures were partially set below ground with a round (sometimes rectangle) doorway set above ground level. There was a ledge or shelf that ran around the interior of the home at ground level, and a pit dug below ground level in the center of the home. Smaller plank houses were made for use as sweathouses.

People

These photographs are of a Tolowa man (left) and Tolowa tatooing (right).

The TOLOWA or SMITH RIVER, an Athabascan tribe, occupied the Smith River drainage and some of the nearby coast in the extreme northeastern corner of California. Linguistically they were closer to the Rogue River tribes to the north than to their relatives to the south. They resided in permanent villages along the coast in winter, and in late summer they moved inland for salmon and acorns. Their house types were low peaked redwood plank dwellings with gable end entrances. Tolowa society was dominated by acquisition of wealth, usually dentalium shells, obsidian blades and woodpecker scalps. Ceremonialism associated with the taking of the first salmon and sea lion suggests that they belonged with the northern Californian 'World Renewal' complex of the Karok, Yurok and Hupa type. The overland explorations of Jebediah Smith were their first contacts with whites, and intensive white settlement of this region came after 1850. They probably numbered more than 1,000 in pre-contact times; but the census of 1910 gave only 121 Tolowa, a result of diseases and numerous attacks by whites on their settlements. Two small reserves (called 'rancherias' in California), at Crescent City and Smith River, Del Norte County, California have been home for some Tolowa descendants, reported as numbering 37 and 113 respectively in 1945.

"CHETCO, An Athabaskan people of the mouth of the Chetco River, just North of the Smith River Tolowa and South of present day Brookings, Oregon. They lived in wooden plank houses and were closely allied to the Tolowa to the south. They aided other 'Coast Rogue' Indians in the general resistance of 1853-1856, and were moved north to the Siletz Reservation, where they numbered only nine in 1910.

Above: Three generations of Tolowa women of Yontocket village wearing their traditional dress (Del Norte County, California). left to right: Mary Grimes (daughter of Lizzie), Clara Grimes La Fountain (daughter of Lizzie) Lizzie (seis-do-tes-na) Grimes (Mother of Mary and Clara, survivor of the Tolowa Massacre at five years old.), Bertha Grimes (young daughter of Clara, grand daughter of Lizzie)

Reservation

The Smith River Indians did not make their home on what is now known as the Reservation, but in scattered places.

They had homes on the bluff overlooking the mouth of the Smith River and later on the island not far from the mouth. Some of them lived at the Lagoon which is now known as Lake Earl and others stayed at Burnt Ranch, the Pala place.

Grace Hight writing in the Centennial edition of the Del Norte Triplicate in 1954 said some Indians had homes and even their burial grounds on the island not far from the mouth of the river until 1906 when they had to leave because the island was being washed away gradually by the high waters of the river during the heavy storms of that year.

The question then arose as to the acquisition of new land. Some property was offered near Elk Valley, but this land had been logged off and was not considered suitable.

Another place offered was land belonging to the late William Westbrook. This land was accepted by the government and is the "reservation" to this day. The Indians chose this land because they were happier near the ocean and beaches where they could get so much of their food. It is said that they knew they would never go hungry as long as they had their beaches and their beloved Smith River.

This tribe was known as the "How-an-Quots."

Thus, "How-an Quotee" was the name of the place they lived and this term means "little valley at the foot of a mountain."

This site and all of its contents, images and code are copyrighted 2002/2003 to CND Marketing Group & Design & CMW Enterprises unless otherwise stated. All Rights Reserved. Designed by the CND Marketing Group/CND Marketing and Design in association with CoffeeHouse Productions.