LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Oct. 14, 2001, Gov. Gray Davis signed Senate Bill 41, which requires new educational information and materials be introduced in California school to boost California Indian culture and history.
As a fourth grade teacher I applauded these efforts. It wasn’t all that long ago that textbooks ignored this important, and vast subject – California Indians.
Unless a teacher took great pains to enhance the curriculum with outside sources, it appeared that California Indians ceased to exist after the end of the 19th century.
Some of the Indian tribes of what we now call Lake County included the Pomo, Miwok, Patwin, Yuki and Wappo Indians.
Wappo Indian territory included southern Middletown, the valley of the Napa River by Yountville, the base of the Sonoma Valley, also near the Geysers and Geyserville/Russian River area.
It is more than likely that they traveled to Clear Lake, as well as the Pacific Coast during the summer months, as there was a Wappo fishing village at the south shore of Clear Lake, near Soda Bay. Some of the Wappo probably made annual summer excursions to the Pacific Ocean as well.
The name “Wappo” is said to have come from the Spanish word, “guapo” – which in some usages means brave – a name given to them in Mission era time.
No one can be sure just how large their numbers were initially, but by 1908 there were, sadly, only 40 Wappo counted.
Wappo belongs to a small family of languages including Coast Yuki, Yuki, and Huchnom. Wappo has always stood as a separate language, being the most unique, or different of the four.
Laura Somersal, the last speaker of the Wappo language felt that “c o-noma” might have been the origin of the name for Sonoma. It meant “abandoned camp.”
The archaeology of Napa Valley shows occupation from about 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. They may have been the first settlers after the people of the Borax Lake complex.
Archaeologists wonder about the division of the Wappo language by Pomo land from other languages to which it is related.
Did the Pomo interrupt and separate the Wappo, or did a group of Yukian speakers migrate? The evidence is scarce, but seems to lean toward migration.
They were probably always in the minority, and it appears that they got along well with the people around them.
One of the few known exceptions to their generally nonviolent reputation among the other tribes was the Wappo-Pomo war.
The Wappo seemingly attacked the Alexander Valley Pomo, which had carried off some Wappo supplies of acorn – an important food staple. Unfortunately, because of the two attacks, an unspecified amount of Pomo were killed.
The Pomo sought after peace, which was readily established, but the Pomo never returned to their Alexander Valley villages.
Other times of retaliation occurred during the Mission era, when Napa Valley Wappo fought bitterly against the Spanish.
They fought to keep their lifeways, but many were kidnapped to work the missions. Some were held at the mission at Sonoma between 1823 and 1834.
Another time of altercation occurred because of a disagreement over the Cole and Kelsey creeks fishing rights that ended in the Wappos using their digging sticks to create a diversion of the creeks near their mouth.
Somersal related a story about a gathering of Indians in the Russian River area who had decided to leave, for good, their permanent homes, for a great religious gathering.
As their numbers swelled, and the amount of Indians gathering became “too great,” the army was called in to disperse, or drive off the Indians, They fled to Clear Lake. Among this group was Somersal’s grandmother.
A Wappo village, like many other tribal villages, was usually conveniently located on a creek or near other water sources. Their village included one or two sweat houses.
Their chief could be elected, or chosen for any given position. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be more than one chief at a time. In Wappo society a woman could become a chief as well as a man could.
The chief had four main tasks: assuring dealings with other villages, both in times of peace and strife; domestic functioning of the village; ceremonies; and dispersing news. The position of chief was held until death.
In the Wappo culture, the birth of a baby was followed by one of the most complex customs to be found in North America.
For at least four days both the baby’s parents were confined to their beds, under strict taboos whose purpose was to secure the welfare of the child.
The games played by those of the Wappo tribe were like those of the Pomo: the game of shinny, the grass game, dice, and a variety of guessing games, and games involving comparisons of the players’ strength and physical prowess.
Homes of the Wappo included grass huts over poles. Each house had a door and a smoke hole. If more than one family shared a dwelling, there was a smoke hole for each family living there.
Tools utilized by the Wappo included wedges, fire drills and axes. There were tools to scrape animal skins, and there were shells and baskets for dishes.
Wappo Indians were known as skilled basketmakers, having been influenced by the master basket weavers, the Pomo.
The Wappo, like other tribes used clamshell bead money, and magnesite cylinders were in use both for money and decoration.
Exceptional qualities of the Wappo included both their humbleness and kindness in spirit. They greatly loved their children, and had a tendency to spoil them. Children were usually raised by any senior female relative.
They dearly loved their lands and families; however, property ownership per se was not held as a concept. It was believed that if someone owned something, then it was at the expense of someone else.
Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.
Lake County Time Capsule: The Wappo Indians
- Kathleen Scavone
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