Whilkut
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Hupa (Whilkut dialect) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Hupa people, Chilula |
The Whilkut (variants: Whiylqit, Hwilʼ-kut, Hoilkut, Hoilkut-hoi) also known as "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians" or "Mad River Indians" were a Pacific Coast Athabaskan tribe speaking a dialect similar to the Hupa to the northeast and Chilula to the north, who inhabited the area on or near the Upper Redwood Creek and along the Mad River except near its mouth (with the North Fork Mad River), up to Iaqua Butte, and some settlement in Grouse Creek in the Trinity River drainage in Northwestern California, before contact with Europeans.
Traditional Whilkut territory included most of Redwood Creek from Board Camp Mountain north to Tall Trees Grove. It extended across the Bald Hills to hunting camps in the Roach Creek and Robbers Gulch drainages and into the North Fork Mad River drainage, where Whilkut villages and fishing camps were located near Riverside, Korbel, and Camp Bauer. The lowermost section of Redwood Creek was Yurok territory.[1]
Subdivisions
[edit]Earlier anthropologists divided the Whilkut and neighboring peoples into four groups:
- the Chilula Whilkut (Lower Redwood Indians) (by Goddard and Kroeber the ″Chilula Whilkut″ would occupy essentially the territory assigned to the Chilula and are considered a separate tribe called Chilula)
- the Kloki Whilkut / Prairie Whilkut' (Tłʼo꞉qʼ-xwe / Xontehł-xwe - "Prairie People" or Tłʼo꞉qʼ Xwiy¬qʼit - "Prairie Whilkut", also: "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians"; about 12 villages along Upper Redwood Creek)
- the Mad River Whilkut (Me꞉w-yinaq / Me꞉w-yinuq, Mawenok - "underneath - upstream", also: "Mad River Indians"; about 16 villages along Mad River, Maple Creek and Boulder Creek), and
- the North Fork (Mad River) Whilkut (also: "Blue Lake Whilkut", about six villages along North Fork Mad River and in Blue Lake area (Yitseʼni-xohchʼindił-ding).[2]
This classification has been disputed. Linguist Edward Sapir argued that “Chilula” and “Whilkut” referred to a single people who spoke the same dialect of Hupa; he interpreted differences in access to Hupa ceremonies as local privileges rather than tribal or linguistic divisions. Rohde likewise treats the Mawenok as a distinct neighboring people rather than a Whilkut subgroup.[3]
Known Whilkut villages: chʼiłqʼun-ding, mił-tehschʼe꞉-meʼ.
The common tribal name as "Whilkut" is an adaption from the Hupa name for the Redwood Creek respectively the Redwood Ridge / Bald Hills as Xwiy¬[clarification needed]qʼit / Xwe꞉ył-qʼit / Xoył-qʼit.
The Whilkut (together with Chilula) were called by the neighboring Hupa-speaking peoples Xwiy¬[clarification needed]qʼit-xwe / Xwe꞉yłqʼit-xwe ("Redwood Ridge / Bald Hills People"), therefore they were also known as (Upper) Redwood Creek Indians. Because of their close Hupa kin they are also called Upper Redwood Creek Hupa or Upstream Redwood Creek Hupa.
History
[edit]In the 1850s, commercial pack routes from Humboldt Bay to inland mining districts were built through Whilkut territory. Ranchers occupied portions of Redwood Creek and the Bald Hills; elk were killed in large numbers to supply mining camps, and cattle were introduced onto the prairies. During the Bald Hills War, the Whilkut joined the Tsnungwe and Mawenok in resisting settlers and military forces.[4]
By June 1864, the remaining fifteen members of Curley-headed Tom's band had surrendered and moved to Hoopa Valley. Under the 1864 peace agreement, nearly all remaining Whilkut relocated to Hoopa Valley, although the Hill family remained at Noledin in the Bald Hills until 1888. Some Whilkut later returned to T'chil-khan'-ting on Redwood Creek.[5]
William J. Wallace estimated an earlier Whilkut population of approximately 500 people.[6] Only 50 full-blooded Whilkuts were counted in the 1910 census[7], in addition to 26 mixed-blood individuals. In 1972 only a remnant was left, perhaps only 20 to 25 individuals.[8]
Whilkut descendants have since been incorporated into the Hupa:
- Hoopa Valley Tribe[9] (Hoopa, Humboldt County, Population 2013: 3.139) (Hupa, Tsnungwe, Chimalakwe, Chilula, Whilkut)
- Blue Lake Rancheria[10] (Blue Lake, Humboldt County, Population 2010: 58) (Wiyot, Yurok, Hupa, Whilkut)
References
[edit]- ↑ Rohde, Jerry (2025). Northern Humboldt Indians: History of Humboldt County People and Places. The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt. pp. 280–282. ISBN 978-1-962081-28-3.
- ↑ California Athabascan Groups
- ↑ Rohde, Jerry (2025). Northern Humboldt Indians: History of Humboldt County People and Places. The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt. pp. 280–284. ISBN 978-1-962081-28-3.
- ↑ Rohde, Jerry (2025). Northern Humboldt Indians: History of Humboldt County People and Places. The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt. pp. 279–285. ISBN 978-1-962081-28-3.
- ↑ Rohde, Jerry (2025). Northern Humboldt Indians: History of Humboldt County People and Places. The Press at Cal Poly Humboldt. pp. 324–325. ISBN 978-1-962081-28-3.
- ↑ Wallace, William J. (1978). "Hupa, Chilula, and Whilkut". In Heizer, Robert F. (ed.). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 8: California. Smithsonian Institution. pp. 178–179.
- ↑ Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California, p. 141
- ↑ Robert Heizer, William C. Sturtevant, Handbook of North American Indians: California, Volume 3; Government Printing Office, Washington, 1978; Whilkut, pp. 178-179
- ↑ "Hoopa Valley Tribe". Archived from the original on 2020-08-26. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
- ↑ "Blue Lake Rancheria". Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-08-23.
Further reading
[edit]- Alfred Louis Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California, Volume 1, Kessinger Publishing, 2006, pp. 123, 141.
- Hupa, Chilula, and Whilkut by William J. Wallace from Robert Heizer, William C. Sturtevant, Handbook of North American Indians: California, Volume 3, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1978, pp. 178-179
See also
[edit]
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