Ahwahnechee
Encyclopedia
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
. They are related to the Northern Paiute and Mono tribe
Mono tribe
The Mono are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Eastern Sierra , the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin.-Culture and geography:...
s. The Ahwahnechee people's heritage can be found all over Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
.
History
The Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley for centuries. European-American contact began after 1833. In 1851, during the Mariposa WarMariposa War
The Mariposa War was a conflict between Native Americans and miners in California that took place in the early 1850s.The Mariposa War was sparked by the 1849 California Gold Rush, the discovery of the gold forged a California Trail which forked off southward from the Oregon Trail...
, California State Militia troops of the Mariposa Battalion
Mariposa Battalion
Mariposa Battalion was a California State Militia unit formed in 1851 to fight the Yosemites and Chowchillas in the Mariposa War.After a force under Mariposa County Sheriff James Burney was found unequal to the task of defeating the Indians, Burney made an appeal to Governor John McDougal for help...
burned Ahwahnechee villages and took their food stores. In 1852, a Mariposa expedition of US Federal troops heard a report that Ahwahnechee Indians killed two European-American miners at Bridalveil Meadows. The troops executed five Ahwahnechee men.
Chief Tenaya
Chief Tenaya
Chief Tenaya was a Native American chief of the Yosemite Valley people in California.-Background:Tenaya's father was the chief of the Ahwahneechee , which means "people of the Ahwahnee" . The Ahwahneechee had become a tribe distinct from the other tribes in the area...
(d. 1853) was a leader in Yosemite Valley. His father was Ahwahnechee. He led his band away from Yosemite to settle with Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
s in eastern California. Tenaya has descendants living today.
The official canon says that the Ahwahnechee of Yosemite "became extinct" as a people in the 19th century; however, the US Federal government has evicted Yosemite Native people from the park in 1851, 1906, 1929, and 1969.
Jay Johnson, an Ahwahnechee leader in the Mariposa Indian Council, hopes to get federal reocognition for Yosemite Indians.
Plant use
The Ahwahnechee performed controlled burns in the Yosemite Valley that controlled undergrowth and maintained the oak population. Acorns were a central staple to their diet. Black oak acorns provided almost 60% of their diet.National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
naturalist, Will Neely created a list of the plants commonly used by the Ahwahnechee. Black oak, sugar pine
Sugar Pine
Pinus lambertiana, commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine, is the tallest and most massive pine, with the longest cones of any conifer...
, western juniper, canyon live oak, interior live oak
Interior Live Oak
Quercus wislizeni, known by the common names Interior Live Oak, and Sierra Live Oak, is an evergeen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in areas of California in the United States. It also occurs south into northern Baja California in Mexico...
, foothill pine, buckeye
Aesculus
The genus Aesculus comprises 13-19 species of woody trees and shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere, with 6 species native to North America and 7-13 species native to Eurasia; there are also several hybrids. Species are deciduous or evergreen...
, pinyon pine nuts
Pine nut
Pine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food....
provided acorns and seeds for food. Other plants provided smaller seeds. Mariposa tulip, Golden Brodiaea, common camas, squaw root, and Bolander's yampah provided edible bulbs and roots. Greens eaten by the Ahwahnechee included broad-leaved lupine, common monkey flower, nude buckwheat, California thistle, miner's lettuce, sorrel
Sorrel
Common sorrel or garden sorrel , often simply called sorrel, is a perennial herb that is cultivated as a garden herb or leaf vegetable...
, clover
Clover
Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes...
, umbrella plant
Umbrella Plant
The common name Umbrella Plant can refer to several unrelated species:* Cyperus alternifolius * Darmera peltata * Eriogonum longifolium var. harperi...
, crimson columbine
Crimson Columbine
Aquilegia formosa is a common and attractive wildflower native to western North America, from Alaska to Baja California, and eastward to Montana and Wyoming....
, and alum root. Strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, thimbleberry
Thimbleberry
Rubus parviflorus, commonly called thimbleberry or salmonberry, is a species of Rubus, native to western and northern North America, from Alaska east to Ontario and Michigan, and south to northern Mexico...
, wild grape
Vitis
Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce...
, gooseberry
Gooseberry
The gooseberry or ; Ribes uva-crispa, syn. R. grossularia) is a species of Ribes, native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia...
, currant, blue elderberry, western choke cherry, Sierra plum, and greenleaf manzanita provided berries and fruits.
The Ahwahnechee brewed drinks from whiteleaf manzanita and western juniper. Commonly used medicine plants included Yerba santa
Hoja santa
Hoja santa is an aromatic herb with a heart-shaped, velvety leaf which grows in tropic Mesoamerica. The name hoja santa means "sacred leaf" in Spanish...
, yarrow
Yarrow
Achillea millefolium or yarrow is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo, or "little feather", for the shape of the leaves. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in...
, giant hyssop, Brewer's angelica, sagebrush
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
, showy milkweed, mountain dogbane, balsamroot, California barberry
California barberry
Mahonia pinnata is a species of shrub in the barberry family. Common names include California barberry, wavyleaf barberry, and shinyleaf mahonia...
, fleabane
Fleabane
Fleabane is a common name for some flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.Most are in the subfamily Asteroideae:* Conyza * Erigeron * Inula...
, mint, knotweed, wild rose, meadow goldenrod, mule ears, pearly everlasting
Pearly everlasting
Anaphalis is a genus within the composite family whose members are commonly known by the name Pearly everlasting. There are around 110 species within the genus with the vast majority being native to central and southern Asia...
, and the California laurel.
The tribe used Soap plant
Soap plant
The Soap Plants, Soaproots or Amoles are the genus Chlorogalum of flowering plants. Less common names for them include Soap Lilies. They are endemic to western North America, from Oregon to Baja California, and are mostly found in California.The Soap Plants grow as perennial plants, from a bulb,...
and meadow rue to make soap. They used fibers from Mountain dogbane, showy milkweed, wild grape
Vitis
Vitis is a genus of about 60 species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus is made up of species predominantly from the Northern hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, both for direct consumption of the fruit and for fermentation to produce...
, and soap plant
Soap plant
The Soap Plants, Soaproots or Amoles are the genus Chlorogalum of flowering plants. Less common names for them include Soap Lilies. They are endemic to western North America, from Oregon to Baja California, and are mostly found in California.The Soap Plants grow as perennial plants, from a bulb,...
for cordage.
Baskets were woven from splints of American dogwood
American Dogwood
American Dogwood may refer to:* Cornus florida, a deciduous tree also known as Flowering Dogwood* Cornus sericea, a deciduous shrub...
, big-leaf maple, buckbrush, deer brush, willow
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, and California hazelnut Additional bracken fern would add black colors to the basket and Redbud would provide red.
The tribe made bows from Incense-cedar, and Pacific dogwood
Pacific Dogwood
The Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii , is a species of dogwood native to western North America from lowlands of southern British Columbia to mountains of southern California. An inland population occurs in central Idaho. Cultivated examples are found as far north as Haida Gwaii...
. They built homes from Incense-cedar.
Ahwahnechee place names
Some Ahwahnechee tribal names for areas around Yosemite Valley include the following:- Ahwahne: Yosemite ValleyYosemite ValleyYosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
- Tissaack: Half DomeHalf DomeHalf Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, located in northeastern Mariposa County, California, at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley — possibly Yosemite's most familiar rock formation. The granite crest rises more than above the valley floor....
(South Dome) - Loya: Sentinel RockSentinel RockFor the granite dome near Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park, see Sentinel Dome.Sentinel Rock is a granitic peak in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. It towers over Yosemite Valley, opposite from Yosemite Falls....
- Tutocanula or Tutockahnulah: El CapitanEl CapitanEl Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith extends about from base to summit along its tallest face, and is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers.The formation was...
- Ahwiyah: Mirror LakeMirror Lake (California)Mirror Lake is a small, seasonal lake located on Tenaya Creek in Yosemite National Park. Situated in Tenaya Canyon directly between North Dome and Half Dome, it is the last remnant of a large glacial lake that once filled most of Yosemite Valley at the end of the last Ice Age, and is close to...
- Patillima or Ernating Lawootoo: Glacier PointGlacier Pointthumb|right|upright|Glacier Point, as seen from [[Yosemite Valley]]. In springtime, this cliff face is covered with dozens of freshets and tiny waterfalls from the snowmelt, the largest being [[Staircase Falls]]....
- Pohono: Bridalveil Fall
- Piwyack: Tenaya LakeTenaya LakeTenaya Lake is a lake in Yosemite National Park, located between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows.Tenaya Lake was created by the Tenaya branch of the Tuolumne Glacier as it passed through Tenaya Canyon. The lake is supplied by a network of creeks and springs including Murphy Creek to the...
- Yonapah: Vernal Fall
- Yowihe: Nevada FallNevada FallNevada Fall is a high waterfall on the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, California. It is located below the granite dome, Liberty Cap, at the west end of Little Yosemite Valley. The waterfall is widely recognized by its "bent" shape, in which the water free-falls for roughly the first third...
- Mahtah: Liberty CapLiberty Cap (California)Liberty Cap is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, California, USA which lies at the extreme northwestern margin of Little Yosemite Valley. It lies adjacent, to the north of Nevada Fall, on the John Muir Trail. It rises feet from the base of Nevada Fall to a peak elevation of . A smaller,...
Namesakes
The Ahwahnee HotelAhwahnee Hotel
The Ahwahnee Hotel is a destination hotel in Yosemite National Park, California, on the floor of Yosemite Valley, constructed from stone, concrete, wood and glass, which opened in 1927...
and Ahwahneechee Village, a recreated of a 19th tribal village, in Yosemite Valley are both named for the tribe, as are the Ahwahnee Heritage Days
Ahwahnee Heritage Days
Ahwahnee Heritage Days is a festival held in Yosemite Valley, in Yosemite National Park, every February or March annually. The Ahwahnee Hotel celebrates the Roaring Twenties, and the '1930s and '40s - with music performances, as well as cultural and history events.Ahwahnee Heritage Days was...
. Ahwahnee, California
Ahwahnee, California
Ahwahnee is a census-designated place in Madera County, California. It is located west of Yosemite Forks, at an elevation of 2326 feet . The population was 2,246 at the 2010 census....
and Ahwahnee Estates, California
Ahwahnee Estates, California
Ahwahnee Estates is an unincorporated community in Madera County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2287 feet ....
are also named after the tribe.