The early people of Yosemite were a warlike people. Their hold on the territory of the Yosemite Valley was viselike, but disease and the advance of American society would spell the end of their time in what would become an advancing nation’s first park.
Guide to Yosemite
Early People of Yosemite
Soon after the end of the last ice-age, and the retreat of the Tioga’s major glaciers some 10,000 years ago, the Yosemite area welcomed early human inhabitants.
Anthropologists estimate that the first peoples likely began to move into the Yosemite area as early as 8,000 years ago. The first of these folk would have lived a nomadic life, hunting and gathering, likely entering the valley and the high country only during the warmer months of summer.
The Miwok
Those native to this area belong to a larger group known as the Miwok, which is the word for “people” in their native tongue. This term can be applied to the Maidu, of the northern Sierra; the Yokuts to the southern foothills and into the San Joaquin Valley; and to the Mono, to the south and to the east into the Owen River Valley.
Often considered to be part of the Miwok as far as locational representation is concerned, the Mono are ethnically unique from the Miwok and are by some sources of historical recount, considered enemies of the Miwok. The Mono are descendants of the Paiute and other Shoshone tribes of Nevada and the Basin and Range region to the east.
The Miwok are estimated to have numbered at least ten thousand in the years prior to the arrival of European miners. Although they multiplied to such numbers, various units of the Miwok were largely independent from one another, enjoying autonomy in small local groups that formed communities in various localities throughout the Sierra foothills.
The Ahwahneechee
At some point, one of these groups settled in a great wide valley, with high silver walls of stone blessed with a rushing river flowing through its green meadows. They were known as the Ahwahneechee, or Awanichi, and these people took their name from this great valley, Awahnee, which meant “the place of a gaping mouth”.
The Ahwahneechee utilized many areas of the valley, and early studies of the archeological sites within enumerates nearly forty different locations that were either used for summer residence, storage or ceremony. Numerous artifacts from these sites have been preserved, including mortars, pestles, pipes, knives, arrow points, awls and beads. Their numbers were not great, and the valley probably never held more than a few hundred of the native peoples at one time.
Here in the valley, they could gather foods such as lilies, wild onions, berries and the ever-abundant acorn, which was a major source of their nutrition. These foods were augmented by hunting of wild game, such as squirrel, rabbit, bird, deer and elk, as well as fish from the river. It does not appear that there were ever significant attempts to farm the valley, nor does evidence suggest they were raising domestic animals for food.
It is unknown how many generations of Ahwahneechee people passed their lives in this lush valley, however we do know they suffered significant losses here, which led to a brief abandonment of the area by most of the people.
Disease & Gold
At some point, likely in the mid-to-late 1700s, a great sickness swept through the Yosemite Valley, and the Ahwahneechee’s numbers were decimated. Many died, and most who survived the plague, fled the valley and were forced to unite with different tribes in surrounding areas. Some of those who escaped disease moved eastward, where they joined the Mono, who, as mentioned earlier, were of Paiute and Shoshone decent.
With the discovery of gold in the California hills in 1849, the world changed, not only for the Miwok, Ahwahneechee and Mono, but for all native inhabitants of what was now the American West. The rush was on, and no land was sacred, no matter the people or traditions that were native to its hills and valleys.
It is possible that the first sight of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans occurred in 1833 with the exploration of Joseph R. Walker and a party of more than 50 men who were attempting to find an overland route to California. The party made their way over the Sierra Nevada from the east, and down toward the Stanislaus River, which lies just north of Yosemite. While the writings of a member of that expedition indicate that the party looked down upon a great valley, we remain unsure exactly which valley this may be.
Nearly 20 years later, the hills of California were crawling with gold seekers, who let little stand in the way of their pursuit of the shiny metal. Soon, the American west would be flooded with flocks of hungry easterners in search great riches. The rapid influx of miners understandably led to difficulties between natives and the newcomers.
James Savage
By the beginning of 1850, a mining camp had sprung up on the Merced River, about 20 miles below the entrance to Yosemite Valley, which at this point remained unknown to the European newcomers.
The camp was operated by James D. Savage, a white man who had taken several Indian wives, through which he was somewhat connected to the native community. Savage held rudimentary knowledge of the language and customs of the native people, nevertheless he was viewed suspiciously by several members of the local communities.
Chief Tenaya
Although disease had led to a brief abandonment of the great valley that lay upstream on the Merced River, a small group of natives had returned to the valley under the leadership of a strong and warlike Paiute-born man referred to as Chief Tenaya.
Chief Tenaya’s father was an Ahwahneechee who had escaped disease by uniting with the Paiute to the east. He later married a Mono-Paiute woman who gave birth to a baby whom was named Tenaya.
Upon reaching adulthood and recognizing his ancestral roots, young Tenaya organized a group of remaining Ahwahneechee and renegade Paiutes who were interested in returning to the great valley that was known only to them by the descriptions of their elders.
Upon their return to Ahwahnee, the group wasted no time in establishing themselves as a dominant force in the local theatre. They quickly gained a reputation as a band to be feared. Many local Miwok, who were relatively peaceful and chose to deal with disputes through dialogue and resolution, began to refer to the valley’s returned inhabitants as the “Yosemite”… which meant “those who kill”.
Disagreements between the miners and the natives eventually led a few Ahwahneechee, or Yosemite, to attack the mining camp in the spring of 1850. Savage decided to remove this camp and center his operation a few miles away, on the Fresno River. However this camp too, suffered an attack in December of 1850, during which three of Savage’s men were killed.
It is partly through this unfortunate tale of bloodshed that new world settlers found their way into what would merely 14 years later, become the young nation’s first protected “park”.
The Mariposa Battalion
Savage and his men responded to the attack on their camp, forming a state-sanctioned volunteer militia of some 200 men, known as the Mariposa Battalion. In command was Sheriff James Burney with Savage taking the role of Major. The group soon headed upriver in search of the natives responsible for the attacks on the mining camps.
In late March of that year, Savage’s squad captured a small encampment of natives at the South Fork of the Merced River without a fight. Messengers were sent ahead to request that those upstream come to this camp to surrender.
The following day, an aging Chief Tenaya of the Yosemite, arrived alone at the camp to meet with Savage. After some time and discussion, the old chief departed, headed back into the unknown lands that lay upriver. He left with a promise to bring his people to meet peacefully with Savage and his army.
Chief Tenaya returned the next day, reporting that his people would soon arrive at the camp. This day passed with no arrival of Tenaya’s people. Savage grew impatient and the following morning, headed upriver with several of his best men, taking Chief Tenaya as a guide. Soon, the men encountered a group of 72 Ahwahneechee that were making their way down toward the camp.
Savage was not impressed, thinking that Chief Tenaya’s people numbered far in excess of this group of 72. The leader of the Mariposa Battalion sent Tenaya with his people down to the South Fork camp. Meanwhile, he and some of his men took a young native brave as a guide and continued upriver in search of the Ahwahneechee’s larger village.
Naming Yosemite
Within a short distance, the group came upon what is today known as Old Inspiration Point, along the Pohono Trail, which leads upward above the Wawona Tunnel View.
From this point, a most scenic view of Yosemite Valley is observed, with the entirety of the valley displayed before the eye. History indicates that the splendor of this panoramic image was largely lost on most of the newcomers who witnessed it that day. They had war on their minds…
One member of the group, however, a young doctor named Lafayette H. Bunnell, was somewhat awestruck by the grandeur of the moment, later writing:
“I have here seen the power and glory of a Supreme Being; the majesty of His handy-work is in that ‘Testimony of the Rocks’.”
Later that evening, as the militant band recounted the day’s events about their camp, Dr. Bunnell suggested naming the valley. After some light-hearted discussion, it was decided that the area should be named after the natives whom the group were seeking to displace, the Yosemite, as the group of natives that resided in this valley had came to be called by the surrounding tribes. The date was March 25, 1851.
Lingustic Discrepancies
At that time, there were obvious difficulties in the translation of different languages and dialects between the white man and the native. Many of the native words sounded somewhat alike and it is likely that some of the interpretations were made with little consideration of the true meaning of a particular word. Thus is the case with the word “Yosemite”.
Early interpretations between whites and the Ahwahneechee understood this term to mean “grizzly”, as in the bear. The terms are closely related, and it appears that Dr. Bunnell and his commander Major Savage, with a rudimentary command of the native tongue, had misinterpreted the meaning of the two similar terms.
Yohhe’meti or Yos s e’meti (Yos – “to kill” e – “one who” + plural suffix – meti)
This term was confused with another, Ïhümat i, which means “grizzly bear”.
It is worth noting that while Savage had four wives of Miwok decent and did indeed speak the Miwok language, it is difficult to mark the degree of his linguistic accuracy. This can be further complicated by the fact that Chief Tenaya and his closest associates spoke a slightly different dialect, being raised by the Mono-Paiute. This was indicated in writings by Dr. Bunnell, who recorded that Major Savage confessed that he could not fully understand Chief Tenaya, or his Indian guide, as “they appeared to speak a Pai-ute jargon”.
Thus, in a classic misinterpretation of language, the valley that was supposed to hold the romantic notion of a “grizzly”, later would be found to be the valley of “those who kill”.
The Death of Chief Tenaya
The day after Dr. Bunnell named the beautiful valley, he and his fellow men were back at work, searching for the Yosemite people, in an effort to eradicate them from the land.
Parties descended into the vast valley, with one party exploring up Tenaya Creek, past Mirror Lake, while another ascended the Merced River, all the way to Nevada Fall. No natives were to be found, and those who had been sent downstream toward the miner’s camp on the Fresno River, escaped into the mountains.
Over the next two years, skirmishes between Savage’s men and the Ahwahnee continued. In the end, the natives either surrendered or escaped. Those who surrendered were handed over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and those who escaped often joined other surrounding groups.
During the turmoil in the western reaches of the Sierra, Chief Tenaya, along with several of his followers made their way back to the Mono people, where they remained until the summer of 1853. At this point, Tenaya once again departed with a group bound for the Yosemite Valley.
According to historical accounts, Tenaya and his followers had stolen several horses from the Mono upon their exodus. This did not go over well with the Mono, who sent a small band of warriors into the valley to exact revenge upon the ungrateful Tenaya and his people. The Mono descended into Yosemite Valley and found their former guests during a feast. As legend has it, Chief Tenaya was killed by a stone that was hurled by a Mono warrior and all but a few of his followers were slain.
With the death of Tenaya and his closest followers, the Ahwahneechee were essentially exterminated, although a few descendants still survive. The world that the Ahwahneechee had once enjoyed was to be no more…
In less than a decade, the Yosemite Valley would find itself host to a very different people…
Guide to Yosemite
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