Wiyot History

Close your eyes and imagine the world of the Wiyot people …

Tens of thousands of geese blackened the sky during seasonal migrations, their rhythmic honking punctuating the long V-shaped formations that swirled onto the marshes. So many foods to sustain the people: salmon, surf fish, clams, mud hens, elk and deer, acorns, Indian potatoes, huckleberries, hazel nuts and more, enough to host many tribes at the annual World Renewal Dances and to preserve and set aside for the lean winter months. Wiyot people lived in balance with this bounty, never taking more than needed and tending to the needs of the plants and animals. They wintered over in villages of split redwood plank houses built along the shores of Wigi (Humboldt Bay), Plhut Gasamuli'm (Little River), Baduwa't (Mad River), Hikshari' (Elk River), Girrughurralilh (Van Duzen River) and Wiya't (Eel River), where elders told creation stories to children around the hearth fires, and men did men’s things and slept in the sweathouse. Springtime would find the women out gathering bulbs and the men fishing runs of salmon, steelhead and candlefish in coastal rivers. In the summer, families would move into the hills, moving upslope with the seasonal ripening of plant foods. In the fall, acorns would be harvested, elk and deer hunted, and running fish caught; it was a busy time, preparing to move back to the winter villages with plenty of stores.

Shimmering waters of Wigi and shou'r (ocean) beyond, and the slough tendrils reaching into the salt marshes, afforded travel by redwood dugout canoes to the nearby village located on the ancient marine terrace where you now stand. Artifacts recovered from archaeological excavations in the late 1980s before Healthsport was built attest to a 2500-year-old record of people visiting this place by Wigi (the bay). It was well sited with a warm southern exposure and next to freshwater in Campbell Creek that feeds into Gannon Slough and empties into Rrak Vou'r Halu Wigi (Arcata Bay) opposite Shirouk Dumi (Jacoby Creek). This once prominent deep and wide slough was called Embarcadero Slough in the mid-19th century by the EuroAmericans, who off-loaded supplies from large sailing ships on a wharf now long gone, where the Highway now runs. Soon after the colonists arrived on Wigi, the slough and bay became choked with sediment from logging the surrounding redwood forests.

Native grasslands ringed Wigi and a large prairie with a view of Tuluwat, a major village on one of the islands in the middle of Wigi, could be seen from Goudi'ni (Arcata). Goudi'ni was a place where stalks of sweet anise, a type of clover that was tended and harvested, peeled and eaten raw, coloring the lips black. Small, controlled burns were a familiar tool used by the Wiyot people to promote the health of the grasslands, prevent encroachment of fir from prairie margins, kill off insect pests, enhance forage for elk and deer, and reduce fuels to avoid catastrophic forest fires started by lightning strikes, among other benefits of tribal ecological knowledge (TEK). Basket weavers knew it would soon be time to gather hazel and other sticks and to “follow the smoke” to find the best materials.

Key vocabulary from the text, in order of appearance:

Soulatluk word	English equivalent
valhuk / malhuk	salmon
hout	surf fish
houlhi'	clams
ju'chichgurri	mudhens
ve'luqh / me'luqh	elk
halhuqh	deer
ga'muk	acorns
bouduroush	Indian potatoes
vou'gul / mou'gul	huckleberries
dougapa'lu'	hazelnuts
voupul / moupul	redwood
Wigi	Humboldt Bay
Plhut Gasamuli'm	Little River
Baduwa't	Mad River
Hikshari'	Elk River
Girrughurralilh	Van Duzen River
Wiya't	Eel River
laqilh	elders
tsek	children
gouwi'	men
kuwa'	sweathouse
guvouch	women
budughutgurra'wilu'	steelhead
rru'mula'wi	candlefish
lalilh	river
qus	hill/mountain
shou'r	ocean/beach/coast
halou'wi'	canoe/boat
Rrak Vou'r Halu Wigi	Arcata Bay
Shirouk Dumi	Jacoby Creek
diqa'	white man = Euro-Americans
wa'mul	prairie
Tuluwat	"Indian Island" and/or a major village site on the island
Goudi'ni	Arcata
lughulhiswulh	hazel
vi'wurr / mi'wurr	smoke

Written in collaboration with:
Janet Eidsness, Blue Lake Rancheria THPO
Marnie Atkins, Wiyot Tribe Cultural Center Manager
Lynnika Butler, Wiyot Tribe Linguist