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The
construction site of the round house, as the Miwuk tribe of
Native American Indians continue their quest of rebuilding
the small village of their ancestors known as Wahhoga Village,
on the valley floor of Yosemite National Park.
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As the sun poked through the trees of Yosemite Valley on a recent
morning, a handful of men in plaid shirts, thick vests and baseball
caps gathered beside a picnic table where smoke billowed from a
stone-size bundle of burning herbs.
This group of Native Americans had come to the wooded spot,
just steps from a campground where tourists poured from Subarus
and minivans, to visit the grounds of the former Indian village
of Wahhoga. Before proceeding, they waved the smoldering mugwort
and sage around their bodes, to purify themselves and the place.
"We've had a hard time here," said Bill Tucker, 79, of Mariposa,
who once lived at this site where his family's long story of struggle
begins.
More than 150 years ago, state-funded militias forced the indigenous
people from their settlements beneath the towering cliffs of Half
Dome in a little-discussed, brutal chapter of Yosemite history.
Those who resisted were captured, even shot or hung. "My great,
great, great grandmother had to go above Mirror Lake and hide in
the caves," Tucker said. "She couldn't make any noise. The guys
would come in and go looking for her."
This year, Tucker and the other Native American men are seeking
to reestablish their place in the iconic Sierra landscape.
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Wes
James peers inside one of a few cedar bark house known as
Umachas that have been constructed on the site as the Miwuk
tribe of Native American Indians continue their quest of rebuilding
the small village of their ancestors known as Wahhoga Village,
on the valley floor of Yosemite National Park.
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The group of mostly Southern Sierra Miwuk members is expected
to get the go-ahead from the National Park Service next month to
restore the centuries-old Wahhoga village next to the Camp 4 campground,
not far from Yosemite Falls. They plan to build a seven-acre enclave
with bark homes, acorn granaries, a sweat lodge and other traditional
dwellings. While the tribal members won't live at the property,
they will congregate, worship and socialize here, in the heart of
a national park.
"This is really unique for a park," said Scott Carpenter, the
park's cultural resources program manager, who has been helping
the group push ahead with the project. "We can't give all of Yosemite
back to the tribes
but at least they can get some recognition
of their story and continuity of their culture."
Already, the tribal members, whose ancestors first inhabited
the area at least 7,000 years ago, have begun constructing a stone
round house, marking the spiritual hub of what will essentially
be a living museum. The sacred structure will anchor a historical
section of the new village, reserved primarily for Native American
activities. A second section of village will feature a modern community
center to showcase the history of the indigenous people for the
public.
Members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk also are expecting the
U.S. government to make a decision this spring on the group's petition
to become a federally recognized Indian tribe. While upwards of
800 people have identified themselves as Southern Sierra Miwuk,
many of whom now live in the Mariposa area near the park, the group
has not won the status they've been seeking for 36 years. The federal
designation brings benefits such as medical assistance, social services
and additional land rights.
"We've been left out for a long time," said Bill Leonard, chairman
of the American Indian Council of Mariposa County, a proxy for the
Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. "We're coming together now as one
tribe of people that show our connections not just to Yosemite National
Park but to Mariposa County and the whole area
We're fighting
for our sovereignty."
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Wes
James smudges the area with sage smoke as members of the Native
American Miwuk tribe continue their quest of rebuilding the
small village of their ancestors known as Wahhoga Village,
on the valley floor of Yosemite National Park.
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The Southern Sierra Miwuk's lineage traces to the many villages
of tipi-shaped bark homes that flourished along the Merced River before
the Europeans arrived in the early 1800s. They were among several
tribes that picked berries along rushing creeks, hunted deer in high-country
meadows and wove clothing and blankets of rabbit and bear.
Part of the reason that the Southern Sierra Miwuk has not been
federally recognized, Leonard said, is that they sought to stay
in Yosemite when it became a park. Unlike other groups who moved
out of the area and established themselves elsewhere, his people
didn't stake out an independent community, or rancheria, making
it harder to demonstrate their autonomy.
After the raids on the Native Americans ended in the middle
of the nineteenth century, the tribe's members went back to Yosemite
or came out of hiding. Instead of picking up with their old lives,
however, they mostly integrated with the new settlers.
By the latter half of the 1800s, the area was rapidly becoming
a vacation destination with roads, hotels and a small bustling
town to serve visitors. President Abraham Lincoln officially pronounced
Yosemite a state park in 1864, and in 1890 Congress designated it
a national park. Native Americans found jobs in the tourist trade,
sometimes selling baskets or performing dances for visitors. They
lived in small camps not far from the sight-seers, often in primitive
bark homes similar to what they'd occupied centuries before.
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Bill
Tucker a member of the Miwuk tribe of Native American Indians
who continue their quest of rebuilding the small village of
their ancestors known as Wahhoga Village, on the valley floor
of Yosemite National Park.
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In the 1930s, more development in Yosemite prompted park officials
to relocate the longtime residents back to the site of their ancestral
village Wahhoga, where some of today's tribal members have their
earliest memories.
"I lived right there," said Tucker, pointing to the soft forest
floor that hosted one of the 15 former cabins of the resettled community
on the recent spring morning. "I remember it well."
About 60 people inhabited Wahhoga when Tucker was there in the
1950s. They tried to retain much of their traditional lifestyle,
he said, holding spiritual ceremonies, gathering wild mushrooms
and cooking with native plants even as the modern park emerged around
them.
Their acorn flour, a dietary staple, was milled in the same
rock mortars used by their ancestors thousands of years earlier.
"We made patties out of it," Tucker said, noting the sweet residue
left on the pots after the acorn dishes were prepared. "It was like
eating candy, pulling it right off."
Tony Brochini, 66, who was born in the area, also shared fond
recollections of the 1900s-era Wahhoga. One of his earliest is fishing
as a child near lower Yosemite Falls. One evening, he and his friends
lost track of time, and when they finally returned home, their worried
parents and a search crew from the park service were waiting
not very happily.
"We had a grand entrance of rangers and flashing lights," Brochini
recalled. "We got our butts spanked."
The boys were grounded. To ensure that they wouldn't go anywhere,
they were forced to dress in women's clothing. Brochini remembers
wearing a yellow and brown dress with daisies, and staying home
for a week
"This place is near and dear to our hearts," he said. "It's
our home."
The Wahhoga that Brochini and Tucker were raised in, however,
did not last. The cabins were aging, and by the 1960s, the park
service was shutting down the area. Some tribal members who had
jobs in the park found housing elsewhere in Yosemite Valley while
others moved away.
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Bill
Tucker uncovers some of the granite mortars surrounding the
site as the Miwuk tribe of Native Americans work to rebuild
the small village of their ancestors known as Wahhoga in Yosemite
National Park. Researches have found that some of the mortars
are over 5,000 years old.
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Less than a decade after the last resident left in 1969, tribal
member Les James, 83, was already raising the issue of reclaiming
the storied community.
"We asked for our village back," James said, remembering his
conversation with the park superintendent four decades ago. "And
we got our foot in the door then, but it seems like everything we
do takes a while."
It wasn't until 2009 that the tribal members got official approval
from the park service to begin the process of rebuilding. Shortly
after breaking ground, however, the park service halted the work
due to safety concerns.
Part of the problem was the plan to use traditional materials
to build the village no cement, no nails, no rebar. Constructing
the dwellings as they were in the past, with wild grape vines lashing
logs together and stacked rocks serving as walls, conflicted with
modern building codes.
The group has since addressed the issues. Restoration of the
village, still with original materials for the historical buildings,
is scheduled to restart next month when the park service signs off
on a proposal for the Wahhoga Committee, made up of tribal members,
to manage the property for a trial period of 30 years.
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A
few cedar bark house known as Umachas have been constructed
on the site as the Miwuk tribe of Native American Indians
continue their quest of rebuilding the small village of their
ancestors known as Wahhoga Village, on the valley floor of
Yosemite National Park.
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Since the group will be responsible for financing the restoration,
the work is expected to proceed slowly. Only the cost of completing
the round house has been secured. Tribal members say they'll likely
have to raise funds to rebuild other structures, which could cost
upwards of $10 million, even as they're trying to keep expenses
down.
They're collecting materials on the cheap, using granite mined
at local quarries and lumber felled in nearby forests, and their
labor is being donated by a work crew from the Jackson Rancheria
Band of Miwuk Indians in Amador County.
Much of the historical side of the restored village could take
shape late this year.
"I don't think there's any hard feelings about anything that's
happened to us," said James, who is looking forward to wrapping
up his long campaign for the Southern Sierra Miwuk tribe. "There
were hard feelings in the past. But you don"t dwell on that. You
have to roll with the punches. That"s what we"ve been doing. We"re
just want to hang on to our tradition."
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