Mewuk - Miwok original tribal name was Walla Walla and a surprising history

Submitted by Yosemite_Indian on Mon, 2008-05-12 03:17.

History/Culture

Mewuk – Miwok early tribal name was Walla Walla. That is correct the early name of the Mewuks or Miwoks Indians of Central California was Walla Walla.

That might be quite a surprise to a lot of people, including many younger Miwuks who never knew this. That is because later on the name was changed to Mewuk.

This might be quite surprising to many people living in Central California who have never heard this before, but all they have to do is look at the old writings about the Miwok tribe of Central California.

You might ask yourself where the term “Mewuk” came from for the Walla Walla.

Stephen Powers, a journalist for the Overland Monthly, was doing a story about the Indians of California. He did a whole series for the Overland Monthly. One month around 1860s Power went to Central and Central eastern California and met a group called the Wallies, as he was doing a story about the Miwoks of Stanislaus and Tuolumne areas.

Here is what Powers wrote around 1860 about Indians of Tuolumne:

“The name “Walli” has been the subject of a great deal of discussion among white men, as to its meaning and derivation. Some assert that it is a word applied by the pioneers to the Indians, without any signification; others, that it is an aboriginal word, denoting “friends”. Probably the latter theory is due to the fact that the Indians, in meeting, frequently cry out “Walli! Walli!” [ed. Note; Walla Walla, which were friendly to whites in the area] As a matter of fact, [ed. Note: Powers is guessing] it is derived from the word wal'-lim, which means simply “down below”; and it appears to have been originated by the Yosemite Indians and others living high up in the mountains, and applied to the lower tribes with a slight feeling of contempt. The Indians on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne use the term freely in conversing among themselves, but on the Merced it is never heard except when spoken by the whites.”

Powers wrote that the Native American tribes in the higher Sierra and Yosemite were not the same as the Walli Walli (Walla Walla).

Here is what Yosemite area archealogist James A. Bennyhoff wrote in his Report of the University of California Archaeological Survey, no 34, May 15th, 1956:

“Very Little is known of the Central Mewuk who occupied the higher altitudes. Their usual designation is simply “Tuolumne Indians” [ed. Note: actually that was identified by Dr. Lafayette H. Bunnell as Paiutes who by then had been pushed out by the whites because they were attacking them] because they lived on the river. No mountain group can be identified in the treaty lists. In 1857 there were over 100 “Wallalshimmes” or Tuolumne Indians still living (Lewis). Powers (1873, p. 325) obtained some information on the “Wallies” in 1871-72. He wrote of them as an extensive tribe occupying the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers, and statements concerning the group indicate a Valley location. The term was expanded by the whites to include all Indians on the Tuolumne. The only village known is Hetchhetchi, placed in the valley which bears this name (Kroeber, 1925, pg. 37, No. 85).”

Here is the actual text:

Bennyhoff's Wallies 1959

Later on around 1985 Helen Harding Bretnor translated a French Belgian’s account of gold mining in the early days around Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties. The book is called Gold Seeker; Adventures of a Belgian Argonaut during the Gold Rush Years, Jean Nicolas-Perlot.

Jean Nicholas-Perlot, early Belgian Gold Miner

Jean Nicholas-Perlot, early Belgian Gold miner.

In this book Helen Harding Bretnor discusses the mystery and quandary of the word “Walli” and its several variations. This is what she writes on pages 38-39;

“While Perlot could hardly be called a pathmaker as he made his way to Mariposa, he had already begun to make original contributions to our knowledge of California Indian culture. Shortly after crossing the San Joaquin he and his friends encountered Indians who shouted, “Walai! Walai” [ed. Note: Possibly Walla Walla; the friendly Indians] on seeing the whites. Assuming that it was a form of greeting, Perlot also shouted, “Walai! Walai!”. After the company shared some biscuits with the Indians they left peacefully. These may have been Miwok Indians, probably Tuolumne and Mariposa, although at the time Perlot was on the lower Merced, where Yokuts tribes could be found.

Instantly attracted to the language these Indians spoke, Perlot began to keep a list of Indian words and phrases which correspond with those found in the Mariposa and Tuolumne dialects.

Perlot’s Indian word walai presents an intriguing mystery. In his list of Indian words, found in his notes deposited in the Brancroft Library, he state that oualai or walai means “ami” (ed. Note: friend), camarade, compagnon, sembable…convenable.” He always greeted Indians with the term by which he meant “friend.” Stephen Powers, who wrote about the California Indians and their languages in the 1870s, observed that the “extensive tribe of Wallies” lived on the Stanislaus and the Tuolumne; but he went on to say that “some assert it is a word applied by the pioneers to the Indians without any particular meaning; others, that it is an aboriginal word denoting ‘friend’. The latter theory probably had its origin from these Indians on meeting each other, frequently cry out ‘Wallie! Wallie!’

Powers himself believe that “wallie” came from the word wallim, meaning “down below,” which the Yosemite Indians [ed. Notes: Paiutes] “applied to the lower tribes with a slight feeling of contempt.” Powers noted that the Indians on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne used the term freely in conversing among themselves, [ed. Note; Possibly because they were talking about their tribe Walla Walla?] “but on the Merced it is not heard, except among Americans.” Power’s conclusions, while interesting, do not seem that persuasive.

A quick search through the most common words in the Mariposa and Tuolumne dialects, however, suggests only one word that resembles Perlot’s “oualai”, and that is oyea, which means “mean man” (Tuolumne: uyeayu). While the Mariposan word for earth, dirt, or world is walli, it seems to make no sense as a greeting. The Pomo word for the phrase “on both sides” is wa’li, Perlot used it as a greeting so often and so successfully that his friends jokingly called him “Mr. Oualai.”

Ms. Helen Harding Bretnor tried in earnest to figure out why when the Indian “friendlies” yelled out to the white man “Wallie! Wallie!”

More referrence that Miwoks were called Walla in olden times

Here is from The History of Stanislaus County.

Here the author of those old early books on the official history of Stanislaus County, when Miwoks were Walla Indians.

* note the 'creator' and 'founder' of the "Mewoc" was once again the reporter and journalist Stephen Powers;

History of Stanislaus County - Mewuk are Walla

So in early times the Miwok were called Walla or Wallie.

Also this documents that the Upper Tuolumne and Upper Merced River Indians, the Yosemites, were not the same tribe as the Lower Tuolumne and Lower Merced. They were Walla or Miwuk. Meaning they are NOT the same tribe of people.

Here is another interesting tale from the Pony Express. In our language we called Miwoks “Wah-Wahs”, probably a shorter version of Walla Walla, but when I re-read this story in this old 1930s historical magazine I noticed that the “Diggers” or Miwoks were called “Walla” by the white people. Once again showing the Walla Walla presence;

http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/2911
A Piute Card Game

(Editor’s Note – The following description of a Piute car game was written by William R. Gillis some years ago and appeared in his “Memories of Mark Twain and Steve Gillis.” The Dan DeQuill mentioned was editor of a paper in Virginia City, Nevada, and gained fame as the author of “The Big Bonanza,” “The Wealth and Wonders of Washoe,” and “A History of the Comstock Mines.”

“If you will go with me to their camp on Cedar Hill tomorrow, you will see the game for yourself. I saw two Digger bucks from California on their way to the camp this morning and they will stay until they are skinned down to their breech-clouts.”

When we reached camp we found a dozen or so Indians including the “Walla” bucks, surrounding a big blanket, which was spread on the ground, and old Piute John was sitting on a soap box shuffling a half dozen decks of cards together, preparatory to dealing them. When this process was completed, he scattered them over the blanket. He then took a stick with a crook on one end in his hand, straightened up and grunted, “Hiskee.”

So it would appear that if someone was looking you could probably find proof that the early Miwok name was Walli or Walla.

Here are the referrences.
Diary of Johann August Sutter.
June 14th.
A diner given to Gen'l Kearny and Staff. Capt. Fremont a prisoner of Gen'l Kearny. Walla Walla Indian Chiefs and people visited Fremont and wanted their pay for Services rendered in the Campaign when they was with Fremonts Battaillon, he then ordered one of his officers to pay them with Govt's horses (Horses which has been taken from the people of the Country was called Govt. horses and war horses).
and;
There are several accounts of demonstrations by 2nd Expedition gunner, Prussian Army veteran, Louis Zindel's skill:
Frémont, December 10, 1843:
...I directed the howitzer to be fired. It was the first time our guides [Walla Walla Indians] had seen it discharged; and the bursting of the shell at a distance,which was something like the second fire of the gun, amazed and bewildered them with delight. It inspired them with triumphant feelings, but on the camps [Klamath] at a distance, the effect was different, for the smokes in the lake and on the shore immediately disappeared.
this referrence from James Gregson who fought along side of John C. Fremont;
James Gregson was born in Little Bolton, Lancashire, England, on September 14, 1822. In 1837
I was at Sutter's Fort when Vallejo and the Bear Flag prisoners [were there and] (ed: Note: Klamath Indians) took my regular
turn as a guard of the prisoners. I had been enlisted into the services of the United States for three
months at $12 per month. [When I] guarded the men they all appeared quiet. We used to take them
out to exercise--Bob Ridley, J. P. Leese, Victor Prudon, Salvador and General Vallejo--then stood
guard over them. I stayed there until they were released on parole. Then I enlisted in the California
Battalion in Captain Brown's Company and went down to meet Fremont at Monterey. We had no
trouble until we got to San Juan South. We had twelve Walla Walla Indians along, Captain Burris
[Charles Burroughs] in command.
In this referrence John C. Fremont pays his loyal Walla Walla soliders their due;
The Beginnings of San Francisco
NOTE 31
JOHN C. FRÉMONT
"Frémont swept the country of horses—with or without the consent of the rancheros—and he promised his men twenty-five dollars a month pay. One company was composed of Walla Walla and California Indians."
Here Eliza Poor Donner Houghton, an early California pioneer, mentions the Walla Walla in her personal account of early settlers life in Sacramento and surrounding area in her book; The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate; CHAPTER XX

I RETURN TO GRANDMA--WAR RUMORS AT THE FORT--LINGERING HOPE THAT MY
MOTHER MIGHT BE LIVING--AN INDIAN CONVOY--THE BRUNNERS AND THEIR HOME.
"As we neared the Fort we passed a large camp of fine-looking Indians
who, I was told, were the friendly Walla-Wallas, that came every spring
to trade ponies, and otter, and beaver-skins with Captain Sutter for
provisions, blankets, beads, gun caps, shot, and powder."
Here is what she writes about the town of Sonora, in Tuolumne County. It was under attack by Indians, that were unfriendly;
"Mrs. Lennox, we've got to get out of her right away, for I heard tell at the store I come up that there's bound to be an Injun outbreak. Them savages from Sonora are already on their way up, and they'll kill and scalp every man, woman and child they can ketch, and there's nothing to keep them from ketching us, if we stay at this here little fort any longer.
I lay awake a long while. I did not dare call out because I imagined some of those Indians might have got ahead of the rest and be sneaking up to our house at that very moment. I wondered where I could hide if they should climb through the window, and I felt that Georgia would never know what had become of me, if they should kill and scalp me.
As soone as Mrs. Lennox stirred in the morning, I ran to her and had a good cry. She threatened all sorts of things for the man who had caused me such torture, and declared that he believed everthing he heard. He did not seem to remember how many hundred miles away Sonora was, nor how many loaded cannon there were at the Fort. I felt better satisfied, however, when she told me that she had made up her mind to start for Sonoma the next day.
After breakfast her younger boys wanted to see the Walla-Wallas, and took me along. A cold breath from the Sierra Nevadas made me look up and shiver. Soon Captain Sutter and Kern passed us, the former on his favorite white horse, and the latter on a dark bay. I was delighted to catch a glimpse of those good friends, but they didn not know it. They had been to see the Indian poines, and before we got to the big gate, they gone in and the Walla-Wallas were forming in line on both sides of the road between the gate and the front of the store.
Only two Indians at a time were allowed to enter the building, and as they were slow in making their trades, we had a good chance to see them all. The men, the boys, and most of the women were dressed in fringed buckskin suits and their hands and faces were painted red, as the Sioux warriors of Fort Laramie painted their cheeks."
In John Jolly's account found on this page, those doing the attacking of people in the high sierra above Sonora were Paiutes, you can see the high lighted areas;
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6306/johnjolly10ed.jpg
http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/6532/johnjolly24zg.jpg
More referrences to Walla Walla Indians is in Overland in 1846: Diaries and Letters of the California-Oregon Trail by Dale Lowell Morgan, page 413;
"82. For several years these Walla Walla Indians from the Northwest had enlivened the California scene, especially the vicinity of Sutter's, by their comings and goings."
Later John C. Fremont retired and acquired a large land grant located in Mariposa County. Another person who was in Sutter's diaries was a man named Johnson who also had a large land grant in Mariposa County.
Here is the map of John C. Fremont's large Mariposa County land grant from the book Sam Ward in the Gold Rush by Sam Ward. It appears that John C. Fremont's ranch covered the city of Mariposa today. You can also see Mr. Johnson's rancheria by Bear Valley and the road to Yosemite on the map. Sam Ward knew the Indians of the area and they were extremely friendly and this was around the same time of the early discovery of Yosemite Valley.
There is no doubt that when John C. Fremont retired to his large land grant that he also took some of his loyal Walla Walla Indians with him to work his large rancheria, since they had fought side by side with him and he now trusted them.
John C. Fremont
Here is a little history of the "Wallas" of San Joaquin Valley;
INDIAN CHIEF MANUEL
Every band has its seperate head. Old Manuel, who was the chief of the Wallas at Knight's Ferry for many years, is well remembered by all of the old residents of that place. He was a large, fleshy Indian, had rather an intelligent look, and taken all in all was much superior to the average among his tribe. He was beloved by his own tribe and respected by others. He had several wives and a rather pretty daughter; the latter we have seen many times when she accompanied the bucks in their annual dance through the town. She was decorated with feathers and beads, had a pleasing look, and always carried a plate which she passed around and took up a collection.
By this device the Indians were enabled to gather together enough money to buy sufficient whisky to keep them drunk for a week or two. They all drank, and when the law probhibited the selling of liquor to them, and the whites would refuse to let them have it, they managed to procure it from the Chinese store-keepers, who were very sly in trafficking with them. When drunk, they would fight among themselves and beat the women unmercifully.
The chief is allowed the best house in the rancheria for himself and family, and the best of everything that is brought into camp is allotted to him. On his death the son succeeds his father, and in case of no male issuse the females of the family appoint a succesor.
Here is the actually text from the History of San Joaquin.
Also note in the last paragraph that no woman could be the chief of the tribe as has been falsely written later on.
Also if you know California Indian history, people would know that Knight's Ferry is well known Miwuk area. This is the area that many of the lower Tuolumne County Indians originally came from.
It appears that the early name of the Miwok of the area was Walla. More history of this fact from another History of Stanislaus;
From the book about the early history of Stanislaus.
I will transcribe this;
THE WALLA TRIBE
The word Wallie or Walla, has excited much discussion as to its meaning. It seems to be gernerally settled, however, that it is derived from the word "Wallim", which means "down below", and was applied by the Yo-Semite Indians to the tribes living below them. These Indians, as we have said before, lived on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers, living chiefly in rancherias on the the opposite side of these rivers from the towns of Knight's Ferry and La Grange. They were consequently the first to come in contact with American civilization, as these places were settled in early days by the miners as they flocked in from others States.
As this is the tribe which has been the most observed by the writer since he can reecollect, it is of them that he will have more to say than any other.
The Walla, however, being a perfect type of the river and foot-hill Indian, it will only be necessary to give a description of him in order to enable the reader to form an idea of all the others.
Here is an interesting historical account about a killing around Mariposa from this site;
http://www.mariposaresearch.net/INDIAN_TOM_BUSHYHEAD.html
The Los Angeles Times, (Los Angeles, CA) June 18, 1889; pg. 5; col C
An Indian "Cry-Dance" Over the Dead Body of Tom Bushyhead
AN INDIAN "CRY-DANCE"
OVER THE DEAD BODY OF TOM BUSHYHEAD

A Scion of the Digger Tribe in Mariposa County-Murdered by a "Squaw Man"- A Strange, Weird and Woeful Ceremonial.
Wawonna (Mariposa County, Cal.) June 15 (Special Correspondence of The Times)

The tourists at this pretty little stopping-off place en route go the Yosemite Valley had yesterday something more than is found in the guide books. It was an Indian "Cry" dance," which is something similar to a "wake," only that it is more so. During the several previous days there had been bad blood between Tom Bushyhead, a red man, and James Lawrence, a pale face. Bushyhead is a grandson of the chief of the Walla Walla or Digger tribe now infesting the region, and is the terror of Wawoona." He has a record, having served a term in the County Jail for thrashing his wife, another for resisting an officer, and still another for stabbing a red brother nine times in a drunken row. He whipped his wife about two weeks ago, and she left him. Lawrence is a "squaw man," having married an Indian woman, and accidentally killed his brother in Los Angeles many years ago. He is a brother of Henry Lawrence, who killed a man in this county several years ago by shooting him in the back, and afterward lived in San Francisco as a notary publican and kind of a lawyers. Such in the history of these two characters- one an Indian "bully," the other a good-for-nothing, drunken loafer. The bad feeling culminated Wednesday afternoon by Lawrence shooting "Indian Tom," otherwise known as Tome Bushyhead. Tom had threatened Lawrence and others, but at the moment he was shot, the Indian was sober, had not been at all demonstrative, was unarmed , and was just coming across the creek from the Indian village to the hotel to sell a string of fish, the result of his day's labor, the principal means of livelihood of the Diggers at this station. The Coroner's jury verdict of justifiable homicide is not favorable received either by the visiting palefaces or the red men. Shortly after Tom died, THE TIMES correspondent went over to the Indian village, which is situated just across the creek from this "station,"- or village of Wawoona. The Chief invited me to view the corpse, and the sister of deceased removed the shroud. The Indian had been removed from the cabin and his personal effect, clothing, etc., were taken out and placed in a pile preparatory to burning, Formerly these Indians burned the bodies, but they have so far advanced in civilization that they now only burn the person effects of the deceased, and tear down the house in which he died. The corpse was dressed in a new suit, minus a coat, and the hands were clasped vertically over the breast, is if invoking a prayer to the Great Father. The hands were also tied together by leather straps, and the arms were likewise pinioned at the elbows. The head was placed in an oval-shaped basket, beautifully interwoven with worsted, and his feet were also placed in a similar basket. Around his forehead was tied a red silken handkerchief, and another around his chin, exposing only his upper lip and nose. Shortly after his death the "death cry" began .His sister, an old woman, stood at the head of the corpse waving a green branch, slowly muttering incantations, and then began dancing. or rather jumping up and down. The others standing around the corpse also began dancing, crying, shouting and wringing their hands is if in agony or the deepest pain. In a few minutes they would top from sheer exhaustion, and then continue more furious and fast than ever, the sad lamentations being heard by the tourists at the hotel across the creek and by the dead man's slayer, who sat among the crowd, apparently unconcerned. The "cry would cease for moment, and the seers would point upward, downward, and in the distance, as if seeing visions, and then would close her eyes as in a trance, and interpret her own visions; and then the dancing and lamentation, which were weirdly pathetic, would be renewed, This was continued throughout the day and night, and ceased only after the burial, when the bonfire was lighted, and all that was earthly of Tom vanished in the grave and in smoke.
Among the mourner were two of Lawrence's sons, half-breeds, weeping at the grave of their fathers victim.
The trouble was, of course, about a woman. A few months ago, when Tom whipped his wife, she left him. Since then he has been making love to, or at, the half-breed daughter of Lawrence, who objected to the match, as Tom was very cruel, especially to his squaws. Tom threatened to kill Lawrence, and on several occasions started out to bring in his scalp, but at this time was not prepared, and Lawrence evidently was awaiting his opportunity. Lawrence was released on his own recognizance until next Monday, when the examination will be held.
A "death cry" was to have been held here about two weeks ago, in honor of a red brother who died doing the State some service at San Quentin. But, owing to Tom's reputation as a fighter and a bulldozer, only a few Indians came in , and there was not enough to get up a first-class cry", the ceremonial was postponed. Strangely enough, the "cry" was had at last over the body of the man who had prevented the rite being held over a departed red brother- J. M. S.
transcribed by c feroben
WAWANA CAL., June 19
Daily Evening Bulletin, (San Francisco, CA) Wednesday, June 19, 1889; Issue 63; col F
The examination of James Lawrence for shooting Indian Tom occupied two days, District Attorney Stolder prosecuring and D W Tupper of Fresno and James H Lawrence of Mariposa defending; Justice Leitch discrged the accused this morning. Wawona's citizen unanimoulsy aprrove the decision, and tourist visors who knew the circumstances concur. This will probably end the case."

Lawrence was married to a Casson Yokut woman in the area and the Walla Walla who had moved into the region.

Walla Walla = Miwok

Now where did the Walla Walla come from that they moved into that region;

http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/6098

very intersting.

CC: NPS