The Winnemem Wintu ("middle river people" or "middle water people") are a Native American band of the Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California.
The Winnemem Wintu ("middle river people" or "middle water people") are a Native American band of the Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California.
Forty-two Winnemem men, women and children were killed by white settlers at Kabyai Creek, on the McCloud River, in 1854. This action is known as the Kaibai Creek Massacre.
Around the late 19th century and early 20th century, local militias were awarded $5 for proof of every Native American person killed. [1]
Since 1945, portions of the lower McCloud River have been flooded by Shasta Lake, the reservoir created by the Shasta Dam. [2] [3] In 1971, a group of Winnemem Wintu occupied Toyon-Wintu Center, a government-owned property where housing had been built for dam construction workers. They were granted a temporary permit to remain at the site in 1973, but the government moved to evict the thirty remaining Wintu residents in 1988, completing the eviction in 1989. [4]
The Winnemem Wintu have been in a protracted fight with the State of California and the federal Bureau of Reclamation over the proposed raising of the height of Shasta Dam to secure more water for California cities and agriculture. The Winnemem Wintu argue that the proposed higher lake level would flood many Winnemem Wintu sacred sites. From September 12 to 16, 2004, one faction of Winnemem Wintu held a "war dance" as a protest. They claim it was the first war dance held since 1887. [5]
The Winnemem Wintu claim important sacred sites on Mount Shasta and Cold Spring Mountain. They are one of several groups of Native Americans who feel that casinos and their proceeds destroy culture from the inside out and refuse to participate in the gaming industry.[ citation needed ]
The Winnemem healer Florence Jones (Puilulimet) [6] (1907–2003) was portrayed in a nationally broadcast PBS documentary, In the Light of Reverence , in 2001, as she successfully led her community's fight to stop construction of a new ski resort on sacred Mount Shasta.
The Winnemem Wintu traditionally spoke the North Eastern Dialect of the Northern Wintun Language, a member of the Wintuan languages, and a member of the larger Penutian language "stock". Chief Caleen Sisk has been working with linguist Stefan Liedtke and the Indigenous Language Institute on the revitalization of the Winnemem Wintu language. [7]
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The Winnemem are one of what anthropologists have hypothesized to be nine total bands of Wintu. They are not a federally recognized tribe, although they are working toward federal recognition. The Winnemem Wintu are divided politically into several groups, with members participating in at least three organized groups attempting to obtain federal recognition. In addition, there are several Winnemem Wintu descendants who decline to participate in these groups for various reasons.
Some Winnemem Wintu feel that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) does not recognize them because of government error rather than termination. BIA officials have informed some Wintu representatives of Winnemem heritage that "Bureaucratic Oversight" resulted in the entire Wintu being omitted from the list of federally recognized tribes as early as the 1940s.
One Winnemem Wintu group argues that they were accidentally erased from the Bureau of Indian Affairs list of recognized tribes during the 1980s. They have not been able to regain this recognition. Legislation sponsored by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004 gave these Winnemem Wintu the opportunity to regain recognition. However, the Winnemem Wintu were informed that the group's inclusion on an omnibus bill related to all Native American tribal people would have put the entire bill at risk. Rather than have other tribal people put at risk, the Winnemem Wintu agreed with Senator Campbell to remove their name from the bill.
The City of Shasta Lake, known as Central Valley or CV prior to incorporation, is a city in Shasta County, California, United States. It is the closest settlement to Shasta Dam and Shasta Lake reservoir, which are popular tourist destinations. Its population is 10,371 as of the 2020 census, up from 10,164 from the 2010 census.
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The Wintu are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun. There are three major groups that make up the Wintu speaking people. The Wintu, Nomlaki, and Patwin. The Wintu language is part of the Penutian language family.
Shasta Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At 602 feet (183 m) high, it is the eighth-tallest dam in the United States. Located at the north end of the Sacramento Valley, Shasta Dam creates Shasta Lake for long-term water storage, flood control, hydroelectricity and protection against the intrusion of saline water. The largest reservoir in the state, Shasta Lake can hold about 4,500,000 acre-feet (5,600 GL).
The McCloud River is a 77.1-mile (124.1 km) long river that flows east of and parallel to the upper Sacramento River, in Siskiyou County and Shasta County in northern California in the United States. Protected under California's Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1972), it drains a scenic mountainous area of the Cascade Range, including part of Mount Shasta. It is a tributary of the Pit River, which in turn flows into the Sacramento River. The three rivers join in Shasta Lake, formed by Shasta Dam north of Redding.
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In the Light of Reverence (2001) is a documentary produced by Christopher McLeod and Malinda Maynor (Yumbee). It features three tribal nations, Hopi, the Winnemem Wintu, and the Lakota Sioux, and their struggles to protect three sacred sites. Such sites are central to their understanding of the world and their spiritual responsibilities to care for their homelands.
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In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, Indigenous tribe, or Tribal nation may be any current or historical tribe, band, or nation of Native Americans in the United States. Modern forms of these entities are often associated with land or territory of an Indian reservation. "Federally recognized Indian tribe" is a legal term in United States law with a specific meaning.
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Kabyai Creek massacre or Kaibai Creek massacre was a massacre against Winnemem Wintu people. A party of white settlers attacked a Winnemem Wintu village at Kabyai Creek, on the McCloud River. 42 Winnemem Wintu men, women and children were killed.
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