INDIANS
OF
LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK AND VICINITY
by
Paul E. Schulz
Published by the
Loomis Museum Association
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Mineral, California
Copyright
1954
Printed in the United States of America
Susanville _Lassen Litho_ California
_PREFACE_
It is with some temerity that the author, a geologist by training and an
interpretive naturalist by occupation, undertakes to compile this
booklet on Indians who once inhabited the vicinity of Lassen Peak.
The main mission of a naturalist, as he functions in the National Park
Service, is to act as an interpreter of technical information gathered
together by research scientists. It is his obligation as well as his
privilege to make these data of history and natural history available
for visitors to units administered by the National Park Service of the
United States Department of the Interior. The Park Naturalist is
challenged to create in visitors an eager interest by presenting
information in an appealing manner so that the great stories of the
respective areas may be learned easily and pleasantly. In doing this,
visitors gain fuller understanding and hence better appreciation of the
significance of these areas. This leads to greater enjoyment of the
scenic masterpieces, the scientific natural wonders, and the historic
shrines of areas of the National Park System. Not only is the visitor’s
enjoyment enhanced by his active reception of the interpretive
facilities and services offered him by the Federal Government, but his
pride is stimulated in these areas which have been set aside for his own
use as well as for the benefit of future generations. A citizen’s pride
in his park areas in turn develops a love of country. It also promotes a
sense of responsibility which helps the National Park Service fight
vandalism, fire carelessness, and litter carelessness to the ultimate
benefit of all concerned.
Little on the pages which follow may be classed as original material for
it is in the role of interpreter that the undersigned has assembled
information gleaned by qualified students.
The term “Amerind” instead of the traditional word “Indian” was
seriously considered for use in this book but finally rejected. Ever
since Christopher Columbus’ historic mistake the word Indian has had a
confusing two-fold meaning. Columbus, of course, thought that he had
been successful in reaching India when his little fleet touched the
shores of the New World. Hence he applied the word Indian to the people
he found there, supposing them to be natives of India. The term Amerind
is a coined contraction of the words: American Indian. The use of
Amerind has been advocated by some authors to do away with confusion,
and it does seem to be an excellent name, but it has not enjoyed wide
usage by the American public.
I am deeply indebted to the following named persons whose research and
learned writings have provided the bulk of the information contained in
the present publication. The bibliography carries the titles of the
specific references used.
Dr. Roland B. Dixon
Mr. Thomas R. Garth
Dr. E. W. Gifford
Dr. Robert F. Heizer
Dr. Stanislaw Klimek
Dr. A. L. Kroeber
Dr. Saxton T. Pope
Dr. Carl O. Sauer
Dr. Edward Sapir
Dr. Leslie Spier
Miss Erminie W. Voegelin
Dr. T. T. Waterman
Properly, specific credit should be given in the text for each fact and
quotation taken from the works of others, but the result would in this
case have been unwieldy and of no practical benefit to the readers whom
this book is intended to reach. It is hoped that professional
ethnologists into whose hands this volume may fall will forgive this
unorthodox usage of the research results of serious students.
Mrs. Selina La Marr (Boonookoo-ee-menorra) was a valuable and gracious
informant. Thanks are due again to Dr. E. W. Gifford, Director of the
Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, for many
courtesies, including donation of a copy of Dixon’s rare “Yana Indians”
and also for his constructive perusal of the manuscript. Others who
assisted the author were Mrs. Grace Schulz, Miss Lois Bell of the
University of California “University Explorer” radio program, and Mr.
Louis Caywood, National Park Service archeologist. Dr. J. H. Woolsey,
M.D., earned gratitude of the author by donation of his personal copy of
Pope’s “Medical History of Ishi”. Miss Lilian Nisbet of the Tehama
County Library was helpful in the securing of other reference materials.
Most Californians are vitally interested in the Indians of this state,
yet few are aware of the excellent California State Indian Museum
operated by the Division of Beaches and Parks. The Indian Museum is open
to the public daily, free of charge, in a separate building on the
grounds of Sutter’s Fort State Historical Monument in Sacramento. The
author highly commends this museum to you. It contains a wealth of
authentic materials which have been organized into handsome and exciting
story-telling exhibits of first quality by Curator Jack Dyson.
Paul E. Schulz
Park Naturalist
Lassen Volcanic National Park
Fall 1954
_CONTENTS_
Preface I
Contents III
Prehistoric Man Comes to North America 1
Early Cultures in North America 4
The California Indians 8
Indian Tribes of the Lassen Area 16
Indian-Pioneer Conflict; the Ishi Story 20
Hunting 38
Fishing 43
Gathering and Preparation of Other Foods 48
Houses and Furnishings 60
Household Implements, Tools, and Weapons 66
Basketry and Textiles 80
Tanning, Cordage, and Glue 96
Transportation 99
Domestic Animals and Pets 103
Clothing 105
Beauty and Personal Grooming 111
Wealth 117
Ceremonial Dress 119
Tobacco and Smoking 120
Music and Arts 122
Games and Social Gatherings 126
Dances 129
Political Organization of Tribes 131
War and Peace 133
Birth and Babies 136
Adulthood Rites 141
Marriage and Divorce 143
Death and Burial 145
Counting, Time, and Place 149
Concepts of Sun, Moon, and Stars 151
Weather Phenomena 153
Earthquake Beliefs 155
Creation Beliefs and Other Legends 157
Medical Treatment 162
Spirits and Ghosts 164
Shamanism and Doctoring 166
Miscellaneous Magic 173
Bibliography 175
[Illustration: Association logo]
Chapter I
PREHISTORIC MAN COMES TO NORTH AMERICA
Archeological studies of human remains from all over the world have
shown beyond serious question that man originated in the Eastern
Hemisphere about a million years ago. Meager remnants of prehistoric
skeletons of man and his tools, hearths, and debris heaps have been
found in deposits of late Cenozoic time, Chapter Five of earth’s
history. This late Cenozoic period starting about a million years ago is
called the Pleistocene or Ice Age. These discoveries show the orderly
processes of survival of the fittest and of evolution developing
successive generations of man with refined physical and mental
qualities, ultimately producing modern man.
During the Ice Age there were four separate times during which ice
formation on all continents of the earth increased tremendously. Just
what caused changes in climate to make this possible is not definitely
known. Slight changes in amount of carbon dioxide in the air, which
could have been affected by the amount of volcanic activity or by major
changes in the amount of plant life in existence, may have affected the
climate. Slight variations in the orbit of the earth in its course
around the sun may also have had their influence. Even today it would
require a drop of only a few degrees in the average annual temperature
of the earth’s climate to produce a large increase in ice formation. All
that is required is that a little more snow falls each winter than will
melt in the summer. Thus, each year the excess would gradually build up
glaciers and continental ice sheets, producing another “ice stage” in a
few thousands of years.
The area of ice in the world today is relatively small: under 6 million
square miles, about the same as that existing during each of the four
interglacial (warm climate) stages of the Pleistocene. During the four
glacial stages of the Ice Age, continental ice sheets increased their
areas by three or four times, also becoming larger in size in each
successive cold cycle. The latest and most extensive of these glacial
times, the Wisconsin Stage, actually saw two ice advances with a brief
recession separating them about 60,000 years ago.
During each glacial stage tremendous amounts of water were removed from
the oceans and deposited on the continents as ice fields. This involved
amounts of as much as 20 million cubic miles of water, causing
world-wide lowering of sea level of about 150 or 200 feet. Today the sea
between Alaska and Siberia is very shallow. It is not difficult to
realize that lowered sea level during the glacial stages of the ice age
drained the water from this and other shallow sea floors exposing these
as land links or “land bridges” which extended between continents and
islands. This state of affairs made possible the overland migration of
man to the Western Hemisphere.
In his illuminating paper “Early Relations of Man to Plants” Sauer has
pointed out that early man’s migrations to the New World were not the
result of mere aimless wanderings. Peking Man of the first interglacial
stage about 900,000 years ago in Asia used fire in established hearths.
He ate both cooked meats and vegetables. This evidence indicates at
least a semi-sedentary family life. Since he had learned to make himself
more comfortable generally by remaining in one favorable place, it
follows logically that even primitive Peking Man migrated only when he
could improve his lot by doing so. He moved on only when he was forced
to do so by a failing food supply or because of crowded conditions
caused by increasing numbers of his fellow men. It is believed that not
only Peking Man, but his descendants were as sedentary as their food
supply allowed them to be. Dr. Sauer observes that
“... the history of human population (numbers) is a succession of
higher and higher levels, each rise to a new level being brought about
by the discovery of more food either through occupation of a new
territory or through increase in food producing skill.”
The invention of a better tool, improved food preparation, discovery of
new foods, better storage, or utilization would bring about this
increase in food availability.
Apparently the twin circumstances of the need for more food and the
existence of a dry land connection between Asia and North America
enabled a series of migrations of prehistoric men to the New World. The
migrations did not occur just during one glacial stage, nor during the
last 15 or 25,000 years as some have claimed, but continued
interruptedly over a period of many thousands of years. Perhaps such
migrations started as long ago as 300,000 years—whenever land
connections permitted and other conditions warranted. As a result, we
find a number of stocks of Old World Man at various levels of cultural
development coming into the Americas. Naturally a variety of plant and
animal species migrated in both directions between the Old and New
Worlds of their own accord, in addition to those which might have been
brought along by prehistoric man.
A classic example of plant migration to the New World is that of
California’s celebrated redwoods. In China just a few years ago the
little changed ancestors of these trees, the still-growing Metasequoia
were discovered. In rocks of the most recent era (Chapter Five of
earth’s history) the step by step migration of the changing redwood
ancestors can be followed by studying successively younger rock layers
in Siberia, Alaska, and in Canada and northwest United States. These
relics and imprints of the foliage, fruits, and even of wood texture of
these ancient trees were covered by sands and muds, and thus preserved
in stone as fossils. This has made it possible to identify the ancestral
redwood species and to demonstrate their march to California. It is
interesting to note how the redwoods changed in the process, evolving by
degrees to cope with new conditions of climate and soil during their
slow migrations. At length today two distinct and unique Sequoias are to
be found living only in California. One, the Coast Redwood, has adapted
itself to coastal fogs and reproduction by sprouting root shoots. The
other, restricted to drier areas of the west slope of the Sierra, the
Sierra Redwood or Big Tree, has its needles reduced to small scales to
withstand the drier climate, and reproduces only by seed.
Sauer observes that the stone implements of prehistoric man are the best
preserved relics of his culture and are the most easily found.
Unfortunately the less durable and less easily recognized relics of
skin, bone, wood, and vegetable fibers which are equally or often even
more important clues to the past, have been altered beyond recognition
or completely destroyed. As a result these disappeared or their
camouflaged remnants have been overlooked and passed unrecognized by
even careful students seeking to learn the details of this fascinating
story of the how’s and why’s and when’s of your ancestors and mine in
Europe and also of the Indians in Asia and in North America in general,
and of those of the Lassen area in particular.