The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 20, 1904, Page 11

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. CLARK, for nore tnan half a ceniury a pioneer of jden West, and for v-six years “Guard- emit on to write a and excep- 11y valuable book it the wonderful val- ( the Indians who it when he first visitamong oo, which is rocess of publi- and from which lenethy following t has one of the ori rvevors of the famous [ariposa Grant,” was ] discoverer of the | Big Tree which, together h Yosemite Valley it- self. he was chiefly in- strumental in bringing »osa under Government con- [hus lie undoubtedly knows more about the subject of which he tes than any one else ow living. tic hospitality and ed in the gold min- carried about It took them but a very short hile to learn the value of the gold f them straightway nd bartered their such as beads kets, at an im- raders, and the for a time was will on whole countr: e natural righ chiefs made the the miners would e gold which the of the country the 7 and work. This offer d to by the miners, and ajority of the invaders treated ns as though they had no P tever to be respected. It s ed in some instances where ns had found and were quiet- gold mine they were for- away by white miners, v promptly took possession of their ms and worked them. eover, the Indians saw that their sources of food supply were rap- being de The oak trees, oprodt acorn—one of e articles of food—were be- and burned by the rs in clearing up the 1, and the deer and od game were being rap- ed off or driven away from the and otk In the “early a w admitted e State into the Union, it was 1 d was probably true, that e of the immigrants from the holding States took the Indians de slaves of them in working jaims. It was no uncommon for the sancti of their homes iilies to be invaded by some of ort” and young women willing or not, fer servants wives. retaliation, and as some compen- for these many grievous out- upon their natural, inalienable s of domain and property, and their native customs, the Indians stole horses and mules from the white set- GALEN LA mom WIS ’ —ATEST b PROTOGRAPH TAKEN oW His 89T BIR T HDAS PHovTo Ly T ADRDER- food for their 1 killed them fc who, in many instances, were 1 condition of starvation. Ily the chiefs and leading the tribes involved met in a grand council and resolved to com- bine their warrior forces in one grand effort to drive all the white enemies from the co; before they became more numerous and formidable. To prepare for this struggle for existence they made raids upon some me of the I g posts in the mining sections, k those in charge, took all the blankets, clothing and pro- visions they could carry awa: and fled to the mountains, where they were soon pursued by the $oldiers and vol- unteer « ens and a spirited battle ithout a decisive advan- her side. ing out of actual hostili- ties created great excitement, and an urgent call was made upon the Gov- ernor of the State for military forces to meet the emergency and protect the settlers—a band strong enough to-thor- oughly subdue the Indians and remove Il of them to the reservations to be selected by the Indian Commissioners for that purpose. Meantime the Governor and the Commissioners, who had thed arrived, were receiving numerous communica- tions, many of them from persons of high rank, earnestly urging a more hu- mane and just policy, averring that the Indians had real cause for complaint; that they had been “more sinned against than sinning,” since the set- tling of California by the whites, and that they were justly entitled to pro- tection by the Government and com- pensation for the spoliations and griev- ances that they had suffered. Probably these protests had some in- fluence in delaying hostile measures, and in the inauguration of efforts to induce the Indians to come in and treat with the Commissioners, envoys being sent out to assure them of fair treatment 2nd personal safety. Many of them accepted this offer, and as the different tribes surrendered they were taken to the two reservations which the Commissicners had established for them on the Fresuo River, the principal one being a few miles above the place where the town of Madera is now lo- cated As before stated, these Indians were not a warlike people. Their only weap- ons were their bows and arrows, and these they soon found nearly useless in defending themselves at long range against soldiers armed with rifles. Moreover, their stock of provisions was so limited that they either had to sur- render or starve. But the Yosemites and one or two other bands of Indians refused to sur- render, and retreated to their mountain strongholds, where they proposed to make a last determine” resistance. Active preparations were accordingly made by the State authorities to follow them and either capture or exterminate all the tribes involved. For this rea- son a body of State volunteers known as the Mariposa Battalion was organ- ized under the command of Major James D. Savage to pursue these tribes into the mountains; and, after many long marches and some fighting, the Indians were all defeated, captured, and, with their svomen and children, put upon the reservations under strong military guard. It was during this campaign that Major Savage and his men discovered the Yosemite Valley—about the 21st day of March, 1851—while in pursuit of the Yosemites, under old Chief Teneiya, for whom Lake Tenelya and Teneiya Canyon have appropriately been named. And then the Government did what it considered the best possible thing for these people. It provided ample food supplies, blankets, clothing and cheap fancy articles for the comfort and pleasure of the Indians on the reserva- tion, and for a short time it seemed the best policy, as they enjoyed the novelty of their new mode of living. The young, able-bodied men were put to work clearing, fencing and cultivating fields for hay and vegetables, and in this way they were partially self-sup- porting. A large portion of them, however, soon began to tire of the re- straints imposed and longed for their former conditions of freedom and many of them sickened and died. Old Tenelya, chief of the “Grizzlies,” was particularly affected by the change in his surroundings and by the humili- ation of defeat. He suffered keenly from the hot weather of the plains, after his frée life in the mountains, and begged to be allowed to return to his old home, promising not to disturb the white settlers in any way, a pledge which he did not break. Teneiya was finally allowed to depart with his family after having beer on the reservation for only a few months, and some cof his old followers after- ward stole away and joined him. With this remnant of his band he returned to the Yosemite, but not long after- ward they were set upon by -the Monos, a tribe from the Eastern side of the Sierras, with whom they had quarreled, and the old chief and many of his warriors were killed. In 1855, after four years of confine- ment on the reservation, an agreement was made with the Indian Commis- sioners by the head men of the ‘tribes that if their people were again allowed their freedom they would forever re- main at peace with the white settlers, and they would try to support them- selves free of expense. to the Govern- ment. They were soon permitted to leave, and have ‘eVer since faithfully kept their promise. Most of them went back to the vicin- ity of their old homes and made tem- porary settlements on unoccupied Gov- ernment land, as many of their old vil- lage sites were now in possession of white settlers. As there was a very large crop of acorns that season, they gathered an abundant supply for win- ter use, and, with what was given them in the way of food and clothing by some of the white settlers, they managed to get through the winter fairly well. Their four vears’ residence on the reservations, however, had been more of a school in the vices of the whites than one of a higher education. They became demoralized socially, addicted to many bad habits and left the reser- vations in worse condition than when they were taken there. Their old tribal relations and customs were nearly broken up, though they still had their head men to whom they looked for counsel in all important matters. As the country became more settled much of their main food supply, the acorn, was consumed by the domestic animals of the ranchers and their mode of living became more precarious and transitory, and many of them were at times in a condition near to starvation. In these straitened and desperate cir- cumstances many of their young women . were used as commercial property and peddled out in the mining camps and gambling saloons for money to buy food, clothing or whisky, this latter ar- ticle being obtained through the aid of some white persons in violation of law. Their miserable, squalid condition of living opened the way for diseases of a malignant character, which their medi- cine men could not cure, and their number was rapidly reduced by death. At the present time there are not in existence a half-dozen of the old Yo- semites who were living, even as chil- dren, when the valley was first discov- ered in 1851, and many of the other tribes have been correspondingly re- duced. Many of the Indians in Mariposa and adjoining counties were polygamists, having two and three and sometimes more wives. Some of the chiefs and head men would have wives from sev- eral adjacent tribes, which had a ten- dency to establish permanent friendly relations among them. Every man who took a young woman for his wife had to buy her. Young women -were considered by their parents as personal chattels, subject to sale to the highest suitable bidder, and the payment of the price constituted the main part of the marriage cere- mony. The wife was then the personal prop- erty of the husband, which he might sell or gamble away if he wished, but such instances were said to be very rare. In case negotiations for a mar- riage fell through the preliminary pay- ments were returned to the rejected suitor by the parents. Even a widow, independent of control in the matter of marriage, if she con- sented to become a man’s wife received some compensation herself from her in- tended husband. It is said that in their marital rela- tions they were, as a rule, strictly faithful to each other. If the woman was found to be guilty of unfaithful- ness to her husband the penalty was death. Such a thing as a man whip- ping or beating his wife was never known. Whipping under any circum- stances was considered a more humili- ating and disgraceful punishment than death. Even in the management of children, whipping was never resorted to as pun- ishment for disobedience. In faet, children were always treated in such a kind, patient, loving manner that diso- bedience was a fault rarely known. In the early days of the settlement it seemed to be the universal custom- of the Indians along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range of mountains to burn the bodies of their dead. A suit- able pile of readily combustible wood was prepared. The body was taken charge of by persons to perform the last sacred rites, and firmly bound in skins and blankets and then placed upon the funeral pyre with all the per- sonal effects of the deceased, together with numerous offerings from friends and relatives. The chief mourners of the occasion seemed to take but little active part in the ceremonies. When all was ready one of the assistants would light the fire and the terrible, wailing, mournful cry would com- mence, and the professional chanters, with peculiar sidling movements and frantic gestures, would circle round and round the burning pfle. Occasion- ally, on arriving at the nortivest cor- ner of the pile, they would stop, and, pointing to the west, would end a cry- ing refrain by exclaiming “Him-i-la- va.” When these became exhausted others would step in and take their places and thus keep up the mournful ceremony until the whole pile was con- sumed. After the pile had cooled the charred bones and ashes were gathered up, a few pieces of bone selected and the re- mainder buried. Of the pieces retained some would be sent to distant rela- tives and the others pounded to a flne powder, then mixed with pine pitch and plastered on the faces of the near- est female relatives as a badge of mourning. to be kept there until it nat. -riage. urally wore off. used to have looking old women days.” The principal reason for burning the bodles of the dead was the belief that there is an evil watching for the soul to leave the b Every Indian camp f these hideous of in it in the “early spirit waiting and perishable body they th immortal soul would be qu leased and set free Py spirit worl tant west, while ing cries, the ev The young w their long, shining, which they were all ing much to their pe they seldom But band the v and burned black very prou sonal be had of his living There are no pe show more or hold their n -called ry Di these blankets their dea The old I ans reticent regardin liefs. They k exposed theref: tion from ritualists eligious t it one they aveng the murde blood. sama metimes re- person be< tear of evil v ave the » harm and de- They also hav hem any harm >py land or gres an was very nitiated » and ¢ were in made with sn a conic: and cove he bar! e in- cense cedar poles t welve eet long W the ground around an area « feet in diam- eter, with th he outside T with long s making it De y opening was also left at the tc escape the & 2r kindled in the ¢ One of these I fly of half a their household pr ed; and there is no o single-room dwelling of \ at can be kept eather of the elk, and the top co et or robe made of the skins of small uch as rabbits, fur-bearing animals, hares, wildcats and foxes. Most of the older ans still cling to their o'd customs and manner of living, and are very slow to learn or talk our language, but the younger ones are striving to live like the wh people, and seem proud to adopt our style of dress and manner of cooking. As a rule they e trustworthy, and when confidence is placed in their hon- esty it is very rarely betrayed. Dur- ing the past fifty years a great many thousands of people have visited the Yosemite Valley with their own camp- ing outfits and duning the day and often all night are absent on distant trips of observation, with no one left in charge of the camp, yet there has never to my knowledge been an in- stance of anything being stolen or mo- lested by Indians. There are, however, some dishonest Indians who will steal from their own people and sometimes, when a long distance from their own camps, they may steal from the whit: A few, if they can get whisky through the aid of some white person, will be- come drunk and fight among them- selves and occasionally one of them may be killed, but as a rule they are peaceful and orderly and hold sacred the promise made to the Indian Com- missioners by the old tribal chiefs, when released from confinement on the reservations, thatj they would forever keep the peace and never again m_aks war agaiost the white people, :