HISTORY
Source:Our Home Forever, A Hupa Tribal History by
Byron Nelson, Jr. Photo taken by A.W. Ericson, courtesy of George Nelson
Hupa cultural leader Captain John is pictured seated in center under the regalia used in the White Deerskin Dance
Since time immemorial, the Natinixwe (pronounced Nah-tin-o-whey) now known as the Hupa people, have lived along the Trinity River in Northern California. There were 13 villages along seven miles of the heart of Hoopa Valley, home to about 1000 Hupa who lived there in cedar plank houses, or xontas. These homes were built for comfort and not defense - they remained cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and were the site of much of the daily Hupa activities. They were also used by the women and children as sleeping quarters, while the men slept next door in the sweathouse. During the day, the men and boys over the age of ten would go hunting and fishing (deer, elk, salmon, trout and sturgeon), while the women gathered berries, bark and roots and made baskets for their daily use. The Trinity River and the surrounding hills provided an abundance of food and resources which left much time for spiritual matters.
Although Sir Francis Drake landed 30 miles west of Hoopa (in Trinidad Bay) in 1579, it was not until 1828 that the Hupa were first approached by Europeans. For twenty years they traded furs until the time of the Gold Rush, when a new type of white man arrived, with little respect for Hupa land or people. As had happened in all the other states, the white settlers wanted to have the Hupa moved, but there was no place to relocate them. In 1851, Redick McKee signed a treaty with the Yurok, Kurok and Hupa tribes which was meant to provide safety from encroachment, and guarantee land rights in the form of a reservation. This treaty however, was one of 18 signed that year and never ratified by Congress.
I n 1858, a Yurok agent overheard some men
in a saloon describing a large group of armed men moving downriver from
Weaverville and towards the Hupa villages. While he was able to turn them
back that time, the Hupa became worried about their safety and began
petitioning for a fort as well as gathering their own weapons. A command
post named Fort Gaston was built in 1858 but it did not take long for the
government to question Hupa loyalty and attempt to take action to ensure
it. One September night in 1863, the villagers were surrounded in their
sleep and were forced to surrender the following morning. They remained
prisoners at Fort Gaston for a year, when the Hupa declared a war that the
Federal troops could not win. The Hupa employed a brilliant
strategy to keep violence from their valley; they gave
aid to neighboring tribes and employed them as mercenaries to defend
themselves from the forces that attacked them, but maintained peace in the
valley by their apparent cooperation. By this constant support of allied
forces and resistance to open warfare in the Hoopa Valley, they were
eventually able to withstand the attacks of the government troops and
force them into a stalemate. So, on August 12, 1864 the Treaty of
Peace and Friendship was signed between the Hupa and the U.S.
government. Hupa demands were met; they were guaranteed a reservation
that comprised about ninety percent of their original homeland, and
secured amnesty for all those who had fought in the war.
Once the Hupa's physical safety was guaranteed, they faced a
more insidious threat;
the attempted disruption of their cultural heritage. Government agents had
little respect for the rich
cultural and spiritual life the
Hupa had developed over the span of their existence. Some aspects of the
new culture were accepted readily, like the move from a hunting and
gathering based subsistence system to a primarily agricultural one. Other
aspects of the new culture met with resistance - the Hupa strove to
maintain their traditions at a time when Federal policy was the
eradication of indigenous culture and complete assimilation into the
"mainstream" society.
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1891 - President Harrison signed an executive order which would join the Hupa and Yurok reservations. The troops soon moved off Hupa/Yurok lands and the boarding school they had been built to assimilate the Hupa could be converted into a regular school and additional housing.
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1911 - The formation of the first modern Hupa Tribal Council.
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1918 - Under the Dawes Act, the first allotments of land were distributed for farming.
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1933 - The formation of the first formal tribal council which was officially recognized when the Hupa established a constitution and by-laws.
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1950's - A time of much greater financial prosperity thanks to timber. Hoopa Valley had seven saw mills, and distributed the income on a per capita basis to the whole tribe. While logging still goes on today, only areas that are not visible from the valley are cleared, and there has been a great effort to replant the felled trees.
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1988 - Thanks to a massive tribal effort, with members protesting in Sacramento as well as Washington, D.C., the Hupa were finally recognized as a Sovereign Territory by the federal government. The treaty, which was was signed by Ronald Reagan also put an end to the union of the Hupa and Yurok reservations, which was causing strain around lumber issues. Every year in the second week of August, this day is celebrated as Sovereign Day.
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Today- the Sovereign Tribal council today resembles the ancient tribal government in structure and function. Long-term goals include the development of the local economy by using the rich natural resources of tribal land without upsetting the delicate balance of nature.
Over the last century and a half, the Hupa
people have undergone a radical transition- but through it all they have
maintained a strong sense of cultural
identity which survives today. They have incorporated
aspects of the new outside culture without losing sight of their heritage.
Sources:
Byron Nelson, Jr.- Our Home Forever: A Hupa Tribal History, 1978.
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Museum- "Natinook, Where the Trails Return (videotape)", 1990.