Oh, but wait, not the ones you have been thinking about.
Like the Legend of Pohono Falls or Tissack.
If your a high school student who Googled "Yosemite Indian Myths" to copy the text verbaitum for a writing project you have the wrong webpage.
This webpage is about the other Yosemite Indian Myths.
The ones published on the U.S. Governmental official Yosemite National Park website.
They are official sanctioned governmental Indian "Myths" published as truths.
Lets look that these "Myths" promoted by taxpayer Yosemite National Park Service.
The main Yosemite History page;
http://www.nps.gov/yose/nature/history.htm
Let us see what it says. In the first paragraph about the Indians of Yosemite;
"they were primarily of Southern Miwok ancestry"
That is blatantly false.
Lafayette H. Bunnell, the first non-Indian person who ever meet Chief Tenaya wrote in his book "The Discovery of the Yosemite 1851, and the war which led to that event" that Tenaya's band was made primarily of Monos and Paiutes, with a "handful" of outlaws from western tribes. That "Tenaya was the founder of the Pai-Ute Colony of Ahwahni" and "Tenaya spoke a Pai-Ute Jargon". He also wrote that the Ahwahnees were taller and lighter then the "Western Diggers".
Not ONCE did Bunnell write that the Yosemites were "Me-wus" which is what Miwok people call themselves.
In that same paragraph they gone on and write;
"However, trade with the Mono Paiutes from the east side of the Sierra for pinyon pine nuts, obsidian, and other materials from the Mono Basin resulted in many unions between the two tribes".
Sorry, but that is false also.
One of the biggest myths is THEY TRADED.
During that time Paiutes and Miwoks were enemies. Paiutes could barely get along with their own Numic cousins the Shoshones to the southeast of them.
The Paiutes and Miwoks had several battles during that time over Hetchy Hetchy Valley, which the Paiutes won, Stoddard Springs, which the Paiutes won, Bloody Canyon, which the Paiutes won etc...
Paiutes would not trade obsidian with the Miwoks, because obsidian would have given the Miwoks an advantage in war.
Also which unions were those? In the oldest known records there was only ONE known marriage between a Paiute and a lower Tuolumne Miwok. Even in the more recorded times after the 1900s there were only a couple of intermarriages between the two groups. More "Southern Miwoks" women married white men then any other Indian group in Central California during that time.
Reports by Joseph, Nate and William Screech state that Paiutes, after beating the Big Creek Indians (Miwoks), went and picked acorns and berries THEMSELVES. They didn't need to trade when they could just go and gather their own food.
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/history/notes_on_hetch-hetchy_valley.html
Lafayette H. Bunnell explains this also. He writes that after the Paiutes decimated Tenaya's band for their betrayal the only Indians they saw a year after Tenaya's death in 1854 were Paiutes gathering THEIR OWN acorns.
Bunnell writes;
"in the summer of that year (1854). This was caused by a visit to their neighborhood of some Pai-Utes and Monos, from the east side of the Sierras, who came to examine the prospects for the acorn harvest, and probably take back with them some they had cached."
http://www.abovecalifornia.com/lib/Houghton/18.php
Even John Muir the noted Environmentalist wrote in his book "The Mountains of California" 1894 pages 74 - 77 wrote about Paiutes, but never about seeing Miwoks.
In another book Muir wrote how he would see Paiutes painted going back and forth to gather acorns.
Even in modern times full blooded Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Taboose Howard would take a week or two off from her basket demonstrating to take her family, and go pick acorns with other Paiutes.
Even in last paragraph. The only Indians Joseph Walker, in 1833, ever wrote about were the "higher class of Digger, the Paiutes", and never about Miwoks.
The official Yosemite Indian expert wrote that Paiutes didn't enter Yosemite until 1870. Which is another of the biggest falsehoods ever written about Yosemite Indians.
Walker only mentions encountering Paiutes in 1833. The Screech Brothers met Paiutes camping in Hetch Hetchy in 1850, a year before Major Savage entered Yosemite to capture Tenaya, who by the way was Paiute. Then if you read above what year were the only Indians, who were Paiutes, entering Yosemite to pick acorns in Yosemite. That year was 1854 in Lafayette Bunnell's book. Which also never mentions any Miwoks.
Here is the Teachers and school Yosemite National Park Service resource page.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/education/glance/first_people/first.htm
First they have a photo of Chowchilla Yokut Francisco Georgely and in the text they have a photo of Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Suzie McGown with her daughter Sadie in a Paiute cradleboard on the Yosemite valley floor around 1901.
Why didn't the Yosemite Park Service put a photo of a Yosemite Miwok? Since it is a page about the Miwoks.
Here is the story of the Ahwahneechee that the park never tells you;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Tenaya
Chief Tenaya (?-1853) was a Native American chief in the Yosemite Valley people in California. Tenaya's father was the chief of the Ahwahneechee [1], which means "people of the Ahwahnee" (Yosemite Valley). The Ahwahneechees were a totally different tribe then any other surrounding tribes. Lafayette Bunnell, the doctor of the Mariposa Battalion, wrote that "Ten-ie-ya was recognized, by the Mono tribe, as one of their number, as he was born and lived among them until his ambition made him a leader and founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne." [2] The Ahwahneechee occupied Yosemite Valley until a sickness destroyed most of them. The few Ahwahneechee left Yosemite Valley and joined the Mono Lake Paiutes in the eastern Sierra Nevada. Tenaya's father married a Mono Paiute woman and Tenaya was born from that union. Tenaya grow up amongst his mothers people and married a Mono Paiute woman and had several children. Fifty years later a medicine man advised Tenaya that it was time to return to the beautiful Yosemite Valley because the sickness was gone. Tenaya took about 200 people back into Yosemite Valley. The Ahwahneechee were a powerful tribe feared by the surrounding Miwok tribes. The surrounding tribes called them Yosemite meaning "they are killers."[3]
By 1851, conflicts between the non-indigenous miners and the Native Americans in the Sierra started to increase. The state of California decided to send the Natives to reservations. The Mariposa Brigade was formed to carry out the relocation. Chief Tenaya agreed to move to the Fresno Reservation, instead of the destruction of his entire band. Many of his band left Yosemite Valley instead of following Tenaya. As they approached the Fresno reservation, they fled back to the Yosemite Valley. The Brigade then re-entered the Valley, captured Tenaya's sons, and killed his youngest son. Tenaya then agreed to go back to the reservation.
By the summer of 1851, Tenaya grew tired of the reservation. He gave his pledge that he would not disturb any non-indigenous people. However, in 1852, a group of prospectors were killed in the Valley. Tenaya and his band fled to join the Mono Paiutes. He returned to the Valley in 1853. He was stoned to death in a dispute with the Mono Paiutes over stolen horses.
Tenaya Lake was named after Chief Tenaya.
If the Ahwahneechees were totally different from any of the surrounding tribes wouldn't that also mean the Miwoks?
Also if there were only a handful of Ahwahnees when they went into Mono Lake then the majority of those they took back to Yosemite decades later were mainly Paiutes. The Ahwahnees had to have been absorbed into the Paiute population. That is why Tenaya spoke Paiute and he founded the Paiute Colony of Ahwahnee.
Also Awhahnees had to be really Paiutes because at that same time Paiutes and Miwoks were having several battles.
Awahnee means open mouth in Paiute, Plus also a kind of grass and also Owahnee is part of a Paiute creation story. There is a place called Owahnee at Mount Tom in Paiute territory. Yet no name like that in Miwok country.
The only permenant year round Indians to live in Yosemite during summer and winter in 1880 were Charley, Rueben and Tom. All three were Paiutes and not Miwoks.
Here is another big falsehood on the last paragraph of that website above;
That the Southern Sierra Miwoks called Yosemite people "Some of them are Killers".
That is the biggest lie. I have already written about this. That statement that is published on the last paragraph is the another big falsehood. That one line "Some of them are Killers" was written to explain why the Miwoks were afraid of the Yosemite Indians.
http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/259
http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/269
Also if your going to put up a website about Miwoks, please use Yosemite Miwoks photos and not photos of other Indians, like Paiutes and Yokuts.
Now lets hit the other links on the "Educational" links on Yosemite NPS site.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/education/glance/first_people/lifestyle.htm
Once again they have a photo of a Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute woman.
Next page;
http://www.nps.gov/yose/education/glance/first_people/migrations.htm
The top description;
They didn't mention the hundreds of Paiutes who lived in Yosemite year around and those who lived seasonally at Mono Lake which was only 11 miles outside of the park as compared to 30 miles the Miwoks had to travel to enter the park. More Yosemite Indian people in 1932 were born in Mono Lake then in Mariposa county.
In fact Captain Sam and Susie Sam, Bridgeport Tom, Louisa Tom, Leanna Tom, Carrie Bethel, Captain Jim, Nellie Charlie, Tina Charlie, Alice James Wilson, Old Rube and many others lived at Mono Lake and Coleville and NOT IN those camps in Mariposa. Some of them even had allotments in Mono Lake and Coleville. They would go back and forth from Mono Lake to Yosemite and NOT Mariposa to Yosemite.
"The Yosemite Miwok occiasionally traveled across the Sierra to trade with Mono Lake Paiutes"
Here is the big SHOCKER. We have only found ONE person to claim they were a Yosemite Miwok in 1928. The rest of the "Southern Sierra Miwoks" are Yokuts from the San Joaquin Valley floor who were rounded up by Major Savage, Central Sierra Miwoks who were from Chief Bautista and Ciprano Bautista's bands and signers of the Fremont Treaties who had moved to Mariposa to work for white settlers.
Again the Paiutes did not trade with Miwoks when they just went and picked and gathered themselves.
"The Yosemite Miwok traded black oak acorns, baskets, and basket materials, berries and shell beads with the Paiutes".
As you have seen above Paiutes went and picked their own acorns and berries. Paiutes made the most beautifulist baskets in Yosemite and we had our own willow. We Paiutes hardly used shell beads.
Here is a dirty little secret. The Basketmakers in Yosemite were mainly Paiutes and some Yokuts. There were hardly any Yosemite Miwok baskets made in Yosemite.
In all contests during the early Indian Days in Yosemite were won mainly by Paiutes and then Yokuts. No Miwoks.That basket they show in the photo was made by Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Carrie Bethel. So why didn't they put a Miwok basket in the photo?
Once again the Paiutes didn't give Miwoks obsidian.
"Some Paiute people wintered or spent several years in Yosemite Valley and some intermarried with the Yosemite Miwoks".
Who? I only know of one marriage between a Yosemite Miwok and a Paiute in early times. Their descendents ended up living today on the Bridgeport Paiute Indian Colony.
Most of the so-called "Southern Sierra Miwoks" women ended up marrying white men and not Indians.
Besides who were the chiefs and captains of the Yosemite Miwoks in olden times?
It wasn't Frank Hooky Wilson because he was a Yokut from Merced County or Bill Howard because he was a Central Miwok. The Howards are direct descendents of Chief Bautista who was afraid of Chief Tenaya and volunteered to hunt down Tenaya for Major Savage and the Mariposa Battalion.
How do they explain these people?
http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/153
People you never see in the history of Yosemite.
The Chiefs and Captains of Yosemite.
Notice Chris Brown below dressed up as Miwok, but his bloodline is Paiute/Washo/Nutchu.
http://www.nps.gov/yose/education/glance/first_people/recent.htm
On this page they describe the "Recent History" of the Yosemite Miwoks.
"Miwok men were employeed as woodcutters, guides, and wranglers, while women worked as housekeepers, child care providers, and by the end of the 19th century, basketmakers."
The Dicks, both Chief George Dick and his son Charlie were the woodcutters for most of the people in Yosemite. They were Paiutes. Charlie was even born in Mono Lake and on old census rolls while others write "Digger" he says he is full blooded "Piute".
Guides Bridgeport Tom, and first mailman of Yosemite and guide Tom Hutchings were both Paiutes. Francisco Georgely was a Chowchilla Yokut.
Wranglers Young Charlie, Kinney were Paiutes. Pete Hillard was 1/2 white and 1/2 "Unknown". But then the "Indian experts" claims anyone who is "Unknown" as Miwok. When during that time people from Yokuts, Maidus, Miwoks, Paiutes, Washos, and even Mission Indians were working in the park by then.
It is not the job of a federal Yosemite Park employee to "fill in the blank" if the Indian person is an "Unknown".
For years Suzie Sam was "Unkown" because as a wife of a chief/captain (who was Paiute) she was classified as "Unknown" or "Digger" so the Yosemite "Indian experts" gave her the title Miwok. Yet they forgot the 1928 California Indian Applications where her own husband, daughter and grandchildren write " Suzie Sam is a Paiute ".
The last paragraph where the Yosemite National Park Service signed a 15 year agreement with the American Indian Council of Mariposa because they CLAIM they are Yosemite Miwoks is interesting.
We researched that "non-profit" group, which is not an official tribe yet, and they are mainly made up of Chief Bautista and Ciprano Bautista's band. They were the chiefs of their group when Chief Tenaya was still alive and stated they were afraid to enter Yosemite.
Those chiefs signed the treaty of surrender, while Tenaya refused to sign. Bautista offered his men to capture Tenaya. They were rounded up on the Central California plains and lower foothills and forced onto the reservations around Fresno and Madera. Bautista made his people work for Savage in his gold mine and would re-capture any Indian who tried to run away around Sonora.
We hope the park would fix the official governments website and put the true history of the Yosemite Indian people and not go on with this travesty.
They need to fix the museum, research center, and get the true history of Yosemite written and not inaccurate history for Yosemite Park.
Then to teach local children these falsehoods is wrong and a travesty against the Paiute people.
*Oh by the way, here is a Miwok myth about fire from this site.
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/history/pohonichi_miwok_myths/
Notice that in this Miwok myth. It seems the Paiutes are up in the moutains "High Sierras", then they say the Yokuts in the middle "foothills", then that band of Miwoks on the San Joaquin Central valley floor. Why is that if the Miwoks were up in Yosemite in the high Sierras?
cc: National Park Service
chieftenaya
