NONGATL
The Nongatl are almost entirely confined to the drainages of the Van Duzen River and upper Mad River. Their culture is the least known of any group in northwestern California. Merriam evidently did not work in their area although he recorded a few of their words given him by George Burt's wife. George Burt was a Sinkyone, but his wife was born and raised near Bridgeville. Goddard recorded some villages for this group, whose names are given below. Nomland worked with someone from the Nongatl in 1928 (Nomland, 1938, p. 9), but her results have not been published.
The territory of the Nongatl lies, for the most part, east of the main redwood belt. It is therefore no doubt well supplied with oaks, and plant foods are thus readily available. Salmon are abundant in the Van Duzen River (pl. 10, c) and Yager Creek but not in the Mad River in eastern Nongatl territory. In much of their territory then, the subsistence patterns of the Nongatl must have differed from those of most of northwestern California, where fishing was of primary importance.
According to Merriam (1923) the word Nung-kahhl is "a general or blanket name used by themselves for all the southern Athapaskan tribes, from Iaqua and Yager Creek on the north to the northern border of Round Valley on the south, thus including the Athapaskan Wilakke." In anthropological literature, however, especially in the work of Kroeber and Goddard, this name has come to be used for the group living between Iaqua Buttes and Mad River on the north and Dobbyn Creek on the south. Merriam's name for this group is Kit-tel´. He does not seem to have obtained any information from them although one of his notes mentions the fact that the wife of George Burt, his Lolangkok Sinkyone informant, was a Kit-tel´ woman.
At times Merriam seems to have confused the Nongatl with the Lassik. In his general statement on the Nongatl, which follows, he lists them as Lassik although the area in which he places them marks them as Kit-tel´ or Nongatl.
Las´sik ... Name (from Chief Lassik, now dead) in common use for a Non-ga´hhl tribe occupying a rather large area, extending from Iaqua Butte in the latitude of the mouth of Eel River, southerly to Dobbyn Creek and to the head of Van Duzen River, and from the eastern boundary of the Lolahnkok of Bull Creek and South Fork Eel River easterly to Mad River and the crest of the long ridge known as South Fork Mountain, and southerly to within about two miles of Ruth on Mad River; to the headwaters of Van Duzen River (but not reaching Kettenshaw Valley), and to Dobbyn Creek on the main Eel; thus including the entire course and drainage area of Larrabee Creek.
There is doubt as to the northern boundary of the so-called Las´sik for the reason that I have not been able to obtain the necessary vocabularies for comparison. Goddard's information points to a division south of the Bridgeville region but I have been told by both the Nek´-kan-ni´ of Bear River and the Lolahnkōk of Bull Creek and South Fork Eel that the language is exactly the same from Iaqua Butte southerly and that the languages of the Nek´-kan-ni´ and Lo-lahn-kōk do not differ essentially from that of the Larrabee Creek region.
The Indians over whom Chief Lassik held sway had no common tribal name but consisted of a number of bands or subtribes, now mostly or quite extinct, said to have spoken the same or closely allied dialects.
However, since the entire drainage basin of Larrabee Creek is included in their territory, it may be desirable to adopt the term Kos´-ten ke´-ah, by which term the Larrabee Creek band was known to neighbors on the south—the Set-ten-bi´-den ke-ah.
SUBGROUPS
There is evidence of several subgroups among the Nongatl, but it is not known whether these were tribelets or dialect divisions. Essene (1942, pp. 90-92) got information from the Lassik woman Lucy Young indicating that there was a distinct group around Blocksburg, which the Lassik called Kuskatundun, and another group around Bridgeville they called Nai'aitci. This latter group is said to have been a roving band which preyed on all the neighboring peoples.
Goddard's village data indicate six other groups but do not give boundaries. These were as follows.
bûskōtkīya. In the neighborhood of Indian Cr. in the upper part of the drainage of Yager Cr. (map 9).
tcillûndûñ. On the upper reaches of North Yager Cr. (map 9).
bûstcōbīkīya. In the vicinity of the junction of North and Middle Yager creeks. The language of this group was said to be the same as that of the tcittelkīya (map 9).
senûñka. On upper Larabee Cr. in the vicinity of Blocksburg (pl. 10, e, f). This no doubt is the same as Essene's Kuskatundun, which was the Lassik name for the group (map 10).
tcittelkīya. On the Van Duzen R. above Bridgeville. Appears to be the same name as Merriam's Kit-tel´.
na'aitcikīya. On the Van Duzen above the tcittelkīya group. This name appears on the Goddard map from which map 1 was taken but is not otherwise recorded. This is evidently the same as Essene's Nai'aitci.
kōsdûñkīya. On the South Fork of the Van Duzen, including Larabee V.
VILLAGES
The Nongatl villages recorded below are all taken from Goddard's unpublished notes (maps 7, 9, 10). This is evidently far from a complete count but it is clear that there were about as many villages in the area covered by these maps as in other parts of the Athabascan area.
bûskōtkīya group (1-7, map 9)
1. In the swag of a large ridge running toward the SSE to the junction of the main components of Indian Cr., perhaps a mile from it. There is one deep pit. There is a flowing creek 200 yds. E.
2. A single pit found by Pete E of a small stream flowing south into Indian Cr. from the lowest place in the ridge at Big Bend of the Mad R. Nearly 1/2 mi. from Indian Cr. W of a hill above which the wagon road passes. This is where Goddard camped in 1906. He hunted all around here without finding other pits.
Map 9. Nongatl villages on Yager Creek.
Map 10. Nongatl villages in the Blocksburg region.
3. k'onûsebī'. On a point running down SSW toward Indian Cr. There were two pits near the creek and two more 200 ft. up the hill. A few large and small oaks were growing there. Water was to be had a few yards E. Pete saw a house there when he was a boy.
4. W of a small stream flowing into Indian Cr. from the N, and E of a large flat. There was a flat place with dirt thrown out in front of it but with no pit. About 1/8 mi. E on the round end of a ridge was a fairly evident pit and a sekal.
5. About 200 yds. E of the small stream mentioned in no. 4 were a few small pits.
6. One pit was on the W bank of a S-flowing branch of Indian Cr. Small ridges N and S of it form a small basin, giving it protection from the winds. Madrone and black oaks are growing there. It is possible that a depression on the southern ridge is also a house pit.
7. On a small ridge on the E side of the branch of Indian Cr., which flows from the S past Fork Baker ranch buildings. About 1-1/2 mi. north of these buildings Pete found 3 pits. He said there were small streams N and S of the ridge. Goddard did not visit the place but it was pointed out by Pete as W of a big Douglas spruce tree and a large rock. Goddard described it as above.
tcillûndûñ group (8-12, map 9)
8. On the slope N of North Yager Cr. close to the county road and about 100 yds. from the bridge. There are 2 pits close to the wagon road and 1 or 2 a little farther N. The site is 65 ft. higher than the bridge.
9. kactcōtcībī', "redwoods..?.. in." On the N side of North Yager Cr. at the W end of a flat of about an acre. There are a few redwoods on the opposite side of the creek. Six pits were found about 100 yds. back from the creek. Pete had heard of the flat but not that Indians lived there. A hunter told Goddard of the Indians being killed there by whites.
10. About 1/4 mi. up a branch which flows into North Yager Cr. from the north. On the W side of the creek on a rounded ridge were 3 pits, 2 of which were very distinct.
11. On a small flat on the N side of Yager Cr. and close to it Pete saw 2 large deep pits. They were about 1/4 mi. downstream from the branch where village 10 was found.
12. tse'dûttclbûtta'dûñ. A half-mile N of North Yager Cr. at the edge of Douglas spruce and tanbark oak timber. Stones used by the Indians were lying near the water and 2 pits were found there. To the W, on the crest of the ridge, there were 5 pits at the S end of the timber. A cabin stands there.
Goddard lists five more sites found in this vicinity on North Yager Creek but they are not named and their locations are indefinite so they will not be given here.
bûstcōbīkīya group (13-18, map 9)
13. senindûscīmī. On the W bank of North Yager Cr. 1/4 mi. below a waterfall of the same name. Two pits were located 100 ft. above the creek in brush and timber. On the same side of the creek but 1/4 mi. downstream were 4 more pits, in one of which a sekal lay.
14. nakatōdûñ. On the E side of North Yager Cr., on a flat now covered with huckleberry brush. Pete found 2 pits here. On the W side of the creek, a little downstream, were 2 more pits. The flat had been badly washed away by freshets.
15. Two pits were found among the redwoods and thick brush at the junction of North and Middle Yager creeks.
16. ist'egabī', "madrones in." Just at the eastern edge of the timber on a point running down toward Middle Yager Cr. were 4 pits.
17. kōntcōwetcīkinnedûñ. About 1/4 mi. N of Middle Yager Cr. On a small flat on a hillside, facing SW in open timber above a small stream. There were 7 pits here. Pete had heard that there used to be a village so situated.
18. An overhanging rock on the N side of Middle Yager Cr. shows signs of occupation and there is a pit near by.
senûñka group (19-35, map 10)
19. On a little point 200 yds. N of Curless' house. There is one pit. Charlie Taylor's grandmother was born here, according to Curless, who showed the site to Goddard. This was the most northern village of the senûñka on Larabee Cr.
20. t'ōkintcabī'. On the hillside on either side of the stream which crosses the road about a mile S of Curless' place. It is nearly a mile from Larabee Cr. and is close to the timber. The village was in a line of Douglas spruce south of an oat-field. There were 7 large pits on the W side of the stream and 5 on the E side. With one exception these were N of the fence; others may have been filled by plowing.
21. t'ōkintcabī'. On the E side of Larabee Cr. a good-sized stream flows across the county road by a group of farm buildings. On the E side of the road close to the N side of this stream are from 4 to 6 pits. Douglas spruce and tanbark timber with brush obscured them. On the W side of the road is a large sheep barn. W of this barn are 4 pits, some quite uncertain because the ground has been cleared of large Douglas spruce timber. There is a large plowed flat 1/4 mi. W, near Larabee Cr. Andrew's wife told Pete of such a place where there used to be many Indians.
22. k'ûcna'aidûñ (?). In a swag on the W side of a gulch lined with Douglas spruce and tanbark oak timber with exposure toward the S. There are 5 distinct pits.
23. On a point 200 yds. N of the junction of the two main components of Larabee Cr., W of a small stream. There were 4 pits, only one of which was large. The end of a pestle was lying in this one.
24. On the E side of Larabee Cr., between it and the county road, on the S side of a small stream. There was one pit. The building of the road may have destroyed others.
25. On a large flat N of the junction of the two components of Larabee Cr. and a little to the E. There were 10 pits. There is a cabin and a corral here and many pits may have been filled in.
26. On the hillside N of the eastern component of Larabee Cr. Pete thought there were 3 pits. There had been slides there and Goddard was not sure of them.
27. On the N side of a large branch of Larabee Cr. from the E, 200 yds. N of where it is joined by a stream from the N. The stream from the E is bûstadûñkōt. There were 3 pits among the Douglas spruce and black oaks.
28. On the E side of the Eel R. about 3/4 mi. N of the mouth of Coleman Cr. at the edge of timber on a small bench. There were 2 small house pits.
29. On the E side Of the Eel about 300 yds. N of the mouth of Coleman Cr., 75 yds. back from the river and 40 ft. above it. There were 2 large deep pits. The exposure is SW.
30. canakī', "creek tail." On the E side of the Eel R. S of the mouth of Coleman Cr. There were 3 pits close to the creek but high above it on the bank, 2 on a flat 25 yds. S, and 2 more near a dry gulch 200 yds. S of the creek. Near the creek the brakes were so thick that many pits may have been overlooked. This place was mentioned by Charlie in 1908.
31. On the E side of the Eel R. about 500 yds. S of the mouth of Coleman Cr. on a flat close to the S side of a gulch lined with maple and peppernut trees. There were 8 pits here and 7 or 8 more from 50 to 75 yds. S.
32. N of the knoll which is just below the forks of Coleman Cr. There was 1 pit.
33. On the E side of the Eel R. about 300 yds. N of the mouth of Mill Cr. on a brushy point. There were 5 pits.
34. On the E side of the Eel R. N of the mouth of Mill Cr. just S of a big rock. There were 2 pits.
35. nadaitcûñ. This name was supplied by Charlie in 1908 as belonging to the village at the mouth of a large creek on the E side of the Eel R. above Coleman Cr.