Mā´-we-nŏk [Mad River Whilkut] ... An Athapascan tribe on Mad River, reaching from the junction of North Fork with main Mad River near Korbel (where they came in contact with the Pah´-te´waht of Lower Mad River
It was told me by a h'Whilkut ('Hoilet´-hah) who stated further that the Mā´-we-nŏk spoke a language so similar to his own that he could understand most of their talk.
The statement in the last paragraph comes from an informant Merriam had in Blue Lake in 1910. Merriam returned to the region in 1920 and at that time spoke to a member of the Mad River Whilkut group itself. Presumably the village list given for that group is derived from the second visit.
Merriam discusses the other Whilkut groups as follows.
The Hoil´-kut or Redwood Creek Indians (commonly called Chilula, Hwilkut, or Whilkut) were until recent years one of the dominant Athapaskan tribes of Humboldt County in northwestern California.
Their territory consisted of the whole valley of Redwood Creek and the adjacent mountains from a point on the creek 10 or 12 miles above its mouth to Chaparral Mountain at the head of the creek, and included also the North Fork of Mad River and a short stretch on the north side of the main Mad River between Blue Lake and Korbel.
Their proper tribal name as spoken by themselves is Hoich-let´-kah or Ho-ēch-kut-kă, usually slurred to Hoil´-kut. They also call themselves Ho-ēch-kut kew-yahn´-ne-ahm, meaning Redwood Acorn eaters.
There are three divisions or subtribes, more or less distinct according to the point of view: Upper Redwood, Lower Redwood, and Blue Lakes or North Fork Mad River Indians. In their own language they are:
1. The Ho-ēch-ke-e´-te (from Ho-ēch-kut, "Redwood", and e´-te, "north"), the Northern or Lower Redwood Indians [Chilula Whilkut], inhabiting the valleys and adjacent slopes of Redwood Creek from its mouth upstream about 12 miles to the Tom Blair Ranch at the junction of Minor Creek—a distance in an air line of about 17.5 miles. Goddard thought this division was the whole tribe and called it Chilula, adopting the term from the Hoopa, Polikla [Yurok], and Nererner [Coast Yurok] Indians, who however apply it in a wider sense to both upper and lower divisions of the Redwood Creek tribe.
2. The Ho-ēch-ki´-e-nok (from Ho-ēch-kut, "Redwood", and e´-nok, "south"), the Upper or Southern Redwoods [Kloki Whilkut], inhabiting the valley of Redwood Creek from Minor Creek (Tom Blair Ranch) up southerly to the head of the river, near Chaparral Mountain—a distance in an air line of nearly 20 miles. They also call themselves 'Klo-ke Ching´-ching-e´-nok, meaning "Prairie place south."
3. The 'Hoch-tin´-net (or 'Ko-tin´-net), the Blue Lake and North Fork Mad River Indians [North Fork Whilkut], inhabiting the valley of North Fork Mad River from its head to Korbel and Blue Lake, and separated from the other divisions by a continuous lofty ridge 2,000 to 4,000 feet in altitude. At Blue Lake they had a large village called Kaw-cho´-sish-tin-tang.
South of the 'Hoch-tin´-net are the Mā´-we-nok [Mad R. Whilkut], a related Athapaskan tribe inhabiting the valley of Mad River from the junction of North Fork near Korbel, southerly (upstream) to the Algrehn Ranch on Bug Creek—a distance in a straight line of about 21 miles. The 'Hoch-tin´-net and the Mā´-we-nok say that their languages are so similar that either can understand most of the words of the other.
The Hoilkut do not reach the coast, being separated from it by a long mountain ridge, on the west side of which dwell two tribes belonging to widely different linguistic stocks—the Nererner (the southwestern division of the Polikla or Yurok) and the Pahtewaht (the northern division of the Humboldt Bay Soolahteluk [Wiyot]).
The Hoilkut say that the coast tribe they call Teswan (the Nererner) owned the land fronting the ocean from Orick at the mouth of Redwood Creek south to Trinidad and extending up Redwood Creek for ten or twelve miles; and that farther south the Pahtewaht of the coast and lower Mad River owned the country up to Blue Lake—possibly to the mouth of North Fork Mad River—all of which agrees with what I have been told by members of these tribes.
The Hoilkut state that their lowermost (northernmost) villages, Ha-wung´-ah-kut and No-lĕ´-tin, were ten or twelve miles up from the mouth of the river. Below these they claim no territory. Above, they had twenty-three permanent villages.
The language is uniform throughout Redwood Creek Valley except for one or two slight differences of pronunciation. Thus the first syllable of the tribal name as spoken by the Upper Redwoods is Hoi´ch; by the Lower Redwoods, Ho-ēch.
VILLAGES
Most of the village names in the lists following were recorded by Merriam or Loud; some Chilula and Kloki Whilkut data from Goddard's works are added.
Mad River Whilkut villages.—All the names in this list were recorded by either Merriam or Loud (1918), respectively designated by (M) and (L). (See map 16.)
1. ti-keo-tchun´-tin (M). Village on the site of present Riverside.
mis-kenē'huten, "bluff-?-place" (L).
The names are quite different but the locations are identical. One of them may be in error.
2. djinākhōe-ten (L). Name said to refer to a prairie.
3. tolkai'e-ten (L). Name said to refer to shining gravel.
4. dj'ēndjēe-ten, dj'ēndjē-whot (L). Name said to refer to a strong sweep of the wind at that place.
5. me´-kawch-ting, me-ke´-awch-ting (M). Village at Jim Anderson's place about 3 mi. S of Korbel.
6. ārtes-slandjēōlin-tin, "grasshopper-?-place" (L). Village at the mouth of Dry Cr.
7. ka-tahs-lah-ting, 'ke-ah-tahs-lah-ting (M). Village on the S side of Cañon Cr. (in air line about 3.5 mi. S of Korbel).
who'ntā, "houses" (L). Village at the mouth of Cañon Cr.
8. whotsdjōtāche-tin (L). Name said to refer to a low prairie. The village is 3 or 4 mi. below Maple Cr., just below Foster Cr. There were three houses there.
9. tsā´-te-tis´-ting (M). Camp on Mad R. at Fala ranch, 10 or 12 mi. S of Korbel. It was a camp for catching eels.
tsē-didis-ten (L). Village about 2 mi. below Maple Cr. There were ten or more houses there.
10. til-chwah-hew'-a-kut, til-tchwa-hŭ-ut (M). Village on Maple Cr. about 14 mi. (9 in air line) S of Korbel. Large village.
tilchēhūërkut, dilchërhūērkut (L). Village at the mouth of Maple Cr.
11. hotintēlime (L). Village at the mouth of Black Cr. The name is said to refer to a prairie near by, known as hinukerchenditen.
12. yinālinōwhot (L). Village at the mouth of Boulder Cr. Merriam also lists a village at this place but he does not give its name or other information about it.
13. me´-mĕh (M). Village at Three Cabins on Mad R. about 3 mi. above Maple Cr. On Tom Blair's Mad R. place.
14. Village near Mountain View, about 3.5 mi. S of Three Cabins.
15. tseng-nah´-neng-ahl´-ting, tseng-nah´-neng-ah-ten, "rocks across the river" (M). Large village at John Ahlgren's place on or near Bug Cr. [This may be the village site shown in pl. 10, b.]
16. ituke-nōle´-tin, "up-waterfall-place" (L). Village on Foster Cr. The same name also given to a prairie half a mile up the creek from its mouth; ituk means "up," also "east."
Chilula Whilkut villages.—The information on the villages and camps of the Chilula Whilkut comes from Merriam's notes and from Goddard's published material (1914). It appears that Merriam made a systematic effort to check Goddard's material, thereby enhancing the value of their combined work. (See map 15.)