HUPA
The Hupa are the best known of the California Athabascan groups. They live in the drainage area of the Trinity River from a short distance above its mouth to a little above the mouth of South Fork Trinity and in the drainage area of the South Fork Trinity up to the mouth of Grouse Creek (pl. 10, a).
There have been a number of papers published on a variety of aspects of Hupa life but the main sources of general ethnography are Goddard's paper (1903a) and Kroeber's Hupa section in the Handbook (1925a, pp. 128-137). The Hupa are the same, in many ways, as the Yurok, so the sizable literature on that group is also useful.
The territory occupied by the Hupa differs in several respects from that of the other Athabascan tribes. The elevation of their lands is everywhere over 2,000 feet and in places rises to 4,000 or 5,000 feet. Because of the elevation there is a good deal of snow in the mountains surrounding the valley and this fact may have somewhat isolated the Hupa from their Athabascan neighbors during the winter months, although it is known that they were in close contact with some of the Whilkut.
The fish resources of the Hupa territory also constituted an important distinction. The Trinity is the only river in the Athabascan area in which there is both a spring and a fall run of salmon. This resource must have been very important to the Hupa. It is significant that in the many intensive studies of the Hupa there is no report of any summer camp away from the river. The Hupa were evidently even more firmly attached to their riverine environment than were the other Athabascans, and this fact may well have been due to the double salmon run.
Merriam's estimate of the position of the Hupa, given below, is taken verbatim from his notes.
The Tin´-nung-hen-nā´-o or Hoopah.—The Hoopah proper, who call themselves not Hoopah but Tin´-nung-hen-nā´-o, occupy the lower part of Trinity River and tributary streams from the mouth of South Fork Trinity northerly to Bull Creek—a distance of about 20 miles. On the west they extend to the summit of the long high mountain range known as The Bald Hills (altitude 4,000 ft.), which separates their territory from that of the Redwood Creek tribe, the 'Hwilkut [Chilula]. On the east they reach to the lofty mountain ridge culminating in Trinity Summit (altitude 6,500 ft.), the northern part of which separates the drainage area of Mill Creek from that of Redcap Creek; the southern part, the waters of Horse-Linto and Cedar creeks from those of the westerly branches of New River.
Their territory, therefore, is difficult of access, being protected in all directions by ranges of mountains or deep canyons, while its western border is about 20 miles from the coast, easterly from Trinidad. The entire region, except the beautiful Hoopa Valley, 6 miles in length and a mile or two in breadth, where most of the villages are located, is mountainous and most of it densely forested. There are one or two small open stretches on other parts of Trinity River, and a few grassy slopes on some of the ridges; elsewhere the forest is continuous.
The Tin´-nung-hen-nā´-o are in contact with five tribes belonging to three linguistic stocks, namely: the Po-lik´-lah (often called "Yurok") on the north; the Kar´ok on the northeast; the Athapaskan E´-tahk-nă-lin´-nă-kah on the east [I have not been able to identify this group. According to Merriam's map and according to his own testimony (Merriam, 1930) the Hupa are bordered on the east by the Shastan Tlo-hom-tah-hoi; the Athapaskan Ts´ă-nung-whă [Southern Hupa] on the south, and the Athapaskan 'Hwilkut [Chilula] on the west.]
The Ts´ă-nung-whă.—(An Athapaskan tribe closely related to the Hoopah.) The territory of the Ts´ă-nung-whă lies directly south of the Tin´-nung-hen-nā´-o or Hoopah proper, embracing the drainage basin of South Fork Trinity River from Grouse Creek to the junction of South Fork with the main Trinity, and including also the rather narrow strip between South Fork on the west and the main Trinity on the east as far up as Cedar Flat. At the mouth of South Fork they crossed the main Trinity and claimed a narrow strip two or three miles in length on the north side of the canyon where two of their villages were located, Ti´-koo-et-sil´-lah-kut on the high bench opposite the mouth of South Fork, and Me´-mĕh, on the site of the present Fountain Ranch about 1-1/2 miles east of the other. Their western boundary was the divide between the tributaries of South Fork Trinity and those of Redwood Creek (a little west of the courses of Madden Creek and Mosquito Creek). The eastern boundary was the deep canyon of Trinity River from the mouth of South Fork to Cedar Flat; the southern boundary, Grouse Creek and a line running from its mouth northeasterly and following Mill Creek to the main Trinity at Cedar Flat—thus including the Burnt Ranch country.
The land of the Ts´ă-nung-whă is mountainous and forested, and the principal streams flow in deep canyons. It is roughly circular in outline, and of small extent, measuring in an air line hardly 15 miles in either direction—north-south or east-west. Nevertheless it seems to have been rather well populated for there were at least a dozen villages—all situated on high benches overlooking the canyons.
Their language differs only slightly from that of the Hoopah.
The Tsa-nung-wha were in contact with four tribes: the Tin´-nung-hen-nā´-o or Hoopah on the north, E´-tahk-nă-lin´-nă-kah [Tlo-hom-tah-hoi] and Che-ma-re´-ko [Chimariko] on the northeast, the Che-ma-re´-ko on the east and south, the 'Hwi´l-kut [Chilula] on the west.
The following account of Merriam's first visit to the Hoopa Indian Reservation is taken from his California Journal, Vol. 2, September 5, 1898.
The present Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation Agency is built around a hollow square, formerly old Fort Gaston. In order to reach the agency we had to ford Trinity River, here more than a hundred feet broad, the agency being on the west or coast side. Purchased a number of sahah baskets.
The night before coming down into Hoopah Valley we camped on Trinity Mountain where we found a colony of Aplodontia [Mountain beaver], the Hoopah name of which is Nea't-saas.
The range west of Hoopah Valley between Supply Creek canyon and Redwood Creek is 3,400 feet in altitude; in other words, 3,000 feet above Hoopah Valley. This range is covered with a rather dense forest mainly of Douglas Fir, more or less mixed on the warmer slope with Ponderosa and Sugar Pines and Black, White, and Live Oaks, among which Madrones, Chinquapins, and Cedars occur.
On the slope east of Hoopah Valley the splendid Rhododendron californicum occurs. Here also two species of Cornus, nuttalli and the black-berried sessilis, were seen, and in a gulch nearby we found the rather rare Lawson Cypress. On this range at an altitude of 3,250 feet is a stone pile around a post said to mark the west boundary of Hoopah Reservation.
On this same range the coast Plume Fern is common and the ground over a considerable area is carpeted with delicate Vancouveria hexandra.
At Redwood Creek we saw the beautiful ringed tail of a Bassariscus, which animal is said to be common here.
The Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) common along the coast pushes up Redwood River to a point about two miles below the Bair ranch. The man at the ranch, W. F. Boyce, told me that during the previous year he had trapped in the region 32 Black Bear, 21 Coyotes, numerous Wildcats, 3 Panthers, and one Badger, besides killing any number of deer. Other mammals said to occur here in addition to Deer are Gray Fox, Otter, Fisher, Marten, Mink, big and little Skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale) in addition to the Ring-tail Bassariscus, here called kil-how'ch.
One of the commonest trees in Redwood Valley is the Tan Oak (Lithocarpus densiflora), the bark of which is used for tanning. Madrones also are common, many of them four feet or more in diameter.
The rare Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) also occurs here but Douglas Fir is not only the dominant tree but grows to large size, thousands of them reaching diameters of five to seven feet.