Tsnungwe

The Tsnungwe (current Hupa language orthography, own name: Tse:ningxwe - "Tse:ning-din (Ironside Mountain) People") or Tsanunghwa are a Native American people indigenous to the modern areas of the lower South Fork Trinity River, Willow Creek, Salyer, Burnt Ranch and New River along the Trinity River (hun' - "river"), South Fork Trinity River, New River (Yiduq-nilin) in Trinity and Humboldt County in California.[1] The Tsnungwe were a bilingual Hupa-Chimariko-speaking people and are known by the Hupa speaking peoples as tse:ning-xwe.[2] The primary language was the Tsnungwe dialect of Hupa, and the secondary language was Chimariko, although spoken with a Hupa accent.[3]

Tsnungwe
tse:ning-xwe
łe:lding xontah - mouth of the South Fork of the Trinity River, principal Tsnungwe village
Total population
150-200
Regions with significant populations
California (Salyer )
Languages
Hupa, Chimariko

The Tsnungwe include two sub-groups called łe:lxwe ("People of łe:l-ding") after their most important settlement and religious center, and the Chima:lxwe'/Chimalakwe/Tł'oh-mitah-xwe ("grass, prairies-amongst-people")along New River . The Karuk living north of the Salmon River Divide called the Chima:lxwe'/Chimalakwe/Tł'oh-mitah-xwe Akráak va'ára ("New River People").[4] The Norelmuk Wintu from Hayfork called the Tsnungwe Num-nor-muk.[5]

Because their language is a dialect of the Hupa language, they are also called South Fork Hupa. Other tribal names refer to their territories occupied: South Fork Indians, Burnt Ranch, South Fork Trinity Tribe, and Kelta/Tlelwe/Hlelwe/Tlelding/Leldin Tribe or Tlohomtahhoi, Chaltasom.[6]

Neighboring tribes to the Tsnungwe include the Yurok, Redwood Creek Hupa, Hoopa Valley Hupa, Wiyot, Chimariko, Shasta, Karuk, and Wintu. Often times, Tsnungwe spoke many Native languages. [7] C. Hart Merriam referred to Tsnungwe leader Saxey Kidd as "a well-known polyglot," speaker of many languages.[8]

The Tsnungwe are a peaceful people. Their lives are focused on family, tradition, and the land. The land has provided the Tsnungwe with salmon, Steelhead, Pacific Lamprey "eels," black tail deer, and other local animals and plants. They have survived the encroachment of the invasion of European and American settlers, through tight-knit family groups that continue to practice the morals and native traditions of their forebears.[9][10]

The Tsnungwe descendants are members of the Tsnungwe Council : recognized by both Humboldt and Trinity counties, previously recognized by the United States of America, and working to have that federally-recognized status restored.[11][12]

Language

The language of the Tsnungwe is considered a dialect of the Hupa language of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan language group of North American native languages. This language (Dining'xine:wh - ″Hupa-speaking people″, ″Hupa Indians″) with various dialects is spoken ("Tse:ning-xwe", dialect of South Fork and New River areas); ("na:tinixwe" - ″Hoopa Valley Hupa″); (Chilula/Whilkut/Me:w-yinaq/Whiyłqit - ″Redwood Creek Hupa″).[13][14]

Villages

Willow Creek area villages

misqine:q'it/nisking-q'it, nants'ing-tah (Clover Flat), niskin-ji-ding/niskinje:ndihding (upriver from Willow Creek), da:chwan'-ding (opposite niskin-ji-ding), da:chwan'-ding mima:n-ch'ing (opposite of da:chwun'-ding, Camp Kimtu), saqe:q'it (alternative: so-ke'a-keit, sock-kail-kit), saqe:q'it mima:n-ch'ing (opposite of saqe:q'it), yinaq-xa:-ding/yinuq xa:-ti-nit (all three at Willow Creek), tł'ohday-kyoh-q'it, xowiyk'iłxowh-ding (formerly: k'iqin-sa'an-ding, Knight's Trailer Park), tse:-ding (opposite xowiyk'iłxowh-ding/Knight's Trailer Park), xoxo:ch'e:lding (at the mouth of Willow Creek), minq'it-ch-ding (Enchanted Springs), q'aykist ch'e:xahsding (Gambi's, formerly: China Flat), t'unchwing-tah (alternative: tash-huan-tat, tash-wan-ta), d'ahilding (alternative: a-hel-tah, ta-hail-ta, Whitson's), yinaq-xa:-ding (just above the mouth of Willow Creek).[15][16]


South Fork Trinity area (yisinch'ing-qeh) villages

łe:l-ding (also: Tlelding - "place where the rivers (South Fork and Trinity) meet", about 1 mile downriver from today's Salyer, largest and leading Tsnungwe settlement; ancient times: a k'ixinay village), including the three sub-villages me:łchwin-q'it, ta:k'iwe:ltsil-q'it (on the other side of the mouth of the South Fork), ta:ng'ay-q'it (old name was mituq'-q'it-ding); ch'iłte:l-ding, chway-me' (Sandy Bar), dahchiwh-ding (about 12 miles above the mouth of the river), dilchwehch-ding (also: hay nahdiyaw tehłchwin-ding - "place where the money grows", once an important rich settlement at the mouth of Campbell Creek), łichiwh-ding, tł'oh-wa:ne/xołtsowch-ding (Saxey Ranch), niłtuq-tah-ding (mouth of Mosquito Creek into Grouse Creek), qosta:n-ding, yahts'ame', yidahtich'inahding (Ammon Ranch), yunihting (Todd Ranch).

Trinity River (South Fork - Cedar Flat area) villages

hun'-kya:w-qeh (at Trinity River), ti-dił -ding (downstream from Salyer), xoling-kyoh-miye, miy-me' (alternative: me'-yemma, me-em-ma, Old Campbell Ranch / Fountain Ranch), k'inunq'-ding, tse:-q'it (Swanson's), no:k'iwowh-ding (downstream from tse:-q'it/Swanson's), kin-sa'an-ting (Irvings, Hawkins Bar), tse:łe:nga:ding (downstream from kin-sa'an-ting/Irvings), ta:wha: wh-ding (Gray's Flat), xowung-q'it (at a lake, near xweda'ay-sa'an-me'/Chesbro's), xweda'ay-sa'an-me' (Wells, Chesbro's).

Burnt Ranch and New River area villages

tse:n-ding/tse:-nung-din (Burnt Ranch, large settlement), tse:nung-axis-ding (near China Slide, upstream from yinuq-dinung-ting/McDonald's at Burnt Ranch), yinuq-dinung-ting (McDonald Ranch, Burnt Ranch), ch'e:nantiłting (at the mouth of the New River), ch'e:na:dawhding (Dyer's, Bell's Flat), ch'ixe:ne:wh-din (also: 'xolish na:xoxuynta' - Martha Dyer Ziegler's, upstream from qowh-ding), k'iłna:dil mito' (Hoboken), k'iyawh-michwan (at China Creek, also: xolish ch'ena:xolxolding - China Creek), łige:y de:-dilła:t-ding (upstream from tł'ohne:s-ding/Quimby), tł'ohne:s-ding (at the mouth of Quinby Creek, Ladd's, Thomas', Quimby), qowh-ding (south of Panther Creek), tł'ohsch'il'e:n-ding (Daily's, before: Moses Patterson), tse:na:ning'a:ding (at the confluence of East Fork and New River), yiduq-nilin (New River), yiduq-łe:na:lding (at the forks of the New River upstream from Denny), tł'oh-mitah-xwe (Hupa speakers in New River villages).

References
  1. Rowley, Max; Wooden, Margaret. "Big River: A Look at the South Fork of the Trinity by Max Rowley and Margaret Wooden" (PDF). Humboldt Historian. 50 (1, Spring 2002): 15–23.
  2. "Chesbo family, Burnt Ranch. August 1921 1". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  3. Hupa Language Dictionary - 2nd Edition, pages iii and 100
  4. Ararahih'urípih - Karuk Dictionary
  5. Ethnogeographic and Ethnosynosymic Data from Northern California Tribes, by C. Hart Merriam, pages 111-112, Edited by Robert Heizer, Archaeological Research Facility, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1976
  6. Tsnungwe Place Names, by Tsnungwe Tribal Elders, 1994
  7. Map by C. Hart Merriam, Bureau of American Ethnology
  8. Saxey Kidd, father from łe:ldin, mother from New River, C. Hart Merriam photo collection, University of California, Berkeley
  9. Tsnungwe Council Narrative
  10. California State Native American Heritage Commission - Digital Atlas - Tsnungwe
  11. Previous Recognition by the United States of America of the Tsnungwe Tribe, 2001
  12. The ACCIP (Congressional Advisory Council on California Indian Policy) Recognition Report - Equal Justice for California, 1997
  13. California Athabascan Groups by Martin Baumhoff, Anthropological Records 16:5, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1958
  14. "Hupa, Chilula and Whilkut" by William J. Wallace, Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 8: California, 1978
  15. Northern and Central California: Chimariko/Hupa, John Peabody Harrington papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Interview with Saxey Kidd, 1928
  16. Ethnogeographic and Ethnosynosymic Data from Northern California Tribes, by C. Hart Merriam, pages 111-112, Edited by Robert Heizer, Archaeological Research Facility, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1976
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