Tachi Yokuts

Introduction

• The Yokut people of California were a thriving nation and was was of the largest tribes in California.The Yokut people is an ethnic group of multiple tribes of Native Americans primarily from the San Joaquin Valley. One of the more well-known tribes is the Tachi Yokut Indians. The Tachi people originated around the Central Valley’s foothills and migrated with alongside the change of seasons. When miners and farmers settled in the area, the tribe was forcibly relocated to Coalinga, in modern-day Fresno County. Moreover, the tribe was forcibly removed for a second time when oil was discovered near Coalinga, and they marched back to a desolate spot in the Central Valley near the present location of the reservation. In 1921, the U.S government established a reservation for this tribe known as the Santa Rosa Rancheria. However, it was not until 1934 that the Santa Rosa Rancheria was officially established on about 40 acres of desolate farmland in Lemoore, California.  

Due to notions of Manifest Destiny and the subsequent influx of settlers, the Tachi Yokut tribe, like many other tribes, suffered decline. Between 1850 and 1900, the Tachi Yokut underwent a significant decline in population due to relocation and diseases, which left them with only 7% of their original population. Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokut in 1910 as 600 individuals. American historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz explains that “with the onset of colonialism in North America, control of the land was wrenched away from the Indigenous Peoples.” Settlers believed that they were entitled to the land, even though it was occupied by Natives. They wanted the land to reap its benefits and plunder the natural resources. This left the forty individuals who lived on the reservation below the poverty level; many lived in Tule huts, tin houses, old cars, or chicken coops. The average education level on the reservation was of a third-grade level, and field labor was the primary source of income. By the end of the 19th century, the Tachi Yokut Tribe was split across the central and southern parts of California.

Tribal Origins

From tribal oral histories to historical facts the Tachi Yokut people were located near large lake in the central valley know as Tulare Lake. The Tachi people were river people they worked, lived and played around it for many years before being moved to the reservation in Lemoore in 1921. Tulare Lake was on our South East side which was a big Lake. The area of this lake was about 687 sq. miles (1,780 km²) .This had provided many resources from food to everyday materials. The numbers of Foothill Yokut were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900. A few Valley Yokut remain, the most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi. Below is a map from the 1800's showing the lake.

This lake was the backbone of this tribe and it provide all that they needed to live. In the 1960's tribal elder Leon Manuel and Josie Atwell wrote a song to talk about the lake and how it was important and how it would always be apart of the Tachi Yokut People. This song has been passed down for many generations and during many ceremonial dances and ceremony. Below is a picture of the song and its translation. Leon Manuel had work with a local man of Alfred Pietroforte to compose a book of traditional songs to help save his history and traditional songs of the Yokut People.

Tulare Lake Song English Translation

Where are we going to stay

Where are we going to stay

At the lake

Here we are going to stay

Here we are going to stay

At the Lake.

Tribal Perspective

Many Tachi Yokut elders and members like Leon Manuel tried there best to pass on the tribal traditions and language so that Tachi people do not become extinct like many other tribes in and around the United states. One example in recent years was tribal elder Lawona Fay Icho Jasso. She was one of the few who taught the Tachi language on the reservation for many years and was also one of the last fluent speakers of the language within the tribe. She was born in 1941 outside of the reservation but would have an impact on the tribe because of her involvement with the revitalization of the language and culture. Below is a quote from an interview with Lawona Jasso about her tribal history and herself. This quote reflects the goals tribal elders have for the future generation.

Quote

"I am a proud Tachi Yokut Native American Indian. My Native American name is Oswick. I have taken part in many Tachi Yokut Native American traditions and speak my language. My family has raised me to learn from the elders and hold on to our ways, to speak to elders with the utmost respect and good understanding of what they said to me. My goal is to teach our ways, traditions, language, and basketry especially to my people. I hope one day my people will remember me for the good things that came from me. That they will carry out our traditions proudly, but with heart"

• (Citation)  Lawona Fay Icho Jasso, Oral Interview, 2015

Another perspective that is worth mention about is an article that Frank Latta accounts of Wukchumnee people who are a sister tribe of the Tachi people had seen the pioneers first hand and they had changed their native lives. I have never read these stories ever and though I know of the people who accounts were being recorded it open my eyes to was really going on to Wukchumnee people. The stories from Blind Molly and Wah-nom’kot are still being told today by the decedents of them and this article is a great addition to their life and their histories. The account of  Blind Molly and how she and her tribe were in contact with the white settlers and trappers. He was a man who had help tell many stories of the Yokut Native Americans who were to scare or didn’t know how to tell their stories. His records of the many Yokut natives are very important today because researchers and family members of this tribe have a chance to learn a part of their history that was almost wipe off in our history book and earth. Many Yokut natives want their story to be told and so that they are not forgotten. They had a voice too. Even if many American and Spanish settlers tried to erase them from earth. This article was published in 1935 and at that time there was only a handful of natives wanting to tell their story. There was such a small population of the Yokut people, and many were afraid of the white man because of the past hardships they had went through. Its important because this was a point in time that Yokut people were finally reaching out of the comfort zone and looking for scholars to help tell their stories so that the future generation would know who they were and how life was once a upon a time ago.  Below is pictures of blind Molly and Wah-nom’kot. Both women of great wisdom of Yokut culture and famous basket weavers.

One of the most recent Tachi Yokut culture revitalization the tribe has done was gathering their community to make a film. This film is about the history of the Tachi Yokut Tribe and how have the tribe has grown since be relocated from Tulare Lake. T. This film has great testimonies by tribal members and elders how life was on the reservation and what was tribe history. The testimonies are very informative of the Tachi Yokut people that you would have never learned from a book and has so much meaning. This film great way to see visual what the tribe was. The tribal members testimonies such as Cody Jeff and Kaya Atwell are trying to explain that the Tachi Yokut people were a great thriving nation that was threatened and almost exterminated by expansion of the white settlers and the draining of the Tulare lake. The were one of the largest tribes in California at one point. The want to point out that their Native American history is not being told or being told incorrectly. They want their tribal community and anyone who wants to know about their tribe that what they had went through and how they overcome this manifest density idea and how they are a thriving tribal community in the present day.  The tribe has expanded greatly from a place in the middle of nowhere to having a large Hotel and Casino. With all the expand meant of these new buildings within the tribe reservation so has much younger youth wanting to know more about who they are and what they are well known for which their traditions is. They also explain that within last few years they started a language program on the reservation so that the community can come and re-learn their culture and to continue their traditions. The elders in the video explain that they are reclaiming their culture and their history from colonization long ago.

-  This is a link to the Tachi Yokut story that documented the tribe in 2012

Conclusion

•  Part of this ongoing process is to hold onto traditions. This serves a dual purpose in that it preserves Native history, and also functions as a source of inspiration and strength in the modern day. Language, basketry, hunting techniques, are a few examples of traditions that are, and continue to be, incredibly significant for many tribes. Not only have Native people been resilient, these traditions have also survived with us by being shared within tribal communities. These aspects of Native American life live within the elders, which is why in any tribe, an elder is so valuable. Unfortunately, many tribes have lost their elders who possessed such knowledge, and there are tribes who have had to rebuild their language, traditions, and culture from almost nothing. So currently, there is a new age of Native American researchers who are trying to save and preserve traditions and history. This what makes many Yokuts come back as a community and re-emerge as one great nation as they once were.