Post by Okwes on Dec 28, 2007 12:32:28 GMT -5
Sonoma tribe strives to save sacred pieces of its fading past
Thursday, June 14, 2007
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4U\
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<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL> [Tribal elder Vivian Wilder walks by the Round House. It
i...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=0> [Reno Franklin, the Kashia's historic preservation
officer...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=1> [Photos of Sydney and Essie Parrish, who was a powerful
Ka...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=2> [Violet Chapell, daughter of spiritual leader Essie
Parris...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=3> More...
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The tiny Indian reservation called Stewarts Point Rancheria is a place
of delicate, remote beauty atop a hill in western Sonoma County covered
with redwood and tan oak trees, 5 miles from the ocean, 40 miles from
the nearest traffic signal. It is only 42 acres. Only a handful of
people live there.
It is the center of a very small, very old California world, a symbol of
a time older than the redwoods. It is a sacred place and an endangered
one.
The centerpiece of the town is two buildings built of redwood. One is a
Round House, a sacred place to the Kashia band of Pomo Indians. It is on
the verge of collapse, more of a ruin than a building. Next to it is a
small shed with a peaked roof.
The Round House is "our capitol, our church, our community center," said
Reno Franklin, the tribe's historic preservation officer. The shed is
important, too. It is where the tribe's ceremonial regalia are kept.
On Wednesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the two
buildings among the 11 most endangered historic places in the United
States.
They are endangered, the Kashia say, because outsiders have carried away
parts of the buildings. Some of the regalia, symbols, charms and
representations of various spirits have been looted in recent years.
There is nothing to protect them, not even a burglar alarm.
"Everybody can agree on Mount Vernon," said Richard Moe, president of
the National Trust, "but we're saving all kinds of different places.
They represent important places, or people, or events, or even a way of
life that is worth remembering."
The Indians and the National Trust want to secure federal funds -- the
amount has not been set -- to protect the two buildings and perhaps to
build a museum nearby.
But the Round House will not be restored. It will remain in a state of
what Franklin calls "managed deterioration" until it melts back into the
earth.
"It is a sacred place," said Vivian Wilder, an elder of the tribe.
"It is spiritual, and there are rules," Wilder said. "It is forbidden to
go into it or to take it apart."
Wilder and her sister, Violet Chappell, both in their 70s, are daughters
of Essie Parrish, who was a powerful spiritual leader of the Kashia
band.
Parrish succeeded Anne Jarvis, another spiritual leader, who had the
Round House built about 1916 or so.
In Jarvis' and Parrish's time, the Round House was used for celebrations
of the changes of the seasons, for community events and for spiritual
ceremonies that go deep into the inner life of the Indian people.
When Parrish died, in 1978, the Round House was never used again. "She
passed on to the next world," said Chappell, "and we can't use it any
more. It is taboo."
The Kashia, like other Indian people, have strong feelings about death
and spirits that walk on the land, about blessings, signs that come in
dreams and forbidden things.
"We are a traditional tribe," said Franklin.
"People came from Europe and called us savages," said Chappell, "But
they don't know us."
Like most of the people who live on the rancheria, Chappell dwells in
two worlds. Her home is a modern, modular house. While she spoke of
Indian spirituality, her satellite TV was on in the background. It is a
rural life up on the hill, but everyone has electric appliances, all the
usual stuff.
The rancheria seems to be an outpost of Oakland Raider nation; a couple
of people wear the black-and-silver Raider jackets, and Raider banners
hang from the windows of several houses. Franklin wears a black pigtail
in the Indian style. It goes well with his black Golden State Warriors
cap.
Only a handful of the 680 Kashia people live on the rancheria. The rest
live and work around Sonoma County, and the tribe has a branch office in
an industrial and office park in Santa Rosa.
The tribe also is trying to preserve its language, one of 18 dialects of
the Pomo language. It's tough. "The kids don't like the traditional
classes," Franklin said. "You know how kids are. So we are going to do a
podcast to teach the language."
Like most Indian tribes, the Kashia have a high unemployment rate;
poverty is a problem. They once considered -- and rejected -- a plan for
an Indian casino, and then they decided to employ people like Franklin
as preservation officers.
He is 33, a former firefighter, steeped in Indian culture and adept at
making a case for his tribe.
Franklin says the Kashia once had a territory of about 220 square miles,
from the spot near Duncans Mills on the Russian River, north to the
Gualala River, on the Mendocino-Sonoma County line.
"We were here from time immemorial," he says.
For centuries -- some say for 6,000 years -- the Kashia lived their own
life; the Egyptians built their pyramids, the Roman Empire rose and
fell, the Chinese built a great wall, but on the far side of the world,
life went on as it always had.
In 1812, the world changed. Out of the Pacific came Russian ships. The
Russians, big, bearded men with Indian and Inuit allies, built a
settlement on the Sonoma Coast at Fort Ross.
The nearest European house to the east was thousands of miles away, but
next door was a Kashia village with 1,000 people. Many went to work for
the Russians.
Apparently, the clash of cultures was peaceful. Franklin says there are
few bad stories about the Russians. "At least they weren't the Spanish,"
he said. "We weren't made slaves."
The Russian settlement at Fort Ross was a failure, though. It was too
far from the homeland. Within five years, a new and formidable power
took control of California -- the United States.
Devastated by disease and made landless, the Kashia, then only a remnant
of a few hundred, lived near a place called the Haupt Ranch, like
outcasts in their own land.
Not long after the turn of the 20th century, the Indian people faced
eviction from the ranch land. The federal government gave them 42 acres
atop a hill, 5 miles up a winding dirt road. That was in 1916.
Franklin and the others say that Anne Jarvis, a young woman with some
kind of special gift, then emerged as a spiritual leader. She
reinvigorated the tribe, cracked down on drinking and gambling. For some
time, tribe members were forbidden to marry other Indians or other
races; for a while, they were forbidden to have contact with outsiders.
The story is that the tribe drew strength from itself, from its
families, from the land and from ritual. It survived.
Now the National Trust will lobby for federal funds. "This tribe's
historic buildings could serve as a showcase for Kashia culture and
history," Moe said. "But without an injection of federal funds, the
Kashia ... will once again lose everything that's sacred and important."
Endangered history
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named these 11 sites as
the most endangered historic places in the nation:
1. Brooklyn's Industrial Waterfront, N.Y.
2. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, N.M.
3. H.H. Richardson House, Brookline, Mass.
4. Hialeah Park Race Course, Hialeah, Fla.
5. Historic places in power line corridors in Virginia, West Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
6. Historic structures within Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
7. Motels along historic Route 66 between Illinois and California.
8. Minidoka Internment National Monument, Jerome County, Idaho
9. Philip Simmons' Workshop and Home, Charleston, S.C.
10. Pinon Canyon, Colo.
11. Stewart's Point Rancheria in Sonoma County.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4U\
F1.DTL
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL> [Tribal elder Vivian Wilder walks by the Round House. It
i...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=0> [Reno Franklin, the Kashia's historic preservation
officer...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=1> [Photos of Sydney and Essie Parrish, who was a powerful
Ka...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=2> [Violet Chapell, daughter of spiritual leader Essie
Parris...]
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=3> More...
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/06/14/MNG3DQF4\
UF1.DTL&o=4>
The tiny Indian reservation called Stewarts Point Rancheria is a place
of delicate, remote beauty atop a hill in western Sonoma County covered
with redwood and tan oak trees, 5 miles from the ocean, 40 miles from
the nearest traffic signal. It is only 42 acres. Only a handful of
people live there.
It is the center of a very small, very old California world, a symbol of
a time older than the redwoods. It is a sacred place and an endangered
one.
The centerpiece of the town is two buildings built of redwood. One is a
Round House, a sacred place to the Kashia band of Pomo Indians. It is on
the verge of collapse, more of a ruin than a building. Next to it is a
small shed with a peaked roof.
The Round House is "our capitol, our church, our community center," said
Reno Franklin, the tribe's historic preservation officer. The shed is
important, too. It is where the tribe's ceremonial regalia are kept.
On Wednesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the two
buildings among the 11 most endangered historic places in the United
States.
They are endangered, the Kashia say, because outsiders have carried away
parts of the buildings. Some of the regalia, symbols, charms and
representations of various spirits have been looted in recent years.
There is nothing to protect them, not even a burglar alarm.
"Everybody can agree on Mount Vernon," said Richard Moe, president of
the National Trust, "but we're saving all kinds of different places.
They represent important places, or people, or events, or even a way of
life that is worth remembering."
The Indians and the National Trust want to secure federal funds -- the
amount has not been set -- to protect the two buildings and perhaps to
build a museum nearby.
But the Round House will not be restored. It will remain in a state of
what Franklin calls "managed deterioration" until it melts back into the
earth.
"It is a sacred place," said Vivian Wilder, an elder of the tribe.
"It is spiritual, and there are rules," Wilder said. "It is forbidden to
go into it or to take it apart."
Wilder and her sister, Violet Chappell, both in their 70s, are daughters
of Essie Parrish, who was a powerful spiritual leader of the Kashia
band.
Parrish succeeded Anne Jarvis, another spiritual leader, who had the
Round House built about 1916 or so.
In Jarvis' and Parrish's time, the Round House was used for celebrations
of the changes of the seasons, for community events and for spiritual
ceremonies that go deep into the inner life of the Indian people.
When Parrish died, in 1978, the Round House was never used again. "She
passed on to the next world," said Chappell, "and we can't use it any
more. It is taboo."
The Kashia, like other Indian people, have strong feelings about death
and spirits that walk on the land, about blessings, signs that come in
dreams and forbidden things.
"We are a traditional tribe," said Franklin.
"People came from Europe and called us savages," said Chappell, "But
they don't know us."
Like most of the people who live on the rancheria, Chappell dwells in
two worlds. Her home is a modern, modular house. While she spoke of
Indian spirituality, her satellite TV was on in the background. It is a
rural life up on the hill, but everyone has electric appliances, all the
usual stuff.
The rancheria seems to be an outpost of Oakland Raider nation; a couple
of people wear the black-and-silver Raider jackets, and Raider banners
hang from the windows of several houses. Franklin wears a black pigtail
in the Indian style. It goes well with his black Golden State Warriors
cap.
Only a handful of the 680 Kashia people live on the rancheria. The rest
live and work around Sonoma County, and the tribe has a branch office in
an industrial and office park in Santa Rosa.
The tribe also is trying to preserve its language, one of 18 dialects of
the Pomo language. It's tough. "The kids don't like the traditional
classes," Franklin said. "You know how kids are. So we are going to do a
podcast to teach the language."
Like most Indian tribes, the Kashia have a high unemployment rate;
poverty is a problem. They once considered -- and rejected -- a plan for
an Indian casino, and then they decided to employ people like Franklin
as preservation officers.
He is 33, a former firefighter, steeped in Indian culture and adept at
making a case for his tribe.
Franklin says the Kashia once had a territory of about 220 square miles,
from the spot near Duncans Mills on the Russian River, north to the
Gualala River, on the Mendocino-Sonoma County line.
"We were here from time immemorial," he says.
For centuries -- some say for 6,000 years -- the Kashia lived their own
life; the Egyptians built their pyramids, the Roman Empire rose and
fell, the Chinese built a great wall, but on the far side of the world,
life went on as it always had.
In 1812, the world changed. Out of the Pacific came Russian ships. The
Russians, big, bearded men with Indian and Inuit allies, built a
settlement on the Sonoma Coast at Fort Ross.
The nearest European house to the east was thousands of miles away, but
next door was a Kashia village with 1,000 people. Many went to work for
the Russians.
Apparently, the clash of cultures was peaceful. Franklin says there are
few bad stories about the Russians. "At least they weren't the Spanish,"
he said. "We weren't made slaves."
The Russian settlement at Fort Ross was a failure, though. It was too
far from the homeland. Within five years, a new and formidable power
took control of California -- the United States.
Devastated by disease and made landless, the Kashia, then only a remnant
of a few hundred, lived near a place called the Haupt Ranch, like
outcasts in their own land.
Not long after the turn of the 20th century, the Indian people faced
eviction from the ranch land. The federal government gave them 42 acres
atop a hill, 5 miles up a winding dirt road. That was in 1916.
Franklin and the others say that Anne Jarvis, a young woman with some
kind of special gift, then emerged as a spiritual leader. She
reinvigorated the tribe, cracked down on drinking and gambling. For some
time, tribe members were forbidden to marry other Indians or other
races; for a while, they were forbidden to have contact with outsiders.
The story is that the tribe drew strength from itself, from its
families, from the land and from ritual. It survived.
Now the National Trust will lobby for federal funds. "This tribe's
historic buildings could serve as a showcase for Kashia culture and
history," Moe said. "But without an injection of federal funds, the
Kashia ... will once again lose everything that's sacred and important."
Endangered history
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named these 11 sites as
the most endangered historic places in the nation:
1. Brooklyn's Industrial Waterfront, N.Y.
2. El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, N.M.
3. H.H. Richardson House, Brookline, Mass.
4. Hialeah Park Race Course, Hialeah, Fla.
5. Historic places in power line corridors in Virginia, West Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
6. Historic structures within Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
7. Motels along historic Route 66 between Illinois and California.
8. Minidoka Internment National Monument, Jerome County, Idaho
9. Philip Simmons' Workshop and Home, Charleston, S.C.
10. Pinon Canyon, Colo.
11. Stewart's Point Rancheria in Sonoma County.