I have the most awesome readers of any blogger. There was just a study that came out that said readers couldn’t figure out what comments were for or how to use them but you guys have figured it out no problem.
I’d like to share with you a comment I got on one my posts that I found very interesting. The comment came on a article written by a Sacramento Bee writer and released through the Scripps Howard News Service. Here’s the comment:
We, the Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute Indian Community, are the true descendents of those who camped and lived in Hetch Hetchy Valley. It was interesting to hear that another group was saying that it was their area when state historians have it documented that it was my ancestors area. I wish newspapers would do the story about the true Indians who were in Hetch Hetchy. Sorry to say Miwoks have a misconception that they were the people who owned that valley. Mr. Johnson was from another band of Paiutes who were further down and not from our band. The Screech Brothers were the first non-Indians to enter Hetch Hetchy around 1850s and noted that Paiutes were the people of the Hetch Hetchy valley. C. F. Hoffman, the first state surveyor, got that information from the Screeches and other mountaineers around 1856. In 1901 the anthropologist Merriam C. Hart spoke to a certain Hetch Hetchy family who some of our members are directly related to. We, Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes are interested in getting the truth out.
The article also linked to a great website about Hetch Hetchy and it’s history. Check it out.
Oh, sorry about the misspelling. It’s been fixed.
Technorati Tags: California, Hetch Hetchy, history, outdoor, web, wilderness, yosemite
Comments
2 responses to “I have the most”
Taken from Yosemite Forum:
We Indians were always told by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, we could have access to our families 1928 California Indian Enrollment Applications, If we are directly related to the ones we requested under FOIA.
This is why the Indian doesnt know the truth “YET.”
When Innovations was written and Paiutes were written as Miwok, Paiutes went to inquire as to where Bates and Lee got the references to Miwok ancestry.
The librarian at Yosemite National Park Resource Center took us into Craig Bates office and showed us the microfilm rolls of the applications themselves.
They were on the top of his desk in a row since there were so many of them, approx 30 BOXES. There is a microfilm reader next to his desk as well.
We deduct Craig Bates acquired these Government Documents and begun to conduct ancestry on his x wifes family.
When he found that the Howards were from Bautista, he knew that families history and the truth.
We feel he kept the truth to himself and continued to write the lies which fill some libraries.
We feel this is why he discounts all PAIUTE myths which contain the words of the Paiute language as discussed earlier in previous posts.
I asked the Park Service why he continues to write fiction if he in fact knows the truth based on the applications in his office in Yosemite National Park Resource Center?
The Indian Assistant told her boss
“Craig is in a “Delecate” situation!
I said “If hes that dam sick, why does he continue to write these lies and have them published by the Yosemite National Park Association?”
I also said my Aunt used to say “If your that dam sick go to the doctor, but if you dont go to the doctor, and your still winning around, then drop dead because your making all of us sick with your moaning and groaning.”
Now if Craig Bates has had a Stroke and his writings are faulty, then he should retire!
If Craig Bates had a Stroke, and continues to write and work at the Yosemite Natioanl Park,
Is he waiting for a full retirement?
Remember hes a member of the “Great Thinkers.”
I asked “What degree does Craig Bates hold in research?
I was told sharply “What degree do you have?”
I replied “I hold a high degree of Indian Blood and thats a lot more that your Indian expert dressed up like a Miwok.”
I replied “You know being married to a Miwok, doesnt a Miwok make!
I replied hes from the WA NAA BE tribe and a wanna bee tribe is a fake tribe.
Yosemite said they would look into it and the matter was closed!
You might find my words harsh and sharp, but in Paiute we generally speak straight, even if we have to use it in humorous manor.
We deduct Craig has alot of good friends at the Park and they defend him sharply.
We were told to write our own books and have them published.
We were directed to contact Brian Bibby as well.
Since Craig Bates has had his stroke, they now use Brian Bibby to write for the Miwok as in DEEPER THAN GOLD.
DEEPER THAN GOLD was printed by Heyday Press which is the company that the Yosemite Park Association uses for their publications.
This is a racket and a close network or what is sometimes called the Inner Circle.
This is my opinion and I exercise my right under the Freedom of Speech Laws.
Yosemite isnt in balance and one must go back back to the beginning since that is where all it started!
My family also have a big problem with Craig Bates’ writings.
Our ancestor was the first mailman of Yosemite. His name was Tom Hutchings (Hudgens). He was born of a Mono Lake Paiute father and a Yosemite Paiute mother.
One of my elders had seen in Craig Bates writings that he had our ancestor Tom Hutchings (Hudgens) as a Southern Sierra Miwuk or Miwok.
He had checked out the book by Bates called “Tradition and Innovation, a basket history of the Indians of Yosemite and Mono Lake”. In the book Craig Bates, who worked for Yosemite National Park, had our ancestor Tom Hutchings as a Miwok and was surprised. He also noticed that other Paiutes had been changed from Paiute and Yokut to Miwok. He did further research and found that in an other publication he once again had Tom Hutchings (Hudgens) as a Yosemite Miwok.
So he went to Yosemite with some other Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiutes to see where Craig Bates had gotten that information that Tom Hutchings (Hudgens) was a Miwok. You see all of Tom Hutchings descendents are Paiutes and it was surprising. Tom Hutchings is even buried in Bridgeport Paiute cemetery. In all census rolls Tom Hutchings was full blooded Paiute. He was married to Daisy Bill and when he died she filled out her 1928 California Indian Application. She stated she was full blooded Paiute and so was her husband, our ancestor, Tom Hutchings (Hudgens). So both of our ancestors were Paiutes and not Miwoks.
At Yosemite Research Center we talked to the librarian and asked if we could speak to Craig Bates, but she said he had a stroke several years and he could not speak to them. She stated that he still continued to come to work even though he had a stroke.
They wanted to know where Craig Bates got the information that our ancestor, Tom Hutchings, was a Miwok. She took them to his office and she showed them about 33 boxes of the 1928 California Indian applications on microfilm next to a microfilm reader. They were surprised that people could acquire the applications because they believed they were covered by the Privacy Act.
They didn’t have the time to look at the microfilm then, but asked to see photos they had in their catalog. The librarian took them to the photo catalong and they started to look.
Well they found the photo of Tom Hutchings (Hudgens) sitting on a rock. Which was well known to them. On the back of our ancestors photos it read “Tom Hutchings – Yosemite – Mono Lake PAIUTE” as we had always known.
They asked for the photo to be copied front an back. They also found a photo tucked in the back with no name on it. It was a photo of the other Paiute’s relative. It was an old photo of Captain John or Poko Tucket, the last historic chief of Yosemite – Mono Lake, unidentified. They got a copy of that photo also and left.
That caused quite a buzz around some Paiute families who were descendents of the people of Yosemite. It seems that the Paiutes of Yosemite were being erased, called visitors or changed into Southern Sierra Miwoks.
It sounded strange until another Paiute showed people the petition for federal recognition of the Southern Sierra Miwuks. Then it started to make sense. In their petition they had my ancestor, Tom Hutchings, as the Miwok who kept the Miwoks together by his duties as the Yosemite mailman. Under one of the seven (7) point criteria to become a federally recognized tribe the Miwok group has to have been in constant contact with each other. So basically I believe they were using my Paiute ancestor to “prove” that they were in constant contact with each other for federal recognition. Yet most Miwoks lived in the town of Coulterville, which is about 40 miles away from Yosemite, during that same time.
Then someone had taken a photo in Yosemite of new Interpretive markers that are placed around Yosemite National Park. On one of the markers once again they have our ancestor Tom Hutchings (Hudgens), the Paiute, as a Miwok. Plus they now had Charley and Sally Ann Dick as children of a Miwok Chief George Dick on the same marker, transposed on a photo of Paiute woman. Chief George “One-Eyed” Dick was a Paiute and so was his wife.
One of our family members called Yosemite and asked why they had our ancestor once again as Miwok. They explained that they got all their information from ONE Craig Bates. Craig Bates, who by the way, was married to a Miwok woman and has a 1/2 Miwok son and in the early 70s dressed and performed in Miwok ceremonies.
Bates has never produced any government documentation to prove that Tom Hutchings (Hudgens) was a Miwok. Yet we, as his family members, have lots of documentation that he was Paiute.
So as the descendents of Tom Hutchings (Hudgens), the first Indian mailman of Yosemite, we would like our ancestor back. He is not to be used for some groups goal for federal recognition, but we want his tribal identity to be as he always was, A YOSEMITE – MONO LAKE PAIUTE…and not a Miwok.
We want Yosemite National Park to change their markers to the RIGHT tribal affiliation and get the history of the Indians of Yosemite correct. Not what a non-profit made up former employees and current employees of Yosemite want because of federal recognition.