While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
Pomo. The name of the Indian linguistic
stock, technically known as Kulanapan, living in parts of Sonoma,
Lake, Mendocino, Colusa, and Glenn Counties, California. In the
northern Pomo dialect Pomo means 'people,' and added to a place name
forms the name for a group of people. Although Poma is almost as
frequently heard as Pomo, the latter has come into general use in
both scientific and popular literature.
The territory occupied by the Pomo is in two parts: a
main area which extends, generally speaking, from west to east, from
the coast to the crest of the main range of the Coast Range
mountains, and from south to north, from the vicinity of Santa Rosa
to Sherwood valley on the upper course of Eel river; the second area
is a very small one, lying wholly within the Sacramento valley
drainage and comprising only a limited area on the headwaters of
Stony creek in Colusa and Glenn Counties, and is occupied by a
people speaking a dialect differing from any of those spoken in the
main area to the west. The Pomo thus occupied all of Russian River
valley except two small areas, one between Geyserville and
Healdsburg, the other at the extreme head of Potter valley, both of
which were occupied by people of the Yukian stock. On the west of
the main Pomo area is the Pacific, on the south is Moquelumnan
territory, on the east are Yukian-Wappo and Wintun areas, and on the
north the Yuki and the Athapascan Kato areas, from which it is
separated by the watershed between Cahto and Sherwood valleys.
Certain peoples living to the north of the Pomo area,
generally known by their Pomo names (Kai, Kastel, Kato, and Yusal
Pomo), are not, as supposed, Pomo, but Athapascan.
There are in all seven dialects, one being found
exclusively in the small Pomo area in the Sacramento valley
drainage, the remainder lying within the limits of what has been
designated as the main Pomo area. Of the latter six dialects two are
confined to the vicinity of Clear lake, one to the southern part of
the coast held by the Pomo, and one almost entirely to the lower
course of Russian river, while the other two occupy portions of the
interior valley region along Russian and Eel rivers. and also
portions of the Pomo coast.
In appearance the Pomo resemble the other Indians of
north central California; they are comparatively short, though on
the whole they are taller and of more powerful build than their Yuki
and Athapascan neighbors immediately to the north. Both men and
women, especially the latter, are often fat, with large faces. The
women tattoo very slightly, and this chiefly upon the chin. They are
noted for their basketry, which in variety of technique and range of
patterns is probably unrivaled in North America, while its fineness
of finish and elaborateness of decoration, especially with feathers,
are remarkable. In their general culture the Pomo are similar to
such peoples as the Wintun, Maidu, and Yuki. They are essentially
unwarlike.
The Pomo were the most southerly stock on the coast not
brought under the mission influence of the Franciscans in the 18th
and early 19th centuries, their contact with the mission fathers
being only very slight and then in the extreme southern part of
their territory. however, Franciscan missionaries have more recently
been active among them. A few, especially the so-called Little Lakes
and Big Lakes, are at present on the Round Valley Reservation, but
the majority are living free from governmental control in or near
their old homes, supporting themselves by civilized pursuits,
especially farming. Their number at present is about 800. As
throughout the greater part of California, true tribes do not exist
among the Pomo, their largest political and geographical division
being the village and the surrounding land controlled by it.
The following names are mentioned by Powers as those of
divisions and villages of the Pomo. In many instances, however, this
writer attached to village names the significance of those of tribal
divisions, while in others the names are those used by whites to
designate the Indians of a certain village or a certain valley. The
names here given represent a very small portion of the number of
villages actually inhabited by the Pomo in aboriginal times:
As elsewhere in California, villages
and larger groups are difficult to distinguish, and true tribes
do not exist. The preceding list is therefore not only
incomplete, but unsystematic.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
