The Future of the Konkow Maidu

Ever since the first Colonial contact the Konkow Maidu have been struggling and fighting to survive. The ones that were rounded up and taken away to Round Valley eventually found their way home for being "Good Indians" and helping the white militia hunt down other tribes and wiped them out. When they reached the Pulga area what we now call the Hwy 70 corridor our people had cattle, Gold and Jade mines that were eventually taken from us once again. Where the Cal-trans yard sit a 11-bedroom house stood that housed all the Gramps family for generations that was torn down, when they were forces to sale or it would have got taken away by the government to build the highway. 42 acers ... Our family cemetery (the only Indian cemetery recognized in Butte County) ... Our Culture .... All gone... But the Konkow are the ONLY non-federal tribe in Butte County. How you ask? Well, we are asking the same thing, we were Indian enough to have a Treaty (even if the Government lied and it was Unratified), we were Indian enough to get slaughtered and rounded up. We were Indian enough to be forced to live on a Reservation 100 miles away from our homelands. We were Indian enough to have our children taken and placed in to the Indian Boarding School in Greenville. And we were Indian enough to get the California Indian Compensation in the 70's. Today the Konkow Maidu have over 250 members, a Cultural department, Tribal Land Managment crew, Tribal Monitoring crew just like the federal tribes. This year we honored to be the first tribe non-federal tribe to have a contract with a national forest and also the first non-federal tribe to received funeral objects and ancestors bone from the 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires federally funded institutions, such as universities, to return Native American remains and cultural items to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. We have can along ways from the 1800's we have had our cultural, land and ideates taken but we are still here. We are bringing back the old ways and remembering our ancestors what they passed down generation after generation and breathing life back into it. This has not been an easy task but we come from a strong bloodline and I always like to think they made it through hell for me to be here.

The Round Up: Nome Cult Walk (Konkow Trail of Tears)

The Nome Cult Walk was one of several military-enforced relocations of Native Americans throughout California in the mid-1800s. During those moves, Native Americans were not only taken from their tribal lands but were also forced to live with many different tribes. Sometimes those people forced to live together had been longtime rivals. One result of the Nome Cult Walk relocation was the creation of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. This federally recognized tribe exists today and includes the Yuki, Wailacki, Concow, Little Lake Pomo, Nomlaki, Pit River, Maidu and Nissinan tribes.https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/11/21/tribes-remember-nome-cult When they came to the Konkow Valley or Concow as the gold seekers would say, they took them by force and rounded them up like cattle with what they had on their backs. Once gone they would burn and destroy their villages if escape did happened there was nothing to come back too. They were forced to march on foot for over 100 miles that ended up being a 2-week journey for then when they left there was 461 Konkows. They military would use scare tactics with them they would threaten to beat the women and children if anyone tried to escape. And when the women were too slow due to their child, they would help lighten their load by beating the babies against trees and rock. When army official followed the trail, he seen malnourished Indians some still alive but too weak that were getting eaten alive by wild hog they incorporated into this region. Once the journey was over there were only 277 left ... They were forced to incorporate themselves with other Indians that were taken as well. The Konkows had their Nopani (Headman) Tome-ye-nem who tried to take care of his people the best he could. When the President Grant wanted the "Bad Indians" found they used Tome-ye-nem he was known for his great tracking and hunted down all the hostile Indians known as the Mill Creek Indians or the Tiger Indians. After a few years of being a good Indian to the whites in charge he begged for them to let him, and his people go they were starving and wanted to go home after a while they gave in and let the Konkows return to their homelands.

Mo-Lay-yo our Treaty Signer

>On August 1,1851 Mo-lay-yo the Nopani(Leader)from Kimsewa or modern day Pulga went to John Bidwell's Ranch along with nine headmen to sign Treaty G. It's promises included 200 head of beef cattle, to average weight of five hundred pounds, seventy-five sacks of flour one hundred pounds each (within two years of the signing). Also, goods such as calico cloth, needles, thread, scissors, blankets, one thousand pounds of iron. One hundred pounds of steel, mules, ploughs and one hundred milk cows were also guaranteed. The most important item was the 227 square mile (about half the area of San Antonio, Texas) tract of land outlined in the treaty as the permanent home for the tribes who agreed to the treaty. Through 1851-1852 the U.S government negotiated 18 treaties with promises of reserving eight million acers of land for Native Americans. But later, the California State Senate and the Governor objected to reservation of land for Indians since it might be for agricultural or gold bearing value. Secretly the U.S. Senate rejected the treaties on July 8,1852. It was until 1905, over fifty years later would the injunctions of secrecy be removed, and the unratified treaties brought to light. The Konkow Maidus then fled further into the hills after the lies and trickery from the U.S government over the treaties started an uproar with the local tribes. The Maidu were starving, unable to hunt on their land they would rebel against the Whites and do what they had to survive.

Stanger's Among Us (1849-1864)

The Konkow Valley Band of Maidu Indians believed, the Maidu (people) were made in their traditional areas in Butte and Plumas Counties in Northern California,based in the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Although the Konkow people were from the North Fork to the West Branch of the Feather River, they had problems off and on with neighboring tribes but nothing ike what was to come. In 1849, while out at his mill, John Sutter and one of his ranch hands discovered the Yellow Stone that would soon have all the newcomers heading to California looking for it. When Gold Fever struck the Konkow homelands and there was an abundance of pale, mossy faced people who smelled strange and a strange native tongue. Now we must remember in 1942 Columbus landed in the East coast, the invasion of the Indigenous people had started. It then worked its way across the planes like the plague, moving north and south it didn’t matter what was in its way all was consumed in time. Even though the whites made their way to California for the Gold Rush, no one from any of the Konkow villages had yet to encounter one. But slowly they worked their way into the Konkow Country. Along with miners, ranchers, fur trappers and so-called scholars began to arrive and along came sickness. These Scholars broke the Indigenous human beings of the area down into groups, The Southern Maidu( Nisanean), The Mountain Maidu, The Concow (KonKow and other neighboring tribes) By only studding the Konkow, scholars didn’t see how Sub Tribelets, inside of the Konkow area played a major part in our culture, language and political mindset. Yes, there were many villages, even large cities and districts but also there where Bands, subtribes not so much like a different tribe but more like the United States political system we have today. Si it started with a Nopani, he was the highest of them all. He is like the President of the Konkows, controlling or managing the whole Konkow area. Then comes the Shaman or Indian doctor (Yomi) He is the society leader, who healed the people with plants and has dreams of the future. Finally, we have the Yeponi( Headman ) He would be looked up to by the tribal members and settle disputes and make arraignments and if a law was broken, he would figure out the punishment. Our community today can trace their bloodline back to two Nopani’s, a few Yeponi’s and a few Doctors. In 1852, Mo-lay-yo, headed to Bidwell’s Ranch and signed the treaty (even though it was unratified) we still have documentation of it, a copy of it is at Chico State. And Tome-ye-nem was from the other side of the family and he was rounded up in 1864 and sent to Round Valley Indian Reservation with documentation working for Grant and his soliders.

Konkow Traditional Dancers and Singers

 Konkow Traditional Dancers and Singers

              Butte College Big Time 2023

In 2016 the Konkows along with other outside tribes formed a traditional dance group for the first time in over 100 years. With the change in the tribal government, it didn't last long with lack of participation and knowledge being one of the main reasons. It wasn't until 2020 when the new leadership the Vice Chair stepped up and formed another dance group and created language classes. It was what the youth needed at that time and by the time they had their first dance there was 4 singers and 10 dancers (male and female mixed). As the years passed and the dance group got more recognition, they went from a single dance in Concow at a music festival to getting invitations to join other tribes at their traditional ceremonies. This was a great honor and such a huge step for the tribe not only socially but spiritually. The dancing brought back traditions that were almost lost through the years. The girls and women have learned to make and gather stuff to make their regalia batsawi and paswani (head pieces) and they reason they wear and use it. The boys also have done the same, learning how to make feather capes and flicker bands to wear during the ceremony. While learning about their culture they also would implement their language making a connection to what they were making, even though a lot of things were lost in time during the genocide of the tribes there was finally a rebirth of the tribe’s culture and beliefs. Since then, the Konkow have been dancing year around traditional and non-traditional for the public, making appearances at schools and events and telling their story to anyone wanting to learn. That they have always been here and will always be. They are filled with so much culture and knowledge of their past and elders it's almost like the gap in time never happened and they never stopped their ways.

Present Day: Land Back

 In over 100 years the Konkow Band of Maidu Indians has never been able to own or maintain any parts of their traditional homelands.  In 2022 the Konkow Valley Band of Maidu Indians was given over 10 acers of land in their traditional territory in Concow. This wasn't from the state or the federal Government but from good people who seen some wrongs made threw out history and wanted to try to make a right. The people from Concow Campground (Concow Partners) have stepped up given some of their land and friendship to the Konkow tribe. To be able to have a say about our land, to build a traditional village to tend to native plants is something our family for generations has never experienced. We sing, we dance, we give thanks to the Kodoyampa (Earth Maker or Creator) like it used to be.... like should be. Being a non-federal tribe make the LAND BACK MOVEMNT hard, we don't get the help or benefits like the four other tribes (Federal) in our area. So, when the group from the campground stepped up and made a proposal to give us land, it was a feeling like no other all the years of trying to be heard was coming out loud and clear. Working together to restore the ecosystem and start to rebuild the village is our main mission. This huge step our first of of many projects for the Konkow people. Want to say thanks to The Ground Up and Concow Partners. Oooo for helping us keep our traditions alive for our future generations. 

Konkow Dancer

  

 Four Generations of Konkow Maidu Women dancing in our homelands for the first time in over 100 years.