YUKI INDIANS

YUKI INDIANS WERE THE FIRST SETTLERS IN COVELO AT LEAST 4000 YEARS AGO. THESE FOLKS SETTLED IN THE ROUND VALLEY AS FAR SOUTH AS HOOD MOUNTAIN IN SONOMA COUNTY. THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE AUTONYM 'UKOMMO'M OR VALLEY PEOPLE. UNLIKE MOST OTHER VALLEY PEOPLE THEY ATTACKED THEIR NEIGHBORS! BY 1850 THE SETTLERS DROVE THEM OFF FROM THEIR LANDS. THE NATIVES DIED DURING THE RAIDS AND SOME WERE CAPTURED INTO SLAVERY. IN 1856 THE GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED THE ROUND VALLEY INDIAN RESERVATION . THOUSANDS WERE FORCED ONTO THESE LANDS WITH OTHER TRIBES, WITHOUT SUFFICIENT SUPPORT FOR THE TRANSITION.THESE EVENTS LED TO THE MENDOCINO WAR OF 1859 WHERE US FORCES KILLED HUNDREDS OF YUKI AND TOOK THEM CAPTIVE TO THE NOME CULT FARM IN COVELO. KROEBER ESTIMATED THE 1770 POPULATION TO BE 2000 TO 3000. TODAY ONLY 100 YUKI INDIANS REMAIN. ONLY 12 PEOPLE KNOW THEIR LANGUAGE.. THE PEOPLE THEIR LANGUAGE. THE YUKI PEOPLE RESEMBLED THE POMO IN APPEARANCE . THEY ARE SHORT, BROAD,AND SOMETIMES FAT. THEY HAVE A ;LONGER HEAD FORM THAN OTHER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INDIANS. THE WOMEN TATTOO THEIR FACES ACROSS THEIR CHEEKS, AND ON THE CHIN. THEY ARE CLOSEST IN CULTURAL RESEMBLANCE.TO THE WAILAKI. MOST OF THEIR FOOD WAS VEGETAL, ALONG WITH HUNTING AND FISHING. THEIR SECRET SOCIETY MEMBERS PERFORM CEREMONIES WHOSE MEMBERS REPRESENT SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. THEY BELIEVE THE WORLD WAS CREATED BY A BEING HUMAN IN SHAPE, CALLED TAIKOMOL. HE IS ASSISTED BY COYOTE. THIS DIETY IS REPRESENTED IN A CEREMONY.

THE ROUND VALLEY INDIAN TRIBE IS A GROUP OF SIX TRIBES WITH ABOUT 3000 PEOPLE IN COVELO!

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