Wiyot

On February 26, 1860, the Wiyot experienced a massacre which devastated their numbers and has remained a pervasive part of their cultural heritage and identity.[11]

Three days before the massacre, on Washington's birthday, a logging mill engineer from Germany named Robert Gunther bought property on "Indian Island".[12]

Indian Island. View North from Woodley Island Marina at end of Startare Drive showing National Register Marker with Indian Island shell midden on other side of channel.

The day before the massacre, 25 February, the Weekly Humboldt Times editorialized: "The Indians are still killing stock of the settlers in the back country and will continue to do so until they are driven from that section, or exterminated"; meanwhile prominent local residents had already formed a vigilante committee to deal with the problem, and were sworn to never reveal their membership.[12]

For several days before the massacre, World Renewal ceremonies were being held at the village of Tuluwat,

[13] on Indian Island[10]^: 220[14] less than a mile offshore from Eureka in Humboldt Bay. Up to 250 Wiyot participated in the ceremonies.[12] The leader of the Humboldt Bay Wiyots was Captain Jim. He organized and led the ceremony to start a new year.

A group of white men came to the island in the early morning after the last ceremony was completed and most of the Indian men had left the island, leaving only women and children. The whites were armed with hatchets, clubs and knives[10]^: 220 and had left their guns behind so the noise of the slaughter would be only screams rather than gunshots. This was not the only massacre that took place that night. Two other village sites were raided, on the Eel River and on the South Spit. Reports of the number of Wiyots killed that night vary from 80 to 200; they were mostly women and children, who were apart from the men conducting ceremonies. There was one survivor of the massacred group on Tuluwat, an infant named Jerry James.[15]

Gunther had been asleep on the mainland across Humboldt Bay from the Island and had awakened to what he thought were screams, but went back to sleep. The next morning he was awakened by the Justice of the Peace who went with Gunther to inspect the Island following reports that Indians had been killed. He was appalled by what he saw, recalling " …what a sight presented itself to our eyes. Corpses lying all around, and all women and children, but two. Most of them had their skulls split. One old Indian, who looked to be a hundred years old, had his skull split, and still he sat there shivering".[16] Gunther initially desired to bring the guilty to justice, but learned "We soon found that we had better keep our mouths shut."[12]

Three other attacks on Indian settlements took place within two days: at the South Spit (Eureka), at South Fork Eel River (Rohnerville), and at Eagle Prairie (Rio Dell). Gunther said, "It was never publicly known who did the killing, yet secretly the parties were pointed out."[12]

The 1860 massacre was well documented historically and was reported in San Francisco and New York City by the young American writer Bret Harte. Harte was working as a printer's helper and assistant editor at a local newspaper at the time, and his boss was temporarily absent, leaving Harte in charge of the paper. Harte published a detailed account condemning the event, writing, "a more shocking and revolting spectacle never was exhibited to the eyes of a Christian and civilized people. Old women wrinkled and decrepit lay weltering in blood, their brains dashed out and dabbled with their long grey hair. Infants scarcely a span along, with their faces cloven with hatchets and their bodies ghastly with wounds."[17]

Major Gabriel J. Rains (sometimes spelled "Raines"), commander of Fort Humboldt, reported on the massacre to his superiors that "Captain Wright's Company [of vigilantes] held a meeting at Eel River and resolved to kill every peaceable Indian – man, woman, and child."[18] The vigilantes were also known as the "Humboldt Volunteers, Second Brigade," reported to have organized at Hydesville (the town called "Eel River" by Major Rains is now named Rohnerville). Gaines reported that around five men had formed a volunteer squad to murder the sleeping women and children on the island. In his army reports, appalled at the massacres and at the openly discussed aims of the local white settlers to kill the Wiyot, he stated there were 55 killed at Indian Island, 40 on South Fork Eel River, and 35 at Eagle Prairie.[19] South Fork Eel River became Rohnerville and was later annexed by Fortuna; Eagle Prairie is now the site of the town of Rio Dell.[20]

Meanwhile, The Humboldt Times newspaper editorialized, "For the past four years we have advocated two—and only two—alternatives for ridding our country of Indians: either remove them to some reservation or kill them. The loss of life and destruction of property by the Indians for ten years past has not failed to convince every sensitive man that the two races cannot live together, and the recent desperate and bloody demonstrations on Indian Island and elsewhere is proof that the time has arrived that either the pale face or the savage must yield the ground."[21]

The Times apparently represented the mainstream opinion in the area at the time. An investigation failed to identify a single perpetrator, although those who did the killing were rumored to be well known. Although a grand jury summoned witnesses and held hearings, no one was indicted.[12] Harte was threatened and in danger of mob violence.[17] He quit his job and left Union in March 1860 by the steamer Columbia for San Francisco,[17] where an anonymous letter published in a city paper is attributed to him, describing widespread community approval of the massacre.

Wiyot elders in 2014 at a vigil memorializing the 1860 Wiyot Massacre

The Wiyot people were thus decimated. They were corralled at Fort Humboldt for protection however many died there.[22] Survivors were herded mostly to Round Valley, established as an Indian reservation within California, but they kept escaping and returning to their homeland.

By 1850, there were about 2000 Wiyot and Karok people living within this area. After 1860, there were an estimated 200 people left. By 1910, there were fewer than 100 full-blood Wiyot people living within their ancestral territory. This rapid decline in population occurred due to disease, slavery, target practice, protection, being herded from place to place (survivors' descendants describe this as "death marches"), and massacres.

Memorials have been held annually at Tuluwat village, on what is now known as Indian Island, since 1992, and a major cultural and environmental restoration project is underway there.[14] More recently, the long-awaited World Renewal Ceremony has returned to the island, and is in the process of being revived by current tribal members. This event is private and central to Wiyot cultural beliefs.

In 2000, the Wiyot established the Table Bluff Reservation on 88 acres (360,000 m²) of their homeland. The reservation is 16 miles (26 km) south of Eureka between Loleta and the South Jetty of Humboldt Bay. Some 350 people are enrolled in the Table Bluff Reservation – Wiyot Tribe. "Table Bluff Rancheria of Wiyot Indians of California" is the name under which the United States federal government previously listed the Table Bluff Reservation in the Bureau of Indian Affairs list of federally recognized tribes;[23] "Table Bluff Reservation – Wiyot Tribe" is the current designation.[23] Some people of Wiyot descent are enrolled in the Bear River Rancheria.

Since October 2019, the Wiyot have had the land deed to most of Indian Island, which previously was owned by the City of Eureka.[24]