Tsnungwe Council

The Tsnungwe (current Hupa-language orthography, own name: - "Tse:ning-din (Ironside Mountain) People") or ''Tsanunghwa'' are a Native American people indigenous to the modern areas of the lower South Fork Trinity River (), Willow Creek (), Salyer (), Burnt Ranch (/) and New River () along the Trinity River ( 'river') in Trinity and Humboldt County in California. The Tsnungwe were a bilingual Hupa-Chimariko-speaking people and are known by the Hupa-speaking peoples as . The primary language was the Tsnungwe dialect of Hupa, and the secondary language was Chimariko, although spoken with a Hupa accent.

The Tsnungwe include two sub-groups called ('People of ') after their most important settlement and religious center, and the // ('grass, prairies-amongst-people') along New River. The Karuk living north of the Salmon River Divide called the // ('New River People'). The Norelmuk Wintu from Hayfork called the Tsnungwe ''Num-nor-muk''.

Because their language is a dialect of the Hupa language, they are also called South Fork Hupa. Other tribal names refer to their territories occupied: ''South Fork Indians, Burnt Ranch, South Fork Trinity Tribe, and Kelta/Tlelwe/Hlelwe/Tlelding/Leldin Tribe'' or ''Tlohomtahhoi, Chaltasom.''

Neighboring tribes to the Tsnungwe include the Yurok, Redwood Creek Hupa, Hoopa Valley Hupa, Wiyot, Chimariko, Shasta, Karuk, and Wintu. Often times, Tsnungwe spoke many Native languages. C. Hart Merriam referred to Tsnungwe leader Saxey Kidd as "a well-known polyglot," speaker of many languages.

Federal recognition

The Tsnungwe descendants are members of the Tsnungwe Council : recognized by both Humboldt and Trinity counties, previously recognized by the United States of America, and working to have that federally-recognized status restored.

Culture

The traditional Tsnungwe diet included salmon, steelhead, Pacific lamprey "eels," black tail deer, and other local animals and plants.

Language

The language of the Tsnungwe is considered a dialect of the Hupa language of the Pacific Coast Athabaskan language group of North American native languages. This language ( 'Hupa-speaking people', 'Hupa Indians') with various dialects is spoken (, dialect of South Fork and New River areas); ( 'Hoopa Valley Hupa'); ( 'Redwood Creek Hupa').

Villages

Willow Creek area villages

(Clover Flat), (upriver from Willow Creek), (opposite ), (opposite of , Camp Kimtu), (alternative: ), (opposite of ), (all three at Willow Creek), (formerly: , Knight's Trailer Park), (opposite /Knight's Trailer Park), (at the mouth of Willow Creek), (Enchanted Springs), (Gambi's, formerly: China Flat), (alternative: ), (alternative: , Whitson's), (just above the mouth of Willow Creek). Ethnogeographic and Ethnosynosymic Data from Northern California Tribes, by C. Hart Merriam, pages 111-112, Edited by Robert Heizer, Archaeological Research Facility, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, 1976
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South Fork Trinity area (''yisinch'ing-qeh'') villages

(also: Tlelding 'place where the rivers (South Fork and Trinity) meet', about one mile downriver from today's Salyer, largest and leading Tsnungwe settlement; ancient times: a village), including the three sub-villages , (on the other side of the mouth of the South Fork), (old name was ); , (Sandy Bar), (about 12 miles above the mouth of the river), (also: 'place where the money grows', once an important rich settlement at the mouth of Campbell Creek),, (Saxey Ranch), (mouth of Mosquito Creek into Grouse Creek), , , (Ammon Ranch), (Todd Ranch).

Trinity River (South Fork – Cedar Flat area) villages

(at Trinity River), (downstream from Salyer), , (alternative: , , Old Campbell Ranch/Fountain Ranch), , (Swanson's), (downstream from /Swanson's), (Irvings, Hawkins Bar), (downstream from /Irvings), (Gray's Flat), (at a lake, near /Chesbro's), (Wells, Chesbro's).

Burnt Ranch and New River area villages

(Burnt Ranch, large settlement), (near China Slide, upstream from /McDonald's at Burnt Ranch), (McDonald Ranch, Burnt Ranch), (at the mouth of the New River), (Dyer's, Bell's Flat), (also: – Martha Dyer Ziegler's, upstream from ), (Hoboken), (at China Creek, also: – China Creek), (upstream from /Quimby), (at the mouth of Quinby Creek, Ladd's, Thomas', Quimby), (south of Panther Creek), (Daily's, before: Moses Patterson), (at the confluence of East Fork and New River), (New River), (at the forks of the New River upstream from Denny), (Hupa speakers in New River villages).

References

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Bald Hills War
Hupa
Athabaskan peoples
Indigenous peoples of California
Native Americans in Trinity County, California
Unrecognized tribes in the United States