
The Tübatulabal are an
indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
of
Kern River Valley
The Kern River Valley is a valley and region of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, Kern County, California.
History
The valley was inhabited for millennia by the indigenous Tübatulabal and Kawaiisu peo ...
in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
range of
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. They may have been the first people to make this area their permanent home.
Today many of them are enrolled in the
Tule River Indian Tribe.
["Tubatulabal Indians."]
''SDSU: California Indian Tribes and Their Reservations.'' Retrieved 30 June 2013. They are descendants of the people of the
Uto-Aztecan language group, separating from
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshon ...
people about 3000 years ago.
Territory
The Tübatulabal's traditional homelands extended over including the Kern and South Fork
Kern River
The Kern River is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...
s drainages (located in the Kern Valley area of California) extending from very high mountainous terrain in the north to about below the junction of the two rivers in the south. The high mountains in the north () are interspersed with lakes and meadows. The southern area () has three connected valleys: Kern Valley, South Fork Kern Valley, and Hot Springs Valley, where summers are hot and winters cold and rainy. The valleys are grasslands and chaparral with cacti, scrub oaks, willows, elderberry, and cottonwoods as primary vegetation with some joshua trees, junipers, piñons, oaks, and sugar pines.
Name
The valley of the Kern River has been the home of three distinct bands which are collectively named Tübatulabal. The name Tübatulabal (“a people that go to the forest to gather tubat (piñon nuts)”) loosely translates as "
pine-nut eaters." The name was given to the tribe by the neighboring Yokuts. At one point in history the Yokuts also called the Tübatulabals, "Pitanisha" (place where the rivers fork). The name for the north fork of the river has the Indian name of, Palegewanap or "place of the big river." The south fork of the river conversely was given the name of Kutchibichwanap Palap, or "place of the little river."
Bands
The three bands that comprise the Tübatulabal tribe are (from west to east):
*Bankalachi, Pong-ah-lache or Toloim / Tulamni (lived in the
Greenhorn Mountains
The Greenhorn Mountains are a mountain range of the Southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in California. They are protected within the Sequoia National Forest.
Geography
The range is located in eastern Kern County, California, Kern Count ...
and from Poso Creek and Poso Flats around
Glennville, California, north along Cedar Creek,
White River to
Deer Creek, sometimes they were farther up along the
South Fork Tule River, territory of the Tule River Yokuts, with the Foothill Yokuts (Tule River and
Poso Creek Yokuts) they practiced extensive exogamy marriages, so that they are described as an intermediate group)
**Bankalachi or Bokninuwiad (northern group, oft considered Foothill Yokuts)
**Kumachisi (southern group, oft considered Foothill Yokuts)
**Toloim or Tulamni (southwestern group, oft identified with the
Tulamni Band of
Buena Vista Yokuts)
*Pahkanapil, Bahkanapil, Tubatulabal proper (from
Mount Whitney south along the
South Fork Kern River
The South Fork Kern River is a tributary of the Kern River in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California. It is one of the southernmost rivers on the western slope of the mountains, and drains a high, relatively dry p ...
to Lake Isabella - around
Onyx, California and
Weldon, California - to
Ridgecrest, California
Ridgecrest is a city in Kern County, California, United States, along U.S. Route 395 in California, U.S. Route 395 in the Indian Wells Valley in northeastern Kern County, adjacent to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS, or China Lake) ...
near
Walker Pass
Walker Pass (el. ) is a mountain pass by Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. It is located in northeastern Kern County, approximately 53 mi (85 km) ENE of Bakersfield and 10 mi (16 km) WNW of Ridgecrest. The pass pro ...
)
*Palagewan (
Little Kern River,
North Fork Kern River, south through
Kern River Canyon
The Kern River Canyon is a canyon in Kern County, California. It is located in the Southern Sierra Nevada.
The canyon was formed by the Kern River and connects the Kern River Valley and southern San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ...
into Hot Springs Valley (
Lake Isabella
Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. At , it is one of the larger reservoirs in California. Lake Isabella is located about northeast of Bakersfi ...
) and the
Kern River
The Kern River is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between ...
down to
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region.
Bakersfield's population as of th ...
)
Culture

Tübatulabal traditional culture was similar to that of the
Yokuts
The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...
, who occupied most of the southern half of the California's
Central Valley.
Acorn
The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...
s,
piñon nuts, and game animals were key elements in Tubatulabal subsistence.
Located in the Kern Valley, the tribe had contact with the
Poso Creek Yokuts to the southwest and the
Tule-Kaweah Yokuts west, as well as to
Western and Southern Numic speaking groups to the north and east (
Western and Eastern Mono, and
Timbisha (Panamint)). On their southern border were living the
Kawaiisu, and further south the Tübatulabal had ties with
Kitanemuk
The Kitanemuk are an Indigenous people of California and were a tribal village of the Kawaiisu Nation. The Kawaiisu traditionally lived in the Tehachapi Mountains and the Antelope Valley area of the western Mojave Desert of southern Californi ...
,
Serrano, and
Tataviam (Alliklik) peoples who spoke the
Takic branch of Uto-Aztecan. The Tübatulabal were significant participants and go-betweens in the trade networks connecting the Great Basin, the southern deserts, the Central Valley, and the coastal groups.
Compared to other tribes in the Sierra Nevada, Tübatulabal had higher status and privilege. Though the tribe followed traditional patriarchy, women had an equal voice in decisions. Marriage had to be mutually consensual, and women could practice birth control.
According to the tribe's
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from
people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...
, the deep crags, crevices, and crooks of the canyon moving upward (east from the mouth of the Kern Canyon) to the upper reaches of the Kern River were "created by hawk and duck as they bounced back and forth, to and from along the canyon walls as they raced up the river."
The Tübatulabal are well known for their red pottery and coiled baskets. Today, many of their baskets are housed at the National Smithsonian Anthropological Archives, University of California Berkeley, California State Parks Archives, and many other museums and universities. Louisa Francisco, a Bankalachi was well known for her wonderful baskets. Some Tübatulabal families in Kern Valley are related to Francisco. Many of their ancestors married into the
Tule River Tribe,
Tachi Yokuts, and
Tejon Indian Tribe. Tribal families shared in their basket making designs, materials, and weaving techniques. Louisa had a brother named Peter, both came from Poso Flat—a Bankalachi (Toloim) Village. Louisa was born 1865 at Poso Flat (Kern County) and died at age 95 in 1954. She was living on the
Tule River Indian Reservation just prior to her death.
Estefana Miranda, a Pakanapul, lived in
Weldon, California (born in 1895 and died in 1957) on the Miranda Allotment. Estefana was the daughter of Steban Miranda, the last Tübatulabal chief. Estefana knew how to harvest
native tobacco,
acorn
The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...
s,
salt grass, and other native foods of the South Fork of Kern Valley and
Kelso Valley areas. She knew how to make "flat round" basket used for both sifting and ceremonies. Her baskets were also used to process piñon nuts picked from Walker Pass, Kennedy Meadows, and Greenhorn Mountain areas. "Estefana was also an excellent horseman—she could make her horses jump side to side and jump over large dirt ditches."
Language
Their ancestral language,
Tübatulabal belongs to the
Uto-Aztecan language family.
In the current state of the linguistics of the Uto-Aztecan family, it is classified as a branch unto itself.
Tübatulabal is a Uto-Aztecan language that, although definitely part of the Uto-Aztecan stock, is not closely related to other languages in that group. Unlike the related languages, the Tübatulabal most often ended in consonant sounds. They used individual names and suffixes to denote place in the family and relation to the dead.
Tübatulabal have two dialects "paka'anil" and "bankalachi". Today, in
Mountain Mesa, California, the Tübatulabal tribe has a Pakanapul Language Program that teaches the "paka'anil" dialect. The last fluent "paka'anil" dialect speaker was James Andreas, who died in 2009. He lived on the Miranda Allotment, located in Weldon, California. James Andreas spent his last 10 years teaching the Pakanapul Language Team the "paka'anil" dialect. The "bankalachi" dialect is similar to the "paka'anil", however, there is little known about the "bankalachi" dialect.
Historical trauma
The Tubatulabal people of the Kern river valley have survived historical trauma. Of the three bands of the Tubatulabal, the Pahkanapul were the only ones to survive the
Keyesville massacre
The Keyesville massacre was a mass killing which occurred on April 19, 1863, in Tulare County, California during the Owens Valley Indian War. A mixed force consisting of American settlers and a detachment of the United States Army's 2nd Califor ...
of 1863, where 35 Tübatulabal and
Mono people
The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. They are often grouped under the histo ...
were killed by
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
troops and American settlers led by Captain
Moses A. McLaughlin.
The Tubatulabal tribe was almost wiped out because most were adult men who died in the massacre. "They never seemed to blame the local whites or act vengeful towards those who had made such a change in their lives."
In an interview with one of the tribe members about the massacre conducted for a study stated " That morning the soldiers killed our people it caused a lot of heartache to our people physically, emotionally, and mentally. They took away all our people who tell stories, who could read the stars at night, who could farm. They took away all our old traditions, our songs, our language, and our pride. It affected us a lot. Even to this day it affects us."
Population
Estimates for the precontact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. By two estimates, the Tübatulabal were a small to very small nation.
Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) put the 1770 population of the Tübatulabal as 1,000.
[Kroeber 1925:883] Erminie W. Voegelin considered Kroeber's estimate too high (Voegelin 1938:39). For the time of initial European-American settlement, around 1850, she estimated 200–300.
Kroeber in 1910 reported the population of the Tübatulabal as 150. Yamamoto in 2000 estimated the population at 900.
Contemporary tribe
Today, a Tübatulabal tribe is seeking federal recognition. They have an office located in
Mountain Mesa, California, and include descendants of several tribal families who were awarded allotment lands under the US
Dawes Allotment Act 1887. Tribal membership is at 287 members, however, a new open enrollment process has been established as of October 2012. The tribe estimates about 400–600 total members.
Notes
References
* Gomez, Robert. Tübatulabal History Outline – report for California Tribal Environmental Justice Collaborative Grant Project. September 2010.
* Kroeber, A. L. 1925. ''Handbook of the Indians of California''. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.
* Miranda-Begay, Donna, PhD. 2011. "Tribal Perspectives" of the Tübatulabal Baskets in the California State Parks Archives. 1st Edition. November 2011. Tübatulabal Tribe.
* Otay, William (2009). Oral Kern Valley history as told to Donna Miranda-Begay in 2009.
* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .
* Theodoratus, Dorothea, PhD. and McBride, Kathleen. 2009. "California Tribal Environmental Justice Collaborative Grant Project." ''Tribal Environmental Justice Collaborative Grant Project''. November 2010.
* Voegelin, Erminie W. 1938. "Tübatulabal Ethnography". ''Archaeological Records'' 2:1-90. University of California Press, Berkeley.
See also
*
Tubatulabal traditional narratives
Further reading
* Macri, Marta, PhD. 2009. "Native California Languages of the San Joaquin Valley." UC Davis. December 2009.
* Smith, Charles R. 1978. "Tubatulabal". In ''California'', edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 437–445. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubatulabal people
Indigenous peoples of California
Kern River Valley
Greenhorn Mountains
History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
History of Kern County, California
History of Tulare County, California
Native American history of California
Uto-Aztecan peoples