Whilkut

Redwood Creek seen with a herd ofRoosevelt Elkon its banks

Mad River

TheWhilkut(variants:Whiylqit, Hwil'-kut, Hoilkut, Hoilkut-hoi) also known as "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians" or "Mad River Indians" were aPacific Coast Athabaskantribespeaking a dialect similar to theHupato the northeast andChilulato the north, who inhabited the area on or near theUpper Redwood Creekand along theMad Riverexcept near its mouth (with the North Fork Mad River), up to Iaqua Butte, and some settlement in Grouse Creek in the Trinity River drainage in NorthwesternCalifornia,before contact withEuropeans.

The Whilkut may then be divided into four subgroups (tribelets):

• theChilula Whilkut (Lower Redwood Indians)(by Goddard and Kroeber the ″Chilula Whilkut″ would occupy essentially the territory assigned to the Chilula and are considered a separate tribe calledChilula)
• theKloki Whilkut / Prairie Whilkut'(Tł'o:q'-xwe / Xontehł-xwe- "Prairie People" orTł'o:q' Xwiy¬q’it- "Prairie Whilkut", also: "(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians"; about 12 villages along Upper Redwood Creek)
• theMad River Whilkut(Me:w-yinaq / Me:w-yinuq,Mawenok- "underneath - upstream", also: "Mad River Indians"; about 16 villages along Mad River, Maple Creek and Boulder Creek), and
• theNorth Fork (Mad River) Whilkut(also: "Blue Lake Whilkut", about six villages along North Fork Mad River and in Blue Lake area (Yitse'ni-xohch'indił-ding).

Known Whilkut villages: ch'iłq'un-ding, mił-tehsch'e:-me'.

The common tribal name as "Whilkut" is an adaption from theHupa namefor the Redwood Creek respectively the Redwood Ridge / Bald Hills asXwiy¬q'it / Xwe:ył-q'it / Xoył-q'it.

The Whilkut (together with Chilula) were called by the neighboring Hupa-speaking peoplesXwiy¬q'it-xwe / Xwe:yłq'it-xwe( "Redwood Ridge / Bald Hills People" ), therefore they were also known as(Upper) Redwood Creek Indians.Because of their close Hupa kin they are also calledUpper Redwood Creek HupaorUpstream Redwood Creek Hupa.

Most authors consider class theChilulaas a separate people, sometimes they are also considered another fourth tribelet (subgroup) of the Whilkut and are called theChilula Whilkut.

Little is known of the Whilkut culture beyond its similarity to that of the Hupa and criticized by the Hupa and Chilula as guarded, traditional, less settledhill people.Following the gold rush in Northwestern California, routes of pack trains betweenHumboldt BayandWeaverville, California,lay through their territory, and their population, never large, was drastically reduced in the 1858-1864Bald Hills War.Estimated to have 250-350 warriors at the start of the war,the survivors were taken to theHupa reservationsoon after its establishment. After 1870 they drifted back to their traditional homes where they continued to live. Only 50 remained in the 1910 census.In 1972 only a remnant was left, perhaps only 20 to 25 individuals.

Whilkut descendants have since been incorporated into the Hupa:

• Hoopa Valley Tribe(Hoopa,Humboldt County, Population 2013: 3.139) (Hupa, Tsnungwe, Chimalakwe, Chilula, Whilkut)
• Blue Lake Rancheria(Blue Lake,Humboldt County, Population 2010: 58) (Wiyot, Yurok, Hupa, Whilkut)

Further reading

• Alfred Louis Kroeber, Handbook of the Indians of California, Volume 1, Kessinger Publishing, 2006, pp. 123, 141.
• Hupa, Chilula, and Whilkut by William J. Wallace from Robert Heizer, William C. Sturtevant, Handbook of North American Indians: California, Volume 3, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1978, pp. 178-179

See also

• Population of Native California
• Native Americans in California