Traditional Tastes

Everyday Wear: Maple Bark Skirt and Work Cap. Drying Smelt in Openwork Basket Tray

Humboldt Bay is the second largest estuary in California, the largest being San Francisco Bay. Prior to colonization, Humboldt Bay covered 27,000 acres, but today has been reduced to less than ⅔ of its original size due to developments such as dredging, diking, filling, damming for railroads, agriculture, and Highway 101. The Bay provides crucial habitat for a diverse variety of wildlife and also serves as a vital waystation for migratory birds. Despite the development, the Bay remains a significant habitat for over 250 species of birds, 110 species of fish and 30 species of mammals.

Within this highly productive zone, on the dunes of Manila, lies a Wiyot settlement that has been dated to at least 1,300 years before present day, predating the settlement on Tuluwat by about 400 years. A midden (middens are places in which ancient peoples disposed of their refuse - they can also be thought of as ancient trash pits) at this site, when excavated by researchers, exposed an assortment of clams, which would all have been available on the sandy intertidal flats exposed during low tides. What surprised researchers about this particular midden was the high concentration of fish remains - 91% of all the animal remains were fish and of those 81% were smelt. A high concentration of fish remains on a coastal settlement site is not surprising, but this settlement represents the earliest evidence for mass harvest of smelt and intensive shellfish extraction on the Northern California coast.

Smelt, also known as Candlefish, were typically fished using an A-frame net and scooping schools of fish from the surf, or dip net fishing along the mouth of a river. Bill Mager, Wiyot/Yurok,referring to fishing for candlefish in the river, explains: “you use a dip-net to sweep down, then turn it up and walk it back to the bank if you got fish in there, then dump it out”. The fish would then be dried in the sun on the beach. Typically men would fish and women and children would watch over the drying fish, keeping birds and other creatures away. George Buckley of the Wiyot Tribe recalls drying fish on the sand, 
“That’s how they cured them. Because they would be catching them, and how are you going to keep them from going bad? There were no refrigerators. There was no ice. So they would dry them. They would just lay them on the warm sand. Like, say, you would catch them early in the morning, the sun comes up and it’d heat up the sand. And they’d just lay them side-by-side. The women-folk would have to go over and turn them over, turn them back. And pretty quickly they’d dry.”

Sources:
 Tushingham, Shannon, et al. Late Holocene Coastal Intensification, Mass Harvest Fishing, and the Historical Ecology of Marine Estuaries: The View from the Manila Site (CA-HUM-321), Humboldt Bay, Northwestern Alta California, 2016, ResearchGate
Simpson, Kara Lindsey, Overlooked Fisheries of Baduwa’t: An Oral History Study Exploring The Environmental and Cultural Histories of Eulachon and Pacific Lamprey in the Mad River Basin, A Wiyot Watershed, 2019

Mending a Net “Trinidad Pete” Peters Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Collections, 1999.03.0959

Drying Surf Fish, c. 1951 Maggie Pilgrim Photo by Thema Moore Cal Poly Humboldt Digital Collections, 1999.03.1699

Eeling
Much like salmon, lamprey, or eels as they are locally known, have deeply embedded cultural ties to the local Tribes. The Mad River was once a popular location for eeling due to the seasonal runs of eels. Eels are most commonly caught with eel hooks, which are long handheld rods with a sharpened hook at the end to puncture and capture the eels. Eel hooks are a source of pride and identity; they are often carved or decorated with designs that are significant to the eeler. Eel baskets were once commonly used along the Mad River in Blue Lake by Indigenous peoples, typically elders, living nearby. The eel baskets would be placed in the river with rocks to weigh them down and tied to a tree or anchor to keep them in place.
Eeling is done at night because the eels migrate upstream in the dark. Eeling is an art; Jim Evenson of the Wiyot Tribe describes eeling on a riffle (a rocky or shallow part of the river):

“You have a light and a hook, and you have to find a riffle that’s not too wide and not too deep, because you have to run in the water. And then you just stand there with a lantern, or whatever you’re using, and when you get used to spotting the eels – when you see an eel, if he’s coming close to you – you reach down and snag him if he goes by you so you can chase him. Because they don’t swim that fast up the river and up the riffles, and you hook them out” 

Eels are then prepared by slicing up the middle to the gills to splay them open, then remove the spinal cord; this is most easily done by nailing the eel to a board and using pliers to rip the cord out. The eel is then filleted and cooked over an open fire. There is a deep love for the flavor of eels; an anonymous Blue Lake Rancheria tribal member describes it as “really rich tasting. Not like the eel you get on your sushi. Our mother would fry fresh ones, and the rest she would smoke and dry. Which was just absolutely delicious, too” Art Ramsey, of Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe, recalled, “they were so rich and good for you. And I think it would probably be like the Native Alaskans putting seal oil on everything, because it’s good for you and it makes things taste better. I used to say I could eat five yards of eel; they were that good!”

Yurok Burden Basket

Robert Holsted with Eel Basket Photo taken by Minerva Starritt, a teacher at Morek School in 1930-1931. Taken at Ke’pel Creek The Clarke Historical Museum, 1993.042.007A-B