Wiyot People, Places, and Practices

Wiyot Basketry

    Wiyot basketry is a very ancient art form with a long rich history. Wiyot and Yurok populations brought the knowledge of single sided overlay basketry to California. Once there neighboring groups adopted and elaborated on this art form, creating new designs and basketry forms. Despite sharing a similar heritage, Yurok and Wiyot each have developed their own unique styles of basketry.
    Wiyot basketry often differs from other Northwestern California basketry in a variety of ways. Wiyot weavers often use designs of very narrow speckled horizontal bands of beargrass, one or two rows wide. These speckled bands can be used in combination with larger designs. 
    Wiyot baskets often use common basketry materials such as beargrass and spruce roots, but maidenhair fern (typically used for black designs) was usually not used. Wiyot basket weavers have distinctive methods for creating black designs. One method is to dye woodwardia fern which is unusual because woodwardia is most commonly dyed red elsewhere in Northwestern California. The second method is by using the naturally black or deep brown colored rhizome of horsetail or Indian scouring rush (Equisetum).
    -Indian Baskets of Northern California and Oregon, Ralph Shanks

Wiyot People, Places, and Practices
The traditional territory of the Wiyot (pronounced WEE-yot) Tribe encompasses several hundred square miles, from the Vusya (Bear River Mountains) in the south to the Plhut Gasamuli'm (Little River) in the north, from the coast to Berry Summit in the northeast and Chalk Mountain in the southeast. The territory itself is divided into three regions: Baduwa't (Mad River), Wigi (Humboldt Bay) and Wiya't (Eel River).
    Soulatluk is the language of the Wiyot people. Soulatluk is related to the Yurok language and the Algonquian languages, which all belong to the Algic family. The name Wiyot comes from the Soulatluk word Wiya't meaning Eel River.

Wiyot Tribe Linguists
Lynnika Butler and Nina Lorence-Ganong

County of Humboldt | Samoa Peninsula Wastewater Project Draft EIR | 4.4-26 

Wiyot People

Wiyot Places
Wiyot Place Names
By Lynnika Butler, Wiyot
Video Production
The video is the product of a fellowship from the Institute of Museum and Library Studies (IMLS), the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM), and the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. 
In it, you will learn the native Wiyot names for several prominent sites in Wiyot territory, such as Humboldt Bay, Eel River, Eureka, etc. Wherever possible, I have included audio of native Wiyot speakers saying these names, and I discuss the meanings and the history behind each place name.