Солтүстік Калифорниядағы Eel River Атапаскан тайпалары

Native American group in northwestern California, United States

The Eel River Athapaskans include the Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, and Sinkyone (Sinkine) groups of Native Americans that traditionally live in present day Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt counties on or near the Eel River and Van Duzen River of northwestern California. These groups speak dialects of the Wailaki language belonging to the Pacific Coast Athapaskan group of the Athapaskan language family which is prominently represented in Alaska, western Canada, and the southwestern U. S. Other related Athapaskan groups neighboring the Eel River Athapaskans included the Hupa Whilkut Chilula to the north, the Mattole on the coast to the west, and the Kato to the south. The Whilkut, Nongatl and Lassik were essentially annihilated during the Bald Hills War in the 1860s. Some Wailaki people are registered members of Round Valley Indian Tribes.

The Nongatl (Hupa word meaning "Athapaskan to the south") lived traditionally in the territory around the Van Duzen River, from its outlet on the Eel River to its headwaters near Dinsmore, California, and along Yager Creek and Larabee Creek (Elsasser 1978; Golla 2011). They had at least 35 villages.

The Lassik (Las' sik, the name of their last chief) had about 20 villages and occupied a portion of main Eel River south to Kekawaka Creek, and its east tributaries, Van Duzen River, Larabee, and Dobbyn creeks, as well the headwaters of the North Fork Eel River and Mad River. They had for neighbors toward the north the Whilkut inhabitants of the valley of Mad River and Redwood Creek; toward the east the Wintu of South Fork Trinity River; toward the south the Wailaki, from whom they were separated by Kekawaka Creek; toward the west the Sinkyone (Sinkine) on Southfork of Eel River. Their dialect resembles the Hupa in its morphology and the Wailaki in its phonology. The majority of them perished during the first few years of the occupancy of their country by white people, a bounty being placed on their heads and the traffic in children for slaves being profitable and unrestrained. A few families of them are still living in the neighborhood of their former homes.

The Sinkyone, with about 70 villages, had the land along the Eel River and South Fork Eel River, and a portion of coastline from Spanish Flat south.

The Wailaki weave the roots and leaves of Carex into baskets and use the leaves to weave mats.

Estimates for the pre contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:883) proposed a 1770 population for the Nongatl, Sinkyone, and Lassik as 2,000, and the population of the Wailaki as 1,000. Sherburne F. Cook (1976) suggested a total of 4,700 for the Nongatl, Sinkyone, Lassik, Wailaki, Mattole, and Kato. Martin A. Baumhoff (1958) estimated the aboriginal populations as 2,325 for the Nongatl, 4,221 for the Sinkyone, 1,411 for the Lassik, and 2,760 for the Wailaki, or a total of 10,717 for the four Eel River Athapaskan groups. Kroeber estimated the combined population of the Nongatl, Sinkyone, and Lassik in 1910 as 100, and the population of the Wailaki as 200. Today, some Wailaki people are enrolled in the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California, the Grindstone Indian Rancheria of Wintun Wailaki Indians, and the Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation (formerly: Covelo Indian Community Yuki, Wailaki, Concow, Little Lake Pomo, Nomlacki, and Pit River peoples).