The Shastan peoples are a group of linguistically related indigenous peoples from the Klamath Mountains in California and Oregon in the northwestern United States. They traditionally inhabited portions of several regional waterways, including the Klamath, Salmon, Sacramento and McCloud rivers. Shastan lands presently form parts of the Siskiyou, Klamath and Jackson counties. Scholars have generally divided the Shastan peoples into four languages, although arguments in favor of more or fewer existing have been made. Speakers of Shasta proper-Kahosadi, Konomihu, Okwanuchu, and Tlohomtah’hoi "New River" Shasta resided in settlements typically near a water source. Their villages often had only one or two families. Larger villages had more families and additional buildings used by the community.
The California Gold Rush drew in an influx of outsiders into California in the late 1840s eager to gain mineral wealth. For the Shasta, this was a devastating process as their lands soon had thousands of miners operating along various waterways. Conflicts arose as the outsiders did not respect the Shasta or their homeland. Introduction to new diseases and fighting against invading Americans rapidly reduced the number of Shasta. The Shasta residents of Bear Creek were active in Rogue River Wars and assisted the Takelma until they were forcibly removed to the Grande Ronde and Siletz Reservations in Oregon. In the late 1850s the Shastan peoples of California were forcibly removed from their territories and also sent to the same two distant reservations. By the early years of the 20th century perhaps only 100 Shasta individuals existed. Some Shasta descendants still reside at the Grand Ronde and Siletz Reservations, while others are in Siskiyou county at the Quartz Valley Indian Reservation or Yreka. Many former members of the Shasta tribe have also been inducted into the Karuk and Alturas tribes.
Origin of name Preceding contact with European descendants the term Shasta likely wasn't used by the Shastan peoples themselves. Among the Shasta proper they called themselves "Kahosadi" or "plain speakers". Variations of Shasta used by whites include Chasta, Shasty, Tsashtl, Sasti, and Saste. Dixon noted that the Shastan peoples didn't use "Shasta" as a place name and likely wasn't a word at all in their languages. In interviews with Shasta informants Dixon was informed of a prominent man of Scott Valley that lived up until the 1850s with the name of Susti or Sustika. This was the probable origin of the term according to Dixon, an interpretation that Kroeber agreed with. Merriam reviewed information from Albert Samuel Gatschet and fur trader Peter Skene Ogden, concluding that while the Shastan peoples didn't refer to themselves as Shasta traditionally; the nearby Klamath likely did. Scholars have largely accepted Dixon's etymology for Shasta. Renfro questions its validity however as Ogden used a variation of the term before Sustika was likely prominent.
In 1814, near the Willamette Trading Post a meeting occurred between North West Company officer Alexander Henry and an assembled Sahaptin congregation of Cayuse and Walla Walla, in addition to a third group of people that was named Shatasla. Maloney argued that Shatasla was an archaic variant of Shasta, something Garth later conjectured as well. This interpretation has been contested by other scholars based on linguistic and historical evidence. Previous to Maloney's assertion, Frederick Hodge in 1910 noted the word Shatalsa as being related to word Sahaptin. This older etymology was defended by Stern against Maloney's interpretation, in addition to recently being accepted by Clark as well.
Social organization
The Shasta were the numerically largest of the Shastan speakers. Their territories spread from around modern Ashland in the north, Jenny Creek and Mount Shasta to the east, southward to the Scott Mountains, and westward to modern Seiad Valley and the Salmon and Marble Mountains. This area had four important waterways, each of which had a distinct group of resident Shasta. These were the Klamath River and two of its tributaries, the Shasta River and Scott River, along with the Bear Creek in the Rogue Valley. Four bands of Shasta existed with variations in custom and differing dialects. Each band had names derived from nearby waterways: People from Shasta River or Ahotidae were the "Ahotireitsu" Those from the Upper Rogue Valley or Ikiruk were the "Ikirukatsu" Inhabitants of Scott River or Iraui were the "Irauitsu". Shasta families located directly along the Klamath River were referred to by the Ikirukatsu as "Wasudigwatsu" after their particular words for the Klamath River and gulch. The Irauistu knew them as "Wiruwhikwatsu" and the Ahotireitsu called them "Wiruwhitsu", terms derived from "down river" and "up river" respectively.
Shasta settlements often only contained a single family. In larger villages headmen held sway. The responsibilities of this position were varied. They were expected "to exhort the people to live in peace, do good, have kind hearts, and be industrious." A common requirement to hold the position was that the individual had to be materially wealthy. This came from the expectation for them to use their property in negotiations to settle disputes between members of their village or with other settlements. In raids on enemies the headman did not participate but negotiated with enemy headmen to establish peaceable relations. Each of the four Shasta bands had individual headmen as well. While only the Ikirukatsu were reported to have had hereditary succession to the position, it is thought the other three bands had some form of hereditarian succession as well. While each of the four band headmen were considered equal, in particularly trying disputes the Ikirukatsu headman would negotiate an end to the issue.
Affiliated peoples Three related groups of Shastan speakers resided adjacent to the Shasta proper. These were the Okwanuchu of the upper Sacramento and McCloud rivers, and the Salmon River based Konomihu and Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta. There is little recorded information on the Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta, Konomihu and Okwanuchu. Merriam concluded that "any extended discussion of their culture, customs, beliefs, and ceremonies is out of the question..." Each group had particularly small territories. The Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta held , the Okwanuchu had , and the Konomihu only occupied .
The Shasta called the Konomihu "Iwáppi", related to the term used for the Karuk. The Konomihu referred to themselves as "Ḱunummíhiwu". They inhabited portions of the north and south forks of the Salmon River, in addition to part of the combined waterway. Seventeen settlements are recorded to have existed within Konomihu territory. Political authority was more fragmented than the Shasta, reportedly there being no form of appointed or hereditary village headmen. Most knowledge of Konomihu interactions with neighboring peoples has been lost. It is known that despite occasional disputes with the Irauitsu Shasta, intermarriage was common. The Irauitsu appear to have been important trading partners as well. In return for their buckskin garments the Konomihu received abalone beads.
It is not known what the autonym of the Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta was. However it is known that the Shasta likely referred to them as "tax·a·ʔáycu", the Hupa called them "Yɨdahčɨn" or "those from upcountry (away from the stream)", while the Karok called them "Kà·sahʔára·ra" or "person of ka·sah". The Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta largely lived in the Salmon River basin despite the scholarly appellation, though they did reside on the forks of the New River. There were at least five reported settlements inhabited by Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta according to information gained from particular informants. Residents of the New River forks were proposed by Merriam to speak a distinct language from the Salmon River inhabitants. Dixon criticized the idea and presented evidence for the linguistic unity of the cultural group. Merriam's conclusion of there being two differing languages between the Tlohomtah’hoi Shasta group has not been adopted by other scholars.
What information has been preserved about the Okwanuchu amounts to little. The origin of the word Okwanuchu is unknown. They were called "ye·tatwa" and "Ikusadewi" by the Achomawi. Intermarriage between Okwanuchu and Achomawi speakers was apparently common.
Population Estimates for historic Shasta, Okwanuchu, New River Shasta, and Konomihu population figures have substantially varied, as is true for most native groups in California. In the 1990s some Shasta stated upwards of 10,000 Shastan peoples lived in the 1840s. Alfred L. Kroeber put the 1770 population of the Shasta proper as 2,000 and the New River, Konomihu, and Okwanuchu groups, along with the Chimariko, as 1,000. Using population information on a nearby culture, Sherburne F. Cook largely agreed with Kroeber and concluded there were about 2,210 Shasta proper and another 1,000 related peoples. Subsequently, however Cook raised the figure to 5,900 total Shasta, inclusive of the smaller related cultures. Kroeber estimated the population of the Shasta proper in 1910 as 100.
Historic culture
Diet
The Shastan peoples had a diet based around locally available food sources. Many plant and animal species that existed in Shasta territories were located in adjacent areas. These food sources were commonly gathered and used by the Shasta and other regional cultures. The large populations of game animals in the Shasta territories led to many confrontations with other California Natives keen on gaining animal meat and pelts. Strategies to procure and later store these foodstuffs shared similarities with adjoining cultures. Undergrowth in forests was removed with controlled fires to promote advantageous plant species that were often food sources.
Fishing runs began in the spring and continued throughout the summer and autumn. The White Deerskin dance by the Karuk determined the appropriate time for the Shasta to eat fish. Held sometime in July, the dance was an important event for Shasta to witness and known as "kuwarik". Prior to the event Coho salmon could be caught and dried, but not consumed. Rainbow trout had to be released before the Karuk dance; not doing so was seen as particularly egregious and made one liable to be killed. Spears were reportedly uncommon for use in fishing among the Shasta. Fires were created and maintained at weirs to enable efficient night fishing. Fishing net designs were nearly identical to those created by Karuk and Yurok. Catfish and crawfish were caught with bait tied to lines. Once stuck on the line, the prey would be captured with a thin basket.
California mule deer were hunted according to one of several strategies employed by the Shasta. In the autumn at mineral licks deer were forced by controlled burning of oak leaves into gaps between the flames where hunters would wait. Shasta also chased deer into nooses that were tied to trees. Alternatively dogs were trained to chase deer into creeks. Hidden until their prey was in the water, Shasta hunters would then kill the deer with arrows. There were a number of societal conventions related to the ownership of the deer. For example, whoever killed the prey had right to its pelt and hind legs. Other reported conventions regulated the divisions of meat in a fair manner and when Shasta were allowed to hunt.