Our Sierra Service Project mission trip this year On July 5-13, 2008 was in service to the Wiyot Tribe on the Table Bluff Reservation near Loleta, California. It is a beautiful, rural area of dairy pastures and bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Humboldt Bay. We enjoyed the cool Pacific ocean breeze as we worked, played, learned and served. These are some of the pictures from our trip.
Pictures from the Trip to from Yucaipa to Loleta
Pictures from Loleta and Working on the Wiyot Reservation
Pictures from the Wednesday Trip to Grizzly Creek
Pictures from the Trip from Loleta to Yucaipa
The Wiyot people have inhabited the coast areas of this part of California for thousands of years, where they hunted, fished and gathered roots and berries. At the beginning of European-American settlement in 1850 there were probably 2,000 Wiyot people living in the Humboldt Bay area. Within 10 years the population was decimated, with perhaps 200 survivors remaining. In February, 1862, most of the Wiyot people were gathered on an island in Humboldt Bay for annual ceremonial dancing. In the early morning hours of February 26, a group of settlers, armed with hatchets, clubs and knives, attacked the sleeping Wiyot, murdering an estimated 200. Because many of the men had left the island to gather food on the mainland, the victims were mainly women, children and the elderly. Settlers also attacked two other Indian villages that night, killing an additional 100 people. Following the massacres, surviving Wiyot people were forcibly removed to a series of Northern California reservations. In 1920, a 20 acre rancheria was established on low-lying tidal lands near the current location of the Table Bluff Reservation. In 1961, the tribe was "terminated" by the Federal government. Following a successful lawsuit brought by the Wiyot, the termination was ruled unlawful and tribal status was reinstated. In 1991, the current 88-acre reservation was established. Today there are about 300 tribal members. Some live on the Table Bluff Reservation, where there are 34 homes and a community center. For more information, visit the Wiyot Tribe website.
Visit the Sierra Service Project website for more information, or contact Deb Davidson or Tracey Brown.