Yavapai-Apache
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Yavapai (sometimes translated as mouthy, or talkative people, though many agree that it is a corruption of the Yuman word "Nyavkopai" - east people) is an over-arching term for four distinct tribes of Native Americans from central Arizona in the United States. The Western Yavapai call themselves Tolkepaya, the Northeastern Yavapai call themselves Yavapé, the Southeastern Yavapai call themselves Kwevkepaya, and the fourth group call themselves Wipukepa. The Yavapai have much in common, linguistically and culturally, with their neighbors the Havasupai, the Hualapai, and the Athabascan Apache. Often, Yavapai were mistaken as Apache by White settlers, variously being referred to as "Apache-Mohave" or "Tonto-Apache". Before the 1860s, when White settlers began exploring for gold in the area, the Yavapai occupied an area of approximately 20,000 mi² (51799 km²) bordering the San Francisco Peaks on the north, the Pinal Mountains on the east, and Martinez Lake and the Colorado River at the point where Lake Havasu is now on the west.
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Pre-reservation culture
Subsistence
Before being confined to reservations, the Yavapai were mainly hunter-gatherers, following an annual round, migrating to different areas to follow the ripening of different edible plants, while some tribes supplemented this with small scale cultivation of the Three Sisters (maize, squash, and beans) in fertile streambeds. In particular, the Tolkepaya, who lived in lands that were less supportive of food gathering, turned to agriculture more than other Yavapai, despite the fact that their land was also less supportive of agriculture. In turn, Tolkepaya often traded items such as animal skins, baskets, and agave to Quechan groups for food. The main plant foods gathered were walnuts, saquaro fruits, juniper berries, acorns, sunflower seeds, manzanita berries, hackberries, the bulbs of the Quamash, and the greens of the Lamb's quarters, Scrophularia, and Lupinus plants. But agave was the most crucial harvest, being the only plant food available from late fall through early spring. The hearts of the plant were roasted, and could be stored for later use.
Primary animals hunted were deer, rabbits, jackrabbits, quail, and woodrats. Fish was eschewed by most Yavapai groups, though some groups of Tolkepaya began eating fish after contact with their Quechan neighbors.
Shelter
During summer months, temporary huts (called Uwas) would be built of ocotillo branches, or other wood, and covered with animal skins, grasses, bark and/or dirt. In winter shelter was often sought in caves or abandoned pueblos.
Social organization
For most of Yavapai history, the family was the focal group, be it the nuclear family, or extended. This is partly due to the fact that most food-providing sites were not large enough to support larger populations.
Despite this, there were exceptions. Near Fish Creek, Arizona, was Ananyiké (trans: Quail's Roost), a Kwevkepaya summer camp that supported upwards of 100 people at a time, providing access to prickly pear fruit harvest, and hunting of rabbits and woodrats.
In winter, camps were formed of larger groups consisting of several families that broke up in time for the spring harvest.
History
Yavapai believe that their people originated "in the beginning", or "many years ago", when either a tree, or a maize plant sprouted from the ground in what is now Montezuma Well, bringing the Yavapai into the world. Most archeologists agree that the Yavapai originated from Patayan groups who migrated east from the Colorado River region to become Upland Yumans, and then splitting off to become Yavapai somewhere around 1300 AD.
Warfare was not uncommon in the Yavapai world, and alliances were often formed to deal with it. Wipukepa and Kwevkepaya bands formed alliances with Western Apache bands, to attack and defend against raids by Pima and Maricopa bands from the south. Because of the greater strength had by the Pima/Maricopa, Yavapai/Apache raids were generally smaller quicker raids, followed by a retreat to avoid counter-attack. Yavapai lands were defended against Pima incursions when Pima bands would move into Yavapai lands to harvest saguaro fruits.
To the north and northwest, Wipukepa and Yavapé bands had off and on relations with the Pai people throughout most of their history. Though Pai and Yavapai both used Upland Yuman dialects, and a common cultural history, both had tales of the origins of a dispute that separated the peoples from each other.
The last big battle between the Colorado-Gila River alliances took place in August 1857, when about 100 Yavapai, Quechan, and Mohave warriors surprise attacked a settlement of Maricopa near Pima Butte. After overwhelming the Maricopa, the Yavapai left, to have Pima supplied with guns and horses from US troops show up and rout the remaining Mohave and Quechans.<ref>Braatz, p. 78</ref>
European contact
The first recorded contact with Yavapai was made by Antonio de Espejo, who was brought to Jerome Mountain by Hopi guides in 1583, looking for gold. However, de Espejo was disappointed to only find copper. In 1598, Hopi brought Marcos Farfán de los Godos and his group to the same mines, to their excitement. A group led by Juan de Oñate went through Yavapai lands in 1598, and again in 1604-5, looking for a route to the sea that Yavapai had told them about. After this, no other European contact was made for more than 200 years.
In the intervening time, despite little or no direct contact with Europeans, but contact with other tribes with more European contact, Yavapai did begin to incorporate elements of European culture into their own, such as livestock and plant crops, modern tools and weaponry, as well as elements of Christianity. Though their de-centralized communities, and less contact with Europeans helped to make this less of an issue than it was for many neighboring tribes, to their detriment, smallpox also spread through their communities. It is estimated that around 25% of the population died as a result of smallpox in the 17th and 18th centuries. They also began to change methods of warfare, diplomacy, and trade. Livestock raiding, either from other tribes such as the Maricopa, or from Spanish settlements to their south, became a supplement to the Yavapai economy. As well, raids often yielded human captives, to be traded as slaves to Spaniards in trade for goods.<ref>Braatz, pgs. 63-67</ref>
In the 1820s, beaver trappers, having depleted the beaver population of the Rocky Mountains, began entering Yavapai territory, trapping beaver along the Salt, Gila, and Bill Williams Rivers. When Kit Carson and Ewing Young led a group through the territory in 1829, the group was "nightly harrassed...", and had traps stolen, and horses and mules killed.
Following the declaration of war against Mexico in May 1846, and especially after the claim by the US of southwest lands in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, military incursions into Yavapai territory greatly increased. After gold was discovered in California in 1849, more White emigrants passed through Yavapai territory than ever had before.<ref>Braatz, p. 74</ref> Despite the thousands of emigrants passing through their territory, Yavapai rarely made contact with Whites.
The first fighting between US troops and Yavapai came in early 1852, when Tolkepaya joined with their Quechan neighbors to defend against Major Samuel Heintzelman over a Quechan ferry crossing on the Colorado River. The Quechans used the ferry crossing to transport settlers over the river, into California, but after killing a group led by John Glanton, who had taken over the crossing, the government decided to burn the fields of the Quechans, and take control of the crossing.
According to Thomas Sweeney, Tolkepaya would tell US officers they encountered in Quechan territory, that they had a 30-day march to their own territory, as a means of discouraging US encroachment on their land.
The Oatman family
In 1851, the Oatman family was ambushed by a band of Yavapai (though many historians argue that it is impossible to know whether or not these were Yavapai, or some other tribe<ref>Braatz, pgs. 253-4</ref>). Roys Oatman and his wife were killed, along with four of their children. The son, Lorenzo, was left for dead but survived, while sisters Olive and Mary Ann were later sold to Mojaves as slaves. The story was widely published, and increased White settlers' fears of attack in Arizona.
Gold
When in early 1863, the Walker party discovered gold in Lynx Creek (near present-day Prescott, Arizona), it set off a chain of events that would have White settlements along the Hassayampa and Agua Fria Rivers, the nearby valleys, as well as in Prescott, and Fort Whipple would be built, all by the end of the year, and all in traditional Yavapai territory.
Interactions with the US government
With the Mohave people's power greatly diminished, Tolkepaya saw that they needed to make new alliances to protect their safety. In April 1863, Quashackama, a well-known Tolkepaya, met with Arizona Territory superintendent of Indian affairs Charles Poston, along with representatives of the Pimas, Mohaves, Maricopas and Chemehuevis, at Fort Yuma, to sign agreement intended "to promote the commerce in safety between the before mentioned tribes and the Americans." However, the agreement was not an official treaty, so therefore not legally binding in any way.
Despite this, the growing numbers of settlers (very quickly outnumbering Yavapai) began to call for the government to do something about the people occupying the land that they wanted to occupy and exploit themselves. The editor of a local newspaper, the Arizona Miner, said "Extermination is our only hope, and the sooner it is accomplished the better."
According to Braatz, "In December 1864, soldiers from Fort Whipple attacked two nearby Yavapé camps, killing 14 and wounding seven." The following month, Fort Whipple soldiers attacked another group of Yavapé, this time killing twenty-eight people, including their headman, Hoseckrua. Included in the group were employees of Prescott's US Indian agent John Dunn.
In 1864, Arizona Territory Governor John Goodwin advised the territorial legislature that all tribes be subdued and sent to reservations.<ref>Campbell, p. 104</ref>
The same year, a dispatch from the US Army stated "All Apache [Yavapai were routinely lumped in with their neighboring Apache] Indians in that territory are hostile, and all Apache men large enough to bear arms who may be encountered in Arizona will be slain whenever met, unless they give themselves up as prisoners."<ref>Gifford, pgs. 275-6</ref>
Not long after, in retaliation for the murder of a Pai headman by Americans, a group of Pai attacked some wagon trains, and closed the road between Prescott and Fort Mohave to all traffic. In response, the US Army declared all Indians in lands beyond 75 miles east of the Colorado River (the great majority of traditional Yavapai territory) to be "hostile" and "subject to extermination".<ref>Braatz, pg. 92</ref>
Skeleton Cave
In December 1872, Colonel George Crook used Apache scouts to find a cave in Salt River Canyon that was being used by Kwevkepaya to mount attacks on White settlers. On December 28, accompanied by 100 Pima scouts, Captain William Brown led 120 of Crook's men to siege the cave. 110 Kwevkepaya were trapped in the cave, when Brown ordered the soldiers to fire at the roof of the cave, causing rock fragments and lead shrapnel to rain down on the Kwevkepaya. Having nowhere else to go, the besieged gathered around the mouth of the cave, where soldiers (accompanied by Crook) pushed boulders onto them from above, killing 76 of the group. The survivors were taken to Camp Grant as prisoners. The Yavapai were so demoralized by this and other actions by Crook, that they surrendered at Camp Verde, on April 6 1873.
In 1886, many Yavapai joined in campaigns by the US Army, as scouts, against Geronimo and other Chiricahua Apache.<ref>Braatz, p. 3</ref>
Reservation life
Camp Verde Reservation
After being relocated to the Camp Verde Reservation, on the Verde River near Camp Verde, the Yavapai there began to construct irrigation systems that functioned well enough to reap sufficient harvests, making the tribe relatively self-sufficient. But contractors that worked with the government to supply the reservations were disappointed, and petitioned to have the reservation revoked. The government complied, and in 1875, marched the residents 180 miles to the San Carlos reservation. More than 100 Yavapai died during the winter trek. Today, the reservation spans 665 acres, in four separate locales.<ref>http://yavapai-apache.org/home.htm</ref>
Yavapai Prescott Indian Reservation
The Yavapai reservation in Prescott was established in 1935, originally consisting of just 75 acres of land formerly occupied by the Fort Whipple Military Reserve. In 1956, an additional 1,320 acres was added. Succeeding the tribe's first chief, Sam Jimulla, his wife Viola became the first female chieftess of a North American tribe. Today, the tribe consists of 159 official members.<ref>http://www.ypit.com/</ref>
Fort McDowell Reservation
Theodore Roosevelt had Fort McDowell declared a 40 square mile reservation in 1903, but by 1910, the Office of Indian Affairs was attempting to relocate the residents, to open up the acreage, and water rights to other interests. A delegation of Yavapai testified to a Congressional Committee against this, and won. Today, the tribal community consists of 900 members, 600 of whom live on the reservation.<ref>http://www.ftmcdowell.org/History%20&%20Culture.htm</ref>
Orme Dam conflict
Responding to growth in the Phoenix area, in the early 1970s Arizona officials proposed to build a dam at the point where the Verde and Salt Rivers meet. The dam would have flooded two-thirds of the 24,000 acre reservation. In return, the members of the tribe (at the time consisting of 425 members) were offered homes and cash settlements. But in 1976, the tribe rejected the offer by a vote of 61%, claiming that the tribe would be effectively disbanded by the move. In 1981, after much petitioning of the US government, the plan to build the dam was withdrawn.<ref>http://ftmcdowell.org/ormedam/About%20Orme%20Dam.htm</ref><ref>http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/1117sr-fhormedam17Z8.html</ref>
Language
Template:Main The Yavapai language is one of three dialects of the Upland Yuman language, itself a member of the Pai branch of the Yuman language family.
