Please read beyond the CFI letter of support to where Sal Martinez and Isaac Rios, Tribal Historians and Cultural Advocates for the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians posit their case for the renaming the Garcia River to the Ancestral name of P'da Hau.
Rosanne Ibarra
Field Representative
Congressman Jarod Huffman
Inland Mendocino and Northern Sonoma Counties
559 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA 95482
Dear Congressman Huffman,
The Board of Directors of Cloud Forest Institute encourage
you to join us in wholeheartedly supporting the proposal by the Manchester Band
of Pomo Indians of the Manchester/Point Arena Rancheria to change the name of
the Garcia River back to it's ancestral, precolonial name of P'da Hau.
Attached you will read noteworthy research supporting the
valid premise that the name change will not only bring positive awareness to
surrounding non-Indian communities but will especially empower Native youth
with a sense of cultural identity on and off the reservation.
We commend Sal Martinez and his committee for the diligence
of their research and ask you to do everything in your power to support their
proposal to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (USBGN).
Sincerely,
Cloud Forest Institute Board of
Directors
Dara Zimmerman, President
Lynda McClure, Secretary
Jenny Burnstad, Treasurer, Fiscal Director
Govinda Dalton
Charles Payne
Mike Garver
Dear Friends,
Ya’hwi tol ma’ odo (thank you
for your time).
We write this letter to ask non-profit organizations to write letters of support
to convince Congressman Jarod Huffman to support the proposal to change the
name of the Garcia River (located on the northern border of the city limits of Point
Arena, southern border of the city limits of Manchester, running through the
reservation of the Manchester/Point Arena Rancheria and Stornetta farmlands) to
its precolonial name P’da Haū.
The significance of this
renaming is not primarily out of antiquity but of cultural preservation through
ethno-geographic landscape unique to the region and the state of California, as
well as the preservation of identity through language.
Herein, we will display the information available to us through local
libraries, online sources, and independent studies of the Coast-Pomo dialect.
The name “Garcia” derives from the Mexican Land Grant holder Rafael Garcia1.
He was granted nine leagues ranging from the Gualala River to Mal Paso (Irish
Beach) by the Mexican government in 1844 for his services in the military, one
of which was leading a defense at Mission San Rafael in 1822 against “hostile
Indians”2. Little is known about Garcia and his treatment of Native
people as his time in the region lasted less than a decade, and it was at that
point California became part of the United States. Although according to Palmer3,
Garcia’s “mayor domo” of the Rancho Del Norte, a Frenchman by the name of Charles
A. Lauff, was reported to have accused an Indian servant of poisoning him with
strychnine, lashing him to a tree, “turned him loose, with blood trickling down
to his heels, and told him to run for his life as he intended to shoot him if
possible.”
After Garcia’s claim was
rejected by the California Land Commissions in 1852, and an appeal submitted to
the US District Court of the Northern District of California, he sold the land
to Don Jose Leandro Luco for the sum of $10,0004 and then permanently
resided in Marin County.
Although USGS topographic
maps from 1943 and other published maps as early as 1871 show “Garcia River”, an
1874 Geological Survey shows the stream was referred to as “Garcia Creek”. In The Cyclers’ Guide and Road Book of
California published in 1896, the stream was labeled “Mud Creek”5.
It is unknown to us as to “who” was responsible for the naming of the river.
Prior to Rafael Garcia the
name of the river was p’da haū: two words that
identify the geographic feature where the river meets the ocean, meaning “mouth
of the river”6 or “river open-mouth”7. Samuel A. Barrett,
an anthropologists, reported that the original village of p’da haū was on the north bank of the river, north end of the
wagon bridge connecting the highway that runs through the Stornetta lands, due
north of Point Arena and Flumeville (Rollerville), a few miles upriver to the
Manchester Rancheria8. He
also notes that when the Northern California Indian Association (NCIA)
purchased 40 acres in 1902 a few hundred yards down the hill from a village
called itce’tce, the Garcia River
Rancheria (Manchester Rancheria) was also called p’da haū 9.
Barrett in his book Pomo Myths reveals
one story of a man, dressed in all of his regalia, who walked into the ocean at
the mouth of P’da Haū and was never seen again. The informant of the myth
concluded that the man became makela-cha
meaning thunder being. Mabel Ball, a
renowned elder of the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians, tells of her mother’s
song expressing the time when a whale swam up the river10.
Unfortunately, the members of our elderly community do not recall such a name.
We are lead to believe that the loss of this particular knowledge was due to
the political and social pressures of the day to submit and assimilate to
“white culture,” stemming from California legislation such as the 1850 “Act for
the Government and Protection of Indians”11. Survival was a primary
focus by working seasonal jobs for ranchers, providing for the common welfare
of family, simultaneous with the continuity of Native religion, culture, and
language as forms of self-preservation and hope. Despite this, members of our
elderly community support our efforts.
The Tribal Council of the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the
Manchester/Point Arena Rancheria, the City Council of Point Arena, Mendocino
County Board of Supervisors, Bureau of Land Management (Ukiah Office), Pinoleville
Pomo Nation, Redwood Valley-Little River Band of Pomo Indians, Potter Valley
Tribe, Lytton Rancheria of California12, and members of our Facebook
page: “Pda Hau! Not the Garcia River!” also supports our effort.
With your support, we hope that Congressman Huffman will come to support the
proposal that will make the process and review of the name change through the
U.S. Board on Geographic Names (US BGN) an even stronger impression for them to
vote in favor of our proposal. Though the CACGN (California Advisory Committee
on Geographic Names) voted 2 in favor and 3 against the P’da Haū proposal,
because the name does not have “a one hundred year documentation” that predates
“Garcia River” or ”longtime usage,” there is still a slim chance for the USBGN
to vote in favor of the P’da Haū proposal.
If in favor of the P’da Haū
proposal, please send letters of support to:
Rosanne Ibarra
Field Representative
Congressman Jarod Huffman
Inland Mendocino and Northern
Sonoma Counties
559 Low Gap Road, Ukiah, CA
95482
(707) 671-7449 fax: (707)
962-0905
Email: Rosanne.Ibarra@mail.house.gov
In addition, it is our strong
belief that the name change will bring positive awareness to surrounding
non-Indian communities and especially empower Native youth with a sense of
identity off the reservation. Many, if not some, have suggested the name change
begin with our casino currently named the Garcia River. We believe that by
changing the name of a major geographic feature would better cause a ripple
effect upon all communities rather than one, since our lives do extend off the
reservation due to our dual citizenship as Americans and citizens of a
Sovereign State.
Okanim maya
(blessings-prayers-protection to you all).
Sal Martinez & Isaac Rios
Citizens of the Manchester Band of Pomo
Indians
Tribal Historians & Cultural Advocates
References
1. Palmer, Lyman L.; “History
of Mendocino”; pg. 213
2. Nolte, Carle; “Treasure
Trove of Tells Marin’s Early History”; online source
3. Palmer; pg. 368
4. Palmer; pg. 369
5. geonames.usgs.gov; Review
List 421; pg. 4
6. Barrett, Samuel A.; “Ethnogeography of the Pomo and
Their Neighbors”;
pg.
162-163
7. p’da (p-dah)- river; ha (hah)- mouth, haū (how)-
open mouth
8. Barrett; pg. 164; p’da haū
9. Barrett; pg. 164; itcē’tcē
10. Mother’s name: Ethel Ball
