TALL TREES OLD HOUSES AND NEW HOUSES

LACK OF PICS DUE TO POOR WIFI AT KAMP KLAMATH

PICS ADDED USING THE EXCELLENT WIFI AT RIVERPARK RV RESORT APRIL 13TH.

EUREKA

The fine old Victorian houses and shops of downtown Eureka used to serve the miners drawn to California by the promise of “easy pickins” in 49. Now they are just as able to provide for the visitors
drawn by the history and the urge to see something without a Walmart and Burger King on the corner. We shopped and did the tourist bit for a while but were soon heading out to a night amongst the tall trees in Patrick’s Point State Park.

PATRICK’S POINT STATE PARK

We already knew a little about the native Americans who lived in this area when we arrived at the recreation of the Yurok village. There was no one in the parking lot but us and we had the village to ourselves as we tried to work out what each building was for. Unlike most tribes who were either totally nomadic or partially nomadic the tribes that lived in this area had such a wealth of food on offer all year round that they could build permanent houses. These they made from California redwoods, the tallest trees in the world. Using stone axes they would cut a fallen tree into manageable lengths and then with fire to soften the wood and wedges to split it they made boards for their houses, fat ones for the sides and curved ones for the roof. We knew that the time and effort that this took was considerable but that the house would last a long time. In fact one native name for the type of house we saw is “Hundred Year House”

However the houses we saw had needed repair after only twenty years. The reason the Yuroks had lived in the houses continuously with a fire that was never allowed to go out. Also on hot summer days they would remove the roof and occasionally the walls as well. Surprisingly this could be done in an hour or so.

The canoe was also made from a wind fall redwood, cut to length then the inside would be removed by carefully controlled burning and scraping. Pine tar was often used as it provided a controllable line of fire and heat which would soften the wood to the point that it could be removed by hand or scraped out with shell adzes. The final canoe had a smooth interior and exterior finish. Initially I thought it had things like anchor posts and kneeling blocks sculpted from the timber as internal features but I learned that the Yurok consider a canoe to be a living thing and those features were the canoe’s nose, heart, lungs and kidneys.

Carol’s bit.

I now have a tree growing in the bathroom, or it will be. It is a Redwood burl. These are formed around the tree after an injury, they cover the scar with a nodule. Once removed from the tree they can be placed in water and will produce shoots. Fortunately they are slow growing, so by the time it gets too big , we will be on the boat and I will have to get someone else to look after it.

The Yurok village was in a clearing in Patricks park state park. Very quiet and peaceful and we thought we were alone. A voice which was obviously Native American said “ Hi there “ and someone stepped out of one of the houses. His name was Skip and he was the ranger for the village.

We stood talking to him for some time, and learned that the knowledge that he had , was passed down traditionally from elders, and he in turn was passing it on to children. Not only Native American children but of other cultures as well .
There is obviously still an attitude amongst the non Native Americans that they own the land and the Native people have no right to be there and should move.
What they don’t seem to realise is that no one on this planet owns anything, it was here before we were, and should be still here when we go. The belief amongst all indigenous people is that we are the keepers of this planet, and we are supposed to take care of it for the next person. ( not working too well, is it )
Skip is rightly proud of his ancestry, and the beliefs of his culture. One in particular that I already knew about, is that women are respected as the givers of life, without them there is no future, their role in a community is important. The men have their role to play as well and the two roles compliment each other. Instead of the two side believing that they are right . the women have a place to go and teach their daughters and the men do the same for their sons, each has a respect for the others opinion.
Non Native Americans take what they want, and as much as they can, Native Americans only take what they need. ( how many hoarders and “must have’s” do you know )
Teaching other cultures is not going to be easy, but Skip seems to be happy with the results that he is getting from the American Kids so far. Going to the village is a good place to learn , and from someone who is entitled to teach them, instead of a “teacher”
that has read books and is not a Native American.

Anyone interested in learning more could look at .CLICK HERE

http://www.originalvoices.org/

web site.


TALL TREES

We walked through the tallest trees on earth this afternoon. California Redwoods are not as massive as the giant Sequoia but they are taller reaching 380 feet and more. The groves of redwoods are quite eerie, with moss and ferns growing everywhere including living trees. It was easy to see why they have been used in many films including the Ewok chase in Star Wars and Jurassic Park.
The Redwoods mainly reproduce by cloning themselves and we saw evidence of this on our afternoon walk. An ancient first growth redwood would be surrounded by a ring of daughter trees some of which would be starting their own offspring. These often come from Burls on their bases.
We have part of a living Burl and have been told that if we water the lump of wood it should sprout a miniature Redwood or two.






FLOODS

They have some real serious floods around the Redwood forests of Northern Califoria. In 1964 hundreds of redwoods were lost due to this flood and the 2 to 9 metres of silt that it left behind. Heavy rains on steep slopes that had been previously logged and fire damaged, washed down thousands of tons of gravel and debris.