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[Yosemite]

Yosemite Art of an American Icon an American Indians review

Discussion about Yosemite National Park history, including Native Americans, Euro-American pioneers and settlement, and establishment as a national park.

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Yosemite Art of an American Icon an American Indians review

Postby Yosemite_Indian » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:58 am

I read some elders went to the Autry's Oakland Museum Yosemite display in June 2007. Here is what someone wrote;

Young Charlie not a "son of Yosemite Miwok Chief", but a Mono Lake Paiute man.

It shows how sometimes when ONE person writes something that later on it is copied and copied by other Anglo writers without them actually doing the research. Many of these writings are ERRORS. We found that one Craig D. Bates, who worked for Yosemite National Park as their Indian ethnologist, but when we checked, might not have been qualified and have a college degree to write what he did. We do know he was married to woman who was 1/8 Miwok and that he dressed up and danced as a Miwok, even though he was white. Suddenly many writers and 'scholar's are sourcing his writings in their books. Many of his writings we believe and have checked were never sourced or incorrectly scourced. Many of his writings were implied or did not have any resource material that he used to come up with his writings. There is also an interesting component to all of this and that is Indian Gaming and Indian casino, but the group that is going for federal recognition needs to pass the Branch of Federal Acknowledgement to meet the criteria. Those same persons going for federal recogntion also work or were former employees for the Park. So suddenly official federal governmental written materials for Yosemite National Park Service is being handled by this group, which is a non-profit, going for federal recognition, meanwhile they are also working in the park.

Here is the what this person wrote on their blog:

I received an interesting email from a Paiute elder who went to the Oakland Museum. He went there to view the Yosemite exhibit because that was a Paiute homeland. There he noticed that Daisy Mallory's baskets did not have tribal identification. She is a Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute and daughter of Paiute Young Charlie and one of his wifes who was a Jim. She is also a Paiute. So Daisy Mallory is a full blooded Paiute and he was puzzled that there was no "Paiute" in front of her basket. She is from one of the most famous California Indian basket making families in the state around the Yosemite and Mono Lake area. The other Indian baskets had their tribal identification in front of them, but hers was missing. Her baskets only had her name and that was all.

So at the counter he bought the book "Yosemite, Art of an American Icon" furnished by the Autry Museum who had put on the show. In the book he noticed that Daisy Mallory's father Young Charlie was written as "the son of Yosemite Miwok chief". That surprised the Paiute elder because Young Charlie is not the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief, in fact Young Charlie was not even Miwok.

So it hit him. That is why Daisy Mallory's baskets were not tagged with her tribe because they did not know what tribe to categorize her baskets. Yet in the museum the other Mono Lake Paiutes had the tribal identification, but not hers.

The elder is related to the Charlie family and was perplexed for a while and talked to other Paiutes and finally we realized that the problem was where the author of the Indian section of "Yosemite Art of an American Icon", Brian Bibby got his reference that Young Charlie was the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief. Bibby had used Craig Bates book Tradition and Innovation as his resource. The problem with that is that Craig Bates book does not state where he got this infomation. Did he pull it out of midair, which family member said that Young Charlie was the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief? So he could find out where Bates got this information. He always knew Young Charlie and the whole Charlie family to be Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute people. From Young Charlies parents, siblings, cousins, children and grandchildren.

So a couple of us said that we would settle this once and for all so that anyone searching the internet would see for themselves that Young Charlie was NOT the son of some Yosemite Miwok chief, but a full blooded Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute.

Here is his Young Charlie's 1928 California Indian Application below:

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Young Charlie, Yosemite Miwok chief? He is born in Mono County. He has a Paiute name? He is full blooded Native American.

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Page 2, shows that this is the correct Young Charlie because he is married to Nellie and Tina Jim, daughters of Paiute Captain Jim, who was the Captain of Bridgeport Pota, and Hetch Hetchy fame. They are full blooded Paiutes, which we Paiutes already knew.

Young Charlie, page 2, showing that he is full blooded Paiute and who his parents were, This is were we believe is the big confusion. People are confusing Dick and Mary Charlie for Charlie and May Dick. Craig Bates wrote that Young Charlie is the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief and Charlie Dick, not Dick Charlie, was a son of Yosemite Chief named Chief "One-Eyed" George Dick, who was actually not even a Miwok either, but a Paiute.

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Young Charlie, page 3, it shows that Young Charlie was not born in Yosemite, but in Mono County, also his parents Dick and Mary (Williams) were also from Mono Lake, Mono County.

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Young Charlie, page 4, while Miwoks and Yokuts signed the Fremont and Barbour Treaties giving away their land, Paiutes never did. The Paiutes never gave up Yosemite and Mono Lake.

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Young Charlie, Yosemite Mono Lake Paiute signs the official document and puts his thumbprint and his daughter, Lulu Hess, is witness.

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Young Charlie, Yosemite and Mono Lake Paiute Indian, page 6 and last page. Two Indian witness sign the official document stating that they knew Young Charlie, Yosemite and Mono Lake Paiute Indian, for decades. Maggie Mike and Mary Joe-Jack, daughter of Chief Joe, sign the document stating that everything that Young Charlie is saying is true...that Young Charlie was a full blooded Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute and not a Miwok.

We have the rest of the families applications, not one is Miwok in the family. Now Jack Lundy was in the area and he said he was a full blooded Miwok. Jack Lundy, the Miwok, filled out the same type of application at the same time, in the same area, so why didn't Young Charlie state he was a Miwok like Jack Lundy, because Young Charlie wasn't Miwok. Young Charlie was a full blooded Yosemite Mono Lake area Paiute.

So all of you using Craig D. Bates, Tradition and Innovation book, for reference source should really rethink using that book as a resource material....because it is incorrect. Young Charlie was not a Southern Sierra Miwuk or Miwok, but a Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute man.

This is Daisy Mallory's ancestor and her baskets at the museum should have the correct tribal identification as a Mono Lake Paiute and not left blank.

For those of you who want to believe that Young Charlie was the son of a Yosemite Miwok chief let me ask you this question...Which Yosemite Miwok chief was that? Young Charlie's Paiute parents were Dick and Mary (Williams) Charlie and Dick Charlie was not a Yosemite Miwok chief.

Just in case you STILL don't believe the paperwork right in front of your eyes and still want to go with Craig Bates book Tradition and Innovation, here is Young Charlies land sales on PDF that you can download and see for yourself. Also on this page is Daisy Mallory, the Paiute whose baskets are unlabled;

http://www.esnips.com/web/YoungCharliePaiuteorMiwok/

CC: Yosemite National Park
Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Paiute Colony of Ahwahnee
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