Winnemem Wintu

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The Winnemem Wintu ("middle river people" or "middle water people") are a band of the Native American Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California. The Winnemem are one of nine bands of Wintu. They are not a federally recognized tribe, although they are working for federal recognition. Some Winnemem Wintu feel that it is by government error rather than termination that the Bureau of Indian Affairs does not recognize them. The Winnemem Wintu spoke one of the Wintuan languages.

The Winnemem Wintu relate that forty-two Winnemem men, women and children were killed by white settlers at Kaibai Creek, California, in 1854. This action is known as the Kaibai Creek Massacre.

Since 1945, portions of the lower McCloud River have been flooded by Shasta Lake. The Winnemem Wintu are currently in a protracted fight with State of California and the federal Bureau of Reclamation over the proposed raising of the height of Shasta Dam to secure more water for California cities and agriculture; the Winnemem Wintu argue that the proposed higher lake level would flood many Winnemem Wintu sacred sites. From September 12 to 16, 2004, one faction of Winnemem Wintu held a "war dance" as a protest. They claim it was the first war dance held since 1876.

The Winnemem Wintu claim important sacred sites on Mount Shasta and Cold Spring Mountain. They are one of several groups of Native Americans who feel that casinos and their proceeds destroy culture from the inside out, and refuse to participate in the gaming industry.

Today the Winnemem Wintu are divided politically into several groups, with members participating in at least three organized groups attempting to obtain federal recognition. In addition, there are several Winnemem Wintu descendents who decline to participate in these groups for various reasons.

The well-known Winnemem healer, Florence Jones (Puilulimet) [[1]] (1907-2003), was portrayed in a nationally broadcast PBS documentary, In the Light of Reverence, in 2001, as she successfully led her community's fight to stop construction of a new ski resort on sacred Mt. Shasta.

[edit] Federal recognition

One Winnemem Wintu group argues that they were accidentally erased from the Bureau of Indian Affairs list of recognized tribes during the 1980s. They have not been able to regain this recognition. Legislation sponsored by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell in 2004 gave these Winnemem Wintu the opportunity to regain recognition. However, the Winnemem Wintu were informed that the group's inclusion on an omnibus bill related to all Native American tribal people would have put the entire bill at risk. Rather than have other tribal people put at risk, the Winnemem Wintu agreed with Senator Campbell to remove their name from the bill.