US Tribes W to Z


Click on a letter of the alphabet to go to US Tribes starting with that letter. Where known, the official name is used. Linked tribal names go to their profile index page which will contain more links to sections of our site where you can find articles about that tribe and related tribes.

A-B   C-D   E-F-G   H-I-J   K-L-M   N-O-P
  Q-R-S
  T-U-V   W-X-Y-Z

KEY:(F)= Federally Recognized, (S)= State Recognized, (T)= Terminated, (U)= Unrecognized, (M)= Mesoamerican Civilizations,(P)= Petitioning for Recognition, (C)= Canadian Tribes, (E)= Extinct, (IRA)= Indian Reorganization Act

Inclusion on this site does NOT mean an endorsement has been made for recognition of any particular tribe.

All entities claiming to be US indian tribes that we are aware of have been included for completeness. Where known, we have indicated official tribal status with our Key Chart, based on information released by the BIA as of May 2016.

In many cases we have not verified the validity of the claim of tribal status, and leave it to your own common sense or further research to validate tribal claims.

Links to tribal indexes are at the bottom of the page.

Alternate names in parenthesis are either older names that were once used to identify that tribe, or they are misspellings.Links to tribal profile pages are at the bottom of the page.

us tribes starting with W

White Earth Band of Chippewa – See Minnesota Chippewa
Wintun

Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community of the Colusa Rancheria
Cortina Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of California

Wiyot

Blue Lake Rancheria (Wiyot, Yurok, Tolowa, and Cherokee)
Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria (Chetco, Hupa, Karuk, Tolowa, Wiyot, and Yurok)
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon (5,000 members from 29 tribes, including Wiyot)
Rohnerville Rancheria (Wiyot)
Trinidad Rancheria (Tolowa, Wiyot)
Wiyot Tribe

Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation, Nevada Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts (formerly Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc.) Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California

Carson Colony
Dresslerville Colony
Woodfords Community
Stewart Community
Washoe Ranches

Wells Band Colony- See Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada
White Earth Band – See Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (F)
White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma
Winnebago Tribe

Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska

Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada Wiyot Tribe, California (formerly the Table Bluff Reservation—Wiyot Tribe) Wyandotte Nation, Oklahoma
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us tribes starting with X

None
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us tribes starting with Y

Yakama or Yakima Nation – See Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Yokuts (Chukchansi, Tachi):

Choinumni (U)
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California (California) (F)
Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria (F)
Table Mountain Rancheria of California (Chukchansi) (F)
Tejon Indian Tribe (F)
Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation (F)
Tuolumne Rancheria (F)
 Wukchumni (U)

Yurok

Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria

Yamassee Native American Moors of the Creek Nation. Letter of Intent to Petition 4/27/1999 Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
Yavapai

Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation, Arizona
Yavapai-Prescott Tribe of the Yavapai Reservation, Arizona

Yerington Paiute Tribe of the Yerington Colony & Campbell Ranch, Nevada Yomba Shoshone Tribe of the Yomba Reservation, Nevada Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas – See Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, California
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us tribes starting with Z

Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation (F), New Mexico
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Article Index:

Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation

The Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation call themselves the Agai-Dicutta Band of Northern Paiute Nation. They say they have occupied the Walker Lake Basin area of the Great Basin Region since time immemorial.

Official Tribal Name: Walker River Paiute Tribe of the Walker River Reservation

Address: P.O. Box 220, Schurz, Nevada 89427
Phone: (702) 773-2306
Fax: (702) 773-2585
Email: Email the Walker River Paiute Tribe

Official Website: http://www.wrpt.us

Recognition Status: Federally Recognized

Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning

Their Paiute name is Agai-Dicutta Numu. They call themselves the Agai-Dicutta Band of Northern Paiute Nation. The English translation of Agai-Dicutta means “trout eaters.” Numu is a reference to their language.

Common Name / Meaning of Common Name:

Walker River Paiute Tribe 

Alternate names / Alternate spellings:

 Northern Paiute
Agai-Dicutta Band of Northern Paiute Nation

Name in other languages:

Region: Great Basin

State(s) Today: Central Nevada

Traditional Territory:

The Walker River Paiute Tribe has lived within the Walker Lake Basin area of the Great Basin for tens of thousands of years. They say their ancestors have been in this area since time immemorial.

Confederacy: Paiute

Treaties:

Reservation: Walker River Reservation

Established: 19 March, 1859 – By Executive Order
07 February, 1887 – General Allotment Act (24 Stat. 388)
27 May, 1902 – (32 Stat. 245-260)
15 March, 1918 – Executive Order #2820
03 March, 1928 – (45 Stat. 1 60)
26 June, 1936 – Public Law 74-748 (48 Stat. 1806)
19 June, 1972 – By Authority of the Act of 22 June, 1936 (49 Stat. 1806)
supplemented by the Act of 14 September, 1961 (75 Stat. 409)

Location: At Schurz, Mineral County, Nevada. Portions of the reservation are located in Churchill and Lyon Counties, Nevada.
 
Land Area: 529.970 square miles (1,372.616 km²), including 42,880 acres of Tribal Land – Churchill
45,835 acres of Tribal Land – Lyon
224,975.34 acres of Tribal Land -Mineral
1,470 acres of allotted land – Lyon
7,261.78 acres of allotted land – Mineral
320 acres of Govt.-owned land – Lyon
644.23 acres of Govt.-owned land – Mineral
 
Tribal Headquarters: Schurz, Nevada 

Time Zone:  

Population at Contact:

Registered Population Today:

 1,555 enrolled members in 1993.

Tribal Enrollment Requirements:

Genealogy Resources:

Government:

Charter: Organized under the Indian Reorganization Act of 18 June 1934 (48 Stat. 984) as amended. Constitution and By-Laws of the Walker River Paiute Tribe approved 26 March, 1937 . 
Name of Governing Body:  Tribal Council
Number of Council members:
Dates of Constitutional amendments: 
Number of Executive Officers: The Tribal Council selects from the members of the Council a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer.  

Elections:

The term of each council member is three years and are staggered terms.

B.I.A. Agency:

Western Nevada Agency
Carson City, Nevada 89701
Phone:(702) 887-3500

Language Classification:

Language Dialects:

Number of fluent Speakers:

Dictionary:

Origins:

Bands, Gens, and Clans

Related Tribes:
Duck Valley Paiute
| Pyramid Lake Paiute | Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe | Fort Independence Paiute | Ft. McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe | Goshute Confederated Tribes | Kaibab Band of Paiute | Las Vegas Paiute Tribe | Lovelock Paiute Tribe | Moapa River Reservation | Reno/Sparks Indian Colony | Summit Lake Paiute Tribe | Winnemucca Colony | <Yerington Paiute Tribe

Traditional Allies:

Traditional Enemies:

Ceremonies / Dances:

Modern Day Events & Tourism:

The Tribe hosts the Annual Pine-nut Blessing on the third weekend in September of each year, running from Thursday to Sunday. This is a time honored event when Tribal members come home and Indian people from many nations come to partake in the blessed event. Camping is available on the grounds and showers can be taken at the Tribal Gymnasium.

The Walker River Paiute Tribe Annual Pinenut Festival includes a talent show, pow wow, Fun Run, kid’s games, Indian Car Contest and Parade, Horseshoe Contests, Arm Wrestling, Stick Games, and a Cradleboard Contest. As a part of the weekend activities, a Free BAR-B-QUE is also held. The Traditional Pinenut Blessing and Dance will be held on Saturday evening. The Blessing features the best singers and beautiful songs for the Pine-nut Blessing Ceremony.

The Walker River Paiute Tribe has also developed a tourism program for day use, camping, fishing and boating on the lake. No state fishing license is required, but a tribal fishing permit is needed.

Legends / Oral Stories:

Art & Crafts:

Animals:

Clothing:

Housing:

The people lived in small shelters and cooked their food on open fires and in underground ovens.  

Subsistance:

The Walker River Paiute Tribe were hunter gatherers. They lived in extended matrilineal groups within defined geographical areas. Inter-geographical seasonal gatherings occurred when bands came together for food gatherings and ceremonies. 

Their biggest food staples were trout from the Walker River and pine nuts.

They also hunted small game such as geese, mud hen ducks, wild jack rabbits, prairie dogs, ground hogs, and some larger game that included deer, antelope, and mountain sheep. Seeds collected included waigrass, taboosi, pine nuts, buck berries, and thorn berries (hu pwi).

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the Indians began farming. A cattle herd was purchased and crops of alfalfa were grown and harvested.

Economy Today:

The Walker River Tribe’s Economic Development Department handles an array of projects which include Cell Tower Leases, Oversight of the Four Seasons Market, the Four Seasons Smoke Shop, and year round fireworks sales.

The Walker River Paiute Tribe are in the process of developing a Fisheries Program and have been working with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Nevada Department of Wildlife on several different Lahontan Cutthroat Trout activities.

Religion & Spiritual Beliefs:

Burial Customs:

Wedding Customs

Newspapers:  

Paiute Chiefs & Famous People:

Wovoka, creator of the Ghost Dance, is buried in Schurz, which is the only town on the reservation.

Catastrophic Events:

Tribe History:

In the News:

Further Reading:

 

Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head

The ancestors of Wampanoag people have lived for at least 10,000 years at Aquinnah (Gay Head) and throughout the island of Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard), pursuing a traditional economy based on fishing and agriculture. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head is a federally recognized indian tribe.

Official Tribal Name: Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head of Massachusetts

Address:  20 Black Brook Road, Aquinnah, MA 02535-1546
Phone: (508) 645 9265   
Fax: (508) 645-3790   
Email:

Official Website: http://www.wampanoagtribe.net

Recognition Status: Federally Recognized

Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning:

Aquinnah,  meaning “end of the island.”

Common Name:

Gay Head Wampanoag

Meaning of Common Name:

Gay Head was the English name of their principal community, until the name was officially changed back to to Aquinnah in 1998.  The peninsula was once known to European seafarers as Gay Head because of the multi-colored clay cliffs on its shores.

Alternate names:

Formerly known as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head of Massachusetts

Aquinnah Wampanoag  

Alternate spellings:

Wômpanâak, Wompanaak

Name in other languages:

Region: Northeastern 

State(s) Today: Massachusetts

First Contact:

Some 400 years ago Europeans reached Noepe in sufficient numbers to leave a record, and by the 1700’s there were English settlements over most of the island. By the 1800’s there remained but three native communities on Martha’s Vineyard: Aquinnah, Christiantown, and Chappaquiddick.

Traditional Territory:

The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) is one of several remaining tribes of the Wampanoag Nation. The Nation occupied a territory that bordered on present day Boston to the north, extending west to Warren, Rhode Island, and south and east to the coast of Cape Cod, including Martha’s Vineyard (Noepe) and Nantucket Islands.

Confederacy: Wampanoag

Treaties:

In 1987, the WampanoagTribe obtained federal acknowledgement by an act of the U.S. Congress (P.L. 100-95).  

Reservation: Wampanoag-Aquinnah Trust Land

The Aquinnah Tribal Lands are located at the southwestern portion of Martha’s Vineyard, a 93 square mile island located six miles south of mainland Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and 80 miles directly south of Boston.

The Wampanoag trust lands are located in the southwest portion of Martha’s Vineyard Island in the town of Gay Head. In accordance with 1987 Settlement Act with the federal government there are approximately 485 acres of Tribal Lands purchased (160 acres private and approximately 325 acres common lands). The common lands include the Gay Head Cliffs, Herring Creek, and Lobsterville, and the private lands include parcels I, IIA, IIB, and III. Other land owned by the Tribe include parcels in Christiantown and Chappaquiddick. A master plan of Wampanoag Tribal Lands was developed in 1993 for approximately 160 acres of the Wampanoag Tribal Trust Land, comprising of parcels I, IIA, IIB, and III.

Land Area:  485 acres
Tribal Headquarters:  Gay Head, MA
Time Zone:  Eastern

Population at Contact:

Population at contact with the westerners is estimated to be about 12,000. This number was drastically reduced by European diseases and further by encroachment on their traditional lands by Europeans. At the end of King Phillip’s War in 1675, there were only a few hundred Wampanoag people remaining.

Registered Population Today:

About 1,121 enrolled tribal members in 2014.

Tribal Enrollment Requirements:

Genealogy Resources:

Government:

In 1972 the “Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay Head, Inc.” was formed to promote self-determination, to ensure preservation and continuation of Wampanoag history and culture, to achieve federal recognition for the tribe, and to seek the return of tribal lands to the Wampanoag people. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) became a federally acknowledged tribe on April 10, 1987.

Charter:  
Name of Governing Body:  Tribal Council
Number of Council members:   7 plus executive officers
Dates of Constitutional amendments: 
Number of Executive Officers:  Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer

Elections:

Council members are elected for three-year staggered terms.   In addition, the traditional positions of Chief and Medicine man are life-long Council members.

Language Classification:

Algic -> Eastern Algonquian ->  Wampanoag -> Massachusett

Language Dialects:

The Massachusett language was also commonly referred to as the Natic, Wômpanâak (Wampanoag), or Pokanoket. Natic is the dialect that was spoken at Gays Head. The language was used by John Eliot to print the first Bible in the Americas in 1663.

Originally, the Massachusett language was primarily spoken across eastern and south-eastern portions of Massachusetts, including the North Shore, coastal areas along Massachusetts Bay, and southeastern Massachusetts including what is now Bristol and Plymouth counties, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands.

Speakers also extended into the lower Merrimack Valley and coastal regions of New Hampshire, and southeastern Rhode Island. The language was understood from the central coast of Maine to eastern Long Island, across most of central and southern New England, and perhaps further as the pidgin variety was used for inter-tribal trade and communication.

The language was spread to the Nipmuc and the Pennacook due to the influence of the Natick Bible in the Christian mixed-band Indian communities.

Number of fluent Speakers:

Although this language has been extinct since the 1800’s, there has been a movement recently to revive it based on existing texts lead by Wampanoag tribal member Jessie Little Doe Baird, who started work on the Wômpanâak Language Reclamation Project in 1993.

Today, the language revival efforts have re-introduced the language to the Wampanoag of Aquinnah, Mashpee, New Bedford, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, which are home to the Aquinnah, Mashpee (Massippee), Assonet, and Herring Pond (Manomet or Comassakumkanit) bands, respectively.Classes for learners have been set up in four Wampanoag communities, and a handful of native speakers are now growing up in the language.

As of 2014, about fifteen people have speaking ability in the language, but none are completely fluent in the language or speak it as a first language.

An immersion charter school is set to open in 2015, with Wampanoag as the language of instruction for core subjects. As the school is a charter school, it will be available to both tribal and non-tribal citizens of regional Massachusetts.

Dictionary:

Bands, Gens, and Clans

The Wampanoag Nation was originally comprised of over 60 tribes that resided in southeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years. 

Related Tribes:

Traditional Allies:

Traditional Enemies:

Ceremonies / Dances:

Modern Day Events & Tourism:

Cranberry Day Harvest in October, a Spring Social in April, and the performance of the “Legend of Moshup” pageant for the general public in July and August. 

Legends / Oral Stories:

Art & Crafts:

Animals:

Clothing:

Housing:

The Wampanoag homes were called wetus. The wetus were domed shaped huts made of sticks and grass.

Subsistance:

Traditionally, the Wampanoag fished, grew corn, beans and maize, and hunted whales and wild game. Women primarily did the farming and gathering of shellfish, berries and nuts, while men were responsible for hunting and fishing and defense of the tribe.

Economy Today:

The Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe operates a shellfish hatchery on Menemsha Pond, cultivating oysters. Tourism is also very important to the tribe. Many tribal members own their own businesses, while others have had to move off island for employment.

Religion & Spiritual Beliefs:

The Aquinnah Wampanoag share the belief that the giant Moshup created Noepe and the neighboring islands, taught the people how to fish and to catch whales, and still presides over their destinies. 

Burial Customs:

Wedding Customs

Radio:  
Newspapers:  

Wampanoag Chiefs & Famous People:

Squanto – was a Wampanoag who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery in Spain during earlier interactions between native people and Europeans. After gaining his freedom, he returned home. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims and acted as an intermediary and interpreter between the colonists and natives until his death.

Samoset – The first native to greet the Europeans was Samoset, a visitor of Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag Indians and a member of the Abenaki sachem tribe. Samoset had learned English in interactions with English fisherman. A few days later, he introduced Squanto to the Pilgrims.

Chief Massasoit – signed a peace treaty with the pilgrims and as part of an agreement with them gave them over 10,000 acres of land.

Wamsutta, oldest son of Chief Massasoit became leader of the tribe after his father’s death. His reign was short-lived. After a visit to the colonists, he mysteriously died on his way home, leading the Wampanoag to believe he had been poisoned.

Chief Metacomet, also known as King Philip, – and another son of Chief Massasoit, became Chief after Wamsutta’s mysterious death. He gained the support of other Wampanoag tribes and King Phillip’s War began in 1675. The war was named after King Philip because he was the principal instigator and a major war chief in this war. By the time the war ended, only a few hundred Wampanoag remained and Metacomet was shot by the Pilgrims.

Catastrophic Events:

Tribe History:

Our Thanksgiving holiday tradition in the United States was adopted from the Wampanoag Indians interaction with the Pilgrims.

However, Chief Metacomet, sometimes known as King Philip, eventually declared war on the pilgrims. The growing number of English were displacing the Wampanoag Indians and converting them to their faith. Overall, King Philip felt the English were having negative affects on the ways of his tribe.

The war only lasted a year, but it was the bloodiest of the Indian Wars, with most of the Wampanoag Indians and their allies, the Narraganset, being killed. Those that were not killed in war fled to other tribes and those captured were either relocated or sold into slavery. Because of this slavery trade, there is a population of Wampanoag descendants in Bermuda today.

In the News:

Further Reading:

 

Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California

The Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California is located on the Nevada/California border. The tribal government has jurisdiction over trust and allotments in both Nevada and California, with additional tribal trust parcels located in Alpine, Placer, Sierra, Douglas, Carson and Washoe Counties. The Washoe are an ancient people with ties to the California and Great Basin cultures. Lake Tahoe, Nevada was the center of Washo culture.

Official Tribal Name: Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California

Address: 2900 S. Curry Street, Carson City, NV 89703
Phone: 775-883-6459
Fax: 775-883-6467
Email: Email this tribe

Official Website: http://www.washoetribe.us 

Recognition Status: Federally Recognized

Traditional Name / Traditional Meaning

waashiw (translated in older literature as WA SHE SHU), meaning “the people from here.”

Common Name / Meaning of Common Name:

Alternate names:

Carson Colony, Dresslerville Colony, Woodfords Community, Stewart Community, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Washoe Ranches

Alternate spellings:

 Washo

Name in other languages:

Region: California, Great Basin 

State(s) Today: California, Nevada

Traditional Territory:

The present day Washoe Tribe has deep roots in the past, radiating from Lake Tahoe, a spiritual and cultural center, and encompassing an area that stretches from Honey Lake to Mono Lake. Prior to contact with Europeans, the territory of the Washoe people was roughly bounded by the southern shore of Honey Lake in the north, the west fork of the Walker River in the south, the Sierra Nevada crest in the west, and the first range east of the Sierra Nevada in the east. The Washoe would generally spend the summer in the Sierra Nevada, the fall in the ranges to the east, and the winter and spring in the valleys between them.

Confederacy: Washoe

Treaties:

Reservations: Washoe Ranches, Carson Colony, Dresslerville Colony, Stewart Community, and Woodfords Community

 
Land Area: The tribe owns over 64,300 acres (260 km2) in different parcels. 
Tribal Headquarters:  Gardnerville, Nevada
Time Zone:  
 

Population at Contact:

At the Tribes’s peak, they were about 5,000 strong. In the late 19th Century their numbers diminished to 300. 

Registered Population Today:

Today, they have about 1,500 members.

Tribal Enrollment Requirements:

Must be 1/4 Washoe. Can have separate membership in communities represented on the Tribal Council, but cannot belong to other tribes. 

Genealogy Resources:

Government:

Charter: Organized pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934, as amended. The tribal government has jurisdiction over trust and allotments in both Nevada and California, with additional tribal trust parcels located in Alpine, Placer, Sierra, Douglas, Carson and Washoe Counties.
Name of Governing Body: Washoe Tribal Council 
Number of Council members: The Tribal Council consists of 12 representatives from the Washoe Tribal Community Councils, plus a chaiman, vice-chairman, and a secretary-treasurer. Each community council sends two representatives to the Washoe Tribal Council. The communities are: Carson Colony, Dresslerville Community, Off-Reservation, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, Stewart Community, and Woodfords Community. In addition, each member community has a community council of their own, with 5 elected members in each community.  Off reservation Washoe people also have two representatives on the tribal council.
Dates of Constitutional amendments: 
Number of Executive Officers: A Chairman is elected by a general vote of the tribal members, a Vice-Chairman is appointed by the tribal council from within the council, and a Secretary-Treasurer is appointed by the tribal council from within or outside the council, but must be a tribal member. 

Elections:

Elections are held every four years on the third Saturday in October. 

Language Classification:

Hokan? ->Washoe
The Washoe language is tentatively regarded as part of the Hokan language family; however, it is also considered to be a language isolate.

The Washoe people are the only Great Basin tribe whose language is not Numic, so they are believed to have inhabited the region before neighboring tribes. The Kings Beach Complex that emerged around 500 CE around Lake Tahoe and the northern Sierra Nevadas are regarded as early Washoe culture. The Martis complex may have overlapped with the Kings Beach culture, and Martis pit houses gave way to conical bark slab houses of historic Washoe culture. 

Reno linguist foremost expert on Washoe language

Language Dialects:

There is no significant dialect variation. There may be a few slight variations between Northern Washoe speakers and Southern Washoe speakers, but it is not significantly different. 

Number of fluent Speakers:

Washoe is an endangered Native American language isolate spoken by the Washo on the California–Nevada border in the drainages of the Truckee and Carson Rivers, especially around Lake Tahoe. While there are only 20 elderly native speakers of Washo, since 1994 there has been a small immersion school that has produced a number of moderately fluent younger speakers, four reportedly with limited English proficiency. 

Dictionary:

The Washoe language was first described in “A Grammar of the Washo Language” by William H. Jacobsen, Jr. in a University of California, Berkeley PhD dissertation and this remains the sole complete description of the language. There is no significant dialect variation. (Jacobsen’s lifelong work with Washo is described at the University of Nevada Oral History Program.)

Washoe Documentation Project

Origins:

Tribal history extends an estimated 9,000 years in the Lake Tahoe Basin and adjacent east and west slopes and valleys of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Tribal elders say this tribe have always been in their homelands, since time immemorial.

A tribal legend states that when the Maker scattered the seeds of humanity a few were left over. With all other areas taken he gave the Washoe a place he had saved for himself, Lake Tahoe. He knew they would protect this special place, as they have for over 9,000 years.

For over 400 generations Lake Tahoe has been the center of Washoe life. It’s crystal waters supported all living things including the Washoe People. In the early spring, Washoe families would gather at Tahoe to hunt and fish, celebrate the end of Winter and give thanks to the Maker.

The family unit was the strength of the Washoe Tribe. In the days before Europeon contact, family groups lived in all areas of Washoe Lands. Spring and Summer were spent at Tahoe and in the high Mountains. In the Fall they gathered in the lower Mountains to harvest Pine Nuts. This was also a time of celebration and the reaffirmation of Tribal unity. Winters were spent in the lower valleys to the East, valleys which now hold the Reno/Sparks, Carson City, and Minden/Gardnerville areas.

Bands, Gens, and Clans

Traditionally, the tribe included three geographic bands of Washoe: the Welmelti (northern band), Hungalelti (southern band), and the Pauwalu (valley people).

The Northern Washoe occupied Honey Lake, Sierra Valley, Donner Lake, Truckee Meadows, Washoe Valley, Eagle Valley (Carson City). The Eastern Washoe lived in the area around Carson Valley (Gardnerville, Minden). The Southern Washoe made their home in Woodfords and Markleeville area and south of Lake Tahoe.

Today, the tribe is organized in communities. Stewart, Carson, and Dresslerville are in Nevada, and Woodford is in California. There is also a Washoe community located within the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

Off-Reservation refers to the Off-Reservation tribal community that is spread out throughout the United States and includes all the Washoe people who do not reside on a reservation.

Washoe Ranch is a 95-acre (380,000 m2) ranch in Carson Valley that was purchased by the tribe in 1938 and 1940. There the tribe collectively raised hogs, sheep, and a herd of dairy cows. They grew potatoes and peaches. When farm production decreased in the 1950s, the land was temporarily leased to non-Native farmers.

Related Tribes:

Traditional Allies:

Traditional Enemies:

The Washoe people and the neighboring Northern Paiute people were culturally and linguistically very different, and they sometimes came into conflict.  

Ceremonies / Dances:

The Pine Nut Dance and girls’ puberty rites remain very important ceremonies. 

Modern Day Events & Tourism:

Legends / Oral Stories:

Art & Crafts:

Animals:

Clothing:

Housing:

In summer, the Washo built a semi-circular shelter that was open on one side and had no roof. It served mainly as a wind break. In winter they built conical bark slab houses that were sometimes built over a semi-subteranian pit which had a stone fire pit in the center.

Subsistance:

The Washoe were hunter-gatherers. The Washoe people lived a seasonal life of hunting and plant gathering. Summer was spent at Lake Tahoe, and the surrounding environments, hunting, fishing, and collecting medicinal plants, roots, and berries for the winter season. Fall was spent in the Pine Nut Mountains gathering and celebrating the pine nut harvest, a staple food source. Winter and spring found the Washoe Tribe in the lower elevations.

Plants Harvested by the Washoe Indians

Economy Today:

The tribe operates a smoke shop and a gas station.

Religion & Spiritual Beliefs:

Burial Customs:

Wedding Customs

Radio:  
Newspapers:  

Washoe Chiefs & Famous People:

Catastrophic Events:

Tribe History:

This aboriginal area was positioned directly in the path of explorers, immigrants, and gold-seekers that were bound for California in the United States’ westward migration.  The total occupation of the Washoe peoples’ former lands took only a few short years.

The last armed conflict with the Washoes and non-Indians was the “Potato War” of 1857, when starving Washoes were killed for gathering potatoes from a European-American farm near Honey Lake in California.

In the News:

Further Reading:

 

White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes
Wilton Rancheria
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
Winnemucca Indian Colony of Nevada
Wiyot Tribe
Wyandotte Nation
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota
Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation
Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe
Yerington Paiute Tribe of the Yerington Colony & Campbell Ranch Index
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Index
Yomba Shoshone Tribe of the Yomba Reservation
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo
Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation Index
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation