Food Gathering - Wintu

The people gathered here at Junction and said, "The blackberries,
elderberries, and hazelnuts must be ripe. Let's go to the mountains!"
They
went camping at Barker Mountain. "Let's camp in the gap where there is
water
close by," the decided. "Let's gather blackberries and hunt! Let's look
for
water and eat together with the newcomers," they said. Then they built
several fires and got ready to cure deer meat and dry blackberries.
Let's
get ready to pound and dry hazel nuts and everything," They said. They
brought wood and bark, shaving it to clean it off. They scraped it
clean so
that they would only have to pour the berries on top. To dry deer meat,
they
would cut in inot strips and hang it on wood racks they had already
made for
that purpose.

They killed and slaughtered deer. They ate some and fried the rest.
They
picked blackberries, brought them back in the evening, and spread them
to
dry. They picked and dried elderberries. They gathered all the hazel
nuts
they saw and returned with full bags. They emptied them into a hole and
pounded them with a piece of wood. They removed the hulls, then dried
the
hazel nuts for two days and sacked them.

Deer meat does not dry very quickly. With a rock they made a small
smoking
fire so that the flies and yellow jackets would not eat it. They
brought
wood to burn. When they had finished all that, they gathered hazel nuts
and
picked up sugar pine nuts that had fallen. Then, by evening, the wild
plums
and chokecherries were ripe, and they picked those. They gathered
chinkapin
nuts and pounded them. They pushed the hulls aside. They picked up
hazel
nuts.

When they returned to their camp in the evening, they dried those
things.
The chinkapin nuts dried fast. They sacked the hazelnuts. For two days
they
dried things. "Let's go home now,' they said. They came home and put
all the
food away. "Now then, let's get ready to go out again and spear salmon!
Let's go camp south of Forest Glen where there are plenty of salmon!"
They
speared salmon.

They burned the ground to level it out and prepared to spear salmon.
They
brought back many salmon, cut them up, and dried them. They fished for
trout
and ate it, but put the salmon away. They saved the trout heads and
poked
out the eyeballs. They dried only the heads, sacked them, and took good
care
of them. They skinned the salmon and dried the skins. They put the
skins
away and placed the meat into big baskets. They hollowed out the salmon
bones and boiled them. When they were cooked, they took them out of the
water. They took out all the bones, put them away, and rubbed only the
meat
to powder. In this manner they made salmon flour which took several
days.

They used to drink the good cooking water, called "salmon soup." They
never
threw anything away. And when all the salmon flour was boiled they took
out
the bones and rubbed them to powder. For five days they were busy
making
salmon flour. They dried it.

They also killed the suckerfish. They ate those right away because they
were
not plentiful. Some they put away to save with the salmon meat; they
did not
eat much of the salmon. Heads and all, they cured and dried them,
hanging
them up for smoking.

When it rained a little, they killed many salmon. When the salmon were
going
to spawn, they said, "The salmon are coming to spawn. Let's stop now!"
They
gathered everything and brought their catch home. They put all the
salmon
away and dried the plums and chokeberries. They would be dry by winter.
Then
they said, "Let's drive trout into our nets!" They placed many nets
which
they had woven into the water. They were going to catch salmon,
suckers,
trout, everything. They brought a large pole to the big creek, cut much
willow brush, wove it tightly, and wrapped it around the pole. They
rolled
it, chasing the trout out from under rocks, brush, and underwater
banks. As
they rolled the pole, the trout all went downstream. Many went down the
river and wer4e caught. The tightly woven nets were full. They had been
made
to last and the water could not overturn them. They filled them with
very
many trout.

When they took the roller out of the water, the nets were filled with
very
many trout and suckerfish. All the people who were present divided the
trout, suckers, and everything among themselves and went home happy.
They
took the fish home and dried it. After they had dried and sacked
everything
they got ready again and went to another water hole. Again they placed
that
big pole into the water after fastening the nets. They chased the trout
out
with the roller and drove them ahead. Then they placed the roller in
yet
another water hole and chased many trout into the nets, filling them.
They
took the roller out and the women gathered up all the trout and
suckers.
They took them to the fire they had made and divided them evenly among
all.

Sometimes they caught the big steelheads, called "Fall salmon," which
come
before the small salmon. They said, "We have killed enough trout now.
If we
eat all this, we'll be able to make it until spring comes." They
divided the
catch among everyone and went home. After they had dried the trout
heads and
some trout and put everything away, they said, "Let's gather crayfish
now!"
They gathered many crayfish. They ate the feet, dried the tails, and
threw
the middle part away. "Let's stop now!" they said. "Be sure to be ready
in
two days to gather acorns! Put all the food away carefully and then we
will
gather white oak, black oak, and live oak acorns. Be ready in two days
to
gather them all!"

After two days they got together. Someone said, "There is a place where
many
black oak acorns have fallen. Let's Go!" "Okay," said the others and
they
all went to gather acorns. For two days they gathered acorns. Some they
left, and some they took. They brought them home and left again
quickly.
Then they went back and gathered some more of those they had left and
took
them home, too. "Let's fix a good little place to dry these," they
said.
They brought home bark and placed the acorns on it in loosely woven
baskets
so they would dry well. They stored and dried the black oak acorns.
Then, in
the winter when there was nothing to do, they would hull them.

When autumn came and it became cold and rainy, they stayed at home.
They
dried the white oak acorns they had gathered and soaked them in water
until
spring. They dried the black oak and live oak acorns.

Their houses were now filled with all the food they had gathered and
they
said, "We have gathered enough. Let's hunt some now so we can eat! We
will
not use what we have gathered right away because we still have things
to eat
for a while. We will eat gray squirrels, ground squirrels, mountain
chipmunks, rabbits, and that sort of thing. We won't eat what we
gathered
until winter." "Okay," they said. "We have enough."

They all went home

In My Own Words. Stories, songs and memories of Grace Mckibbin, Wintu
[1884-1987]. by Alice Shepherd, 1997.