Sonoma tribe strives to save sacred pieces of its fading past

[Sequoia]

The tiny Indian reservation called Stewarts Point Rancheria is a place of delicate, remote beauty atop a hill in western Sonoma County covered with redwood and tan oak trees, 5 miles from the ocean, 40 miles from the nearest traffic signal. It is only 42 acres. Only a handful of people live there.

It is the center of a very small, very old California world, a symbol of a time older than the redwoods. It is a sacred place and an endangered one. The centerpiece of the town is two buildings built of redwood. One is a Round House, a sacred place to the Kashia band of Pomo Indians. It is on the verge of collapse, more of a ruin than a building. Next to it is a small shed with a peaked roof.

The Round House is "our capitol, our church, our community center," said Reno Franklin, the tribe's historic preservation officer. The shed is important, too. It is where the tribe's ceremonial regalia are kept.

On Wednesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the two buildings among the 11 most endangered historic places in the United States. They are endangered, the Kashia say, because outsiders have carried away parts of the buildings. Some of the regalia, symbols, charms and representations of various spirits have been looted in recent years. There is nothing to protect them, not even a burglar alarm.

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In 1812, the world changed. Out of the Pacific came Russian ships. The Russians, big, bearded men with Indian and Inuit allies, built a settlement on the Sonoma Coast at Fort Ross.

The nearest European house to the east was thousands of miles away, but next door was a Kashia village with 1,000 people. Many went to work for the Russians.

Apparently, the clash of cultures was peaceful. Franklin says there are few bad stories about the Russians. "At least they weren't the Spanish," he said. "We weren't made slaves."

The Russian settlement at Fort Ross was a failure, though. It was too far from the homeland. Within five years, a new and formidable power took control of California -- the United States.




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