Indian Acorn Store Houses - Yosemite

William Seltzer Rice

William Seltzer Rice depicts two large acorn storehouses, or chuk-ah, used by the Ahwahnechee tribe of Ahwahne - now known as Yosemite Valley. Rice visited the famous valley in 1901, taking in the awe-inspiring landscape that drew artists from all over the world. It would remain a source of inspiration to him for decades. As well, Rice recorded the daily lives of the inhabitants of the valley, including the structures of the Ahwahnechee. In this etching, Rice has captured an image of one of the last traditional storehouses of the tribe before their eviction by the National Park Service in 1906.

Chuk-ah were composed of four slender, tall incense-cedar poles and one short center log, which formed a loose support structure. To these poles the Ahwahnechee would lash ceanothus branches to the structure using native grapevines and willow stems, forming a large basket shape, and follow this with a layer of dry pine needles and bug-repellent wormwood. They would fill this “basket” with Black Oak acorns and top it with another layer of incense-cedar branches and wormwood pointed down and out to shed snow, thus allowing the tribe to access acorns throughout the year. In this image it appears that modern, planed-wood boxes rest atop the structures for an unidentified purpose.