There is mounting evidence that the Miwok Indians have high jacked the history of the Yosemite Valley. Stories continue to surface that point to the Miwoks’ retooling of stories to suit their self-promoting versions of events that have allowed them to convince Yosemite National Park officials of their claim to the valley, even though the Piute Indians dominated the Yosemite Valley area until the Piute Indians were forced out by the Miwoks in conjunction with US military help.
One of the great monuments of Yosemite – Half Dome, has a legend surrounding that you might have heard when visiting the park on one of the Yosemite tours which has been perpetuated as a Miwok legend, known as the legend of Tissayack. But the word Tissayack is actually referencing the Piute word T’ssiyakka which means crying girl. This word does not exist in the Miwok language.
The Piute legend contends that there was a couple traveling through the Yosemite Valley with their baby searching for the ideal spot to settle. She had suggested a spot near a lake but he didn’t want the spot without trees and though she said that she would plant trees, he believed that no trees would grow there and wanted to keep moving. She began to cry and ran back to the Piute tribe near Mono Lake. As he chased her she threw a basket at him which became Basket Dome, and threw the baby cradle which would become the Royal Arches. It is believed that the gods were upset at their quarrelling and turned them to stone. He became North Dome. She became South Dome or Half Dome. Her crying is seen in the streaks running down the Half Dome rock face, and her tears pooled at the bottom to form Mirror Lake. You may also notice on your next Yosemite tour that Half Dome is fashioned in her appearance, that of the Piute women, with bobbed hair and bangs. Half Dome in the Piute language is known as T’ssiyakka, which translated is t’ssia for girl and yakka for crying.
The legend of Half Dome is linked to the history of the story of T’ssiyakka who was of the Yosemite-Mono Lake Paiute people, not the Miwok who lived on the western side of the Sierra Nevada range as has been incorrectly promoted by the Miwok Indians themselves in order to elevate their prominence in the area and get perpetuated by the Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately once a version of a story is promoted – even though it may be falsely identified with the wrong group, gets perpetuated by the park’s officials and rangers, and in turn the Yosemite tour guides and then on to the visitors. But that doesn’t make it correct and the Piute Indians are rightfully concerned that their history is being corrupted, ignored, and claimed by the Miwok Indians.
