Achomawi are the northerly nine bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands of the Pit River Indians historically spoke slightly different dialects of one common language, and the other two bands spoke dialects of a related language, called Atsugewi. The name "Achomawi" means river people and properly applies to the band which historically inhabited the Fall River Valley and the Pit River from the south end of Big Valley Mountains, westerly to Pit River Falls. The nine bands of Achumawi lived on both sides of the Pit River from its origin at Goose Lake to Montgomery Creek, and the two bands of Atsugewi lived south of the Pit River on creeks tributary to it in the Hat Creek valley and Dixie Valley.
Image of an Achumawi woman taken c. 1920
Achomawi man (circa 1923)
The Modoc are an Indigenous American people who historically lived in the area which is now northeastern California and central Southern Oregon. Currently, they include two federally recognized tribes, the Klamath Tribes in Oregon and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, now known as the Modoc Nation.
Toby "Winema" Riddle (Modoc, 1848–1920)
Photo of Modoc Yellow Hammer taken by Joseph Andrew Shuck before 1904. From the Lena Robitaille Collection at the Oklahoma Historical Society Photo Archives.
Chief Yellow Hammer painted in traditional clothing by E.A Burbank, 1901.
L to R, standing: US Indian agent, Winema (Tobey) Riddle, a Modoc; and her husband Frank Riddle, with four Modoc women sitting in the front two rows. Photographed by Eadweard Muybridge, 1873.