Histum Yani: The Sacred Buttes and the Spirit World

Rising nearly 2,000 feet above the pancake-flat Sacramento Valley, the Sutter Buttes are the smallest mountain range in the world — and to the Nisenan people, the most sacred. They called them Histum Yani, meaning "Spirit Mountain" or "Middle Mountain," and their creation stories placed the origin of humanity at this volcanic remnant. According to Nisenan oral tradition, in the beginning the world was covered by water. The Creator spirit Kodo-yampeh caused the Buttes to rise from the flood as the first dry land. From the slopes of Histum Yani, he fashioned the first people and sent them out to populate the valleys. When a Nisenan person died, their spirit was said to return to the Buttes, ascending to the sky world from the highest peak. The Buttes served as a shared sacred space among multiple tribal groups — the Nisenan, Patwin, and Wintun all held the formation in reverence. This was unusual; in a landscape where tribal territories were carefully delineated, the Buttes existed as a kind of neutral ground where ceremonies could be conducted by different peoples. Vision quests brought young men to the slopes of Histum Yani to fast, pray, and seek guardian spirits. Healing ceremonies were conducted there by shamans. Specific plants growing on the Buttes were gathered for medicinal and ceremonial purposes and were considered more potent than the same species found elsewhere. After European settlement, the Buttes fell into private ranch ownership, effectively cutting off Native access to their most sacred site. For over a century, the Nisenan were denied entry. In 2003, California State Parks acquired a portion of the Buttes, and in recent years, collaborative agreements have begun to restore limited ceremonial access. The Nisenan continue to advocate for full recognition of Histum Yani as ancestral sacred ground.