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Title: The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California
Author: Sherburne F. Cook
Editor: R. L. Olson
R. F. Heizer
T. D. McCown
J. H. Rowe
Release Date: February 5, 2012 [EBook #38770]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABORIGINAL POP.--SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY ***
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THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION
OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY,
CALIFORNIA
BY
S. F. COOK
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Vol. 16, No. 2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Editors (Berkeley): R. L. Olson, R. F. Heizer, T. D. McCown, J. H. Rowe
Volume 16, No. 2, pp. 31-80
6 maps
Submitted by editors October 8, 1954
Issued July 11, 1955
Price, 75 cents
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles
California
Cambridge University Press
London, England
Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 31
The population of the San Joaquin Valley in approximately 1850 33
Contemporary estimates and counts for the entire region 33
Analysis based upon restricted areas 34
Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers 34
Merced River, Mariposa Creek, and Chowchilla River 35
The Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and Calaveras rivers 36
The Fresno and the upper San Joaquin rivers 36
The Kings and Kaweah rivers 38
The Tulare Lake basin 40
The Tule River, the Kern River, and the Buenavista Basin 40
The aboriginal population 42
The Tulare Lake basin 42
The Kaweah River 45
The Merced River 48
The Kings River 49
The Upper San Joaquin, Fresno, and Chowchilla rivers and
Mariposa Creek 50
The Southern San Joaquin Valley 54
The Northern San Joaquin Valley 56
The Miwok Foothill Area 68
Summary and conclusions 70
Appendix 71
Bibliography 72
MAPS
1. The San Joaquin Valley from the Cosumnes River
to the Tehachapi facing page 74
2. Habitat areas 1A-2: the southern Yokuts and
peripheral tribes 75
3. Habitat areas 3A-4C: the basins of the Kaweah
and Kings rivers 76
4. Habitat areas 5A-6B: the Yokuts, a part of the
Mono, and the southern Miwok 76
5. Habitat areas 7A-14: the northern Yokuts, central
and northern Miwok 77
6. The Lower San Joaquin River and Delta areas 78
THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
BY
S. F. COOK
INTRODUCTION
Ecologically the great central valley of California forms a single
unit. Nevertheless it is convenient for the purposes of this paper to
divide the entire area into two portions, north and south. The vast
expanse from Red Bluff to the Tehachapi is too extensive to cover
demographically in a single exposition. Moreover, the northern tribes,
the Wintun and Maidu, are physiographically clearly segregated from the
southern by the northern extension of San Francisco Bay and the delta
of the rivers. Hence we shall consider here only those peoples south of
the Sacramento and American River watersheds.
The area possesses definite natural limits but its exact boundaries
must be to some extent arbitrary. On the north the line has already
been indicated: the south bank of the upper Bay and the Sacramento
River as far upstream as a point five miles below the city of
Sacramento and thence easterly along the El Dorado--Amador County line
into the high mountains. This follows Kroeber's tribal boundary between
the Maidu and the Sierra Miwok. On the west the line starts northeast
of Mt. Diablo and follows the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley to
the Tehachapi Mountains. On the east we include the Sierra Nevada as
far as was reached by permanent habitation on the west slope. The
southern extremity is represented by the crest of the Tehachapi.
The region designated embraces the territory of the Plains and Sierra
Miwok, the Yokuts, the Western Mono, the Tubatulabal, and the Kawaiisu.
From the standpoint of habitat the area is diversified since it extends
from the swampy valley floor through the oak country of the lower
foothills into the transition life-zone of the middle altitudes.
Perhaps an ecological segregation would be desirable. Such a procedure,
however, would cut across tribal boundaries and make an accurate
evaluation of population difficult. On the accompanying maps, areas are
delineated, and numbered, primarily for convenience of reference. At
the same time they conform as closely as is feasible with the natural
subdivisions of the territory marked out by river valleys, lakes,
plains, and mountains. It should be stressed that they do not
necessarily coincide precisely with the areas occupied by specific
tribes or groups of tribes.
The demography of the central valley is rendered still more complex by
the fact that the contact with the white race took place in a series of
steps rather than by a single overwhelming invasion. In central Mexico,
or to a somewhat lesser degree in northwestern California, aboriginal
life continued relatively untouched until there occurred a rapid and
catastrophic occupation of the entire territory. As a result, the
population was affected in a uniform manner throughout and a
sufficiently clear line can be drawn between aboriginal and postcontact
conditions. In the central valley the white influence was very gradual,
beginning at or near the year 1770 with the entrance of the Spanish
missionaries along the coast and the infiltration of a very few
foreigners into the valley. The volume of invasion increased slowly
over the next three decades, but the effect was intensified by the
escape of numerous mission neophytes into the valley. The years after
1800 saw repeated incursions by the coastal whites who overran the
floor of the valley from the Sacramento River to Buena Vista Lake.
Meanwhile the foothill and mountain tribes were permitted to remain
fairly intact. With discovery of gold, however, these groups lost their
immunity and were rapidly destroyed. Therefore, even though we
oversimplify, we may say that the aboriginal population persisted in
the valley proper up to 1770, in the lower foothills up to roughly
1810, and in the higher foothills and more remote canyons of the Sierra
Nevada up to 1850.
Our sources of information cover only the period during which the
demographic status of the natives was undergoing change. No written
record exists that describes conditions as they might have been found
prior to 1770. The only possible substitute would be an examination of
the habitation sites left from prehistoric times, but archaeological
research in the area has not yet progressed to the point where an
adequate quantitative estimate of population is available. There are
three primary bodies of data to which we have access, all falling
within the historical period between 1770 and 1860.
The first of these derives from the serious effort on the part of the
Americans, who between 1848 and 1852 were entering the region in large
numbers, to determine the quantity of natives surviving in the central
valley. This task was performed by such men as Sutter, Bidwell, and
Savage, together with several Indian commissioners, and army officers
sent out by the government. To their reports may be added the
statements contained in the local county histories published in the era
of 1880 to 1890, as well as in many pioneer reminiscences.
A second major source of information consists of the ethnographic
studies made within the past fifty years, among which should be
mentioned the works of Kroeber, Merriam, Schenck, Gayton, and Gifford.
These investigators depended principally upon informants who were
elderly people in the decades from 1900 to 1940. Their memories,
together with their recollection of what had been told them by their
parents, carry back, on the average, to the period of the American
invasion or just before it. Hence their knowledge of truly aboriginal
population would be valid for the hill tribes only; yet data derived
from them for that region is probably more accurate than can be
obtained from the general estimates made by contemporary white men.
These two types of information, contemporary American accounts and
modern ethnographic material, can thus be used to supplement and check
each other for the era of 1850.
For conditions in the valley before 1840 we have to depend almost
exclusively upon the historical records left by the Spanish and
Mexicans. These consist of a series of diaries, reports, and letters,
by both laymen and ecclesiastics, together with baptism lists and
censuses from the coastal missions. This array of documents is to be
found in the manuscript collections of the Bancroft Library of the
University of California at Berkeley.
It will be clear from these considerations that the population of the
San Joaquin Valley can be determined with some degree of accuracy at
two stages in the history of the region. The later period is at the
point of intense occupancy by the Americans, at or near the year 1850,
for here may be brought to a focus the data from both contemporary
counts and the research of modern ethnographers. The earlier is for the
epoch just preceding the entrance of the Spanish into California, or
just before 1770. To assess the population at this period it is
necessary to bring to bear information from all sources, American and
Spanish, and to utilize all indirect methods of computation which may
be appropriate. As a matter of historical interest, as well as to
provide a background for the estimate of aboriginal population, the
state of the natives in the period of the Gold Rush will be first
examined.
THE POPULATION OF THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY IN APPROXIMATELY 1850
CONTEMPORARY ESTIMATES AND COUNTS FOR THE ENTIRE REGION
General estimates for the population of the San Joaquin Valley during
the period 1848 to 1855 were made by several individuals. James D.
Savage, one of the earliest settlers in the Fresno region, stated in
1851 that the population from the Tuolumne River to the Kern River was
from 50,000 to 55,000. Elsewhere he modified these figures considerably
(Dixon, MS, 1875) and reported the total from the Cosumnes to the Kern
as 18,100, of which 14,000 were from south of the Stanislaus River.
James H. Carson, another pioneer, said in 1852 that "the Indians of the
Tulare Valley number nearly 6,000. About half this number inhabit the
mountains.... The other portion inhabit the plains along the rivers and
lakes."
In 1852 the Indian commissioner, O. M. Wozencraft, estimated for the
area lying between the Yuba and the Mokelumne rivers a total of 40,000
inhabitants. He quotes old residents as saying that four years
previously (i.e., in 1848) the population for the same area had been
80,000. At about the same time another agent, Adam Johnston (1853),
estimated all the Sierra and valley tribes as being 80,000 strong
(including both Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys). In general
magnitude these figures correspond to those given by Sutter for the
region bounded by the Yuba, the Stanislaus, the Sacramento, the San
Joaquin, and the line of the foothills: 21,873 (Sutter, 1850). Sutter's
value definitely represents conditions prior to 1847. Meanwhile H. W.
Wessels reported in 1853 that from the Stanislaus south there were
7,500 to 8,000 persons. In the same year G. W. Barbour, another
commissioner, referred to the reservation Indians as "seven or eight
thousand hungry souls." In 1856, agent T. J. Henly put the aggregate
population of the Fresno and Kings River reservations plus Tulare,
Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, and San Joaquin counties as 5,150
(Henley, 1857).
It is evident that the foregoing data represent two distinctly
different types of estimate: broad generalization based largely upon
subjective impression and applying to the years preceding 1847, and
more narrow semi-estimate derived during the years subsequent to 1849
from some attempt to make an actual count. The figures obtained from
the first method are certainly too high, particularly for the period
centering around 1850. On the other hand, it may be possible that the
other method yielded figures which were too low.
Some check on the reliability of the estimates supplied by the various
commissioners and agents may be obtained from two sources, neither of
which constituted a direct attempt to assess population. These comprise
reports submitted concerning (1) vaccinations and (2) distribution of
blankets.
During the summer of 1851 Dr. W. M. Ryer was employed to vaccinate
those Indians in the San Joaquin Valley who could be persuaded to
undergo the operation. Each month Dr. Ryer submitted a voucher
specifying the number of Indians vaccinated during the preceding thirty
days and also mentioning the tribes and areas covered. These vouchers
are included with other documents in Senate Executive Document No. 61,
32nd Congress, first session, 1852 (pp. 20 to 23). Some question might
be raised concerning the accuracy of the figures, but there is no
indication in the correspondence of the period of irregularity or
dishonesty. Dr. Ryer claimed that he had vaccinated, from the
Stanislaus to the south shore of Lake Tulare, 6,154 persons.
A somewhat smaller area was covered by four of the eighteen treaties
concluded by commissioners McKee, Barbour, and Wozencraft[1] with the
California tribes in 1851. These four treaties may be designated A, B,
C, and N, following the order in which they are presented in the Senate
Report. Under the agreements, one of the commodities which were to be
furnished to the Indians by the government was blankets. The tribes
included under treaties A, B, and C were to receive a total of 3,000.
In treaty N (as also in several other treaties not concerned with this
area) it was stated that the Indians were to receive one blanket apiece
for every person over fifteen years of age, and presumably this ratio
was employed universally in the issue of blankets. Under the conditions
existing at that time it may safely be assumed that the persons over
fifteen years of age constituted at least 80 per cent of the total
population. Therefore the three treaties first mentioned (A, B, and C)
must have covered 3,750 individuals. Regarding the group embraced by
treaty N it is explicitly stated that "they may number ... some 2,000
to 3,000." If we take the mean, or 2,500, then the total for the area
is 6,250.
The area included under the four treaties extended actually only from
the Chowchilla River to the south shore of Lake Tulare and the Kern
River, whereas the territory covered by Ryer during his vaccination
tour began with the Stanislaus. Within the treaty limits he vaccinated
4,449 persons. The discrepancy between his total and that of the
treaties poses no difficulty since it is apparent that, as would be
expected with any primitive group, fewer individuals consented to be
vaccinated than made known their desire to receive gifts of blankets.
Hence the figure derived from potential blanket distribution is
probably closer to the actuality than the vaccination figure. If,
accordingly, we correct Ryer's report of 1,705 persons vaccinated
_north_ of the Chowchilla River to conform to the ratio found south of
that stream, we get 2,398. If we add this to 6,250 the total is 8,648
for the entire strip from the Stanislaus to the southern end of the San
Joaquin Valley.
In summarizing general estimates and counts we may discard the very
high values submitted by Wozencraft, Johnston, and Sutter on the
grounds that they were either mere guesses or applied to an earlier
period than that which we are considering. There are left the
following figures, which seem essentially valid.
Ryer and the treaties (1851) 8,648
Wessels (1853) 7,500-8,000
Barbour (1853) 7,500-8,000
Henley (1856) 5,150
Since the wastage of native population in the valley was exceedingly
rapid during the decade of the 'fifties, these figures are remarkably
consistent. As a preliminary value, therefore, based upon the best
general estimates, we may set the population in 1851 at 8,600.
ANALYSIS BASED UPON RESTRICTED AREAS
Further examination and correction are now in order. It will be noted
that the estimates above do not include the area traversed by the
Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and Calaveras rivers. Moreover, the federal agents
confined their calculations to those natives who voluntarily or
otherwise were incorporated in the local reservation system. That many
Indians were overlooked, not only in the more remote foothills, but
also in the valley itself cannot be doubted. In order to assess the
population in greater detail as well as to introduce new sources of
information it will be advantageous to break up the entire region into
smaller units and consider these units one by one.
STANISLAUS AND TUOLUMNE RIVERS
We may begin with the watersheds of the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers,
since for this area reasonably complete information is available (see
maps 1, 5, and 6, areas 7 and 9.) On May 31, 1851, the Daily Alta
California reported the treaty made with tribes of this region and
stated that they were 1,000 strong. This treaty (treaty E in the
California Treaties) covered the courses of the two streams as far as
their junction with the San Joaquin, on the one hand, and an
indeterminate distance into the hills, on the other. Ryer vaccinated in
the area during June of the same year and submitted a bill for 1,010
operations. He specifies 6 bands, rancherias, or tribes which were
predominantly Siakumne and Taulamni, a fact which implies that he
confined his attention principally to the inhabitants of the valley and
the lower foothills. In the preceding discussion it was pointed out
that Ryer's figures are probably too low and that a correction should
be introduced. If the same ratio is used as before, the value becomes
1,420.
Adam Johnston, in a statement published in 1853 includes a map
(Johnston, 1853, p. 242). Along the rivers shown on this map he has
placed figures for population. According to him there were 900 Indians
on the Stanislaus and 450 on the Tuolumne, or a total of 1,350. These
are distinctly noted as reservation Indians and hence would not have
included the entire population. Four years later, H. W. Wessels
reported for the same area only 500-700 persons (Wessels, 1857). These
were the Indians left on the reservations.
At about the same period, James D. Savage gave as his opinion that
there were 2,500 people on the Stanislaus and 2,100 on the Tuolumne
(Dixon, MS, 1875). In their report in 1853 Barbour, McKee, and
Wozencraft refer to a statement by a chief named Kossus that under his
jurisdiction were 4,000 persons and 30 rancherias from the Calaveras to
the Stanislaus. Although these two estimates are widely at variance
with those submitted by the officials, it must be remembered that both
Savage and Chief Kossus may have been referring to a somewhat earlier
date and that both included bands and settlements higher up the rivers
than was actually reached by the commissioners. Hence, although the
figure of over 4,000 is likely too high, 1,000 to 1,500 may have been
too low.
With respect to the strictly lowland tribes there is but little doubt
that by the year 1852 the northern Yokuts lying between Stockton and
Modesto had practically disappeared. Thus the first state census, taken
in 1852, showed only 275 Indians remaining on the lower Stanislaus.
George H. Tinkham states that in the same year there were only 10
families (perhaps 50 persons) left from the tribe which formerly had
inhabited the region between the Calaveras and the Stanislaus and had
extended eastward along the latter stream as far as Knights Ferry
(Tinkham, 1923). The valley plains can consequently account for no more
than approximately 350 persons and it must be assumed that almost all
the remaining natives were living along the border of the foothills and
higher up in the mountains.
One item of some significance is the discussion of the Tuolumne River
tribes by Adam Johnston, written in the year 1860, definitely after the
Gold Rush period. He says there were six chiefs in command of six
rancherias, the names of which he gives. These rancherias "contain from
fifty to two hundred Indians, men, women and children." One of these
bands, the Aplache, "resided further in the mountains," from which one
may infer that the other five were also in the mountains. At an average
of 125 per band, or rancheria, this means 900 people whose existence
was known to Johnston as late as 1860. An equivalent number can be
assumed for the Stanislaus, or 1,800 in all.
The ethnographers have given us an imposing list of villages for the
area under consideration, derived entirely from modern informants.
There are three of these lists, those of Kroeber (1925), Merriam[2],
and Gifford,[3] which merit careful scrutiny. Kroeber's (p. 445 of the
Handbook) includes 49 names, which he says are of villages "that can be
both named and approximately located." Merriam's "Mewuk List" has 28
names of places located on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne. Gifford shows
49 villages which he says are "permanent," in addition to perhaps twice
that number of "temporary" villages and camps. Gifford's list is
probably the most carefully compiled of the three. The geographical
location is indicated by counties but since his field of observation
embraces Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, it coincides territorially
quite exactly with the other two lists.
Certain villages are recorded by all three investigators, others by two
of them, and some by only one. Concerning the existence of the first
two groups there can be little, if any, doubt. Of those appearing on
only one list some question might be raised. On the other hand, the
care and conservatism exhibited by all three ethnographers makes it
very difficult to doubt the essential validity of their data. The
discrepancies are clearly due to the differences between informants and
the high probability that no single informant could recall all the
inhabited places over so large an area.
I have tabulated below the number of villages according to river system
and according to occurrence in the lists mentioned.
Stanislaus Tuolumne
__________ ________
Kroeber, Merriam, and Gifford 8 13
Kroeber and Merriam 2 3
Kroeber and Gifford 6 5
Kroeber only 6 8
Gifford only 5 12
Merriam only 1 1
____ ____
Total 28 42
We have therefore 70 reasonably well authenticated villages in the hill
area traversed by the two rivers. With regard to the number of
inhabitants, further data are provided by Gifford. His informant gave
for each permanent place an estimate of the number of persons present
in the year 1840. Gifford secured his material in approximately the
year 1915 from a man very old at the time. If the informant was then
seventy-five years of age, he must have been born in 1840. Hence he
could scarcely be expected to remember population figures from a date
much earlier than his childhood. The names and location of the villages
themselves were at least semipermanent and could have been derived from
the informant's parents even if not from his own memory. Hence it is
probable that the figure furnished to Gifford more nearly represents
the number of inhabitants in 1850 than in 1840. The average value for
all 49 villages is 20.8 persons. Yet 7 villages are stated to have held
15 persons, 11 villages 10 persons, and 3 villages 5 or less persons.
Such a condition argues a rapidly declining population, for no normal
aboriginal settlement is likely to have contained less than 20
inhabitants. Gifford's average of 21 persons per village must, however,
be accepted as representing the closest we can get to the value for the
period of 1850. This means a population of 588 for the Stanislaus and
882 for the Tuolumne. The total is 1,470 for the foothill region.
Between 300 and 400 may be added to account for scattered remnants
along the lower courses of these rivers and on the San Joaquin itself,
or 1,800 for the entire area under consideration.
To summarize, we have the following estimates for the
Stanislaus-Tuolumne watershed at or about the year 1851:
Savage (perhaps before 1851) 4,600
Chief Kossus 4,000
Daily Alta California, 1851 1,000
Vaccinations by Ryer 1,420
Adam Johnston's estimate, 1853 1,350
Adam Johnston's estimate, 1860 1,800
H. W. Wessels, 1853 600
Village lists 1,800
The crude numerical average is about 2,070 but since the best of the
above estimates, the village lists, shows no more than 1,800, it will
be preferable to set 2,000 as a fair approximation.
STANISLAUS-TUOLUMNE ... 2,000
_____________________________
MERCED RIVER, MARIPOSA CREEK, AND CHOWCHILLA RIVER
South of the Tuolumne are the Merced River, Mariposa Creek, and the
Chowchilla River, all within the territory of the southern Miwok (see
maps 1 and 4, areas 5E, 5F, 6). The earliest of the midcentury counts
pertaining to the region is probably that of Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875)
who put 2,100 persons on the Merced but omitted reference to any other
stream between the Tuolumne and the upper San Joaquin. Ryer, in a bill
submitted July 31, 1851, claimed to have vaccinated 695 persons along
the Merced, principally on the lower course of that river. The value,
corrected according to the system adopted previously, is 977. McKee,
Barbour, and Wozencraft in a report on May 15, 1851 (Wozencraft, 1851)
described the proposed reservation No. 1 between the Tuolumne and the
Merced and estimated the total number of Indians on both rivers as
2,000 to 3,000, or let us say 1,250 on the Merced alone. The map of
Adam Johnston, dated in early 1852, shows 500 persons on the Merced,
but these were reservation Indians. The state census of 1852, as cited
by the Sacramento Union for November 17, 1852, gave 4,533 persons for
Mariposa County, a figure which no doubt included all the natives from
the Tuolumne to the Fresno River. H. W. Wessels on August 21, 1853,
wrote that there were 500 to 700 Indians on the Stanislaus and
Tuolumne, 500 to 600 on the upper San Joaquin and that the entire area
contained 2,500 to 3,000 (Wessels, 1857). The Merced-Fresno region
therefore accounted for somewhere between 1,000 and 1,700. A rough
average for all these rather haphazard estimates would be 1,000 natives
on the Merced watershed and another 1,000 on the Mariposa and the
Chowchilla, or 2,000 in all.
We may now turn to the village lists. Unfortunately, Gifford did not
work south of the Tuolumne but we have the list given by Kroeber in the
Handbook (1925) for the southern Miwok and two manuscript lists of
Merriam (entitled "Mewuk Village List" and "Indian Village and Camp
Sites in Yosemite Valley and Merced Canyon"). For the middle Merced
Valley, from a point some ten miles below El Portal to the base of the
foothills, Kroeber and Merriam both list 14 villages, to which Merriam
alone adds another 10. From El Portal to a point six or seven miles
downstream Merriam has found no less than 15 villages. In Yosemite
Valley itself he has located 33 villages, of which 12 are qualified as
either camps or summer villages, leaving 20 which he presumes are
permanent. On the upper Merced, above Yosemite, and the headwaters of
the Chowchilla, Kroeber has found the name of one village and Merriam
one. Clearly this area has never been investigated exhaustively. For
the well-known portion of the river, therefore, there are 59 located
villages.
Of the 35 village sites in Yosemite and below El Portal, Merriam says
10 were large and 6 small. The rest are not qualified but were
presumably medium to small. Gifford's average for the central Miwok of
21 persons per village in 1850-1852 may be applied directly, giving a
population for the Merced Valley in the hills of 1,239. To this may be
added, according to Ryer and to Johnston, 50 to 600 for the lower
river, making a total of 1,800.
Mariposa Creek and the Chowchilla River have never been as thoroughly
investigated as the Merced. Merriam's "Mewuk List" mentions 13 sites on
each of the two streams, including the 6 given by Kroeber in the
Handbook. At 21 persons per village this would mean a population of 273
for each or 546 for both, a value which appears rather low.
Another approach to the problem is by way of territorial comparisons.
There are under consideration, including those previously discussed,
five small river systems, those of the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced,
Mariposa, and Chowchilla. Physiographically and ecologically they are
very similar since the rivers all descend the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada and traverse the plain to the San Joaquin through the same life
zones and at nearly the same latitude. There are, to be sure, some
local differences between them with respect to how much of their course
is favorable for village sites, but in the aggregate the similarities
outweigh the differences. It is of interest, therefore, to estimate the
village density along each watercourse. This value can be computed with
a fair degree of accuracy by measuring on a large-scale map the length
of each river and its principal affluents from the edge of the plain to
the upper limit of known permanent habitation. The village numbers can
be derived from the lists of Kroeber, Gifford, and Merriam.
Estimated Villages per
River Length (mi.) Villages river mi.
_____ ____________ ________ ____________
Stanislaus 85 28 0.33
Tuolumne 105 42 0.40
Merced 125 59 0.47
Mariposa 40 13 0.32
Chowchilla 65 13 0.20
______
Mean 0.34
The figures, considering physiographic differences and varying coverage
by ethnographers, are quite consistent. Only that for the Chowchilla
appears unduly low and this in turn may be referable to an incomplete
count by Merriam. It is reasonable to concede this possibility and
assume an actual count of 0.30 village for each mile of this stream. On
65 miles of river front there would thus have been 19.5 villages. This
consequently means, using Gifford's population average of 21 per
village, 273 inhabitants on the Mariposa and 410 on the Chowchilla.
These may be added to the 1,800 calculated for the Merced, making a
total of 2,483.
The very approximate value derived from general estimates was 2,000
persons. The village data are probably more accurate and may be rounded
off to an even 2,500.
MERCED-MARIPOSA-CHOWCHILLA ... 2,500
____________________________________
THE COSUMNES, MOKELUMNE, AND CALAVERAS RIVERS
The northern Miwok held the upper reaches of the Mokelumne plus most of
the Cosumnes and Calaveras (see maps 1, 5, and 6, areas 10, 11, 12).
The population must have been very small in the period of the early
1850's owing to extreme attrition suffered from the Spanish and
particularly from the gold miners. Kroeber gives only 20 villages on
all three streams, most of them on the Mokelumne. Merriam adds another
3, making 23 in all. At Gifford's population value this means 480
persons. The official sources are of little help since none of the
agents or commissioners reported specifically on the area. Evidently
there were too few survivors among the natives to warrant the trouble
of placing them under the reservation system.
Savage assessed the population on the Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and
Calaveras at 1,000 each (Dixon, MS, 1875) but it is likely that he was
thinking in terms of the days before the Gold Rush. F. T. Gilbert
(1879, p. 113) says that the Mokelkos, by which he means all the
Indians between the Mokelumne and the Cosumnes in the hills and as far
as Stockton on the plain, had 12 rancherias of 200 to 300 each and
numbered about 3,000 in all. He, however, was referring specifically to
the period "before the advent of Sutter." Likewise J. D. Mason (1881,
p. 256) ascribed to the same tribe "nearly a score of towns, with a
total of 3,000 to 4,000." In amplification Gilbert says that in 1850
rancherias lined both banks of the Mokelumne from Ahearn's (near Lodi)
to Campo Seco (near the present Pardee Reservoir), and that they
numbered then about 2,000. In 1852, however, there were only 4
rancherias left, with 390 inhabitants.
Gilbert was referring explicitly to the lower course of the rivers,
whereas the villages cited by Kroeber were definitely above this region
in the foothills. We may accept Gilbert's figure of 390 on the lower
Mokelumne, to which may be added 110 for the lower Cosumnes and
Calaveras and 480 for the upper villages, making a total of 980 or, let
us say, 1,000.
COSUMNES-MOKELUMNE-CALAVERAS ... 1,000
______________________________________
THE FRESNO AND THE UPPER SAN JOAQUIN RIVERS
We next turn south and consider the valleys of the Fresno and upper San
Joaquin rivers (see maps 1 and 4, areas 5B, 5C, 5D.) There are three
counts or estimates pertaining to this area specifically. The first is
that of Savage, who does not mention the Fresno but puts 2,700 persons
on the upper San Joaquin. The second source is the May 29, 1851, issue
of the Daily Alta California, which carried a letter written by an
unidentified officer who was with the Indian commissioners and in fact
may have been G. W. Barbour. This officer refers to the treaty made
with the natives between the Chowchilla and the Kings rivers and says
that "the total is probably 3,000 Indians." The third is Adam Johnston,
who on his map ascribed 1,200 people to the Fresno and 1,000 to the San
Joaquin (Johnston, 1853). The average of the three estimates is 2,633.
W. M. Ryer submitted three reports for the territory below the Merced
and north of the Tehachapi Mountains. In each he mentions the tribes
vaccinated (Ryer, 1852). There are 45 in all, but 8 tribal or rancheria
names are indeterminate and there are many duplicate names among the
rest. Putting all three lists together we can get 27 recognizable
tribal names, of which one is southern Miwok, four are Mono, and the
others Yokuts. The total vaccinations performed numbered 4,451, or,
correcting to conform to the figures based on blanket distribution,
6,255, an average of 232 per tribe. To allow for the nontribal and
unrecognizable names on Ryer's lists this value may be arbitrarily
reduced to 200. Ryer mentions in the Fresno-San Joaquin area the
following: Chowchilla, Chukchansi, Heuchi, Pitkachi, Goshowu, Dumna,
Dalinchi, Pohinichi (Miwok), and Posgisa (Mono). The Pohinichi should
be excluded since they have already been considered in connection with
the southern Miwok. The other nine, reckoned at 200 persons per tribe,
would represent an aggregate of 1,800. However, Kroeber (1925, p. 481,
and map, p. 526) shows four other Yokuts subdivisions within the same
territory: Hoyima, Wakichi, Kechayi, and Tolichi. Although Ryer may
have included these under other tribal names they perhaps ought to be
included here, thus making the total 2,600.
For villages there are two sets of sources. The first pertains
primarily to the Yokuts, covers a territory substantially coterminous
with that seen by the contemporary observers mentioned above, and is
found in the work of Kroeber (1925), Gayton (1948), and Latta (1949).
The second set of villages is confined to the Mono and is derived from
Gifford (1932) and Merriam.
The first group of authors list villages for the 13 tribes mentioned in
the preceding discussion, 49 in all or an average of 3.77 per tribe.
With respect to size there is reason to believe that the settlements in
this area, even in the early 1850's, were considerably larger than
those described by Gifford for the central Miwok. The estimate of Adam
Johnston of an average of 125 per rancheria on the lower Tuolumne has
already been mentioned. H. W. Wessels in 1853 wrote that the Pitkachi
plus the Noo-to-ah, a Mono group, had 500 to 600 souls (Wessels, 1857).
Half of these, or 300, may have been Pitkachi, a tribe for which
Kroeber lists 3 villages. This would have meant 100 per village.
Merriam credits Savage with the statement that in 1851 the Kechayi had
1,000 people. Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta list 6 different villages for
this tribe or, according to Savage's figures, 167 persons per village.
Ryer's total of 2,600 prorated among 49 villages, would yield 53
persons each. Although it is probable that the values computed from the
statements of Johnston, Wessels, and Savage are too high, that derived
from Ryer may be somewhat too low. An intermediate figure of 70
inhabitants per village for the valley and lower foothills would
perhaps come as close as we can get to the truth. This, with 49
villages, gives 3,430, somewhat more than the 2,633 cited as the
average of the general estimates.
Inhabiting the higher foothills and extending to the upper limit of
habitation from the San Joaquin to the Kaweah rivers were the Western
Mono. This tribe lived just above the Yokuts and at points was in very
close association with them. As a whole the Western Mono constitute a
racial and ecological unit and as such it is probably preferable to
consider them as a single population entity than to segregate them by
rivers, as has been done for the Miwok and the Yokuts. It will be
necessary, therefore, to digress for this purpose and subsequently
return to the discussion.
The classic ethnographic work on the tribe, and the only work which
contains any numerical data, is that of Gifford (1932) on the North
Fork division of the Mono. This is supplemented by Merriam's manuscript
entitled "Monache Tribes, Bands, and Villages." Gifford gives the names
(text and map) of 67 North Fork villages, or, as he prefers to call
them, hamlets. These were quite unlike either those of the Miwok or of
the valley Yokuts, being very much smaller and subject to an
extraordinary turnover in inhabitants. Gifford makes it very clear
that each family was accustomed to move every few years from one
settlement to another and that sites were being continually occupied
and deserted. The 67 names are therefore no criterion for population.
For the time of the American occupation Gifford estimates the number of
persons in the group or subtribe as approximately 300, which, divided
directly by 67, would give the absurd average of 4 persons per hamlet.
However, a more detailed analysis is possible.
Of Gifford's 67 names, 2 may be deducted as being only camps, leaving
65 which at some period were permanently occupied. In his Appendix A
(pp. 57-61) he lists the sites, together with the number of houses in
each and the number of males and females inhabiting them. From these
data may be computed the total number of families and the mean number
of persons per family. There were 227 families in all. However, 36 of
these are listed two or more times by virtue of moves made from one
hamlet to another, which were remembered by Gifford's informants. This
would leave 191 families for the subtribe, provided Gifford recorded
all the moves. But Gifford clearly implies that he did not, since his
informants could not remember them all. Hence the number of families
must be further corrected. In Appendix A, 15 out of a total of 65
hamlets were concerned in the moves recorded. These 15 hamlets were
inhabited at different times by 61 families but many of these, owing to
frequent change of residence, are repetitions. Actually there was a
total of 24 _different_ families rotating among the 15 villages. Now if
in the other 50 hamlets the same process was going on, although Gifford
was not able to record the moves, it is legitimate to apply the same
ratio as is in fact found for the 15 hamlets. The crude total of 227
families must therefore be reduced to 89. From Gifford's complete list
it can be determined that there were on the average 4.93 persons per
family. This gives a population of 439 for the period remembered by the
informants.
On general grounds it is to be expected that the conditions reported by
Gifford's informants were not entirely aboriginal. This is also
indicated by the value of 4.93 persons per family, which is somewhat
too low for a stable prehistoric population. Moreover, Gifford himself
states that there were formerly 44 more houses than there were in the
time referred to by the informants (figures given individually for the
hamlets in App. A). About 1850 there were 227 houses, and if 44 are
added, the aboriginal number would have been 271. Each house may be
assumed to have held one family but the houses were probably occupied
in rotation. The crude estimate of 271 houses or families, each
containing (according to aboriginal standards) a possible 6 persons,
would mean a total of 1,626 for the subtribe. If, however, we apply the
correction factor for family moves we must reduce this estimate to 640,
a far more reasonable figure. For the North Fork Mono, therefore, we
may accept as the best estimate obtainable a population of 440 for the
period near 1850 and of 640 for precontact time.
The other subtribes of the Mono provide no data comparable with those
available for the North Fork group. Some method of extrapolation is
thus called for.
The village method is very unsatisfactory. Kroeber says substantially
nothing on this score and Merriam, although he lists 19 villages for
the North Fork Mono, gives no more than one or two or, at the most,
half-a-dozen names for each of the other groups. Tribal distinctions
are also very confusing. Kroeber in the Handbook mentions 6 Mono
subtribes: North Fork group, Posgisa, Holkoma, Wobonuch, Waksachi, and
Balwisha. Merriam subdivides to a much greater extent. His grouping may
be expressed essentially as follows:
1. Pogesas equivalent to Kroeber's Posgisa
2. Nim synonymous with the North Fork subtribe
3. Kwetah included in Kroeber's Holkoma
4. Kokoheba included in Kroeber's Holkoma
5. Holkoma included in Kroeber's Holkoma
6. Towincheba included in Kroeber's Holkoma
7. Toinetche included in Kroeber's Holkoma
8. Tsooeawatah included in Kroeber's Holkoma
9. Emtimbitch classed by Kroeber as a Yokuts tribe
10. Woponuch equivalent to Kroeber's Wobonuch
11. Wuksatche equivalent to Kroeber's Waksachi
12. Padoosha equivalent to Kroeber's Balwisha
Nos. 5 to 8 inclusive are consolidated by Merriam as smaller
groups within a main group or subtribe called the
Toohookmutch. Concerning these Merriam says: "Large tribe on
King's River. On both sides but largest area on north side.
Contains many rancheria bands."
Using Merriam's nomenclature, the Nim are generally conceded to have
been the largest single subtribe. For this we may take as a working
base line the previous estimate of 440 persons and Merriam's list of 19
villages. Elsewhere Merriam mentions the names of the following:
Toinetche 3 villages, Holkoma 4, Woponuch 9, Emtimbitch 2, Waksache 1,
Kokoheba 1, and Toohookmutch 10. The total is 30. By direct proportion
the inhabitants should have numbered 695 but this would leave five of
Merriam's groups with no population at all. If we consider that the
Toohookmutch complex plus the Kokoheba and Kwetah are the equivalent of
Kroeber's Holkoma we find 18 villages, which implies 416 people.
Merriam cites 9 villages or, at the same ratio, 208 persons for the
Wobonuch. The total for these three of Kroeber's subtribes would then
be 1,064. If we guess that the remaining groups contained 500 persons,
the figure for the Mono in 1850 would reach the vicinity of 1,600.
In view of the paucity of the village data for all subtribes except the
North Fork group it is proper to fall back on area-density comparisons.
The territory actually inhabited by the Mono is vague, particularly on
the eastern border approaching the high mountains. Nevertheless
Merriam's villages furnish a fair guide in outline, since his findings,
while very incomplete, can be regarded as a reasonably well distributed
sample. Moreover, his descriptions of tribal boundaries and village
locations appear to be very accurate. When we plot the latter on a
large scale map, therefore, the outlines of the Western Mono area
become sufficiently distinct.
There are two possible variants of the method, one by computing stream
distances and the other by measuring areas. Both must of course rest
for their basis on the data for the North Fork subtribe. This in turn
may entail some error, since the North Fork group may have been not
only the most populous but also the densest.
For the North Fork territory the distribution shown by Gifford on his
map (1932, p. 18) is used plus the area of Bass Lake, since Merriam has
found that there were once villages there. The southern and eastern
boundary is taken as the San Joaquin River, because the North Fork Mono
apparently did not cross to the left bank of the river. Several miles
on Little Fine Gold Creek must also be included, according to
Gifford's map.
In this region there were approximately 60 miles of streams, including
the San Joaquin River itself. With a population of 440 this means 7.33
persons per stream mile. The stream mileage for the San Joaquin system
as a whole within the Mono boundaries amounted to 100 miles. Hence the
population in the same ratio would be 733. The analogous values for the
Kings River system are 150 miles and 1,100 persons and for the Kaweah
drainage 75 miles and 550 persons. The total population would then be
2,383.
If areas are calculated from the township lines on the map, that
covered by the North Fork Mono is approximately 150 square miles and
that of the Mono collectively is 1,090 square miles. Equating the North
Fork population to the entire area gives for the Mono as a whole 3,195.
We may now return to the consideration of the Fresno-San Joaquin
region. For the lower courses of these rivers, mainly in Yokuts
territory, three values were derived, 2,633 from general estimates,
2,600 from Ryer's vaccinations, and 3,430 from village lists. We may
accept the average, 2,890. For the Mono of the upper San Joaquin the
best estimate, as given above, is 733. The total is 3,623 or, rounded
off to the nearest hundred, 3,600.
FRESNO-SAN JOAQUIN ... 3,600
____________________________
THE KINGS AND THE KAWEAH RIVERS
The Kings and Kaweah watersheds may be considered at this point in
their entirety (see maps 1 and 3, areas 3 and 4). If we deduct 730
persons for the San Joaquin basin, the estimates for the Mono on the
two former streams was estimated by the village method as 870, by the
stream mileage method as 1,653, and by the area method as 2,465. If one
regards some of these figures as too high, he should bear in mind that
the natives on the Kings and Kaweah rivers were exposed to more intense
contact with the white race for a longer period before 1850 than those
on the relatively sheltered North Fork, and that their extermination
proceeded with tremendous velocity after that date. This fact may well
account for the inability of either Kroeber or Merriam to find more
than a few villages on the Kings and Kaweah, as compared with the
success of Gifford on the North Fork. The more exposed villages may
simply have disappeared before the era reached by the memory of modern
informants. If this is so, the stream mileage and area comparisons may
be more accurate than otherwise might be supposed.
Considerable evidence for a rather high population in this region at
the midpoint of the nineteenth century is to be derived from
contemporary accounts and from statements obtained by Merriam. Among
the papers in his collection is a clipping from the Stockton Record of
February 21, 1925, containing an article by Walter Fry of the United
States Park Service. Included is an account of early days on the Kaweah
by Hale D. Thorpe, obtained by Mr. Fry in 1910. Mr. Thorpe says:
When I first came to the Three Rivers country in 1856, there
were over 2,000 Indians living along the Kaweah River above
Lemon Cove. Their headquarters camp was at Hospital Rock....
There were over 600 Indians then living at the camp.
The Indians were mostly Mono, of the Patwisha tribe. Dr. Merriam
evidently consulted Mr. George W. Stewart concerning this matter, since
the file also contains a letter from Mr. Stewart written to Dr. Merriam
on March 29, 1926, stating that this camp was occupied only during the
summer and that there were several permanent rancherias along the
stream. Mr. Thorpe's figure of 2,000 probably refers to Indians of all
tribes, since by 1856 all the natives from the delta region had been
driven up the river. The 600 at or near Hospital Rock were undoubtedly
Mono.
In his manuscript entitled "Ho-lo-ko-ma, Cole Spring, Pine Ridge,"
Merriam has the following to say:
Ben Hancock, who has lived in this country about 40 years
[in 1903] tells me that when he came here there were about
500 Indians (Ko-ko-he-ba) living in Burr Valley, a few on
Sycamore Creek, 600 or 700 at Cole Spring (Hol-ko-mahs) and
about the same number (also Hol-ko-mahs) in Fandango Ground
and in Haslet Basin.... He says a very large village was
stretched along the south side of King's River two or four
miles below the mouth of Mill Creek and for half a mile the
dome grass-covered houses nearly touched. There were also
large villages on Dry Creek and one above the forks of
King's River some miles above Dry Creek. The tribe at the
forks is now extinct."
(There is only one survivor of the Burr Valley tribe.)
Although the numbers may be somewhat exaggerated, there is no reason
why the essential correctness of this account should be questioned.
This is particularly true in view of the circumstantial detail with
which it is recorded. The Kokoheba must be regarded as having a
population of at least 500 and the Holkoma of 1,200, making 1,700
for the Kings River Mono. If there were 730 on the upper San
Joaquin and 600 on the upper Kaweah and if 500 are added for the
Emtimbitch-Wobonuch group, the total is 3,530, not much more than
was calculated by means of area comparisons.
For the Kings River as a whole the estimates of 1850 to 1853 indicate a
substantial Indian population. Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) sets the number
as 2,000, a remarkably low figure for him. G. W. Barbour and Adam
Johnston (Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, 1853, pp. 253-256) both state that for the
purpose of consummating treaties 4,000 Indians came to Camp Belt on the
Kings River in 1851. Lt. George H. Derby in his careful account of the
southern part of the central valley in 1851 says that there were 17
rancherias on Kings River, "numbering in all about three thousand
including those situated among the hills in the vicinity" (Derby,
1852). Many of these were Choinimni, but at least half must have been
Mono.
If we accept Derby's count of 17 villages for 3,000 persons, the
average number of inhabitants per rancheria would be 177. For the area
farther north the equivalent number was taken as 70. There is reason to
believe that for the basins of the Kings and Kaweah Derby's figure of
177 is a closer approximation. Ben Hancock's description of the village
on the Kings below Mill Creek is very graphic and explicit (see
citation above.) If the "dome-grass covered houses nearly touched" and
stretched along the river in only a single row, and if each occupied 50
linear feet, then there must have been 52 houses in half a mile.
Allowing 5 persons per house, in accordance with Gifford's data for
the North Fork Mono, the inhabitants must have numbered 260. One of the
rancherias seen by Derby was Cho-e-mime which had 70 "warriors."
Reckoning the "warriors" as half the males the population would have
been 280. Derby says the village of Notonto (of the tribe Nutunutu on
the south bank of the lower Kings) had 300 inhabitants. These places
were of course relatively large and important and do not represent the
general average. However, the village of Notonto must have reached
fully 150 persons.
Apart from the Mono, the tribes located on the Kings River were all
Yokuts, as follows: Aiticha, Apiachi, Wimilchi, Nutunutu, Wechihit,
Toihichi, Chukomina, and Choinimni. For these the modern ethnographers
Kroeber, Gayton, Latta, and Stewart have been able to locate and
identify 25 villages inhabited during the youth of informants. Since
this covers a somewhat larger territory than was seen by Derby, the
correspondence in number of rancherias is reasonably close. At 150
persons per village the population would be 3,750. If we add 1,700 for
the Kings River Mono, the total is 5,450. However, there may have been
some overlap, so this figure may be reduced to 5,000. It should be
noted that the area embraced within this estimate includes the Kings
River basin as a whole, together with that of all its affluents.
The Kaweah River from Lemon Cove to the town of Tulare diverges to form
a delta, which originally contained a very large native population. At
the time of the American occupation there had occurred a material
reduction, which was accelerated by the fact that the region provided
excellent farming land for the entering Americans. Hence the value for
the population in 1850-1853 must be relatively low in comparison with
preceding decades. In May, 1851, according to G. W. Barbour (1853, pp.
253-255) there were 7 tribes on the Kaweah, and 1,200 people came to
treat with the commissioners. These tribes included the following:
Chunut, Choinok, Wolasi, Telamni, Gawia, Yokod, and Wukchamni. Of
these, the first, the Chunut, inhabited the shore of Lake Tulare and
should not be included as a Kaweah River tribe. The estimated
population of the remainder would, therefore, be approximately 1,000,
if the figure of the commissioners is to be taken without
qualification.
With respect to the individual tribes there are a few scattered bits of
information. Derby (1852) mentions three rancherias or bands in the
area: Cowees (Gawia) with 200 people, Thulime (Telamni) with 65 men, or
roughly 200 people, and Heame-a-tahs (Telamni) with 200 people. Merriam
in his "Yokuts List" cites an informant who said that the Wukchumne
"used to number" 5,000 and occupied the valley now called Lemon Cove
and up and down the Kaweah River. Clearly this is an extreme
overestimate, unless the informant was referring to the period prior to
1800. Finally Merriam cites a letter by Lt. N. H. McLean, which states
that the "Four Creeks Country" included the "Cahwiahs, Okuls, Choinux,
Wicktrumnees, Talumnies" and in 1853 had not over 1,200 souls.[4]
It thus appears quite evident that the six Yokuts tribes, except
perhaps the Wukchumni, had no more than 200 persons apiece during the
era under consideration. From modern informants Kroeber, Gayton, and
Latta have obtained for the Choinok, Gawia, Telamni, Yokod, and Wolasi
collectively the names of only 8 villages. Assuming the Kings River
value of 150 persons per village, which seems to be confirmed by Derby
for the Kaweah River also, this means 1,200 persons for the five
tribes. Gayton and Latta, however, find 15 names for the Wukchumni,
which would indicate a population of 2,250. Such a figure is highly
unlikely. It is probable that earlier times are referred to by the
informants or that there is confusion among tribal affinities.
Alternatively, the Wukchumni villages may have followed the style of
the hill-dwelling Mono and have been very much smaller than has been
indicated by Derby for the valley-inhabiting Yokuts. Since we cannot
resolve the difficulty with the data at hand, it is better to accept
the practically unanimous opinion of contemporary white observers that
the population below Lemon Cove did not exceed 1,200 in 1851. To these
must be added the 600 Mono previously discussed, making a total for the
Kaweah River as a whole of 1,800 persons.
If the two river basins are considered jointly, the method of area
comparisons as applied to the Mono, estimates by government officials,
accounts by early pioneers, and the village lists secured from modern
informants all apparently agree that the population of the region
reached several thousand as late as 1850 and 1851. We may therefore
accept the total of 6,800, or 5,000 on the Kings and 1,800 on the
Kaweah.
KINGS-KAWEAH ... 6,800
______________________
THE TULARE LAKE BASIN
The shores of Tulare Lake (see maps 1 and 2, area 2) were aboriginally
inhabited by three tribes, the Tachi, Wowol, and Chunut. In close
proximity on the northeast were the Nutunutu, but since the latter have
been included with the Kaweah River tribal group, they must be omitted
from consideration here. Savage allocated 1,000 Indians to Tulare Lake
(Dixon, MS, 1875). McLean said there were 1,000 Indians "on the lakes"
in 1853, 500 of which were "Notontos," leaving 500 for the "Taches" and
"Tontaches" (Merriam collection). The most reliable account is that of
Derby (1852). However, Derby in his terminology confused the Tachi with
the Chunut, in which mistake he has been followed by Merriam (under
title "Indians of the Tache Lake Region in 1850," MS). Derby makes it
clear in his account that he found the village of Sintache (population
100) at the northern side of the then nearly dry Lake Tontache, that is
to say on the southern shore of the big Lake Tache (Tulare). These were
probably Chunut. There was also a small rancheria which he called
Tinte-Tache at the south side of the same lake, i.e., Tontache
(population 50). These are likely to have been Wowol. The tribe known
to ethnographers as the Tachi were north of the big lake (i.e., Lake
Tache or Tulare). Their chief told Derby that they had 800 people and
that their principal rancheria was northwest of the lake (population
300). Since Derby also applies the name of Tinte-Tache to the northwest
village, it is clear that there were two rancherias of this name
included in his account.
Kroeber and Gayton mention a total of 8 villages for the Tachi. If one
of these had 300 people, as Derby states, then the average population
of the other seven was approximately 70. This agrees with Derby's two
southern rancherias of 50 and 100 persons respectively. For the Chunut
Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta all mention the village of Chuntau. Kroeber
mentions one other, Miketsiu. This would indicate a population of
nearly 150. For the Wowol the ethnographers give three villages, or an
implied population of, say, 220. The total for the lakes would then
reach 1,170, or very close to the general contemporary estimate of
1,000. The figure 1,100 may be accepted as a compromise.
TULARE LAKE BASIN ... 1,100
___________________________
TULE RIVER, KERN RIVER, AND THE BUENAVISTA BASIN
The remaining Yokuts territory is large in area but relatively small in
population. It includes the watersheds of the Tule and Kern rivers
together with those of the small creeks between (Deer, White, and Poso
creeks) and Buenavista Basin south of Bakersfield (see maps 1 and 2,
areas 1F and 1G). The tribes placed by Kroeber in the region are the
Koyeti, Yaudanchi, Bokninuwad, Kumachisi, Bankalachi (Shoshonean),
Paleuyami, Yauelmani, Hometwoli, Tuhohi, and Tulamni.
G. W. Barbour (1852), in a letter dated July 28, 1851, said that the
area bounded by Buenavista Lake, Tule River, and Paint Creek contained
a population of about 2,000. Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) said there were
1,700 on the Kern River and Barbour (1853) stated that, for
treaty-making purposes in 1851, 1,700 congregated at Paint Creek below
Tule River. The villages listed by Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta for the
various tribes are as follows: Bokninuwad 2, Hometwoli 3, Koyeti 8,
Kumachisi 6, Paleuyami 7, Tuhohi 1, Tulamni 3, Yaudanchi 8, and
Yauelmani 7. The total is 45. The village size indicated by Derby for
the Tulare Lake Basin and adjacent valley territory is 60 or 70; that
for the hill regions is undoubtedly smaller. If we take 40 persons as
the average village population, the aggregate for the region would be
1,800 and if we take 50 persons, it is 2,250. We cannot be far in error
in setting the population at Barbour's value, 2,000.
TULE-KERN-BUENAVISTA ... 2,000
______________________________
On the basis of gross estimates and semicomprehensive counts for the
entire region the population for the San Joaquin Valley and neighboring
foothills in 1851 was tentatively set at 8,600 (p. 34). The detailed
consideration of the seven subdivisions of the entire region, as above,
leads to an estimate of 19,000, as set forth in the following
recapitulation.
Stanislaus-Tuolumne 2,000
Merced-Mariposa-Chowchilla 2,500
Cosumnes-Mokelumne-Calaveras 1,000
Fresno-San Joaquin 3,600
Kings-Kaweah 6,800
Tulare Lake Basin 1,100
Tule-Kern-Buenavista 2,000
________
Total 19,000
It is believed that this total is more reliable than that previously
given for several reasons. In the first place, it is derived from a
careful consideration of all available sources in detail. In the second
place, the preliminary estimate was weighted heavily by the reports of
government officials, who saw principally those Indians with whom they
were able to make treaties or whom they were able to collect on
reservations. That this seems to represent less than one-half the
natives in the territory is not surprising. In the third place, recent
investigations by ethnographers have brought to light many local groups
which were overlooked by contemporary observers, official and civilian
alike. We may therefore accept the figure 19,000 as the population of
the San Joaquin Valley surviving in 1852.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: These treaties seem to have been concluded without proper
authorization from the Federal government and were never ratified by
the Senate. They were incorporated in Senate Confidential Documents,
June, 1852, and remained unpublished for half a century. Finally they
were ordered printed in 1905 as a Senate Reprint and are now available
under the title of "18 California Treaties."]
[Footnote 2: This village list and all others herein referred to under
the name of Merriam are part of the extensive file of personal
manuscript material collected by the late C. Hart Merriam and
deposited, through the kindness of his heirs, with the Department of
Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley. Merriam's
village lists were very carefully compiled and for many regions of the
state cannot be duplicated in any publications which have hitherto
appeared.]
[Footnote 3: I am indebted to Professor Edward W. Gifford, of the
Department of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley,
for the privilege of examining his list of Central Miwok villages,
which was obtained some years ago through an informant and has remained
unpublished.]
[Footnote 4: Merriam's manuscript entitled "Yokuts List" mentions a
report from Lt. N. H. McLean, dated July 12, 1853, to H. J. Wessels, on
file in "Old Files Division," Adjutant General's Office, Washington,
no. H369. As far as I am aware, this letter has never been quoted
elsewhere.]
THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION
In order to estimate the aboriginal population of the San Joaquin
Valley it is necessary to rely very heavily on the accounts furnished
by the colonial Spanish and Mexicans. These were primarily
ecclesiastics and military men who entered the territory for purposes
of exploration, to seek new converts to the missions, or to chastise
stock raiders. The more responsible of these left circumstantial and,
as a rule, fairly accurate narratives and diaries. Unless there is in a
particular case some reason for doubt, their statements may be accorded
considerable confidence.
At the same time two circumstances often render the interpretation of
the data derived from these documents difficult. The first is the lack
of consistent designations for places. During the process of opening up
the area it was inevitable that rivers and villages should be assigned
different names by one explorer after another and that the same name
should be applied to more than one locality. The second is that during
the early phases of exploration some localities were visited
repeatedly, whereas others were overlooked perhaps entirely. Hence the
information available to us is very uneven; it permits us to achieve a
reasonably clear idea of the population of one region but leaves
another almost completely blank. As a result extrapolation by area is
almost unavoidable.
It must also be constantly borne in mind that the Spanish records
themselves do not give us an absolutely undistorted picture of
aboriginal conditions. It is very evident from the reports of the
earliest official pioneers, like Garcés in 1776 and Martin in 1804,
that from 1770 onward and perhaps even before white men had straggled
into the valley and had consorted with the natives. There is reason to
believe that these unknown interlopers may have introduced diseases
which adversely affected the population and may have initiated a
process of general social disruption. The best we can do is get as
close to the prehistoric condition as the records allow.
Two other demographic consequences arise from this very early white
contact. In the first place, the documentary record, if we ignore
Garcés for the moment, runs nearly continuously from 1804 to
approximately 1840. During this long period an uninterrupted change was
going on among the native population: the population was _continually
decreasing_. Hence later reports tend to deviate from earlier ones, and
indeed may show an entirely new state of affairs arising within a very
few years. In the second place, the deterioration in certain areas took
place so rapidly in the first part of the nineteenth century that any
information secured from informants alive since 1900 is completely
useless. Unless very good documentary evidence is available for such
areas, there is no recourse but to fall back on the method of
extrapolation and area comparisons.
The principal Spanish accounts upon which we must rely include a few
which have been published. Most of them, however, are to be found in
manuscript form in the Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley. Some of them were translated for an unpublished manuscript by
the Late Professor Herbert I. Priestley and several were translated for
Dr. C. H. Merriam. Merriam's translations are on file in his manuscript
collection. The citations to these accounts, published and unpublished,
are given in the manuscript section of the Bibliography. In this text
they are referred to, without further citation, by the author's name
and date.
THE TULARE LAKE BASIN
We may commence detailed consideration of the aboriginal population
with the Tulare Lake Basin, which was inhabited in 1800 by three Yokuts
tribes, the Wowol, Tachi, and Chunut (see maps 1 and 2, area 2). The
first official visitor to the area was Father Juan Martin who entered
the valley in 1804 in search of new mission sites. He found the
principal village of the Wowol, which he called Bubal. This rancheria,
he said, contained not less than 200 children. It was visited again in
1806 by Moraga, who found 400 inhabitants. Eight years later Father
Cabot passed the site and found 700 people. Subsequently, it was
visited by Ortega in 1815 and Estudillo in 1819 but these writers gave
no population figures. Since no other village was ever recorded by name
in the territory of the tribe, it is safe to assume that there was no
other, at least of permanence and reasonably large size.
Gifford and Schenck (1926), in their discussion of the history of the
southern valley, conclude that because the village was reported as
having 400 persons in 1806 and 700 in 1814 there was a real increase in
population during the intervening eight years. This they ascribe to
fugitives from the coastal missions who entered the valley as refugees.
The opinion expressed by these authors may serve as the starting point
for discussion of certain general problems which are encountered in
attempting to estimate the aboriginal population of the valley.
In 1804 Martin saw 200 children. If we knew the ratio of children to
adults, we could easily compute the total number of inhabitants. The
age of "children" was variously estimated in colonial New Spain, indeed
all the way from seven to fifteen years. The early California
missionaries used approximately fourteen years for males and twelve for
females. In 1793, however, the system was standardized for doctrinal
purposes. Indians, both gentile and converted, were designated as
children if they were under ten years, i.e., in the age bracket from 0
to 9 inclusive. Hence all the clergy conformed to the method in so far
as they were able and unless they specified otherwise.
There are certain data available which permit us to estimate rather
closely what proportion of the population in California should be
regarded as falling within the category of children. Within the
missions the annual censuses enable us to compute with accuracy that
the individuals under the age of ten years, between the dates 1782 and
1832 averaged 21.4 per cent of the total population (Cook, 1940). This
value is relatively high and may not conform to gentile, or aboriginal,
conditions. With regard to these we have information from
archaeological sources. In the Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley
there are several hundred skeletons excavated from habitation sites in
central and northern California, the ages of which have been determined
and which constitute a fair cross section of the native population
during the centuries immediately preceding invasion by the white man.
Of these skeletons 22.6 per cent represent persons dying under the age
of twenty years, and perhaps 10 or 15 per cent persons dying under the
age of ten.
Further light is shed by the baptism records of the missions San Jose
and Santa Clara (these are discussed in greater detail in a later
paragraph) which list gentile baptisms according to village and
distinguish between men, women, and children. In the two missions, from
approximately 1805 to 1833 there were baptized a total of 5,217 persons
from villages in the valley region. Of these 930, or 17.8 per cent were
children and 1,939, or 37.1 per cent were listed as men. The sex ratio
is 0.826. Evidently the natives captured and brought to the missions do
not give us a completely true picture of the composition of the
aboriginal population, despite the large sample at our disposal. It is
highly probable that (1) the natural sex ratio was nearly unity and (2)
many of the men were killed in warfare or escaped the clutches of the
convert hunters. Therefore we are justified in setting the number of
men equal to that of the women. If we do this, the population
represented by the 5,217 conversions was actually 5,626, of which men
and women each constituted 41.8 per cent and children 16.4 per cent.
Finally, we have figures from Zalvidea (MS, 1806) with respect to
villages at the extreme southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. (These
are discussed subsequently in connection with the population of that
area.) At two of these, after adjusting for disturbed sex ratio, he
found respectively 13.5 and 9.6 per cent children. However, Zalvidea's
account states specifically that in these villages he carries the age
of childhood only through the seventh year. If he had counted as
children those under ten years of age, the percentages would naturally
have been higher.
The data just set forth render it abundantly clear that the children
constituted between 10 and 20 per cent of the aboriginal population.
Since the exact value can never be ascertained, it is wholly reasonable
to establish the arbitrary figure of 15 per cent. If we apply this
factor to Bubal the result is not less than an aggregate of 1,333
persons, much greater than the value set by Moraga in 1806.
With respect to the suggestion of Gifford and Schenck that the number
of inhabitants of Bubal had been augmented between 1806 and 1814 by
refugees from the missions the following points may be noted. In the
first place, it has been possible to show (Cook, 1940) by means of the
mission censuses that in 1815 the cumulative total of fugitives
reported by all the missions in the colony amounted to 1,927 persons.
Of these a great many who ran away in the earlier years were deceased.
Many never went to the valley at all and the remainder were distributed
from Sacramento to Bakersfield. It is highly unlikely that as many as
300 would be concentrated at one village such as Bubal. In the second
place, the majority of the fugitives who did reach the village or its
vicinity were former inhabitants of the locality who were merely
returning to their old homes rather than coastal Indians, who would
have constituted real refugees. On the whole, therefore, and this
conclusion applies throughout the valley, true increase of population
by immigration of foreign fugitives was negligible.
A further problem of importance illustrated by our data for Bubal is
the extent to which population estimates for villages were affected by
local fugitivism or temporary scattering of the natives at the advent
of the Spaniards. Very frequently the explorers left notations that the
inhabitants of a certain rancheria had fled, or that many were absent.
It seems clear that even by the year 1800 the natives were all too well
aware of the purpose of the missionaries and soldiers and took measures
to defeat that purpose. For this reason, remarkable as it may appear,
the largest estimates are likely to have been the most accurate.
Returning now to the population of Bubal we find Martin counting "no
less" than 200 children in 1804, indicating a total number somewhere in
the vicinity of 1,300, although most of the adults apparently had
absconded. In 1806 the same situation arose and Moraga found only 400
left in the village. In 1814 Cabot estimated that the village contained
700 people, despite the fact that some may have been missing. The
apparent increase in 1814 can be very simply explained by the
assumption that fewer natives had fled the village than had done so
when Moraga arrived. Cabot's figure may be quite near the truth for the
year 1814 since we must concede a drastic overall reduction of
population in the area between 1804 and 1814. Certainly the population
can never have been _less_ than 700. The weight of the evidence at hand
thus indicates that the estimate based upon Martin's account, i.e.,
1,300 persons, is essentially sound.
Further evidence of collateral importance is derived from consideration
of the location of the village of Bubal. Gifford and Schenck (1926, p.
27) place Bubal on Atwell's Island, near Alpaugh, in T23S, R23E, that
is, on the east side of Lake Tulare. Neither Martin (in 1804) nor
Moraga (Muñoz diary of 1806) locates the rancheria with any precision
but Cabot (1815) left San Miguel on October 2, 1814, and on October 3
traveled over an immense plain, arriving late in the day at Bubal, on
the shore of a big lake. This can have been only Lake Tulare and the
west shore thereof. The next year Ortega (1815), approaching from the
north or northwest, passed through Sumtache (i.e., Chunut) and went on
to Bubal, where he arrived late at night, not having been able to find
the village "... por haverse mudado de su sitio propio ..." Estudillo
was the next visitor who has left us a detailed account of this area.
On October 22, 1819, he went from near Cholam to a place called Los
Alisos near the edge of the foothills of the coast range. On October 23
he went across the plain and on October 24 arrived at Bubal, obviously
from the west, and found it deserted, adding the comment that the
village "... manifesto aver ya dias q. se fueron a otra parte." The
following day he pushed five leagues south through tule swamp and found
the settlement on the bank of the lake although his soldiers had to
wade waist deep for two leagues farther in order to catch most of the
inhabitants. Apropos of this incident he says regarding Bubal: "Esta es
la rancheria de gentiles mas immediata a las misiones, y la q. con
mayor frecuencia se hacen cristianos en la de San Miguel."
From these accounts it is very clear that the original site of Bubal
was on the west, not the east, shore of the lake and that because of
the depredations of the Spaniards the inhabitants fled into the lake
itself, where they made at least temporary settlements. That these
became their permanent home is attested by the fact that no later than
1826 Pico stated that Bubal was situated on an island in the lake.
Subsequently contemporary writers as well as the modern ethnographers
agree that the principal village of the Wowol was on Atwell's Island.
From the demographic point of view the chief justification for tracing
the migration of Bubal in the first two decades of the nineteenth
century is to indicate how the constant pressure of the Spaniards,
through incessant military expeditions, could affect the population.
Through a series of years, their native village site having become
untenable, the people of Bubal were forced to seek precarious and
inadequate shelter where-ever they might find it in the depths of the
tule swamps until ultimately they could establish themselves in a new
home, an island fortress where they might remain relatively
undisturbed. Starvation, casual massacre, and disease coupled with
exposure must have strongly reduced the total number. Hence a 50 per
cent decrease in ten or fifteen years--from Martin to Cabot and
Estudillo--is not at all surprising.
The Chunut were first visited by Martin in 1804, who designated their
principal rancheria Chuntache but gave no population figures. Two years
later, in 1806, it was seen by Moraga, who called it Tunctache and said
it had 250 people. Cabot in 1814 said there were 700 persons and Ortega
in 1815 found 20 males. Estudillo in 1819 found 103 young braves
("indios gallardos mozos") and 200 women, old men, and children.
However, he also states that the captain and "la mayor parte de la
gente" were away on a visit toward Lake Buenavista.
The estimates of Cabot and Estudillo appear to be quite reliable. Cabot
describes Bubal and then passes on to Suntache. The latter place he
says had a population "about the same as the preceding," or 700
persons. Since Estudillo took the pains to count the young men
precisely, his remaining estimate must be fairly correct. The total
thus is 303 persons present plus more than the same number of
absentees, or approximately 700.
Since the location and history of Tuntache was very similar to that of
Bubal and since in the period 1815-1819 the population was nearly the
same, it is very probable that there was a reduction in population at
the former village analogous to that seen at the latter. Although we
have no concrete data, such as Martin's report for Bubal in 1804, which
may be applied to Tuntache, it may be assumed with safety that the
aboriginal inhabitants of this rancheria numbered at least 1,200.
The third lake tribe was the Tachi. This tribe, or its principal
village, was first recorded by Martin in 1804. He gives no direct
figures but implies that there were 4,000 inhabitants, although he may
have been referring to the entire lake area. The next visitor of
consequence was Cabot in 1814 who stated that Tache "... segun presenta
y por la caseria que la compone ..." had 1,000 souls. At a distance of
two leagues he found another rancheria, Guchame, which may have
belonged to the same tribe, which "... segun presenta y informes
tomados no pasara de 200 almas ..." The next year Ortega attacked the
rancheria but the people had been warned and had all fled when he
entered. They had not returned, moreover, in 1819, when they were seen
by Estudillo. They must have been in bad straits, because Estudillo
found them living deep in the swamp, in a "gran Bolson de Tule, sin
poder tener lumbre." Estudillo gives no figures but he makes the
interesting comment that the Tachi had four chiefs and that the
rancheria (or tribe) had several "parts," each at some distance from
the others. This raises the question whether Cabot saw the only
rancheria of the tribe or one of a number. The village he saw he
examined sufficiently carefully to enable him to count the houses. Such
an arrangement is incompatible with rancherias "each at some distance
from the others." Furthermore four chiefs would imply four more or less
equal subdivisions, or four rancherias and possibly 4,000 inhabitants.
At first sight this appears preposterous. However, the following facts
should be noted.
1. The area held by the tribe extended across the north and west shores
of Lake Tulare from the present town of Lemoore to Coalinga close to
the western foothills. This comprises a greater area than the Wowol and
Chunut together.
2. Modern informants have been able to give the ethnographers Kroeber,
Gayton, and Latta the names of 3 villages for the Wowol, 2 for the
Chunut, and 8 for the Tachi. Although the number of villages has no
strict quantitative significance, it does indicate the greater size of
the Tachi.
3. As mentioned previously, Derby in 1850 found the Tachi tribe to
contain about 8000 individuals, of whom 300 lived in the principal
rancheria. In view of the very great attrition to which all the open
valley tribes had been subjected between Estudillo's visit in 1819 and
that of Derby in 1850 it is almost incredible that the Tachi should
have diminished only from 1,000 to 800 during that period. It is much
more reasonable that the principal village should have declined from
1,000 to 300 as would be indicated by the figures of Cabot and Derby.
If so, then the tribe as a whole must have once contained much more
than 1,000 people.
4. Father Martin in the description of his trip implies that there were
4,000 people living in the vicinity of Tache. It has generally been
assumed, and is so stated by Gifford and Schenck (1926, p. 22), that
Martin was referring not only to the borders of Lake Tulare but also to
the lower reaches of the Kaweah and Kings rivers. This is simply an
assumption and rests upon no unequivocal evidence.
5. Cabot's quite careful estimate for the principal rancheria shows
that it was larger than Bubal or Tuntache in 1814. Martin's data for
Bubal showed that this town must have contained fully 1,330 persons in
1804. If we disregard any shrinkage prior to that year, the
contemporary population of Tache would have reached at least 1,600 if
Cabot's estimates for the two villages in 1814 are to be credited.
On the basis of all these facts the author believes that the Tachi
aboriginally possessed one village with at least 1,600 inhabitants and
that Cabot's figure for this village was reasonably accurate. In
addition, the statements of Estudillo in 1819 and Derby in 1850--and
both of these observers were trustworthy persons--point definitely to
the existence of at least three other villages. These were undoubtedly
smaller than the principal rancheria. In default of any concrete data
each may be estimated as half the size of Tache, or 800 persons apiece.
The total for the tribe would then be 4,000 or nearly twice as much as
for the Wowol and Chunut combined.
An aggregate of 6,500 natives for precontact times seems to be
indicated in the Tulare Lake basin. The figure 1,100 was obtained for
the period of approximately 1850-1852. The reduction would then have
been to a value of 16.9 per cent of the aboriginal level. If this seems
excessive, it should be borne in mind that the area was subjected to
the ravages of disease, both epidemic and venereal, from 1770 forward,
as is attested or implied by both Garcés in 1776 and Martin in 1804.
It was overrun by clerical and military expeditions in 1804, 1812,
1814, 1815, and 1819, not to mention an indefinite number of private
raiding parties which have left no trace in the documents. From 1820 to
1850 it was entered repeatedly by ranchers from the coast, American
trappers of the Jedediah Smith variety from the southwest or north, and
by New Mexican bandits. All these took a toll in the form of mission
converts, battle casualties, burnt food stores, and disrupted village
life. Finally, it should be remembered that the dry and arid plains of
modern Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties bear no resemblance to the
former region of rivers, sloughs, swamps, and lakes which once
supported uncounted millions of game birds and animals, together with a
luxurious vegetation capable of supporting a very dense human
population.
TULARE LAKE BASIN ... 6,500
___________________________
THE KAWEAH RIVER
Together with the Tulare Lake Basin the lower Kaweah River and its
delta from Lemon Cove to below the town of Tulare was probably one of
the most densely populated spots in California, or possibly even north
of the Valley of Mexico (see maps 1 and 3, area 3). The repeated
comment of the missionaries with respect to the "infinidad de gentiles"
to be found there creates a subjective impression which is borne out by
the numerical data we possess.
There seem to have been two rather indistinctly separated divisions of
the region. One, centering around Visalia and occupying the delta and
sloughs, contained three tribes, the Telamni, Wolasi, and Choinok, of
which the Telamni were the most important and numerous. The other,
centering around Lemon Cove and probably extending some distance into
the lower foothills, included the Wukchamni, Gawia, and Yokod, the
largest group being the Wukchamni.
Martin entered the delta in 1804 and called the people Telame. Moraga
in 1806 explored it more thoroughly. According to the Muñoz diary (Oct.
19-20), the party noted Telame with 600 souls, together with a "big
rancheria" one league east and the rancheria Cohochs two and one-half
leagues east. In addition there were "otras varias rancherias" in the
vicinity. The village list appended to the diary gives Telami I
("tendra segun corto computo 600 almas"), Telame II with 200 souls,
Uholasi with 100, Eaguea with 300, and Cohochs with 100. Uholasi is no
doubt Wolasi, and Eaguea and Cohochs are probably respectively Gawia
and Yokod. If the last two are omitted, it is evident that Moraga saw
or knew about four rancherias, Telame I and II, Uholasi, and the
unnamed big rancheria. To these must be added the "otras varias
rancherias," which may have amounted to another four, or eight in all.
A population of 2,000 to 4,000 is certainly indicated.
Cabot in 1814 was the next visitor who left a record. He referred to
the "Roblar de Telame Rio," which included Telame, the largest
rancheria in the Tulares. Cabot's Telame may well have included both
the villages to which this name was ascribed by Morgan. If so, on
Moraga's figures it must have contained a minimum of 800 persons. A
higher number is more probable, however, in view of the fact that it
was the largest in the area.
In 1816 Father Luís Antonio Martinez passed through the region and
left a circumstantial account of his visit. Starting from Bubal, he
approached the Telame area, reaching first the village of Gelecto,
where "... encontraron no mas el cementerio: se habia destruido por las
guerras ..." These wars apparently were raids and skirmishes in which
refugees from the missions and other Indian villages participated. From
Gelecto the party went to Telamni "... al llegar alli los divisaron de
Lihuauhilame el grande ... done al dia anterior habian tenido una gran
refriega cuyo resultado fue dar muerte a únos 8 hombres ..." The
captain of the latter rancheria sent a messenger to Martinez with the
report the place contained "como de 300 casados." Gelecto was one
league from Lihuauhilame and since the latter village could be seen
from Telame the distance between the two could not have been more than
a league. Martinez then went six leagues south to Quihuama, before
proceeding westward on the way home.
Lihuauhilame contained 300 married men, or heads of families. The
aboriginal social family consisted of at least five persons, and even
after the disruption suffered from 1804 to 1816 must have amounted to
four. The total population, according to this assumption, must have
reached fully 1,200, with a probable pre-invasion value of at least
1,500. Martinez therefore gives us four sizable places: Gelecto
(depopulated), Telame (minimum 800 according to Moraga and Cabot),
Lihuauhilame (1,200), and Quihuama.
Subsequent visitors (e.g., Estudillo, 1819, and Rodriguez, 1828)
mention Telame but give no data with respect to size nor do they
specify any other rancherias in the immediate vicinity. For basic
population data we are consequently forced to depend upon Cabot,
Moraga, and Martinez.
In the discussion of Bubal mention was made of the attrition of
population due to war and disease during the period following the first
entry of the Spaniards in or about the year 1800. That these factors
were very serious becomes even more evident from the accounts of the
Telame region. Martinez describes the total obliteration of Gelecto,
which he ascribes to the "wars." Elsewhere in his report he refers to
much internecine fighting among villages and between natives and
fugitives from the missions. Moreover, the Spanish accounts repeat ad
nauseam the statement that this or that village was attacked or
destroyed in the course of various expeditions, or that village after
village was deserted by its inhabitants because of fear of the
soldiers. It is highly probable that there is a great deal of lost
history pertaining to the central valley during this period and that
tremendous destruction was inflicted upon the native villages which was
never recorded in the official documents.
Hunger and disease were likewise rampant. Clear indication of this
condition is contained in the sentence of Ortega, in 1815, with respect
to Telame: "... encontrando esta grande rancheria toda desparramada por
la mucha mortandad que havian tenido, y la much hambre que padecian
..." With regard to the cause of the "mortality" it is clear that a
part was due to the killing by the Spaniards and other Indians during
the "wars," a part was due to famine, and very likely the remainder was
due to disease. Although this factor is not specifically mentioned, the
word "mortandad" was widely employed by the Spaniards and Mexicans to
connote the effects of an epidemic. Furthermore, the absence of disease
would be more difficult to explain than its presence in view of the
wide intercourse between the peoples of the southern valley and those
of the coast at a time when the Indians of the missions were dying by
thousands from measles, dysentery, and other contagious maladies
introduced by the whites. The whole picture is one of ruinous
devastation in the Kaweah delta just prior to 1816, with accompanying
disorganization of the local economy and reduction of population.
The effect of war, disease, and starvation cannot be emphasized too
strongly, nor can mention be made of them too often. On account of
their debilitating influence the populations seen in the Kaweah delta
and reported in the documents cannot possibly be overestimates of the
aboriginal number. On the contrary, they undoubtedly represent too low,
rather than too high, a figure.
Reverting now to the villages reported, Moraga mentions eight places,
four of them by name or other specific reference. Martinez mentions
four, all by name. Cabot refers to Telame as the largest village in the
Tulares. Elsewhere (MS, 1818) he states that before reaching Telame
there are five rancherias, including Quiuamine and Yulumne. Quiuamine
is no doubt the Quihuama of Martinez.
Telame was one village, according to all observers except Moraga
(actually Muñoz, who wrote the diary). Moraga ascribes 600 people to
the first Telame and 200 to the second. The first estimate, be it
noted, was "segun corto computo," or according to a short count. The
estimate must therefore on Moraga's own admission be increased,
certainly to 1,000 and perhaps more. In view of the size of the well
known rancheria Bubal, fully 1,300, Telame must have contained 1,200
persons.
In addition to the two Telames Moraga mentions a "big rancheria" one
league to the east. Hence there were three villages which comprised
what may be termed the Telame complex. No figures were given by Moraga
for the unnamed rancheria, since it was entirely deserted. However,
since it was regarded as "big," there must have been several hundred
inhabitants, say 500. The total for the triad then would have reached
nearly 2,000.
The Martinez description is apparently somewhat at variance with that
of his predecessor. Martinez saw, cites distances for, and mentions by
name three rancherias: Telame, Lihuauhilame, and Gelecto. They were
located within a radius of one league of each other and must correspond
to the three seen by Moraga. Gelecto was in ruins, with only the
cemetery still in evidence. Hence Gelecto may very well have been the
big, deserted rancheria of Moraga. Martinez gives no population data
for Telame but says there were 300 heads of families in Lihuauhilame,
which was, therefore, without much doubt the largest of the three.
According to Moraga's figures, Telame I was the largest. Hence the
concordance seems to be that Telame, Lihuauhilame, and Gelecto of
Martinez correspond respectively to Telame II, Telame I and the "big"
rancheria of Moraga. As pointed out previously, the total inhabitants
to be deduced from 300 heads of families, under the conditions existing
in 1816 was 1,200. This is twice the estimate of Moraga.
An important point arises here with respect to Moraga's estimates. At
Bubal, it will be remembered, Martin found evidence of 1,300 people in
1804 whereas Moraga reported only 400 in 1806. At Lihuauhilame Martinez
found according to the statement of the village chief 1,200, although
Moraga had reported ten years previously only 600. Furthermore Cabot,
at Bubal eight years after Moraga, found 700 persons. For these two
important villages therefore Moraga differs flatly with three other
competent authorities by a factor of two or three. Similar instances
may be found elsewhere in which Moraga's population figures are far
too low. It seems difficult to escape the conclusion, consequently,
that Moraga (or Muñoz) consistently underestimated the native
population. The reason is not immediately apparent, although several
possible suggestions may be offered. Moraga personally had little
interest in such matters. Although he himself did not write the account
of the expedition to the Tulares in 1806, he did write that of his
expedition to the Sacramento Valley in 1808. The latter diary shows
very clearly, through the extreme paucity of its population data, that
Moraga either made no direct counts or estimates, or considered them
too unimportant to mention in his manuscript. For the 1806 trip the
estimates were all supplied, obviously, by Muñoz. There is no reason to
impugn either the judgment or veracity of this missionary. However, if
one examines his account, it becomes evident that Muñoz based his
figures either (1) on statements of gentiles or (2) on the number of
natives seen by him. The former source might or might not be accurate.
The latter was almost certain to yield too low values because the
Moraga expedition was notoriously hostile to the natives and at nearly
every village approached the inhabitants fled if they could possibly do
so. Muñoz therefore consistently saw only the residue, a fraction of
the actual number.
For the above reasons the writer believes that a correction factor
should be applied to the Moraga-Muñoz data, and unless there is
specific reason to believe otherwise, the figures should be regarded as
indicating only about 50 per cent of the true population. Such a
correction should not be applied to the figures of other explorers,
like Cabot or Estudillo, who were far more careful in their methods of
estimate.
If, now, we apply a correction factor of 2, Moraga's estimate for
Telame I becomes 1,200, or the same as that found by Martinez for the
same village (Lihuauhilame). On the same basis Telame II (Telame of
Martinez) would have had 400 persons. Gelecto (unnamed by Moraga) was
"big" but probably not as big as Telame I. Hence we may assume an
intermediate value, say 800. The total for the Telame complex, or the
triad of villages, would have been 2,400.
In addition to the triad we have Uholasi and the "otras varias
rancherias" of Moraga. Since Moraga gives 100 for Uholasi we may
increase that number to 200. Among the other rancherias we have
Quihuame (or Quiuamine) and Yulumne, which were noted by later
visitors. Moraga, however, in saying "otras varias" clearly means more
than two, probably at least four. It is pertinent to note in this
connection that some of these may have disappeared during the turmoil
of 1806 to 1816 and that their surviving inhabitants may have been
absorbed by other, larger villages. Such an explanation would account
for the failure of Cabot and Martinez to refer to them. If we assume
four villages at the time of Moraga's expedition (and of course the
aboriginal number would have been no less), it is safe to consider them
as having been relatively small. According to the size scale of the
Kaweah villages as a whole 200 inhabitants could reasonably be ascribed
to each of them, or 800 for the group.
The aboriginal population of the Telamni and the Wolasi may therefore
be set as closely as we can get at 3,200. The Choinok appear to have
had only one rancheria. At least there is one and one only which recurs
repeatedly in the Spanish documents. This is Choynoque (Moraga, 1806),
Choynoct (Ortega, 1816), Choinoc (Cabot, 1818) or Choijnocko
(Estudillo, 1819). Moraga gave 300 as the population, as did also
Estudillo. The two values are comparable, if we remember the attrition
occurring between the years 1806 and 1816. We may then apply the
correction factor of 2 and get 600 as the most probable number in 1806.
Such a value is also consistent with the status of the Choinok as an
independent tribal entity of the Kaweah basin, although it does not
take into account any reduction in population prior to the expedition
of Moraga. There was doubtless such a reduction, but since we have no
direct evidence bearing upon the matter it will be better to let the
figure 600 stand.
The total for the Kaweah delta group (Telamni, Wolasi, Choinok) is
3,800. This is indeed surprising but the figure perhaps is corroborated
by the statement of the Franciscan President for the California
missions, Father Payeras--made in support of the establishment of new
missions in the valley--that the Telame district alone contained 4,000
unconverted heathen.
The middle Kaweah above Visalia was inhabited by the Gawia, Yokod, and
Wukchamni. The Gawia are represented in Moraga's account by Eaguea (300
inhabitants) and the Yokod by Cohochs (100 inhabitants). The Wukchamni
were by far the most numerous and for an excellent account of them we
are indebted to Estudillo. This officer, in addition to being a
competent field commander, appears to have been a scholar and a
gentleman. His report on the Wukchamni village of Chischa is
unquestionably the most complete and accurate left us by any of the
Spanish explorers and as such is worth discussing in detail.
Estudillo was the first white man to see Chischa. On this point he is
very explicit:
... su capitan joasps, ni su gente jamas havian visto tropa,
siendo esta la primera vez q. havilan llegado alli, pues
hace mucho tiempo paso por abajo (este fue D. Gabriel Moraga
en el reconocimiento q. hizo en 1806) y solo noticia tubo
por sus amigos de Telame ...
Consequently, allowing for possible communicable disease, Chischa was
in its aboriginal state when Estudillo saw it.
Chischa was 5 leagues east of Telame and 3 leagues from Choinocko. This
places the village, according to the maps of Kroeber and of Gayton, at
or just above Lemon Cove in the territory ascribed by these
ethnographers to the Wukchamni. Estudillo measured off the dimensions
of the village by pacing. The shape was semilunar, crescentic or
approximately that of the sector of a circle. The short side ("por su
frente") was 624 varas long and the long side ("por la espalda") was
756 varas. A figure plotted on coördinate paper to scale shows that the
area was 80,000 square varas. On the assumption that the Spanish vara
equaled a yard, and that an average city block measures 300 feet on a
side, the village of Chischa would have covered eight city blocks.
Estudillo caused the Indians living in the village to form a line
before the town, with the men in a single file and the women and
children massed in front of them. He counted the men and found that
there were exactly 437 warriors ("jovenes de arma") and "como 600
mugeres y ninos." According to the translation made for Merriam (MS in
his collection):
Then I went opposite where the invited guests were lodged,
and as they all, men and women and boys and girls were
presented to me in a confused mass, I could not count them
as I did those of Chischa but there were perhaps 600 men."
He specifies the 600 men as "jovenes" and adds that there were 200
"mugeres jovenes." He then describes going behind the village to the
arroyo, where he saw more than 100 "mugeres de mayor edad," washing
seeds for atoles for the celebrants of the fiesta, and an even greater
number of "jovenes moliendo en piedras dhas semillas."
The extraordinary care with which Estudillo conducted his investigation
can leave little doubt of the accuracy of his figures. He saw 437
"jovenes de arma" in front of the village together with 600 women and
children, plus 100 "mugeres de mayor edad" and more than 100 "jovenes"
behind the village preparing the meal. Even allowing for some
duplication of individuals the population must have reached at least
1,250. The solidity of this evidence for Chischa renders even more
probable comparable figures for Bubal and the other large villages of
the general area.
Estudillo saw 600 young men and 200 young women who were visitors. If
we use the same ratio of young men ("jovenes de arma") to total
population for these groups as for Chischa, then the 600 young men
represented a total of 1,700 persons. These were all, says Estudillo,
from the "roblar," or the Kaweah basin. When he arrived at the village,
he was met by seven chiefs (who were already on the scene), two from
Telame, one from Choynoco, and four from other rancherias of the
"roblar" near the sierra. We may assume that the seven visiting chiefs
were accompanied by approximately equal retinues, or 114 persons each.
If two of the chiefs and 228 persons came from the Telame district and
one chief with 114 persons from Choynoco (i.e., Choinok), then the
remainder, 458, were from other tribes. By the same proportionality
factor these represented a total of 980, or let us say 1,000, Indians.
The Wukchamni and their satellites must therefore have numbered 2,250
individuals in the year 1819. Estudillo himself says that the
population of Chischa and its neighbors was 2,400, but he may have
included some Telamni among this number. On the other hand, the
visitors to Chischa on the occasion of the fiesta could scarcely have
included all the inhabitants of the villages whence they came. Some,
for one reason or another, must have remained at home. Hence the
estimate of 1,000 is probably under the true value.
Now it is important that Estudillo was in the "roblar" in 1819. In view
of the severe disorganization, "mortality," and "famine" of 1814 to
1816, the population of the Wukchamni must have undergone a serious
decline before Estudillo saw the tribe. Despite the absence of any
specific figures the documents give the impression that the reduction
of population around Tulare Lake was almost complete by 1819 and that
the valley tribes along the margin of the foothills had lost fully half
their number. It will be proper therefore to ascribe a one-quarter
reduction to the Wuchamni, Gawia, and Yokod. If we accept Estudillo's
estimate of 2,400 for the year 1819, the aboriginal population for
these groups would have been 3,200.
In the meantime the Mono of the upper river had scarcely been touched,
save possibly by epidemics of which we have no record. It is
significant that at the great gathering at Chischa there appeared, near
the middle of the day, a chief with 69 men and 42 women from a
rancheria called Apalame in the interior of the Sierra Nevada. These
natives, probably Balwisha or Waksache, had never seen troops. To
arrive at the population of the entire Kaweah basin in aboriginal or
proto-aboriginal times these tribes must be included. Their strength,
as previously estimated, was of the order of 600 persons.
Computing now the total for the Kaweah river and delta as first
described by white men, we find an aggregate of 7,600 inhabitants. As
set forth previously, the survivors in 1850 numbered about 1,800 or
23.7 per cent of the aboriginal (or early historical) value. Excluding
the relatively undisturbed Mono the comparable value for the lower
river and delta is 17.2 per cent. These percentages are in close
agreement with those found for the ecologically similar area bordering
Lake Tulare.
KAWEAH RIVER ... 7,600
______________________
THE MERCED RIVER
It will be convenient at the present juncture to consider the watershed
of the Merced River, although this area lies at a considerable distance
from that just examined (see maps 1 and 4, area 6).
In the preceding section it was concluded that only 500 to 600 natives
still remained in 1850 on the lower portion of the river below the
foothills, whereas the population of the southern Miwok in the
foothills and higher ranges amounted to approximately 1,250. The latter
figure was based principally on Merriam's village lists and the
population counts obtained from informants by Gifford for the Miwok
farther north. The question must now be propounded whether these data,
which appear to be fairly accurate for the year 1850 or even 1840, can
be taken as showing the population under substantially aboriginal
conditions, let us say those obtaining prior to the intense Spanish
invasion of the valley in the decade 1800 to 1810.
1. As a matter of generalization it can be stated that the environment
as remembered by the oldest informant or even his parents can scarcely
reach into pre-Spanish times. Hence the village populations and
distributions as reported in good faith to Gifford or Merriam must have
been subjected in some measure to the disruptive effect of the white
man. The great disturbance in the valley itself, which was manifested
by the entire extinction of whole Yokuts and Plains Miwok tribes, must
have had repercussions in the near-by hills through disease, kidnaping,
and minor dislocation of food supply, even though the actual territory
of the natives was not physically invaded by the newcomers. Hence, a
priori, one might anticipate that the populations as derived from
ethnographic sources would be somewhat less than truly aboriginal.
2. In the discussion of Gifford's data on the North Fork Mono it was
shown, on the basis of persons per family and houses per village, that
the population in the memory time of the informants was about 440
whereas the precontact value must have been nearer 640. The population
residue in 1840-1850 would then have been 68.8 per cent of the
aboriginal level.
3. For the upper Tuolumne and Stanislaus Gifford's population figures
were based upon the values given by his informants for 49 villages. The
average was 20.8 persons per village, a number which was accepted as
valid for the period of 1850. The distribution of population for the
villages is as follows:
Inhabitants Number of Number of
per Village Villages Persons
___________ _________ _________
60 1 60
55 1 55
35 3 105
30 6 180
25 8 200
20 9 180
15 6 90
10 12 120
5 1 5
0 2 0
____ ____ ____
Total 49 995
Now it may be assumed that under normal conditions few if any villages
would contain less than 20 persons and that those listed by Gifford
with 15 or less were the victims of a general decline in numbers. Hence
to the latter may be ascribed a minimum of 20 persons. At the same time
the other villages must have suffered some reduction. Although there is
no positive evidence bearing on the matter, it would not be excessive
to add five persons to each of the others. Making these corrections the
total becomes 1,340 instead of 995. The residue in 1850 would then be
74.2 per cent of the aboriginal level. Incidentally, the inhabitants
per village would then be only 27.35, a value by no means excessive for
prehistoric times.
Some confirmation for these assumptions can be obtained by further
consideration of Gifford's study of the North Fork Mono. As previously
mentioned, Gifford shows the number of houses and hence the number of
families living in the hamlets of this tribe. For many hamlets two or
more sets of houses are given, implying consecutive, not simultaneous,
occupancy. The average number of houses per hamlet occupied at one time
is 2.7. However, informants were able to recollect an additional 44
houses, which had been formerly used. Including these, the average
number per occupied hamlet is 3.21. Gifford's family number is 4.89, a
value which may be increased to 6.0 to cover aboriginal conditions.
Thus the mean size of an active prehistoric Mono hamlet may be taken as
19.25, or let us say 20 persons. Since the Mono villages were
intermittently inhabited whereas those of the Miwok were permanent and
probably somewhat larger, the average value of 27.35 for the latter
seems in no way excessive.
From the above considerations the conclusion is warranted that for the
northern Mono and the Miwok the population as derived from good modern
ethnographic data is about 70 per cent of the precontact value. The
estimate for the upper Merced, derived from Merriam's village lists was
1,239. If the factor of 70 per cent is applied, the aboriginal
population becomes 1,770.
For the lower Merced Valley we are dependent entirely upon the account
of Moraga's visit in 1806. Coming from the west, he crossed the San
Joaquin River on September 27 and moved three leagues north to camp on
or near Bear Creek in T8S, R10E. The following day, September 28,
Moraga divided his expedition and sent one group north and another
northeast to explore. Both groups found a great river, with many
natives, all of whom fled on seeing the white men. At least one
rancheria was found, because Moraga "adquirio la noticia de otras 5
rancherias sitas en el rio fuera de aquella en que se hallaba del parte
de 250 almas, segun el informe de los gentiles." On the 29th the camp
was moved three leagues ENE (more probably NNE) to the river, the
Merced. There were two rancherias on the river bank, the people of
which had fled through fear of the white men. On the 30th a party went
up the Merced and found many natives "sin duda de sus 5 rancherias."
Moraga then went north and returned to the Merced on October 7. The
Spaniards saw many natives and were visited by 79 warriors from the
rancheria "del otro lado del rio," i.e., on the south bank. The 8th of
October the expedition visited the rancheria just mentioned; to judge
by the number of men (the women having fled) the rancheria had 200
souls. This place was called Latelate, and there was another village
near by, called Lachuo, with the same number of inhabitants. The next
day the expedition moved on southeast.
Moraga evidently saw two villages and heard of about five others. The
two which he saw, Latelate and Lachuo, are said, on the basis of the
warriors seen, to have contained 200 persons each. Since warriors of
one village, Latelate, numbered 79, the estimate of 200 total
inhabitants, or a ratio of 2.5 to 1, is entirely reasonable. If the
other five villages had the same number, the aggregate for the river
would have been 1,400. However, some of the others may have been
larger. In the list of rancherias appended by Muñoz, the approximate
sequence of the journey is followed. Five rancherias can be ascribed
logically to the Merced: Chineguis, Yunate, Chamuasi, Latelate, and
Lachuo. Chineguis follows Nupchenche in the list, Nupchenche having 250
souls and Chineguis the same population. Likewise, Yunate and Chamuasi
have the same "segun compute regular." Latelate and Lachuo are given
200 each, thus corresponding to the text of the diary. The other two
villages are not mentioned by name in the list but it may be presumed
that they were of approximately the same size, let us say one of 250
souls and the other of 200. Thus the Muñoz-Moraga count gives us 1,600
inhabitants.
It will be remembered that the figures cited by Moraga for the
population of villages in the Kaweah-Tulare region were uniformly at
variance with those of other observers and were always too low. Hence a
question may be raised with respect to his data for the Merced valley.
The villages in this area, by all subsequent accounts, were smaller
than in the heavily populated territory farther south. Furthermore,
Moraga's was the first expedition of which we have record which
explored the Merced Basin. These facts would tend to indicate that
Moraga's figures may be reasonably accurate. On the other hand, the
repeated statements that the Indians fled on the approach of the white
men and the fact that estimates had to be made from the number of
warriors seen leave the possibility open that there actually were more
people than Moraga thought. Hence it will be reasonable to ascribe an
aboriginal population of 250 to each of the seven rancherias, giving as
a total 1,750 for the lower Merced River.
The population of the entire valley then would have been 3,520, or,
rounding off to the nearest hundred, 3,500. The survivors along the
lower river amounted to approximately 550 in the year 1852. If the
population in Moraga's time was 1,750, then the reduction from 1806 to
1852 was to 31.4 per cent of the original level. In view of the
somewhat more remote position of the Merced, this figure checks quite
well with the values found on the Kaweah River and Lake Tulare.
MERCED RIVER ... 3,500
______________________
THE KINGS RIVER
The next region to be considered is the basin of the Kings River. Like
the Kaweah, this stream may be divided into three sectors. The first
comprises the delta and slough area southwest of Kingsburg and was the
home of the Yokuts tribes, Apiachi, Wimilchi, and Nutunutu (area 4A).
The second includes the valley margin and foothills, with the tribes
Wechihit, Aiticha, Choinimni, Chukamina, Michahai, and Emtimbich (area
4B). The third is in the higher foothills and embraces the territory of
the Mono groups, Wobunuch and Holkoma (area 4C).
The Kings River sloughs were first described in 1804 by Martin, who
mentions the tribe, or rancheria, of Notonto (Nutunutu) but gives no
population data. The next visitor was Moraga in 1806. In the diary of
the expedition, written by Father Muñoz, no mention is made of Notonto
but in the appended "List of rancherias visited in this trip and the
one in April" are included Notonto I with 300 persons and Notonto II
with 100. Estudillo saw the region in 1819 and said that Notonto (only
one village of this name is mentioned) had 303 men "todos gente robusta
y de armas." He also saw a few old women and children. Since the men
are of the same type ("robust warriors") and were carefully counted in
the same way as at Chischa, the same ratio of warriors to total
inhabitants may be used. A population of 866 is thus indicated or, in
round numbers, 850. Estudillo also says there were four chiefs, one
each of the "Notontos," Gumilche, Guchetema, and Tateguy. The Nutunutu
are thus clearly segregated from the Wimilchi (Gumilche). The other two
names cannot be traced and may indeed have been those of individuals.
The "guimilchis," in the meantime, had been seen in 1815 by Pico, who
says that they had at least two rancherias.
From the ethnographers we get indication of six villages: of the
Apiachi, the village of Wohui (Kroeber, Gayton, Latta); of the
Nutunutu, the villages of Chiau (Kroeber, Gayton, Latta), Hibekia
(Kroeber), Honotau (Gayton), and Kadestiu (Latta); of the Wimilchi, the
village of Ugona (Kroeber, Gayton, Latta). If these villages actually
existed in the early years of the nineteenth century, they can scarcely
have held less than 250 persons apiece and the population would have
been in the vicinity of 1,500.
From the Spanish accounts we find evidence of at least four villages:
originally two (perhaps later one) of the Nutunutu and two of the
Wimilchi. One of the latter may have been in fact the principal village
of the Apiachi. The Nutunutu, whether as a single village or as a
tribe, seem to have amounted to fully 850 persons at the time of
Estudillo. Since these groups had been exposed to expeditions beginning
in 1804, it is very probable that they had undergone considerable
attrition before they were observed by Estudillo. This point of view is
supported by Estudillo's remark that he requested the warriors of
Notonto to meet him _without their weapons_ because this rancheria "es
la mas velicosa y terrible de los Tulares." Hence it is quite probable
that the aboriginal population reached 1,200. A value of 500 may be
assigned arbitrarily to the other villages or tribes, for Estudillo
mentions three chiefs apart from the Notontos and Pico says that the
Wimilchi had at least two rancherias. The probable aboriginal
population for the entire area is therefore 1,700.
By the year 1850 the tribes of the Kings River delta were represented,
according to the account of G. H. Derby, only by the rancheria of
Notonto which then had 300 inhabitants. The population had thus fallen
to 17.6 per cent of its former value. A footnote to the decline of the
native inhabitants in this region is the fact that within a year or two
after Derby's visit the village of Notonto was attacked by American
cattlemen and farmers. The rancheria was devastated and 200 of the 300
people present were massacred in cold blood.
For the second sector of the Kings River we are dependent primarily
upon the record of the Moraga expedition. Moraga and Muñoz evidently
covered the river from the vicinity of Reedley to, or nearly to, the
junction of the main stream and Mill Creek. The villages mentioned by
them belonged principally to the Aiticha and the Choinimni. The
Wechihit and the Toihicha may have been included but the Chukamina,
Michahai, and Emtimbich seem to have been overlooked. Hence the figures
given by Moraga are undoubtedly incomplete.
On October 16, 1806, having arrived from the San Joaquin River two days
previously, Moraga sent out two scouting parties. One went upstream and
found a rancheria of "como de 60 almas," called Ayquiche (or Aycayche).
They were no doubt among the Aiticha, above Sanger. Here they heard
about, but did not see, six other rancherias "sitas a la orillas del
rio por la parte de la sierra." The other party went downstream and
found three villages close together on a spacious plain along the banks
of the river. They had a total of 400 inhabitants, but most of the
people had fled. The "List of rancherias visited in this trip and the
one in April" gives the names of these villages: Aycayche, which
"according to the Indians" had 200 people, Ecsaa with 100, Chiaja with
100, and Xayuase with 100. In addition there was Capitau, which was
very small and a "sugeto" of Xayuase. It had about 10 people.
Apparently in October Muñoz and Moraga found only 60 Indians left in
Aycayche, whereas in April they learned that it really contained 200.
The difference must be ascribed to fugitivism.
The three downstream villages are credited by the "List" with 100
inhabitants apiece, but the diary states that there was a total of 400.
The latter figure is more likely to be correct. Thus, with Aycayche,
Moraga saw in this sector four villages and 600 persons. The other
group of villages, six in number, was farther toward the mountains and
no particular information concerning them is given in the diary. The
"List," however, is more explicit. Under Aycayche it is stated:
Aqui hay otras 6 rancherias que no se pudieron reconocer y
son todos, segun la noticia de los indios de esta rancheria
como del porte de almas de Pizcache.
Pizcache is said to contain 200 souls. An aggregate of 1,200 persons is
therefore indicated or, for the entire region seen by Moraga, 1,800.
The middle course of the Kings River has been discussed in the
preceding section and it has been pointed out that in the middle of the
nineteenth century this region was relatively heavily populated. The
accounts of several contemporary observers indicate that in 1850 or
thereabouts somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 natives were still to be
found between the remnants of the Nutunutu on the west and the
foothills Mono on the east. The ethnographic data supplied by Kroeber,
Gayton, Latta, and Stewart show approximately 25 villages remembered by
informants. If we use the fairly conservative average of 150 persons
per village, the total is 3,750. To assume 3,500 is merely to stay
within the bounds of the existing evidence.
If we accept tentatively 3,500 as the number of Indians on the middle
Kings River in midcentury, then we are confronted with the problem of
backward extrapolation. For the Tulare-Kaweah region the probable
decline from 1800 to 1850 was probably to the level of approximately 20
per cent of the original value. Direct application of this factor to
the Kings River gives a value for 1800 of 17,500. This is manifestly
far too high. For the Mono and the Miwok in the upper foothills many
facts point to a population decline to approximately 70 per cent of the
prehistoric value. Application of this factor gives 5,000 for the Kings
River, a high but not impossible figure.
Other considerations are worth mention at this point. In his diary of
1826 José Dolores Pico describes his adventures on the Kings River in
January of that year. He was chasing stock thieves and trying to
recover stolen animals. From January 10 to January 14 he beat back and
forth along the Kings River, from the sloughs to the foothills,
attacking every Indian in sight. The results were discouraging. He
captured no animals, killed not over a score of natives, and was
completely outmanoeuvered by the combined forces of the Wimilchi, the
Notontos, and Chukamina. The entire tenor of the document suggests an
active, competent, and quite powerful local confederacy of tribes. This
diary of Pico describes the only expedition to the Kings River of which
we have documentary knowledge between 1806 and the coming of the
Americans.
These facts suggest, first, that there was a sizable population which
managed to maintain itself reasonably well for several decades along
the Kings River. Secondly, they suggest that there may perhaps have
been a slow migration of the more exposed valley people, like the
Nutunutu, higher up the river. Both these factors would tend to keep
the population decline to a minimum.
In view of the confusion surrounding the evidence in this area and in
view of the apparent inadequacy of the Moraga figures the aboriginal
population of the middle Kings River may be set at 5,000, with the full
realization that this value represents the best guess under the
circumstances.
The upper river was inhabited by the Mono groups, Holkoma and Wobonuch,
for which an 1850 population of 1,700 was computed. The decline to 70
per cent may be accepted here without serious reservation; hence the
original number would have been 2,340. Adding the values for the three
sectors of the river we get 9,130 or, estimating to the nearest
hundred, 9,100.
KINGS RIVER ... 9,100
_____________________
UPPER SAN JOAQUIN, FRESNO, AND
CHOWCHILLA RIVERS AND MARIPOSA CREEK
The area between the Merced and the Kings rivers (see maps 1 and 4,
area 5), which includes the courses of the upper San Joaquin, the
Fresno, and the Chowchilla rivers, together with Mariposa Creek, is
very poorly represented in the early documentary sources. The central
valley itself, as far as the foothills, was apparently traversed by
numerous expeditions and raids, and the population was largely
missionized, killed, or dispersed. The written record is, however,
quite inadequate. It is therefore not feasible to consider each of
these river systems separately, as was done in the discussion of the
population about 1850. It is preferable to discuss the entire region as
a unit and, when necessary, pass to indirect methods of estimate.
The Pitkachi on the San Joaquin are mentioned in 1806 by Moraga, who
allows 200 persons to their rancheria. The tribe appears again in the
baptism record of Soledad Mission (MS in the Bancroft Library,
Berkeley) according to which 205 Indians from "Picatche" were baptized
from 1821 to 1824 and another 18 in 1831. An additional 23 came from
rancherias in the vicinity, a total of 246. Another rancheria, Capicha,
is referred to by Pico in 1815, who said it was uninhabited at that
time, the inhabitants having fled to the mountains. As late as 1853
Wessels said that the Pitcache, together with the Noo-to-ah, a Mono
group, numbered 500 to 600 souls. Kroeber mentions three villages
remembered by modern informants.
If 246 Indians were baptized in one mission, the tribe as a whole must
have numbered at least four times as many, or 1,000. If two fair-sized
rancherias are mentioned by the Spanish observers, the entire tribe may
well have possessed four or five, which again implies a population of
1,000. If there were approximately 300 survivors in 1853, by comparison
with other open valley areas the original population must have been
fully three or four times as great, or perhaps 1,200. If three
rancherias were known to modern informants, they must formerly have
been important places with anywhere from 200 to 400 people, again
indicating a total of 1,000 for the tribe.
Concerning the Hoyima there are two references, one by Pico in 1826 and
one by Rodriguez in 1828. Pico states merely that he attacked the
rancheria and captured 40 gentiles and 1 Christian, a fact which in
itself would not furnish a very significant clue to population. He also
noted "mucha guesamenta y cueros casi frescos de caballada que habian
matado."
The account by Rodriguez is more circumstantial. This soldier went
along the San Joaquin River in late April of 1828. On the 24th he sent
a group of men to scout the "rancheria de los Joyimas, que es adonde an
comido la caballada." At dawn the next day they attacked the village,
"que estaba en medio de los dos brazos del rio" (the San Joaquin west
or northwest of Fresno). He captured 26 Indians and 27 animals
(horses). Another 60 or 80 horses escaped "en el monte." At about this
time a gentile captain came from a rancheria designated Guche or
Getche, depending upon how one deciphers the handwriting of the
manuscript. He "vino a los Joyimas a comer caballo." The rancheria
named here is probably that of the Heuchi on the Fresno River. This
gentile said there was another rancheria "mas arriba" at which there
were horses. Rodriguez sent Simeon Castro to investigate. He found no
one at the rancheria mentioned but went on 2 leagues to another
rancheria, likewise deserted but containing the carcasses of 100 dead
horses, which had been slaughtered and were about to be eaten. It was
noted by Rodriguez that: "Estas 3 rancherias son una misma que es la de
los Jaimes." It was also remarked that the rancheria was divided when
the horses arrived in order to eat with less fear of detection. From
this account it is clear that the Joyimas had at least three villages.
Allowing somewhat over 300 persons each, the population of the group
would reach 1,000.
The slaughtered horses open up an interesting field of speculation. It
is clear that by 1828 large segments of the aboriginal population had
entirely given up the sedentary ancestral mode of life in favor of an
existence based upon stock raiding. To do this it was necessary to
recast village life completely--as is suggested by the fact that the
rancheria was "divided" when the horses arrived. In order to catch the
horses for food other horses were essential for rapid transportation to
and from the coastal settlements. New arts and skills had to be
learned, and new categories of labor had to be evolved.
Rodriguez found among the Hoyima as a whole 87 to 107 live horses (27
captured, 60-80 in the wilderness), which were presumably about to be
killed and eaten, together with 100 animals already slaughtered. The
total thus reached approximately 200. The question now is pertinent:
how much food can be obtained from 200 horses? If we assume that each
of these relatively light range animals weighed 800 pounds, we may
deduct about 25 per cent to account for bones, hide, certain of the
viscera, and other inedible parts, leaving 600 pounds which the Indians
could and did consume. The aggregate is 120,000 pounds of meat. If this
meat was dried and preserved, according to general practice, it was
sufficient to supply 329 persons the equivalent of one pound of fresh
meat per day for one calendar year. If it had to be consumed
immediately or within a few days, and if every man, woman, and child
ate 20 pounds apiece, it was adequate for 6,000 people. If the entire
tribe, not merely one rancheria, divided the meat into equal shares,
and if the tribe numbered 1,000 persons, then the share of each
individual amounted to 120 pounds. Whether these figures are strictly
accurate is irrelevant. They merely emphasize that a quite sizable
group must have been concerned. We may therefore regard the Hoyima as
being as large a tribe as the Pitcache, and estimate that the
population was at least 1,000.
The remaining two tribes in the valley proper, as listed by Kroeber and
others, were the Heuchi and the Chauchila. They occupied the north bank
of the Fresno River and the distributaries of the Chowchilla River. The
ethnographic data include no more than one or two villages for each
tribe. The Heuchi are referred to by Rodriguez, who says that the
rancheria of the "Jeuche" was completely deserted. However, since it
was the principal tribal village, it must have contained at least 200
persons. The Chauchila were also noticed by Rodriguez, who says that at
"Chausila" he "captured" 142 people and "killed many." If we concede
that as many escaped as were captured or killed, there must have been
fully 400 in all.
The Nupchenches, although they are merely mentioned as a possible tribe
by Kroeber (Handbook, p. 485) and are doubtfully recorded by Schenck
(1926), occupied an important position in the early nineteenth century.
Indeed, the failure of Kroeber and Schenck to consider them seriously
makes it necessary to set forth in some detail the information about
them contained in the Spanish reports.
These natives were distributed along the San Joaquin River from its big
bend near Mendota to approximately the mouth of the Merced (see map 4,
area 5A). The first mention of them is by Moraga in the diary of 1806.
He found two rancherias, Nupchenche with 250 people and Cutucho with
400 souls which was "junto a la primera llamada Nupchenche." This means
that Cutucho was close to but at that time not necessarily part of
Nupchenche. From the description in the diary Nupchenche was situated
at or near the mouth of Santa Rita Slough in T9S, R12E, and this is
almost exactly where Schenck places it on his map (Schenck, 1926, p.
133). The next visitor who left a record was José Dolores Pico in 1815.
On November 7 he left San Luis Gonzaga in western Merced County (in
approximately T10S, R8E) and went east to the Tulares at "Arroyo
nombrado San Jose," which was close to the rancheria of the Cheneches.
At dawn of the 8th he attacked the village and captured 66 persons, but
"... la mayor parte de esta gente se fue p^{r} estar dha rancheria en mal
parage." The gentiles said that 4 leagues up the San Joaquin River was
Nupchenche, thus placing Cheneches on the river in the southern part of
T8 S, R11E. This location checks well with the statement made elsewhere
in the diary by Pico that Cheneches was near the junction of the San
Joaquin and "Las Mariposas," or Mariposa Creek. If Pico captured 66
persons but "the majority" escaped, the total number must have reached
from 200 to 400, if not more.
Pico then scouted Nupchenche and learned that all the inhabitants had
fled. He therefore by-passed the village and went 8 leagues southeast
up the San Joaquin to the rancheria Copicha. This rancheria, which by
the way must not be confused with the Cutucho of Moraga, was thus
located on the river several miles north of Firebaugh, probably near or
in T11S, R13E. As a check on this location is Pico's further statement
that Copicha was in the valley of the San Joaquin "junto del Tecolote,"
or the Chowchilla. On November 10 he moved 8 leagues southeast from
Copicha and saw horses from the rancheria Tape, which, from the
distances, was near Mendota. This view is supported by Estudillo, who
saw the region in 1819 and says that the spot "... donde Tape tenia su
rancheria" was 24 leagues south of Cheneches and 25 leagues north of
Notonto. Actually, Mendota appears to be approximately halfway between
these two points.
Pico mentions one other village, Malim, which he places near Cheneches.
Confirmation is found in a letter of Fr. Marcelino Marquinez (MS) on
May 25, 1816, stating that the Cheneches recently have killed two
Christians from Malim. The latter rancheria thereupon allied itself
with Notoalh and Luchamme. No other trace of the two last-named
villages is found.
Other writers who mention the Nupchenches group include Fr. Antonio
Jaime, who mentions Cutuchu (MS, 1816) as a rancheria from which Soto
brought back gentiles, and Ortega, who, in his 1815 diary, mentions
Cupicha as having been attacked by Pico. Finally Inocente Garcia in his
manuscript of 1878 records an expedition against the Nupuchineches
under Ignacio Vallejo. The rancheria, even in the 1830's was "muy
Populosa." The expedition captured 100 warriors and 300 of all ages and
sexes, arguing a population of over the 300 claimed as captives.
From these accounts emerge six rancherias, each of which is mentioned
independently by at least two writers. From north to south they were:
Cheneches and Malim, Nupchenches and Cutucho, Copicha, Tape. Moraga
says Nupchenches had 250 people and Cutucho had 400. From Pico's
statement concerning captives we may ascribe a minimum of 300 to
Cheneches, and Copicha, Malim, and Tape can scarcely have been much
smaller. Hence the entire group can have numbered no less than 1,800 in
1816.
At Tape on November 23 Pico found 16 live horses and mules recently
killed together with "mucha carne enterciada." If we neglect the meat,
254 whole animals, dead or alive, were actually counted. From November
25 to 28 the party traveled steadily from Tape to Cheneches. From Tape
to Cheneches inclusive they saw 500 dead horses. It is not clear
whether the 238 animals seen at Tape were included in this figure. If,
however, assuming that they were, we use the same ratio of dead horses
to inhabitants as was discussed with respect to the Hoyima, these
villages should have contained 2,500 persons. This figure is quite
reasonable if we grant that the horses were to be consumed by the
entire group of villages, rather than only one or two of them, and may
be provisionally accepted.
On the basis of the records presented, a probable population value for
the valley floor between the Merced and the Kings rivers in the decade
1810-1820 was 5,100. But this may well be an underestimate and be
representative of the aboriginal population. Evidence pointing in this
direction is the almost complete obliteration of these tribes before
1850. That very serious attrition was going on among these exposed
people is evident from the records of all the explorers. The massacre
and kidnaping described by Pico is itself significant. In addition, we
have the discussion by Estudillo in 1819, who found almost the entire
surviving population of Tape sick and dying. He also points out that at
the moment there were no less than four expeditions, including his own,
ranging up and down the open valley, bent upon destruction. To explore
the problem further indirect methods must be employed. We may therefore
turn to estimates based upon stream distances.
If minor local variation is disregarded, the habitat provided by the
Merced and the Kings rivers from the lower foothills out to the center
of the valley is in no essential respect different from that
characterizing the Mariposa, the Chowchilla, the Fresno, and the San
Joaquin throughout its length below the foothills. The native villages
were spaced more or less uniformly along the larger rivers. Hence an
approximate proportionality should have existed between riverbank
distance and the number of inhabitants. No high degree of precision can
be expected from calculations based upon these premises but the method
yielded rational results for the period centering around 1850 and from
it the correct order of magnitude should be obtainable.
Airline distances are used for the rivers. The general course of all
the streams is substantially straight and the numerous small meanders
are uniform in size and occurrence throughout the area. Three river
sectors are used as a basis: the lower Merced River, the middle Kings
River from and including Mill Creek to Kingsburg plus the principal
tributaries, and the lower Kings from Kingsburg to Lemoore. The data
are compiled briefly as follows in tabular form.
River Miles Persons per
Sector in Length Population River Mile
______ _________ __________ ___________
Lower Merced 32 1,750 55
Middle Kings 75 5,000 67
Lower Kings 20 1,500 75
Despite the uneven nature of the basic information these figures show
considerable internal consistency. The mileage of the San Joaquin,
Fresno, Chowchilla, and Mariposa amounts collectively to approximately
190 miles (the four streams west of Kroeber's line of the valley Yokuts
and down the San Joaquin as far as the mouth of Bear Creek). At 65
persons per mile (the approximate mean of the three values cited above)
the population would be 12,350, or, let us say an even 12,000. This is
more than double the number indicated directly by the Spanish accounts.
It has been pointed out, however, that these accounts are incomplete
with respect to the villages seen and recorded. Furthermore the records
demonstrate a condition of severe disorganization on the part of the
native society. Hence the indirectly computed figure may reflect more
closely the aboriginal population level.
The population in 1850 for the part of the Yokuts territory here being
discussed was considered in a previous section. The best estimates were
found to be 1,000 for the Mariposa and Chowchilla and 2,900 for the
Fresno and San Joaquin. The total, 3,900 is 32.5 per cent of the
estimated aboriginal population and represents, therefore, a reduction
of the same general extent as was demonstrated for the Kaweah-Tulare
Lake region.
The foothill region drained by the four rivers being discussed includes
the extreme northern Yokuts tribes, the North Fork Mono, and some of
the southern Miwok. In the consideration of the 1852 population it was
not advantageous to segregate river sectors as has been done for the
earlier data. This is because, with certain exceptions, the data
pertaining to the later period cover as a rule the entire stretch of
each river, rather than the central valley plain as distinct from the
foothills. Nevertheless it is possible to arrive at the result desired
indirectly.
For the Yokuts on the middle Fresno River it was concluded that the
average number of inhabitants per village was 60. This value was based
on village numbers and general estimates for the period of 1850 and
included also the assumption that the villages had been much reduced in
size by that year. For precontact times it is quite justifiable to
maintain that the average size was of the order of that demonstrated
for the Kings and the Merced, or let us say 150. The tribes on the
Fresno and San Joaquin not seen or at least not reported by the Spanish
writers are the Gashowu, Wakichi, Kechayi, Dumna, Toltichi, Dalinchi,
and Chukchansi. The total number of villages recognized for these seven
tribes by Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta is 36. This total of course rests
on the memory of informants and pertains to conditions in the period
1840 to 1850 or perhaps 1860. There is no proof whatever that the
village number in 1800 was the same, yet the whole history of
Indian-white contact in the valley region leads one to believe that it
can hardly have been smaller. Since there is no evidence to the
contrary and since the hypothesis is inherently reasonable, we may
concede 36 villages of 150 persons each or 5,400 in all.
For the southern Miwok on the upper Mariposa and Chowchilla, calculated
by means of village counts and Gifford's average of 21 Indians per
village, the values of 273 and 410 respectively were obtained. The
factor of a reduction to 70 per cent of the aboriginal population may
be here applied, yielding a total of 975 for the two streams. The
figure for the North Fork Mono in prehistoric times has already been
placed at 640.
If we now add 12,000 for the valley and marginal Yokuts, 5,400 for the
foothill Yokuts between the Miwok border and the Kings River, 975 for
the southern Miwok on the Mariposa and Chowchilla and 640 for the North
Fork Mono the total becomes 19,015.
The validity of this figure can be subjected to a check through
comparison by area. This method cannot be expected to show up minor or
secondary errors but it will bring to light any fundamental or serious
discrepancies. We may block out four major regions: the Kaweah-Tulare
Lake, the Kings River, the Merced River, and the segment between the
Merced and the Kings. Each of these represents fundamentally the same
type of environment, i.e., a rough strip extending southwest to
northeast, beginning with the lakes and sloughs of the central valley
axis, passing across the valley floor to the foothills, and reaching
ultimately the middle altitudes of the Sierra Nevada. Four cross
sections are thus obtained, differing in width but fairly uniformly
including the habitats represented. It should be noted that the water
surface of Lake Tulare as it existed in 1860 has been deducted from the
area of the Kaweah-Tulare region; also that the two northern regions
include a relatively greater expanse of uninhabitable mountain
territory than do the two southern regions. The western boundary has
been drawn along a line approximately five miles west of the San
Joaquin River and the prolongation of its axis toward the lake. The
westward extension of the Tachi toward Coalinga had to be neglected
since there are no clear tribal boundaries in this area. The number of
square miles was computed by township lines and the error of estimate
must be considered at least plus or minus 20 per cent. The results
follow:
Population
Area density
Region (sq. mi.) Population per sq. mi.
______ _________ __________ ___________
Kaweah-Tulare 1,880 14,100 7.12
Kings 1,530 9,100 5.85
Merced 1,400 3,500 2.50
Mariposa-San Joaquin 3,760 19,000 5.05
The density of the Mariposa-San Joaquin area is quite close to that of
the Kings River Basin. The Kaweah-Tulare territory has a somewhat
higher density, but this finding is compatible with the known enormous
concentration of population around Tulare Lake and in the Kaweah delta.
The value for the Merced strip is unduly low. The discrepancy can be
accounted for on two grounds. The first, already mentioned, is that
this river, throughout its length, passes through a greater area of
uninhabitable mountains than do many of the other streams. The second
is that our estimates for the lower Merced are insufficient. They rest
in essence on the single report by Moraga, who, as has been shown,
tended to underestimate and who did not see, or at least did not report
upon, the entire course of the lower river. Moreover there is no report
at all from Spanish sources with respect to the San Joaquin between the
mouth of the Chowchilla (Nupchenche group) and the mouth of the
Tuolumne. That villages did exist throughout this region is attested by
the illuminating account of J. J. Warner, who was a member of Ewing
Young's expedition to the great valley in 1832 and 1833. (I use the
text as quoted in Warner, 1890.) He says (p. 28):
In the fall of 1832 there were a number of Indian villages
on King's River, between its mouth and the mountains: also
on the San Joaquin River from the base of the mountains down
to and some distance below the great slough. On the Merced
River from the mountains to its junction with the San
Joaquin there were no Indian villages; but from about this
point on the San Joaquin, as well as on all of its principal
tributaries, the Indian villages were numerous; and many of
these villages contained from fifty to 100 dwellings.
It is noteworthy that Warner saw no villages on the lower Merced,
precisely at the spot where Moraga in 1806 had recorded no less than
seven. All of these must have been obliterated during the intervening
twenty-six years, striking testimony to the devastation being wrought
among the open valley peoples. But from the junction of the Merced and
the San Joaquin rivers, along the main axis of the valley the villages
were numerous, some of them containing 50 to 100 houses or at least 250
to 500 people.
What happened to these villages is graphically told in Warner's own
words.
On our return, late in the summer of 1833, we found the
valleys depopulated. From the head of the Sacramento to the
great bend and slough of the San Joaquin, we did not see
more than six or eight Indians; while large numbers of their
skulls and dead bodies were to be seen under almost every
shade-tree near water, where the uninhabited and deserted
villages had been converted into graveyards; and on the San
Joaquin River, in the immediate neighborhood of the larger
class of villages, which, in the preceding year, were the
abodes of a large number of those Indians, we found not only
graves, but the vestiges of a funeral pyre. At the mouth of
King's river we encountered the first and only village of
the stricken race that we had seen after entering the great
valley.
This was the pandemic of 1833, concerning which, in comparison with
some accounts, Warner's description is a model of conservatism.
It is evident that a combination of circumstances prevents us from
making an adequate assessment of the aboriginal population of the lower
Merced River and adjacent segments of the San Joaquin. Our density
figure is about half the expected value. If we had the full facts, we
could perhaps double the estimated population. Under existing
conditions we can feel reasonably sure of the value given for the area
between the Mariposa and the San Joaquin rivers.
MARIPOSA-SAN JOAQUIN ... 19,000
_______________________________
THE SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
The southern end of the valley, beyond Tulare Lake and the Kaweah
River, can best be considered in three parts. The first is the foothill
strip from the Kaweah to the Tejon Pass, which was inhabited by the
Yokuts tribes Koyeti, Yaudanchi, Bokninuwad, Kumachisi, Paleuyami, and
Yauelmani (maps 1 and 2, area 1G). The second comprises the lower Kern
River together with the former Buenavista Lake basin. This area was
held by the Yokuts tribes Hometowoli, Tuhohi, and Tulamni. The third
includes the peripheral fringe of relatively high foothill and mountain
country of the southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi and was inhabited
by non-Yokuts people: Tubatulabal, Kawaiisu, Kitanemuk, and the Tokya
branch of the Chumash (maps 1 and 2, areas 1A to 1E).
Only the Koyeti are described by the Spanish authorities hitherto
consulted. Moraga mentions the rancheria Coyahete with a population of
400 in 1806. Estudillo in 1819 found a rancheria, which he called
Arroyo de Copaipich, with 200 and one called Canyon Agspa with 400
people. The latter may perhaps be Moraga's Coyahete. If so, the tribe
had a population of at least 600 in 1819, but it must have suffered
some decline prior to that year. Latta's informants were able to
remember 8 villages. Moreover, the tribe was oriented ecologically
toward the Kaweah delta and oak forest, although it was actually
situated on the lower Tule River. Thus an estimate of 800 persons would
not be too much for the precontact period. The Yaudanchi on the upper
Tule River also, according to Kroeber and to Latta, had 8 villages and
covered considerably more territory than the Koyeti. Hence the same
population may be ascribed to them. The Bokninuwad were evidently a
smaller group, since Kroeber reports for them only two villages and
Latta none. It would not be safe to allow them more than 200 persons.
If we do so, then the tentative estimate for the three tribes must be
put at a total of 1,800.
For the remainder of the territory held by the Yokuts there are only
two documentary references, the diaries of Garcés in 1776 and Zalvidea
in 1806. Both these writers give population data which have been
subject to considerable controversy.
For the Buenavista region the four pertinent villages are mentioned by
Zalvidea and are as follows:
Village
and Tribe Houses Men Women Children Total
_________ ______ _____ _____ ________ _____
Malapoa
(Tulamni) ... 29 22 8 59
Buenavista
(Tulamni) ... 36 144 38 218
Sisipistu
(Hometwoli) 28 50-60 ... ... ...
Yaguelame
(Yauelmani) ... 92 ... ... 300
From even casual inspection it is apparent that Zalvidea did not see
the complete population of any one of these villages and that many of
the inhabitants had been removed by previous expeditions or were in
hiding. The village of Malapoa is small but presents no serious
demographic discrepancies. The number of children was low, but as has
been pointed out in a previous discussion Zalvidea was counting as men
or women everyone over the age of seven years. The children, calculated
according to his method, amounted to 13.5 per cent of the total.
At Buenavista he found only 36 men to 144 women, an incredible
situation unless most of the men had fled or had been killed. Under
normal conditions the number of men should at least approximately equal
that of the women. Therefore in order to reconstruct the probable
population we are forced to assume the presence of at least 144 men.
This gives a total of 326 persons of which 8.6 per cent would have been
children. For the other two villages only the number of men is given,
no doubt the men actually seen. Indeed at Yaguelmane Zalvidea "counted"
the 92 men he specifies. Significantly, however, he counted men "from 7
to 40 years" and infers that the village had a population of 300. If
for Yaguelmane we allow 10 per cent of children seven years old or
younger the adults would number 270. If the sex ratio were near unity,
then, with 92 men 40 years or younger, there must have been 47 men over
that age and 135 women of all ages. If the same ratios are applied to
Sisipistu with 55 men from 7 to 40 years of age, the population would
be 180. This figure is quite consistent with the number of houses, 28,
for the number of persons per house would then be 6.43. The four
villages (Malapoa, Buenavista, Yaguelame, and Sisipistu) consequently
must have had populations of 59, 326, 300, and 180 respectively. The
average of the four is 191 persons.
Since there are no other historical data pertaining to the lake region,
it is necessary to utilize the village lists of Kroeber (1925) and
Latta (1949). These investigators, through their informants, have
located 3 villages for the Hometowoli, 1 for the Tuhohi, 3 for the
Tulamni, and 2 for the Yauelmani of the lower Kern River, making 9 in
all. As suggested with respect to other areas the number of villages
was undoubtedly as great in 1806 as in 1840 or 1850. Hence we can be
assured of at least 9 in 1806. For size it is proper to use Zalvidea's
average of 191 inhabitants, thus giving as the population of the
Buenavista basin 1,720.
For the southern foothills we must rely upon the diary of Garcés.
Gifford and Schenck (1926) discuss this document at length, concluding
(p. 21) that the population actually seen by Garcés north of the slopes
of the Tehachapi was 750 and that the total population "south of the
Tule River" was 1,000 to 1,500. Since the present writer must differ
from these authors, it is worth while to review once more the evidence
furnished by the Garcés account. In so doing the exact route of the
explorer must be made plain.
On May 1, 1776, having previously descended the southern mountains to
the valley floor, Garcés broke camp:
Having gone one league northwest I came upon a large river
which made much noise, at the outlet (al salir) of the
Sierra de San Marcos and whose waters ... flowed on a course
from the east through a straitened channel.
(Coues, ed., 1900, pp. 280-281). The river of course was the Kern and
the spot was without question the point at which the river suddenly
breaks out onto the plain from its canyon. The water was here swift
("made much noise"). It literally "sallied forth" from the mountains,
and its course from the east was through a narrow channel. This place
is about 14 miles east-northeast of Bakersfield on California State
Highway 178.
Garcés then went downstream "a little way" and found a rancheria (no.
1) on the right bank. After going a little way farther he saw a
rancheria (no. 2) on the left bank and another (no. 3) "to the west."
He went downstream no more than 2 or 3 miles, otherwise, as was his
invariable custom, he would have specified his distances in leagues.
Three rancherias can therefore be located on the Kern between the last
abrupt slope of the eastward hills and just below the mouth of
Cottonwood Creek. These correspond on the map to Kroeber's villages
Altau and Shoko of the Paleuyami and Konoilkin of the Yauelmani,
although the actual identity is by no means assured.
After crossing the river with difficulty Garcés struck northwest "and a
little north" for 3 leagues. This brought him to a stream where there
was a rancheria (no. 4). From a point 3 or 4 miles below the entrance
of the Kern River canyon a line running northwest by north extends
diagonally about 7 miles across T28S, R29E to reach Poso Creek near the
northern boundary of the township.
After passing the night at the rancheria mentioned (no. 4), Garcés went
straight north for 4-1/2 leagues. On the way he went by some deserted
rancherias. These villages were not temporarily deserted, with the
inhabitants in hiding. They were "rancherias despobladas," that is,
permanently depopulated or abandoned. It is interesting to speculate on
the cause of this phenomenon, for the depopulation can have been due
only to intertribal warfare or disease. We know nothing of any native
wars of sufficient magnitude to have destroyed several whole villages.
On the other hand, as Garcés himself later points out, Spaniards had
already penetrated the region. Pedro Fages was in the southern valley
in 1772 on his way to the Colorado and Garcés found at least one
deserting soldier living with the Indians. It is quite possible that
decline of population had already begun as early as 1776.
After traveling 4-1/2 leagues Garcés found another rancheria (no. 5),
at which he spent the night of May 2-3. This must have been somewhere
near the hamlet of Woody at the southern boundary of T25S, R29E. On May
3 he moved another 2-1/2 leagues, still north, to reach the White River
near or slightly to the west of the village of White River in T24S,
R29E. Here he camped at a rancheria (no. 6) of 150 souls. On May 4,
having reached his farthest point north, he visited another rancheria
(no. 7) half a league east. At rancheria no. 6 he found an Indian who
was a fugitive from the coast and also heard that two Spanish soldiers
had been killed for molesting Indian women. The contact with the whites
was therefore clearly established. Stephen Powers (1877), who was in
the San Joaquin Valley in the decade of 1850 says that "on White River
there are no Indians, neither have there been any for many years." Here
again is an indication of depopulation at a very early date.
On May 5 Garcés started to retrace his steps southward, reaching at
2-1/2 leagues the previous rancheria (i.e., no. 5). From here he must
have diverged somewhat eastward of his northbound trail for at 2
leagues he saw another rancheria (no. 8) "to the east" which he had not
seen on the way up. This probably was toward the eastern side of T26S,
R20E. Then, he says, he went southeast 3 leagues to Poso Creek. This
would put him on Poso Creek near the center of township T27S, R30E, a
point about 9 miles airline above his place of crossing on May 2. Here
he found a rancheria (no. 9), the chief of which told him about another
rancheria (no. 10) to the east where a Spanish renegade lived with an
Indian wife. The following day, May 6, he started out again south or
southwest and got lost in the hills of upper Poso Creek. In these hills
between Poso Creek and the Kern River he found another rancheria (no.
11) of "more than 100 souls." This was probably in the northern part of
township T28S, R30E. Finally on May 7 he reached the Kern 1 league
above his first crossing. His first crossing had been accomplished 2 or
3 miles below the mouth of the canyon hence he must have come out very
close to the mouth. He then went downstream to the rancheria where he
had crossed (no. 1) but he did not stop here. He continued down the
river for 2 leagues to a rancheria he had not seen before (no. 12) and
which had "some 150 souls."
Two leagues downstream from rancheria no. 1, or about 3 leagues below
the mouth of the canyon would have put him at a point roughly 5 to 6
miles east-northeast of Bakersfield, not at the site of the city, as is
supposed by Coues (1900, p. 299). On May 8 he went 3 leagues
south-southwest, then turned and traveled 6 leagues southeast and east
to the Tehachapi. These distances and directions plotted on the map
place him just at the mouth of Tejon Creek.
To summarize the rancherias mentioned: Garcés saw four villages on the
Kern in territory of the Paleuyami or Yauelmani (nos. 1, 2, 3, 12), six
on Poso Creek or minor watercourses to the north thereof (nos. 4, 5, 8,
9, 10, 11), all Paleuyami, and two on White River (nos. 6, 7) in the
territory of the Kumachisi.
The size of these villages has been subject to some debate. Garcés
cites two with 150 persons and one with 100, but Gifford and Schenck
think that he specifies population only for the largest places. The
other nine would therefore be smaller. These authors, however, put the
average village size at about 60 (750 people in 12 villages).
Deducting 400 for the three rancherias specified, the average of the
other nine would be 39 which seems much too low. If Zalvidea's figures
are any criterion, the villages on the Kern should have averaged at
least 100 inhabitants, and it must be noted that Garcés found two
rancherias in the hills with 150 and 100 persons respectively. Thus it
seems reasonable to allow an average of 100 rather than 60. If so, the
population seen by Garcés was in the vicinity of 1,200.
Now it is evident that Garcés did not see all the villages in the
region. He covered about 10 or 12 miles of the Kern below the canyon, a
good deal of upper Poso Creek, and perhaps 5 miles of White River. He
never reached the lower stretches of the rivers at all. It is fair to
assume that there were as many rancherias which he did not see as there
were seen by him. If so the estimate of the population should be
doubled, making 2,400.
One secondary piece of evidence is at hand. Garcés saw 8 villages of
the Paleuyami (6 in the hills, perhaps 2 on the Kern). Now Zalvidea in
1806 says that the Pelones (Paleuyami) had at that time 13 rancherias.
Allowing for shrinkage in the intervening thirty years, this is twice
the number seen by Garcés.
We may at this juncture have recourse to river mileage estimates. It
was found previously (p. 36) that for the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced,
Mariposa, and Chowchilla there was in 1850 0.34 village per mile of
stream, with the Chowchilla having the lowest value, 0.20 village. For
the Merced and the Kings rivers below the foothills in the first years
of the nineteenth century it was calculated that there were on the
average 65 persons per river mile. Assuming that the average village
size was 150 inhabitants, there would have been 0.44 village per river
mile. The southern streams were probably more sparsely inhabited than
those just mentioned. Hence it is reasonable to apply the factor found
for the Chowchilla, 0.20 village per mile, to the White River, Poso
Creek, and the Kern River. There are about 150 miles of stream in these
systems east of a line running from Porterville to Bakersfield, a line
which Kroeber takes as the approximate westward limit of the foothill
tribes. This means a probable 30 villages. If the average of 100
persons per village is used, as suggested above, this means a
population of 3,000. The direct documentary approach thus gives 2,400
and the indirect method 3,000. A fair figure would be the mean of the
two, or 2,700.
The peripheral hills on the southeast and south were held by several
tribes. The entire upper Kern River, above the present village of
Bodfish, belonged to the Shoshonean group, the Tubatulabal (area 1E).
Kroeber thinks they may have reached a population of 1,000, which seems
a reasonable figure. From the Kern and Walker's Pass south to Sycamore
Creek (area 1D) were the Kawaiisu, a tribe, according to Kroeber, of
500 persons. In the southeastern corner from Sycamore Creek to Poso
Creek were a few Yauelmani and the Kitanemuk. Pastoria Creek and Alisos
Creek were occupied by a northward extension of the Alliklik, and from
Alisos Creek westward to Bitter Water Creek were found the Tokya group
of the Chumash.
For the groups beyond the Kawaiisu there are no population data of any
kind. Even Kroeber fails to make an estimate. If we say 1,000 for them
all in aboriginal times it will be a pure guess, but one which may be
somewhere near the truth in view of the extent and character of the
terrain involved. The total for the peripheral region would then be
approximately 2,500 and that for the southern end of the valley as a
whole 6,920, or in round numbers 6,900.
SOUTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY ... 6,900
_____________________________________
THE NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY
The remaining portion of the Yokuts-Miwok territory lay in the valley
and foothills north of the Merced River. This area (see maps 1 and 5,
areas 8-13 inclusive), particularly the delta of the San Joaquin and
Sacramento rivers, was entered relatively early by the Spaniards and by
the year 1820 had been almost completely swept of its native
population. The names of many whole tribes have been lost and the exact
locations of many others are now almost impossible to ascertain. Of
village names only those few are known to us which were preserved,
often by chance, in the mission records and accounts of expeditions.
Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the aboriginal human
geography but none has been entirely successful. Kroeber's account,
which accompanies his discussion of the Plains Miwok and northern
Yokuts in the Handbook of California Indians, is manifestly incomplete.
Merriam's paper on the Mewan Stock of California (1907) is helpful, but
probably the best work of the modern investigators is that of Schenck
(1926). The early nineteenth-century accounts for this region are also
less satisfactory than for the central and southern parts of the San
Joaquin Valley. Moraga's record is useful only for the Tuolumne River,
and the delta is covered only by Abella and Duran. It is true that both
Sutter and Gatten give figures for villages south of Sacramento but
their information pertains only to the badly depleted natives of the
'forties. Hence their censuses are of little value for assessing the
aboriginal condition.
One source not available for other areas is the mission records. The
converts from the delta and lower San Joaquin Valley were brought
almost exclusively into the San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Clara
missions. The baptism books of these missions have been preserved, and
two copies have been made. The first, of the San Francisco Mission, was
made by A. Pinart in 1878 and is at present in the Bancroft Library in
Berkeley. The other records, copied by S. R. Clemence in 1919, include
the records of all three missions and are now to be found, in typed
form, among the manuscripts in the file of C. H. Merriam. The baptism
books set forth the name and village of origin of every native in the
mission, as well as the date of baptism. Newly converted gentiles are
readily distinguished from infants born in the mission itself, since
the origin of the latter is ascribed to the mission and not to a
village. In addition to the names of villages, not all of which can be
located with certainty, the dates of baptism constitute almost
conclusive evidence. If the baptisms from San Francisco and Santa Clara
are tabulated by village and date, it is very clear that the villages
of local tribes were cleaned out before the year 1805. At this point an
entirely new set of names appears, most of which are undoubtedly in the
Tulares. Hence, if the name of a village does not correspond to any now
known to ethnographers and no baptisms are reported from it prior to
1805, the conclusion is warranted that the village was actually
situated in the central valley. The same assumption may be made with
somewhat less certainty concerning the San Jose records. This mission
was founded in 1797 and its earliest converts were drawn from the
Costanoan tribes on the east shore of San Francisco Bay. The reduction
of this region may not have been complete by 1805 and Tulare Indians
were coming in by that year. Hence there is a chance of overlap. This
source of error, however, may be excluded for all practical purposes if
no doubtful village which continued to furnish converts after 1810 is
included in the list, for the reduction of the Costanoans was certainly
complete by that time.
Concerning village size various items of information are available. In
the diary of Ramon Abella in 1811 he mentions that the Cholbones had
three rancherias with a population of 900, or 300 per rancheria. That
of the Coyboses had 180 and that of the Tauquimenes 200 men and 60
houses. The population of the latter tribe, if we apply the ratio found
by Zalvidea at the southern end of the valley, should be 650. This
ratio, it will be remembered, is based on Zalvidea's statement that he
counted as men all males between the ages seven and forty. If, on the
other hand, we assume that Abella referred to all males except small
children and further that the sex ratio was unity, the adults would
have numbered 400 and, if 15 per cent of the village were children, the
total would be approximately 470. However, in the northern end of the
valley we have much more solid data with which to work than at the
extreme south.
The baptism records of the missions of San Jose and Santa Clara to
which reference is made above include for each gentile village a
breakdown of men, women, and children. These data have been already
discussed in connection with the rancherias on Lake Tulare and it has
been shown that, if proper correction is made for the sex ratio, men
and women each contributed 41.8 per cent of the population and children
16.4 per cent. It is clear that in the north the Franciscans employed
their standard system of calling children all persons under the age of
ten years (not seven years) and including as males all men above the
same age. Zalvidea's system was used only by himself. Consequently, a
village with 200 men would have contained 563 persons in all.
For the village of the Tauquimenes with 60 houses the average would
have been 9.38 persons per house. That this number is not excessive is
demonstrated by the account of the village of Chuppumne contained also
in Duran's diary. This rancheria had 35 houses, some of which were 40
to 50 paces in circumference. Since a pace is roughly a yard the
diameter of such a house would be 43 feet, amply sufficient to
accommodate 9 persons. Chuppumne would thus have had a population of
315. Duran also mentions a rancheria of the Ochejamnes which had 40
houses, or 360 inhabitants.
Luís Argüello (MS, 1813) describes an expedition under the command of
one Soto, whose party was attacked by Indians in the marshes of the
delta. Schenck (1926, p. 129) locates the scene as in T5N, R4E, near
Walnut Grove and designates the tribe as the Unsumnes or Cosumnes. Now
Argüello states that the expedition crept up on the Indians overnight
and attacked at dawn. They were surprised to find that their coming had
nevertheless been detected and that the Indians had sent away the women
and children. The Spaniards were met by a force of warriors, which Soto
placed as his best estimate at 1,000 persons. These were drawn from
four rancherias in the vicinity. One may always exercise skepticism
with reference to these estimates of enemy forces, particularly in this
instance, since the Spaniards were roughly handled and suffered several
casualties in addition to being forced to withdraw. On the other hand,
the invaders consisted of 13 well armed Spaniards and 100 Indian
auxiliaries. Nothing like an equal number of natives could have
withstood them. Soto's estimate may be cut in half but at least 500
warriors must be allowed, or 125 for each of the four rancherias. Now
the fighting population, even in a great emergency, does not coincide
with the total male population. If there were 500 warriors, there must
have been fully 300 young boys, invalids, and old men who were not
present. Hence we must concede a male population of no less than 800
for the four villages. If the percentage values established previously
are used, the mean village size was approximately 475.
To the villages just described may be added the one seen by Moraga on
the Stanislaus River in 1806, which had 200 inhabitants.
These twelve villages thus yield an average of 362 inhabitants each.
Although throughout the territory many rancherias were doubtless small,
it is equally probable that some were very large, approaching the
magnitude of Chischa and Bubal in the south. Hence, unless in some
particular instance there is clear reason to believe otherwise, 300
cannot be regarded as an excessive estimate for the average village of
the delta.
In considering in detail the population of the delta (see map 6, area
13), it is convenient to segregate groups according to tribal
distinctions rather than strictly according to geographical points. The
reason lies primarily in the fact that the early writers and the
mission records were relatively explicit with respect to names of
villages and groups but were badly confused with respect to localities.
In the densely populated but physiographically homogeneous delta
region, with its scores of small streams, sloughs, and islands,
explorers found it very difficult to establish clear landmarks by which
the inhabitants might be oriented. A state of confusion has arisen of a
kind to generate many controversies among ethnographers, controversies
which are not pertinent in the present connection and which it is
desirable to avoid as far as possible. In order to adopt a more or less
uniform system with respect to tribal nomenclature and arrangement it
is proposed to follow here the practice of Schenck (1926), who has made
an exhaustive study of the area.
_Bolbones (syn. Cholbones, Chilamne, Chulame)._--This large group
occupied the sloughs of the lower San Joaquin west of Stockton.
Schenck, on his map (1926, p. 133) shows their territory as being
bounded by the main stream of the San Joaquin River on the east and by
the channel now known as the "Old River" on the west. This delineation
of their habitat is supported by the diaries of Abella and Viader.
Schenck classifies the subtribes or divisions of the main group as
follows:
Cholbones a group
Pescadero a village
Jusmites or Cosmistas a village plus
Fugites or Tugites a village plus
Tomchom, under Fugites a village
Nototemnes a village
Although these natives are mentioned frequently in the correspondence
of the period, the first recorded exploration of their area was that of
Fr. José Viader in 1810. This missionary left Mission San Jose on
August 15 and went by way of Pittsburg and Antioch to the mouth of the
San Joaquin, whence he traveled southeast to Pescadero, "... la
rancheria de los Cholvones." Leaving the rancheria he went on up the
river. Viader's second expedition was carried out during the month of
October of the same year. This time he went directly from San Jose to
Pescadero, which he says was 15 leagues northeast to east-northeast of
Mission San Jose. The account at this point is not particularly lucid.
The entry for October 20 states that at Pescadero the gentiles were
having a dance (bayle). That for the following day begins with the
statement that at dawn Viader's party attacked "... asaltamos una
rancheria de este lado del rio y solo escapo un Christiano ..." Then
they attacked another rancheria on the other side of the river and
captured 15 Christians and 69 gentiles. From the context it may be
inferred that the first rancheria attacked was the one at which the
dance was being celebrated on the evening of the 20th, that is to say,
Pescadero. If it was, then there was another, quite sizable, village
just across the river. If the first village was not Pescadero, then
there were two other villages in close proximity to it.
The next visitor was Fr. Ramon Abella, who left San Francisco by boat
on October 15, 1811. Passing Sherman Island on the 18th and wandering
erratically through the swamps he reached the "tierra de los cholbones"
on the next day. On October 20 he reached the village of Pescadero but
made no comment on it in his diary. After examining the territory of
the Cosmistas and Boyboses 5 to 15 miles to the east, the party turned
about 8 to 9 miles (3 leagues) northwest, following the general trend
of the river downstream. At this point they found a rancheria of 900
persons "divididas en tres rancherias, alguna distancia una de otras.
No vimos que la una: Se presentan como 150 personas ... y nos enseñaron
al desembarcadero y las mismas casas que havía duplicado gente ..."
Abella's distances are extremely inaccurate but it is apparent that the
three villages mentioned were north or northwest of Pescadero.
The key village in this complex is Pescadero, a rancheria to which
repeated reference is made in the documents of the period and whose
identity neither Viader nor Abella could have mistaken. That it
belonged to the Bolbones is attested by Viader's expression "... la
rancheria de los Cholvones." Viader saw at least one and perhaps two
other villages near by belonging to the same tribe. Abella clearly
states that he saw three rancherias in addition to Pescadero. One of
these may have been the one attacked by Viader, and if so, the entire
group included a minimum of four villages. Otherwise, there were at
least five. Abella's count of 900 persons for the three villages
appears accurate and reasonable. On the other hand, Pescadero was
evidently regarded as the most important rancheria of the area and
probably was more populous than any other. Hence it must have contained
no less than 400 persons. The sum of the four villages would then be
1,300.
Between 1806 and 1811 the mission records show a total of 200 baptisms
ascribed to the Cholbones, most of them at San Jose. In addition, there
were 81 baptisms from 1821 to 1828 designated Chilamne. At the time of
Abella's visit, therefore, the area had been subject to repeated raids
for the purpose of securing converts and must have undergone serious
social and economic disturbance of the type noted throughout the entire
San Joaquin Valley. Merely adding the 200 missionized natives would
bring the population estimate for the Bolbones up to 1,500, and the
aboriginal value was probably even higher.
The Jusmites, or Cosmistas, are credited by Schenck with "a village
plus," meaning certainly one and probably two or more. Viader, on his
second expedition, found "los indios Jusmites" about 2-1/2 leagues
southeast of and up the river from the second village, which he
attacked on October 21. This places them in the locality shown by
Schenck on his map (1926, p. 133), i.e., in northwestern T1S, R6E. No
further information is given by Viader. The next year Abella found "la
rancheria de los Cosmistas" in approximately the same region, but gave
no data regarding size. Neither author implies in any way that there
was more than one village. At San Jose 86 converts were baptized from
"Jossmit," a number which suggests a village of fully 300 inhabitants.
Viader on his first expedition, on August 20, went south-southeast from
Pescadero for 3 leagues and reached a village "cuyo capitan se llama
Tomchom." He then went 2-1/2 leagues southeast from the Jusmites and
reached "los indios Tugites." Both Tomchom and Tugites therefore appear
to have been in the same general area. For this reason Schenck has
placed the Tugites, as a tribe, directly south of the Jusmites and has
called Tomchom a village of the tribe. It is perhaps more likely that
there were two villages involved (rather than a tribe and an included
village), designated respectively Tomchom and Tugites. This view is
substantiated by the baptism data. Of the entire group 268 were
baptized, rather equally distributed between San Jose and Santa Clara.
Over half the conversions occurred in the year 1811. The San Jose book
lists 126 from "Tamcan" and 7 from "Tuguits." The Santa Clara book has
125 from "Los Tugites" and none under any other designation. It may
therefore be concluded that two villages, or subtribes, were involved,
one of which was taken to San Jose and the other to Santa Clara. A
total of 268 converts would imply a population of at least 500 persons
at the time of conversion and probably more aboriginally.
The village of Nototemnes is mentioned only by Duran in his diary of
1817. In the night of May 22-23 he passed "la rancheria de los
Nototemnes," but did not actually see the village or count its
inhabitants. However, the rancheria furnished 97 converts to Mission
San Jose. It must therefore have contained at least 200 people. Schenck
shows the Nototemnes as covering nearly two townships in the northern
delta region and calls them "a village plus." He cites, however, no
authority for this view other than Duran, and Duran, as mentioned
above, refers only to the rancheria of the Nototemnes. There is no
reason, consequently, for assuming more than one village for the tribe
or group.
In summary, the Bolbones tribal complex consisted of fully eight medium
to large villages. Those belonging to the Bolbones proper, four in
number, were estimated to contain 1,500 persons. The Jusmites were
allowed 300 persons, the Tugites 500, and the Nototemnes 200. The total
is 2,500, and the average village size slightly over 300 persons.
(Bolbones ... 2,500)
____________________
_Leuchas._--Schenck shows this tribe as living east of the San Joaquin
River 10 to 15 miles south of Stockton. He implies that the tribe
contained two villages, Coyboses and Pitemis (Aupimis), in addition
perhaps to other settlements. The mission books mention all three names
and show baptisms (figures in parentheses), which may be tabulated as
follows.
Baptisms, San Jose Baptisms, Santa Clara
__________________ _____________________
Leuchas "Leucha" (26), "Los Leuchas" (81),
1805-1812 1805-1809
(88 per cent in (85 per cent in
1805-1806) 1805)
Pitemis None (60), 1814-1831
(98 per cent in
1814-1816)
Coybos (94), 1808-1826 None
(71 per cent in
1811-1812)
To judge by the three separate periods in which the majority of the
baptisms occurred there were three groups of people: the Leuchas, who
were brought into the fold primarily during 1805 and 1806, the Coybos,
principally in 1811-1812, and the Pitemis, converted two or three years
later. The Leuchas were taken to both missions, but the Coybos were
brought only to San Jose and the Pitemis only to Santa Clara. Abella
said that in 1811 the village of Coybos had 180 inhabitants, a figure
which has been used in computing the average village size. But the
aboriginal population was probably greater. This view is substantiated
by the events which preceded Abella's visit. In 1805 Father Cuevas of
San Jose Mission went on an unauthorized expedition to the Leuchas--the
best account is that by José Argüello (MS, 1805)--in search of
converts.[5] He was badly treated and some of his men were wounded by
the natives. This and the punitive expeditions which immediately
followed no doubt accounted for the wave of conversions in 1805 and
1806. But at the same time the entire aboriginal group unquestionably
suffered heavily from battle casualties and economic disturbance so
that the population five years later must have been seriously reduced.
It is thus justifiable to assume that originally there were three
villages and that each was of average size. The population may
therefore be set at fully 900 persons.
Some further information is derived from the recollections of José
María Amador (MS, 1877). This pioneer, who received his facts
second-hand from his father, mentions (pp. 13-15) the campaign of 1805
against the "Loechas," who, he says lived 4 to 5 leagues from
Livermore. This would put them west of the San Joaquin River, south of
the Bolbones, in T1S, R5E, not on the east bank as shown by Schenck.
Amador then goes on to say that after the Cuevas affair the Leuchas
"... se habian ya cambiado el rio de San Joaquin a una rancheria que se
llamaba de los Pitemis." They were all captured and taken to San Jose.
It is thus reasonably clear that the Leuchas originally did live west
of the river, and crossed over to the east side as a result of the
punitive expeditions of the Spaniards. Furthermore, the village of the
Pitemis was already in existence at this time, probably at or near the
spot shown by Schenck. Coybos undoubtedly was another village within
the same area. This region, therefore, at the time of Abella's visit in
1807 contained the established villages of Pitemis and Coybos plus a
residue of unconverted, fugitive Leuchas who had taken refuge in them.
Amador's assertion that the Leuchas were all captured and taken to San
Jose is not borne out by the baptism figures, which show only 23
Leuchas enrolled at Mission San Jose in 1805 to 1806. Many more,
actually 73, were baptized at Santa Clara in 1805. The total is 96, and
scarcely represents the entire personnel of the group. Nevertheless, if
we add the casualties of battle, disease, and exposure to those
baptized in the missions, and allow for the dispersion of the
remainder, the sum will amount to no less than the 300 assumed above
for the Leuchas.
As for the Pitemis, Viader, on his first expedition, left Pescadero on
August 20, 1810, and traveled south-southeast at some distance from the
river. Within 3 leagues he passed "... en frente de una rancheria ...
Aupemis." Schenck says (p. 141): "Pitemis is a village of the Leuchas
and it seems that Aupimis is to be identified with it." This cannot be
true because Viader is highly explicit to the effect that he was west
of the river and Amador is equally emphatic in stating that Pitemis was
across the San Joaquin from Leuchas, i.e., to the east of it. Since
Viader's visit was in 1810, after the Cuevas affair, there must have
been three rancherias of the Leuchas and their allies: Aupimis,
Pitemis, and Coybos.
Parenthetically, and for the record, the present writer would like to
offer the comment that certain modern writers tend to assert the
identity of Spanish or Indian names without adequate evidence.
Schenck's opinion that Aupimis and Pitemis were the same place could
have been based upon no more than a fancied resemblance in the names.
Also, on page 141 of his paper he says: "The Leuchas might possibly be
identified with Kroeber's Lakisamni (Yokuts) on the Stanislaus river."
A brief examination of the mission records, apart from any other
evidence, shows conclusively that two separate and distinct tribes were
recognized by the contemporary missionaries.
(Leuchas et al. ... 900)
________________________
_Ochejamnes._--This tribe is placed by Schenck on the east bank of the
Sacramento River near the mouth of the Cosumnes. Kroeber refers to the
village of Ochehak and considers it a "political community." He shows
it on his map (1925, p. 446) as lying on the Mokelumne, due north of
Stockton. Duran, in his diary, May 21 (MS, 1817), describes how he
followed the main stream of the Sacramento, i.e., the left branch, on
his way back from his stopping point above Courtland. He reached the
rancheria "llamada de Oche jamnes," which, although it contained 40
houses, was deserted. Quite soon thereafter ("a poco rato") he reached
"la punta de la isla llamada de los Quenemsias," which has been
identified definitely as Grand Island. Clearly, therefore, in 1817 the
Ochejamnes had a village on the Sacramento higher up the river than is
shown by Schenck.
According to Duran the village had 40 houses, which would mean 360
persons without reckoning possible subsidiary rancherias. The name is
mentioned for only one mission, San Jose, at which 428 Ochejamne, or
Oocheganes, were baptized between 1829 and 1836. This is prima facie
evidence that Duran, who saw them in 1817, was referring, as he
implies, only to one rancheria and that the tribe was actually larger.
This idea is supported by the account of José Berreyesa in 1830 of
severe Indian fighting in the delta (Berryesa, MS, 1830). The
Ochejamnes and the Yunisumnes with certain American trappers were
arrayed against the Californians, who had gathered together 450
auxiliary fighters from the Cosumnes and other tribes. No value is
placed upon the number of Ochejamnes but it must have been
considerable. It was probably as a result of this campaign that 428
members of the tribe were baptized at Mission San Jose. Even with a
relatively complete conquest many of the natives must have escaped;
hence in 1830 their total number must have reached 500. But this was in
1830, after a generation of expeditions and petty warfare. The
aboriginal number must have been considerably greater, let us say 750.
(Ochejamnes ... 750)
____________________
_Guaypem._--This group is thought by Schenck to have been simply a
village but Merriam (1907, p. 350) regards them as a tribe called the
Wipa, located on Sherman Island near the Sacramento River estuary.
Duran in his diary says that Guaypens is 6 leagues south and southeast
of the fork of the river below Courtland. Allowing for his usual
exaggeration of distances, this puts the rancheria near the mouth of
the Mokelumne, in the vicinity of Walnut Grove. He speaks of _the_
rancheria "de los Guaypens" and saw only a few people. Thus neither
size nor locality supports the contention that Guaypem was synonymous
with Wipa. The tribe was not converted until relatively late, 41
converts being taken to San Jose between 1821 and 1824. By that time
the tribe had been subject to severe attrition. Thus the evidence
points to an aboriginal group consisting of one village of average
size, or close to 300 inhabitants.
(Guaypem ... 300)
_________________
_Quenemsias._--These people, who lived near the two preceding tribes,
are designated a "group" by Schenck (p. 136). They covered, according
to him, "the southern part, or perhaps all, of Grand Island." The
ecclesiastical diarists make no mention of them save the reference by
Duran to the "isla llamada de los Quenemisias." One other citation is
worth mentioning, however. In the Bancroft Transcripts is a document
dated January 31, 1796, entitled "Informe en el cual el teniente
Herm^{do} Sal manifesta lo que ha adquirido de varios sugetos para
comunicarlo al Gobernador de la Provincia," which gives a description
of the lower reaches of the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers and the
delta and mentions the natives (Sal, MS, 1796). In detail, the account
is extremely inaccurate. However, one of the Indians "... dio noticia
de las naciones Tulpunes, Quinensiat, Taunantoc, y Quisitoc: los
primeros son de la orilla del estero; los 2^{os} estan del otro lado de
los rios ..." Although no numerical data are given, the mention of the
Quenemsias (Quinensiat) as a "nacion" in the delta region establishes
them as a group of more than average importance. The mission books show
185 Quenemsias baptized at Mission San Jose. Roughly double the number
of baptisms may be taken as the aboriginal population, i.e., 400.
(Quenemsias ... 400)
____________________
_Chuppumne, Chucumes._--Schenck places these two settlements, which he
calls villages, on the Sacramento River near the mouth of the Cosumnes.
Most of our documentary information concerning them is derived from the
accounts of Duran and of Luís Argüello. Luís Antonio Argüello
accompanied Duran on his expedition and wrote a report to the governor
in the form of a letter, dated May 26, 1817, the original of which is
preserved in the Bancroft Library (library no. fm-F864A64; also typed
copy). The existence of this letter evidently was not known to either
Kroeber or Schenck. It is less complete and less detailed than the
diary of Duran but it is of value in checking the statements made by
the latter.
On May 16 the party reached the foot of Grand Island and on May 17
proceeded up the left-hand (i.e., western) watercourse. The village of
Chucumes was found 8 leagues (leguas) upstream, according to Duran, 13
miles (millas) according to Argüello. The latter estimate is probably
closer, since Duran is notoriously inaccurate (usually on the side of
overestimate) in his computation of distances. Here Duran counted 35
houses whereas Argüello says 36, a sufficiently close correspondence.
As indicated previously, a population of 315 persons is probable.
Continuing their journey, they went on for 4 miles (Argüello); Duran
says approximately 3 leagues. There they stopped at a rancheria,
"arruinada" according to Argüello, although Duran makes no mention of
this.
On May 18 the party went on upstream, making during the day 4 leagues
(Duran) or 16 miles (Argüello). Duran states that after going 1 league
they got back into the main stream of the Sacramento. This was clearly
at the head of Grand Island, close to Courtland. At 1 league beyond
this point, on May 19, they found the rancheria Chuppumne, which was
deserted. The location therefore was very close to that shown by
Schenck on his map (p. 133) and, if we can put any credence in the
Duran-Argüello account, a good many miles north of Chucumes. Near
Chuppumne Duran saw three other rancherias in the distance (inland?)
but could not get at them. On May 20 the expedition pressed on upstream
for 5 miles (Argüello) or 4 leagues (Duran), at which point they turned
around and began the return trip. On May 21 Argüello says that they
passed "algunas rancherias," all deserted, which may well have been
those mentioned by Duran on May 19.
On the river frontage covered from May 17 to May 21 the expedition saw
a minimum of 6 villages, 2 of which are mentioned by name (Chucumes and
Chuppumne) and for 1 of which the houses were counted. If all these
villages were of comparable size--as they may have been
aboriginally--then the total population represented would have been
1,800. This estimate would of course not include other villages which
the expedition did not see.
The mission records show for San Jose a total of 377 persons baptized
from Chucumne and Chuppumne, of whom 322 were converted during 1823 and
1824. We may predicate, therefore, a residual population of 700 to 800
just prior to those years. That the area had suffered severely before
that is attested by the deserted and "ruined" rancherias seen by Duran
in 1817. It is quite probable that the aboriginal population reached a
value of 1,500.
(Chucumes, Chuppumne ... 1,500)
_______________________________
_Chupunes (Chupcanes), Tarquines (Tarquimenes, Tauquines), Julpunes
(Tulpunes) and Ompines._--This constellation of tribes is best
considered collectively, first, because there are no direct estimates
of their population, and second, because they occupied a relatively
unified area.
Schenck places them along the south shore of Suisun Bay from the east
entrance of Carquinez Strait and through the slough region between the
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers as far upstream as Isleton on the
Sacramento. However, he points out that there is great uncertainty with
respect to their exact location, an uncertainty which is emphasized by
the wide divergence between his views and those of Merriam. Even the
Spanish accounts present numerous discrepancies. In view of this state
of our knowledge Schenck makes the very reasonable suggestion that the
lower delta tribes may have been so greatly disturbed and shifted
around during the period from 1775 to 1810 that the aboriginal
locations were forgotten. It is worth while to examine in some detail
some of the evidence on this problem. We may begin with examination of
the area at and just east of Carquinez Strait on the south shore of
Suisun Bay. This consideration entails a preliminary discussion of two
small groups, the Aguastos and the Huchium (syn. Habastos, Quivastos,
Juchium, Huchimes, Tuchimes, etc.).
This tribe or group of tribes, which must have been of some importance,
is not mentioned by name by Kroeber or Schenck, but there is a brief
set of typed notes in the Merriam collection in which the location is
discussed (MS entitled: "On the East Side San Francisco Peninsula").
The multiplicity of synonyms, however, as well as the large number of
neophytes involved, indicates that these tribes were very familiar to
the missionaries.
The Merriam notes (pp. 5 and 6) point out the following considerations.
1. "Abella's diary (1811) speaks of present Point San Pablo as the
Point of the Huchunes and says their territory extended on the mainland
from this point to Pt. San Andres (Pt. Pinole)."
2. Several rancherias belonging to this tribe are mentioned as being on
the east side of the bay.
3. "The mission books locate the Habasto tribe 'on the other side of
the Bay from the Mission of San Francisco toward the estero which goes
to the rivers (Suisun Bay).' Abella's diary calls Point San Pedro the
Point of the Abastos."
Merriam therefore was strongly of the opinion that these tribes
inhabited the south shore of San Pablo Bay and did not extend farther
than Carquinez Strait.
On the other hand, the item in the mission books quoted by Merriam
(par. 3, above) indicates Suisun Bay rather than San Pablo Bay.
Moreover, there is another statement in the baptism books alongside the
designation "Aguastos ó Huchum" to the effect that this tribe was 16 to
18 leagues by water from San Francisco. This distance would place them
close to the site of the modern town of Pittsburg, that is, on the
southern shore of Suisun Bay. But this area is assigned by Schenck to
the Tarquines and perhaps the Julpunes, tribes which are also clearly
mentioned by name in the mission records.
If the Aguastos extended from Richmond to Crockett or thereabouts, they
were Costanoan and strictly bay people; hence not pertinent to this
study. If they lived along Suisun Bay, regardless of their ethnic
affiliation they may be included for demographic purposes among the
delta tribes. Some further light can be thrown upon the problem by an
analysis of the dates shown for baptisms in the San Francisco Mission
records.
If the baptisms of gentiles are tabulated according to village and
year, it is seen immediately that the conversions in the first year,
1777, were all from local rancherias. This group was extended during
the following decade until the San Francisco peninsula had been
completely covered. However, after the year 1792 all mention of the
peninsula abruptly and entirely ceases. As early as 1778 on the other
hand baptisms are listed from a village (Halchis) specified as being in
the "sierra oriente de la otra banda." In the succeeding years villages
ascribed to the "otra banda" become more frequent and reach a peak
between 1790 and 1795. Subsequent to 1800 the conversions from these
places diminish rapidly and disappear. Now we know by following the
documentary accounts of expeditions that during the decade 1790 to 1800
the great effort of the San Francisco Mission was expended in securing
neophytes from the east shore of San Francisco Bay as far north as the
Carquinez Strait. There are no baptisms of gentiles whatever listed in
the San Francisco books for the years 1797, 1798, and 1799. Therefore
it is reasonable to assume that the supply of Costanoans from the east
bay had been exhausted. Furthermore, village names qualified by the
term "otra banda" and appearing in the baptism record _for the first
time_ prior to 1800 must certainly refer to villages in this region.
Among these are rancherias stated as belonging to the "nacion Juchium"
together with the separate designation "Tuchimes." Thus it is clear
that the Huchium lived, as Merriam believed, on the east shore of the
bay.
After the inactive period at the end of the century a flood of
neophytes began to pour into the mission together with a completely new
set of names. One of the first of these is Habastos, a rancheria which
contributed 137 converts in 1800 and 1801 and which is now stated, for
the first time in the mission book, to lie "acia el estero de los
rios." Later, the variants Quivastos and Aguastos are used. Conversions
from this tribe continued until 1810, after which the name disappears
from the lists.
The sharp segregation of dates of conversion are clear evidence that,
whatever the racial or linguistic affiliation, there were two groups of
Indians, one converted before 1801 and living along the shore of the
bay generally south and west of the Carquinez Strait, the other
converted between 1801 and 1810 and living at the east end of the
strait and along Suisun Bay. There probably was no clear separation of
the two in the minds of the Spaniards; hence the confusion of names. We
are concerned here with the second group, the one uniformly designated
Aguastos, which inhabited the approaches to the delta.
With respect to the aboriginal population of this group we have no
direct evidence whatever. On the other hand the record of the San
Francisco Mission shows 396 baptisms. This immediately sets a lower
limit to the number of Aguastos for there certainly can have been no
fewer members of the tribe than were baptized. Regarding the upper
limit it can be pointed out only that the group was completely
obliterated at the time of conversion and its name never appears again
in either contemporary or modern records. Hence it is safe to assume
that substantially all the Aguastos were taken to San Francisco and
that the baptisms include the entire tribe. We may thus ascribe to them
a population of approximately 400 persons.
We now encounter the Chupunes (or Chupcanes), concerning whom Schenck
(1926, p. 143) has this to say:
The Chupunes (Chupcanes), apparently a group, were located
along the southern shore near the east end of Carquinez
strait. West of the strait, also on the southern shore--in
the Pinole region of San Pablo bay--were the Huchones.
The earliest documentary reference is to the diary of Abella, in 1811.
On October 16 he went through Carquinez Strait by boat. Then he says
that the strait "... remata en la tierra de los Chupunes, porque hay ya
ensancha ..." The "ensancha" or widening begins at Port Costa and
continues to Martinez. This, then, is the boundary of the Chupunes. On
October 28, discussing the Suisunes on the north side of the bay, he
says that "La rancheria citada de los Suisunes cahe al nordeste de los
Chupanes, tierra adentro del Cerro de los Karquines ..." The Cerro de
los Karquines is, of course, Mt. Diablo.
In his account of the expedition of 1817 Duran tells how he arrived at
noon of May 14, by boat from San Francisco, at the "remate" of the
"estrecho de los Chucanes," at a point 14 leagues northeast of San
Francisco and 17 leagues north-northeast of San Jose. The rancheria of
this name, he states, is now Christian, at San Francisco and San Jose.
The mission books show a total of 105 baptisms at the two
establishments.
It is reasonably plain that the Aguastos and the Chupunes occupied more
or less the same territory--along the south shore of the eastern end of
Carquinez Strait and the western end of Suisun Bay. The diaries and the
baptism records both indicate that the original inhabitants were the
Aguastos, who were missionized and removed. Their place seems to have
been taken by another group of natives known as the Chupunes, who also
were gathered into the fold at some period between the visits of Abella
and Duran. Subsequent to the 1817 diary of Duran there is no further
mention of this tribe. With respect to population we have only the
record showing 105 baptisms. Since the conversion seems to have been
quite complete, we may set the aboriginal value at no more than 150.
Let us now consider the Ompines. This group is placed by Schenck on the
north bank of the Sacramento River at and above the junction of the
river and Suisun Bay. Schenck also (p. 137) discusses the possibility
that the Ompines and Julpunes composed a single group. In spite of an
assumed similarity in names the Spanish accounts are unequivocally
explicit to the effect that there were two groups, not one, hence
Schenck's hypothesis may be disregarded. With respect to location the
later Spanish accounts bear out Schenck's contention that the tribe was
situated north of the river.
In his entry for May 14, 1817, Duran says that his expedition stopped
at the mouth of the San Joaquin River, whereas another boat (that of
Argüello) stopped opposite "en tierra de Ompines." The next day they
all went up the Sacramento River to the "remate de las lomas de los
Ompines." Meanwhile Argüello, in his entry for May 15, says that they
went along the north shore and stopped "donde termina la tierra de los
Ompines." This puts the eastern edge of the Ompines at the east side of
the Montezuma Hills in T3N, R2E, approximately as shown by Schenck.
Altimira describes an unauthorized raid by Fr. Duran on the tribes
north of Suisun Bay, among them "... otra rancheria aislada llamada los
Ompines" (Altimira, MS, 1823).
A few of the earlier documents, on the other hand, contain statements
which raise the possibility that the Ompines were not always confined
exclusively to the north shore. In his diary of 1811 Abella describes
how, on October 17, his party entered a big bay (Suisun Bay) and, after
5 leagues, following along the south shore, began to find estuaries and
numerous islands covered with tules. They continued into the west
channel of the San Joaquin and stopped at an island on which large
trees were growing. At this point, somewhere near Antioch, there was a
"pescadero" of the Ompines. It is evident, therefore, that in 1811 the
Ompines had at least temporary fishing spots on the south side of the
estuary, in an area usually ascribed to the Julpunes or Tarquines.
The San Jose baptism book shows the conversion of 108 Ompines. Those
from San Rafael and Solano do not mention the tribe. The fact that a
tribe situated north of Suisun Bay does not appear in the records of
either of these missions is noteworthy, since during the 1820's and
1830's the north-bay groups were brought to them in large numbers, and
since we know from Altimira's comment on Duran's raid that the Ompines
were still in existence in 1823. Furthermore, the Ompines must have
constituted more than a single small village, for Argüello and Duran
both refer to the "tierra" of the Ompines. The hypothesis is possible,
although admittedly there is no real proof, that the Ompines may have
originally occupied the sloughs and islands at and above Antioch, that
they may have been pushed north at an early date by Spanish intrusion
from the south and west, and that they may have been further dispersed,
or exterminated without extensive conversion, prior to 1830. If such a
theory in any way represents the course of their decline and
disappearance, then it also follows that the aboriginal population was
considerably greater than the baptism number would lead one to suppose.
To turn now to the Julpunes, there seems to be little difference of
opinion regarding their original location. This was as Schenck pictures
it: the south shore of the San Joaquin estuary from Antioch to the line
between R3E and R4E. The "Informe" of Hermengildo Sal, written in 1796
and previously referred to, specifies the "Tulpunes" as a "nacion"
living on the "orilla del estero." Fourteen years later in 1810 Viader
went 7 leagues from Pittsburg to the "old river" west of Stockton. He
was: "... esta tierra es de los Tulpunes." Duran, May 24, 1817, on his
return journey downstream reached the region of the Julpunes at 8:00
A.M. and joined the other boat at 6:00 P.M. of the same day at
Carquinez Strait.
Schenck (1926, p. 137) points out that Kotzebue, who was in the area in
1823, implies that the Julpunes were living on the north bank. Merriam
(1907, p. 348), says that the Hulpoomne "occupied the east bank of the
Sacramento River from a few miles south of the mouth of American river
southward ..." Schenck's explanation of the discrepancy appears to the
present writer entirely sound: the Julpunes retired across the estuary
to the north bank and then upstream nearly to Sacramento. In so doing
they may very well have carried the surviving Ompines with them. The
San Jose record lists 148 baptisms of Julpunes but the name is absent
from the records of San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Rafael, and Solano
missions. Along with the Ompines the Julpunes must have escaped the
active proselyting effort of San Rafael, and particularly Solano,
between 1824 and 1834, by a rapid retirement so far up the river as to
elude the parties sent out from the missions. The converts at San Jose
must have been captured by the Viader, Duran, Argüello, and similar
expeditions before the migration upstream.
The Tarquines are claimed by Schenck to have been "... a single group.
It seems to have stretched from east to west entirely across the marsh
area between the main channels of the Sacramento and San Joaquin
rivers, and then to have extended along the southern shore of Suisun
Bay" (pp. 134-136). Schenck's belief in this remarkable distribution is
based upon three documentary references (at least he cites no more than
these three in his tabulation on p. 135).
The first of the three documents, chronologically, is the first
expedition of Viader, in 1810. In his entry for August 17 Viader says
that, having spent the preceding night near the present location of
Pittsburg, he reconnoitred these lands which "... son de los Tarquines,
que lo mas, 6 casi todos son Cristianos de San Francisco." After noting
the mouths of the two rivers, he goes on to mention a spot on the
estuary "... en donde dicen _estaba_ la rancheria de los Tarquines"
(emphasis mine). Let it be emphasized that in 1810 _the_ Tarquines are
_almost all_ Christians in San Francisco, and Viader saw there _the_
rancheria which _was_, or _had been_, that of the Tarquines. The San
Francisco baptism book shows 18 "Talquines" converted in 1801 and 63
more in 1802, making a total of 83. This number could well be the
majority, or almost all, the inhabitants of a moderate-sized rancheria.
Schenck is therefore technically correct in placing the tribe on the
south shore of the eastern end of Suisun Bay.
The second document is the diary of Abella in 1811. On October 25, in
the course of the return trip downstream, some distance below the
junction of the channels of the San Joaquin, he found a rancheria of
the Tauquimenes, one part of each side of the river, which was 30 to 40
varas wide. This point was apparently at or near the head of Sherman
Island. The rancheria had 60 houses. He saw 200 warriors. He then
crossed through the sloughs to the Sacramento River and on or opposite
Sherman Island saw one rancheria of 14 houses and several of 2 to 3
houses. He says that all they passed this day was "... parte de una
isla" (i.e., Sherman Island). Furthermore
... en todo este dia andubimos como unas 12 leguas
[overestimate] y podra haver gente, como 200 almas, todavia
puede que haiga mas, porque en la primera [rancheria]
habraumas 1,000, segun lo grande que por aqui son las casas,
tienen un circuito de 28 o 30 varas, con su orcon en medio
...
This account deserves comment on several grounds: with relation to
Viader's visit of the previous year and the baptisms at San Francisco
it is evident that whereas the southern extension of the Tarquines'
habitat, whatever its size, had been swept clear prior to 1810,
nevertheless the tribe persisted on the estuarine islands in truly
large numbers. Moreover, since there is evidence of no more than one
rancheria on the south shore, it appears that the territory in that
region allotted by Schenck to the tribe is too large and should be
restricted to a small area of the southeastern corner of Suisun Bay.
With respect to population, Abella's figures are quite credible. It has
been suggested that one of the huge houses found in this region could
accommodate 9 persons without difficulty. Then the large village should
have had 540 inhabitants. Allowing 24 houses for the other villages
seen, 216 persons should be added, making a total of 756, a figure not
far from Abella's guess of 1,000.
The final reference to the tribe occurs in the diary of Duran. During
the night of May 22-23, 1817, he went up the main channel of the San
Joaquin, in T3N, R4E, and passed the Tauguimenes on the _left_, that is
to say, on the _east_ bank. Schenck thinks that the group covered the
entire strip from Pittsburg to the east bank of the main river
_contemporaneously_. Now it has been pointed out as probable that the
southwestern outliers were missionized, or pushed back into the swamps,
as early as 1801. It is equally possible that the island communities
described by Abella in 1811 were pushed, in the next five or six years,
off the islands altogether and clear back eastward to the far bank of
the main river. Of considerable significance is the fact that whereas
both Viader and Abella mention the Tarquines as being in the estuary
region, Duran, who covered this area thoroughly, is completely silent
with regard to their presence. It is highly unlikely that, had there
been any of the tribe left in their former habitat, he would have
failed to note them.
The details are very obscure but the main outlines of events in the
first three decades of the nineteenth century can be perceived.
Aboriginally and perhaps till nearly 1800, there was a dense population
of natives extending from Port Costa along the southern shore of Suisun
Bay and up the rivers for fifteen miles beyond Antioch. Among them
were included tribal groups, or rancherias, called Aguastos, Chupunes,
Ompines, Julpunes, and Tarquines, belonging very likely to different
ethnic and linguistic stocks. Under the pressure of the Spanish
military power, which was the real force behind missionization,
portions of these groups were exterminated, other segments gave ground
and shifted habitat, and occasional remnants persisted in the old
localities. Thus each visitor in turn found a different geographical
organization, until the entire native society was obliterated.
An accurate assessment of aboriginal population in this area is
impossible. The best we can do is try to make an intelligent guess.
Several methods are available for this purpose--group comparisons,
mission figures, area comparisons.
Throughout the plains of the lower San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys
the native social units appear to have resembled rather uniformly the
political organization of the Yokuts in the central and southern San
Joaquin Valley. There were aggregates, or communities, consisting of
perhaps one, but usually more than one, village, and occupying a more
or less clearly defined territory. These groups, as they may be called,
can be identified by the plural names which are ordinarily attached to
them--the Bolbones, the Leuchas, and so forth. Naturally these groups
varied considerably in size, and concerning no single one of them can
we be absolutely sure of the number of their people. Nevertheless, if
we had data concerning enough of them, the variations due both to
inherent difference and to inaccurate estimate would tend to cancel out
and an approximate average could be secured. No pretence can be made
that we have enough estimates to establish a mean which would be
statistically satisfactory. Nevertheless, as so frequently happens when
we are dealing with data of this character, we have to employ the
information available to us or forsake the problem entirely.
We have hitherto considered a number of the local groups mentioned
above and have estimated their population as follows: Bolbones
(restricted group, see p. 58), 1,500; Jusmites, 300; Tugites, 500;
Nototemnes, 200; Leuchas, 900; Ochejamnes, 750; Guaypem, 300;
Quenemsias, 400; Chucumes and Chuppumne, 1,500. The average for the
nine groups is 705 or, in round numbers, 700. If we consider that the
Aguastos, Chupunes, Ompines, Julpunes, and Tarquines were groups of the
same character as the foregoing, then their total population may be
taken as 3,500.
The total baptisms shown in the mission books of the five northern
missions (in fact, only San Francisco and San Jose) for these groups is
911. In previous instances we have estimated the aboriginal population
by doubling the baptism number. This procedure is admittedly purely
arbitrary and based upon the general consideration that, except for
small local populations relatively close to the mission, it was
impossible for the missionaries and soldiers to prevent the escape of a
sizable fraction of the people. Of the five groups here discussed, the
Aguastos, it is evident, were completely missionized or at least
obliterated. A much greater proportion of the other tribes survived, as
is attested by their probable migrations up the rivers. Hence for the
entire population it is doubtful if even one-half received baptism.
Using the value of one half, the aboriginal number would have been
approximately 2,000.
Linear distances along streams are useful as a basis for comparison in
country where the rivers are similar ecologically but are clearly
separated spatially and where the human population is concentrated
along the stream banks to the exclusion of the interfluvial hinterland.
Where a territory is marked by a network of creeks and sloughs, and the
intermediate land is marsh, the linear comparisons become impossible.
Areas must be substituted.
In relation to the present problem three such areas may be delineated.
The first comprises the territory of the Bolbones (including all the
subordinate villages) and the Leuchas. Following Schenck's map, it
embraces all the land between the channels of the San Joaquin plus a
strip approximately two miles wide east of the main river in T1 and 2S,
R6E which accounts for the Leuchas. The area, as projected from a
large-scale map onto coördinate paper, is 775 square miles, the
population 3,400, and the density 4.39 persons per square mile. The
second comprises the home of the Ochejamnes, Guaypem, Quenemsias, and
Chucumnes-Chuppumne. For the habitat of these groups we have followed
Schenck as far as possible. Our line runs actually from the junction of
the east and west channels of the Sacramento at the foot of Grand
Island southeast to the main channel of the San Joaquin, thence
northeast and north to just east of Walnut Grove and then, at a
distance of about 2 miles east of the eastern channel of the
Sacramento, to a point 4 miles north of Courtland. Here the line
crosses the river and continues downstream, 2 miles west of the river,
to the starting point. This strip of the western bank of the western
branch of the Sacramento is included in order to take in the Chucumes,
who may have lived on the west side of the river. The area of this
territory is 330 square miles, the population 2,950, and the density
8.94 persons per square mile.
The third area is the one shown by Schenck as belonging to the
Chupunes, Tarquines, Julpunes, and Ompines, with the exception of the
region east of the San Joaquin attributed to the Tarquines. For reasons
stated previously the author does not believe that the Tarquines
occupied this spot aboriginally. A strip 2 miles wide is included on
the north shore, however, between Rio Vista and Collinsville, in the
probable land of the Ompines. The eastern boundary is formed by the
borders of areas one and two. In area three there are 600 square miles.
The mean of the densities of the other two areas is 6.67 persons per
square mile. Hence the population would have been 4,002 persons. No
significance should be attributed to the third and probably also the
second digit in these numbers. They are used only for purposes of
estimate.
The three methods employed have yielded respectively 3,000, 2,000, and
4,000 as the most likely population of the five groups here being
discussed. In default of any other evidence we may take the average
3,000.
(Chupunes, Tarquines, Ompines, Julpunes ... 3,000)
__________________________________________________
Adding the totals for the tribes known to inhabit the delta region of
the great rivers and the southern shore of Suisun Bay, we arrive at a
total population of 9,350.
Delta area ... 9,350
____________________
It is now preferable to depart from a strictly tribal sequence and
revert once more to a classification based upon river basins. Three
areas of this type are sufficiently clearly marked out; those
corresponding to (1) the Cosumnes River, (2) the Mokelumne River, and
(3) the lower San Joaquin River from just below the Merced to the head
of tide water near Manteca. The inhabitants may be designated village
or tribal groups in accordance with the river system where they were
located.
_The Cosumnes group._--On the river of this name lived the large and
important aggregate of peoples known popularly as the Cosumnes, which
included a restricted tribelet or subgroup also called Cosumnes.
Ethnically a portion of the Plains Miwok, they extended from
Sloughhouse close to the foothills, along the lower course of the
Cosumnes River to its confluence with the Mokelumne near Thornton, and
from that point northwestward to the Sacramento. The tribe as a whole
was divided into either villages or tribelets, the names of many of
which have come down to us from the Spanish records or have been
ascertained by informants from ethnographers. As might be expected,
there is considerable confusion among the different sets of names.
The mission documents are replete with village and tribal names but the
number of baptisms was not as large as might be anticipated from what
must have been a very populous aggregate of natives. The reason
probably lies in the fact that missionizing expeditions to the Cosumnes
were preceded by exploratory and punitive expeditions which, to be
sure, brought home a few converts but which were chiefly preoccupied
with military objectives. The Cosumnes, together with the Mokelumnes
and other peoples of the lower San Joaquin Valley, had the time and the
opportunity to develop great facility in the raiding and stealing of
livestock and consequently for many years were in a state of
uninterrupted war with the coastal settlers. The bitter hostility thus
generated, together with the aggressive psychology which accompanied
successful physical opposition to the Spaniards, made extensive
conversion to Christianity very difficult. As a result the relative
proportion of the natives baptized was unquestionably much lower than
among the bay and delta tribes previously considered. The baptisms
which appear in the mission records follow.
Tribe or Group Date of Conversion Baptisms
______________ __________________ ________
Cosumnes
(Tribelet) 1826-1836 84
Junisumne
(Anizumne,
Unsumne) 1813-1834 363
Lelamne
(Llamne) 1813-1836 128
Gualacomne 1825-1836 158
Amuchamne
(Mackemne) 1834-1835 13
Sololumne 1828-1834 6
Locolumne 1826-1834 52
_____
Total 804
If we apply the general principle used with the delta groups and double
the baptism number, the population becomes 1,608, a figure which is
much too low. The Lelamne, with 128 baptisms, comprises the group
attacked by Soto in 1813, at which time we have estimated that there
were four villages of 475 persons each involved in the battle. This
calculation implies a total of 1,900 for the Lelamne alone. On the
other hand, the account is not entirely clear as to whether or not
there were members of the Cosumnes tribelet concerned. If so, we may be
dealing with both the Lelamne and adjacent neighbors who were
designated locally Cosumnes. If we include the baptisms of all those
under both names, we have 212. Furthermore, the Junisumne (or Unsumne
or Anizumne) were often confused with the Cosumnes. If the 363 baptisms
listed under the Junisumne are added we get 575 and, multiplying by 2,
the population of the three divisions collectively would have been
1,150. This estimate also appears too small and leads to the conclusion
suggested above on historical grounds that a baptism factor valid for
the delta would not be applicable to the Cosumnes group as a whole.
Another documentary source is of interest in this connection. This is
the account by José Berreyesa in 1830 (MS) of an affray along the lower
Sacramento River in which Americans participated under Ewing Young.
Christian fugitives from the missions had been protected by the
Yunisumenes (Junisumne), who had joined with the Ochejamnes. They were
opposed by the Mexicans and their allies, the Sigousamenes (Siakumne),
the Cosomes, and the Ilamenes. These last tribes had gathered an army
of 450 "Gentiles auciliares." The Yunisumenes, Cosomes, and Ilamenes
are, of course, precisely the three subtribes discussed in the
preceding paragraph. Now if the Sigousamenes, Cosomes, and Ilamenes
contributed 450 men collectively, they each may be considered to have
furnished 150 men. Since the opponents were fairly well matched, it is
likely that the Yunisumenes supplied a similar number. We can assume
that for routine fighting of this sort, particularly where two of the
tribelets were ranged with the Mexicans instead of against them, the
armies included no more than the strictly military population, or not
in excess of half the males over the age of ten years. Hence, if the
sex ratio was unity and the young children constituted approximately 15
per cent of the population, the aggregate number of the three subtribes
would have amounted to 1,920, or almost the same as was estimated from
the Soto report in 1813 for the Lelamne (Ilamenes) above, or perhaps
the Lelamne augmented by some of the Cosumnes tribelets or subtribes.
The Berreyesa episode occurred in 1830, after all these groups had
suffered twenty years of attrition owing to perpetual minor warfare,
disease, and starvation. Hence the population of the three tribelets
jointly, Junisumne, Cosumnes, and Lelamne, must have reached fully
3,000 in 1813. The baptism factor, consequently, would not have been 50
per cent, but 575 divided by 3,000, or 19.2 per cent.
Three other villages or tribelets which can be identified in the
mission records as being closely associated with the Cosumnes are the
Amuchamne, Sololumne, and Locolumne. The first two probably correspond
to Merriam's Oo-moo-chah and So-lo-lo, which in later times at least
were rancherias. Assuming all three to have been villages, we may
consider that each contained an average number of 300 inhabitants. The
respective baptism numbers were 13.6, and 52. In relative terms the
baptisms amounted to 4.3, 2.0, and 17.3 per cent.
The last division listed above is the Gualacomne, synonymous with
Merriam's Wah-lah-kum-ne. Merriam (Mewko List, MS) places them between
the lower Stanislaus and the Tuolumne rivers, but quotes Hale, who saw
them in the 1840's, as saying that they lived on the lower east side of
the Sacramento River. Hale's statement is strongly supported by the
fact that they appear in J. A. Gatten's census of 1846 (MS, 1872).
Gatten ennumerated only the tribes along the lower Sacramento. Whether
the Gualacomne can be affiliated with the Cosumnes ethnically is
doubtful but it is reasonable to include them with this group
demographically.
Of the Gualacomne 158 were baptized in the missions. That the group was
fairly large is attested by the fact that Gatten reported, under the
name Yalesumne, that 485 were alive in 1846, Since no open valley group
could possibly have retained more than one-third of its former members
in 1846, it does not seem excessive to ascribe 1,455 persons to the
tribelet. The baptism factor is 10.8 per cent, and the average of the
five values secured with the Cosumnes group is 10.7, or, let us say
10.0 per cent. The total population on the lower Cosumnes and adjacent
Sacramento rivers, according to the discussion above would be 5,355
souls.
We may approach the problem from a different direction if we start with
the villages compiled by Merriam (1907, p. 349). He mentions sixteen
villages on the Cosumnes River system from Sloughhouse nearly but not
quite to the Sacramento. It is extremely probable that there were other
villages on the Sacramento River itself. Nevertheless, let us take
Merriam's list as it stands. The upper seven villages lie between
Sloughhouse and the junction of the Cosumnes River with Deer Creek, the
remainder below that point. Of the lower nine we may consider that four
correspond to those seen by Soto, which were quite large. It was
estimated that they contained 475 persons apiece. The other five lower
villages, although perhaps not so populous, must have held fully 300
inhabitants each. The upper seven were no doubt smaller but still
should have reached the values given by Moraga for similar stretches of
the Tuolumne and Merced, i.e., approximately 250 persons. The total
would then come to 5,150, very close to the previous estimate. It will
be both adequate and conservative to establish the population at 5,200.
Cosumnes group ... 5,200
________________________
_The Moquelumne group._--Here are included the Indians living on the
lower course of the Mokelumne River, the Calaveras River, and the plain
between the two. Five tribes mentioned by the Spanish writers fall
within this category: the Moquelumnes, the Siakumne, the Passasimas,
the Yatchikumne and the Seguamne. The exact territorial status of these
tribes has been a subject of considerable disagreement among
ethnographers.
The original Moquelumnes of the Spaniards were undoubtedly located on
the Mokelumne River itself from Campo Seco nearly to the junction with
the Cosumnes at which point they adjoined the Cosumnes tribe. According
to George H. Tinkham, in his History of San Joaquin County (1923), they
extended in a north-south direction all the way from Dry Creek to the
Calaveras River, but by the middle of the nineteenth century they may
have spread out from their original habitat. The Yatchikumne are shown
by Schenck as filling the space between the lower Mokelumne and the
lower Calaveras and extending westward to the San Joaquin River.
Merriam (Mewko List, MS) quotes F. T. Gilbert to the effect that they
occupied the Mokelumne River basin, but if they did so, it was because
of the displacements during the mining era. The Passasimas are placed
by Schenck on the left bank of the Calaveras River at, and for several
miles upstream from, its junction with the San Joaquin River.
The Siakumne and the Seguamne are subject to some confusion. This
difficulty arises partially from the similarity in name. The Siakumne
are called Si-a-kum-ne by Merriam and Sakayakumne by Kroeber. In
Gatten's census of 1846 they appear as Sagayakumne. In the San Jose
baptism book we find Ssicomne, Zicomne, Siusumne, and Sigisumne. The
Seguamne, on the other hand are designated Seguamnes and Saywamines by
Merriam and Sywameney or Seywameney by Sutter in his New Helvetia Diary
(1939). Gatten calls them Sywamney. They appear in the San Jose record
as Secuamne, Seguamne, Seyuame, and other variants.
The Siakumne lived somewhere between the Calaveras and Stanislaus
rivers according to Merriam, who places one of their villages at
Knights Ferry on the Stanislaus. Schenck doubts Merriam's location and
Kroeber puts the rancheria Sakayakumne as far north as the Mokelumne.
Sutter (1939, p. 88) says that some of these people came to work for
him, an unlikely event if they had been living as far away as the
Stanislaus. It is probable that the lower Calaveras River is as close
as we can place them. The Seguamne are not mentioned at all by Schenck.
Merriam (Mewko List, MS) says they were a "tribe or subtribe on E. side
lower Sacramento River" and may have been a subtribe of the Bolbones.
Sutter and Gatten both refer to the tribe, and the sphere of activity
of these men did not extend much below the Sacramento River itself.
Hence, although there are grounds for including the Seguamne with the
Bolbones or the Cosumnes, no serious error will be committed by placing
them in the Mokelumne group.
The Moquelumnes were unquestionably quite numerous. In Spanish and
Mexican times they were the most aggressive and belligerent of all the
valley tribes and gave the coastal settlers a very rough struggle.
Nevertheless, in spite of their detestation of the missionaries they
furnished 143 converts between 1817 and 1835. At a ratio of 10 per cent
this would mean a population, prior to the mission period, of about
1,400 souls. J. M. Amador (MS, 1877, p. 43) says that once, during the
later colonial period, they furnished 200 auxiliaries, a fact which
would argue fully 1,000 people at the time. Gatten in his census of
1846 gives them a total of 81 persons but G. H. Tinkham says that in
1850 or thereabouts they possessed four sizable villages with four
chieftains. This may have meant between 200 and 400 persons, a really
considerable number of survivors for a tribe which had suffered so
extensively in the preceding three decades. These indications, and it
must be admitted that they are only indications, would lead one to
infer that the aboriginal population reached at least 1,500.
Precisely because the Moquelumnes were so brutally handled in the
colonial era the modern ethnographic accounts of villages are very
incomplete. Neither Merriam nor Schenck gives us any list. Kroeber puts
three on his map (1925, opp. p. 446): Mokel (-umni), Lelamni, and
Sakayak-umni. I think we are now in a position to state that these
names represent former tribes and if they were applied to villages by
informants, it is because the component units had shrunk to very small
size.
Stream density comparisons are of value for the Mokelumne group. On the
Cosumnes River, from Sloughhouse to Thornton, Merriam shows thirteen
rancherias (omitting those close to the Sacramento River). As was
proposed above we may ascribe from 200 to 400 inhabitants to each of
these, say on the average 300. Now there is no reason to suppose that
the Mokelumne River from the San Joaquin-Calaveras county line to just
west of Lodi was less heavily populated than the Cosumnes. If so, the
number of villages per linear river mile must have been very nearly the
same. For the stretches under consideration there were 24 miles on the
Cosumnes and 22 on the Mokelumne. Thus we would get 12 villages and
3,600 persons living on the Mokelumne River.
The Yatchikumne and, if we are to credit Schenck, the Passasimas
occupied a position on the Calaveras River comparable to that occupied
by the Moquelumnes on the Mokelumne. Schenck regards the Yatchikumne
as a tribe equal in importance to the Moquelumnes, and the county
historians speak of them as a large group. Their river frontage is
equivalent to that of the Moquelumnes. For these reasons we would be
justified in ascribing to the Yatchikumne and Passasimas the same
population as the Moquelumnes, i.e., 3,600. The evaluation of the other
two groups from the geographical standpoint is difficult, owing to the
uncertainty of their location. The Siakumne may be regarded as living
somewhere on the lower Calaveras and, if so, must be included with the
Yatchikumne and Passasimas in the estimate for the Calaveras. The
Seguamne may or may not have inhabited the banks of the Mokelumne and
Calaveras rivers. In view of our ignorance on this point it may be well
to omit them from consideration in this connection and leave the
estimate with the existing total of 7,200.
We may attempt some direct tribal comparisons. In considering the
northern San Joaquin Valley and delta 21 tribes and tribelets have been
examined, namely: Aguastos, Bolbones (4 tribes), Leuchas, Ochejamnes,
Guaypen, Quenemsias, Chuppumne, Chupunes, Tarquines, Julpunes, Ompines,
and the Cosumnes group (7 tribes). For all these the average population
calculated has been very close to 700. If this figure is applied
directly to the Moquelumne group, its population becomes 3,500.
However, some adjustment is necessary. The Moquelumnes by all accounts,
Spanish and American, were an unusually large tribe, probably reaching
at least 1,500. The Yatchikumne may not have been as numerous but were
apparently above the average size, let us say 1,200. The Passasimas,
despite the fact that Schenck thinks they were a "group plus" may be
regarded as smaller, perhaps no more than average. For the Siakumne and
Seguamne we must also assume the average figure, 700. With these
adjustments the total reaches 4,800.
The baptism books give us a record of the following conversions.
Tribe San Jose Santa Clara
_____ ________ ___________
Moquelumnes 143 ...
Yatchikumnes 118 ...
Passasimas 145 ...
Siakumne 22 ...
Seguamne 47 116
The Passasimas, Siakumne, and Seguamne were situated in the vicinity of
the San Joaquin River and hence were more exposed to the Spanish
expeditions than the tribes along the lateral streams. Hence the
proportion of those taken for conversion may have been higher than the
10 per cent of the aboriginal population found for the Cosumnes,
although it would not have attained the value of 50 per cent
characteristic of the more westerly delta tribes. We may take an
intermediate figure, 20 per cent. This would give the Passasimas a
population of 725, the Siakumne 110, and the Seguamne 815. The great
disparity between the figures for the last two tribes may well be due
to confusion of names in the mission records. The total for the three
is 1,650. For the Yatchikumne on the Calaveras River no more than 10
per cent baptisms can be assumed, yielding a population figure of
1,180. If only geographical location were considered, the same factor
could be used for the Moquelumnes but this tribe resisted
missionization with extraordinary tenacity. Hence we are not justified
in using a factor of more than 7 per cent, from which we may infer that
the population was 2,040. The baptism data would then give us a total
for the group of 4,870.
According to the estimates furnished by pioneers and government
officials for the period just preceding the Gold Rush the population
ran into the thousands. The census by Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) puts
4,000 on the Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and Calaveras and 2,500 on the
Stanislaus, F. T. Gilbert (1879, p. 13) says that "before the advent of
Sutter" there were 2,000 on the Mokelumne and, as far as I can
ascertain, he implies that on the Cosumnes and Mokelumne together there
were fully 5,000. These figures were undoubtedly greatly exaggerated
but nevertheless indicate a very large population in the area just
before the discovery of gold and subsequent to the destructive
epidemics of 1833-1835. Even if we cut these estimates in half, there
would remain in midcentury approximately 2,000 persons in the basins of
the Moquelumne, Calaveras, and adjacent San Joaquin rivers. A residue
of 2,000 in 1850 means certainly an original population of three times
as much, i.e., 6,000.
To recapitulate the estimates for the Moquelumne group, we find:
By stream densities 7,200
By adjusted tribal averages 4,800
By baptism data 4,870
By extrapolation from American estimates 6,000
_______
Mean 5,720
The mean, 5,720, appears entirely reasonable for the aboriginal
population of such a vigorous and important group.
Moquelumne group ... 5,720
__________________________
_The lower San Joaquin River group._--Here are included for convenience
the tribes and fragments of tribes inhabiting the banks of the San
Joaquin River from the habitat of the Leuchas, in the vicinity of
Manteca, to just below the mouth of the Merced, together with those
living along the lower courses of the Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers
(see maps 1, 5, and 6, area 8). The San Joaquin villages or tribes
appear to have been Cuyens, Mayemes, Tationes, and Apaglamnes. The
first two are regarded by Schenck as villages only and the latter two
as "villages plus." The only Spaniard who described the area was
Viader, in the accounts of his two expeditions of 1810.
On his first expedition, having left the village of Tomchom, he went
south-southeast up the river for 2-1/2 leagues to another village "...
cuya capitan se llama Cuyens." This was very close to section 10, in
T3S, R6E. After a journey of another 2-1/2 to 3 leagues he found
another village, whose captain was Maijem (sec. 8, in T4S, R7E). Then,
after 2 leagues, still another village, whose captain was Bozenats (in
sec. 34, in T4S, R7E), was seen. Three leagues farther in the same
direction brought him to the rancheria "... cuyo appelido es Tationes."
In the meantime he had seen 30 gentiles from the Apaglamnes. The
Tationes were located close to section 27, in T5S, R8E.
During his second expedition, on October 22, Viader went from Pescadero
southeast up the river for 5 leagues to "los indios Tugites." Three
leagues farther on he was met by Indians from Cuyens, who went with him
to the "Rancheria de Mayem," another 4-1/2 leagues farther on. Then,
having forded the river to the east shore, they went still another 2
leagues to a rancheria "que se llama ... Taualames." The Rio Dolores
(Tuolumne) was supposed to be 2 to 3 leagues north. However, Viader
went upstream on the east bank 6 leagues to the Rio Merced, having in
the meantime passed "en frente de ... los indios Apelamenes y
Tatives."
The distances on both trips are very consistent and the village
locations check closely with those shown on Schenck's map, except that
only the Taualames should be placed on the east bank of the river.
Viader is very explicit in saying that all the others were on the west
bank.
Cuyens, Mayem, and Bozenats are beyond doubt villages, since each was
named after its chief, or captain. The Tationes and Apaglamnes are
given in the plural: "los indios Apelamenes y Tatives." They may well
have possessed more than one rancheria each, as is supposed by Schenck.
Schenck thinks that Cuyens and Mayem were transient parties from
Kroeber's Miwok villages, Chuyumkatat and Mayemam, which were on the
Cosumnes. Aside from the possible similarity in names there is not the
slightest evidence in Viader's diaries to support such a theory. Viader
definitely specifies rancherias, and the missionaries of that period
were able to distinguish rancherias from fishing parties.
From the record we have in this area five villages certain and at least
one other probable. For six villages of average size (there is no
indication that they were smaller) the population would be assumed as
300 persons each, or 1,800 in all.
The mission records show for baptisms:
Tribe or Dates of Number of
Village Conversion Baptisms
________ __________ _________
Cuyens 1811-1813 88
Mayemes 1813-1823 91
Apaglamnes 1818-1824 48
Tationes 1805-1811 243
The total is 470. These were San Joaquin River natives, not from the
delta and marsh region. On the other hand they were less remote from
Spanish influence and attack than the tribes which extended up the
lateral streams. Hence the proportion of baptisms was probably
intermediate between the value of 50 per cent assumed for the very
exposed bay and delta people and that of 10 per cent ascribed to the
Cosumnes. An estimate of 25 per cent would be reasonable, yielding a
population value of 1,800. The two methods of calculation coincide, and
the result, 1,800 inhabitants, may be allowed for the area.
For the lower Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers the only tribes mentioned
in the Spanish documents are the Tauhalames (or Taulamnes) on the
Tuolumne and the Lakisamne (or Lakisumne or Laquisemne) on the
Stanislaus. Kroeber (1925, p. 485) writes: "the Tawalimni, presumably
on Tuolumne River ... the Lakisamni ... on the Stanislaus ..." Schenck
says (p. 141):
The villages of Taulamne and Taualames are both definitely
placed, the former on an inaccessible rock on the Stanislaus
river in the foothills, the latter at the ford of the San
Joaquin just below the mouth of the Tuolumne river.... This
seems to establish the region between the lower Tuolumne and
Stanislaus rivers as Taulamne territory. Merriam agrees in
assigning the same region to the Tuolumne.
Schenck's only reference to the Lakisamne is on the same page: "The
Leuchas might possibly be identified with Kroeber's Lakisamni (Yokuts)
on the Stanislaus river." But the mission records and all other
documents clearly distinguish between the two groups, rendering
Schenck's hypothesis entirely untenable.
Some of the confusion may derive from the account of Muñoz. In his
diary of the Moraga expedition he tells how, on October 1, 1806, the
party left the Merced River and proceded northwest for 7 to 8 leagues,
reaching finally a river which they called the Dolores (i.e., the
Tuolumne, probably near Modesto). There were no Indians, but signs of
"varias rancherias," the inhabitants having all absconded. On October 2
they went northwest again and at 4 leagues, in the middle of a very
large oak park, they came upon another river, which they called the
Guadelupe. This could only have been the Stanislaus, probably somewhere
east of Ripon. On the next day, October 3, they went up this river, and
at the end of 6 leagues reached a rancheria called Taulamne. It was
situated in "unos empinados voladeros e inacesibles por unas
encrespadas rocas." They could not get at the Indians but estimated the
population as 200, on the basis of the people they could discern. This
village, be it noted, was situated among "steep cliffs, inaccessible
because of certain rough rocks"--not on an inaccessible rock in the
river. This spot, judging by both the distances and the description,
was along the limestone bluffs which steeply border the south bank of
the Stanislaus for several miles opposite Knights Ferry. The Indians
said that there were six other rancherias upstream. From this point the
expedition moved the next day again northwest toward the Calaveras
River. We gather little concerning tribal names from Moraga's account
but we learn that there was a considerable population along the
Stanislaus which demonstrated sharp defiance to the Spanish invaders.
In the later documents there is little if any reference to the
Taulamnes but much discussion of the Lakisamni. There are repeated
allusions to this group as being very hostile, bad raiders, and the
object of several military campaigns, particularly those against the
great Indian rebel chief, Estanislao. The fighting was undoubtedly on
the Stanislaus River and the Indian protagonists were frequently allied
with the Cosumnes and Mokelumnes. From the context of the documents
they would seem to have been as numerous, or at least as bellicose, as
either of these two tribes.
José Sanchez in 1826 refers to his bitter battle with Estanislao, which
took place on the "rio de los Laquisimes" (MS, 1826). Joaquin Piña
describes a military expedition under Guadelupe Vallejo in 1829 (MS,
1829). The objective was two "rancherias," one of the Laquisimes and
the other of the Tagualames, on the "Rio de los Laquisimes," or the
"Rio Pescadero." The campaign was inconclusive since nearly all of the
Indians escaped.
From the citations above it appears probable that the Taulamnes and the
Lakisamne were two distinct tribal groups and that their home was on
both the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers. It is also likely that in the
turmoil and confusion of the period between 1800 and 1830 the original
spacing and distribution of the tribes became irreparably lost and that
the surviving fragments of both amalgamated and reconstituted
themselves with reference to their Spanish enemies rather than with
reference to their aboriginal social organization. Hence they may have
come to be concentrated more on the Stanislaus than on the Tuolumne.
The only direct population estimate we have for them is that of Muñoz,
who claimed 200 persons for the village of Taulamne, among the cliffs.
Assuming that 50 persons were not seen, the village would have had 250
inhabitants, which is more or less standard for the general area,
according to Moraga's account. If the other six villages had an equal
population, the total would have been 1,500. But this estimate does not
include the portion of the Stanislaus below Taulamne which was covered
by Moraga in his march of 6 leagues upstream. No villages are mentioned
in connection with this march but they could scarcely have failed to
exist. Hence we may add another 500 without much fear of exaggeration,
making a total of 2,000 for the course of the river from the San
Joaquin to several miles above Knights Ferry. On the Tuolumne "varias
rancherias" were seen, all deserted by their occupants. However, Moraga
also remarked that the lower Tuolumne resembled the lower Merced. On
the latter were 8 rancherias, hence there may have been an equal number
on the Tuolumne. At a conservative 225 persons in each, the aggregate
would have been 1,800. The sum for the two rivers would be 3,800.
The baptism lists show 151 conversions for the Lakisamne and 263 for
the Taulamnes, or 414 in all. In view of the notorious hostility and
the successful resistance these groups opposed to the white men,
evident even in Moraga's day, we are justified in setting the baptism
factor as low as for the Mokelumnes, or 7 per cent. This gives a
potential aboriginal population of 5,920.
The midcentury American estimates would indicate more than this number.
H. W. Wessells (1859) claims 500 to 700 on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne
in 1853. Adam Johnston (1853) put 1,350 on his map of the same area in
1852. W. M. Ryer vaccinated 1,010 on the two rivers in 1851. The Daily
Alta California for May 31, 1851, said that the Indians were 1,000
strong between the Stanislaus and the Tuolumne, and Savage, for an
earlier period, put them at 4,600 (Dixon, MS, 1875). On the other hand,
it must be remembered that as a result of Spanish and Mexican, not to
mention American, aggression most of the strictly San Joaquin River
people had long since retreated up the lateral streams. Hence the
natives seen by the commissioners between 1850 and 1853 included the
residues of all the river tribes from Manteca to Merced. For the
southern part of the San Joaquin Valley it was determined, in a
previous discussion, that the population remainder in 1850 represented
approximately one-third of the aboriginal population. Of the estimates
just cited the most reliable is that of Ryer. Following the suggestions
presented in the consideration of his activities, we must make a
correction to account for persons who missed vaccination. Such a
correction would bring the number to 1,420. Then application of the
factor one-third gives an aboriginal value of 4,730.
The three modes of estimate yield respectively a population of 3,800,
5,920, and 4,730, with an average of 4,817. We may use a slightly
greater value and call the population 5,000. To this must be added the
1,800 persons estimated to have lived along the San Joaquin River
itself. The lower San Joaquin River group as a whole, therefore, may be
assigned a population of 6,800.
Lower San Joaquin River Group ... 6,800
_______________________________________
NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY ... 27,070
______________________________________
THE MIWOK FOOTHILL AREA
Above the central valley itself and occupying the foothills from the
Cosumnes to the Tuolumne lived the northern and central Miwok. This
region was not reached by the Spanish expeditions nor were many, if
any, of the inhabitants incorporated in the missions. It is therefore
necessary to rely exclusively upon the reports of the ethnographers.
In a preceding discussion of the central Miwok, who lived on the upper
Stanislaus and Tuolumne, there were cited the data secured by Gifford,
Kroeber, and Merriam for 70 villages. This area in 1850 was estimated
to contain a population of 1,470. There are no data comparable to
Gifford's for the rivers farther north, largely because the natives on
the upper Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and Calaveras were thoroughly dispersed
during the Gold Rush and village names and locations have become lost
to the memory of Indian and white man alike. It is possible, however,
to get a reasonable estimate of the population indirectly.
The territory of the northern Miwok, from the ecological standpoint
resembles closely that of the central Miwok. Hence stream mileage and
area comparisons are justified. If we use the boundaries of the two
groups substantially as given by Kroeber in the Handbook (map, opp. p.
446) and plot rivers and areas on a large-scale map, the equivalent
aboriginal population for the northern Miwok by stream mileage and area
is 2,480 and 1,535, respectively. The discrepancy in the two estimates
is due to the greater frequency of streams and creeks in the northern
area. The average of the population calculated by the two methods is
2,008, very close to that found for the central Miwok. The total for
the foothill strip is then 4,138 or in round numbers 4,150.
MIWOK FOOTHILL AREA ... 4,150
_____________________________
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 5: There are numerous other letters pertaining to this matter
in the same volume of the Provincial State Papers.]
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
From the data presented in detail in the last section we may now derive
the aboriginal population of the San Joaquin Valley as a whole.
Region Population
______ __________
Tulare Lake Basin 6,500
Kaweah River 7,600
Merced River 3,500
Kings River 9,100
Mariposa, Fresno,
Chowchilla, upper
San Joaquin 19,000
Southern San Joaquin Valley 6,900
Northern San Joaquin Valley
Delta area 9,350
Lower Cosumnes 5,200
Lower Mokelumne 5,720
Lower San Joaquin,
Calaveras,
Tuolumne,
and Stanislaus 6,800 27,070
_______
Foothill strip (central
and northern Miwok) 4,150
_______
Total 83,820
The total, 83,820, is more than four times as large as the population
estimated to be surviving in 1850 (19,000) and much exceeds any
previous estimate advanced by modern students of the California
Indians.
Dr. C. Hart Merriam in 1905 computed the population of the entire state
of California as 260,000, of whom perhaps one-fifth may have occupied
the San Joaquin Valley, although Merriam does not attempt to assess the
population of this area as such. Kroeber discusses the matter at length
in the Handbook (pp. 488-491, 880-891) and concludes that the
population of the whole state was 133,000. Of these the Yokuts had
18,000, the Miwok (Plains and Sierra) 9,000, the Western Mono about
1,000, and the peripheral tribes in the south perhaps 2,000, a total of
30,000. Schenck is more liberal, since for the delta region he allows
for a spread of between 3,000 and 15,000 persons. The present estimate
for the same area, as closely as it can be determined, is in the
vicinity of 13,000, or within Schenck's limits although toward his
upper extreme.
Since the data and reasoning upon which the present figure of 83,820 is
based are set forth in detail in the preceding pages there is little
value in repeating them, nor will anything be gained by attempting a
rebuttal to the arguments presented by Kroeber. At the same time the
author may be permitted to recapitulate three points wherein he thinks
many modern scholars have been misled.
1. All available information from the Spanish and Mexican
sources must be consulted. To confine an argument or an
estimate to a single account, such as that by Moraga, may
lead to a false impression. Kroeber seems to have been thus
deceived in his discussion of the population of the Yokuts.
2. It must be remembered that in the central valley, as
contrasted perhaps with an area like the Klamath River, no
informants speaking since 1900, and particularly since 1920,
can possibly have furnished a true picture of conditions
prior to the Spanish invasion in the decade following 1800.
3. The depletion of population in the San Joaquin Valley
between 1800 and 1850 was far greater than has been
appreciated, although the basic facts have always been
recognized. Warfare, massacre, forced conversion, starvation,
and exposure all took a tremendous toll of life but the
sweeping epidemics of the 1830's were even more devastating.
Together these forces destroyed in the aggregate fully 75 per
cent of the aboriginal population.
APPENDIX
After this manuscript was completed, the writer had an opportunity to
examine those documentary files of the Office of Indian Affairs and of
the War Department which are at present in the National Archives at
Washington. Several letters in the files containing information on the
native population of the San Joaquin Valley have never, so far as could
be determined, been published. Since the data thus procured are
fragmentary and since they do not apparently invalidate the conclusions
set forth in previous pages, they have not been incorporated in the
body of this paper. These items, however, have some intrinsic interest
and therefore merit specific mention. They are briefly abstracted as
follows.
_War Department_
_Record Group 98._ 10th Military Dept. Letters received
Calif., Document no. _K 21_. E. D. Keyes, Camp Magruder,
June 17, 1851.
The 8 tribes on the Kaweah, with whom a treaty was concluded
on May 30 contain 1,240 individuals.
The 4 tribes on Paint Creek with whom a treaty was concluded
on June 3 contain 1,660 persons.
_Record Group 98._ Letters received Calif., 1854. Enclosure
to document no. _W 2_. John Nugent, Camp Wessells, Dec. 31,
1853.
The Four Creeks region (Kaweah) from the Sierra Nevada to
Tulare Lake will not contain more than 1,000, all told.
_Record Group 98._ Letters received Calif., 1854. Enclosure
to document no. _W 12_. H. W. Wessells, Fort Miller, March
7, 1854.
The Indians under control of Fort Miller include those on
the Fresno, San Joaquin, Kings, and Kaweah Rivers. They are
much reduced in numbers, owing to the recent sickness.
Fresno River: 400 persons, including 100 able men.
San Joaquin River: 350, including 80-90 able men.
Kings River: 1,100, including 250 able men.
Kaweah River: 800, including 200 able men.
_Office of Indian Affairs_
_Record Group 75._ Letters received Calif., 1854. Enclosure
to document no. _H 758_. D. A. Enyart, Fresno Reservation,
Nov. 3, 1854.
The Indians on the Fresno Farm include: 30 Chowchilla, 220
Choot-chances, 90 Pohonicha, and 100 Potohanchi.
The Indians in Mariposa, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties
do not exceed a total of 2,000.
By river system he breaks them down thus: 300 on the Merced,
350 on the Tuolumne, 250 at Plant's Ferry on the Stanislaus,
100 elsewhere on the Stanislaus, and 100 scattering through
the country.
_Record Group 75._ Letters received Calif., 1855. Enclosure
to document no. _H 1050_. Report of D. A. Enyart, Fresno
Reservation, Aug. 22, 1855.
"I find that there are at least about 1,000 to 1,500 Indians
on the River (i.e., San Joaquin).... This does not include
the 'Mono' tribe which is the most numerous of any tribe...."
_Record Group 75._ Letters received Calif., 1859. Enclosure
to document no. _M 66_. M. B. Lewis, Fresno Agency, Aug. 30,
1859.
A report on the 22 tribes which recognize the Fresno Agency
as their headquarters. Abstracted as follows:
_Wel-leelch-um-nies_:
the most northerly tribe; is "temporarily"
on the Tuolumne River because of displacement
by the whites. 85
_Poto-en-cies_:
have abandoned their native land, the Merced
Valley and are now on the Chowchilla. 110
_Noot-choos_:
"a union of the remnant of other tribes,"
including some Yosemites. Now on the north
fork of the Chowchilla. 85
_Po-ho-nee-chees_:
on the headwaters of the Fresno. 105
_Chow-chillas_:
have moved from the Chowchilla to the Fresno River. 85
_Cooc-chances_:
the largest "unbroken" tribe in the agency,
originally on Coarse Gold Creek; some still
there, some at agency. 240
_How-ches_:
once large; always have been on the Fresno. 18
_Pit-cat-ches_ and _Tal-linches_:
(two distinct tribes); native habitat was the
San Joaquin River; still near Fort Miller. 150
_Coss-waz_:
"to some extent identified with the Pit-cat-ches";
native land is Deer Creek. 88
_Monos_:
on Fine Gold Creek and the upper San Joaquin River. 535
_War-to-kes_, _Itee-ches_, and _Cho-pes_:
all on Kings River; "constitute one nation" but
have separate heads (on Wartoke Creek). 290
_Wat-ches_:
since 1854 have been on Kings River Farm. 75
_No-to-no-tos_ and _We-melches_. 190
_Tat-ches_ and _Wo-wells_:
these four tribes are native to the lower Kings
River and Tulare Lake. They were recently driven
to their homes on the Fresno Farm. 165
_Cow-willas_:
their home is the mouth of the Kaweah at the
foothills. 110
_Tel-em-nies_:
on the Kaweah, near Visalia. 105
_____
Total 2,436
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PUBLISHED WORKS
Barbour, G. W.
1852. 32nd Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 1, pt. III.
1853. Report to the Indian Commissioner. 33rd Cong., spec.
sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, pp. 249-264 [Ser. no. 688].
Barbour, G. W., R. McKee, and O. M. Wozencraft
1853. Report to the Indian Commissioner. 33rd Cong., spec.
sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, pp. 56-59.
Carson, James H.
1852. In San Joaquin Republican (Stockton, Feb., 1852), as
quoted by S. P. Elias, Stories of Stanislaus (Modesto,
1924), p. 196.
Chapman, Charles E.
1911. Expedition on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in
1817, Diary of Fray Narciso Duran. Publ. Acad. Pacific Coast
Hist., Vol. 2, No. 5.
Cook, S. F.
1940. Population Trends among the California Mission
Indians. Univ. Calif. Ibero-Americana 17. Berkeley.
Coues, Elliott, ed.
1900. On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer. (The diary of
Francisco Garcés.) Trans, and ed. by Elliott Coues. New
York. The parts pertaining to the San Joaquin Valley are in
1:281-300.
Derby, Lt. George H.
1852. A Report of the Tulare Valley. 32nd. Cong., 1st sess.,
Sen. Ex. Doc. 110, pp. 4-16.
Farquhar, Francis P.
1932. The Topographical Reports of George H. Derby,
California Hist. Soc. Quarterly, 11:99, 247, 365.
Gayton, A. H.
1948. Yokuts and Western Mono Ethnography. Univ. Calif.
Publ. Anthro. Rec., Vol. 10. Berkeley.
Gifford, E. W.
1932. The Northfork Mono. Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and
Ethn., 31:15-65. Berkeley.
Gifford, E. W., and W. Egbert Schenck
1926. Archaeology of the Southern San Joaquin Valley,
California. Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn.,
23:1-122. Berkeley.
Gilbert, F. T.
1879. History of San Joaquin County, California. Oakland,
Calif.
Henley, T. J.
1857. Report to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
accompanying Ann. Rept. Sec. of the Interior for 1856. No.
100, pp. 236-246.
Johnston, Adam
1853. Report to the Indian Commissioner. 33rd Cong., spec.
sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, pp. 241-247.
1860. In H. R. Schoolcraft, Archives of Aboriginal
Knowledge, 4:406 ff.
Kroeber, A. L.
1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bur. Amer.
Ethn. Bull. 78. Washington, D. C.
Latta, F. F.
1949. Handbook of Yokuts Indians. Bakersfield, Calif.
Mason, J. D.
1881. History of Amador County, California. Oakland, Calif.
Merriam, C. Hart
1905. The Indian Population of California, American
Anthropologist, n.s., 7:594-606.
1907. Distribution and Classification of the Mewan Stock of
California, American Anthropologist, n.s., 9:338-357.
Powers, Stephen
1877. Tribes of California, Contributions to North American
Ethnology. Washington, D. C.
Ryer, W. M.
1852. Vouchers for vaccination. 32nd Cong., 2nd sess., Sen.
Ex. Doc. 61, pp. 20-23 [Ser. no. 620].
Savage, James D.
1851. Letter in the True Standard, reprinted in the
Sacramento Union, Apr. 10, 1851.
Schenck, W. Egbert
1926. Historic Aboriginal Groups of the California Delta
Region. Univ. Calif. Publ. Am. Arch. and Ethn., 23:123-146.
Berkeley.
Sutter, John A.
1850. Letter to H. W. Halleck, Dec. 20, 1847. 31st Cong.,
1st sess., H. R. Ex. Doc. 17.
1939. New Helvetia Diary; a Record of Events Kept by John A.
Sutter and His Clerks at New Helvetia, California, from
September 9, 1845, to May 25, 1848. San Francisco, Calif.
Tinkham, George H.
1923. History of San Joaquin County, California. Los
Angeles, Calif.
United States Treaties
1905. Message from the President ... communicating Eighteen
Treaties made with Indians in California ... [1851-1852, by
G. W. Barbour, O. M. Wozencraft, and Redick McKee.] 32nd
Cong., 1st sess., Sen. Con. Doc. Reprint of 1905.
Washington, D. C.
Warner, J. J.
Description of 1832 Epidemic among the Indians of the San
Joaquin Valley. In An Illustrated History of San Joaquin
County, California ... pp. 28-29. The Lewis Publishing Co.
Chicago.
Wessels, H. W.
1857. Report on the Tribes of the San Joaquin Valley. 34th
Cong., 3rd sess., H. R. Ex. Doc. 76, pp. 31-32.
Wozencraft, O. M.
1851. Letter dated July 12, 1851. 32nd Cong., 1st sess.,
Sen. Ex. Doc. 1, pt. III, pp. 488-490 [Ser. no. 906].
MANUSCRIPTS
All manuscripts are in the Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley, unless otherwise stated.
Abella, Ramon
Diario de un registro de los Rios Grandes, Oct. 31, 1811,
San Francisco. Santa Barbara Archive, IV:101-134. Also
original manuscript.
Altimira, José
Letter to Prefect José Senan, July 10, 1823, San Francisco.
Archbishop's Archive, IV (2):21-26.
Amador, José Maria
Memorias sobre la Historia de California, 1877. Original
manuscript C-D 28.
Argüello, José
Letter to Governor Arrillaga, May 30, 1805, San Francisco.
Provincial State Papers, XIX:42 ff.
Argüello, Luís Antonio
Letter to Governor Arrillaga, Oct. 31, 1813, San Francisco.
Provincial State Papers, XIX:345-349.
Carta al Gobernador Don Pablo Vicente de Sola ... May 26,
1817, San Francisco. Original manuscript (no. fm F864A64);
also typed copy.
Berryesa, José
Dated July 15, 1830, San Jose. Departmental State Papers,
II:135-137.
Cabot, Juan
Expedicion al valle de los Tulares, Letter to the Padre
Presidente, Apr. 7, 1815. Santa Barbara Archive, VI:67-72.
Letter to De La Guerra, May 23, 1818. De La Guerra
Documents, VII:88.
Dixon, H.
California Indians. 1875.
Duran, Narciso
Diario de la expedicion de reconocimiento hecha en el mes de
Mayo de 1817.... Original manuscript. (See also Charles E.
Chapman, 1911.)
Estudillo, José Maria
Diario que formo yo el ten^{te} d^{n} Jose Maria Estudillo
en la campaña ... emprendo p^{a} el reconocimiento y visita
de las rancherias situadas en los tulares ... Nov. 10, 1819,
Monterey. Original manuscript; also typed copy.
Garcia, Inocente
Hechos Historicos de California, 1878. Original manuscript.
CC-D 84.
Jaime, Antonio
Letter to Governor Sola, March 30, 1816, Soledad.
Archbishop's Archive, III(1):23-24.
Marquinez, Marcelino
Letter to Governor Sola, May 26, 1816. Archbishop's Archive,
III(1):41-42.
Martin, Juan
Visita a los Gentiles Tulareños, Apr. 26, 1815, San Miguel.
Santa Barbara Archive, VI:85-89.
Martinez, Luís Antonio
Entrada en las Rancherias del Tular, May 29, 1816, San Luis
Obispo. Archbishop's Archive, III(1):42-45.
McKinstry, George
Documents for the History of California, 1846-9. Presented
by Dr. George McKinstry of San Diego, 1872.
Merriam, C. Hart
Manuscript collection in Department of Anthropology,
University of California, Berkeley.
Moraga, Gabriel
Diario de la tercera expedicion echa por el Alferez Don
Gabriel Moraga ... a los rios del norte; verificada en el
mes de septiembre de el año de 1808. Original manuscript;
also two typed copies.
Muñoz, Pedro
Diario de la Exp^{n} echa por D. Gabriel Moraga de la
Compania de San Francisco a los nuevos descubrimientos del
tular ... Nov. 2, 1806, San Francisco. Santa Barbara
Archive, IV:1-47.
Ortega, Juan de
Diario que forma el Sarg^{to} Dist^{do} D^{n} Juan de Ortega
segun los sitios q^{e} por orn. del Sr. Gov^{or} de su mando
registrar ... Dec. 2, 1815, San Juan Bautista. Original
manuscript; also typed copy.
Pico, José Dolores
Diario formado p^{r} el Sarg^{to} José Dolores Pico de la
expedicion que a echo p^{r} dispocion del ciudadano ... José
Estudillo, Jan. 31, 1826. Original manuscript.
Piña, Joaquin
Quaderno de las Novedades Hoccuridas diariamente en la
expedicion que marcha a las ordenes del ... Guadelupe
Vallejo, June 13, 1829, Monterey. Original manuscript; also
a copy in the California Manuscript series, no. E-88.
Rodriguez, Sebastián
Diario que forma yo el Sarg^{to} Sebastian Rodriguez de la
Campana nombrada el dia 17 de Abril de 1828 [dated May 8,
1828]. Original manuscript.
Diario formado p^{r} el Sargento Sebastian Rodriguez desde
el dia 26 de Mayo ... una expedicion al Tular por el rumbo
de S. Miguel, June 22, 1828, Monterey. Manuscript.
Sal, Hermenegildo
... Informe en el cual el teniente Herm^{do} Sal manifesta
lo que ha adquirido de varios sugetos para comunicarlo al
Governador dela Provincia; Jan. 31, 1796. Provincial State
Papers, XIV:14-16.
Sanchez, José
Letter to Ignacio Martinez, May 10, 1826. State Papers,
Missions and Colonization, II:15-20.
Savage, James
In H. Dixon, California Indians. MS 1875.
Viader, José
Diario, o noticia del viaje que acabo de hacer ... desde el
15 hasta el 28 de Agosto de 1810, Aug. 28, 1910, San Juan
Bautista. Santa Barbara Archive, IV:73-84.
Diario del P. Jose desde 19 hasta 27 de Octubre de 1810.
Letter to the Padre Presidente, Oct. 19, 1810, San Jose.
Santa Barbara Archive, IV:85-94.
Zalvidea, José Maria
Diario de una expedicion tierra adentro, 1806. Santa Barbara
Archive, IV:49-68.
[Illustration: Map 1. This map covers the entire area under discussion,
extending from the Cosumnes River to the Tehachapi. The smaller
divisions, denoted by numbers and letters, represent the habitat areas
considered in detail in the text. The succeeding maps, drawn to larger
scale, show these same areas with the tribal divisions entered as far
as possible.
To accompany Cook, "Aboriginal Population of San Joaquin Valley," Univ.
of Calif. Publ., Anthro. Rec. Vol. 16, No. 2.]
[Illustration: Map 2. Habitat areas 1A-2: the southern Yokuts and
peripheral tribes.]
[Illustration: Map 3. Habitat areas 3A-4C: the basins of the Kaweah and
Kings rivers, including the Yokuts and part of the Mono.]
[Illustration: Map 4. Habitat areas 5A-6B: the Yokuts, part of the
Mono, and the Southern Miwok.]
[Illustration: Map 5. Habitat areas 7A-14: the Northern Yokuts, Central
and Northern Miwok.]
[Illustration: Map 6. The Lower San Joaquin River and Delta areas
(particularly areas 8 and 13).]
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Retained the spelling and punctuation inconsistencies of the original
book, except for the following changes:
Page 52: Changed "haorses" to "horses".
Orig.: southeast from Copicha and saw haorses from the rancheria
Page 67: Changed "slighest" to "slightest".
Orig.: there is not the slightest evidence in Viader's diaries
Page 73: Changed "manuscipt" to "manuscript".
Orig.: Abella, Ramon ... Also original manuscipt.
Superscripts are indicated with ^{xx},
e.g.: Diario formado p^{r} el Sarg^{to} José Dolores Pico
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