HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Figure 4.
and
Figure 4.
and
A-TEH-2105H is located on relatively flat fertile land on the outskirts of the unincorporated area called Vina, eastern Tehama County, at an elevation of 366 feet above sea level in northern California’s Sacramento Valley. It is 114 miles north of Sacramento, eighteen miles north of Butte County’s City of Chico, and nine miles south of Los Molinos and the “old” town of Tehama (which sits on the west bank of the Sacramento River.) The site is in the southwest corner of Section 21, of Township 25 North, Range 1 West of the Mount Diablo Meridian.From today’s well traveled Hwy 99E, that runs north-south through Vina and crosses the bridge of the Deer Creek drainage, the archaeological site herein described is four miles due east of this bridge. Upon driving easterly from Hwy 99E to the site, the original natural setting is an oak parkland transition zone, becoming oak woodlands, today privately owned by cattle ranchers and walnut and fruit tree growers. Mixed among the blue oaks and scrub oaks, are cottonwoods and large sycamores, which compete against lava cap protrusions that jut up in places between occasional springs and scattered patches of river bottom soil (See Geology below). There is riparian growth along the seasonal wash of Acorn Hollow, with a few visible willows along the creek edges. A journey up Deer Creek Canyon brings one into a chaparral belt.
Figure 5.
CA-TEH-2105H site flat looking easterly with corral, feed shed, and windmill complex. Photograph by Susan Ferguson, October 4, 2003.
Plants - The grasses of the Valley and foothills with star thistle, medusa head, bull thistle and others, are introduced plants of the historic era, with the larger oak trees present during the life of the cabin location.
Geology - Upon entering the graveled road and heading eastward though the natural ravine called Acorn Hollow, one rides over lava cap. This is lahar, volcanogentic lava mud flow of the Tuscan Formation, Late Pliocene 2-3 million years before the present. Originally, a wet concrete of ash and rock, the ash washed away earlier and one is left with the rocks today. Deeper down is the Montgomery Creek Formation and deeper still, the Chico Formation, of the Late Cretaceous Period, 70 million years B.P.1
The flat where the “outpost”2 Hi Good Cabin once stood in Section 21 contains enough soil for potential haying in places in the spring and grassy enough for low elevation cattle grazing in the winter months.3 The hot summer sun, however, quickly turns May and early June’s green grasses, with annual profusion of wild flowers, into a very dry and parched landscape. Its seasonal dryness was why Hi Good, with early partner Alexander Barrington, established their headquarters ranch earlier (circa 1856) 1 1/4 miles due south in Section 33 along the fertile south bank of Deer Creek that runs the whole season, from the snow on the mountains.4 Alluding to the many places in California like their Section 33 “Rio Alto Ranch,”5 where it is easy to irrigate, Good’s partner, Alexander Barrington, boasted in his 1856 letter home to his brother William back in Ohio, that “. . the soil will raise anything from white beans to the very best corn.”6
The Section 21 property is today used primarily for cattle grazing. The stockmen property owners, Fred and Mike Hamilton (and sister Susan N. Junge), together own approximately 3,800 acres in adjacent Section 15 and Section 21. In 2003, their cattle of Hereford and Hereford-Angus cross, totalled 138 animals. They traditionally winter their cattle in Vina and move them for the spring and summer into the foothill’s eastern fringes of Acorn Hollow. This means that animals do freely wander across the Hi Good site flat for a good part of the year. Occasionally, neighbors run their cattle across the Hi Good flat as well. Standing water on the flat does result after a winter or spring down pour, and resultant cattle mud divots as deep as 9” are not surprising.
1 Personal communication ( 2007) Professor Dick Hilton, author and geologist for Sierra College’s Natural History Museum, Rocklin, California.
2 “Outpost” cabin refers to Hi Good’s more “frontier residence” in Section 21, which served dual purposes, namely: (1) to serve as a more remote base camp for Hi Good and his “boon buddies” to spy and be “prospecting” the foothills for the whereabouts of the Mill Creek Indians themselves, their guns, and their plunder, taken from the many settlers’ cabins and mines, and (2) to accommodate Good’s second and new sheep operations enterprise that he started up in 1866.
3 Interview sessions in 2003-2006, with Section 21 property owners Mike Hamilton and Fred Hamilton.
4 One geographically precise statement comes from the memoir by Simeon Moak in the 1923 The Last of the Mill Creeks, p. 32. for the year 1870. He reports that, “Good lived in Acorn Hollow at this time and had a fine ranch and garden on Deer Creek about one mile and a half south.”
5 “Letter No. 9, from Alexander Barrington, to his brother William Barrington, dated February 29, 1856 from “Rio Alto Ranch” as reprinted in Jane Bissell Grabhorn 1934 A California Gold Rush Miscellany. San Francisco: The Grabhorn Press, pp. 43-45. This letter, in its entirely is reprinted in the Appendix.
6 Grabhorn (1934:43).
Large blue oak is barely discernible along ridge topLassen Peak (Waxganuup’a) at Ned’s Draw, to where Hi Good’s body was likely and approximate study area dragged and where Indian Ned was killed in May
just out of view in distant left. 1870.
Figure 6. Open range land southwest of the Hi Good Cabin site. Photo by the author, March 17, 2007.
Figure 7. Angular lava rocks of the Tuscan Formation, strewn across the flat. The Tuscan Formation mudflow of the Late Pliocene, occurred 2 to 3 million years ago. Photo by the author, March 3, 2007.
The approximate five acres studied in Vina’s Acorn Hollow, sets in a kind of bowl that protects its occupants from direct winds across the Vina Plains, winds that have real power during the hard rains that invariably strike in the dark winter months. The foothills, consisting of volcanic lava rock aggregates from the more recently formed Southern Cascade Mountain Range, begin to ascend from the Sacramento Valley floor just 1 1/2 miles east of the site. This rugged foothill country was originally labeled as “rough and mountanious” [sic] on the 1859 plat of the Township 25. The gradual rising ridge continues upward for some fifty miles distance to its 10,457 feet zenith, the now dormant Lassen Peak volcano. Her last eruption commenced on May 30, 1914. Its active rumbling continued until about 1921. On a clear day when standing near to the fenced corral and windmill area of the site and looking northeasterly, snow capped Lassen Peak is visible (See Figure 6). Ishi’s tribe called Lassen Peak, Wa ganu p’a [also spelled Waxganuupa] which translates, “Little-Mount-Shasta.” (Sapir and Swadesh 1960:172). This majestic, dormant, volcano appears just above the ridge line of Little Dry Creek drainage and the upper Acorn Hollow terrain. Deer Creek is entirely out of view. The Deer Creek drainage is a full 1 1/2 miles east and south from CA-TEH-2105H.
Deer Creek - This major drainage enters the Sacramento Valley about two miles southeast of the site. For an unbeknownst geological reason in eons past, the Deer Creek water’s course turned abruptly south at the point where it approaches the Sacramento Valley proper. It continues southward and then arcs to the west, such that Deer Creek is never closer than the 1 1/2 miles distance at any point. She passes Hi Good’s former ranch headquarters, formerly on the south side of Deer Creek in Section 33. At this point, the river’s natural flood plain is on the south side. Hence, irrigating its bordering terraces for vegetable gardening, remains to this day, easily achieved by diverting some of its waters. Walnut orchards today cover the terraces of Hi Good’s former ranch. Nothing that might have been Hi Good’s former ranch house has ever been observed by the present owner who has had the property since 1975 (See Anderson 1909::49-53 and VI. “Land History” below).
Deer Creek’s original water source is the north face watershed of Butt Mountain in Plumas County. This mountain is 7,866 feet in elevation, and clearly seen in the southeast from Deer Creek Meadow (where today’s Hwy 36 and 32 converge). Its waters run across Deer Creek Meadow, which was evidently Hi Good’s favorite spot for summer grazing of his sheep (Approximate years: 1867, 1868, and 1869). Deer Creek’s snow-melt waters then tumble and churn their way westward, continuing along side Hwy 32 for several scenic miles. Eventually Deer Creek runs into a deep canyon gorge, which in some places is 1,000 feet deep. Its red rim-rock canyon walls in rugged forested terrain, is both picturesque and spectacular. Deer Creek winds through the Lassen National Forest and the federally protected “Ishi Wilderness” (established by Congress on September 28, 1984, Public Law 98-425, the California Wilderness Act.).
Plant (flora) status - Endemic and interdependent tree and plant species found include: Blue oak, Black oak, Mountain juniper, Gray pine, Ponderosa pine, Western red cedar, California laurel (bay), Common buckeye and others. Some plants are: Blue elderberry, dogbane (Indian hemp), soaproot, brodiaea and camas bulbs, sunflower family plants, willows, sedges, deergrass, and more.
Fish status - The spring Chinook salmon run, when compared to the fall run, is considered to be at risk of extinction, demonstrated by the dramatic decline in population over the last few decades. The fall and spring “wild” runs from the Pacific Ocean up the Sacramento River and farther up Deer and Mill creeks are two of the remaining runs that have survived.
Animal status - The adjacent Ishi Wilderness still harbor black bear (some of which are cinnamon colored), Mountain lion, Bobcat (Lynx), Northern river otter, Red-tailed hawk, Common gray fox, Acorn woodpecker, Snowy egret, Wood Duck, Golden eagle, Western pond turtle, Western rattlesnake, California newt, and other creatures. The lower foothills include a curious wild horses, as well as provide critical winter habitat for one of the largest Black-tailed deer herds in the state.
Figure 9. (Opposite) Broad View Sketch Map. Illustrates relationships of modern highways. Territory shown is about 40 miles (length) x 40 miles (breadth).
Highways: Familiar are the major highways. The two that run north-south are Interstate 5 (far left) and Hwy 99E (on east side of Sacramento River). The two highways that run roughly west-east are Hwy 36 (upper portion) and Hwy 32 (lower portion).
CA-TEH-2105E Study Area: is represented by the “dot” placed inside the upper portion of the rectangular square that runs vertically (at middle left on map). The site is east of Hwy 99E and northeast of Vina (distance of about 4 miles). The site is close to the southwest corner of Sections 21 of Tehama County’s Lassen Township 25N, R1W. The “middle” rectangular “box” is Section 28. The bottom square or box represents the south bank area of Deer Creek, Section 33.
Hi Good Cabin, Alfred G. Carter, Good’s Ranch (Find black dots placed inside rows of squares):
(1) Dot at top portion and on north bank of the Acorn Hollow seasonal wash, is labeled on map, “Good’s Cabin.” Two dots in bottom square on south bank of Deer Creek are Alfred G. Carter’s ranch (to left ) and Hi Good’s Ranch (to right) with vegetable garden. Preemption claim made in 1857. It’s proper location is the Lassen Township, Tehama County, California SE ¼ of Section 33, of Township 25N, R1W.
Additional Place Names:
Campo Seco -Site of probably the last battle with the Mill Creeks, which occurred in 1867 or 1869, today on Gray Davis Dye Creek Nature Preserve property, administered by the Nature Conservancy.
Old Lassen Emigrants’ Trail is represented by “line of dots.”
Wm. J. Seagraves’ “storage cabin, in Twentymile Hollow” (T. Kroeber 1961:85) -Undetermined locale.
Obe Fields Spring -Former Rev. Robert R. Roberts cabin site (See Fig. 97, p. 149). Named for by teamster Obe N. Field who kept his hunting camp there on south side of Lassen Emigrant’s Trail (Section 2 of T26N, R2E).
Bruff Camp -Camp site maintained by Joseph Goldsborough Bruff (1804-1889) during winter 1849-1850 along the “narrows” between Deer Creek and Mill Creek.
Ishi’s Village (Lower Camp) properly known as Wowunupo’ mu tetna, Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place. Notice relationship to Ishi’s Upper Camp farther upstream.
Major Cities/Towns (North to South): Red Bluff and town of Mineral (Upper right), riverboat town of Tehama (eight miles north of study area on west bank of Sacramento), Vina (along Deer Creek) and Chico (along Big Chico Creek).
Water courses named : Sacramento River (that flows north-to south). Water drainages that all flow westerly include: Antelope Creek, Dye Creek, Mill Creek, Dry Creek (its name changes to Toomes Creek). Farther south are: the Acorn Hollow seasonal creek (wash), Deer Creek, Pine Creek, Rock Creek, Mud Creek, and Big Chico Creek (north of Hwy. 32).
Figure 9. Broad V
iew Map of CA-TEH-2105H Study Area.
The study area today is part of a working cattle ranch. They are:
Ishi’s Yahi/Yana History versus Indian Adversary Hi Good:
(Some of these interpretations may be read on pages 25-47, 499, and 571-585.)
Social-economic Organization:
4. What were the life ways of ranchers (sheep, cattle) and social/economic interactions?
(Interpretations may be read in Ch. 2, pages 51-54, 87-88, 197-206; 101-102, 107, 118, 122, 127-128, 130-133, 142, 147-148, 157-158, 170-176, 188, 207-208, 223-231; Ch. 3 on pages 234-236; Ch. 6, pages 423-435, 487-489, 449, 500, 504-509, 511-519, 541-543; and in Ch. 9, on pages 586-588.)
5. Can we find data that suggests Hi Good had a sheep raising operation underway in Section 21 in about 1867, such as tools or sheep herder living quarters?
(Early related sheep operation living quarters artifacts are listed in Ch. 6 on page 501, as well as related tools and sheep faunal remains in Ch. 8, on pages 539-549.)
6. Can we find evidence in Section 21 of visitations by Hi Good’s shepherd and neighbor, Alexander Robb Barrington, and his “Spanish” wife (Moak 1923:24) who helped rear one of Hi Good’s little Indian girls before she died?
(Some data may be found in Ch. 2 on pages 101, 116-117, as well as one photo of one of the Indian orphans distributed by Hi Good, on page 127.)
7. Can we find any commercial trade items (e.g., glass trade beads, small mirrors, etc.) or any evidence of fur trapping pelts and/or equipment for such use?
(Nothing related was found.)
California Trails’ History:
8. Can we find items from the Lassen Emigrants’ Trail along the road that passes through our site in Section 21?
(See Fig. 117 in Ch. 2 on page 188).
9. Can we draw any tentative conclusions about the Moak Trail and its significance in history based on what is found in Section 21?
(See interpretations based on data in Ch. 2, on pages 190-195.)
Technologies Development:
10. About the Hi Good Cabin, can we determine construction techniques such as from the nails used for “board and batten” or other construction?
(See Ch. 7 interpretations on pages 550-552, with Table 16 on page 533).
11. Can we find and differentiate evidence of the other wooden cabin structures that property owner Mike Hamilton purported was brought from downstream to the Hi Good Cabin site in about 1937 due to excessive flooding?
(Conclusion reached may be read in Ch. 9, on pages 569-570.)
12. What was the source of the red bricks observed?
(One possible source may be read in Ch. 6 on page 460, as well as suggestions for future brick studies on pages 464-466.)
13. Can we find a cobble stone hearth in front of the fireplace and evidence of a wood floor?
(Interpretations may be found in Ch. 6 on page 457-459; as well as questions posed in Ch. 9, on page 568).
14. Can we date the Hi Good Cabin site in Section 21 to pre-1870 based on artifacts found? Any barbed wire types or historic armament found etc.?
(Vintage barbed wire type found may be viewed in Ch. 5, Fig. 302 on page 421. Interpretations may be read in Ch. 7 on page 528 and in Ch. 9 on page 571.)
15. Regarding raising sheep in Section 21, can data be found that points to hired herders taking up residence in and around the cabin site under study?
(From archival data, the names of some of Hi Good’s sheep crew laborers may be read in Ch. 2 on page153. See also listings in Ch. 6 on page 501.)
16. From where did Hi Good likely procure his consumer supplies, and others later?
(Presumably the town of Tehama, eight miles north of the study area was Good’s major source for his consumer supplies. See Ch. 2, Figures 88 & 89 on pages 136. Also, Mayhew’s Crossing with stage stop included a local store to which mailed items may have also been delivered, as described in Ch. 2 on pages 103-111. See also Ch. 9 summary on pages 577-578.)
17. Can we surmise what kind(s) of small firearms (armaments) that Hi Good used?
(The archival/site data listings may be found in Ch. 5, pages 397-403; Ch 6, on 496-497; and Ch. 8 on page 541.)
18. Regarding [healthful] diet, can we find food remains at the site?
(Food diet data may be read in Ch. 6, on page 502, as well as Table 11 on page 508.)
Environmental Issues:
19. Has earlier overgrazing by sheep men in Section 15 and 21 killed off the native vegetation, leaving the greater area today excessively weedy?
(Data may be read in Ch. 2 on pages 223-227.)
20. What was the water availability and accessibility in 1867? How do conditions compare with today? Regarding water availability, how reliable was the ground water and how efficient was the hand dug well feature? Was this well built and used circa 1867 to 1870 or later? Was it used for trash disposal and when was it filled or closed? Or was it partially filled and later closed?
(Data may be read in Ch. 2 on pages 228-229.)
“Scholarly research often leads one down unexpected paths.”--Thomas Layton (1997:7)
of Natural Resources, State of California. Map on file at the Meriam Library, California State University, Chico.
Figure 11. “Ishi arrows made before contact.” These priceless arrows were taken by Harry Keefer in 1908, from Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place (called “Ishi Caves” on Fig. 10 map, above right). Location is about eleven miles northeast of CATEH-2105H.
Their proportions as to form, coloring, and finish are of very high order. The three (left side in photo) are a set of five. Ishi’s traditional cresting was alternating rings of red and blue, each a quarter of an inch wide. Two of these four arrows have pressure-flaked corner notch points, made of clear window pane glass. They are today on exhibit at the California State Indian Museum, 2618 “K” Street, Sacramento.Grace (Mountain) Keever, after her husband died, gave the “six” arrows (two not shown above) to her half sister, Ruby Speegle, married to Chester Rose of Chico, California. It was their son, Philip Rose of Richvale, CA, who donated these Ishi arrows to the State of California. Photo by permission of Philip Rose of Richvale, California.
The Inherent Struggle Two Civilizations with Different Uses for the Land
or at least 15,000 years the stewardship of North America was solely in the hands of the Native Americans. Since 1769 in California the past 240 years has been a struggle of the indigenous peoples to resist conquest and the wanton destruction of their natural habitats, while remaining true to their heritage. Native Amercans advocate Jack Forbes (1973:202) wrote, “The essence of Indianness . . . basically revolves around the values.” [And] “. . . of a person functioning in a harmonious way with nature and people.” The Native peoples’ sense of place as human beings to be protectors of the remembered Earth, is deeply ingrained. With eloquence, Professor Forbes (1973:205) defined the ethos of Native Americans this way: “To create ‘beauty’ in actions, words, and objects is the overall objective of human beings in this world.” The Natives’ ecologically driven values and outlook are significant because they provide a means for solving many of the significant problems faced by all peoples today.
Before the major 1849 Gold Rush of California, the Native peoples lived a hunter-gatherer and semi-horticulturist life-style, in which they moved with the seasons, obeying nature’s guide-signs to take best advantage of the available fish and game and for harvesting acorns, seeds, clover and berries. This is wisdom developed from centuries of living. This author recognizes the importance and continued hopes of the environmental movement (see also Ch. 2, XI “Environmental issues).
***** The principal reason why this author chose to study (test) the Hi Good Cabin site (also referred to as the study area) was to hopefully glean new insights and connections that contributed to the Yahi/
Yana’s final demise. This researcher’s clearer understanding is that (and contrary to popular opinion)
the Yahi’s path crossed with Hi Good and his associates probably for
the first time in March of 1870, when Ishi was about sixteen years old;
that Hi Good had been battling Ishi’s tribe for years was a myth. The
primary archival account for this revelation is Waterman (1918:5758), which is reprinted below in Ch. 3 “Earliest Published Accounts.”
Waterman quoted verbatim William J. Seagraves’ eye-witness account.
Seagraves was the receiver of the “Five Bows” in 1870, a formal call
by the Yahi for a truce with Hi Good. The Five Bows formal ceremony occurred about four miles north of the study area (See Fig. 9 map). In 1915 and on the University of California’s Berkeley campus, Seagraves Figure 12. Ishi photo,1913, taken revealed for Waterman the grim and sordid details about how he as-in San Francisco when Ishi was sisted Hi Good in killing and capturing some of the very last of Ishi’s about 59 years old. The photog
rapher was Joseph Dixon with
band. The guns they used this time were Henry Repeating rifles, each
the Wanamaker Expedition.
with sixteen rounds of fire power (Waterman 1918:58). In the San Francisco Bay area, Seagraves immediately recognized Ishi before him as
one the five warriors who, in 1870, had approached him in the night
at his cabin in Twentymile Hollow. Seagraves remarked how Ishi “was lighter in complexion” compared to the others.
On that night, Seagraves led Ishi and the four other peace envoys to Hi Good’s “camp.” They desperately hoped to win the release of their three Yahi females, being kept as hostages there. The local geography, the verified sheep faunal remains, the sheep hand shear blades also found in the course of digging, joined with archival records about their “camp” are all compelling. The site, CATEH-2105H, appears to have been Hi Good’s sheep camp with cabin, all one and the same place.
Five topics provided in this Background History provide perspective about Hi Good’s encoun
ter with Ishi’s established Yahi tribe. Topics include: (1) Ishi’s Yahi’s population size over time;
(1) The Yahi’s Diminutive Population Size and Decline:
Ishi’s Yahi/Yana population was significantly reduced by: the 1858 roundup (Waterman 1918:43-44) led by W. S. Knott, an employee at Nome-Lackee with 175 Indians from Major Reading’s, Jelly’s, Love’s, and other ranches on Battle Creek; and by the September through December, 1864, general massacre (Curtin 1899:519).
Ishi’s Yahi population was always small. According to Professor Alfred Kroeber (1925:339), each Yana geographical location had “an average of 300 to 500 souls.” Kroeber (1925:341) also wrote about the Yahi that “this little group . . . can hardly have numbered much more than 200 or 300.” (See also Cook 1943:97).
The “total Yana” population in 1848, was set at 1,900 (Cook 1943:97; Johnson 1978:362; while Jeremiah Curtin (1899:517, 518), in contrast, believed that the whole Yana tribe, in 1864, were numbering about 3,000.
| Year pre-contact | Est. Population/events300 speakers (Kroeber 1925:339. 341). | |
|---|---|---|
| 1845 1854 | 200 [Peter Lassen arrived in Feb. of ‘45 at his Rancho Bosquejo, today’s Vina, CA.] 175 [approx. population in approx. year of Ishi’s birth, Waterman 1918:58]. | |
| 1858 | 63 | [approx. population after W. S Knotts’ force- removal of 178 -181 Central & Southern Yana speakers from Battle Creek and rancherias of P. B. Reading, Jelly and Love (Waterman 1918: 43-44;(“Indians” [1858,May 26] Red Bluff Beacon).] |
| 1864 | 17-25 [Yana population compromised by general massacre compromised in Millville, 12 m. E. of Redding & Copper City; spreads to Cottonwood] | |
| 1870 | 14 [One day in March, 1870, w/trailing dogs, Hi Good, Seagraves, William Sublett and George Spiers party surprised Ishi’s Yahi band along Mill Creek near Black Rock. Ishi was about 16 years old (Waterman 1918:58). Their “Old Doctor” was killed. About the female hostages taken Dan Delaney (1872) wrote: “These females were held as hostages at Good’s camp for weeks, guarded by the Captain’s Indian boy . . . .” | |
Estimated Decline of Ishi’s Yahi/Yana -continued-
Year Est. Population/events
1870 May 4. 14 survivors. The Yahi had the motive and probably influenced Indian Ned to help them kill Hi Good on May 4, 1870 (Burrill 2008). After killing the
settlers’ hero, and anticipating retaliation, the Yahi resumed their concealment. About the “Indians” who likely killed Hi Good, read this author’s
article, “Likely Origin and Demise of Indian Ned” (2008 Winter) Diggin’s, Vol. 51, No. 4. Oroville, CA: Butte County Historical Society.
1872-1884 Years of the ‘Long Concealment’ according to Theodora Kroeber (1961:98).
circa 1881 Four “wild” Indians appeared at Buck Flat before property owner John L. Boles (Kauffman ms. circa.1882). “1881” is based on Kauffman’s mention of the
Yellow Jacket sawmill. A narrow meter logging train ran to it from Lyonsville.
Discontinued in 1882 (Kent Stephens). See map w/photo in Burrill (2004:308).
1880 “Jenny” was adopted by Peter and Maggie Cleghorn (1880 census,
in Henleyville, Township 24N, R4W, Tehama County). This is only publishedaccount for “Jennie” found to date.
1882 10 - “Wild Indians Captured.” (1882, January 7).
Red Bluff Weekly People’s Cause:
“Two old squaws of the Honka or Mill Creek tribe of Indians, were brought into
town Sunday evening by Ralph Johnson and Geo. Greer. These Indians were tracked with a dog into a cave about 25 miles from here and 2.5 miles south of the [Chris]
Kauffman mine, near Mill creek. When found they were almost naked and had nothing to eat. Two or three “bucks” were seen on the Mill Creek hills, supposed to
be the Indians, who have been committing various depredations on stock and robbing houses in that section of the country for a long time. We understand that the
Sheriff will send an officer or two out with the squaws who say that they can find
the males and induce them to come to town. What will be done with this remnant of a once strong and warlike tribe, is not yet known. They ought to be sent to an Indian Reservation.”
1882 4 Indians witnessed. “Yesterday . . . an old buck and an equally old squaw, a man about 35 and a boy aged 16, came to Colonel Boles’ place [Buck Flat] about thirty miles from here [Red Bluff]. The colonel gave them food, which they ate with great avidity. It is thought that there are
one or two more still in the Mill creek mountains.” (“Poor Lo.” [1882, October 21] Red Bluff Weekly People’s Cause.).
circa 1883? [1870?] Uncle George Greer and Frank D. [Davis] returning from Red Bluff with groceries, found Deer Creek too high to cross. Camped in a cave, one mile north of the Three Knolls.
Dark inside. When the light from the camp fire, show[ed] two Indian girls, shivering with cold and fright, about 12 & 18. The boys gave them warm food, and most of their blankets. [Homer Speegle
wrote of a female Indian ally whom they named “Red Wing” in his ”Eight Pages” and “Thirteen Pages,” parts of which are reprinted in Burrill 2001:96-102.] It appears the Speegles believed she was
part of Ishi’s tribe. Whether she was one of the last Mill Creek refugees is unresolved.
Estimated Decline of Ishi’s Yahi/Yana -continued-
Year Est. Population/events
1890 Dec. 16 12 Indians witnessed. “Several Red Bluff hunters were fired upon the other day by a roving band of Indians. They used arrows and one of the men, Wm. Lyons [sic] by name, received one of the barbed shafts through his hat. The affair occurred in Big Antelope canyon, east of Red Bluff. About one dozen Indians were estimated to be in the party. The one remnant of the old Mill Creek tribe, a branch of the famous Pitt River Indians, who were relentless foes to the whites in the early days. Chico Enterprise Record p. 2/1. Darwin B. Lyon Jr., experienced three arrows fired at him. Besides the tool-making kit Darwin also picked up one arrow and retreated with it (Burrill 2001:32-33).
1896 7 or 8 Indians witnessed. “On Mill Creek are seven or eight of the old Mill Creek
tribe. They are so shy and reserved that they are rarely ever seen. They dress in Indian style, using
the skins of deer and will not make friends with white men.” (1896, March
20) Oroville Daily Register , p. 3/1.
| 1900 or 1902 | Tom J. Cleghorn (Snowflake) and Miss Ethel Coloma Eubanks married in Stockton, Stockton County. |
| circa 1904 | First “raid” (not “cleaning”) of Speegles’s Place on Deer Creek. Apparently by Mill Creek renegade Indians, described by Homer Speegle (Burrill 2001:119-120, 124). |
| circa 1906 | “Encounter occurred with band of buckskin clad Indians who confronted John |
Hobson and Mattie Mulkey Speegle (probably at Willard Speegle’s Place in Section 23 along Deer Creek) who could have been Shoshone Mike* and his band, passing through Deer Creek Canyon. According to the map in Dayton Hyde’s (1973) The Last Free Man, Shoshone Mike and his ilk in 1910, wandered and foraged from Mount Lassen, then possibly through the Deer Creek drainage, en route
to Oroville. Neither Ruth nor Jackie Speegle (daughters of Willard Speegle) could be sure about the year. Sources for the above were secured from Norman Leininger (born 1922), tape interviewed on December 20, 2003 and Bernadine (Boring) Kelly (born 1927) tape interviewed on September 11, 2005,
by Richard Burrill. Mattie (Mulkey) Speegle was the grandmother of Bernadine Kelly.
* Shoshone Mike (of Wyoming’s Bannock tribe) and his band were mostly killed in late February of 1911, “Band of Murderous Shoshones Wiped Out by Possé”. (1911, February 28). Humboldt County, Nevada’s The Silver State, p. 1; Dayton Hyde (1973) The Last Free Man New York: The Dial Press.
1908 Nov. 5 3 or 4 Indians witnessed -Hunters and surveyors discovered Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place and raided the camp of all its Indian goods! (Burrill 2001:39-77); “J. M. Apperson thinks eight to ten Indians are living there in a “wild state” (“Indians found on DeerCreek”[1908,November 16] Plumas National, p. 2/3).
1910
Ishi was probably encountered by Joe Papey on Mill Creek drainage. “Wild Indian seen in Mill Creek Canyon. (1911, January 4). Red Bluff Daily People’s Cause. p. 1. (Entire newspaper account reprinted in Burrill 2004:72)
1911 Aug. 28. Ishi “came in” to his Second World (Oroville and San Francisco).
Evidence continued to be advanced that “wild” Indians remained at large even since Ishi
came into “civilization.” (Waterman 1918:68).
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(2) What tribe(s) in pre-contact times occupied the study area, CA-TEH-2105H?
Walter Goldschmidt (1978:341) wrote that, “The River Nomlaki [of the Wintuan language group] lived in the Sacramento River valley in present Tehama County.” At the time of the California Gold Rush, their camps were kept along both banks of the river. Hence, the four prehistoric artifacts recovered at the Hi Good Cabin site are possibly of River Nomlaki manufacture but proto-Yana as likely.
The Yana claimed their fishing stations and the one village
named Wawi’ldjuwaha (See Fig. 13 map). As to what tribes lived along the Sacramento River in the Tehama County area, Sapir and Spier (1943:241) provide Thomas Waterman’s interpretation that, “. . . the eastern bank must have been in powerful Wintun hands and that the Yana were essentially foothill people.” Sapir and Spier
(1943:241) clarified that “. . . the Yana laid claim to the land quite to the river, where they had fishing stations though perhaps no permanent villages.” So in this fashion for the river frontage, “for the
Yahi . . . there is some evidence for joint occupation by Wintun and
Yahi of the lower country east of the Sacramento (1943:242).” Sapir and Spier (1943:240) also wrote that, “During the salmon season of
June and July, the Yana had regular rights jointly to fishing stations
on the Sacramento River, at Balls Ferry and at the mouth of Battle Creek.
Ishi’s place names map (Figures 14, 15 and 16) corroborates that the Wintuan division occupied the river’s east bank, with the exception of their Yana village named Wawi’ldjuwaha(“Otter Water”), located at the confluence of Battle Creek and the Sacramento River (see Sapir and Spier 1943:245, and respective map [1943:iv]; also pointed out as Yana village by Dotta 1982:78.).
That Wawi’ldjuwaha was a “permanent” Central Yana (Nozi) village is corroborated by the facts that apparently a bloody skirmish in 1844, was led by early settler Samuel Hensley against the indigenous Yana tribe who felt that their
fishing stations were being threatened because Hensley’s crew of woodcutters were dropping logs into the Sacramento River there to be floated downstream to John Sutter’s operations. In memory of the
battle that Hensley and his woodcutters had fought, he bragged that he christened the place, “Bloody
Island” (Smith 1991:68). One of Battle Creek’s earlier names was Nozi Creek. Nozi Creek appears on 1846 map drawn by Charles Preuss with Frémont’s second expedition (Smith 1991:11).
• At Saya was the Wintun chief [headman] named Kinnuitci. Kinnuitci was friendly. Ishi also told Professors Kroeber and Waterman that the Wintun chief named Memponna and his people came to their “rich village” called Tuliyani (#26), located on Mill Creek (Fig. 17) where the Boat Gunwale drainage empties into Mill Creek ( Fig.18). Wintu visited Ishi’s Yahi tribe at the Yahi’s rich village called Tuliyani (#26). The above is what led Professor Kroeber (1925:345) to conclude, “The Wintun and Yahi appear to have been on friendly terms.”
• One Bidwell Indian (of the Mechoopda in Chico) named William “Bill” Conway, and who
was a Wintu speaker and traditional herbalist, apparently had kept in contact with Ishi’s band as late
as November 1908. This became known by the press coverage generated at the moment when Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place was discovered (T. Kroeber 1961:106-112; and Burrill 2001:38-77). Editor George Mansfield for the Oroville Daily Register on November 12, 1908, secured these details from William
Conway about Ishi’s band encountered at Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place, that:
P’ulsumuwu or Paluwi (#27) at
top of maps. Ishi said was the
“Clover Creek” area (See Figures
19 & 20).
The “rich village” Tuliyani (#26)
located on Mill Creek where the
Boat Gunwale drainage empties
into Mill Creek.
Baléxa (#28) and Saya (#33)
Ishi said had Wintun leadership
at Baléxa was “Malki a woman
chief, Wintun.”
#23 gahma on south bank of Deer Creek. ga’mesi, #157 “creek” is directly across on north side of Deer Creek (Pope says Ishi tells him he lived here when young).
Daha -Yahi’s name for the Sacramento River, while the Memponna was the River Nomlaki’s spoken name for her. Ishi also said that Memponna was the name of a Win-tun chief, whose “people came to his
“rich village” of Tuliyana” (#26 ).
Below reads:
5/10/13 ll head of salmon run O houses O rich villages
“These Indians have steadily refused to give up their own religion and adopt that of civilization. There was with them up to a year ago, he says, a chief named Krogdo, nearly 100 years old, who had preserved the traditions of the tribe for thousands of years, covered in deerskins and buried in a place known only to himself” (“Wild Indians Still Roam in Butte [sic] County” Oroville Daily Register [1908, November 12]).
Back row (L to R): George Nye, Isaiah Conway, Jodie Conway, Herbert Young. (Front and sitting) William “Bill” J. Conway and Dewey Conway in 1921 at Chico State Theatre.
In addition to knowing Chief Krogdo’s name, on August 30, 1911, Bill Conway visited “Ishi”
in Oroville inside the Butte County jail. The reporter for the Chico Daily Enterprise wrote, “Conway
thoroughly understands the Digger Indian dialect” [and] “not only did he obtain the Indian’s whole story, but says that there were some of the things which were told him that he cannot tell lest there be bloodshed” (“Local Indian Talks with Oroville Captive” [1911, August 31] Chico Daily Enterprise, p. 3; See also Burrill 2004:170-176).
3. Ishi’s Yana Place Names
• The neighboring tribes of the Yana referred to them as the “Salt People” The Pit River or Achumawi name for
the “Salt People” was Ti’saichi, (Sapir and Spier 1943:242). About this Professor Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:339-340) wrote:
“Near the Central Yana village of Wichuman’na, some miles east of Millville, was a saline swamp.
The dark-colored mud was taken up and dried for use as salt. Achumawi, Atsugewi, and Wintun all
resorted to this place--a fact that indicates more of less chronic friendliness. This locality originated
the Achumawi name for the Yana, Ti’saichi, “Salt people.”
• Sam’s People (on map) - Ishi was probably referring here to Sam Batwee (Bat’wi) who was Central Yana.
Linguist Edward Sapir (1943:239) wrote about Bat’wi that he: “. . .passed his childhood at Ku’wiha on Battle Creek, where he spoke the now extinct Southern Yana dialect. Later he moved north to Cow Creek and learned to use the Central Yana dialect. His father was a Central Yana from Old Cow Creek (North Fork of Cow Creek); his mother was half (Southern) Yana and half Maidu, her mother having been a ‘Big Meadows’ Indian (Mountain Maidu.) .”
• Tehama - The place name origin for “Tehama” is unresolved, although it is believed to be a word of Native American origin (Hisken (1989:3-4). Though time, the story has been passed down that “Tehama” is a geographical description for “a crossing place.” Perhaps “at the bar just below Tehama, where the river was shallow,” that
one could cross there safely. Story has it that an Indian maiden called to the non-Indians, “Te-ha-ma, Te-ha-ma, meaning shallow. She repeated “Te-ham-a” several more times. Finally, they “got it” and crossed successfully and the name stuck.
Figure 18. Tuliyani (#26 on Ishi’s map), the “rich village” along Mill Creek. The flat is shaded by tall cedar trees in distance, and flat is on the same side where the Boat Gunwale drainage empties into Mill Creek (See Fig. 15 below). Photo taken by author on May 25, 2007, looking upstream.
confluence (foreground) into Mill Creek adjacent to Tuliyani. Towards the left in photo, the water runs downstream. Photo by author, May 25, 2007.
Figure 20. Clover Creek Falls at Ba’ri’mauha, northeast of Millville, Shasta County, CA. Millville Historical Society field trip on June 12, 2005. Photos courtesy of John A. Haner.
near a waterfall about two miles up from P’awi. There was said to be a sweat house there” (Sapir and Spier 1943:245).
This photo shows the top and
bottom of falls. Ishi’s place name for
“Clover Creek’ on his 1913 map is
P’ulsumuwu or Paluwi (#27), shown
at very top of maps.
• Wowunupo mu tetna (Grizzly Bear’s Hiding Place) - Located about nine miles east of the study area (See “Ishi Caves” on Fig. 10) The Yahis’ “Lower Camp.” It was a hiding place probably used from about 1884 to 1908. In 1884, “Ike” Speegle obtained his property about one mile upstream called “Speegles.” It was kept in the family
when the property was sold to Jack Apperson also of Vina in 1922.
On about November 5, 1908, a survey team for the Oro Light and Power Company (and with three
locals paid as guides and hunters for fresh meat) chanced upon a “wild” Indian. He appears to have been Ishi. With more exploring, Harry Keefer, Charles Herrick, and Jack Apperson found the Indians’ camp. An elderly
woman, hid in a rolled up quilt. This was Ishi’s mother (T. Kroeber 1961:106-114; Burrill 2001:39-77). The Chico Record newspaper’s banner headlines for November 10, 1908 read, “Camp of Wild Indians Reported Found in Deer Creek Canyon” and “Attired Only in Skins of Wild Animals.” The Oroville Daily Register, November 11,
1908, announced, “Indians in Wild State Live on Deer Creek.” The camp contained a rich array of traditional Indian goods, which were looted. Only some of the objects
taken ended up in public museums. Six Ishi made arrows (See four in Fig. 11 above), taken by Harry Keefer, were later given by the wife, Grace (Sauber) Keefer, to Chester Rose and wife Ruby (Speegle) Rose of Chico. For years they were on displayed for local students to see in their private museum on Nord Avenue.
Joseph Goldsborough Bruff Encountered Yahi/Yana Man in 1850
One colorful encounter with a Yahi man was recorded by pioneer and artist, Joseph Goldsborough Bruff, in his Gold Rush (1949:341-342) journal entry on April 9, 1850. Bruff , of course, did not use the term Yahi, for this linguistics name was not announced until 1915.
(Setting the scene) It happened that Bruff finally felt he could tramp down out of the snow
and follow the long ridge to “Old Pete” Lassen’s Rancho (today’s Vina). Bruff got almost to Lassen’s Rancho when this memorable encounter transpired:
After I had recovered, so as to proceed, I arose, by turning over, and rising on my hands. In a quarter mile more, I met a low square-built Indian, very dark, and had slight
mustache; he had just emerged from a deep gulch, on the left. He was nude, except a kind of fig-leaf, had a knife, a quiver full of arrows on his back, and a bow in his hand.
He was accompanied by a small black indian dog.* I spoke to him in Spanish, but he did not understand me. I then made signs that I was hungry —starving, and wanted something to east, which he comprehended but gave me to understand he had nothing
. . . . . While he was going off, I turned round, thought of eating him; he was then abut 30 or 40 paces; but I could not shoot the poor wretch in the back: besides he had done
me a favor.[of keeping Bruff’s puppy at bay].
* According to Kroeber (1925:341), “The native dog of the Yahi was sharp-nosed, erect-eared, short-haired, of the shape and size of a coyote, but gentle and definitely domesticated since it bred in a variety of colors. It was used in hunting bear and deer, and was more or less fed on meat; but like most American dogs, died from eating salmon.”
The editors of the Bruff Gold Rush journals, drawings and papers, Georgia Read and Ruth Gaines (Bruff 1949:689), wrote that: “Bruff’s description is probably the first recorded of a Mill Creek
Indian. The appearance of this foothill Indian doubtless approximated that of Ishi, the last of his tribe,
and in view of contemporary comments on ‘Diggers.’”*
Dr. [Saxton] T. Pope’s account of him [Ishi] may be of interest: “His skin is light, reddish bronze,
soft, sparsely endowed with hair . . . . Musculature is well developed.”
*”Digger” - An abusive term for “Root-Diggers” regarding Indians west of the Rocky Mountains where roots are, for the great portion of the year, their main subsistence (Bruff 1949:629).
For the purpose of establishing better clarity of historical events, the terms “Mill Creeks” and “Yahi” are reviewed below. Unfortunately, the use of “Mill Creeks” as synonymous for “Yahi” has
led to so many confusions that the more accurate history of Ishi’s tribe was almost lost.
The Yana were one of the established tribes of the California Indians. Yahi was Ishi’s first language that he spoke, the southernmost division of the Yana family of languages. Yana was of the Hokan stock (one of the six major language stocks of North America). Professor William Shipley (1978: 81) concluded that “The oldest language group still more or less in situ in California would seem to be Hokan.” Shipley (1978:85) continued about the Hokan stock, “They were then disrupted by the incursion of Penutian stock [e.g., Wintu and Maidu], which spreading through the great central valley, forced Hokan to the periphery.” Shipley (1978:85) also wrote that, “The interrelationships of the Hokan languages lie much deeper in time, a fact paralleled by their geographical discontinuity.”
How Old Is the Yahi/Yana Culture in North America?
A preliminary review suggests that the Yana ancestry in California goes back potentially some 15,000 years. Fluted points and chipped-stone crescents that have been found in California, for instance,
are “arguably 12,000 years old” (Wallace 1978:25). This supports the premise that Ishi’s exodus marked
the closing of the Formative main event of the Holocene Epoch, which commenced about 11,000 years Before the present. In comparison to this incredibly large picture, Harmon “Hi” Good’s presence along
Deer Creek, which lasted only fifteen years (1855 - 1870), was but a flash in the pan!
drainage (center) approximately 15
miles east of the Sacramento Valley, as she passes the red rimrock canyon mesa tops of Digger Pine Flat (middle left) and Deer Creek Flat (middle right). The Yahi/Yana’s
lower camp, called Grizzly Bear’s
Hiding Place, remained hidden (in the shadows, middle right) until discovered by non-Indians in November of 1908. Photo looks eastward. Taken by author on 10/16/2005.
ABOUT EPOCHS, Professor Jack D. Forbes of the Native American Studies Department at University of California, Davis and D. Q. University (1973:219) explained, “From the Na
tive perspective, we are now in the fourth or fifth world.” The
Native perspective, in contrast to Western thinking, views that history is cyclical, not advancing progressively. The world has self destructed before because people in previous “eras” went astray and contributed to the destruction. Forbes
(1973:219) wrote, “More and more inventions, etc., may not
lead to any great “Utopia” in the future, but simply to the end of this epoch.”
Ishi, one of the last Yahis, had continued to procure game for his diminished, yet resilient
Yahi band, by using the bow and arrow of his own manufacture for twenty-five years longer than
Geronomo’s band of Chiricahua Apaches.* The silent bow helped to maintain their independence. The Yahi women continued to use baskets and to pound acorns and seeds for supplemental food. In one of two known sleuthing expeditions into the southerly Yana country, undertaken in secret by Water
man in 1909 and 1910, one tray basket with white acorn paste still adhered to its fibers was discovered (Alfred Kroeber 1911 August “The Elusive Mill Creeks” Travel Magazine; Burrill 2001:90).
*Geronomo was finally taken prisoner on March 25, 1886 (Brown 1971:44 and 409). Kintpuash [Captain Jack] was finally captured in late May, 1873, and hanged October 3, 1873. Shoshone Mike’s end occurred in late February 1911 [“Band of Murderous Shoshones wiped out by posse. (1911, February 28). Humboldt County, Nevada’s The Silver State, p. 1; Dayton Hyde (1973) The Last Free Man. NY: The Dial Press.] These three relied mostly on gun power rather than bows and arrows to defend themselves and for raids.
The traditional Yahi knew to avoid the urbanized, multi-cultural Mill Creeks who possessed
guns and the plunder from their raids upon the Euro-American settler cabins. Ishi’s disdain for and
being uneasy around other Native Americans was noted by Thomas Waterman, first on September 4,
1911 in Oroville when Central Yana interpreter Sam Batwee confronted Ishi. This led to a feud between
them that really never ceased (Burrill 2004:273-284).
Waterman (1918:65) wrote:
A factor still more important was this, that the Yahi had learned to view all other peoples with suspicion and hostility. It was interesting that he [Ishi] should be readier to make friends with whites than with other Indians like himself. The Yahi had apparently been utterly isolated for a considerable time even before their tribe became so much reduced.
As revealed in places in Thomas Waterman’s original 1918 monograph, “The Yana Indians,” he doubted that Ishi’s tribe were the “Mill Creeks” as was popularly believed. For example, about the grim raid on the Robert Workman farm in Concow Valley in August, 1865, Waterman (1918:52)
wrote: “I can hardly imagine the Yahi proceeding so far from home for devilment, but in any case they were again credited with the outrage.”
This author concurs with Waterman about those who raided and pillaged in the Concow Valley, were not members of Ishi’s tribe. Based on Ishi’s reactions and his “Time Traveler” curiosity first in Oroville and then in San Francisco, about virtually everything “non-Indian,” this author concludes that the Yahi’s contact with the outside world became nearly complete. Why was this? First, as aforementioned, the Yahi’s population size had always been small. In pre-contact times, “300 to 500 souls” was the average for each of the Yana divisions (Kroeber 1925:341). The Yahi were not the raiders “at every place and at every time.” Secondly, early newspaper accounts found by this researcher corroborate Thomas Waterman’s (1918) background history that in May, 1858, Southern Yanas were compromised. In ‘58, Ishi would have been about four years old. Waterman (1918:4344) wrote: “For example, one hundred and eighty-one Indians along Battle Creek were removed to the Nome Lackee Reservation, twenty miles east of Tehama on the west side of the valley” (U.S. Office of Indian Affairs, Report of Commissioner for 1858:289). As a result, those remaining Yana survivors with the child Ishi made hiding from the outside world their number one priority to save themselves!
4. A Review of Who Became the “Mill Creeks” vis-a-vis the “Yahi” This author believes that “guilt by association” befell the established aboriginal Yahi when several groups of displaced Indians - renegades-- began to encroach and take refuge in the Yahi’s traditional territory of mainly the Mill Creek drainage, Deer Creek (to the south), and the Antelope drainages (to the north). Added to the “guilt by association” situation was a second perceptual problem that “all the Indians looked the same,” not to say anything about the diverse language barriers that confronted the two very different “civilizations,” each with very different uses of the land. A “no win” situation for the aboriginal Yahi had developed!
Provided are seven accounts of “Indians” who fled to the mountains to save themselves; many being the survivors of general massacres by Whites of the Indians; many stragglers from the defunct and unsafe Indian reservations. Many took refuge in the Yana homeland and were branded wrongly by the non-Indians, the “Mill Creeks.”
•1846 mid April - “Our advance guard of 36 first came in sight of them and immediately charged and poured a volley into them killing 24. They then rushed in with their sabres. The rest of the party coming up they charged in among them and in less than 3 hours we had killed over 175 of them. Most of the inds. [sic] escaped to the neighboring mts.” —”Narrative” by Thomas S. Martinwith Frémont’s third “exploring” expedition (Reprinted from Egan 1975:7].
• Robert Anderson (1909:44) wrote: “The other Indians jumped the Reservation, singly or in small squads, and drifted back to their former haunts. Some perhaps became contented with the life there and remained. However, taken as a movement to rid the foothills of the bad Indians, Kibbey’s campaign [1859]was an absolute failure. In one way, it resulted in making matters worse in our part of the country, for the more dangerous of the Indians, on returning from the Reservation, were apt to bring others of like character with them, and, in this way, undoubtedly, a number of tough red-skins were added to the bands in the hills.”
• Journalist and educator Herbert “Bert” H. Sauber (1870-1940), reflected, “From some
place, perhaps from half a dozen of the Indian bands of Northern California, parties of renegades
had drifted into the dark, wild cañon of Mill Creek . . . .” (Sauber 1897:122-127).
• Jeremiah Curtin (1899:517): “Certain Indians lived, or rather lurked, around Mill Creek, in wild places somewhat east of Tehama and north of Chico. These Mill Creek Indians were fugitives; outlaws from various tribes, among others from the Yanas” [And] ‘Some time after the bloody[1864] work was done, it was discovered that the Mill Creek outlaws had killed Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Jones, and that the Yanas were innocent. The Mill Creeks were left unpunished.”.
• Marie Potts (1895-1978) Mountain Maidu educator and editor for Smoke Signals (one ofthe first in the nation, Native American newspaper that called for civil rights); authored in 1977 The Northern Maidu (Happy Camp: California: Naturegraph Publishers Inc.) correctly described how other Indians —who were not Yana— were hiding out and encroaching on the Mountain Maidu’s easterly neighbor, the Yahi/Yana’s traditional homeland. Kom’-bo was Marie Potts’ Mountain Maidu language name for the Yahi, the southernmost division of the Yana.
Marie Potts, in all her interviews, never once implied that the “mean Mill Creeks” were Ishi’s people. Significant is that her Mountain Maidu tribe referred to the hostile Mill Creeks as the “renegades.” What Marie Potts said about the “renegade” Indians is very credible information, for it was Marie Potts’ grandmother, Mariah Bill, who was kidnapped in the summer of 1864, and who escaped from the “Mill Creeks” in mid August, 1865, after almost one year in their captivity. Also, Marie’s Potts’ grandfather, Hukespem (“Wise One” ) with American name, “Big Meadow Bill”, attempted to rescue Mariah from the hostile Mill Creeks. After Mariah finally escaped from the Mill Creek Indians, Big Meadow Bill succeeded in getting revenge for his tribe by returning from a Mountain Maidu foray with one scalp of one Mill Creek he had killed! [“Letter from Greenville” (1866, November 10) The Plumas National].
Marie Potts was tape-recorded on October 27, 1971, by Sacramento City College instructor Clifford G. Curtice with his anthropology students present. Curtice had grown curious to learn more about the Mountain Maidus’ early history.
Clifford Curtice: “Was there ever any murders? When somebody got mad at somebody else?”
Marie Potts: “Yes, we had murders in between tribes. Not within the tribe, but outside the tribe. Tribes came into our area. There was one tribe we called the Mill Creek Indians, and they were a bunch of renegades, really. And they used to come into Big Meadows, which is Lake Almanor now. They would come up there, and they would kill and murder; kill anybody, children and babies, and adults, anybody. And our Indian people didn’t fight back. We were very peaceful people. One day
they captured my grandmother who was a young woman.”
CC: “What I’m thinking of in terms of the Mill Creeks, those were Ishi’s people. They were Yahi. Weren’t they Yahi people?”
MP: “I don’t know who they are. We called them renegades. In our Indian word, we called them
renegades.”
MP: “Oh, a bunch of people who had run off to some place else. They might have been Apaches or
they might have been, you know, from some of these other tribes. But they didn’t speak the Califor
nia language at all. Nobody knew their language. My grandmother learned a few words by being
there with them, you know.”
From the above examples, the “Mill Creek” Indians were those who knew to enter this still remote, and sparsely populated Yahi territory. They moved into the Yahi foothill country to escape from the armed attackers who were comprised of settler “volunteers” (some sanctioned and others called “irregulars” or vigilantes), as well as federal Army Regulars and State Military blue coat soldiers. “Mill Creeks” also composed some of the many who, in desperation, fled the reservations. But upon going back to their traditional homelands, discovered how already their village sites now had white settler cabins on them; that their food and pharmaceutical resources were now fenced off; that their acorns in the fall were being saved and then fed to their hogs. How many “Mill Creeks” were those who turned renegade with a vengeance because miners stole their children or spouses from them? Some “Mill Creeks” had attempted to become urbanized Indians to learn the white man’s ways, but were eventually spurned; deemed misfits or outlaws in the eyes of the towns’ people. Many were the result of abuses experienced by owners of the many rancherias throughout California. Few settlers with rancherias, for example, kept their subjects living on their property year round. More than a few recruited the already displayed souls onto their fields for seasonal work. After the haying or harvesting ended, they were told to leave and to fend for themselves. Some of the “Mill Creeks,” no doubt, were out-of-state Indians, who, as Marie Potts noted, “They didn’t speak the California languages at all.”
U.S. Treaties Failure - During 1851-1852, eighteen treaties were drawn up in good faith with “139 different California Indian groups” by President James Filmore’s three treaty-making commissioners. But Californians successfully lobbied the U.S. Senate not to ratify the eighteen treaties. This disavowed 7,488,000 acres of California lands that the California Indians would have received if the eighteen treaties had been ratified (Slagle 1989a & b; Burrill 1994:337-339).
Indian Reservations Failure - Plan 2 was to create remote Indian reservations to send the California Indians away to. The first five reservations were: Tejon Reservation in San Bernardino, Nome Lackee at Paskenta, Fresno Reservation, Klamath Reservation, and the Mendocino Reservation at Fort Bragg. The Nome Cult Farm (est. in 1856) became renamed the Round Valley Reservation at Covelo in 1858. These became “holding places” to where the many northern California Indian tribes were force-marched, often at gun-point. However, all experienced varying degrees of internal malfeasance. And rival bands of local settlers (who were violent racist rowdies) at Round Valley wanted the Indians’ “federally designated lands” (Beard and Carranco 1981:55-83). It became criminal that there were not enough garrisoned Army Regulars nor State Militia at the reservations to protect the Indians. Food shortages and shortages of blankets and basic needs generated real fears of starvation and death. In the end, very few of the Native peoples forced to the reservations chose to remain. Unattended diseases and lack of health care personnel on the reservations were also major problems. Recommended references about the failed reservations programs include: Heizer and Almquist (1971), Castillo (1978), Beard and Carranco (1981), Secrest (2003), and Gillis and Magliari (2004).
(5) An assessment of the two most devastating events that befell the Yahi
Besides the Gold Rush years (1848-1854) of invasion and its environmental degradations, the data points to the May 1858 removal of some 181 Indians from their villages largely along the Battle Creek drainage and the general massacre in 1864 of the Yana that started and spread from Shasta County, as the two most devastating events that befell Ishi’s tribe.
Thomas Waterman’s (1918:43-44) original assessment is corroborated and therefore stands the test of time. The significant sources scrutinized to help make this assessment were: Curtin (1899), Waterman (1918), Kroeber (1925), Heizer (1974), Hislop (1978), Miller (1978), Bleyhl (1979), Beard and Carranco (1981), Schoonover (1994), Strobridge (1994), Smith (1995), Secrest (2003), as well as the Shover (1998-2005) series of article on the regional Indian history.
Consulted also about the Kibbe Rangers/Guards: “Gen.WilliamKibbe” -CaliforniaStateMilitary Department.
Sacramento: The California State Military Museum.
<http://www.militarymuseum.org/KibbeRangers.html>
[1119 Second Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 Preserving California’s Military
Heritage California State Militia and National Guard Unit Histories
1858, circa. May 26 Removal of over 175 Yana Indians
Reprinted below is Thomas T. Waterman’s (1918:43-44) complete original paragraph about this major event responsible for significantly reducing the number of Southern Yana speakers. Recently retrieved, which helps to round out the 1858 relocation story, are the local newspaper accounts of the day:
A number of such events concerning the Yana are crowded into the year 1858 and 1859. For example, 181 Indians along Battle Creek1 were removed to the Nome Lackee Reservation,2 twenty miles west of Tehama on the west side of the valley
(U.S. Office of Indian Affairs Rep. of Comm. for 1858 p. 289). Most of them were diseased, presumably with venereal ailment judging from the phraseology used.3
They probably spoke Southern Yana, and this removal may account for the disap
pearance of the Southern dialect from the scene.4 The Indians thus concentrated at
Nome Lackee were scattered prior to the year 1861. The reservation buildings as
a matter of fact were wrecked, and the site practically abandoned. Probably few if
any of the Battle Creek people returned to their own territory. So we witness here
the exit from history of one Yana dialect5 (Author’s underscore)
1 “Before going to Press yesterday evening, our friend W. S. Knott, an employee at Nommee-Lackee [sic] arrived in town with 175 Indians from Major Pierson B. Reading’s, Andrew Jelly’s, Alex Love’s, and other ranches on Battle Creek. They leave this morning for the Reservation. We begin to hope for a better state of affairs in the Indian department (“Indians” [1858, May 26] Red Bluff Beacon); Hislop (1978:43-44). During early May, ‘58, a party “somewhere on Battle Creek . . . killed some fifteen of their number” (1858, May 5 Red Bluff Beacon).
2 In April 1858, the Army Regulars “for the second and final time” withdrew their detachment from the Nome Lackee Indian reservation (Strobridge 1994:164). Captain Judah of the Army Regulars sent lst Lieutenant Hiram Dryer to the area east of Red Bluff to separate the settlers from the Indians. His detachment marched up Battle Creek. Regarding the Tehama County citizens’ intent on killing any Indian that came into their sights, Strobridge (1994:163) reported “With Judah’s backing, Dryer warned settlers that the Regulars would withdraw if ‘such barbarity’ persisted.”
3 “Loathsome,” was invariably the “phraseology” used for those having venereal disease, which was
“so repugnant, so disgusting, and so nasty!
4 It appears likely that the “Southern Yana” division and the “Yahi” division were one and the same; that there were always three, not four, dialects of the Yana family of languages. Why? It is a fact that Professor Edward Sapir’s Yana language study was still a “work in progress” when he suddenly died in 1939. In the summer of 1915, Sapir successfully “captured” Ishi’s “southern most Yana dialect.” Upon completion in 1915, Sapir announced four dialects, namely: Northern Yana, Central Yana, Southern Yana, and Yahi. Twenty-one years after Sapir’s death, linguist Morris Swadesh in 1960, was encouraged to pick up Sapir’s unfinished project. In 1960, Swadesh co-authored with Sapir’s name, The Yana Dictionary. Swadesh had sorted through all of Sapir’s Yana phonetics of Ishi’s. Swadesh wrote the “Introduction” for the new dictionary as well. From Sapir and Swadesh (1960:14) one reads, “Only thirteen words and one phrase of Southern Yana can be cited.”
5 This one Yana dialect was Yahi. The first time “Yahi” appeared in print was on September 6, 1911 (“Lone Survivor of Southern Yahis Strange Man” [1911, September 6] San Francisco Chronicle, page 1/1,) The day before, Sam Batwee, the Central Yana interpreter recruited from Redding to help open communications with Ishi, heard Ishi use the noun, “Yahi” [Yaaxi] for the name of his tribe, “his people.” The first published source of “Yahi” was this:
“In return for his first lessons in civilization, giving his own language, the customs of his people
—extinct, but for himself— the legends of his tribe and its religious beliefs and history. Ishi, lone
survivor of the Southern Yahi Indians, is a guest at the Anthropological department of the Affili
ated Colleges, tutor of and being tutored by Professor A. L. Kroeber and T. T. Waterman.
“At first it was supposed that the tribe to which Ishi belonged was Southern Yana. From him,
however, the name was learned to be Yahi” (Underscore author’s).
Keeping with the subject of what became of Ishi’s tribal members, this author in August, 1998, conducted research in San Bruno, California, at the National Archives and Records Administration’s library archives. The end result was to be void of any solid data that “Yana Indians” were at the Round Valley Reservation. Why was this so? People of the “Ukie Tribe” (Yukis), for instance, as well as Pit River, Wailaki, Konkow, and Pomo, appear in the censuses of the United States that were reviewed. Neither could this researcher locate the other tribal names for the Yana, namely, the “Nosea” (Central Yana) or the Kom’-bo [Note: Kom’-bo is the Mountain Maidu name for their westerly neighbors, the Yahi].
Neither apparently has a response letter ever been found regarding Professor Alfred Kroeber’s query letter, dated June 8, 1914, that he had sent to the Superintendent of the Round Valley Reservation. Kroeber had asked whether “two Indian women of Ishi’s tribe” had possibly arrived there in about 1883 (See copy of Kroeber’s letter in Burrill 2001:102).
Just the same, both Thomas Waterman (1918) and Yuki and Huchnom scholar, Dr. Virginia Miller (1978:249) cite that “Yana” Indians were among the Indians relocated to reservations. Waterman (1918:43-44) in the above paragraph reported that “probable” Southern Yana speakers were sent to the Nome Lackee Reservation.
Miller’s one Yana reference stated about Round Valley, “In 1858 the farm officially became a reservation, and other Indians--including Wailaki, Maidu, Nomlaki, Achumawi, Atsugewi Pomoans, Lassik, Modoc, and Yana--were brought there to live”(Underscore author’s). This researcher concludes, therefore, that the Yana were in the mix forced to the reservations. However, their tribal name(s) were evidently never recorded. Also, with their representation so small, it is assumed that the Yana who were present simply became assigned with one or more of the other aforementioned tribal names. For example, an Indian whose heritage was listed as “Nomlaki,” in reality, may have been a Yana.
The percentage of “Southern Yana” (Yahi) removed to the reservations, when extrapolated from the data, was as high as 62% reduction. Thomas Waterman (1918:43-44) cited “181 Indians” removed from along Battle Creek in 1858. Professor Kroeber’s (1925: 339) demographics reported that there were “300 - 500 souls in each Yana division.” The lower number, 300, was used in the simple math.
1864, General Massacre of the Yana
During September through December 1864, a general massacre was the final devastating blow that reduced the entire Yana nation to “not far from fifty” (Curtin 1899:519). This commenced in Shasta County after the two white women were killed: September 8, Mrs. Catherine (Boyes) Allen; and September 9, Mrs. Arkansas Jones. One excerpt from May Southern’s scrapbooks reads: “. . . During one week alone in September 1864, while volunteers were out from Copper City and Millville avenging the murders of Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Jones, it was estimated that 500 Indians ‘bit the dust’”(Smith 1995:108). The “Notes” on pp. 517-520 in Jeremiah Curtin’s 1899 Creation Myths of America (London: Bracken Books) provide some insights about the 1864 general massacre.
The next section of the Background History is this review of Kibbe’s Campaign, with summary, and assessment made by Indian adversary Robert Anderson. The expanded understanding that came from this review, is that the Kibbe Campaign was about killing and routing out the California Indians of which few, if any, were Yana.
Kibbe’s Campaign of 1858-1859 Revisited
About Kibbe’s campaign, this researcher defers the reader to Steve Schoonover’s 1994 solid scholarship titled, “Kibbe’s Campaign Dogtown Territorial, No. 20, pp. 10-11, 44-49. His introductory article w/map helped this writer to experience a closer look at the series of ruthless skirmishes and roundups often at gun-point, master-minded by Adjutant General William C. Kibbe. The year, 1858, marked the start of the two-year long “Kibbe Campaign,” the most comprehensive, austere, yet futile campaign against the California Indians, and involving the territories of Mendocino, Humbolt, and Trinity counties, as well as the territory between the Pit River to the north and Feather River to the south.
Personally, General Kibbe had already turned pragmatist about the efficacy of his own professional military training for fighting the Indians in the hills. By official letter in 1856, Kibbe expressed that volunteers would be more effective than the U.S. Army against the Indians, who “use untraditional methods of warfare.” With this, Kibbe’s requested the California Legislature (who in turn, asked Congress) “for thirty to fifty thousand stand of arms to be issued to the volunteers to protect the “northern frontier” of California against “. . . a large and hostile Indian foe” [Letter on Arms for California from William C. Kibbe, Quartermaster and Adjutant General of the State of California. 34th Congress, lst session, Senate Miscellaneous Document 67, Vol. 1, June 19, 1856. P. 3 Serial set no. 835; referenced also by Bleyhl 1978:13].
The Kibbe Campaign was always by authority of Governor John B. Weller. However, the total number of state sanctioned “volunteer” versus vigilante possé (i.e., “irregulars”) remains moot. Governor Weller, in early January, 1860, was able to officially announce that he knew of “forty-nine.” Weller stated:
“We have forty-nine companies of volunteers organized, 2,700 muskets, (or their equivalent),
and two six-pound field pieces, with accoutrements” (California Legislature, Journal of the House
of Assembly, 11th Session begun January 2, 1860, Sacramento, California p. 51.).
1858, lst year of Kibbe’s Campaign: California’s fifth Governor, John B. Weller, received petitions from settlers in Mendocino, Trinity and Tehama counties who complained that hostile Indians were a threat to their lives and
property, such that they sought protection. First, federal troops (Army Regulars) went north to make their pres
ence felt, but to no avail. Gov. Weller then gave authority to Adjutant General William C. Kibbe of California’s State Militia (later called the National Guard) to enlist “volunteer military companies.” By Oct. Kibbe had mustered troops in both Weaverville and Big Bar (both Trinity County). The Big Bar unit was under the command
of Captain Isaac G. Messec. The subsequent killings and roundups became known as the “Wintoon War.” By Feb. of ‘59, Messec sent 121 prisoners from Humboldt Bay by steamer to the Mendocino Reservation; another 160 were sent on March 15th, following the Big Lagoon Conference. On March 20th, after at least 100 Indians were reported killed in the field, Kibbe declared the “Wintoon war” at an end. The California Legislature paid
those volunteers $52,000 (Secrest 2003:315). Presumably none of the above involved Yana Indians.
1859, 2nd year of Kibbe’s Campaign: It was on Aug. 16th, when Kibbe enlisted 93 volunteers in Red Bluff, Tehama County. On Aug. 20th, Kibbe divided his force into three parts, and they “went out.” Keeping with the three groups, Steve Schoonover (1994:45) explained:
(1) The northern column under Lt. Bailey moved almost due east without incident, and was in Battle Creek Meadows
by Aug. 29th.
(2) Schoonover (1994:45): “In the center, Capt. William Byrnes [also Burns] and about 25 men moved up the Lassen
Trail between Deer Creek and Mill Creek.” On circa August 17, Breckenridge’s party (with Anderson and Good) surprised
the “. . . thieving Indians on the head waters of Deer Creek, and killed all the bucks and took squaws and children to the reservation” (“For the Reservation” [1859, Aug. 24] Red Bluff Beacon).
On Sept. 14th: “Crossing over into Concow Valley . . . he [Byrnes] succeeded in capturing the chief . . . Tippee, Moola and Yumyam, the latter being the head chief of all the tribes” (“From Gen. Kibbe’s Command” [1859, Sept. 21] Red Bluff Beacon). Volunteer Elijah Renshaw Potter (1859) in Brynes’ detachment wrote: “The Konkows were taken . . . to . . . the Mendocino Reservation.” About Yumyam, it is believed that his son replaced him as chief in 1860, and the son’s Konkow and American names, recorded by Stephen Powers (1877:306), were Tum’-yan-neh (Captain George)” The July 1884 Overland Monthly tells this chief’s story written by A. G. Tassin (1884:7-14).
(3) Circa August - To the south, Lt. Van Shell’s company w/Kibbe accompanying him climbed over the Cohasset Ridge, and came down on Forks of Butte from the north, while Coon Garner and 27 men came up Butte Creek canyon from the west.” Schoonover added that, in short order, Van Shell’s men and Coon Garner’s men gathered up “Indians in the vicinity of Forks of Butte “and shipped them off to the reservation with a guard under the command of a Lt. McCarthy.
These were probably Butte Creeks or Concows, Kimshews or Tigers.Sept. 3 -“Pit River Rangers attacked Beaver Creek village and massacred 75 Indians . . . (Schoonover 1994:44). [And]
Kibbe took Lt. Bailey’s men from Battle Creek Meadows north to Hat Creek valley just “in time to impose himself between the U.S. troops and the raiders.” Early Sept. Byrnes and Van Shell’s men united at Butt Valley “field” headquarters. Mid-
Sept. S. D. Johns’ men descended N. Fork of Feather River and collected hundreds of Konkaus, Kimshews and Tigers for the reservation. Schoonover (1994:45) wrote: “Johns arrived there [Red Bluff] on September 24 with 218 Indians, not counting children”.
Circa Oct. 4-10, 1859 at Eagle Lake (Lassen Co.) Kibbe’s Rangers killed five Indians who “began to run.” Byrnes killed one more (“From the Volunteer Camp” [1859, Oct. 26] Red Bluff Beacon; also re. Eagle Lake [1859, Oct. 28.] Sac. Union Oct. p. 2/4).
On Oct. 13th at Indian Valley, Hat Creek leader Shavehead was captured with 3 of his warriors and 8 females (1859, Oct. 22 Red Bluff Beacon). In Oct. Lt. McCarthy’s forces went south to Honey Lake Valley. McCarthy forced-led 33 captives through Quincy to Oroville, arriving Dec. 14th.
Oct. -Nov. -Kibbe in Pit River and Hat Creek valleys gave his repeated ultimatum, “We can’t live together so you’ve got to leave.” They killed or maimed resisters and rounded up hundreds for the reservations.
Dec. 11 - Kibbe’s Rangers captured 33 more of Shavehead’s tribe, but 9 escaped [Sac. Union Dec. 17, 1859,. 2/1]. “Nine of the most dangerous . . . escaped from Nome Lackee Res.” [and] “Four hundred of the Indians were taken on board of the Steamer Sam Soule. . . .” (“Escape of Indians”[1859, Dec. 12] Shasta Herald; See Fig. 128 illus. on page 214 of Beacon ad. “Departure From Red Bluff,” California Steam Navigation Co.
Dec. 14 -“Gen. Kibbe, with 480 of these dusky captives, arrived at San Francisco . . . on Wednesday evening. They encamped--that is, squatted--on the sand of North Beach at the foot of Powell street . . . . Yesterday, they were visited by hundreds of citizens and strangers. A rope was stretched about their encampment, within which the guard of half a dozen men, with rifle, prohibited the approach of the white skins. . . . Old and young enjoyed the pelting with apples that the outsiders amused themselves with. . . . This afternoon, the whole company re-embark for the Mendocino Reservation.” Dec. 24th: “The Indians are guarded day and night . . . . They will leave for Mendocino during the day in the brig Jannett.” [Prisoners observed: “Very troublesome Hat Creek Lize, the amazon” and, her brother, Chief Shavehead w/large “labret” through nasal septum and “arm splintered up, having been shot and his arm broken] Two sources are: 1859, Dec. 16, San Francisco Bulletin and “The Captured Indians” [1859, Dec. 24] Red Bluff Beacon). See also Starn 2004:132-133, 321; Dec. 15, 1859, Alta California; Dec. 16, 1859 San Francisco Bulletin; Oct. 28, Dec. 3, 12, 17, 1859, Sacramento Union; ].
Summary “Futility of it all” Kibbe Campaign Assessment: By December 12, 1859, approximately 1,000 California Indians had been killed and over 1,000 captured by gun point and forcibly marched to Red Bluff for removal to the reservations. Then, add to this the hundreds of scalps taken by the vigilante “irregulars”!
Q. How many Yana perished due to Kibbe’s Campaign during 1858-1859? Tentative answer: Probably none in ‘58 and few, if any, during ‘59.
Steve Schoonover (1994:49) concluded that, “In the end, the brutality of Kibbe’s campaign was futile. That may be why the expedition gets such short shrift in the telling of Northern California history.” The reason why Kibbe’s Campaign proved futile is because practically all of the California Indians who were relocated to the reservations left the reservations and made their way back to their homelands. Why? There were not enough federal regulars posted on the reservations to protect the displaced mix of California Indians from the “white rowdies,” such as, George E. White, Walter S. Jarboe, and others. Also, there was the real fear of starvation for lack of enough food and provisions on the reservations. Beard and Carranco’s 1981 Genocide and Vendetta remains the seminal work about the infamous and failed Round Valley Indian Reservation history.
Indian adversary Robert Anderson (1909:44) wrote his personal assessment of Kibbe’s Campaign:
“The history of Kibbey’s [sic] campaign can be quickly summed up. He roamed through
the mountains for several weeks, going as far east as the Big Meadows, where he seized
a number of perfectly harmless Indians as prisoners. He returned by way of Butte Creek, where he got more prisoners, and, proceeding to Chico, “captured” the Bidwell Indians and
transported the entire lot to the Reservation. He did not get a single Mill Creek, or any other
Indian who had ever caused the whites any trouble.
General Bidwell promptly went to Sacramento and gave bonds for the good behavior of his Indians, whereupon the Government authorities released them, and they returned to Chico.”
*****
In conclusion, Ishi’s band, in stark contrast to the displaced and retaliatory “Mill Creeks,” retained their
traditional ways for procuring their sustenance. The silent bow and arrow remained their weapon of choice
(see Fig.11) If guns were used in “depredations,” they were invariably Mill Creeks, not the Yahi. The last of
Yahi’s survival was extended because they were made so small in number, down to maybe 64 individuals before Lieutenant Robert Bailey and Kibbe headed their way. Also, the Yahi became experts at hiding,. They kept separate from both the urbanized, renegade Indians and from most all of the settlers, albeit there were some settler exceptions over time who quietly protected Ishi’s tiny band (Read Ishi Rediscovered, 2001 by this writer).
Many of the displaced “Mill Creeks” who encroached on Ishi’s Yahi homeland, no doubt, put great
pressure and serious demands on the Yahi survivors. They demanded to be shown the Yahi’s very best hiding places. It is romantic, moreover, to think that the Yahi never commingled with any of the renegade Indians. But
the number of Mill Creeks taken in appears to have been minimal. It is possible that Ishi himself, was one of those adoptees when he was quite small, maybe from a Maidu family in the Yankee Hill/“candy man” vicinity (Mel Speegle’s account in Burrill 2001:114). This may never be resolved.
Many consider Thomas Waterman’s September 1, 1911, letter written in Oroville, as perhaps the best
testimony of Ishi’s remoteness. The letter was mailed to Waterman’s superior, Professor Alfred Kroeber in San Francisco. Kroeber, no doubt, quickly opened it, eager to learn more.
September 1, 1911 Dear Professor Kroeber:
This man is undoubtedly wild. He has pieces of deer thong in place of ornaments in the lobes of his ears and a wooden plug in the septum of his nose. He recognizes most of my Yana words and a fair proportion of his own seem to be identical [with mine]. Some of his, however, are either quite different or else my pronunciation of them is very bad, because he doesn’t respond to them except by pointing to his ears and asking to have them repeated. K’u’i [No!]—it is not—is one. “Alïa!” [Yes!] pleases him immensely. I think I get a few endings that don’t occur in Northern Yana on nouns, for example. Phonetically, he has some of the prettiest cracked consonants I ever heard in my life. He will be a splendid informant, especially for phonetics, for he speaks very clearly. I have not communicated with him successfully enough to get his story, but what can I
expect? He has a yarn to tell about his woman, who had a baby on her back and seems to have
been drowned, except that he is so cheerful about it. We had a lot of conversation this morning [September 1st] about deer hunting and making acorn soup, but I got as far as my list of words would take me. If I am not mistaken, he’s full of religion bathing at sunrise, putting out pinches of tobacco where the lightning strikes, etc.
I’ll try rattlesnake on him when I go back after lunch. It was a picnic to see him open his eyes
when he heard Yana from me. And he looked over my shoulder at the paper in a most mystified way. He knew at once where I got my inspiration (T. Kroeber 1961:7-8).
Figure 24.The verso of this mystery photograph reads only “Ishi.” Is the newspaper clipping below (Fig. 25) the correct match about this photo? Was this photo taken in the hills of San Bernardino County, California? Did Curator George Barron meet and learn this elder’s name, tribe affiliation and more things? Can the photographer be found to hopefully learn more about where and when the photo was shot? Photograph Collection, Neg. #28,600 (4x5”) Verso reads, “Ishi.” Reprinted courtesy of California History Section, California State Library.
“Discover New Ishi to succeed Butte County’s Original” (1916, April 8) Chico Enterprise, p. 1.
Figure 27.Spanish spur rowels found by former local Bob Aulabaugh, provides evidence of the Mexican Period influences in the area. Each of the pair is 1 5/8 inches diameter with 1/4 inch diameter center hole. According to Judge Edward Lewis (1891), it is a fact that Peter Lassen, who kept a blacksmith shop next to his adobe house “. . . obtained great local distinction as a manufacture of bridle bits and Spanish spurs.” Whether these were made by Lassen is unresolved. They were found about one mile southeast of CA-TEH-2105H, and on the former Jimmy Ellis Homestead in Section 27 of
Township 25N, R1W; on the flat’s apron along the north bank
that overlooks Deer Creek.
-50
he Mexican Period lasted from 1821 to 1848. The Mexicans had revolted against Spain and won their independence in 1821. The Republic of Mexico lost Texas in 1836. After defeat in the Mexi- can-American War (1846-48), Mexico lost the area that is now California, Nevada, and Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
It is a significant fact that “missionization” of the California Indians never reached farther
north than Mission Sonoma (established in 1823). A seminal essay on this subject, reviewed by this
researcher,istitled“TheImpactofEuro-AmericanExplorationandSettlement”byEdwardD. Castillo(1978).Hisoverallconclusionisthat“Indianneophytesandgentilesalikewereseizedforforcedlaborand their property confiscated” (Castillo 1978:104-105). This happened despite the Mexican governments’s early adoption in 1821 of the Plan of Iguala, an act that “guaranteed citizenship to Indiansand protection of their person and property”!
The 1832-1833 disease epidemics proved catastrophic for the California Indians. In 1832, the EwingYoungparty,includingtrapperJobFrancisDye*(1807-1884)trappeduptheSacramentoValley(ElliottandMoore1880:49). Butinthesummerof1833,Col.J.J.Warner describedseeing“averitablevalleyofdeath.” IntheCentralValleythediseasewasprobablymalaria.In1833smallpoxalsokilledthousands,mostlyalongthecoast.“Fully20,000IndianpeoplediedintheGreatCentralValley”(Cook 1943: 30-37).
* Job Dye would later settle southeast of the Tuscan Buttes. The sawmill, Tehama County’s first, Dye built and operated from 1855 until 1859 (Penner 1969, Ch. 3). It was called Antelope Mill and located west of Lyonsville “near the confluence of Judd
and Lyman Creeks” (Gene Serr personal letter to author, 10/12/2000; Kraft and Woodrum 2005:106).
There is not the space here to provide more about the horrors endured by California Indians ruthlessly murdered by the Mexican State and Church. The 1971 book, The Other Californians: Prejudice and Discrimination Under Spain, Mexico, and the United States to 1920, by Robert Heizer and Alan J. Almquist, gives a thorough accounting.
*****
Ishi knew a few words of Spanish when he arrived in Oroville in 1911 (Starn 2004:77-78). In
addition, an intriguing Spanish Spur (Fig. 26) was discovered by a local about one mile southeast of the
study area. According to Judge Edward J. Lewis (1891), “Peter Lassen’s blacksmithing skill includedlocal distinction as a manufacturer of bridle bits and Spanish spurs”! Former Vina local Bob Aulabaugh uncovered the old spur rowels, with a wide enough diameter to know that it is of the Spanish
spur type, on the Jim Ellis homestead, about one mile southeast of the Hi Good Cabin site. Whether Bob Aulabaugh found a vintage Peter Lassen spur remains unresolved. And what about the items
that Vina collector Archie Brown retrieved (see photo in Fig. 117) that included a Spanish spade bit
and Spanish spurs, said to have been found on the Lassen Trail? Can any of these be traced to Peter
Lassen’s blacksmith shop?
Lassen’s First Sheep - TheprobablesheepspeciesthatPeterLassenfirstbroughttoDeerCreekin 1845, and that Hi Good and his crew may have obtained, were the rangy and coarse-wooled Spanish California churros (Haslem 2007). Part of Peter Lassen’s legacy is that he brought some of the the first sheep to today’s Tehama County, upon having bartered grist stones for them with John Sutter in1845.
Theearliestrecordwhen“livestock”werefirstherdednorthuptheSacramentoValleyenrouteto Oregon appears to be 1837, when “EwingYoung and Philip Edwards led the first cattle drive fromCentral California to Oregon. The herd followed the east side of the Sacramento Valley to the area ofRed Bluff and then crossed to the west bank, and it may have been observed by the Yahi” (Johnson1978:362, 733, who cited B. F. Frank and H. W. Chappell 1881:16-17).
From Simeon Moak (1923:33), it is inferred that Hi Good began his sheep business with only the $3000 amount in about 1866, during non-drought circumstances, Good probably paid at least $4.00 per head. At that rate, it meant that Good probably started up his new enterprise with about 750 head of sheep.
The “$4 per head rate” comes from Tehama County’s former sheriff and local historian, Lyle A. Williams (Briggs 1996:61 ). Williams wrote in his article, “Early Day Sheep Raisers in Tehama County 1860- to 1940” that “Kit Carson in Sacramento sold 15,000 head of cattle “for $4.00 per head to the settlers.” Williams added that, “The first sheep in the Sacramento Valley were driven from New Mexico by way of Salt Lake to Sacramento by Kit Carson.” A corroborative source retrieved is Guy Rocha (2008) who is the Nevada State Archivist. Rocha stated, “Kit Carson passed through Eagle Valley [Carson City] in 1853 on his way to Sacramento from New Mexico Territory.” Also, Carson is said to have trailed “some 7,000 head” of “sheep and goats” and he sold the livestock “for $32,000.” A second on-line source [http://virtualology.com/kit-caron. com/ reports: “In 1853 Kit Carson drove 6,500 sheep over the mountains to California.” Best guess is that they were of the churros breed.
Anne McNabb (Reprinted in Briggs 1990:68 from Tehama County Memories, 1983) wrote thatthe, “First sheep brought into the north Sacramento Valley were rangy, coarse-wooled Spanish California churros, typical in the coast country . . . .The first recorded fine-wooled French Merino sheepband trailed into Tehama County came in 1857, brought by the Rawson brothers” (See Chronology).
Veteran sheepman Jack Haslem (2007) upon hearing the above McNabb data, added that:
“Churros are Navajo sheep. The Navajo lost pretty much all their sheep when
JohnCollierwasCommissionerofBureauofIndianAffairsduringthe1930swhentheywent in and slaughtered pretty much all of their sheep. Some of the Indians took theirownsheepandwentoutintotheirbackcountryandhidout.Whenitgotalldone,theystill had the seed stock of the churros sheep, very similar to what the Spanish brought in. Collier had both sheep and cattle killed during the Hoover Boom to keep the priceup.”
Haslem also explained to this author that “The range sheep breeds are theMerino, Rambouillet, and Suffolk, for the main breeds in the United States.” Haslemadded, “For the wool, the Merino and Rambouillet produce the higher quality. TheSuffolk are used as a meat and for terminal sires, with their wool quality being of acoarserquality.”OtherlessrenownbreedsreferencedbyBriggs(1990:4) includedAllen
T. Spencer of Tehama County who developed his own breed of Romadale sheep. Also,
Briggs(1990:46)wrotethat“The[Rawson]brothersin1859startedbackfromMissouriwith a choice band, among which were a “bunch of pure-bred Cotswold sheep.”
Briefly about Hi Good’s breed of sheep used in the study area circa 1867-1870, the species ofsheep his outfit would have had remains undetermined. Four faunal remains found at the site weredetermined to “compare favorably to sheep.” Perhaps a DNA study of some of the sheep remainsrecovered can reveal what breed(s) of sheep Hi Good may have lambed and/or trailed.
It was during the Mexican Period when “Pedro” Lassen(1800-1859) from Denmark, received his Mexican citizenship onJuly 25, 1844 (Lassen 1990:62). Five months later, on December26, 1844, Lassen received his Mexican land grant (Fig. 26) of only 5 square leagues (22,193 acres) rather than the 11 square leagueshehadhopedtoreceive(Lassen1990:65)calledRanchoBosquejo(“woodedplace”),asapprovedbyGovernorofCaliforniaGeneralManuel Micheltorena. Based on the Figure 26 map, it remains undetermined whether Rancho Bosquejo’s acreage included the CA-TEH-2105H study area.
PeterLassen’ssteadypresenceinthestudyareawas 1845to 1850, until fate and the gold fever struck him hard. In 1852,Henry Gerke would take over Lassen’s last holdings. With thissaid, Peter Lassen was the first pioneer settler along lower DeerCreek,beginninginaboutFebruary,1845. Itcouldnothavebeen1844 when he arrived as many accounts claim, for in December of ‘44, Lassen became stranded in Marysville on the Cordua Rancho because the Sacramento River “had become flooded and theyhad to wait at least a month before they were able to continue” (Lassen 1990:62). The “they” included Lassen’s housekeeper, the mysterious “Dutchman Sargent.”But his aide, about then, retreated. According to Lassen’s biographer by blood, René Weybye Lassen (1990:62), the housekeeper felt that Peter Lassen’s new home was “this ‘nowhere’ [and] was not whathe wanted, and he disappeared.”
Besides the churros and Lassen’s early blacksmithing talents, a significant accomplishment,though hard to fully reconstruct, was how Lassen secured the labor of both the local California Indians and Mexican laborers who continued to build his rancho. Lassen, being Danish, was adept at learning other languages. He was gregarious, a dreamer. He nurtured sound friendships most of the time. Dan Sill was one of his early close friends, another blackmith, who, in July of 1843, Lassen apparently metwhen both of them worked a stint as blacksmiths for John Sutter at his New Helvetia /Sutter’s Fort colony in Sacramento (see Dan Sill biographical sketch on pages 118-120). Lassen enticed Sill to leavewith him for his Deer Creek venture. Sill always seemed to keep “friendly Indian laborers” workingfor him. As introduced in the preceding Section I, Peter Lassen’s “eastern bank” was in “powerfulWintu hands”(Sapir and Spier (1943:241). These were the willing and able River Nomlaki. Present,too, but in smaller numbers were the foothill Yana. They would have had to pass through Lassen’s rancho to visit their fishing stations on the Big Water’s east bank. The Yana may have provided fish
and game for Peter Lassen during that peaceful and promising time.In constructing the early Rancho Bosquejo adobes, putting up fences, and in so many capaci
ties, this was paramount to Lassen’s success, though short-lived as it was. Sill did contract work for
Lassen. It was in 1847, when Lassen sold to Dan Sill his Rancho Bosquejo property, which stood on the north side of Deer Creek, with the promise that Sill would use his “resources” to complete Lassen’ssecondadoberesidenceheadquartersonthesouthsideofDeerCreek.ThedatapointstoLassenand Sill beginning the Rancho on the north side of Deer Creek. It is probable that some of the Indianlaborers listed on Sill’s rancheria in the 1860 census (see page 118), were of the same Indian families
who had helped build and maintain Rancho Bosquejo.
It is surmised that while Peter Lassen masterminded the rancho plans, Dan Sill did the recruiting, taming, and training of the local Indian labor pool. Hence, this team accomplished the initial ground-breakingoffriendlylaborersforHiGood’sgenerationofsettlerswhocametothissamelocale
just ten years later. Peter Lassen was not only a dreamer who craved adventure, but at the same time had to be
alwaysthinkingandtinkering andmakinginventions.Peterpreferredthenewovertheold.Heliked
planning, executing, and directing various projects — often all at the same time, if it were necessary.
Lassen liked companionship with those who had an active and investigative, mind. Lassen and Sillboth had natural aptitudes for all trades and both preferred to be at the farthest outposts of “civilization.” Lassen had gumption for testing the limits. His enthusiasm was tempered with fortitude,to bear up under any hardships that came his way. In 1845 Peter Lassen was doing exactly what he
wanted. Peter Lassen’s great optimism that both economic success and a harmonious, multi-cultural community could be successfully established were his greatest gifts to posterity.
John Bidwell said of Lassen that he “was a singular man, very industrious, very ingenious,and very fond of pioneering—in fact, of the latter stubbornly so. He had great confidence in his ownpower as a woodsman, but, strangely enough, he always got lost” (Rogers 1891:37-54).
Lassen’sgrist(flour)millprojectonDeerCreek,forsomereasonfailed.ButLassenwasalwaystinkeringwithmills.Uponconductingthtebackgroundhistory,thisresearcherlearnedthatinSeptember, 1841, Isaac Graham, a German named Frederick Hoeger, and a Dane named Peter Lassen, agreedtoerectamillonZayanteCreeknearitsentrancetotheSanLorenzoRiverinSantaCruzCounty,California (Steen 2006).According to Leon Rowland (1929:44), the mill was a ‘muley’ with a straight sawwhich worked up and down in a wooden frame. In keeping with sawmill technolgies, what becameof the circular saw idea that Lassen “heard” (Lassen 1990:65) the mechanic William Brown Ide “hadconstructed”? Ide came to Deer Creek but left without having finished the sawmill for Lassen.
Lassen also spent time scavanging and salvaging the derelict wagons and supplies that had been abandoned along his Lassen Emigrants’ Trail. According to Bruff’s Journal (1949: 206-207, 250,and 347), Lassen hired out a separate force of workers who encamped near Bruff’s Camp. Using thedubb (wooden mallet)withfroe to precisely strikethetopportions of thesugar pinetree blocks,“OldPete’s shinglemen” began to rive shingles for his rancho structures and for other future homes aswell.
NowaddtothisLassen’sskillsat“diversifiedfarming,namely,wildoatsandhay,wheatplantedto the north of Deer Creek and a vineyard”(Forester 1991:5). Seeing these products in the field causedsome of the emigrant passersby to be inspired by this promising and helpful frontiersman. Many who
met Peter Lassen at his Rancho Bosquejo wrote in their diaries about Lassen’s “desire to please.”WhatwereLassen’sweakpoints?HisemigranttrailventureisdiscussedinSectionVIII,pages187-195. Was Lassen charging excessive amounts for vital supplies that the emigrants had to have at
the end of the trail? Was he not too daring and too much the gambler about the prospects for upriver steamboat Lady Washington transportation? It is established that his Lady Washington steam boat gamble
began inAugust, 1849, until disaster struck in February, 1850 (Bruff 1949:303; MacMullen 1944:11-12.138; Bancroft 1888, Vol VI, 450).
Did Lassen’s restlessness or wanderlust get the better of him about striking it rich as a miner?His mining attempts lasted from 1850 until 1859. While the steam boat investment caused Lassenhis greatest financial ruin, it was about mining that Peter Lassen paid the ultimate price. He heardofsilverthat,supposedly,hadbeenfoundintheSmokeCreekareaofwesternNevada. OnApril26,1859, Peter Lassen had gone there to explore when he was killed by other miners or by Indians withgun power; or maybe by shades of both in the Black Rock Desert. The murder scene is along today’sClapper Creek, some forty-nine miles northeast of Gerlach, Nevada.
*****
Avividwindow into thepast tells what Peter Lassen’s early Rancho “community” was like inabout 1849, as found in this portion of the William Swain’s Diary and Letters, 1849-1851. It was firstpublished in J. S. Holiday’s book, The World Rushed In (1981:291):
AtLassen’sRanch“everythingisaregularjam.mengoinghitherandyon,some
in search of friends whom they are to meet here, others are those to be met. Some are
buying provisions, some whiskey, some victuals, and others have nothing to buy with
. . . .
“The tenements at Lassen’s are three sun-dried brick houses,1 eleven by thirty,
in which are kept a tavern, grocery, provision store, etc . . . .Along the road for a half a
mile are posted numerous tents and wagons at which provisions are for sale . . . to the
poor,worn-downpennilessemigrants.”“Twenty-fivecentsforadrinkofwhiskey,fifty
cents for brandy . . . . There is plenty of liquor. No lack of drink or drunkards, regular
bloats. There are some dilapidated outbuildings and a log house2 in the course of erec
tion. The whole establishment is on the bank of Deer Creek,3 the bank of which is here
fifteen or twenty feet high and lined with alder, sycamore, willow, etc. Quarters and
parts of beef hang on the trees and lie around on logs. The whole place is surrounded
with filth. Bones, rags, chips, sticks, skulls, hair, skin, entrails, blood, etc. The steepbank, down which all must go for water, is paved with this offal”Through three days of heavy rain on Nov. 8, 9 and 10, 1849, Swain waited atLassen’s Ranch, anxious for the arrival of Frederick Bailey and other Rangers still on
the trail. A few came in each day, until all were at last safe from the mountain storms.
[William Swain Diary and Letters, 1849-1851 Manuscript. New Haven, Connecticut: Bei
necke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University].
1 In 1849, Lassen’s headquarters with store was up and running on the south side of Deer
Creek.
2 One log cabin appears on the right side in Bruff’s 1850 “Lassen’s Rancho” drawing (Fig.
63). 3 This again is describing the geographical setting where the Abbey of New Clairvaux resides on the south side of Deer Creek today.
Two forces, each so much larger than any one mortal could thwart, came directly at Peter Lassen. The first to knock on Peter’s door was named Manifest Destiny. That turning point arrived onMarch 30, 1846. Her representative was John C. Frémont on behalf of the United States of America,that restless nation. The subsequent events resulted in Lassen’s loss of innocence. His short-lived days
of contentment in “Camelot” (Rancho Bosquejo) were dashed asunder. Historian Edward Petersen(1972:7) reflected,“It was Frémont’s extra-curricular political activities that helped Americans in California wrest the province away from Mexico in the year of decision, 1846.”
ThesecondforcewascalledtheCaliforniaGoldRush.ItisrelatednextinSectionIII,“TheGold Rush Period.” Its representative was Samuel Brannan whose May 12, 1848, cry was heard “round theworld.” This Gold Rush caused Peter Lassen’s hoped for “Benton City” to be abandoned. The fire of
the Gold Rush mania incinerated Lassen’s paper town to ashes.
Upham’s work was issued to promote Frémont’s run for the U.S. presidency in 1856. Frémont was the first Republican to enter a presidential race, which he lost that year to James Buchanan. This book, in ephemeral circles is also described as being “generally adulatory” or promotional on Frémont’s behalf. CD No. 125, Accession No. SHS 1994.52.15. Reprinted courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.
Figure 30,
Figure 31.
President James K. Polk
John Charles Frémont
1795 - 1849
1813 - 1890
The Loss Of Innocence of Lassen’s Bosquejo Rancho
he data indicates that Peter Lassen during February through August, 1845 established apeaceful frontier outpost with the local California Indians. Author/educator René Weybye Lassen (1990:64) from Denmark, a nephew of Peter, four time removed, wrote about his uncle: “The first seven months of his stay at Bosquejo Rancho, Lassen was living as the only whiteman with the Indians around. While living here he was clearing the land so he could plant a variety of crops. He went hunting for deer. He started trapping beavers and otters which skins he tannedhimself.”
The linguistic maps of the California Indians constructed by anthropology pioneers John Wesley
Powell (1891), Alfred L. Kroeber (1925), Robert Heizer (1978), and most recently by Pacific WesternTraders’HerbPuffer(1994),affirmthatWintuandYanawereinvariablytheIndianswhoPeterLassenworked with and learned from. René Lassen (1990:64) observed that:
“FormostofthewhitesettlersanIndianwasjustanIndian.Thesettlersnevernoticedwhich tribe he belonged to, his cultural background, or his way of living.”
Peter Lassen (See Fig. 28) was friendly as usual to the indigenous cultures. Having come from a smaller country himself with neighbors who were larger and more powerful than his land, it be
came customary for the Danes to learn about their neighbors and to keep the respect. Danes today, in
fact, acquire German and English languages by the time they graduate from their gymnasiums (high
schools). This corroborates René Lassen’s (1990:64) contention that:
“Lassen tried to learn a little of the different languages the tribes near Deer Creek
and the Sacramento River were using. These sincere attempts to learn their languages helped endear him to the Indians, thus winning their frienship and veneration” (Lassen 1990:64)
But in the spring of 1846, Peter Lassen’s Camelot was dashed asunder. The archival data reveals that Lassen made his own bed of troubles in March/April 1846 that irrevocably ended the peace he
had established with the indigenous peoples around him. Lassen invited the American “outsiders,”as led by Captain John C. Frémont, to be his “guest for as long as they wished” (Egan 1977:325). PeterLassen (1990:72)wassotaken apparentlybythedaringAmericanrepresentativeofManifestDestiny,
that Lassen later named his own paper town, Benton City,* in honor of Mrs. Jessie Frémont whose father was the anti-slavery, U.S. Senator, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
* Various interpretations have developed over time about “Benton City’s inception as well as the location of this
“paper town.”Dan Sill evidently promoted his paper town named “Daneville” (Lassen 1990:66), located on the north side of Deer Creek. Was “Benton City” surveyed where Daneville was supposed to be? J. G. Bruff, however, began surveying Benton City to be for Lassen in April, 1850. This was when Peter Lassen was living on
the south side of Deer Creek! Most Vina folks believe Benton City was on the north side.
According to the Western Star Lodge No. 2 pamphlet by Harold O. McDaniel Jr. (1998:5-6): “The name
Benton City was derived through the influence of Saschel Woods. He was a friend and admirer of Thomas Hart
Benton . . . . Woods was able to prevail upon Lassen to name his new town Benton City in honor of Senator Benton.”
In fairness to Peter Lassen, it is this researcher’s belief that had Lassen been perhaps less naivé
and had he known somehow in advance of what a ruthless and mean-spirited killing spree against
the California Indians was about to be carried out, as led by apparently Frémont’s guide, Kit Carson, let alone what false rumors and subterfuge tactics were being applied to cause unrest throughout the greater region, Lassen would have surely taken back his offer of “full assistance.” The horrific brutality committed against the nondescript California Indians that took place on about April 15, 1846,
set a grim precedent for Indian-White relationships in California for the decades that followed. Alas,
Lassen’s choiceto support theAmericanshas becomepart of hislegacy.March 30, 1846 waswhen themighty force of empire-building came knocking on Peter Lassen’s door.
In1982 JamesDottapublishedhisrevisedinterpretationsaboutthepurported“BloodyIslandMassacre”intheShastaHistoricalSociety’sannualpublication, The Covered Wagon. His article is titled “Bloody Island: Fact and Fantasy.” His hard evidence is compelling that the major event occurredmore probably along the Sacramento River and closer to Colusa and the Sutter Buttes area in northern California. Moreover, Frémont biographer Ferol Egan (1977:325) discovered that the heralded “Pathfinder” Frémont stayed at Lassen’s camp; that during the “all in one day” rampage, “John Charlesdid not take part in this sad affair”!
NewsFlash!In2005,westerngenrewriterLarryMcMurty,becameauthorofOh What ASlaughter: Massacres in the American West: 1846-1890.InthisbookMcMurtyreferstotheaffairas“TheSacramento River Massacre.” Two assessments that have grown from discussions about this latest book are that
the Sacramento River Massacre of ’46 is so forgotten that its site near the northern California village
ofVinacanonlybeapproximated;andthattheSacramentoRiverMassacrewasoverlookedforavery
long time. The 1864 general massacre of the Yana that began in Millville, Shasta County, California,
and spread southward, is another forgotten massacre. Credit goes to Jeremiah Curtin (1899:517-520)who is the only interviewer who kept this 1864 massacre account alive.
The concluding Historical Background research for the Mexican Period includes: (1) Buck
Gover’s interpretations secured by interviewer Dolores Mitchell about the history of Bloody Island,
and(2)abriefsummaryoftheFerolEgan(1975,1977)andJamesDotta(1982)researchaboutthemore
aptly titled, Sacramento River Massacre. Its fallout places a stain on the beginnings of California state
hood. It calls for a very serious look at who are some of our long-standing American heroes.
Why Bloody Island Owner Buck Gover Believes that the 1846
Sacramento River Massacre Happened Someplace Else
Dolores Mitchell’s interview of property owner Buck Gover was included as part of Hazel McKimand Bessie Sanders’s (1985:152) resource book A History of Shasta County California. The Gover’s place today is a fifth generation ranch.
“Buck Gover owns the island (Fig. 32) now and with his son, Dan,grows walnuts on the 600 acres. He will tell you that there are a lot of stories
about Bloody Island, but he believes just one.
“The story he believes was told to him by Bill Shelton, an Indian, whoused to work for Gover. Shelton said he was told by his people that this islandwas the site of an Indian battle between two Indian tribes. They were fightingover fishing rights on Battle Creek. They met on the island and fought it out.
After the battle was over, Indians of both tribes buried their dead in a common grave on the island.
“Quite a few years ago, a man, who lectured on Indians, wanted tosift the soil for Indian artifacts. Buck gave him permission and the man set towork. One day Buck went to check on him to see what he was doing. The man
showed him some Indians that he had found buried in a sitting position aswas the custom of the tribe that lived on the island. Right next to the properly
buried Indians were 18 more skeletons just laid out in a common grave. EachFigure 32. “Bloody Island”one of these had their skulls smashed. Everything was left as it was found, theon “1878” Tehama County graves were reburied and the site marked.Official Map, in Township
“Mr. Gover said that the skeletons showed no sign of bullet marks. He29N, R3W. Nono’ni, near believed that it was most likely an Indian battle. Except for the mass grave, noBall’s Ferry and where other skeletons have been uncovered. He will no longer allow anyone to dig forBattle Creek enters the artifacts on the island.”
Sacramento River. “Name seems to be Wintu rather
There was this additional statement by Buck Gover (also obtained bythan Yana; island is in Dolores Mitchell) that convinced him that Indian Shelton’s story is closer to the Wintu territory” (Sapir andtruth than the popular myth that Frémont battled the Wintus and that was how Spier 1943:247). SierraBloody Island and Battle Creek got their names. Gover said: Flume is line approaching
from the NE. Today, not an “General Frémont did camp there. The history books areisland but rather a tongueright about that. He camped about 300 yards below the house,of land of east bank. near a large oak tree that my parents called ‘Frémont’s Oak.’ I
just don’t believe the story that Frémont slaughtered hundreds
of Indians there.”
• Carmen Schuler (1962:27-28) in her family history wrote of a massacre that occurred some time afterthe Marie Dersch Massacre that occurred in 1866:
“At another time some Indians went through the country around Ball’s Ferry where theykilled some settlers. In one family they killed the mother and a small boy and had scalped ababy girl who survived. Captain Schuler led the volunteers to track the Indian killers, whomthey followed onto a neck of an island just below Ball’s Ferry where the Indians were sorrounded. Abattle ensued and most of the Indians were killed. Some of them jumped into thesurrouding water and were drowned. The island got its name of “Bloody Island from thisbattle.” [mispelling corrected for clarity]
• From Smith (1991:16) Samuel J. Hensley claimed he named the island in 1844 for a battle heand his crew of woodcutters were involved in with the Yana’s while working in the area falling and floating trees down the Sacrmento River to John Sutter’s sawmill.
Summary of the Ferol Egan (1975, 1977) and James Dotta (1982) Data Regarding the Renamed “Sacramento River Massacre”
Here are some of the key facts and dates of “that year of decision,” 1846, regarding what canand cannot be said about the “Sacramento River Massacre”:
• 11th U.S. President -The man who became the 11th President of the United States of America under the U.S. Constitution was James Polk who served from 1846-1849. Polk campaignedon a pro-western platform. He advocated annexation of Oregon and statehood for California, and directed Frémont and his ilk to cause unrest in Alta Californio with its conquest the chief objective.
“was engaged in surveying the nearest route from the United States to the Pacific
Ocean . . . being under the direction of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers . . .
that [the journey] was made in the interests of science and of commerce, and that the
men composing the party were citizens and not soldiers.
• Frémont’s troops’ equipment and armaments: ”Each man’s equipment was furnished bythe Govt. to