The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California Part 2

FRESNO-SAN JOAQUIN ... 3,600 ____________________________

THE KINGS AND THE KAWEAH RIVERS

The Kings and Kaweah watersheds may be considered at this point in their entirety (see maps 1 and 3, areas 3 and 4). If we deduct 730 persons for the San Joaquin basin, the estimates for the Mono on the two former streams was estimated by the village method as 870, by the stream mileage method as 1,653, and by the area method as 2,465. If one regards some of these figures as too high, he should bear in mind that the natives on the Kings and Kaweah rivers were exposed to more intense contact with the white race for a longer period before 1850 than those on the relatively sheltered North Fork, and that their extermination proceeded with tremendous velocity after that date. This fact may well account for the inability of either Kroeber or Merriam to find more than a few villages on the Kings and Kaweah, as compared with the success of Gifford on the North Fork. The more exposed villages may simply have disappeared before the era reached by the memory of modern informants. If this is so, the stream mileage and area comparisons may be more accurate than otherwise might be supposed.

Considerable evidence for a rather high population in this region at the midpoint of the nineteenth century is to be derived from contemporary accounts and from statements obtained by Merriam. Among the papers in his collection is a clipping from the Stockton Record of February 21, 1925, containing an article by Walter Fry of the United States Park Service. Included is an account of early days on the Kaweah by Hale D. Thorpe, obtained by Mr. Fry in 1910. Mr. Thorpe says:

When I first came to the Three Rivers country in 1856, there were over 2,000 Indians living along the Kaweah River above Lemon Cove. Their headquarters camp was at Hospital Rock....

There were over 600 Indians then living at the camp.

The Indians were mostly Mono, of the Patwisha tribe. Dr. Merriam evidently consulted Mr. George W. Stewart concerning this matter, since the file also contains a letter from Mr. Stewart written to Dr. Merriam on March 29, 1926, stating that this camp was occupied only during the summer and that there were several permanent rancherias along the stream. Mr. Thorpe's figure of 2,000 probably refers to Indians of all tribes, since by 1856 all the natives from the delta region had been driven up the river. The 600 at or near Hospital Rock were undoubtedly Mono.

In his ma.n.u.script ent.i.tled "Ho-lo-ko-ma, Cole Spring, Pine Ridge,"

Merriam has the following to say:

Ben Hanc.o.c.k, who has lived in this country about 40 years [in 1903] tells me that when he came here there were about 500 Indians (Ko-ko-he-ba) living in Burr Valley, a few on Sycamore Creek, 600 or 700 at Cole Spring (Hol-ko-mahs) and about the same number (also Hol-ko-mahs) in Fandango Ground and in Haslet Basin.... He says a very large village was stretched along the south side of King's River two or four miles below the mouth of Mill Creek and for half a mile the dome gra.s.s-covered houses nearly touched. There were also large villages on Dry Creek and one above the forks of King's River some miles above Dry Creek. The tribe at the forks is now extinct."

(There is only one survivor of the Burr Valley tribe.)

Although the numbers may be somewhat exaggerated, there is no reason why the essential correctness of this account should be questioned.

This is particularly true in view of the circ.u.mstantial detail with which it is recorded. The Kokoheba must be regarded as having a population of at least 500 and the Holkoma of 1,200, making 1,700 for the Kings River Mono. If there were 730 on the upper San Joaquin and 600 on the upper Kaweah and if 500 are added for the Emtimb.i.t.c.h-Wobonuch group, the total is 3,530, not much more than was calculated by means of area comparisons.

For the Kings River as a whole the estimates of 1850 to 1853 indicate a substantial Indian population. Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) sets the number as 2,000, a remarkably low figure for him. G. W. Barbour and Adam Johnston (Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, 1853, pp. 253-256) both state that for the purpose of consummating treaties 4,000 Indians came to Camp Belt on the Kings River in 1851. Lt. George H. Derby in his careful account of the southern part of the central valley in 1851 says that there were 17 rancherias on Kings River, "numbering in all about three thousand including those situated among the hills in the vicinity" (Derby, 1852). Many of these were Choinimni, but at least half must have been Mono.

If we accept Derby's count of 17 villages for 3,000 persons, the average number of inhabitants per rancheria would be 177. For the area farther north the equivalent number was taken as 70. There is reason to believe that for the basins of the Kings and Kaweah Derby's figure of 177 is a closer approximation. Ben Hanc.o.c.k's description of the village on the Kings below Mill Creek is very graphic and explicit (see citation above.) If the "dome-gra.s.s covered houses nearly touched" and stretched along the river in only a single row, and if each occupied 50 linear feet, then there must have been 52 houses in half a mile.

Allowing 5 persons per house, in accordance with Gifford's data for the North Fork Mono, the inhabitants must have numbered 260. One of the rancherias seen by Derby was Cho-e-mime which had 70 "warriors."

Reckoning the "warriors" as half the males the population would have been 280. Derby says the village of Notonto (of the tribe Nutunutu on the south bank of the lower Kings) had 300 inhabitants. These places were of course relatively large and important and do not represent the general average. However, the village of Notonto must have reached fully 150 persons.

Apart from the Mono, the tribes located on the Kings River were all Yokuts, as follows: Aiticha, Apiachi, Wimilchi, Nutunutu, Wechihit, Toihichi, Chukomina, and Choinimni. For these the modern ethnographers Kroeber, Gayton, Latta, and Stewart have been able to locate and identify 25 villages inhabited during the youth of informants. Since this covers a somewhat larger territory than was seen by Derby, the correspondence in number of rancherias is reasonably close. At 150 persons per village the population would be 3,750. If we add 1,700 for the Kings River Mono, the total is 5,450. However, there may have been some overlap, so this figure may be reduced to 5,000. It should be noted that the area embraced within this estimate includes the Kings River basin as a whole, together with that of all its affluents.

The Kaweah River from Lemon Cove to the town of Tulare diverges to form a delta, which originally contained a very large native population. At the time of the American occupation there had occurred a material reduction, which was accelerated by the fact that the region provided excellent farming land for the entering Americans. Hence the value for the population in 1850-1853 must be relatively low in comparison with preceding decades. In May, 1851, according to G. W. Barbour (1853, pp.

253-255) there were 7 tribes on the Kaweah, and 1,200 people came to treat with the commissioners. These tribes included the following: Chunut, Choinok, Wolasi, Telamni, Gawia, Yokod, and Wukchamni. Of these, the first, the Chunut, inhabited the sh.o.r.e of Lake Tulare and should not be included as a Kaweah River tribe. The estimated population of the remainder would, therefore, be approximately 1,000, if the figure of the commissioners is to be taken without qualification.

With respect to the individual tribes there are a few scattered bits of information. Derby (1852) mentions three rancherias or bands in the area: Cowees (Gawia) with 200 people, Thulime (Telamni) with 65 men, or roughly 200 people, and Heame-a-tahs (Telamni) with 200 people. Merriam in his "Yokuts List" cites an informant who said that the Wukchumne "used to number" 5,000 and occupied the valley now called Lemon Cove and up and down the Kaweah River. Clearly this is an extreme overestimate, unless the informant was referring to the period prior to 1800. Finally Merriam cites a letter by Lt. N. H. McLean, which states that the "Four Creeks Country" included the "Cahwiahs, Okuls, Choinux, Wicktrumnees, Talumnies" and in 1853 had not over 1,200 souls.[4]

It thus appears quite evident that the six Yokuts tribes, except perhaps the Wukchumni, had no more than 200 persons apiece during the era under consideration. From modern informants Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta have obtained for the Choinok, Gawia, Telamni, Yokod, and Wolasi collectively the names of only 8 villages. a.s.suming the Kings River value of 150 persons per village, which seems to be confirmed by Derby for the Kaweah River also, this means 1,200 persons for the five tribes. Gayton and Latta, however, find 15 names for the Wukchumni, which would indicate a population of 2,250. Such a figure is highly unlikely. It is probable that earlier times are referred to by the informants or that there is confusion among tribal affinities.

Alternatively, the Wukchumni villages may have followed the style of the hill-dwelling Mono and have been very much smaller than has been indicated by Derby for the valley-inhabiting Yokuts. Since we cannot resolve the difficulty with the data at hand, it is better to accept the practically unanimous opinion of contemporary white observers that the population below Lemon Cove did not exceed 1,200 in 1851. To these must be added the 600 Mono previously discussed, making a total for the Kaweah River as a whole of 1,800 persons.

If the two river basins are considered jointly, the method of area comparisons as applied to the Mono, estimates by government officials, accounts by early pioneers, and the village lists secured from modern informants all apparently agree that the population of the region reached several thousand as late as 1850 and 1851. We may therefore accept the total of 6,800, or 5,000 on the Kings and 1,800 on the Kaweah.

KINGS-KAWEAH ... 6,800 ______________________

THE TULARE LAKE BASIN

The sh.o.r.es of Tulare Lake (see maps 1 and 2, area 2) were aboriginally inhabited by three tribes, the Tachi, Wowol, and Chunut. In close proximity on the northeast were the Nutunutu, but since the latter have been included with the Kaweah River tribal group, they must be omitted from consideration here. Savage allocated 1,000 Indians to Tulare Lake (Dixon, MS, 1875). McLean said there were 1,000 Indians "on the lakes"

in 1853, 500 of which were "Notontos," leaving 500 for the "Taches" and "Tontaches" (Merriam collection). The most reliable account is that of Derby (1852). However, Derby in his terminology confused the Tachi with the Chunut, in which mistake he has been followed by Merriam (under t.i.tle "Indians of the Tache Lake Region in 1850," MS). Derby makes it clear in his account that he found the village of Sintache (population 100) at the northern side of the then nearly dry Lake Tontache, that is to say on the southern sh.o.r.e of the big Lake Tache (Tulare). These were probably Chunut. There was also a small rancheria which he called Tinte-Tache at the south side of the same lake, i.e., Tontache (population 50). These are likely to have been Wowol. The tribe known to ethnographers as the Tachi were north of the big lake (i.e., Lake Tache or Tulare). Their chief told Derby that they had 800 people and that their princ.i.p.al rancheria was northwest of the lake (population 300). Since Derby also applies the name of Tinte-Tache to the northwest village, it is clear that there were two rancherias of this name included in his account.

Kroeber and Gayton mention a total of 8 villages for the Tachi. If one of these had 300 people, as Derby states, then the average population of the other seven was approximately 70. This agrees with Derby's two southern rancherias of 50 and 100 persons respectively. For the Chunut Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta all mention the village of Chuntau. Kroeber mentions one other, Miketsiu. This would indicate a population of nearly 150. For the Wowol the ethnographers give three villages, or an implied population of, say, 220. The total for the lakes would then reach 1,170, or very close to the general contemporary estimate of 1,000. The figure 1,100 may be accepted as a compromise.

TULARE LAKE BASIN ... 1,100 ___________________________

TULE RIVER, KERN RIVER, AND THE BUENAVISTA BASIN

The remaining Yokuts territory is large in area but relatively small in population. It includes the watersheds of the Tule and Kern rivers together with those of the small creeks between (Deer, White, and Poso creeks) and Buenavista Basin south of Bakersfield (see maps 1 and 2, areas 1F and 1G). The tribes placed by Kroeber in the region are the Koyeti, Yaudanchi, Bokninuwad, k.u.machisi, Bankalachi (Shoshonean), Paleuyami, Yauelmani, Hometwoli, Tuhohi, and Tulamni.

G. W. Barbour (1852), in a letter dated July 28, 1851, said that the area bounded by Buenavista Lake, Tule River, and Paint Creek contained a population of about 2,000. Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) said there were 1,700 on the Kern River and Barbour (1853) stated that, for treaty-making purposes in 1851, 1,700 congregated at Paint Creek below Tule River. The villages listed by Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta for the various tribes are as follows: Bokninuwad 2, Hometwoli 3, Koyeti 8, k.u.machisi 6, Paleuyami 7, Tuhohi 1, Tulamni 3, Yaudanchi 8, and Yauelmani 7. The total is 45. The village size indicated by Derby for the Tulare Lake Basin and adjacent valley territory is 60 or 70; that for the hill regions is undoubtedly smaller. If we take 40 persons as the average village population, the aggregate for the region would be 1,800 and if we take 50 persons, it is 2,250. We cannot be far in error in setting the population at Barbour's value, 2,000.

TULE-KERN-BUENAVISTA ... 2,000 ______________________________

On the basis of gross estimates and semicomprehensive counts for the entire region the population for the San Joaquin Valley and neighboring foothills in 1851 was tentatively set at 8,600 (p. 34). The detailed consideration of the seven subdivisions of the entire region, as above, leads to an estimate of 19,000, as set forth in the following recapitulation.

Stanislaus-Tuolumne 2,000 Merced-Mariposa-Chowchilla 2,500 Cosumnes-Mokelumne-Calaveras 1,000 Fresno-San Joaquin 3,600 Kings-Kaweah 6,800 Tulare Lake Basin 1,100 Tule-Kern-Buenavista 2,000 ________ Total 19,000

It is believed that this total is more reliable than that previously given for several reasons. In the first place, it is derived from a careful consideration of all available sources in detail. In the second place, the preliminary estimate was weighted heavily by the reports of government officials, who saw princ.i.p.ally those Indians with whom they were able to make treaties or whom they were able to collect on reservations. That this seems to represent less than one-half the natives in the territory is not surprising. In the third place, recent investigations by ethnographers have brought to light many local groups which were overlooked by contemporary observers, official and civilian alike. We may therefore accept the figure 19,000 as the population of the San Joaquin Valley surviving in 1852.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: These treaties seem to have been concluded without proper authorization from the Federal government and were never ratified by the Senate. They were incorporated in Senate Confidential Doc.u.ments, June, 1852, and remained unpublished for half a century. Finally they were ordered printed in 1905 as a Senate Reprint and are now available under the t.i.tle of "18 California Treaties."]

[Footnote 2: This village list and all others herein referred to under the name of Merriam are part of the extensive file of personal ma.n.u.script material collected by the late C. Hart Merriam and deposited, through the kindness of his heirs, with the Department of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley. Merriam's village lists were very carefully compiled and for many regions of the state cannot be duplicated in any publications which have hitherto appeared.]

[Footnote 3: I am indebted to Professor Edward W. Gifford, of the Department of Anthropology of the University of California, Berkeley, for the privilege of examining his list of Central Miwok villages, which was obtained some years ago through an informant and has remained unpublished.]

[Footnote 4: Merriam's ma.n.u.script ent.i.tled "Yokuts List" mentions a report from Lt. N. H. McLean, dated July 12, 1853, to H. J. Wessels, on file in "Old Files Division," Adjutant General's Office, Washington, no. H369. As far as I am aware, this letter has never been quoted elsewhere.]

THE ABORIGINAL POPULATION

In order to estimate the aboriginal population of the San Joaquin Valley it is necessary to rely very heavily on the accounts furnished by the colonial Spanish and Mexicans. These were primarily ecclesiastics and military men who entered the territory for purposes of exploration, to seek new converts to the missions, or to chastise stock raiders. The more responsible of these left circ.u.mstantial and, as a rule, fairly accurate narratives and diaries. Unless there is in a particular case some reason for doubt, their statements may be accorded considerable confidence.

At the same time two circ.u.mstances often render the interpretation of the data derived from these doc.u.ments difficult. The first is the lack of consistent designations for places. During the process of opening up the area it was inevitable that rivers and villages should be a.s.signed different names by one explorer after another and that the same name should be applied to more than one locality. The second is that during the early phases of exploration some localities were visited repeatedly, whereas others were overlooked perhaps entirely. Hence the information available to us is very uneven; it permits us to achieve a reasonably clear idea of the population of one region but leaves another almost completely blank. As a result extrapolation by area is almost unavoidable.

It must also be constantly borne in mind that the Spanish records themselves do not give us an absolutely undistorted picture of aboriginal conditions. It is very evident from the reports of the earliest official pioneers, like Garces in 1776 and Martin in 1804, that from 1770 onward and perhaps even before white men had straggled into the valley and had consorted with the natives. There is reason to believe that these unknown interlopers may have introduced diseases which adversely affected the population and may have initiated a process of general social disruption. The best we can do is get as close to the prehistoric condition as the records allow.

Two other demographic consequences arise from this very early white contact. In the first place, the doc.u.mentary record, if we ignore Garces for the moment, runs nearly continuously from 1804 to approximately 1840. During this long period an uninterrupted change was going on among the native population: the population was _continually decreasing_. Hence later reports tend to deviate from earlier ones, and indeed may show an entirely new state of affairs arising within a very few years. In the second place, the deterioration in certain areas took place so rapidly in the first part of the nineteenth century that any information secured from informants alive since 1900 is completely useless. Unless very good doc.u.mentary evidence is available for such areas, there is no recourse but to fall back on the method of extrapolation and area comparisons.

The princ.i.p.al Spanish accounts upon which we must rely include a few which have been published. Most of them, however, are to be found in ma.n.u.script form in the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Some of them were translated for an unpublished ma.n.u.script by the Late Professor Herbert I. Priestley and several were translated for Dr. C. H. Merriam. Merriam's translations are on file in his ma.n.u.script collection. The citations to these accounts, published and unpublished, are given in the ma.n.u.script section of the Bibliography. In this text they are referred to, without further citation, by the author's name and date.

THE TULARE LAKE BASIN