The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California Part 8

The mission records show for San Jose a total of 377 persons baptized from Chuc.u.mne and Chuppumne, of whom 322 were converted during 1823 and 1824. We may predicate, therefore, a residual population of 700 to 800 just prior to those years. That the area had suffered severely before that is attested by the deserted and "ruined" rancherias seen by Duran in 1817. It is quite probable that the aboriginal population reached a value of 1,500.

(Chuc.u.mes, Chuppumne ... 1,500) _______________________________

_Chupunes (Chupcanes), Tarquines (Tarquimenes, Tauquines), Julpunes (Tulpunes) and Ompines._--This constellation of tribes is best considered collectively, first, because there are no direct estimates of their population, and second, because they occupied a relatively unified area.

Schenck places them along the south sh.o.r.e of Suisun Bay from the east entrance of Carquinez Strait and through the slough region between the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers as far upstream as Isleton on the Sacramento. However, he points out that there is great uncertainty with respect to their exact location, an uncertainty which is emphasized by the wide divergence between his views and those of Merriam. Even the Spanish accounts present numerous discrepancies. In view of this state of our knowledge Schenck makes the very reasonable suggestion that the lower delta tribes may have been so greatly disturbed and shifted around during the period from 1775 to 1810 that the aboriginal locations were forgotten. It is worth while to examine in some detail some of the evidence on this problem. We may begin with examination of the area at and just east of Carquinez Strait on the south sh.o.r.e of Suisun Bay. This consideration entails a preliminary discussion of two small groups, the Aguastos and the Huchium (syn. Habastos, Quivastos, Juchium, Huchimes, Tuchimes, etc.).

This tribe or group of tribes, which must have been of some importance, is not mentioned by name by Kroeber or Schenck, but there is a brief set of typed notes in the Merriam collection in which the location is discussed (MS ent.i.tled: "On the East Side San Francisco Peninsula").

The multiplicity of synonyms, however, as well as the large number of neophytes involved, indicates that these tribes were very familiar to the missionaries.

The Merriam notes (pp. 5 and 6) point out the following considerations.

1. "Abella's diary (1811) speaks of present Point San Pablo as the Point of the Huchunes and says their territory extended on the mainland from this point to Pt. San Andres (Pt. Pinole)."

2. Several rancherias belonging to this tribe are mentioned as being on the east side of the bay.

3. "The mission books locate the Habasto tribe 'on the other side of the Bay from the Mission of San Francisco toward the estero which goes to the rivers (Suisun Bay).' Abella's diary calls Point San Pedro the Point of the Abastos."

Merriam therefore was strongly of the opinion that these tribes inhabited the south sh.o.r.e of San Pablo Bay and did not extend farther than Carquinez Strait.

On the other hand, the item in the mission books quoted by Merriam (par. 3, above) indicates Suisun Bay rather than San Pablo Bay.

Moreover, there is another statement in the baptism books alongside the designation "Aguastos o Huchum" to the effect that this tribe was 16 to 18 leagues by water from San Francisco. This distance would place them close to the site of the modern town of Pittsburg, that is, on the southern sh.o.r.e of Suisun Bay. But this area is a.s.signed by Schenck to the Tarquines and perhaps the Julpunes, tribes which are also clearly mentioned by name in the mission records.

If the Aguastos extended from Richmond to Crockett or thereabouts, they were Costanoan and strictly bay people; hence not pertinent to this study. If they lived along Suisun Bay, regardless of their ethnic affiliation they may be included for demographic purposes among the delta tribes. Some further light can be thrown upon the problem by an a.n.a.lysis of the dates shown for baptisms in the San Francisco Mission records.

If the baptisms of gentiles are tabulated according to village and year, it is seen immediately that the conversions in the first year, 1777, were all from local rancherias. This group was extended during the following decade until the San Francisco peninsula had been completely covered. However, after the year 1792 all mention of the peninsula abruptly and entirely ceases. As early as 1778 on the other hand baptisms are listed from a village (Halchis) specified as being in the "sierra oriente de la otra banda." In the succeeding years villages ascribed to the "otra banda" become more frequent and reach a peak between 1790 and 1795. Subsequent to 1800 the conversions from these places diminish rapidly and disappear. Now we know by following the doc.u.mentary accounts of expeditions that during the decade 1790 to 1800 the great effort of the San Francisco Mission was expended in securing neophytes from the east sh.o.r.e of San Francis...o...b..y as far north as the Carquinez Strait. There are no baptisms of gentiles whatever listed in the San Francis...o...b..oks for the years 1797, 1798, and 1799. Therefore it is reasonable to a.s.sume that the supply of Costanoans from the east bay had been exhausted. Furthermore, village names qualified by the term "otra banda" and appearing in the baptism record _for the first time_ prior to 1800 must certainly refer to villages in this region.

Among these are rancherias stated as belonging to the "nacion Juchium"

together with the separate designation "Tuchimes." Thus it is clear that the Huchium lived, as Merriam believed, on the east sh.o.r.e of the bay.

After the inactive period at the end of the century a flood of neophytes began to pour into the mission together with a completely new set of names. One of the first of these is Habastos, a rancheria which contributed 137 converts in 1800 and 1801 and which is now stated, for the first time in the mission book, to lie "acia el estero de los rios." Later, the variants Quivastos and Aguastos are used. Conversions from this tribe continued until 1810, after which the name disappears from the lists.

The sharp segregation of dates of conversion are clear evidence that, whatever the racial or linguistic affiliation, there were two groups of Indians, one converted before 1801 and living along the sh.o.r.e of the bay generally south and west of the Carquinez Strait, the other converted between 1801 and 1810 and living at the east end of the strait and along Suisun Bay. There probably was no clear separation of the two in the minds of the Spaniards; hence the confusion of names. We are concerned here with the second group, the one uniformly designated Aguastos, which inhabited the approaches to the delta.

With respect to the aboriginal population of this group we have no direct evidence whatever. On the other hand the record of the San Francisco Mission shows 396 baptisms. This immediately sets a lower limit to the number of Aguastos for there certainly can have been no fewer members of the tribe than were baptized. Regarding the upper limit it can be pointed out only that the group was completely obliterated at the time of conversion and its name never appears again in either contemporary or modern records. Hence it is safe to a.s.sume that substantially all the Aguastos were taken to San Francisco and that the baptisms include the entire tribe. We may thus ascribe to them a population of approximately 400 persons.

We now encounter the Chupunes (or Chupcanes), concerning whom Schenck (1926, p. 143) has this to say:

The Chupunes (Chupcanes), apparently a group, were located along the southern sh.o.r.e near the east end of Carquinez strait. West of the strait, also on the southern sh.o.r.e--in the Pinole region of San Pablo bay--were the Huchones.

The earliest doc.u.mentary reference is to the diary of Abella, in 1811.

On October 16 he went through Carquinez Strait by boat. Then he says that the strait "... remata en la tierra de los Chupunes, porque hay ya ensancha ..." The "ensancha" or widening begins at Port Costa and continues to Martinez. This, then, is the boundary of the Chupunes. On October 28, discussing the Suisunes on the north side of the bay, he says that "La rancheria citada de los Suisunes cahe al nordeste de los Chupanes, tierra adentro del Cerro de los Karquines ..." The Cerro de los Karquines is, of course, Mt. Diablo.

In his account of the expedition of 1817 Duran tells how he arrived at noon of May 14, by boat from San Francisco, at the "remate" of the "estrecho de los Chucanes," at a point 14 leagues northeast of San Francisco and 17 leagues north-northeast of San Jose. The rancheria of this name, he states, is now Christian, at San Francisco and San Jose.

The mission books show a total of 105 baptisms at the two establishments.

It is reasonably plain that the Aguastos and the Chupunes occupied more or less the same territory--along the south sh.o.r.e of the eastern end of Carquinez Strait and the western end of Suisun Bay. The diaries and the baptism records both indicate that the original inhabitants were the Aguastos, who were missionized and removed. Their place seems to have been taken by another group of natives known as the Chupunes, who also were gathered into the fold at some period between the visits of Abella and Duran. Subsequent to the 1817 diary of Duran there is no further mention of this tribe. With respect to population we have only the record showing 105 baptisms. Since the conversion seems to have been quite complete, we may set the aboriginal value at no more than 150.

Let us now consider the Ompines. This group is placed by Schenck on the north bank of the Sacramento River at and above the junction of the river and Suisun Bay. Schenck also (p. 137) discusses the possibility that the Ompines and Julpunes composed a single group. In spite of an a.s.sumed similarity in names the Spanish accounts are unequivocally explicit to the effect that there were two groups, not one, hence Schenck's hypothesis may be disregarded. With respect to location the later Spanish accounts bear out Schenck's contention that the tribe was situated north of the river.

In his entry for May 14, 1817, Duran says that his expedition stopped at the mouth of the San Joaquin River, whereas another boat (that of Arguello) stopped opposite "en tierra de Ompines." The next day they all went up the Sacramento River to the "remate de las lomas de los Ompines." Meanwhile Arguello, in his entry for May 15, says that they went along the north sh.o.r.e and stopped "donde termina la tierra de los Ompines." This puts the eastern edge of the Ompines at the east side of the Montezuma Hills in T3N, R2E, approximately as shown by Schenck.

Altimira describes an unauthorized raid by Fr. Duran on the tribes north of Suisun Bay, among them "... otra rancheria aislada llamada los Ompines" (Altimira, MS, 1823).

A few of the earlier doc.u.ments, on the other hand, contain statements which raise the possibility that the Ompines were not always confined exclusively to the north sh.o.r.e. In his diary of 1811 Abella describes how, on October 17, his party entered a big bay (Suisun Bay) and, after 5 leagues, following along the south sh.o.r.e, began to find estuaries and numerous islands covered with tules. They continued into the west channel of the San Joaquin and stopped at an island on which large trees were growing. At this point, somewhere near Antioch, there was a "pescadero" of the Ompines. It is evident, therefore, that in 1811 the Ompines had at least temporary fishing spots on the south side of the estuary, in an area usually ascribed to the Julpunes or Tarquines.

The San Jose baptism book shows the conversion of 108 Ompines. Those from San Rafael and Solano do not mention the tribe. The fact that a tribe situated north of Suisun Bay does not appear in the records of either of these missions is noteworthy, since during the 1820's and 1830's the north-bay groups were brought to them in large numbers, and since we know from Altimira's comment on Duran's raid that the Ompines were still in existence in 1823. Furthermore, the Ompines must have const.i.tuted more than a single small village, for Arguello and Duran both refer to the "tierra" of the Ompines. The hypothesis is possible, although admittedly there is no real proof, that the Ompines may have originally occupied the sloughs and islands at and above Antioch, that they may have been pushed north at an early date by Spanish intrusion from the south and west, and that they may have been further dispersed, or exterminated without extensive conversion, prior to 1830. If such a theory in any way represents the course of their decline and disappearance, then it also follows that the aboriginal population was considerably greater than the baptism number would lead one to suppose.

To turn now to the Julpunes, there seems to be little difference of opinion regarding their original location. This was as Schenck pictures it: the south sh.o.r.e of the San Joaquin estuary from Antioch to the line between R3E and R4E. The "Informe" of Hermengildo Sal, written in 1796 and previously referred to, specifies the "Tulpunes" as a "nacion"

living on the "orilla del estero." Fourteen years later in 1810 Viader went 7 leagues from Pittsburg to the "old river" west of Stockton. He was: "... esta tierra es de los Tulpunes." Duran, May 24, 1817, on his return journey downstream reached the region of the Julpunes at 8:00 A.M. and joined the other boat at 6:00 P.M. of the same day at Carquinez Strait.

Schenck (1926, p. 137) points out that Kotzebue, who was in the area in 1823, implies that the Julpunes were living on the north bank. Merriam (1907, p. 348), says that the Hulpoomne "occupied the east bank of the Sacramento River from a few miles south of the mouth of American river southward ..." Schenck's explanation of the discrepancy appears to the present writer entirely sound: the Julpunes retired across the estuary to the north bank and then upstream nearly to Sacramento. In so doing they may very well have carried the surviving Ompines with them. The San Jose record lists 148 baptisms of Julpunes but the name is absent from the records of San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Rafael, and Solano missions. Along with the Ompines the Julpunes must have escaped the active proselyting effort of San Rafael, and particularly Solano, between 1824 and 1834, by a rapid retirement so far up the river as to elude the parties sent out from the missions. The converts at San Jose must have been captured by the Viader, Duran, Arguello, and similar expeditions before the migration upstream.

The Tarquines are claimed by Schenck to have been "... a single group.

It seems to have stretched from east to west entirely across the marsh area between the main channels of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and then to have extended along the southern sh.o.r.e of Suisun Bay" (pp. 134-136). Schenck's belief in this remarkable distribution is based upon three doc.u.mentary references (at least he cites no more than these three in his tabulation on p. 135).

The first of the three doc.u.ments, chronologically, is the first expedition of Viader, in 1810. In his entry for August 17 Viader says that, having spent the preceding night near the present location of Pittsburg, he reconnoitred these lands which "... son de los Tarquines, que lo mas, 6 casi todos son Cristianos de San Francisco." After noting the mouths of the two rivers, he goes on to mention a spot on the estuary "... en donde dicen _estaba_ la rancheria de los Tarquines"

(emphasis mine). Let it be emphasized that in 1810 _the_ Tarquines are _almost all_ Christians in San Francisco, and Viader saw there _the_ rancheria which _was_, or _had been_, that of the Tarquines. The San Francis...o...b..ptism book shows 18 "Talquines" converted in 1801 and 63 more in 1802, making a total of 83. This number could well be the majority, or almost all, the inhabitants of a moderate-sized rancheria.

Schenck is therefore technically correct in placing the tribe on the south sh.o.r.e of the eastern end of Suisun Bay.

The second doc.u.ment is the diary of Abella in 1811. On October 25, in the course of the return trip downstream, some distance below the junction of the channels of the San Joaquin, he found a rancheria of the Tauquimenes, one part of each side of the river, which was 30 to 40 varas wide. This point was apparently at or near the head of Sherman Island. The rancheria had 60 houses. He saw 200 warriors. He then crossed through the sloughs to the Sacramento River and on or opposite Sherman Island saw one rancheria of 14 houses and several of 2 to 3 houses. He says that all they pa.s.sed this day was "... parte de una isla" (i.e., Sherman Island). Furthermore

... en todo este dia andubimos como unas 12 leguas [overestimate] y podra haver gente, como 200 almas, todavia puede que haiga mas, porque en la primera [rancheria]

habraumas 1,000, segun lo grande que por aqui son las casas, tienen un circuito de 28 o 30 varas, con su orcon en medio ...

This account deserves comment on several grounds: with relation to Viader's visit of the previous year and the baptisms at San Francisco it is evident that whereas the southern extension of the Tarquines'

habitat, whatever its size, had been swept clear prior to 1810, nevertheless the tribe persisted on the estuarine islands in truly large numbers. Moreover, since there is evidence of no more than one rancheria on the south sh.o.r.e, it appears that the territory in that region allotted by Schenck to the tribe is too large and should be restricted to a small area of the southeastern corner of Suisun Bay.

With respect to population, Abella's figures are quite credible. It has been suggested that one of the huge houses found in this region could accommodate 9 persons without difficulty. Then the large village should have had 540 inhabitants. Allowing 24 houses for the other villages seen, 216 persons should be added, making a total of 756, a figure not far from Abella's guess of 1,000.

The final reference to the tribe occurs in the diary of Duran. During the night of May 22-23, 1817, he went up the main channel of the San Joaquin, in T3N, R4E, and pa.s.sed the Tauguimenes on the _left_, that is to say, on the _east_ bank. Schenck thinks that the group covered the entire strip from Pittsburg to the east bank of the main river _contemporaneously_. Now it has been pointed out as probable that the southwestern outliers were missionized, or pushed back into the swamps, as early as 1801. It is equally possible that the island communities described by Abella in 1811 were pushed, in the next five or six years, off the islands altogether and clear back eastward to the far bank of the main river. Of considerable significance is the fact that whereas both Viader and Abella mention the Tarquines as being in the estuary region, Duran, who covered this area thoroughly, is completely silent with regard to their presence. It is highly unlikely that, had there been any of the tribe left in their former habitat, he would have failed to note them.

The details are very obscure but the main outlines of events in the first three decades of the nineteenth century can be perceived.

Aboriginally and perhaps till nearly 1800, there was a dense population of natives extending from Port Costa along the southern sh.o.r.e of Suisun Bay and up the rivers for fifteen miles beyond Antioch. Among them were included tribal groups, or rancherias, called Aguastos, Chupunes, Ompines, Julpunes, and Tarquines, belonging very likely to different ethnic and linguistic stocks. Under the pressure of the Spanish military power, which was the real force behind missionization, portions of these groups were exterminated, other segments gave ground and shifted habitat, and occasional remnants persisted in the old localities. Thus each visitor in turn found a different geographical organization, until the entire native society was obliterated.

An accurate a.s.sessment of aboriginal population in this area is impossible. The best we can do is try to make an intelligent guess.

Several methods are available for this purpose--group comparisons, mission figures, area comparisons.

Throughout the plains of the lower San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys the native social units appear to have resembled rather uniformly the political organization of the Yokuts in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley. There were aggregates, or communities, consisting of perhaps one, but usually more than one, village, and occupying a more or less clearly defined territory. These groups, as they may be called, can be identified by the plural names which are ordinarily attached to them--the Bolbones, the Leuchas, and so forth. Naturally these groups varied considerably in size, and concerning no single one of them can we be absolutely sure of the number of their people. Nevertheless, if we had data concerning enough of them, the variations due both to inherent difference and to inaccurate estimate would tend to cancel out and an approximate average could be secured. No pretence can be made that we have enough estimates to establish a mean which would be statistically satisfactory. Nevertheless, as so frequently happens when we are dealing with data of this character, we have to employ the information available to us or forsake the problem entirely.

We have hitherto considered a number of the local groups mentioned above and have estimated their population as follows: Bolbones (restricted group, see p. 58), 1,500; Jusmites, 300; Tugites, 500; Nototemnes, 200; Leuchas, 900; Ochejamnes, 750; Guaypem, 300; Quenemsias, 400; Chuc.u.mes and Chuppumne, 1,500. The average for the nine groups is 705 or, in round numbers, 700. If we consider that the Aguastos, Chupunes, Ompines, Julpunes, and Tarquines were groups of the same character as the foregoing, then their total population may be taken as 3,500.

The total baptisms shown in the mission books of the five northern missions (in fact, only San Francisco and San Jose) for these groups is 911. In previous instances we have estimated the aboriginal population by doubling the baptism number. This procedure is admittedly purely arbitrary and based upon the general consideration that, except for small local populations relatively close to the mission, it was impossible for the missionaries and soldiers to prevent the escape of a sizable fraction of the people. Of the five groups here discussed, the Aguastos, it is evident, were completely missionized or at least obliterated. A much greater proportion of the other tribes survived, as is attested by their probable migrations up the rivers. Hence for the entire population it is doubtful if even one-half received baptism.

Using the value of one half, the aboriginal number would have been approximately 2,000.

Linear distances along streams are useful as a basis for comparison in country where the rivers are similar ecologically but are clearly separated spatially and where the human population is concentrated along the stream banks to the exclusion of the interfluvial hinterland.

Where a territory is marked by a network of creeks and sloughs, and the intermediate land is marsh, the linear comparisons become impossible.

Areas must be subst.i.tuted.

In relation to the present problem three such areas may be delineated.

The first comprises the territory of the Bolbones (including all the subordinate villages) and the Leuchas. Following Schenck's map, it embraces all the land between the channels of the San Joaquin plus a strip approximately two miles wide east of the main river in T1 and 2S, R6E which accounts for the Leuchas. The area, as projected from a large-scale map onto coordinate paper, is 775 square miles, the population 3,400, and the density 4.39 persons per square mile. The second comprises the home of the Ochejamnes, Guaypem, Quenemsias, and Chuc.u.mnes-Chuppumne. For the habitat of these groups we have followed Schenck as far as possible. Our line runs actually from the junction of the east and west channels of the Sacramento at the foot of Grand Island southeast to the main channel of the San Joaquin, thence northeast and north to just east of Walnut Grove and then, at a distance of about 2 miles east of the eastern channel of the Sacramento, to a point 4 miles north of Courtland. Here the line crosses the river and continues downstream, 2 miles west of the river, to the starting point. This strip of the western bank of the western branch of the Sacramento is included in order to take in the Chuc.u.mes, who may have lived on the west side of the river. The area of this territory is 330 square miles, the population 2,950, and the density 8.94 persons per square mile.