The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of CaliforniaCook, Sherburne Friend
History
The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California
Cook, Sherburne Friend
Indians of North America -- California; Indians of North America -- Statistics
Barrett and Merriam, however, give data only for the southernmost part
of the Kato range, including an area of approximately 150 square miles.
The remainder of the Kato territory extended some distance along the
upper waters of the South Fork of the Eel River and its area may be
reckoned as 100 square miles or 40 per cent of the entire Kato
territory. On the other hand, living conditions were not as good in
this portion of the range and the density was probably less than in the
vicinity of Laytonville and Branscomb. Hence we may add 300 persons
(rather than the full 40 per cent) and consider the total as 1,100.
With the Kato we arrive at an area where it becomes possible to utilize
historical and documentary, as well as ethnographic, sources of
information. For the period 1850-1856 there are three accounts left us
by white men who were direct observers, as distinguished from data
supplied from memory to modern white men by Indian informants. With
respect to the region north of San Francisco Bay these observations by
Americans must be regarded as supplementary to the basic ethnographic
material derived from Indians. Nevertheless they are of considerable
value in confirming, negating, or modifying the ethnographic data.
Two primary sources are pertinent here. The first is the expedition of
Colonel Redick M'Kee, one of the three "commissioners" sent out in 1851
to negotiate treaties with the California Indians. M'Kee went first to
Clear Lake, then up the Russian River, over to the Eel River watershed,
down to Humboldt Bay, and eventually up the Klamath and Trinity rivers.
Two records of this expedition were kept. The first, and far better
known, is the Journal of George Gibbs, which was later published by
Henry R. Schoolcraft (1860). The other is the Minutes of the
expedition, written by John M'Kee, a relative of the Colonel. These
Minutes, together with considerable correspondence, were published in
Senate Executive Document No. 4, 33rd Congress, Special Session (1853).
The second source is a report written by Major H. P. Heintzelman at the
request of Indian Agent Henley, in 1855. Major Heintzelman (1855) made
a survey of the tribes of Sonoma and Mendocino counties which might be
placed upon a reservation at the mouth of the Noyo River. He
interviewed numerous headmen, or chiefs, of community units and
reported on the Indian population. His total, for the territory
extending from the upper Eel River to San Francisco Bay was 21,200, a
figure in excess of the value conceded by ethnographers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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