The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, CaliforniaCook, Sherburne Friend
History
The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California
Cook, Sherburne Friend
Indians of North America -- California -- San Joaquin Valley; San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) -- Population
1. As a matter of generalization it can be stated that the environment
as remembered by the oldest informant or even his parents can scarcely
reach into pre-Spanish times. Hence the village populations and
distributions as reported in good faith to Gifford or Merriam must have
been subjected in some measure to the disruptive effect of the white
man. The great disturbance in the valley itself, which was manifested
by the entire extinction of whole Yokuts and Plains Miwok tribes, must
have had repercussions in the near-by hills through disease, kidnaping,
and minor dislocation of food supply, even though the actual territory
of the natives was not physically invaded by the newcomers. Hence, a
priori, one might anticipate that the populations as derived from
ethnographic sources would be somewhat less than truly aboriginal.
2. In the discussion of Gifford's data on the North Fork Mono it was
shown, on the basis of persons per family and houses per village, that
the population in the memory time of the informants was about 440
whereas the precontact value must have been nearer 640. The population
residue in 1840-1850 would then have been 68.8 per cent of the
aboriginal level.
3. For the upper Tuolumne and Stanislaus Gifford's population figures
were based upon the values given by his informants for 49 villages. The
average was 20.8 persons per village, a number which was accepted as
valid for the period of 1850. The distribution of population for the
villages is as follows:
Inhabitants Number of Number of
per Village Villages Persons
___________ _________ _________
60 1 60
55 1 55
35 3 105
30 6 180
25 8 200
20 9 180
15 6 90
10 12 120
5 1 5
0 2 0
____ ____ ____
Total 49 995
Now it may be assumed that under normal conditions few if any villages
would contain less than 20 persons and that those listed by Gifford
with 15 or less were the victims of a general decline in numbers. Hence
to the latter may be ascribed a minimum of 20 persons. At the same time
the other villages must have suffered some reduction. Although there is
no positive evidence bearing on the matter, it would not be excessive
to add five persons to each of the others. Making these corrections the
total becomes 1,340 instead of 995. The residue in 1850 would then be
74.2 per cent of the aboriginal level. Incidentally, the inhabitants
per village would then be only 27.35, a value by no means excessive for
prehistoric times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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