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
The remaining portion of the Yokuts-Miwok territory lay in the valley
and foothills north of the Merced River. This area (see maps 1 and 5,
areas 8-13 inclusive), particularly the delta of the San Joaquin and
Sacramento rivers, was entered relatively early by the Spaniards and by
the year 1820 had been almost completely swept of its native
population. The names of many whole tribes have been lost and the exact
locations of many others are now almost impossible to ascertain. Of
village names only those few are known to us which were preserved,
often by chance, in the mission records and accounts of expeditions.
Several attempts have been made to reconstruct the aboriginal human
geography but none has been entirely successful. Kroeber's account,
which accompanies his discussion of the Plains Miwok and northern
Yokuts in the Handbook of California Indians, is manifestly incomplete.
Merriam's paper on the Mewan Stock of California (1907) is helpful, but
probably the best work of the modern investigators is that of Schenck
(1926). The early nineteenth-century accounts for this region are also
less satisfactory than for the central and southern parts of the San
Joaquin Valley. Moraga's record is useful only for the Tuolumne River,
and the delta is covered only by Abella and Duran. It is true that both
Sutter and Gatten give figures for villages south of Sacramento but
their information pertains only to the badly depleted natives of the
'forties. Hence their censuses are of little value for assessing the
aboriginal condition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account