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 key village in this complex is Pescadero, a rancheria to which
repeated reference is made in the documents of the period and whose
identity neither Viader nor Abella could have mistaken. That it
belonged to the Bolbones is attested by Viader's expression "... la
rancheria de los Cholvones." Viader saw at least one and perhaps two
other villages near by belonging to the same tribe. Abella clearly
states that he saw three rancherias in addition to Pescadero. One of
these may have been the one attacked by Viader, and if so, the entire
group included a minimum of four villages. Otherwise, there were at
least five. Abella's count of 900 persons for the three villages
appears accurate and reasonable. On the other hand, Pescadero was
evidently regarded as the most important rancheria of the area and
probably was more populous than any other. Hence it must have contained
no less than 400 persons. The sum of the four villages would then be
1,300.
Between 1806 and 1811 the mission records show a total of 200 baptisms
ascribed to the Cholbones, most of them at San Jose. In addition, there
were 81 baptisms from 1821 to 1828 designated Chilamne. At the time of
Abella's visit, therefore, the area had been subject to repeated raids
for the purpose of securing converts and must have undergone serious
social and economic disturbance of the type noted throughout the entire
San Joaquin Valley. Merely adding the 200 missionized natives would
bring the population estimate for the Bolbones up to 1,500, and the
aboriginal value was probably even higher.
The Jusmites, or Cosmistas, are credited by Schenck with "a village
plus," meaning certainly one and probably two or more. Viader, on his
second expedition, found "los indios Jusmites" about 2-1/2 leagues
southeast of and up the river from the second village, which he
attacked on October 21. This places them in the locality shown by
Schenck on his map (1926, p. 133), i.e., in northwestern T1S, R6E. No
further information is given by Viader. The next year Abella found "la
rancheria de los Cosmistas" in approximately the same region, but gave
no data regarding size. Neither author implies in any way that there
was more than one village. At San Jose 86 converts were baptized from
"Jossmit," a number which suggests a village of fully 300 inhabitants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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