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 Passasimas, Siakumne, and Seguamne were situated in the vicinity of
the San Joaquin River and hence were more exposed to the Spanish
expeditions than the tribes along the lateral streams. Hence the
proportion of those taken for conversion may have been higher than the
10 per cent of the aboriginal population found for the Cosumnes,
although it would not have attained the value of 50 per cent
characteristic of the more westerly delta tribes. We may take an
intermediate figure, 20 per cent. This would give the Passasimas a
population of 725, the Siakumne 110, and the Seguamne 815. The great
disparity between the figures for the last two tribes may well be due
to confusion of names in the mission records. The total for the three
is 1,650. For the Yatchikumne on the Calaveras River no more than 10
per cent baptisms can be assumed, yielding a population figure of
1,180. If only geographical location were considered, the same factor
could be used for the Moquelumnes but this tribe resisted
missionization with extraordinary tenacity. Hence we are not justified
in using a factor of more than 7 per cent, from which we may infer that
the population was 2,040. The baptism data would then give us a total
for the group of 4,870.
According to the estimates furnished by pioneers and government
officials for the period just preceding the Gold Rush the population
ran into the thousands. The census by Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) puts
4,000 on the Cosumnes, Mokelumne, and Calaveras and 2,500 on the
Stanislaus, F. T. Gilbert (1879, p. 13) says that "before the advent of
Sutter" there were 2,000 on the Mokelumne and, as far as I can
ascertain, he implies that on the Cosumnes and Mokelumne together there
were fully 5,000. These figures were undoubtedly greatly exaggerated
but nevertheless indicate a very large population in the area just
before the discovery of gold and subsequent to the destructive
epidemics of 1833-1835. Even if we cut these estimates in half, there
would remain in midcentury approximately 2,000 persons in the basins of
the Moquelumne, Calaveras, and adjacent San Joaquin rivers. A residue
of 2,000 in 1850 means certainly an original population of three times
as much, i.e., 6,000.
To recapitulate the estimates for the Moquelumne group, we find:
By stream densities 7,200
By adjusted tribal averages 4,800
By baptism data 4,870
By extrapolation from American estimates 6,000
_______
Mean 5,720
The mean, 5,720, appears entirely reasonable for the aboriginal
population of such a vigorous and important group.
Moquelumne group ... 5,720
__________________________
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