The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California Part 14

Helena and perhaps on the average 15 miles in width, from the crest of one range across to the other.

With regard to numbers Yount says (1923, p. 56):

"It is not yet eight years [evidently referring to the year 1843]

since the above named valley swarmed with not less than eight thousand human beings, of whom there are not now [1851] left as many hundreds.... The poor remnants of all the five tribes above named now mingle & wander up and down the valley promiscuously together...."

There is also an account of the destruction of the Caymus (1923, p.

59). A great many, if not most of them, were killed by being burnt in a sweathouse. The guilty parties were stated to be two Indians from San Rafael, but the motives were obscure. This event occurred some time during the later days of Yount's tenure, for, continues the ma.n.u.script, "at a period long previous to the tragical event above related, Yount embarked in erecting a small flour mill...."

Although Alexander Taylor, in his Indianology, mentions some of the subtribes of the Wappo, he gives no useful population data. On the other hand, John S. Hittell talked about the Napa Valley Indians in an article in the Hesperian Magazine ent.i.tled Notes on Napa Valley (1860, p. 55). He gives the same tribes, or subtribes, as were mentioned by Yount in the ma.n.u.script edited by Camp. These were the Mayacomas, the Callajomanas, the Caymus, the Napa Indians, the Soscol, and the Ulacas.

He then adds the following:

Their rancherias were numerous throughout the length of the valley.... It is not known how many of these Indians there were, no census having been taken nor any careful estimate having been made, at the time, by anybody. Mr. Yount thinks their number was not less than three thousand, and possibly twice as many. It would have been an easy matter to collect a thousand warriors in those times.

Shortly afterward C. A. Menefee (1873) wrote a history of Napa and adjacent counties, using Hittell and Alexander Taylor as his only written authorities. No historical scholar in the professional sense, Menefee nevertheless devoted a full chapter to the Napa Valley Indians, and gives evidence of having undertaken to secure such information as he could from local residents. His statements are not sensational and appear within reasonable limits to be reliable.

He lists the six tribes exactly as does. .h.i.ttell. He expands on Hittell's quotation from Yount thus (1873, p. 19): Yount said that "in round numbers there were from 10,000 to 12,000 Indians ranging the country between Napa and Clear Lake. Of this number he [Yount] says there were at least 3,000 in Napa County, and perhaps twice that number." At one point Menefee comments (1873, p. 18): "No estimate of their [Indians'] numbers appears to have been made until 1823, and it was known that they had then greatly decreased."

Menefee's princ.i.p.al contribution, however, is a rough computation of the surviving Indian population in 1843. This estimate occurs nowhere else to my knowledge, and I think was no doubt secured by Menefee through personal interviews with early settlers. He says (1873, p. 18) that there were 50 to 100 Indians on the Bale rancho, 400 at Caymus rancho, 600 at Salvador rancho, a "large number" at Soscol. Amplifying this count, he says: "It was the custom of the Indians to establish their rancherias upon the grants of the early settlers, in order to gain a livelihood by occasional labor." Also: "These were in some sense permanently fixed and residing constantly in one place. Besides these there were thousands of nomads, who roamed the valleys and mountains...."

Menefee also describes the destruction of an Indian community, the Callajomanas. This time it was a group of white ranchers from Sonoma Valley who became incensed at stock depredations, came to the village, and slaughtered 300 Indians--according to Menefee--as they emerged from a sweathouse. Whether this tale is confused with the account of Yount on the Caymus tragedy is difficult to say. The circ.u.mstances and the number of Indians involved may well be garbled, but that some such incident took place is highly probable.

If we now confine the area in question to Napa Valley, as all these persons clearly intended, we are dealing with the Central Wappo, the Southern Wappo, and the Wintun on Napa River. The best guess from the mission records for the population is about 1,800. To allow an area of 15 by 40 square miles and the maximum Pomo density of 8 persons per square mile would yield a population of 4,800. Yount said, according to Clark, as transmitted by Camp (1923, p. 56), that the valley "swarmed"

with not less than 8,000 people in 1843. Yount, by way of Hittell and Menefee (1873, p. 19), put 10,000 to 12,000 from Napa to Clear Lake and 3,000 or "perhaps twice that number" in Napa Valley alone. It is clear that Yount was not a very accurate reporter and in default of actual knowledge made a broad guess. Yet I doubt greatly if Yount would have put the number in thousands--no matter how many--if there had actually been only a few hundred or a few score Indians in the country at the time of his arrival. The presence of a number approximating his low guess, 3,000, is not out of line with probability.

Let us turn to Menefee. His figures for 1843 were organized according to ranches. Furthermore let it be noted that, according to his explicit statement, the aboriginal village organization had broken down utterly, and the Indians were living in new places in conformity with new economic and social requirements. No wonder modern informants frequently cannot look past the period of upheaval and give us a clear picture of untouched aboriginal life before the white man came!

Regarding the accuracy of the figures, specifically the three items for which literal numbers are given, it can be said again, as was pointed out with reference to J. B. R. Cooper, that a ranch owner should have known roughly how many Indians were living in his own back yard. If we refuse to accept these estimates, then we had better be prepared to reject most historical testimony. We may then base our calculation on 75 Indians for the Bale ranch, 400 for the Caymus ranch, and 600 for the Salvador ranch. The Juarez and the Higuera ranches contained a "large number." Since the largest number actually given is 600, we may with safety consider that 300 would represent a "large number." A "still larger number" could reasonably be 400. The total then becomes 2,075. Menefee, however, is careful to state that this included only the Indians who were "in some sense" permanently located, and puts the unattached number in the "thousands." The latter can of course be scaled down drastically. Hundreds would be a good subst.i.tute, with a possible total of one thousand. The outcome then is that the Indian population of Napa Valley as a whole in 1843 was about 3,000, or identical with Yount's minimum estimate.

What was, now, the population aboriginally? The mission baptisms are of no use to us since the Indians in 1843 included most of the ex-neophytes in the area. That there had already been a profound reduction at that time is unquestioned. The north sh.o.r.e of the Bay had been subject to military, clerical, and civilian incursion since the beginning of the century. Lethal epidemics had swept over the country repeatedly. Ma.s.sacre and slaughter had been the rule rather than the exception. Indeed, the open valley through Sonoma and Napa up to Calistoga had suffered more seriously than any other area except perhaps the delta of the Sacramento River. A population reduction from the aboriginal level by one-third prior to 1843 would not be out of line with the apparent facts.

The estimates for the period 1840-1845 derived from Yount, Hittell, and Menefee included the Central Wappo with the more southern groups. For the Central Wappo the ethnographic sources and the mission records indicated an aboriginal population of 450 or 500. However, it is probably advisable to disregard this small division as a separate ent.i.ty and include it with the remaining Wappo and the Suscol Wintun.

If we then take Yount's minimum estimate of 3,000 for the Napa Valley south of Mt. St. Helena and if we a.s.sume a one-third decrease in numbers from aboriginal times to 1843, the final estimate for the area becomes 4,500.

The figure just derived is of course considerably greater than would be indicated by either the ethnographic village lists or the mission baptism records, but it must be conceded that the two last methods of approach are inadequate for the situation existing in the Napa Valley.

On the other hand for a population of 4,500 and an area of 600 square miles, the density would be 7.5 persons per square mile, or very close to the value arrived at for the near-by Pomo.

We have found by ethnographic derivation 1,680 persons for the Western Wappo and 1,800 for the Northern Wappo and Lake Miwok together. Thus the total for the Lake Miwok, the Wappo, and the Suscol Wintun as a whole becomes approximately 8,000.

_WAPPO, LAKE MIWOK, AND NAPA VALLEY WINTUN ... 8,000_