The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California Part 3

We may commence detailed consideration of the aboriginal population with the Tulare Lake Basin, which was inhabited in 1800 by three Yokuts tribes, the Wowol, Tachi, and Chunut (see maps 1 and 2, area 2). The first official visitor to the area was Father Juan Martin who entered the valley in 1804 in search of new mission sites. He found the princ.i.p.al village of the Wowol, which he called Bubal. This rancheria, he said, contained not less than 200 children. It was visited again in 1806 by Moraga, who found 400 inhabitants. Eight years later Father Cabot pa.s.sed the site and found 700 people. Subsequently, it was visited by Ortega in 1815 and Estudillo in 1819 but these writers gave no population figures. Since no other village was ever recorded by name in the territory of the tribe, it is safe to a.s.sume that there was no other, at least of permanence and reasonably large size.

Gifford and Schenck (1926), in their discussion of the history of the southern valley, conclude that because the village was reported as having 400 persons in 1806 and 700 in 1814 there was a real increase in population during the intervening eight years. This they ascribe to fugitives from the coastal missions who entered the valley as refugees.

The opinion expressed by these authors may serve as the starting point for discussion of certain general problems which are encountered in attempting to estimate the aboriginal population of the valley.

In 1804 Martin saw 200 children. If we knew the ratio of children to adults, we could easily compute the total number of inhabitants. The age of "children" was variously estimated in colonial New Spain, indeed all the way from seven to fifteen years. The early California missionaries used approximately fourteen years for males and twelve for females. In 1793, however, the system was standardized for doctrinal purposes. Indians, both gentile and converted, were designated as children if they were under ten years, i.e., in the age bracket from 0 to 9 inclusive. Hence all the clergy conformed to the method in so far as they were able and unless they specified otherwise.

There are certain data available which permit us to estimate rather closely what proportion of the population in California should be regarded as falling within the category of children. Within the missions the annual censuses enable us to compute with accuracy that the individuals under the age of ten years, between the dates 1782 and 1832 averaged 21.4 per cent of the total population (Cook, 1940). This value is relatively high and may not conform to gentile, or aboriginal, conditions. With regard to these we have information from archaeological sources. In the Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley there are several hundred skeletons excavated from habitation sites in central and northern California, the ages of which have been determined and which const.i.tute a fair cross section of the native population during the centuries immediately preceding invasion by the white man.

Of these skeletons 22.6 per cent represent persons dying under the age of twenty years, and perhaps 10 or 15 per cent persons dying under the age of ten.

Further light is shed by the baptism records of the missions San Jose and Santa Clara (these are discussed in greater detail in a later paragraph) which list gentile baptisms according to village and distinguish between men, women, and children. In the two missions, from approximately 1805 to 1833 there were baptized a total of 5,217 persons from villages in the valley region. Of these 930, or 17.8 per cent were children and 1,939, or 37.1 per cent were listed as men. The s.e.x ratio is 0.826. Evidently the natives captured and brought to the missions do not give us a completely true picture of the composition of the aboriginal population, despite the large sample at our disposal. It is highly probable that (1) the natural s.e.x ratio was nearly unity and (2) many of the men were killed in warfare or escaped the clutches of the convert hunters. Therefore we are justified in setting the number of men equal to that of the women. If we do this, the population represented by the 5,217 conversions was actually 5,626, of which men and women each const.i.tuted 41.8 per cent and children 16.4 per cent.

Finally, we have figures from Zalvidea (MS, 1806) with respect to villages at the extreme southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. (These are discussed subsequently in connection with the population of that area.) At two of these, after adjusting for disturbed s.e.x ratio, he found respectively 13.5 and 9.6 per cent children. However, Zalvidea's account states specifically that in these villages he carries the age of childhood only through the seventh year. If he had counted as children those under ten years of age, the percentages would naturally have been higher.

The data just set forth render it abundantly clear that the children const.i.tuted between 10 and 20 per cent of the aboriginal population.

Since the exact value can never be ascertained, it is wholly reasonable to establish the arbitrary figure of 15 per cent. If we apply this factor to Bubal the result is not less than an aggregate of 1,333 persons, much greater than the value set by Moraga in 1806.

With respect to the suggestion of Gifford and Schenck that the number of inhabitants of Bubal had been augmented between 1806 and 1814 by refugees from the missions the following points may be noted. In the first place, it has been possible to show (Cook, 1940) by means of the mission censuses that in 1815 the c.u.mulative total of fugitives reported by all the missions in the colony amounted to 1,927 persons.

Of these a great many who ran away in the earlier years were deceased.

Many never went to the valley at all and the remainder were distributed from Sacramento to Bakersfield. It is highly unlikely that as many as 300 would be concentrated at one village such as Bubal. In the second place, the majority of the fugitives who did reach the village or its vicinity were former inhabitants of the locality who were merely returning to their old homes rather than coastal Indians, who would have const.i.tuted real refugees. On the whole, therefore, and this conclusion applies throughout the valley, true increase of population by immigration of foreign fugitives was negligible.

A further problem of importance ill.u.s.trated by our data for Bubal is the extent to which population estimates for villages were affected by local fugitivism or temporary scattering of the natives at the advent of the Spaniards. Very frequently the explorers left notations that the inhabitants of a certain rancheria had fled, or that many were absent.

It seems clear that even by the year 1800 the natives were all too well aware of the purpose of the missionaries and soldiers and took measures to defeat that purpose. For this reason, remarkable as it may appear, the largest estimates are likely to have been the most accurate.

Returning now to the population of Bubal we find Martin counting "no less" than 200 children in 1804, indicating a total number somewhere in the vicinity of 1,300, although most of the adults apparently had absconded. In 1806 the same situation arose and Moraga found only 400 left in the village. In 1814 Cabot estimated that the village contained 700 people, despite the fact that some may have been missing. The apparent increase in 1814 can be very simply explained by the a.s.sumption that fewer natives had fled the village than had done so when Moraga arrived. Cabot's figure may be quite near the truth for the year 1814 since we must concede a drastic overall reduction of population in the area between 1804 and 1814. Certainly the population can never have been _less_ than 700. The weight of the evidence at hand thus indicates that the estimate based upon Martin's account, i.e., 1,300 persons, is essentially sound.

Further evidence of collateral importance is derived from consideration of the location of the village of Bubal. Gifford and Schenck (1926, p.

27) place Bubal on Atwell's Island, near Alpaugh, in T23S, R23E, that is, on the east side of Lake Tulare. Neither Martin (in 1804) nor Moraga (Munoz diary of 1806) locates the rancheria with any precision but Cabot (1815) left San Miguel on October 2, 1814, and on October 3 traveled over an immense plain, arriving late in the day at Bubal, on the sh.o.r.e of a big lake. This can have been only Lake Tulare and the west sh.o.r.e thereof. The next year Ortega (1815), approaching from the north or northwest, pa.s.sed through Sumtache (i.e., Chunut) and went on to Bubal, where he arrived late at night, not having been able to find the village "... por haverse mudado de su sitio propio ..." Estudillo was the next visitor who has left us a detailed account of this area.

On October 22, 1819, he went from near Cholam to a place called Los Alisos near the edge of the foothills of the coast range. On October 23 he went across the plain and on October 24 arrived at Bubal, obviously from the west, and found it deserted, adding the comment that the village "... manifesto aver ya dias q. se fueron a otra parte." The following day he pushed five leagues south through tule swamp and found the settlement on the bank of the lake although his soldiers had to wade waist deep for two leagues farther in order to catch most of the inhabitants. Apropos of this incident he says regarding Bubal: "Esta es la rancheria de gentiles mas immediata a las misiones, y la q. con mayor frecuencia se hacen cristianos en la de San Miguel."

From these accounts it is very clear that the original site of Bubal was on the west, not the east, sh.o.r.e of the lake and that because of the depredations of the Spaniards the inhabitants fled into the lake itself, where they made at least temporary settlements. That these became their permanent home is attested by the fact that no later than 1826 Pico stated that Bubal was situated on an island in the lake.

Subsequently contemporary writers as well as the modern ethnographers agree that the princ.i.p.al village of the Wowol was on Atwell's Island.

From the demographic point of view the chief justification for tracing the migration of Bubal in the first two decades of the nineteenth century is to indicate how the constant pressure of the Spaniards, through incessant military expeditions, could affect the population.

Through a series of years, their native village site having become untenable, the people of Bubal were forced to seek precarious and inadequate shelter where-ever they might find it in the depths of the tule swamps until ultimately they could establish themselves in a new home, an island fortress where they might remain relatively undisturbed. Starvation, casual ma.s.sacre, and disease coupled with exposure must have strongly reduced the total number. Hence a 50 per cent decrease in ten or fifteen years--from Martin to Cabot and Estudillo--is not at all surprising.

The Chunut were first visited by Martin in 1804, who designated their princ.i.p.al rancheria Chuntache but gave no population figures. Two years later, in 1806, it was seen by Moraga, who called it Tunctache and said it had 250 people. Cabot in 1814 said there were 700 persons and Ortega in 1815 found 20 males. Estudillo in 1819 found 103 young braves ("indios gallardos mozos") and 200 women, old men, and children.

However, he also states that the captain and "la mayor parte de la gente" were away on a visit toward Lake Buenavista.

The estimates of Cabot and Estudillo appear to be quite reliable. Cabot describes Bubal and then pa.s.ses on to Suntache. The latter place he says had a population "about the same as the preceding," or 700 persons. Since Estudillo took the pains to count the young men precisely, his remaining estimate must be fairly correct. The total thus is 303 persons present plus more than the same number of absentees, or approximately 700.

Since the location and history of Tuntache was very similar to that of Bubal and since in the period 1815-1819 the population was nearly the same, it is very probable that there was a reduction in population at the former village a.n.a.logous to that seen at the latter. Although we have no concrete data, such as Martin's report for Bubal in 1804, which may be applied to Tuntache, it may be a.s.sumed with safety that the aboriginal inhabitants of this rancheria numbered at least 1,200.

The third lake tribe was the Tachi. This tribe, or its princ.i.p.al village, was first recorded by Martin in 1804. He gives no direct figures but implies that there were 4,000 inhabitants, although he may have been referring to the entire lake area. The next visitor of consequence was Cabot in 1814 who stated that Tache "... segun presenta y por la caseria que la compone ..." had 1,000 souls. At a distance of two leagues he found another rancheria, Guchame, which may have belonged to the same tribe, which "... segun presenta y informes tomados no pasara de 200 almas ..." The next year Ortega attacked the rancheria but the people had been warned and had all fled when he entered. They had not returned, moreover, in 1819, when they were seen by Estudillo. They must have been in bad straits, because Estudillo found them living deep in the swamp, in a "gran Bolson de Tule, sin poder tener lumbre." Estudillo gives no figures but he makes the interesting comment that the Tachi had four chiefs and that the rancheria (or tribe) had several "parts," each at some distance from the others. This raises the question whether Cabot saw the only rancheria of the tribe or one of a number. The village he saw he examined sufficiently carefully to enable him to count the houses. Such an arrangement is incompatible with rancherias "each at some distance from the others." Furthermore four chiefs would imply four more or less equal subdivisions, or four rancherias and possibly 4,000 inhabitants.

At first sight this appears preposterous. However, the following facts should be noted.

1. The area held by the tribe extended across the north and west sh.o.r.es of Lake Tulare from the present town of Lemoore to Coalinga close to the western foothills. This comprises a greater area than the Wowol and Chunut together.

2. Modern informants have been able to give the ethnographers Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta the names of 3 villages for the Wowol, 2 for the Chunut, and 8 for the Tachi. Although the number of villages has no strict quant.i.tative significance, it does indicate the greater size of the Tachi.

3. As mentioned previously, Derby in 1850 found the Tachi tribe to contain about 8000 individuals, of whom 300 lived in the princ.i.p.al rancheria. In view of the very great attrition to which all the open valley tribes had been subjected between Estudillo's visit in 1819 and that of Derby in 1850 it is almost incredible that the Tachi should have diminished only from 1,000 to 800 during that period. It is much more reasonable that the princ.i.p.al village should have declined from 1,000 to 300 as would be indicated by the figures of Cabot and Derby.

If so, then the tribe as a whole must have once contained much more than 1,000 people.

4. Father Martin in the description of his trip implies that there were 4,000 people living in the vicinity of Tache. It has generally been a.s.sumed, and is so stated by Gifford and Schenck (1926, p. 22), that Martin was referring not only to the borders of Lake Tulare but also to the lower reaches of the Kaweah and Kings rivers. This is simply an a.s.sumption and rests upon no unequivocal evidence.

5. Cabot's quite careful estimate for the princ.i.p.al rancheria shows that it was larger than Bubal or Tuntache in 1814. Martin's data for Bubal showed that this town must have contained fully 1,330 persons in 1804. If we disregard any shrinkage prior to that year, the contemporary population of Tache would have reached at least 1,600 if Cabot's estimates for the two villages in 1814 are to be credited.

On the basis of all these facts the author believes that the Tachi aboriginally possessed one village with at least 1,600 inhabitants and that Cabot's figure for this village was reasonably accurate. In addition, the statements of Estudillo in 1819 and Derby in 1850--and both of these observers were trustworthy persons--point definitely to the existence of at least three other villages. These were undoubtedly smaller than the princ.i.p.al rancheria. In default of any concrete data each may be estimated as half the size of Tache, or 800 persons apiece.

The total for the tribe would then be 4,000 or nearly twice as much as for the Wowol and Chunut combined.

An aggregate of 6,500 natives for precontact times seems to be indicated in the Tulare Lake basin. The figure 1,100 was obtained for the period of approximately 1850-1852. The reduction would then have been to a value of 16.9 per cent of the aboriginal level. If this seems excessive, it should be borne in mind that the area was subjected to the ravages of disease, both epidemic and venereal, from 1770 forward, as is attested or implied by both Garces in 1776 and Martin in 1804.

It was overrun by clerical and military expeditions in 1804, 1812, 1814, 1815, and 1819, not to mention an indefinite number of private raiding parties which have left no trace in the doc.u.ments. From 1820 to 1850 it was entered repeatedly by ranchers from the coast, American trappers of the Jedediah Smith variety from the southwest or north, and by New Mexican bandits. All these took a toll in the form of mission converts, battle casualties, burnt food stores, and disrupted village life. Finally, it should be remembered that the dry and arid plains of modern Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties bear no resemblance to the former region of rivers, sloughs, swamps, and lakes which once supported uncounted millions of game birds and animals, together with a luxurious vegetation capable of supporting a very dense human population.

TULARE LAKE BASIN ... 6,500 ___________________________

THE KAWEAH RIVER

Together with the Tulare Lake Basin the lower Kaweah River and its delta from Lemon Cove to below the town of Tulare was probably one of the most densely populated spots in California, or possibly even north of the Valley of Mexico (see maps 1 and 3, area 3). The repeated comment of the missionaries with respect to the "infinidad de gentiles"

to be found there creates a subjective impression which is borne out by the numerical data we possess.

There seem to have been two rather indistinctly separated divisions of the region. One, centering around Visalia and occupying the delta and sloughs, contained three tribes, the Telamni, Wolasi, and Choinok, of which the Telamni were the most important and numerous. The other, centering around Lemon Cove and probably extending some distance into the lower foothills, included the Wukchamni, Gawia, and Yokod, the largest group being the Wukchamni.

Martin entered the delta in 1804 and called the people Telame. Moraga in 1806 explored it more thoroughly. According to the Munoz diary (Oct.

19-20), the party noted Telame with 600 souls, together with a "big rancheria" one league east and the rancheria Cohochs two and one-half leagues east. In addition there were "otras varias rancherias" in the vicinity. The village list appended to the diary gives Telami I ("tendra segun corto computo 600 almas"), Telame II with 200 souls, Uholasi with 100, Eaguea with 300, and Cohochs with 100. Uholasi is no doubt Wolasi, and Eaguea and Cohochs are probably respectively Gawia and Yokod. If the last two are omitted, it is evident that Moraga saw or knew about four rancherias, Telame I and II, Uholasi, and the unnamed big rancheria. To these must be added the "otras varias rancherias," which may have amounted to another four, or eight in all.

A population of 2,000 to 4,000 is certainly indicated.

Cabot in 1814 was the next visitor who left a record. He referred to the "Roblar de Telame Rio," which included Telame, the largest rancheria in the Tulares. Cabot's Telame may well have included both the villages to which this name was ascribed by Morgan. If so, on Moraga's figures it must have contained a minimum of 800 persons. A higher number is more probable, however, in view of the fact that it was the largest in the area.

In 1816 Father Luis Antonio Martinez pa.s.sed through the region and left a circ.u.mstantial account of his visit. Starting from Bubal, he approached the Telame area, reaching first the village of Gelecto, where "... encontraron no mas el cementerio: se habia destruido por las guerras ..." These wars apparently were raids and skirmishes in which refugees from the missions and other Indian villages partic.i.p.ated. From Gelecto the party went to Telamni "... al llegar alli los divisaron de Lihuauhilame el grande ... done al dia anterior habian tenido una gran refriega cuyo resultado fue dar muerte a unos 8 hombres ..." The captain of the latter rancheria sent a messenger to Martinez with the report the place contained "como de 300 casados." Gelecto was one league from Lihuauhilame and since the latter village could be seen from Telame the distance between the two could not have been more than a league. Martinez then went six leagues south to Quihuama, before proceeding westward on the way home.

Lihuauhilame contained 300 married men, or heads of families. The aboriginal social family consisted of at least five persons, and even after the disruption suffered from 1804 to 1816 must have amounted to four. The total population, according to this a.s.sumption, must have reached fully 1,200, with a probable pre-invasion value of at least 1,500. Martinez therefore gives us four sizable places: Gelecto (depopulated), Telame (minimum 800 according to Moraga and Cabot), Lihuauhilame (1,200), and Quihuama.

Subsequent visitors (e.g., Estudillo, 1819, and Rodriguez, 1828) mention Telame but give no data with respect to size nor do they specify any other rancherias in the immediate vicinity. For basic population data we are consequently forced to depend upon Cabot, Moraga, and Martinez.

In the discussion of Bubal mention was made of the attrition of population due to war and disease during the period following the first entry of the Spaniards in or about the year 1800. That these factors were very serious becomes even more evident from the accounts of the Telame region. Martinez describes the total obliteration of Gelecto, which he ascribes to the "wars." Elsewhere in his report he refers to much internecine fighting among villages and between natives and fugitives from the missions. Moreover, the Spanish accounts repeat ad nauseam the statement that this or that village was attacked or destroyed in the course of various expeditions, or that village after village was deserted by its inhabitants because of fear of the soldiers. It is highly probable that there is a great deal of lost history pertaining to the central valley during this period and that tremendous destruction was inflicted upon the native villages which was never recorded in the official doc.u.ments.

Hunger and disease were likewise rampant. Clear indication of this condition is contained in the sentence of Ortega, in 1815, with respect to Telame: "... encontrando esta grande rancheria toda desparramada por la mucha mortandad que havian tenido, y la much hambre que padecian ..." With regard to the cause of the "mortality" it is clear that a part was due to the killing by the Spaniards and other Indians during the "wars," a part was due to famine, and very likely the remainder was due to disease. Although this factor is not specifically mentioned, the word "mortandad" was widely employed by the Spaniards and Mexicans to connote the effects of an epidemic. Furthermore, the absence of disease would be more difficult to explain than its presence in view of the wide intercourse between the peoples of the southern valley and those of the coast at a time when the Indians of the missions were dying by thousands from measles, dysentery, and other contagious maladies introduced by the whites. The whole picture is one of ruinous devastation in the Kaweah delta just prior to 1816, with accompanying disorganization of the local economy and reduction of population.

The effect of war, disease, and starvation cannot be emphasized too strongly, nor can mention be made of them too often. On account of their debilitating influence the populations seen in the Kaweah delta and reported in the doc.u.ments cannot possibly be overestimates of the aboriginal number. On the contrary, they undoubtedly represent too low, rather than too high, a figure.

Reverting now to the villages reported, Moraga mentions eight places, four of them by name or other specific reference. Martinez mentions four, all by name. Cabot refers to Telame as the largest village in the Tulares. Elsewhere (MS, 1818) he states that before reaching Telame there are five rancherias, including Quiuamine and Yulumne. Quiuamine is no doubt the Quihuama of Martinez.

Telame was one village, according to all observers except Moraga (actually Munoz, who wrote the diary). Moraga ascribes 600 people to the first Telame and 200 to the second. The first estimate, be it noted, was "segun corto computo," or according to a short count. The estimate must therefore on Moraga's own admission be increased, certainly to 1,000 and perhaps more. In view of the size of the well known rancheria Bubal, fully 1,300, Telame must have contained 1,200 persons.

In addition to the two Telames Moraga mentions a "big rancheria" one league to the east. Hence there were three villages which comprised what may be termed the Telame complex. No figures were given by Moraga for the unnamed rancheria, since it was entirely deserted. However, since it was regarded as "big," there must have been several hundred inhabitants, say 500. The total for the triad then would have reached nearly 2,000.

The Martinez description is apparently somewhat at variance with that of his predecessor. Martinez saw, cites distances for, and mentions by name three rancherias: Telame, Lihuauhilame, and Gelecto. They were located within a radius of one league of each other and must correspond to the three seen by Moraga. Gelecto was in ruins, with only the cemetery still in evidence. Hence Gelecto may very well have been the big, deserted rancheria of Moraga. Martinez gives no population data for Telame but says there were 300 heads of families in Lihuauhilame, which was, therefore, without much doubt the largest of the three.

According to Moraga's figures, Telame I was the largest. Hence the concordance seems to be that Telame, Lihuauhilame, and Gelecto of Martinez correspond respectively to Telame II, Telame I and the "big"