Kings River in midcentury, then we are confronted with the problem of
backward extrapolation. For the Tulare-Kaweah region the probable
decline from 1800 to 1850 was probably to the level of approximately 20
per cent of the original value. Direct application of this factor to
the Kings River gives a value for 1800 of 17,500. This is manifestly
far too high. For the Mono and the Miwok in the upper foothills many
facts point to a population decline to approximately 70 per cent of the
prehistoric value. Application of this factor gives 5,000 for the Kings
River, a high but not impossible figure.
Other considerations are worth mention at this point. In his diary of
1826 Jose Dolores Pico describes his adventures on the Kings River in
January of that year. He was chasing stock thieves and trying to
recover stolen animals. From January 10 to January 14 he beat back and
forth along the Kings River, from the sloughs to the foothills,
attacking every Indian in sight. The results were discouraging. He
captured no animals, killed not over a score of natives, and was
completely outmanoeuvered by the combined forces of the Wimilchi, the
Notontos, and Chukamina. The entire tenor of the document suggests an
active, competent, and quite powerful local confederacy of tribes. This
diary of Pico describes the only expedition to the Kings River of which
we have documentary knowledge between 1806 and the coming of the
Americans.
These facts suggest, first, that there was a sizable population which
managed to maintain itself reasonably well for several decades along
the Kings River. Secondly, they suggest that there may perhaps have
been a slow migration of the more exposed valley people, like the
Nutunutu, higher up the river. Both these factors would tend to keep
the population decline to a minimum.
In view of the confusion surrounding the evidence in this area and in
view of the apparent inadequacy of the Moraga figures the aboriginal
population of the middle Kings River may be set at 5,000, with the full
realization that this value represents the best guess under the
circumstances.
The upper river was inhabited by the Mono groups, Holkoma and Wobonuch,
for which an 1850 population of 1,700 was computed. The decline to 70
per cent may be accepted here without serious reservation; hence the
original number would have been 2,340. Adding the values for the three
sectors of the river we get 9,130 or, estimating to the nearest
hundred, 9,100.
KINGS RIVER ... 9,100
_____________________
UPPER SAN JOAQUIN, FRESNO, AND
CHOWCHILLA RIVERS AND MARIPOSA CREEK
The area between the Merced and the Kings rivers (see maps 1 and 4,
area 5), which includes the courses of the upper San Joaquin, the
Fresno, and the Chowchilla rivers, together with Mariposa Creek, is
very poorly represented in the early documentary sources. The central
valley itself, as far as the foothills, was apparently traversed by
numerous expeditions and raids, and the population was largely
missionized, killed, or dispersed. The written record is, however,
quite inadequate. It is therefore not feasible to consider each of
these river systems separately, as was done in the discussion of the
population about 1850. It is preferable to discuss the entire region as
a unit and, when necessary, pass to indirect methods of estimate.
The Pitkachi on the San Joaquin are mentioned in 1806 by Moraga, who
allows 200 persons to their rancheria. The tribe appears again in the
baptism record of Soledad Mission (MS in the Bancroft Library,
Berkeley) according to which 205 Indians from "Picatche" were baptized
from 1821 to 1824 and another 18 in 1831. An additional 23 came from
rancherias in the vicinity, a total of 246. Another rancheria, Capicha,
is referred to by Pico in 1815, who said it was uninhabited at that
time, the inhabitants having fled to the mountains. As late as 1853
Wessels said that the Pitcache, together with the Noo-to-ah, a Mono
group, numbered 500 to 600 souls. Kroeber mentions three villages
remembered by modern informants.
If 246 Indians were baptized in one mission, the tribe as a whole must
have numbered at least four times as many, or 1,000. If two fair-sized
rancherias are mentioned by the Spanish observers, the entire tribe may
well have possessed four or five, which again implies a population of
1,000. If there were approximately 300 survivors in 1853, by comparison
with other open valley areas the original population must have been
fully three or four times as great, or perhaps 1,200. If three
rancherias were known to modern informants, they must formerly have
been important places with anywhere from 200 to 400 people, again
indicating a total of 1,000 for the tribe.
Concerning the Hoyima there are two references, one by Pico in 1826 and
one by Rodriguez in 1828. Pico states merely that he attacked the
rancheria and captured 40 gentiles and 1 Christian, a fact which in
itself would not furnish a very significant clue to population. He also
noted "mucha guesamenta y cueros casi frescos de caballada que habian
matado."
The account by Rodriguez is more circumstantial. This soldier went
along the San Joaquin River in late April of 1828. On the 24th he sent
a group of men to scout the "rancheria de los Joyimas, que es adonde an
comido la caballada." At dawn the next day they attacked the village,
"que estaba en medio de los dos brazos del rio" (the San Joaquin west
or northwest of Fresno). He captured 26 Indians and 27 animals
(horses). Another 60 or 80 horses escaped "en el monte." At about this
time a gentile captain came from a rancheria designated Guche or
Getche, depending upon how one deciphers the handwriting of the
manuscript. He "vino a los Joyimas a comer caballo." The rancheria
named here is probably that of the Heuchi on the Fresno River. This
gentile said there was another rancheria "mas arriba" at which there
were horses. Rodriguez sent Simeon Castro to investigate. He found no
one at the rancheria mentioned but went on 2 leagues to another
rancheria, likewise deserted but containing the carcasses of 100 dead
horses, which had been slaughtered and were about to be eaten. It was
noted by Rodriguez that: "Estas 3 rancherias son una misma que es la de
los Jaimes." It was also remarked that the rancheria was divided when
the horses arrived in order to eat with less fear of detection. From
this account it is clear that the Joyimas had at least three villages.
Allowing somewhat over 300 persons each, the population of the group
would reach 1,000.
The slaughtered horses open up an interesting field of speculation. It
is clear that by 1828 large segments of the aboriginal population had
entirely given up the sedentary ancestral mode of life in favor of an
existence based upon stock raiding. To do this it was necessary to
recast village life completely--as is suggested by the fact that the
rancheria was "divided" when the horses arrived. In order to catch the
horses for food other horses were essential for rapid transportation to
and from the coastal settlements. New arts and skills had to be
learned, and new categories of labor had to be evolved.
Rodriguez found among the Hoyima as a whole 87 to 107 live horses (27
captured, 60-80 in the wilderness), which were presumably about to be
killed and eaten, together with 100 animals already slaughtered. The
total thus reached approximately 200. The question now is pertinent:
how much food can be obtained from 200 horses? If we assume that each
of these relatively light range animals weighed 800 pounds, we may
deduct about 25 per cent to account for bones, hide, certain of the
viscera, and other inedible parts, leaving 600 pounds which the Indians
could and did consume. The aggregate is 120,000 pounds of meat. If this
meat was dried and preserved, according to general practice, it was
sufficient to supply 329 persons the equivalent of one pound of fresh
meat per day for one calendar year. If it had to be consumed
immediately or within a few days, and if every man, woman, and child
ate 20 pounds apiece, it was adequate for 6,000 people. If the entire
tribe, not merely one rancheria, divided the meat into equal shares,
and if the tribe numbered 1,000 persons, then the share of each
individual amounted to 120 pounds. Whether these figures are strictly
accurate is irrelevant. They merely emphasize that a quite sizable
group must have been concerned. We may therefore regard the Hoyima as
being as large a tribe as the Pitcache, and estimate that the
population was at least 1,000.
The remaining two tribes in the valley proper, as listed by Kroeber and
others, were the Heuchi and the Chauchila. They occupied the north bank
of the Fresno River and the distributaries of the Chowchilla River. The
ethnographic data include no more than one or two villages for each
tribe. The Heuchi are referred to by Rodriguez, who says that the
rancheria of the "Jeuche" was completely deserted. However, since it
was the principal tribal village, it must have contained at least 200
persons. The Chauchila were also noticed by Rodriguez, who says that at
"Chausila" he "captured" 142 people and "killed many." If we concede
that as many escaped as were captured or killed, there must have been
fully 400 in all.
The Nupchenches, although they are merely mentioned as a possible tribe
by Kroeber (Handbook, p. 485) and are doubtfully recorded by Schenck
(1926), occupied an important position in the early nineteenth century.
Indeed, the failure of Kroeber and Schenck to consider them seriously
makes it necessary to set forth in some detail the information about
them contained in the Spanish reports.
These natives were distributed along the San Joaquin River from its big
bend near Mendota to approximately the mouth of the Merced (see map 4,
area 5A). The first mention of them is by Moraga in the diary of 1806.
He found two rancherias, Nupchenche with 250 people and Cutucho with
400 souls which was "junto a la primera llamada Nupchenche." This means
that Cutucho was close to but at that time not necessarily part of
Nupchenche. From the description in the diary Nupchenche was situated
at or near the mouth of Santa Rita Slough in T9S, R12E, and this is
almost exactly where Schenck places it on his map (Schenck, 1926, p.
133). The next visitor who left a record was Jose Dolores Pico in 1815.
On November 7 he left San Luis Gonzaga in western Merced County (in
approximately T10S, R8E) and went east to the Tulares at "Arroyo
nombrado San Jose," which was close to the rancheria of the Cheneches.
At dawn of the 8th he attacked the village and captured 66 persons, but
"... la mayor parte de esta gente se fue p^{r} estar dha rancheria en mal
parage." The gentiles said that 4 leagues up the San Joaquin River was
Nupchenche, thus placing Cheneches on the river in the southern part of
T8 S, R11E. This location checks well with the statement made elsewhere
in the diary by Pico that Cheneches was near the junction of the San
Joaquin and "Las Mariposas," or Mariposa Creek. If Pico captured 66
persons but "the majority" escaped, the total number must have reached
from 200 to 400, if not more.
Pico then scouted Nupchenche and learned that all the inhabitants had
fled. He therefore by-passed the village and went 8 leagues southeast
up the San Joaquin to the rancheria Copicha. This rancheria, which by
the way must not be confused with the Cutucho of Moraga, was thus
located on the river several miles north of Firebaugh, probably near or
in T11S, R13E. As a check on this location is Pico's further statement
that Copicha was in the valley of the San Joaquin "junto del Tecolote,"
or the Chowchilla. On November 10 he moved 8 leagues southeast from
Copicha and saw horses from the rancheria Tape, which, from the
distances, was near Mendota. This view is supported by Estudillo, who
saw the region in 1819 and says that the spot "... donde Tape tenia su
rancheria" was 24 leagues south of Cheneches and 25 leagues north of
Notonto. Actually, Mendota appears to be approximately halfway between
these two points.
Pico mentions one other village, Malim, which he places near Cheneches.
Confirmation is found in a letter of Fr. Marcelino Marquinez (MS) on
May 25, 1816, stating that the Cheneches recently have killed two
Christians from Malim. The latter rancheria thereupon allied itself
with Notoalh and Luchamme. No other trace of the two last-named
villages is found.
Other writers who mention the Nupchenches group include Fr. Antonio
Jaime, who mentions Cutuchu (MS, 1816) as a rancheria from which Soto
brought back gentiles, and Ortega, who, in his 1815 diary, mentions
Cupicha as having been attacked by Pico. Finally Inocente Garcia in his
manuscript of 1878 records an expedition against the Nupuchineches
under Ignacio Vallejo. The rancheria, even in the 1830's was "muy
Populosa." The expedition captured 100 warriors and 300 of all ages and
sexes, arguing a population of over the 300 claimed as captives.
From these accounts emerge six rancherias, each of which is mentioned
independently by at least two writers. From north to south they were:
Cheneches and Malim, Nupchenches and Cutucho, Copicha, Tape. Moraga
says Nupchenches had 250 people and Cutucho had 400. From Pico's
statement concerning captives we may ascribe a minimum of 300 to
Cheneches, and Copicha, Malim, and Tape can scarcely have been much
smaller. Hence the entire group can have numbered no less than 1,800 in
1816.
At Tape on November 23 Pico found 16 live horses and mules recently
killed together with "mucha carne enterciada." If we neglect the meat,
254 whole animals, dead or alive, were actually counted. From November
25 to 28 the party traveled steadily from Tape to Cheneches. From Tape
to Cheneches inclusive they saw 500 dead horses. It is not clear
whether the 238 animals seen at Tape were included in this figure. If,
however, assuming that they were, we use the same ratio of dead horses
to inhabitants as was discussed with respect to the Hoyima, these
villages should have contained 2,500 persons. This figure is quite
reasonable if we grant that the horses were to be consumed by the
entire group of villages, rather than only one or two of them, and may
be provisionally accepted.
On the basis of the records presented, a probable population value for
the valley floor between the Merced and the Kings rivers in the decade
1810-1820 was 5,100. But this may well be an underestimate and be
representative of the aboriginal population. Evidence pointing in this
direction is the almost complete obliteration of these tribes before
1850. That very serious attrition was going on among these exposed
people is evident from the records of all the explorers. The massacre
and kidnaping described by Pico is itself significant. In addition, we
have the discussion by Estudillo in 1819, who found almost the entire
surviving population of Tape sick and dying. He also points out that at
the moment there were no less than four expeditions, including his own,
ranging up and down the open valley, bent upon destruction. To explore
the problem further indirect methods must be employed. We may therefore
turn to estimates based upon stream distances.
If minor local variation is disregarded, the habitat provided by the
Merced and the Kings rivers from the lower foothills out to the center
of the valley is in no essential respect different from that
characterizing the Mariposa, the Chowchilla, the Fresno, and the San
Joaquin throughout its length below the foothills. The native villages
were spaced more or less uniformly along the larger rivers. Hence an
approximate proportionality should have existed between riverbank
distance and the number of inhabitants. No high degree of precision can
be expected from calculations based upon these premises but the method
yielded rational results for the period centering around 1850 and from
it the correct order of magnitude should be obtainable.
Airline distances are used for the rivers. The general course of all
the streams is substantially straight and the numerous small meanders
are uniform in size and occurrence throughout the area. Three river
sectors are used as a basis: the lower Merced River, the middle Kings
River from and including Mill Creek to Kingsburg plus the principal
tributaries, and the lower Kings from Kingsburg to Lemoore. The data
are compiled briefly as follows in tabular form.
River Miles Persons per
Sector in Length Population River Mile
______ _________ __________ ___________
Lower Merced 32 1,750 55
Middle Kings 75 5,000 67
Lower Kings 20 1,500 75
Despite the uneven nature of the basic information these figures show
considerable internal consistency. The mileage of the San Joaquin,
Fresno, Chowchilla, and Mariposa amounts collectively to approximately
190 miles (the four streams west of Kroeber's line of the valley Yokuts
and down the San Joaquin as far as the mouth of Bear Creek). At 65
persons per mile (the approximate mean of the three values cited above)
the population would be 12,350, or, let us say an even 12,000. This is
more than double the number indicated directly by the Spanish accounts.
It has been pointed out, however, that these accounts are incomplete
with respect to the villages seen and recorded. Furthermore the records
demonstrate a condition of severe disorganization on the part of the
native society. Hence the indirectly computed figure may reflect more
closely the aboriginal population level.
The population in 1850 for the part of the Yokuts territory here being
discussed was considered in a previous section. The best estimates were
found to be 1,000 for the Mariposa and Chowchilla and 2,900 for the
Fresno and San Joaquin. The total, 3,900 is 32.5 per cent of the
estimated aboriginal population and represents, therefore, a reduction
of the same general extent as was demonstrated for the Kaweah-Tulare
Lake region.
The foothill region drained by the four rivers being discussed includes
the extreme northern Yokuts tribes, the North Fork Mono, and some of
the southern Miwok. In the consideration of the 1852 population it was
not advantageous to segregate river sectors as has been done for the
earlier data. This is because, with certain exceptions, the data
pertaining to the later period cover as a rule the entire stretch of
each river, rather than the central valley plain as distinct from the
foothills. Nevertheless it is possible to arrive at the result desired
indirectly.
For the Yokuts on the middle Fresno River it was concluded that the
average number of inhabitants per village was 60. This value was based
on village numbers and general estimates for the period of 1850 and
included also the assumption that the villages had been much reduced in
size by that year. For precontact times it is quite justifiable to
maintain that the average size was of the order of that demonstrated
for the Kings and the Merced, or let us say 150. The tribes on the
Fresno and San Joaquin not seen or at least not reported by the Spanish
writers are the Gashowu, Wakichi, Kechayi, Dumna, Toltichi, Dalinchi,
and Chukchansi. The total number of villages recognized for these seven
tribes by Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta is 36. This total of course rests
on the memory of informants and pertains to conditions in the period
1840 to 1850 or perhaps 1860. There is no proof whatever that the
village number in 1800 was the same, yet the whole history of
Indian-white contact in the valley region leads one to believe that it
can hardly have been smaller. Since there is no evidence to the
contrary and since the hypothesis is inherently reasonable, we may
concede 36 villages of 150 persons each or 5,400 in all.
For the southern Miwok on the upper Mariposa and Chowchilla, calculated
by means of village counts and Gifford's average of 21 Indians per
village, the values of 273 and 410 respectively were obtained. The
factor of a reduction to 70 per cent of the aboriginal population may
be here applied, yielding a total of 975 for the two streams. The
figure for the North Fork Mono in prehistoric times has already been
placed at 640.
If we now add 12,000 for the valley and marginal Yokuts, 5,400 for the
foothill Yokuts between the Miwok border and the Kings River, 975 for
the southern Miwok on the Mariposa and Chowchilla and 640 for the North
Fork Mono the total becomes 19,015.
The validity of this figure can be subjected to a check through
comparison by area. This method cannot be expected to show up minor or
secondary errors but it will bring to light any fundamental or serious
discrepancies. We may block out four major regions: the Kaweah-Tulare
Lake, the Kings River, the Merced River, and the segment between the
Merced and the Kings. Each of these represents fundamentally the same
type of environment, i.e., a rough strip extending southwest to
northeast, beginning with the lakes and sloughs of the central valley
axis, passing across the valley floor to the foothills, and reaching
ultimately the middle altitudes of the Sierra Nevada. Four cross
sections are thus obtained, differing in width but fairly uniformly
including the habitats represented. It should be noted that the water
surface of Lake Tulare as it existed in 1860 has been deducted from the
area of the Kaweah-Tulare region; also that the two northern regions
include a relatively greater expanse of uninhabitable mountain
territory than do the two southern regions. The western boundary has
been drawn along a line approximately five miles west of the San
Joaquin River and the prolongation of its axis toward the lake. The
westward extension of the Tachi toward Coalinga had to be neglected
since there are no clear tribal boundaries in this area. The number of
square miles was computed by township lines and the error of estimate
must be considered at least plus or minus 20 per cent. The results
follow:
Population
Area density
Region (sq. mi.) Population per sq. mi.
______ _________ __________ ___________
Kaweah-Tulare 1,880 14,100 7.12
Kings 1,530 9,100 5.85
Merced 1,400 3,500 2.50
Mariposa-San Joaquin 3,760 19,000 5.05
The density of the Mariposa-San Joaquin area is quite close to that of
the Kings River Basin. The Kaweah-Tulare territory has a somewhat
higher density, but this finding is compatible with the known enormous
concentration of population around Tulare Lake and in the Kaweah delta.
The value for the Merced strip is unduly low. The discrepancy can be
accounted for on two grounds. The first, already mentioned, is that
this river, throughout its length, passes through a greater area of
uninhabitable mountains than do many of the other streams. The second
is that our estimates for the lower Merced are insufficient. They rest
in essence on the single report by Moraga, who, as has been shown,
tended to underestimate and who did not see, or at least did not report
upon, the entire course of the lower river. Moreover there is no report
at all from Spanish sources with respect to the San Joaquin between the
mouth of the Chowchilla (Nupchenche group) and the mouth of the
Tuolumne. That villages did exist throughout this region is attested by
the illuminating account of J. J. Warner, who was a member of Ewing
Young's expedition to the great valley in 1832 and 1833. (I use the
text as quoted in Warner, 1890.) He says (p. 28):
In the fall of 1832 there were a number of Indian villages
on King's River, between its mouth and the mountains: also
on the San Joaquin River from the base of the mountains down
to and some distance below the great slough. On the Merced
River from the mountains to its junction with the San
Joaquin there were no Indian villages; but from about this
point on the San Joaquin, as well as on all of its principal
tributaries, the Indian villages were numerous; and many of
these villages contained from fifty to 100 dwellings.