by Dottie Smith 

Before the white men

Prior to the arrival of the first white men less than 200 years ago, five tribal groups lived in what is now Shasta County, each in their own territory.  They were the Achomawi (a group of the Pit River Indians), the Atsugewi (a group of the Hat Creek Indians), the Okwanuchu (a group of the Shasta Nation), the Wintu, and the Yana.  Archaeological evidence now confirms Indians have inhabited certain areas in Shasta County for at least 12,500 years!  However, tribal territories or boundaries changed many times throughout those thousands of years and it is not known which tribal group was the first nor how large or small their territory was.  A major cultural difference between all the groups was language.  Two completely different languages were spoken.  The Yana and Okwanuchu spoke Hokan while the Achomawi, Atsugewi and Wintu spoke Penutian.  Even though there were language differences, they were very similar in all other aspects of their lives.

Religion/Spiritualism: 

Spiritual beliefs dominated their lives.  All tribes had special sacred places within their territories such as pools of water, unusually shaped rocks or outcroppings, or mountain peaks which they believed possessed supernatural qualities.  These places were sought out for spiritual quests, to obtain a vision, or as a place to go to obtain luck or special powers.  In addition, everyone was closely attuned to the weather and changes in the atmosphere.

All tribes had doctors.  Some were singing and dreaming doctors, some were singing and predicting doctors, others were sucking doctors or spiritual and herbal doctors.  The spiritual and herbal doctors had the strongest powers because they were trained in all areas enabling them to do all doctoring, no matter how serious the illness. 

Foods: 

Their most important foods were acorns, salmon, and game animals - in that order.  All tribes were hunters and gatherers.  Agriculture was not practiced.  The only crop somewhat cared for was wild tobacco, which was extremely strong, used extensively (especially ceremoniously), and usually only smoked by the men. 

Acorns were gathered in large amounts in the fall, immediately shelled and dried, and kept in storage baskets or bins for later use.  It was necessary to leach out the tannic acid before the acorn meat could be eaten.  A favorite process was to bury the acorns in the sand of a stream and leave until the water had washed away the tannic acid.  The acorns were then pounded into a flour and used in soups, mush, or bread and combined with meat, berries, and other ingredients to add flavoring.

Salmon were caught with hooks, seine nets, traps or spears and immediately dried on racks or bushes.  The salmon were also smoked in smokehouses built of rocks on the stream banks.

Other foods included almost every species of large and small game animals, all types of fish, tubers, roots, bulbs, seeds, insects, berries, fruit, clover, nuts, larvae, waterfowl, waterfowl eggs, worms, small rodents, crawfish, mussels, and certain birds.  The men hunted and killed large and small game animals and caught fish.  The women gathered acorns, berries, tubers, and roots.  A woman's worth was determined by the amount of food she gathered.  All traveled in small bands or family groups to and from the mountain ridges to the lower river terraces to take advantage of the food chain by following the animal migrations and plant maturations.

Houses and Villages: 

Houses were circular, conical, semi-subterranean earth or bark houses (lodges).  Materials used to build the house depended on the area and the time of the year; grasses and brush were used in hot weather, bark and evergreen boughs in the winter.  Each lodge consisted of a scoopedout circular depression approximately two feet deep and 12 feet in diameter.  A pole was secured in the center of the depression and many other poles were lashed to it giving it a conical look and the outer poles were then covered with whatever material was common to the area.  Entrances and exits were a side entrance, a smoke hole, or both.  The smoke hole entrance and exit consisted of a notched center post or ladder made of stick rungs lashed to the post, usually with grapevines.  Firepits (or hearths) were inside and against the wall. 

Villages were almost always located beside some type of water source; a spring, creek, or river.  An average village contained from four to several dozen lodges and housed from 20 to 150 people.

Enemies:  

All tribes were afraid of the Modocs and Klamaths because they raided their villages and took captives.  Sometimes the captives were sold as slaves and/or servants at The Dalles slave markets on the Colombia River in Oregon.

Weapons: 

Bows and arrows were the standard weapons.  Arrowheads and spear points were made from obsidian and chert.  Most of the tribes, if not all, obtained obsidian from the Medicine Lake area, especially Glass Mountain, or from sources near Oak Run.  Bows and arrows were “marked” with different colors and markings to identify the owner.

Possessions: 

Household items and personal possessions were meager and consisted mainly of baskets, fur blankets and capes, cradle boards, ropes, fishing equipment, bows and arrows.  Sometimes a household owned up to 20 baskets used for cooking, storage, and eating.  Some baskets were so closely twined they held water.  Digging sticks, made of manzanita or oak wood, were an important and useful possession of the women.  They were used to dig roots, tubers, bulbs, and to excavate the floors of their lodges.  Scrapers were usually made from basalt and obsidian.  Wedges were made from antlers or green wood.  Fire drills were made of buckeye.  Brushes were made from soaproot fiber.  A stone mortar and pestle were used together as one tool to grind soft seeds; the mortar was the bowl and the pestle was the hand-held grinder (bowl mortars were apparently not used by the Wintu).  Manos (hand-held and circularish) were also made of stone and were used on a metate or a millingstone (large stone slab) to grind small, hard seeds.  Freshwater shells (mussels) were used as containers, ladles, or spoons, and sometimes worked into decorative beads.

Clothing:

Their clothing was made from animal pelts and hides, such as deer, elk, antelope, beaver, raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, mink, fox, otter, wolf, badger.  The pelts and hides were also used for clothing, shoes, gloves/mittens, capes (robes), leggings, caps.  Shells, beads, pine nuts, bear grass, maple bark, and ferns were used to make dance aprons.  Human hair, beads, deerskin strips and porcupine quills were used to make belts.  Due to the extremely warm summers, very little clothing was worn by those who lived in the valley area, sometimes none at all. 

Trade Items: 

All tribes engaged in extensive trading activities with other tribes.  Acorns, baskets, basket caps, hides, manzanita berries, pine nuts, salmon, salmon flour, salt, and shells were the most common trade items traded.  Olivella, clam shells, and dentalium beads were the most popular but expensive trade items because they came from the coast.  Shell beads were made from clam shells and used as money.

After white men 

The first white man seen by the Indian people was a Russian explorer in approximately 1815.  In 1821 Luis Arguello and 55 Spanish soldiers traveled into the southern portion of what is now Shasta County.  In 1828 Jedediah Smith traveled through what is now the southwest portion of Shasta County.  Shortly after, Hudson's Bay trappers and explorers began arriving from the north traveling south in large parties of usually 50 people and sometimes as many as 100, which included their wives and children.  Their relations with the Indians was usually good; Hudson's Bay trapper Michel LaFramboise got along so well he supposedly married an Indian woman in each tribe to ensure ongoing good relations with Indians. 

Trapping ended in the 1840s, but before it did, disaster was innocently brought to the Indians in the form of malaria, or possibly influenza, by trapper John Work and his party who were unknowingly carriers of the disease.  The Indians contracted the disease in 1832 during Work’s southbound trapping expedition.  By his 1833 return trip north, entire villages had already been completely wiped out.  Journals of later trappers mentioned coming upon abandoned villages whose grounds were strewn with bones and skulls.  It is believed the epidemic was so severe that it virtually decimated and greatly reduced the Indian populations and made the subsequent Gold Rush and white settlement easier to accomplish and impossible for the Indians to stop.

The Gold Rush began in 1848, was in full swing by 1849, and during that time brought complete turmoil and chaos to the Indians’ way of life.  The thousands of newly arrived goldminers poured into the gold regions and immediately competed with the Indians for the same foods - fish and wild game.  The miners also immediately began spreading out in all directions and taking over the Indian lands.  They were here to find gold and being confined to a specific area would not suffice.  Before it was all over, no stone was left unturned, and no Indian was allowed to stand in their way as they feverishly searched for the elusive yellow metal.

Indian villages were almost always located beside streams and waterways, and it was the streams and waterways the miners sought in their search for gold.  Because of their fear of the unwanted invading miners, the Indians usually abandoned their villages prior to the arrival of the miners making it easier for the miners to completely destroy their village which included their belongings, supplies, and food caches.  Laws were still nonexistent; and because there were no laws, white men could not be prosecuted for killing an Indian.  Therefore, indiscriminate killings of hundreds of Indians began occurring as well as the molesting and raping of women, and the stealing and selling of children and women.

History plainly tells us little was done to help them - greed for the gold (and the land) by white men was stronger than compassion and justice for the Indians.  A few protests from a handful of whites were heard regarding the inhumane treatment of Indians, but nothing was done to stop the mounting atrocities.  What happened in the years to come was inhumane brutality and almost resulted in their annihilation.  This is what happened:

• When the thousands of goldminers began arriving, there was immediate competition between them and the Indians for food and territory resulting in a deadly push and shove match.
• Most of the goldminers arrived with an already developed deep hatred for Indians, considered them as animals and/or inferior creatures, and treated them as such.
• Indians were considered obstacles to progress, and because of it, their villages were raided and burned, their stored food supplies were destroyed, and the village occupants were either driven off or killed.
• Bounties were paid for Indian scalps.
• Indians had no civil or legal rights whatsoever.  Killing an Indian was the quickest and easiest way to get rid of him or her and was standard procedure for many years.
• Laws did not exist during the early days of the Gold Rush, therefore, no American could be brought to trial for killing an Indian.
• When a single Indian or a group of Indians retaliated, no matter how small the offense; miners and settlers banded together in vigilante groups and ruthlessly murdered whatever Indians happened to be in the vicinity, including women and children.
• Organized groups of volunteer civilian militiamen also killed untold numbers of Indians and were supported by community residents who raised "subscriptions" to pay for their food and supplies while they hunted Indians.  They were also paid bounties for Indian scalps and Indian heads.
• Indian women and children were constantly kidnapped by white men.  Of the two, children were the most sought-after because they brought a higher slave price.  Women were molested, raped, and kidnaped, while some were forced to live with white men because there was a shortage of white women.
• All tribes were afraid of the Modocs and Klamaths who raided their villages.  As late as 1857, the Klamaths raided in Pit River country for slaves who were taken to The Dalles in Oregon and sold as servants.
• 60% of the Indian de-population statewide in the years 1848 to 1870 was due to deadly diseases caught from white men to which Indians had no immunity - syphilis, cholera, measles, smallpox, malaria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever.  The biggest killer was syphilis.
• In 1850 the Legislature passed the "Act for the Government and Protection of the Indians" which, in reality, was an indenture law which legalized Indian slavery allowing whites to fully exploit Indians.  The law caused the indentureship of an Indian (children included) simply on the grounds of being declared a vagrant.  Once indentured, the cycle of indentureship could repeat itself again and again if the indentured Indian could not support himself or herself at the end of the indentureship period.
• In 1851 a Treaty of Peace was drawn up between the federal government and a group of Shasta County Indians who came to Pierson B. Reading's Cottonwood rancho for the occasion.  Not all Shasta County tribes attended. Some refused to participate, while others possibly did not even know of the treaty making.  Many terms and agreements were agreed upon; an important agreement was the need for the immediate establishment of a reservation.  A reservation site was selected on the east side of the Sacramento River situated between Ash Creek and the Pit River extending approximately 25 miles eastward.  It is believed many Indians came here seeking refuge believing the reservation would be a reality.  However, it was not to be because none of the 18 California treaties drawn up that year (including this one) were honored and/or ratified.  Congress bowed to the demands of the settlers who wanted the lands and the Indians removed from it.  Instead of establishing the reservations called for in the treaties, Congress ordered the building of forts to house soldiers to protect the whites from the Indians, and, the establishment of military Indian reservations to house Indians.
• In 1852 many settlers moved onto and took up homesteads on the very land set aside the previous year for the Indian reservation, leaving the Indians landless.  Soon after, many battles, massacres, and extermination attempts began occurring on this land, where possibly many Indian people had migrated to believing it to be a safe place, and their reservation.
• In 1852 Fort Reading was established, and in 1857 Fort Crook was established to protect the whites from the Indians (n reality, it was the Indians who needed protection from the whites.)
• As time went on, many of the miners became permanent settlers and began spreading in all directions taking over the remaining Indian lands for use as agriculture and stock ranges and driving the Indians off the land - all the while demanding the government to establish military reservations for the remaining Indians who were standing in the way of their "progress".
• Military reservations were established beginning in 1854.  Soldiers and civilian volunteers began hunting, capturing and killing Indians who were either marched or transported to the reservations as prisoners.  Many died from starvation at the reservations because of inadequate food supplies.  They were forced to live with others who spoke different languages, and worst of all, live with some who were their traditional enemies.  Those who had escaped capture were eventually driven higher into the mountains farther away from the streams and food supplies, where they too, awaited the same fate; starvation.
• The establishment of the military reservations eventually caused the breakup of all the tribes and was the cause for the defeat of the Indian.
• By 1855 Indians were dying in large numbers from starvation because they could no longer obtain their foods.  Rivers and streams were polluted with mud and mining debris which killed the fish.  Acorns were very difficult to obtain because the oak trees were being cut down or the farmer's hogs ate them as fast as they fell to the ground.  Sometimes the oak treees were now inside fields fenced by the settlers, which Indians were not allowed to enter.  Water springs were being fenced off and wild game animals were fast being killed off and consumed by the thousands of whites.
• In the 1870s settlers began arriving along the heavily Indian inhabited McCloud River area to take up mining claims.  A favorite tactic to rid the area of Indians was to burn rancherias or villages, shoot Indian horses, and plow up Indian graveyards.  Once accomplished, the settler then built his house on the empty village site.
• By 1873 major Indian hostilities had ended because they were now under complete military control and whites no longer thought of them as serious threats to their prosperity and development.
• All of their land had been taken away without their consent and without payment.
• Exact figures are not available but it is estimated between 100,000 and 250,000 Indians lived in California in 1850.  Just 30 years later in 1880, it is estimated only 20,000 Indians remained; their depopulation a direct result of murder, massacre, disease and starvation. 
• In 1892 Indians were allowed to receive either an 80-acre or a 160-acre land allotment, the better land was limited to an 80-acre allotment.
• In 1924 Indians received citizenship and voting privileges.
• In 1924 Indians were allowed to attend public schools.
• The building of Shasta Dam in 1938 resulted in the last major displacement of Indians in Shasta County.  The federal government paid the Indian people who were living on land that would soon be flooded by the waters of Shasta Lake (what had originally been their ancestral land,) and forced them to move.

Tribal groups

Achomawi: 

The Achomawi are one of the 11 bands of the Pit River Group.  Their territory once included the entire northeast corner of present-day Shasta County.  Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak formed the northwest and the southwest boundary corners.  The Warner Range was the eastern boundary.  Achomawi means river people.  The Achomawi became known as the Pit Rivers when the river was named the Pitt (the original spelling) for the pits dug by the women on the trails beside the river to capture deer, bear, and their enemies.  The pits were approximately 10 to 20 ft. deep, dangerous, jug-shaped (making them impossible to climb out of) and covered with twigs, reeds, and leaves for concealment.  Sharpened elk and deer antlers, and flints and spears were embedded in the bottoms to impale anything unlucky enough to fall in.  All excavated dirt was carried away in baskets and thrown into the river to hide any trace of the pit.

The first white man they probably saw was Hudson's Bay trapper John Work and his trapping party in 1832, who were unknowingly infected with either  malaria or influenza.  The Indians contracted the disease which resulted in the deaths of many Achomawi people. 

White settlement began in their territory in the mid 1850s and was met with violent resistance.  In 1857, five white men were killed by Indians.  This was the precursor to the Pit River War with the arrival of the Red Bluff Volunteers and the Yreka Volunteers who came to avenge their deaths.  Fort Crook was established later the same year and housed up to 135 soldiers.  Along with the greatly feared and ruthless volunteer militia company known as the Pit River Rangers, the soldiers immediately set about "controlling" the Indians.  As a result, many Achomawi died.  According to General George Crook, for whom Fort Crook was named, the Achomawi were known all over the Pacific Coast as being amongst the worst of the Indians and had the reputation of being treacherous, warlike, fierce, and wily.  Battle after battle occurred in which villages, houses, and stored food caches were completely destroyed and unknown numbers of Indians were killed.  Poisonings, rapes, kidnappings, and the contraction of white man's diseases added to their miseries.  By 1858, the Achomawi were starving, homeless, and sick with deadly diseases to which there were no cures.  In desperation they made peace with the whites and camped near Fort Crook for protection from the merciless civilian volunteer companies who constantly preyed upon them.  There they received rations to keep from starving.  In 1859, approximately 60 Achomawi were killed by the Pit River Rangers at Joe Rolfe's ranch, which became known as the Beaver Creek Massacre.  In the same year, all surviving Achomawi were rounded up and forcibly taken to the Round Valley Reservation in Mendocino County.  Conditions there were so deplorable people continued to die of starvation and disease.  Eventually, a hunting party saw familiar Mount Shasta in the far distance one clear day, and using it as a guide, many Achomawi escaped on a `hunting trip' to their homeland.

• Craft products included a twined type of basketry, sinew-backed bows, and jointed arrows tipped with obsidian. 
• Obsidian was abundant throughout their territory and was used to make arrowheads, spear points, knives, and scrapers. 
• Rattlesnake venom was used as arrow poison. 
• Body armor made of hard elk or bear hide and slender sticks wrapped together was worn by the warriors like a shield in war. 
• Dugout canoes were made of pine or cedar. 
• Two of their most important ceremonies were the beginning of the salmon run and puberty ceremonies for girls and boys.
• Religion or spiritualism was an all important part of their lives.  They believed spirit forces were responsible for either success or failure and associated these forces with clouds, thunder, lightning, rocks, water, certain animals (especially beaver, weasel, lizard and snake), mountains, peaks, lakes, springs, and waterfalls.  Spirit guardians were sought by nearly everyone for help throughout life, and spirit quests were undertaken with the utmost care.
• Bows and arrows were marked with a blue streak, then a light streak with a pointed end.

The approximate number of Achomawi people prior to the arrival of whites in the early 1800s was 3000.  In 1910, approximately 1000 remained.  In 1936, approximately 500 remained.  

Charlie Green, a self educated Ilamwi (a band of the Achomawi), used his education to file on unoccupied land and went to Washington, D.C. in 1920 to try to get the federal government to pay for the land taken from his people, to no avail.  In 1970, a group of Achomawi occupied a portion of PG&E land at Big Bend in a futile attempt to regain a portion of their ancestral land, again, to no avail.

Atsugewi: 

The Atsugewi were and are also known as the Hat Creek Indians.  Atsugewi means "pine-tree people".  Their territory included an area extending from the western edge of Burney Valley to the tableland east of Hat Creek which fringed the Pit River Valley to the north, including Snag Lake and the northern half of Lassen Peak.  Because their territory was primarily mountainous, they were spared contact with whites until relatively late.

Their most important foods were acorns, fish and venison.  Salmon were only obtained by invitation from the Achomawi on the Pit River.  Food was not as plentiful in their mostly mountainous territory as it was in neighboring territories.  Therefore, food gathering was more difficult and harder to obtain.  An Atsugewi woman was considered worth more than a man because of her food gathering abilities. 

The biggest celebration of the year was the Big Time and was called by the Chief only when enough food had been gathered. 

The Atsugewi were as notorious as their neighbors the Achomawi for repeatedly attacking white immigrants who traveled the Pit River route into the Sacramento Valley from Nevada.  In 1859, General Kibbe and his notorious Kibbe Guards arrived and began capturing, killing, and destroying villages and food supplies.  Many surrendered to Kibbe under the threat of impending starvation and all were forcibly taken to the Round Valley Reservation in Mendocino County.  Those who didn't surrender escaped into the hills and mountains where it is believed many died of starvation that winter. 

Okwanuchu:  

The Okwanuchu were one of four groups of the Shasta Nation and were also known as the Shasta Indians and the Upper Sacramento River Group.  Their territory was located at the northern end of the Sacramento River and covered a heavily forested mountainous region roughly 60 square miles beginning at the junction of the north fork of Salt Creek and the upper Sacramento River, to the headwaters of the Sacramento River up to the McCloud River from its junction with Squaw Creek Valley.

Very little is known about the history, culture and language of the Okwanuchu.  Even the origin of their name is unknown.  What is known is that most of their ceremonies and many of their religious beliefs revolved around their shamans and their practices. The shamans were usually women who inherited their role from an older relative.  Big ceremonies were held for war dances and when boys reached puberty.  Only boys or men participated in vision quests which were held to obtain success in either hunting, fishing, gambling, or racing.

The Okwanuchu believed that spiritual, mysterious powers in human form inhabited certain rocks, cliffs, mountain summits and also certain animals such as rattlesnakes and grizzly bears.  Their population was estimated to be no more than 200 to 300 people in the late 19th century.  By 1918 the Okwanuchu were thought to be extinct. 

Wintu: 

The Wintu are also known as the Wintun, Wintoon, Central Wintu, and Nomlaki.  They were the most populous of all the tribes and occupied extensive territories within Shasta, Trinity, and Tehama counties.  They claimed the headwaters and the south fork of the Trinity River, portions of the Sacramento and McCloud Rivers, and Squaw and Cottonwood Creeks.  Their most heavily populated areas were on the west side of the Sacramento River in what is now the Redding area extending west into Trinity County, and north up to and along both sides of the McCloud River.  The nucleus of the Wintu Nation was located on the Middle and North Forks of Cottonwood Creek.  It is believed the Wintu were the last group of Indians to migrate into this area arriving approximately 1200 years ago from possibly southwestern Oregon.

The Wintu were primarily a river people who lived off the many products of the riverways and adjacent lands.  Their most important foods were fish (especially salmon and steelhead) and acorns.  During salmon runs, the McCloud River was very heavily inhabited with WIntu people.  Lodges were erected on both banks of the river, wherever a flat area occurred.  Other foods included almost every type of large and small animal, tubers, roots, bulbs, seeds, insects, berries, fruit, clover, nuts, larvae, waterfowl, waterfowl eggs, certain birds, worms, rodents, crawfish, and mussels.

Of all the tribes, the Wintu held the most ceremonies and dances.  Ceremonies and dances were held for many occasions - marriage, death, games, puberty, and after certain food gatherings.  Gambling games were very popular and usually held at every gathering.  Also popular were foot races, wrestling matches and jumping contests.  They were the most active traders of all the tribes, possibly due to the central location of their tribal territory.

The Wintu were known for their outstanding arrow making and basketry.  Important and valuable possessions included bows and arrows, elk skin armor, beads and shells (used as money), skins of either fisher, martin, bear, elk, buck or otter, dentalia, quivers, woodcock heads, woodpecker scalps (mountain woodpecker was more valuable), obsidian knives, and obsidian tipped spears.  The Wintu marked their bows and arrows with a solid blue background design.  Wintu women were highly skilled basketmakers, made clothing of hides and furs, and used tools of stone and bone.

Their lives centered around religion and mythology, and was intimately connected with the environment.  Important sacred places and sources of supernatural power included places of natural rock outcroppings shaped like animals, caves, knolls, whirlpools, and seepage holes.  These sacred places were usually visited only by men - women avoided the sacred places because of the grave danger they believed awaited them, especially if they were unmarried or in menses.  Shamans prayed for supernatural powers at these places, and people seeking shamanistic powers traveled from one sacred place to another in quest of dreams, a guardian spirit, or power. 

Hudson's Bay trapper John Work and his party innocently brought malaria, or possibly influenza, into their territory in 1832, which they contracted.  The disease spread rapidly, caused many deaths, and severely reduced their population. 

In 1849, gold miners arrived by the thousands and immediately began taking over their territory.  Early relations with the whites were cordial but sometimes clashes occurred when placer mining interfered with the salmon runs.  Indiscriminate shootings and killings began to occur, women were forcibly taken and forced to live with some of the miners because there were very few white women.  Wild game was rapidly being depleted because of the increased demand, and settlers were building their houses on what had been a village site - after they had burned it down and either killed the Indians or chased them away.  Additionally, important foods were becoming impossible to gather.  Fences were being built by the settlers enclosing the all important oak groves and other important foods such as tubers, roots, and grasses and the Indians were not allowed access.

Railroad construction in 1872 caused the destruction of many sacred places which were blasted away to make room for railroad tracks.  In 1889 there was not a single spot of land where an Indian could build a lodge and live without danger of being ordered away from it.  Beginning in the 1890s, copper smelter fumes poisoned and destroyed thousands of trees and large areas of natural vegetation, further reducing needed foods.  In 1938, work began on Shasta Dam and when it was finished, the last largest concentration of Wintu people had been dispersed and their homeland was under water.  The Wintu Nation numbered approximately 12,000 in 1770.  In 1852, approximately 3,500 remained.  In 1910, approximately 1,000 remained; in 1930 only 380 remained.  Consolulu was the last high chief of the Wintu. 

Yana: 

The Yana were primarily a foothill people whose territory extended from the Sacramento River eastward and included the area from Montgomery Creek on the north to Lassen Peak on the east, south almost to Butte Meadows, and down into Deer Creek and Mud Creek Canyons.

The Yana were a Hokan speaking people, as were the Okwanuchu.  They were the shortest and darkest skinned of all the Shasta County tribes.  They had the reputation of being fierce and independent, and were never on good terms with any of the surrounding peoples for any length of time.  Their religion centered around their shamans who were usually men, although a few were women.  Their first major confrontation with white people took place with Samuel Hensley and his woodcutting crew in 1844 in the area of Bloody Island.  Hensley claimed he named the island for these battles.  The killings of Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Jones by Indians in 1864 caused many attacks and massacres against the Yana.  Two years later, after the killing of Mrs. Dersch, similar but much more deadly actions took place which almost resulted in their annihilation.

Those who lived in the Manton area eventually came to be known as Digger Indians, a slang term first used by early settlers.  The name was eventually adopted by the Indians themselves.  Digger Creek and Digger Butte are named for them.  In 1905/06, 139 Yana lived in the Shasta County area.  Only twelve remained in 1973. 

The Indenture Act

This Act was enacted by the Legislature in 1850 to protect the Indians but was in reality a human slavery indenture law giving whites additional opportunities to exploit Indians.  It allowed Indians to be seized, sold, or held as virtual slaves on a charge of vagrancy, children as well as adults.  Repealed in 1863 but the practice continued.  Was popularly referred to as the Indenture Act or the Indenture Law.  The articles provided:

• Justices of the Peace had jurisdiction in all cases of complaints by, for, or against Indians in their respective townships.
• Persons and proprietors of lands may apply to a Justice to set off to Indians a certain amount of land for them to reside on, and if either party felt aggrieved, he could apply to the county court for a decision.
• If no compulsory action had been taken to obtain a minor Indian, male or female, any person having such a child shall go before a Justice of the Peace, and if the Justice becomes satisfied that no compulsory means have been used to obtain the child from its parents or friends, he shall enter on record the sex and probable age of the child and give to such person a certificate authorizing him or her to have the care, custody, control and earnings of said minor, until he or she obtain the age of majority.  Every male Indian shall be deemed to have attained his majority at 18, and the female at 15 years.
• Any person having a minor Indian in his care who shall not clothe and suitably feed him or shall inhumanely treat him, or convicted thereof shall be subject to a fine not less than ten dollars at the discretion of the court; and the Justice may place the minor Indian in the care of some other person, giving him the same rights and liabilities that the former master was entitled to.
• Any person wishing to hire an Indian shall go before a Justice with the Indian and make such contract as the Justice may approve, and the Justice shall file such contracts in writing in his office, and all contracts shall be binding between the parties.
• Complaints may be made before a Justice of the Peace, by white persons or Indians; BUT IN NO CASE SHALL A WHITE MAN BE CONVICTED OF AN OFFENSE UPON THE TESTIMONY OF AN INDIAN.
• If any person forcibly conveys any Indian from his home, or compels him to work, or perform any service against his will, he or they shall on conviction be fined in any sum not less than fifty dollars, at the discretion of the Court or Jury.
• It shall be the duty of the Justices once every six months to make a full and correct statement to the Court of all money received in fines imposed on Indians...and shall turn over to the County Treasurer all such fines...to a fund termed the "Indian Fund."  The Treasurer shall pay out any money of such funds on a certificate for fees and expenditures incurred in carrying out the provisions of this law.
• It shall be the duty of the Justices to instruct the Indians in their neighborhood in the laws which relate to them; and if any village or tribe refuse or neglect to obey the laws, the Justice may punish the guilty parties or principal men by reprimand or fine, or otherwise reasonably chastise them.
• Justices may require the chief and the influential men of any village to apprehend and bring before them any Indian charged or suspected of an offense.
• When an Indian is convicted of an offense before a Justice punishable by fine, any white person may, by consent of the Justice, give bond for said Indian, conditioned for the payment of said fine and costs, and in such case the Indian shall be compelled to work for the person so bailing, until he has discharged or canceled the fine against him: provided the person bailing shall treat the Indian humanely and clothe and feed him properly; the allowance given for such labor fixed by the Court, when the bond is taken.
• If any person shall sell, give, or furnish any Indian, male or female, any intoxicating liquors for good cause shown, he so offending shall, on conviction thereof, be fined not less than twenty dollars for each offense, or be imprisoned for not less than five days.
• An Indian convicted of stealing horses, mules, cattle or any valuable thing, shall be subject to receive any number of lashes not exceeding twenty-five, or shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $200.
• Any Indian able to work and support himself in some honest calling, not having wherewithal to maintain himself, who shall be found loitering and strolling about, or frequenting public places where Liquors are sold, begging or leading an immoral or profligate course of life, shall be liable to be arrested on the complaint of any resident and brought before a Justice, Major or Recorder of any incorporated town who shall examine said accused, and if the Justice shall be satisfied that he is a vagrant, he shall make out a warrant authorizing and requiring the officer having him in charge or custody, to hire out such vagrant within 24 hours to the best bidder....for the highest price that can be had, for any term not exceeding four months...The money received for his hire, shall after deducting the costs and the necessary expense for clothing said Indian if he be without family, be paid to the credit of the Indian Fund.  But if he have a family the same shall be appropriated for their use and benefit, PROVIDED, that such vagrant when arrested may relieve himself with a bond of good security, conditioned that he will for the next twelve months, conduct himself with good behavior and he take to some honest employment for support.

   The Act was amended in 1860.  The following is a partial listing of the amendments:

1. Jurisdiction over the custody of the minor was transferred from local justices of the peace to county and district judges.
2. The white petitioner having the desired apprentice with him did not need the WRITTEN consent  of her parent, only his CONSENT, which the petitioner swore he had obtained.
3. Male Indian minors could be apprenticed until they were twenty-five years old, females until twenty-one.
4. If indentured between the ages of fourteen and under twenty, males could be held until they reached age thirty, and females until they reached twenty-five.
5. In general, the ages of the indentured ranged from age three to age twenty. 

Peace treaties 

Two verbal treaties and one written treaty are known to have been negotiated between Shasta County Indians and white men.  None of the treaties were ratified by the federal government.  It is possible other verbal treaties were made, but are as yet unknown.  The first treaty was verbal and made in the spring of 1850 between Wintu Indians and 12 prospectors near Duncan Creek and the Middle Fork of Cottonwood Creek.  There is no record of the names of the Indians.  The prospectors were Abraham Cunningham, French Tuttle, Noah Batcheler, John S. Hittrell, Samuel Nicholson, Joseph Voshee, Samuel McConnell, Alex R. Andrews, Tomilson and Davis (first names are unknown), and two unknown others.  The prospectors were in the area searching for the rich diggings of a previous miner known only as Engles who had been chased away by Indians.  The prospectors knew the area was forbidden and off-limits, but entered it well-armed and determined to break the blockade.  They were constantly watched, followed, and eventually surrounded by Indians who gave every sign of preparing to attack.  The prospectors attempted a meeting of peace by laying down their weapons hoping the Indians would understand.  An Indian spokesman came forward, and, as understood by the prospectors, said the following:

"The white man takes the Indian's hunting ground and his women and drives the Indian away.  When the bad Indian steals from the white man, the white man kills all the Indians.  The Indians can't fight the white man.  He don't want to fight.  He don't want the gold.  He wants the fish.  He wants the game.  He wants his hunting ground and his women and children.  When the white man comes he takes all."

The prospectors assured the Indians they would do everything in their power to have justice done if the Indians would cease their hostility towards them.  The Indians agreed to be at peace with the whites.  To show their sincerity, the Indians took a few miners hunting and soon returned with three deer.  The next morning the Indians took the prospectors to the richest deposit of gold any of them had ever seen.  One ounce nuggets were found lying in full view on bare bedrock.  After mining for a few days, the prospectors returned to their Clear Creek camp for more provisions.  There they told the news of their discovery, and in a short time a rush occurred at the site.  It became known as the Arbuckle District and was soon being extensively and successfully mined.  The Indians were driven out of the area and the "justice" promised to the Indians by the prospectors never took place.

The second treaty was written, officially known as the Cottonwood Treaty, and drawn up in 1851 by an agent of the federal government and a group of Shasta County Indians who came to the Cottonwood rancho of Pierson B. Reading for the occasion.  This treaty was signed and accepted in good faith by both the Indians and the agent.  The treaty called for the establishment of a Shasta County reservation whose boundary lines would have begun at the mouth of Ash Creek, followed the creek east 25 miles to the Pit River, then followed the Pit River to its mouth at the Sacramento River.

A total of 18 treaties were drawn up throughout California that year.  None of them, including the Cottonwood Treaty, were ever ratified because the California Senate denied their ratification in 1852.  The Senate failed to act due to the enormous amount of political pressure that was levied against the legislators by the settlers to remove Indians from their land.  When the treaties were not ratified, most of the land set aside in the treaties for the reservations was soon taken over by white squatters or sold to whites by the federal government, leaving the Indians landless.  And instead of establishing reservations, the Senate ordered the building of military forts and military reservations.  The Nomi Lackee Indian Reservation in Tehama County was the first reservation built.  Beginning in 1854, soldiers and civilian volunteer troops began capturing Indians who were marched or transported to the reservation as prisoners.  The following is a word-for-word test of the unratified Cottonwood Treaty:

     Treaty of Peace

Made and concluded at Reading's Ranch, on Cottonwood Creek, California, August 16, 1851, between United States Indian Agent O. M. Wozencraft of the one part and the Chiefs, Captains and Head men of the following tribes or bands, viz., Noe-ma, Noema Y-lac-ca, Noi-me, Noi-ma.

Article 1^st

"The several tribes or bands above mentioned do acknowledge the United States to be the sole and absolute sovereign of all the territory ceded to them by a treaty of peace made between them and the Republic of Mexico.

Article 2^nd

"The said tribes or bands acknowledge themselves jointly and severally under the exclusive jurisdiction, authority and protection of the United States, and hereby bind themselves hereafter to refrain from the commission of all acts of hostility and aggression towards the government or citizens thereof and to live on terms of peace and friendship among themselves and with all other Indian tribes which are now or may come under the protection of the United States; and furthermore, bind themselves to conform to and be governed by the laws and regulations of the Indian Bureau, made and provided therefore by the Congress of the United States.

Article 3^rd

"To promise the settlement or improvement of said tribes or bands, it is hereby stipulated and agreed that the following district of county in the state of California shall be and is hereby set apart forever, for the sole use and occupancy of the aforesaid tribes or bands, to wit: 

"Commencing at a point at the mouth of Ash Creek, on the Sacramento River running up the east branch of said stream twenty five miles, thence on a line due north to the Pit Fork of said river, thence down said river to the place of beginning.  "It is further understood and agreed upon by both parties that the tribes or bands of Indians living upon the Shasta, Nevada and Coast Range shall be included in the said reservation, and should said band not come in, then the provisions, etc., as set apart in this treaty to be reduced in a ratio commensurate with the number signing said treaty provided, that there is reserved to the United States government the right of way over any portion of said territory, and the right to establish and maintain any military post or posts, public buildings, school houses, houses for agents, teachers and such others as they may deem necessary for their use or the protection of the Indians.  The said tribes or bands and each of them hereby engage that they will never claim any other lands within the boundaries of the United States nor ever disturb the people of the United States in the free use and enjoyment thereof.

Article 4^th 

"To aid the said tribes or bands in their subsistence while removing to and making their settlement upon the said reservation, the United States, in addition to the few presents made them at this council will furnish them free of charge with five hundred (500) head of beef cattle to average in weight five hundred (500) pounds, seventy five (75) sacks of flour, one hundred (100) pounds each within the term of two years from the date of this treaty.

Article 5^th

"As early as convenient after the ratification of this treaty by the President and Senate, in consideration of the promise and with a sincere desire to encourage said tribes in acquiring the arts and habits of civilized life, the United States will also furnish them with the following articles, to be divided among them by the agent according to their respective numbers and wants during each of the two years succeeding the said ratification: "One pair of strong pantaloons and one red flannel shirt for each man and boy, one linsey gown for each woman and girl, 2000 yards calico and 500 yards brown shirting, twenty pounds Scotch thread and 1000 needles, six dozen thimbles, two dozen pairs of scissors, one 2 ½ pound mackinaw blanket for each man and woman over 15 years of age, 1000 pounds of iron, 100 pounds of steel, and in like manner in the first year for the permanent use of the said tribes and as their joint property, viz:  "Seventy-five brood mares and four stallions, 500 milch cows and sixteen bulls, twenty-one yoke work cattle with yokes and chains, ten work mules or horses, twenty-two plows, assorted sizes, seventy-five garden or corn hoes, twenty-five spades, four (4) grindstones.  "The stock enumerated above and the product thereof and no part or portion thereof shall be killed, exchanged, sold or otherwise parted without the consent and direction of the agent.

Article 6^th

"The United States also will employ and settle among said tribes at or near their towns or settlements, one practical farmer who shall superintend all agricultural operations with two assistants of practical knowledge and industrious habits; one carpenter, one wheelwright, one blacksmith, one principal school teacher, and as many assistant teachers as the President may deem proper to instruct said tribes in reading, writing, etc. and in the domestic arts upon the manual labor system, all the above named workmen and teachers to be maintained and paid by the United States for the period of five years and as long thereafter as the president shall deem advisable. 

"The United States will also erect suitable schoolhouses, shops and dwellings for the accommodation of the school teachers and mechanics above mentioned and for the protection of the public property.  "In testimony whereof the parties have hereunto signed their names and affixed their seals this sixteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty one. 

"Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of, after being fully explained. 

                                 (Signed)

                                J. McKinstry; B.S.Maj.A.S.M.; O.M.Wozencraft, M.S.J.M.

                                For and in behalf of the Noi-Ma, Oio-Me, His mark X.

                                For and in behalf of the Noe-Ma, Chip-Chim, His mark X.

                                For and in behalf of the Y-Loc-Ca, Cha-Oo-Ga, His  mark X.

                                For and in behalf of the No-Ma,Chip-Cho-Chi-Cas, His mark X.

                                For and in behalf of the Noi-Ma, Nem-Ko-De, His mark X.

                                For and in behalf of the Oy-Lac-Ca, Num-Te-Ra-Re-Mau,

                                      His mark X,  Pau-Te Las, His mark X, Do-Li-In-Ckla,

                                      His mark X,  Num-Te-Re-Muck, His mark X.            

                                S.B. Sheldon, Alexander Love.

The third treaty was verbal and made in 1862 between Charlie Young and neighboring Indians, possibly Pit River Indians, at Young's ranch beside the Pit River near today's Pittville.  Little is known of this treaty except Young paid the Indians a large fat ox for the privilege of being allowed to remain living at the location with his family. 

Military reservations 

Attempts were made to establish two reservations in Shasta County.  The first attempt was in 1851 during the treaty making and signing at Rancho Buena Ventura, and was written into the treaty.  Article 3 of the 1851 Cottonwood Treaty stipulated the creation of a reservation.  It was located on the east side of the Sacramento River between Ash Creek and the Pit River and extended approximately 25 miles eastward.  It is believed many Indians came here seeking refuge believing it a safe place to live.  However, Congress did not approve the treaty and bowed to the demands of the settlers who wanted the lands and the Indians removed from it.  Instead of granting the reservation, Congress ordered the building of forts to house soldiers and the establishment of military reservations to house Indians. 

All the military reservations were located outside of Shasta County.  Indians from Shasta County were captured and forcibly marched or transported to a reservation for internment, together with Indians from other counties.  They were the Mendocino Reservation, Nome Cult Farm Reservation, Nomi Lackee Indian Reservation, and the Round Valley Reservation.

The second reservation attempt was known as the Indian Republic and was to be located in northern Shasta County with Mount Shasta as the center.  Nothing came of this reservation.