USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
regions; there were many of tbem; they lived happily on the fat of the forests and the fish in the streams, but, lo! the sad day came. The Great Spirit became angry with them and drove them from these haunts in the mountains. Wben tbe day had arrived for their expulsion, the earth shook, the rain fell in torrents; the lightning flashed in sbeets and struek at their feet; the thunder roared madly and continually, indicat- ing the great displeasure of the angry father. The poor Indians, believing the wrath of the Great Spirit was upon them, fled from the mountains amid this fiery convulsion of the ele- inents. Many were drowned, and those who escaped always lived in dread and fear of these mountains.
I am inclined to believe this, for the reason that in traveling in company with Mr. John? Rhea in these mountains a few years ago, we found many relics, such as mortars, stones, etc., that would indicate that Iudian tribes had at some time lived there. He told of many other evidences that he had scen, and also of the stories he had heard, which would seem to eor- roborate this.
This tribe must have been the Yachichumnes, who we find afterwards inhabiting the valley of the San Joaquin, between that river and Mount Diablo.
It must bave been the remnants of this tribe living on the San Joaquin, that Colonel Warner of Los Angeles deseribes as having seen in his expedition up through the San Joaquin Val- ley in 1832. and on his return in 1833.
CATCHING GRASSHOPPERS.
In procuring the grasshoppers, the squaws first sought a suitable locality abounding in this native luxury. Having found the favored spot, they dug holes in the form of an inverted cone, and of sufficient size to admit their baskets. These exea- vations were about four feet deop, and two feet in diameter at the top, the sides sloping to meet at the bottom. A hole was dug for each basket, and when everything was ready, the men and children were called out to make a "surround." With busbes and boughs they beat the grass, driving tbe inseets towards the center where the baskets were located. Thus they gradually approached the luckless grasshoppers, finally inelos- ing them in their baskets, which were quickly covered. This was done at a time of year when they were heavy on the wing. They were then dried, boiled or broiled and eaten like shrimps. The other process of capturing them was by fire. The local- ity was ebosen as before, but at a time of year when there was dry grass. This patch was fired on the outer parts, and, as the circle of fire diminished, the insects were driven before it until they met the flame on the other side, wben their wings becom- ing singed, they dropped and were roasted, ready for the dainty palate of the savage epieure. Gatbered and crushed in the mortar, the result greatly resembled " blue mass." This was considered by tbe savages a great delicacy, and served as des-
190
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
sert. Even when raised among civilized people, many kept their packages of grasshopper preserves, and frequently resorted to them. The squaws packed this article away in baskets, and it was only brought out on special occasions. Americans who have partaken of this food declare that the taste is quite pleas- ant. Eating the grasshoppers alive was a common custom, and seemed to please the savage appetite.
OTHER ARTICLES OF FOOD.
The angle-worms were found in boggy and swampy local- ities, around springs, ponds, etc. The squaws, taking their stieks of chaparral, which formed their usual instruments of excavation, pushed them down into the mire. By shaking these from side to side, the surrounding earth was compressed. The worms feeling the pressure came to the surface, and were quickly seized and thrown into the baskets. When washed and boiled they made an excellent and nutritious soup-for the Indiaus.
The green plant-worms were picked from the vegetation, stripped by the fingers, and dried or boiled.
The ants were sometimes disposed of by simply carrying them from the tree or bush to the mouth upon the tongue -- primitive, indeed, in its simplicity.
Pine cones were gathered before the nuts harl falled out, and mueh labor was therefore saved. The nuts which are of a pleasant oily taste, and exceedingly nutritious, were extraeted by beating the cones, and eaten raw.
The wild pea-vines were gathered in immense quantities when young and tendler. By placing elder sticks against the siles of the basket and extending beyond the opening, the squaw was enabled to carry nearly a cart-load of the light growth. In the spring and summer they make leugthy trips into the mountains in search of food, and sometimes prepared their winter stock in these encampments, carrying it after- wards to their rancherias. To prepare the pea-vine for eating, the hole in the ground was resorted to. In this heated rocks were placed, and covered with a layer of the vine; water was thoroughly sprinkled on; then two or three heated rocks; another layer of pea-vine, sprinkled as before; and so in that order by successive layers, until. the mass was formed in the shape of a cone. When completed, one of the baskets was placed over it, forming a secure covering, and the mass left until the next day. It was then thoroughly steamed and cooked. The squaw, with the stone pestle, crushed the steamed mass on an inclined board. With the sole of her foot placed at the bottom of the ineline, she kept the vines on the board. The process was continued until all became plastic. The squaw then with her hands shaped it into the form of a cake, and after putting a hole through the center, hung it out to dry. The heated rocks were handled by the squaws with two sticks as easily aud gracefully as a civilized woman would wield the tongs.
THE CLOVER A FAVORITE FOOD.
As heretofore stated in Doctor Marsh's article, "their food varies with the season. In February and March they live on grass and herbage ; elover and wild pea-vine are among the best kind of their pasturage. I have often seen hundreds of them grazing together in a meadow, like so many cattle."
Powers, in the Overland Monthly, states: " But it is a well- established fact that California Iudians, even when reared by Americans from infaney, if they have been permitted to assu- ciate in the meantime with others of their race, will, in the season of lush, blossoming clover, go out and eat it in preference to all other food."
Grass-seeds were gathered by the squaws at the time when ready to drop from the stalks. Each squaw took her swath, and a small basket arranged with a suitable bandle was passed over and among the standing grass with a swinging motion, thus catching the seeds which were emptied by the same con- tinuous motion into a larger basket, fastened behind the squaw and to her left. The chaff of dried grass was winnowed ou by the breath or wind, and the seeds were prepared by grind- ing in the stone mortar or by boiling. The boiling was per- formned by throwing heated rocks into the baskets containing the water and articles to be cooked, taking them out wben cooled, and replacing the heated ones until the water was brought to the boiling point. The seeds when boiled were eaten by all from the same pan, the implements used being the fingers.
AN INDIAN FEAST.
*** Grizzly Adams," the great bear hunter, thus describes an Indian feast: " When supper was announced we sat down to the most curious meal it was ever the fortune of white man to partake of. Two large wooden bowls were placed upon the ground containing a kind of mush, which was made by mixing grass-seed, meal, and water in the bowls, and then throwing in hot stones till it was cooked. At the sides of these were heaps of roasted meats piled on flat stones and around these dishes we sat flat upon the ground. The chief began by scooping up three fingers full of mush. The others followed his example, each dipping for himself and transferring from the common bowl to his mouth. This method of eating rather staggered my tastes and I confined myself to meat. The chief repeatedly urged me to try the mush, but I assured him I never ate mush.
" The meal lasted until all the provisions were exhausted, when at a nod, all knelt and the chief muttered over a prayer of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit."
" In the neighborhood of my camping place," says Adams, " there happened to be one of those restless tribes of California Indians, who are accustomed to migrate from the plains to the
*See Life of "Grizzly Adams, " published in another part of this work.
191
INDIANS ON MARIPOSA CREEK.
mountains, and from the mountains to the plains, as the seasons change and the game upon which they live goes up or down. These creatures lived upon the fish which they caught in the streams, and the small animals which they killed on the land ; also upon nuts, acorns, berries, and roots, sometimes upon insects, and sometimes upon grasses, At the time of my advent among them in the fall, though plenty still smiled on their larders, I aidel to give them abundance; for there was mueh game, and I was liberal with what cost me so little trouble to procure. In return for my liberality, the Indians assisted me in building a wigwamn, and gathering and drying grass for the use of my oxen in the winter. They also assisted in tanning the skins of the deer I killed, and in making me several complete suits of buckskin, which I then adopted as my costume, and in which ever since I have generally dressed."
The women gathered their food in large conical baskets, placed upon their backs, the apex being at the bottom and resting on the belts. In order to hold them to the back, and support their weight, a circular band was placed around the basket and across the forehead of the squaw.
Johnson describes the feeding of the natives in Sutter's Fort as follows: "Long troughs inside the walls were filled with a kind of boiled mush made of the wheat-bran, and the Indians, huddled in rows upon their knees before these troughs, quickly conveyed the contents by the hand to the mouth."
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS.
The climate being mild, they had never conceived the idea of a dress of any kind; even the traditional fig-leaves our first parents improvised, when they had learned good from evil, being entirely wanting with the male portion of them. The squaws hung a fringe of small cords, made of wild hemp, from the waist to near the knces. This was called a tunica. These were sometimes worn out until a very few cords sufficed to remind them of the modesty of Mother Eve. They also wore strings of beads around the neck, and the chief merit of these consisted in the quantity. The women pierced their cars and put tbrough bones of different animals, sometimes three-quar- ters of an inch in diameter. These bones were always check- ered with alternate spots or squares of black and white. Then a profusion of beads, intermixed with small bits of shells, set off' the charms of the village belle. We have seen babies literally covered over with beads and shells. The female child wore no tunica until about three years of age.
BEADS AND SHELLS AS MONEY.
Beads and ocean shells were to them what gold and silver are to us-they were the standard of all values. The Indians were inveterate gamblers, and would sit for days throwing a handful of sticks and guessing at the number -- even or odd.
SWIMMING AND BOATING.
They could-men, women, and children-swim the river, even at the bighest times, and carry across a large basket of acorns or other food; but they usually made a sort of float of tules, when they had much to carry over. They bad no con- ception of making any kind of boat except of a bunch of tule which one of them would propel with a pole caught in the middle, and with which he would give quick, successive strokes, first on one side, and then on the other. The Indian baby, male or female, could swim by the time it could walk. Tbe mother's would take their children dowu to the water, and while they were preparing the acorn flour, as above described, the children would swim like so many young sea-lions.
NAMES OF THE TRIBES.
About 1850 there existed along the head waters of the Mer- ced, Chowchilla, and Stanislaus Rivers and their tributaries, the following tribes, called Chook-chan-cie, Two-um-ne, Po- to-en-cie, Noot-cho, Po-ho-ne-chee, Stan-is-low, Ho-na-chee, Chowchilla, and other tribes. These tribes made frequent attacks upon the whites with success, and for awhile they believed they could exterminate the whites. With this view tbe Indians made a simultaneous attack upon the whites in all the settlements in that vieinity, and several whites were killed, andtheir homes plundered and burned.
INDIAN CHIEF JEREZ.
At this time, 1850, John D. Savage had a store or trading- post on little Mariposa Creek. Here the Indians used to con- gregate, and Savage learned of. their intentions towards the whites, through his two Indian wives, whose names were Eekino and Homut. In order to avert such a calamity, and without even hinting at his motive, he invited an Indian chief, who possessed much influence with the Chowchillas, and Chook-chan-cies, named Jerez, to accompany him and his two squaws to San Francisco; hoping thereby to impress him with the wonders, numbers, and power of the whites, and through him the various tribes that were maleontented. To this Jerez gladly assented, and they arrived in San Francisco in time to witness the first celebration of the admission of California into the Union, on the twenty-ninth of October, 1850,* when they put up at the Revere House, then standing on Montgomery street.
During their stay in San Francisco, and while Savage was purchasing goods for his stores in the mountains, Jose Jerez, the Indian chief, became intoxicated, and returned to the hotel
"The news of the admission, by Congress, of California Into the Union, on the ninth of Sep- temher, 1850, was brought by the mail steamer Oregon which arrived in the Bay of San Francisen, on the eighteenth of October, 1850, when preparations were immediately commenced for a general jubilee throughout the State ou the twenty-ninth of that mouth.
192
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
about the same time as Savage, in a state of boisterous and quarrelsome excitement. In order to prevent his making a disturbance, Savage shut him up in his room, and there endeavored to soothe him, and restrain his violence by kindly words; but this he resented, and became not only troublesome, but very insulting; when, after patiently bearing it as long as he possibly could, at a time of great provocation, unhappily he was tempted to strike Jerez, and followed it up with a severe scolding.
This action very much exasperated the Indian, and he made numerous threats of what he would do. From his influence mainly, arrangements were made to drive out, or kill, all the whites, and appropriate all their horses and cattle. Accordingly, one morning in November, Savage's store and residence were attacked, and bis Indian wives carried off. Similar onslaughts were made at the different points on the Merced, San Joaquin, and Chowchilla Rivers. Savage immediately commenced rais- ing volunteers, and Governor McDougal assisted with State aid.
A battle occurred, such as is seldom witnessed in Indian warfare. A rancheria was attacked by thirty-six volunteers, The chief Jose was mortally wounded, aud twenty-three of his men killed. On the south fork of the Merced a rancheria was taken without firing a gun. Other engagements took place.
FIRST INFORMATION OF YO SEMITE VALLEY .*
The Indians spoke of a stronghold occupied by another tribe, and the following day their chief, Ten-ie-ya, came in alone, and said his people would surrender. The volunteers were, however, very anxious to see this stronghold, and Ten-ie-ya acted as guide in the march to the unkuown and unnamed valley.
About half-way there seventy-two Indians, women and chil- dren, were met coming in as promised. They gave as excuse for their delay, the great depth of the snow, which was, in places, eight feet deep.
The party pushed on and explored the now famous Yo Semite Valley, but found no more Indians. This was in March, 1851, and it began snowing, and the party returned. Ten-ie-ya asserted that thesc were the first white men ever in the val- ley. In the early part of May, 1851, it was resolved to make another trip to the valley, and capture Ten-ie-ya and his fol- lowers, who had returned. In the meantime Captain Boling captured several Indians. Two of these were sent into the val- ley with a message for Ten-ie-ya. On the morning of the day Ten-ie-ya was expected, one of the other captive Indians escaped, having deceived the guard.
Soon after the two remaining were seen'untying themselves. Instead of informing Captain Boling, that he might make more secure their fastenings, two men placed themselves near their arms to watch their movements, in order, if possible, to
distinguish themselves. One was gratified, for as soon as the Indians bounded to their feet, freed from their fetters, they started to run. Ten-ie-ya's youngest son was shot dead-the other escaped.
INDIAN CHIEF TEN-IE-YA.
While this was occurring, a party was reconnoitering the scene of Spencer's disaster," and while there, discovered Ten- ie-ya percbed upon a rock overlooking the valley. He was engaged in conversation, while a party cut off his retreat and secured him as a prisoner. Upon his entrance into the camp of the volunteers, the first object that met his gaze was the dead body of his son. Not a word did he speak, but the work- ings of his soul were frightfully manifested in the deep and silent gloom that overspread his countenance. For a time he was left to himself; but after awhile Captain Boling explained to him the occurrence, and expressed his regrets that it should have so happened, and ordered a change of camp, to enable the friends of the dead boy to go unmolested and remove the body.
While waiting here for provisions, the chief became tired of his food, said it was the season for grass and clover, and that it was tantalizing for him to be in sight of such abundance, and not be permitted to taste it. It was interpreted to Captain Boling, when he good-humoredly said he should have a ton, if he desired it. Mr. Cameron (now of Los Angeles) attached a rope to the old man's body, and led him out to graze ! A won- derful improvement took place in his condition, and in a few days he looked like a new man,
TEN-IE-YA MAKES A SPEECH.
With returning health and strength came the desire for lib- erty, and it was manifested one evening, when Mr. Cameron was off his guard, by his endeavor to escape. Mr. Cameron however, caught him at the water's edge, as he was about to swim the river. Then in the fury inspired by his failure to escape, he cried: " Kill me if you like; hut if you do, my voice shall be heard at night, calling upon my people to revenge me, in louder tones than you have ever made it ring."
Soon after this occurrence, it being manifest to all that the old man had no intention of calling in his people (it was the custom of Captain Boling to ask him to call for his people), and the provisions arriving, we commenced our march to the head- waters of the Py-we-ah, or branch of the Mereed, in the valley in which is situated Mirror Lake, aud fifteen miles above the valley, Lake Ten-ie-ya. At a rancheria on the shore of this lake we found thirty-five Indians, whom we took prisoners. With this expedition Captain Boling took Ten-ie-ya, hoping to make him useful as a guide; but if Chow-chit-ty, who dis- covered the rancheria, had not been with us, we probably
*See description of Yo Semite în an article on succeeding pages.
*C. 11. Spencer, now a banker of Chicago, who had been wounded while in pursuit of Indians.
193
SHAMEFUL TREATMENT OF INDIANS.
would have gone hack without seeing an Indian, In taking this rancheria no Indians were killed, but it was a death-blow to their hopes of holding out longer against the whites, for when asked if they were willing to go in and live peaceably, the chief at the rancheria (Ten-ie-ya was not allowed to speak.), stretching his hand out over the country, exclaimed: "Not only willing, but anxious, for where can we go that the Amer -- icans do not follow us ? "
Upon promise of good behavior, Ten-ie-ya was allowed to return to the valley, hut he did not keep his promise. On May 28, 1852, a party of gold hunters, consisting of Messrs, Tudor, Grover (now of Santa Cruz), Sherman, Bahcock and Rose, entered the valley. They were prospecting when attacked by the Indians, who used bows and arrows. Sher- man and Tudor were killed. The rest secreted themselves under the rocks, and fought the Indians until sundown. At midnight they started and crept along the bluffs, and reached the top at sunrise. On their return they visited the Mariposa grove and claim to he the first whites who were ever there. This was May 30, 1852.
In June, 1852, Lieutenant Moore went to the valley to chas- tise the Indians, with a company of United States troops, but Ten-ie-ya fled to the Mono tribe. In 1853 he again returned to the valley.
DEATH OF TEN-IE-YA.
As a reward for the hospitality shown him hy the Monos, they stole a lot of their horses, and ran them into the valley. The Monos followed, and came down on them like a whirl- wind. Ten-ie-ya was surprised in his wigwam and killed hy a Mono chief. In this fight all the Yo Semite trihe, except eight braves, and a few old women and children, were killed, and thus, as a trihe, they became extinct, and thus terminated the life of the remarkable chief, Ten-ie-ya, whose name, it seems to us, ought to bave heen given to some prominent object in the valley where was his home. We here take the liberty of applying it to the great peak, Cloud's Rest.
RAPID EXTINCTION.
The aboriginal population of the counties now forming Mer- ced and Stanislaus, instead of making the advances towards civilization that inany of their sister tribes in the southern portion of California have made through the instrumentality of the early Mission Fatbers and others, have wasted away, and most of them have hecome nearly extinct.
The numerous tribes that once occupied the valley of the San Joaquin and the foot-hills of the Sierras, have actually died out, or been reduced to a few miserable individuals. The only surviving remnant of them being now represented hy ahout one hundred, at the most, of the miserable Wallas, who subsist among the rocks on the Stanislaus River, near Knight's Ferry, all the rest having died out entirely.
From June to the middle of September, 1850, Mr. Johnson traveled over more tbau 800 miles through the Sacra- mento Valley, and along the hanks of the rivers. He visited ten distinct tribes of Indians, besides meeting many wandering families or communities. He says : " On no part of the con- tinent over which I had then, or have sinee traveled, was so numerous an Indian population, subsisting upon the natural products of the soil and waters, as in the valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento. There was no cultivation of the soil by them ; game, fish, nuts of the forest, and seeds of the fields, constituted their entire food.
There are but few now left in the country, and an Indian is now rarely seen, As the valleys were occupied and fenced, the usual modes of Indian hunting and living were cut off. Quar- rels were frequent with the settlers, who claimed to have had cattle stolen, and the Indian was sure, on general principles, to receive severe punishment.
The census of 1880 gives the Indian population as follows: Merced County, seven; Stanislaus County, twenty-seven; Mari- posa 174; Tuolumne, 347; and the greatest number in Hum- boldt County, 1,950. In the entire State 16,130. Half-breeds are included in all the above.
SHAMEFUL MURDER OF INDIANS.
The following account, from the Argus, shows the manner in which the Indians have hecn exterminated :--
" On Sunday morning, January 27, 1879, at an early hour, an Indian encampment, called Maripoita, some five miles helow the town of Mariposa, was attacked hy a party of white men, and in a very short time all the Indians were securely tied, when the work of hanging, beating, and shooting of the defense- less creatures commenced. One Indian was hung up hy the neck and shot with rifles and pistols until he was dead, The mother was also killed, together with four or five men, and one woman severely wounded hy a rifle-hall, and the remainder of the poor, cowering, defenseless Indians, little and hig, of all ages, were severely heaten and left with their bands tied behind them, in which condition some of the poor wretches ran to Mariposa, and gave information to the authorities.
"While the wounded and dying wretches were weltering in their blood, some of the perpetrators of this most cruel, heart- less and wanton butchery sought and desecrated the house of God by their presence, if not prayers.
"A Coroner's Jury was summoned and testimony taken. The following persons were arrested: E. G. Laird, and his son, Samuel Laird, John Hale, Charles Crow, - Hendricks, Nat. Green, and Fred Holt. Laird attended church the same day. The accused men have a great many influential and honorable friends."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.