Collection: Directories and Documents > Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection

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Title: Funding the California Indian Superintendency Collection Type: Directories and Documents Collection Name: Tanis Thorne Native Californian & Nisenan Collection # of Pages: 13 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-09-03 14:21:59 OCR Software Version #: tesseract 5.4.1 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:17:31 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 03:17:31

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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{ Funding the California Indian Superintendency Spaniards at the time of their arrival in California found the . area populated by Native Americans who were primarily seed— vegetable gatherers living in a large number of small political 4 and social groups. In 1769 a program to civilize the California — Indians was launched by the Franciscans and eventually encom-passed missions from San Diego to San Francisco. During the . following seventy years as many as 21,000 Indians at a time — learned Christianity, farming, stock raising, and industrial arts, In 1839 the missions were, however, secularized and the Indians . & left to survive as best they could. Ten years later formal respona sibility for the California Indians fell to the United States as a result of the Mexican War.’ But before policy could be deter— a mined and effected, thousands of Americans and foreigners . rushed to California in the search for gold. The influx of the miners, in the words of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Sub-agent Adam Johnston, was “quite incomprehensible” to the Indians. It ~ was not long before sustenance was in short supply and many ~ Indians lived in “constant fear . . . of the indiscriminate and — inhuman massacres.”° At the time of the gold rush, sub-agents were responsible for 4 the California Indians. But it was not until the fall of 1850 that 2 any real attempt was made to formulate and execute an Indian . policy in California. Under a September 30, 1850 Congressional © Act, three commissioners negotiated a series of treaties during E 1851-52 which were designed to remove tribesmen from the 4 path of white settlement by locating them on reservations. But — the commission’s fiscal conduct combined with the large acreage reserved to the Indians prevent ratification.” Confronted with the need for administrative order, the commission’s irregular conduct, _ and public clamors for Indian removal, Congress in late 1852 es~ tablished the California Superintendency.’ In 1860 Congress 5 attempted to simplify administration by abolishing the superin~ tendency, and by dividing the state into Northern and Southern _ Districts.’ But this move only complicated the situation and on” April 8, 1864 the superintendency was reconstituted.’ Nine; years later it was abolished for the last time, and thereafter agents 5 reported directly to the Bureau."' : A policy first labeled as colonization and later characterized as © a reservation system was inaugurated during 1852-54 by Superina ~ Cea ere aa RR . Funding the California Indian Superintendency (Re PO rt RG ker an ater RMR pier Setar ead A ar Rt Sar tag any SS 3,312,658 164,267 piling this table. ) CAL, ORS, eat ar RSET, Sa IRR, pm Saale ROR Ae eA Te SOT G 669,410 245,631 PO ea OL NN A. A 561,700 355,000 ON A OS 1,316,650 FA : Includes certain types of personnel. (See note 13 for sources used in com 2, Totals ry , 1864, priation item for all Bureau 1862, April 8 pecific Congressional acts dated Februa June 19 gust 18, 1856, , 12, 13, pp. 519, 587; 2-3, 675 , 1860, June 5, ; 80; 57, 45; 39-41. general appro imated in accord with s > propriations were included in the P e above figures are est , 1852, Th personnel. bove f: , March 3 Statutes at La a suena personnel a 27, 1851