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Indian Rancherie on Dry Creek [Miwok] (12 pages)
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Page: of 12
64 — Journal of Catifornia and Great Basin Anthropology . Vol. 28, No. 1 (2008)
on the east by the Sierra Nevada Mountains, was made by
Teodosio Yorba to Governor Juan B. Alvarado in 1840.
However, the land grant appears both as an Unclassified
Expediente (No. 108) and as a Filed Expediente (No. 96),
and thus appears not to have been finalized (Spanish
Archives n.d.), Subsequently, a smaller portion of this
property (eight square leagues) was granted to Anastacio
Chabolla as the Rancho Sanjon de los Moquelumnes.
Hubert Howe Bancroft (1886, iv. 68) published a map
purporting to show the local geography in 1848 that
mentions a “lower Rancheria” in the area between Dry
Creek and the Mokelumne River, but with no clear
indication of what was meant by the term.
It has not yet been possible to equate this village
with any of those historically known (cf. Bennyhoff
1977), even though Kroeber (1925:445) did show a
village called Ocheh-ak as being on lower Dry Creek.
That identification was based on work published by
Samuel Barrett (1908), but it has since been disputed
by Bennyhoff (1977:71). Egbert Schenk (1925:142)
confirmed that Kroeber had placed the village of
Ochehak on Dry Creek and associated the village with
the Plains Miwok tribal group known as the Ochehamni,
which Kroeber referred to as a “political community.”
Schenk further stated that Merriam’s identification of
Ochehak or Ochakumne as a group had them located on
Grand and Brannan islands.
INCIDENT ON DRY CREEK
In January of 1853, during the massive floods that struck
the Central Valley of California, an incident occurred
in the vicinity of the confluence of Dry Creek and the
Mokelumne River in which local Indians were accused
of having raided the home of two men named Drew
and Bragg while they were absent. This was followed
by an attack on a nearby Indian village, identified as
being on Dry Creek, “not far from the Moquelumne
River.” The villagers (numbering 20 in the Sacramento
Union account, but said to be “70 warriors” in the San
Joaquin Republican story) fought back fiercely but were
ultimately overwhelmed by a large number of wellarmed whites brought into the fray. The Indians finally
managed to escape into the tules (Sacramento Union
[SU], 3 February 1853:2). Another, later, account of the
confrontation stated that the Indians involved lived on
the land known as the Slater Ranch (Thompson and
West 1880:218). Such altercations between the Indians
and whites during the Gold Rush were common enough
to not usually warrant special attention, but in this case
the village had been drawn by some unknown artist
shortly before the event, and the sketch was published
in the form of a lithographic letterhead. Simply entitled
“Indian Rancherie on Dry Creek,” (Fig. 1) it could
have been consigned to the limbo arising from wa
many “Dry Creeks” in California (SU, 22 Febrwary
1853:3; Sacramento Pictorial Union [SPU], April 1853:3).
However, in this case the association with the news article
describing the attack clarifies the village’s location:
In the Union of the 3rd of February [1853], a description was given of a couple of skirmishes which took
place between the whites and the Indians on Dry
Creek, near the junction of the Mokelumne River. The
rancheria spoken of, having been visited by Mr. Drew
and his friends, for the recovery of stolen goods, is the
one represented in the engraving above [i.e., the letter
drawing of the “Rancherie [sic] at Dry Creek;” Image
of Indian Rancheria on Dry Creek; California State
Library n.d.].
In addition, George Phillips (2004:194-196) has
provided an important lead to another article in a Stockton
newspaper (San Joaquin Republican [SJR}, 5 February
1853:2) that provides additional details on the battle.
NEWS ACCOUNTS OF THE CONFLICT
The following account appeared in the February 3, 1853
issue of the Sacramento Union:
Mr. J. A. Benson communicates the following
particulars of recent difficulties, between the people
of his neighborhood and the Dry Creek Indians:
On Friday night last [January 28, 1853], the house of
Messrs. Bragg and Drew, situated on the Mokelumne
river, near the junction of Dry Creek, was entered
and robbed of a large quantity of goods. Mr. Drew,
accompanied by another gentleman, went in search
of the robbers, and from well-founded suspicions
entertained, visited an Indian Rancheria not far off.
Here they discovered a lot of the goods for which they
were in search. They asked the Indians to deliver the
goods over, as the property of Messrs. Bragg and Drew,
which request they refused to comply with. A Chief of
the tribe held a pistol over the head of Mr. Drew ina
threatening attitude and told him “if he didn’t leave he
would shoot him.” Mr. Drew and his companion, not
considering it prudent to remain longer, departed.