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California Indian Treaty Maps (1851) (9 pages)
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Page: of 9
CALIFORNIA INDIAN CLAIMS
In 185] and 1852, 18 treaties were negotiated between the U.S. and 119 California Native
groups. These treaties would have reserved 8,619,000 acres for the Indians and ceded
64,425,000 acres to the U.S. (This land comprised about 80% of California: it did not involve
grants in the 1820s). The U.S. Senate rejected these treaties in 1852. The treaties assumed that
the land remaining to the Native Americans would serve as reservations.
From 1904 onward to the 1920s, various groups in California began to 2xpress their concerns
about the legitimacy of land titles in California and promises in the treaties for California
Indians. In 1928, the Congress of the United States passed a bill permitting California Indians to
sue the United States government for redress of grievances stemming from the unadopted treaties
of the 1850s. So1. It was agreed that the compensation would be based on $1.25/acre for the acreage
reserved within the 18 treaties for the Indians and on goods and services to be
provided by the treaties.
2. It was also agreed that from this compensation would be deducted the costs of various
expenses spent by the BIA on the behalf of California Indians since 1852, and that no
interest would be paid on the money to be paid out between 1852 and 1944 (the time
of settlement of the case).
3. This award would be placed in the U.S. Treasury at 3% intezest.
$17,053,941.98 total value of land, goods and services
12,029,099.64 BIA offsets
$ 5,024,842.34 1944 settlement made by the Court of Claims
(But no money was issued at this time to those California Indians who sould prove they
descended from an ancestor resident in California on June 1, 1852)
In 1950, after the 1928 law was amended, Congress allocated $150 to each California Indian and
requested an updated roster of California Indians. This money was then distributed in 1954.
(In 1946, Congress created the Indian Claims Commission to litigate Indians claims against the
United States in California and elsewhere.)
In 1947, California Indians brought claims against the U.S. for the remaining 65 million acres
supposedly ceded in 1851 -52. In 1959 the ICC agreed that California Indians indeed had equity
in those lands and should be compensated $29,100,000, less attorney fees of $2,509,000 thus
totaling $26,491,000. This sum would be added to monies left over from the 1954 award and
interest for the years 1964-1972.
Eventually, on December !5, 1972, a per capita payment of $668.50 was made to 69,911
California Indians — or 47 cents per acre. .