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A Case Study of a Northern California Indian Tribe - Cultural Change to 1860 (1977) (109 pages)
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Page: of 109
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When I first came to Nome Cult with the Nevadas (Grass Valley Nisenan
tribes) there were no white people in the Round Valley area (valley
surrounding the reserve) and no settlers came until the fall of 1856
when a portion of the valley was opened to settlement:
Immigrants who settled around Nome Cult in the fall of 1856 produced the usual affects
upon the Indians. Drunkenness, prostitution and disease were the inevitable consequences of Indian-immigrant contact. During the winter of 1856, one Grass Valley Nisenan was frozen to death and ten others drowned in the Eel Rivero
Consistent with Superintendent Henley's policy of obtaining direct reports
on the impact of immigrant contact on Indians, in the summer of 1856, he recorded the
following comments from immigrants living on Nisenan territory 22
1. Alfonso Delano of Grass Valley, Nevada County.
..as a result of the occupancy of the Indians’ homeland by white miners and agriculturalists, their game has
been driven off..their seeds and acorns, which is their
staple food, are diminishing, and they pick up scanty living
by washing a little gold, and by the charity of the whites
in voluntary contribution of bread and meat. They are
diminishing in numbers from diseases consequent upon a mode
of living new to them, and in a few years will probably decimate
them. The best provision which could be made for them is to
gather them upon a reservation and teach them to earn their
own bread. Indians unwilling to go to the reserve will not
remain there if they are taken by force. Therefore, we must
wait until they come to the reservation voluntarily.
2. S. M. Jamison of El Dorado County.
Their (Nisenan) character is generally very good and their
condition and mode of living is not as bad as might be expected. Hunting, fishing, gathering nuts and berries, and
mining is their general employment but, I have frequent ly
seen them buying flour, sugar, coffee.
3. J. W. Gilbert of El Dorado County.
They (Nisenan) are very peaceable and no hostile demonstrations are anticipated. Instances of robbery and theft are
not numerous,.. Their supply of clothing, food, etc., is
very good and they seem satisfied with used clothing and
getting food by begging and purchasing it with small amounts
of gold. The almost general prostitution of their women, and
their avidity for gambling and love for intoxicating drinks
is the cause of their degraded image.
4. G. M. Applegate of Placer County.
. they (Nisenan) are in a wretched condition, their hunting
grounds are all occupied by the farmers, whose hogs destroy
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