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

A Case Study of a Northern California Indian Tribe - Cultural Change to 1860 (1977) (109 pages)

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ITI THE SETTLEMENT PERIOD: SUTTER-NISENAN RELATIONS DURING THE RANCHO-PEONAGE PERIOD Nisenan territory was an unsettled frontier during the exploration period. Indian economy and cultural patterns remained relatively unaltered by immigrant contact, despite the affect of the smallpox epidemic of 1833. In the 1840's, valley Nisenan territory was subdivided by John A. Sutter and other immigrants who used an Indian peonage Tabor rete te develop their agricultural and cattle ranches. During this period, Sutter was also an Indian official in charge of Nisenan territory for the Mexican and United States Governments from 1840 to 1846 and from 1847 to 1849, respectively. He was directed by both Governments to protect Nisenan from exploitation by immigrants. Sutter flagrantly violated these instructions. He recruited and maintained many valley Nisenan "peons" by immoral methods to support his rancho establishment and attacked and kidnapped Indians (including Nisenan) in order to develop an Indian "slave trade" operation. Between 1847 and 1848, Sutter and other Sacramento valley ranchers used Nisenan labor to mine gold in the central Sierras which foreshadowed the forty-niner gold rush. The Mexican Government did not recognize Nisenan property rights nor were Nisenan consulted wien haa land was freely given to immigrants for development under the Mexican Colonialization Act of 1824 and 1828, >) Juan Bausita Alvarado, Mexican Governor of California from 1836 to 1842, told John Sutter, the first immigrant to settle on Nisenan land, that central California Indians east of the Sacramento River were horse thieves and hostile towards immigrants. >“ In August, 1839, Sutter reported contacting many "peaceable" Indian tribes with some Spanish-speaking members on the east bank of the Sacramento River, ten miles below the mouth of the American 33 River. The Walagome tribe, specifically mentioned in this context, probably was a 4 member of the Miwok Indian Nation who bordered the Nisenan Nation to the south,”