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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
Secretary of State Halleck of California wrote Sutter that his responsibilities as
Indian agent were to wild Indians (non-Christian) and neophytes. The latter were
subject to all municipal regulations established by the alcaldes in their respective
districts. Sutter was instructed to explain to Indians in his district that "they
must now look to the President of the United States as their great father who wouldtake good care of his children.""°* ,
Sutter continued to use Nisenan "peons" to support his rancho establishment in the mid-1840's. However, in the summer of 1847, epidemics of typhoid and
influenza caused labor shortages at his fort. The chief of the Yalesumney Nisenan
tribe brought in some of his people to bolster Sutter's labor force. Later in the
summer, many of these laborers were reported "sick and deserting"? Sutter commented
on his misfortune.
Some weeks I have 20 to 25 Indians in the field when I have work
for more than 200. The time has past when we have to depend on
Indian labor, we now need cutting and thrashing machines.
John Marshall's discovery of gold within Nisenan territory, in 1847, initiated a new phase of Nisenan-immigrant relations. Sutter called a council of the
Nisenan tribes in the Coloma area in order to acquire a three year lease to land fs
around the gold site.°” (See Sutter-Marshall Lease with the Yalesumney Nisenan, 1848,
p. 53.) The Chief of the Coloma Nisenan. tribe warned Sutter that the "yellow metal"
he was so eagerly seeking was "very bad medicine" known by the Chief's ancestors to
exist throughout the mountains. "It belonged to a demon who devoured all who searched for it 168 Governor Mason of California, Governor Kearny's successor, later told
Sutter that "the federal government did not recognize the right of Nisenan tribes to
sell or lease the lands on which they resided. '°9
‘Some ranchers who occupied valley Nisenan territory used Indian labor (some
possibly Nisenan) to develop gold mining operations in the central Sierra foothills.
Sutter employed Indians on the American River. Mr. Sinclair used fifty Indians on
the North Fork af the American River, near Auburn. Daly and McCoon and Antonio Sunol
and Company worked a total of about one hundred and thirty Indians on Weber Creek. 79
12