Collection: Books and Periodicals

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Title: A Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California (1891) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Publisher: Lewis Publishing Company Published: 1891 Copyright: In the public domain or published before 1925 Source(s): Google Books # of Pages: 713 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-22 00:25:09 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 03:11:29 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 06:30:36

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 713  

HISTORY OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. 161 yet been discovered. Many years ago a number of silver-bearing lodes were located in the mountains, near Surprise Valley, and some prospecting work done. On one of the locations a quartz mill was erected, but owing to the remoteness of the place, and, in some measure, to Indian hostilities, the wurk of development was tardy, and, when the mill was destroyed by fire, finally abandoned. The amount of bullion obtained from the working was inconsiderable, so the extent and value of existing deposits are left, as yet, undetermined. The settlers in the connty have turned their attention chiefly to farming and stock-raising; mining is nearly altogether neglected. In Lassen County, just over the sonthern boundary of Modoc, quartz mines are being worked. (For further description see Lassen County.) Modoc’s mineral wealth is yet lying dormant, awaiting the awakening hoar of enterprise. . For an account of the Modoc war eee page 55. For State senators representing this county see page 81, and for Assemblymen see adjoining counties. NAPA COUNTY. INDIANS. Napa was the name of a tribe of Indians that occupied the valley. They were brave and greatly harassed the frontier posts. They were very numerous up to 1838, when they were mostly carried off by the small-pox. Those who occupied the Napa Valley were called Diggers. Their food consisted of wild roots, among which was the soap-root. They often dug small animals out of their holes and frequently they ate earth-worms. Grasshoppers made a favorite dish. They made a kind of bread from the crushed kernel of the buckeye. It has been said that they gathered a species of fat worms to use as shortening for their bread. Their food was of the lowest grade, as well as all their habits of life. Of homes or buildings they had no knowledge. They constructed, in the rainy season, a sort of hut from the branches of trees. In the summer they encamped along the streams. They were of small stature, but possessed great strength. For agreat portion of the year they wore no clothing, and in winter were only half elad in skins of wild animals. When George C. Yount, the first white settler of Napa Valley, arrived in 18381, he estimated there were 3,000 to 5,000 of these Indians in this valley. At that time there were six tribes, speaking different dialects and often at war with each other, and dwelt about as follows: the Mayacomos tribe near the Calistoga hot springs; the Callajomans on the Bale rancho, near St. Helena; the Kymus tribe dwelt on the Yount grant; the Napa tribe occupied the lands between Napa River and the creek near Napa City; the Uleus occupied the east side of Napa River near Napa City; while the Soscol tribe occupied the Soscol grant. Of all these Indians there are scarcely any in the valley at the present time. Formerly quarrels were frequent with the settlers, who claimed to have had cattle stolen, and the Indians was sure on general principles to receive severe punishment. At one time a party of settlers having met with such losses surrounded several hundred of these Indians on the Bale ranch near Oakville, who were unarmed and in the “sweat-house;” and the whole number were slaughtered as they passed out, man by man, killing nearly the entire tribe. In 1850 a party from Sonoma County killed eleven innocent Indians, young and old, as they came out of the “sweat-house.” These murderers were never brought to a trial although some efforts were made in that direction. The idea of a future state was universal with them, and a vague notion of rewards and punishments seemed to pervade their “ untutored minds.” Certain rocks and mountains were regarded as sacred, as also was considered the grizzly bear; and nothing would induce them to eat its flesh. Their cure-all was the ‘ sweatbath,” which was constructed in the shape of an inverted bowl, about forty feet in ciameter at the bottom and built of strong poles and branches of trees covered with earth, with a sinall hole at the bottom permitting one at a