Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820

by Sherburne Friend Cook

16th day. The storm from the northwest continued all night and at dawn left the sky covered with heavy clouds and almost raining. We left under a light breeze at eight o’clock in the morning, going northeast. At the end of a league we came to an opening to the starboard, which led to the east. This is said to be a bend in the main river. If that were true, then we would know that this river is the one which encircles the Island of the Quenemsias. We followed a branch which runs toward the north and northwest, with the intention of investigating the village of the Chucumnes. At the end of another league we encountered another opening, or arm, to port, which at first seemed to us to lead to the village mentioned. Nevertheless we left this opening and continued along the branch we had been following. We saw during this morning some boats with people and some houses empty of people, because at the noise of the launches they cleared out. At six leagues we reached another opening to the starboard, running northeast. Either the latter or the one previously mentioned is that which forms the main Sacramento River. We passed by the latter and kept along the same one we had been navigating. The whole river is made a great grove by the number and luxuriance of the trees, although only with difficulty can one get to shore. Everything is flooded owing to the rise in the rivers caused by the melting of the snow pack [in the mountains]. We stopped at six o’clock in the afternoon, having rowed eight leagues to the north, northeast, and occasionally northwest.[24]

17th day. All night the wind blew hard. We set out at six o’clock in the morning. After one league we came upon the opening which we passed yesterday on our left hand. A little while afterward we found the village of the Chucumnes, although it was deserted. We counted 35 houses, some 20, 40, or 50 paces in circumference, a fact which indicates a large number of people. We called to the heathen but no one appeared. This village is in a place where the river subdivides into three other branches. One goes to the south, which is the one I say we passed yesterday on the left, another goes to the west but we do not know where it ends, although it is supposed that, making a turn to the southwest, it goes to join the southerly branch. The other goes north.

Having eaten we started again at two o’clock in the afternoon and took the branch to the north. The great meadow of yesterday still continues and both banks are flooded. At six o’clock we stopped opposite a slough which is said to lead to the village of the Ylamnes. We went during the entire day no more than four leagues, because the river flows with a strong current. The direction today has been northwest, north, and northeast.[25]

18th day. After having said Mass, since it was Sunday, we set out in the same direction upstream, northeast. At the end of a league (which cost us much labor to cover on account of the great force of the current) we entered the main Sacramento River which runs from north to south. It is the same one we left on the 6th to the right hand, or starboard, although I cannot decide which of the two channels it was, whether the first or the last. We kept on up the river, which is very wide and of great depth, and at half a league we stopped to eat. Hardly had we finished eating when suddenly our people became very much excited, saying that the heathen Indians were coming to annoy us. But no one appeared. We started out again at two o’clock in the afternoon. After going a league we found an opening to the right which makes a turn and joins the river again two leagues upstream.[26] About five o’clock we descried the well-known Sierra Nevada to the northeast through a clearing in the trees which border the river. The whiteness of the mountains seemed to everyone to be snow, although the range contains also (as is said) a kind of white rock which resembles the latter [i.e., snow]. We kept on a little farther up and stopped at sunset, having gone in the day some five leagues northeast, north, and northwest.[27]

19th day. We started at seven o’clock in the morning and continued upstream. After going one league we came upon a village called Chuppumne on the east bank, the inhabitants of which fled at the sound of the boats, leaving only two old women more than sixty years old. After catechizing these, I baptized them because it seemed to us that they were likely to die before Divine Providence could provide another occasion upon which they might be baptized in a mission. We left this village at ten o’clock and stopped to eat at noon. We started out again at two o’clock in the afternoon and in the distance saw two villages with people and another, for some time abandoned and covered with water. The river is very high and so flooded on both sides that one can scarcely get ashore. We stopped at sunset having during the day traveled ten leagues north and northwest.[28]

20th day. We started up the river at six o’clock in the morning with the intention of finding an open spot where a cross might be set up, and where we might cease our ascent of the river, turn around, and retreat downstream. After three leagues, when the launches were close to the western shore, some rafts were noticed in a near-by tule swamp. On going to investigate these some [of our Indian] converts came upon a village of heathen, who fell upon them with weapons and with the ferocious screams to which they are accustomed. Quickly the Commandant went with the troops and the other converts to talk to them. They were pacified and explained themselves, saying that they had taken up arms thinking that we were enemies. They presented us with torous, which is a kind of roasted soap root, and came in peace, telling us that a little higher up was their village and that there they would wait for us in order to give us fish. We had our meal and then set out, going a league higher up. But we did not encounter or see a village or a heathen Indian except a poor old man, sleeping under a tree, who had not yet heard our boats. We gave him some pinole and sent him on his way. Seeing that no one was coming, we made a cross on an oak tree. The cross having been consecrated and worshiped by our company, served to mark the limit of our upward journey. At this place it appears to be possible to approach by land in the dry season, because although in the immediate vicinity tules are to be seen, nevertheless probably everything is dry by October for there is no water other than the overflow from the river. It is therefore to be supposed that from here on it is better to follow the course of the river by land than by water. In this manner the immense expanse of land may be explored which extends to the end of the Sierra Nevada and which likely is inhabited by innumerable heathen. Once the entrance to the Sierra is discovered, which the end seems to offer as a probability, it would be possible to test the truth of the story which the Indians have told for many years that on the other side of the Sierra Nevada there are people like our soldiers. We have never been able to decide definitely whether they are Spaniards from New Mexico, Englishmen from the Columbia, or Russians from Bodega.

From here we could make out at about ten leagues northwest the very high hill called Jesus Maria by the troops who have passed near its slopes. It is entirely covered with snow.[29] It is said that near by flows a large river of the same name which enters the Sacramento River, and it is to be suspected that it is a branch of the Columbia. This I heard from some soldier, and it may be true. We went upstream today four leagues north and northwest.

At four o’clock in the afternoon we began to descend, and at sunset we stopped on the west bank opposite the place where we stopped on the 18th, having gone fourteen leagues in three or four hours on account of the great force of the current. The direction is south and southeast.[30]

21st day. We set out at seven o’clock in the morning and in a little while encountered on the right hand the slough through which on the 18th we entered the main river. Leaving the latter and following the former [i.e., the main river, to the left], after one league we came to a rancheria called that of the Ochejamnes, which had forty houses but no people. A little while thereafter we passed the head of the Island of the Quenemsias.[31] Here we left the main Sacramento River, which runs to the southwest, on the right hand and took a channel to the southeast at the entrance to which in the year ... the heathen Indians murdered Julio, the alcalde of San José. The launches got through with effort on account of the many logs in the channel. At six leagues we came upon the village of the Guaypens, with a few people, where we baptized seven souls, all aged, invalids, or children. Here we had lunch and, having started again at three o’clock in the afternoon, we stopped at the place called “Las Cruces.” It was our intention on the next day to reach the San Joaquin River and ascend it as far as the village of the Passasimas. We went in all today fifteen leagues, south and southeast.[32]

22nd day. We set out at seven o’clock in the morning and, shortly after reaching the end of the branch, or slough, in which we were traveling yesterday, we found another coming in from the northeast on the left side. We passed this and followed south and southeast through a very broad channel which leads to the San Joaquin River. Here the launches separated. That of the Commandant directed its way to the west and northwest in order to reconnoitre two or three islands in which are living hidden some fugitives from San José. We with the other launch, took a south and southeasterly direction, ascending the San Joaquin River, with the intention of scouting the villages of the tule swamps. At four o’clock we halted in a very muddy spot on account of the extreme heat, which was exhausting the oarsmen. We started out again at six o’clock with the idea of traveling all night.