The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California

by Sherburne Friend Cook

The Lake Miwok (together with the Clear Lake Pomo) and the Northern Wappo were the most remote people, north of the Bay, who were reached for conversion prior to the secularization of the missions. All activity in this area was confined to the period 1824-1834, and was carried on by necessity through well organized, semimilitary, semireligious expeditions. Owing to unavoidable obstacles it was possible to get physical possession of and bring back to the missions only a small proportion of the potential converts. The exact value of this proportion can never be known, and indeed it undoubtedly varied widely from place to place. A similar question arose in connection with a previous study of the population of the San Joaquin Valley. For the latter area the conditions were postulated that the site of native residence was several score miles from the nearest mission, that a formally organized expedition had to be undertaken, and that there was able and determined opposition to missionization on the part of the natives. Under such circumstances it was concluded on the basis of evidence available that a fair approximation to the proportion of natives actually baptized was 15 per cent of the existing population. In most respects the situation south and southeast of Clear Lake was very similar to that obtaining in the lower San Joaquin Valley and the delta region. Hence the indicated baptism factor may be employed here.

For the six major subdivisions mentioned above the total baptisms at Solano and San Rafael were 264. If this number represents 15 per cent, the population was 1,760, a value not basically different from the arbitrary figure derived from the village lists. An intermediate estimate, 1,800, will be taken for the population of the Lake Miwok and Northern Wappo.

For the Central Wappo there is a paucity of ethnographic data. Furthermore the territory itself is very circumscribed, since Pope Valley has been allocated for present purposes to the Northern Wappo and embraces little more than the flat land within a radius of a few miles from the modern town of Calistoga. Merriam cites only one name (in the manuscript entitled "Yukean"), viz., Mi-yahk-ma. Barrett (1908, p. 269) gives Maiyakma, together with Nilektsonoma and Tselmenan, which were close by. In addition he lists Mitustul, five miles to the west of Calistoga. It seems likely that we have here a single small division, or tribelet, with the "capital" at Maiyakma and with three smaller, peripheral villages. If we use the same population estimates as we did farther north, we may ascribe 200 persons to Maiyakma and 100 each to the others, making 500 in all.

The mission records supply two items of interest. The first is a note from Sonoma that there were baptized 103 persons from Mayacma "ó Tamalsimas." The latter name is probably a corruption of the term written by Barrett as Tselmenan, and indicates that this village was then in existence. The other item is from San Rafael which reported 9 baptisms from Teluasuenhuca "ó Tamalsimela." The total then is 112.

The baptism factor of 15 per cent cannot be used here with confidence because the upper Napa Valley was much more accessible to the San Rafael Mission and particularly the Sonoma Mission than was the area around and above Middletown. At the same time the distance and difficulty of approach were somewhat greater than in the case of the lower Russian River Valley near Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, for which the baptism factor was taken as one-third. As a compromise we may take a factor of one-quarter, or 25 per cent. This yields an estimated population of 450, a figure which appears not unreasonable.

For the Southern Wappo Merriam mentions Guiluc (MS "Yukean") and Kaimus. The latter is very well known and is discussed by Barrett (1908, p. 268). The former is in territory which was disputed between the Pomo and the Wappo and may be either wilikos (Wappo) or Wilok (Pomo)—see Barrett's treatment on page 269 of the Ethnogeography (1908). For present purposes it may be considered as Wappo since it was excluded from the Pomo in computing the population of the latter group. Merriam cites no other names, but Barrett gives Annakotonoma and Tsemanoma among the Southern Wappo (1908, p. 269) and Tcimenukme, Tuluka, and Suskol as Wintun villages at the mouth of Napa River. Annakotonoma was known to the missionaries as Callajomanos (and variants), Guiluc as such, and Kaimus as Caymus (and variants). The three Wintun villages have left no trace whatever in the mission records under Barrett's names or any recognizable variants. This is rather surprising, since the area was thoroughly converted by the missionaries at San Rafael and at Sonoma. Very likely the baptisms are in the record but under designations (and there are many) which do not permit the allocation to a specific tribe or village. On the other hand, the area itself is probably included in the appellation "Napa" which appears to have covered the entire region from the present city of Napa to the shore of the Bay.

The sum of the recorded baptisms from Caymus, Guiluc, Callajomanos, and Napa is 331. A baptism factor of 25 per cent cannot be employed because the territory of these groups was very close to the Sonoma Mission, and from numerous accounts by contemporary writers we know that missionization was nearly complete. A factor of 50 per cent would give a probable population of 662 and one of 75 per cent a population of 442. Both values are evidently too low.

The final resource from which we may seek information is provided by the accounts of the early American settlers. Chief of these is George Yount, who entered Napa Valley in 1831 and took up a grant of land near the present town of Yountville. Yount seems to have been a sober and reliable citizen, and one who was accorded the respect of his fellow pioneers. His story consists of a series of verbal recollections which were written down in manuscript form by a friend, the Rev. Orange Clark, who visited his ranch in 1851. The Clark manuscript, together with other material, has been secured and published by Professor Charles L. Camp (1923).

Yount seems to have discoursed at length on the local Indians (1923, p. 55). His description of the tribes follows (I have omitted the explanatory parentheses inserted by Camp).

"Within a distance of no more than One Hundred miles in length & twenty in width, including the Napa Valley, were five distinct nations, no one of which could converse together ... without an interpreter ... The names of these five nations were as follows—The Napa, the Ouluke, Caymus, Conahomanes & Miacamus, the last named tribe inhabited the region of the Hot Springs of that valley...."