The Aboriginal Population of the San Joaquin Valley, California

by Sherburne Friend Cook

For the Kings River as a whole the estimates of 1850 to 1853 indicate a substantial Indian population. Savage (Dixon, MS, 1875) sets the number as 2,000, a remarkably low figure for him. G. W. Barbour and Adam Johnston (Sen. Ex. Doc. 4, 1853, pp. 253-256) both state that for the purpose of consummating treaties 4,000 Indians came to Camp Belt on the Kings River in 1851. Lt. George H. Derby in his careful account of the southern part of the central valley in 1851 says that there were 17 rancherias on Kings River, "numbering in all about three thousand including those situated among the hills in the vicinity" (Derby, 1852). Many of these were Choinimni, but at least half must have been Mono.

If we accept Derby's count of 17 villages for 3,000 persons, the average number of inhabitants per rancheria would be 177. For the area farther north the equivalent number was taken as 70. There is reason to believe that for the basins of the Kings and Kaweah Derby's figure of 177 is a closer approximation. Ben Hancock's description of the village on the Kings below Mill Creek is very graphic and explicit (see citation above.) If the "dome-grass covered houses nearly touched" and stretched along the river in only a single row, and if each occupied 50 linear feet, then there must have been 52 houses in half a mile. Allowing 5 persons per house, in accordance with Gifford's data for the North Fork Mono, the inhabitants must have numbered 260. One of the rancherias seen by Derby was Cho-e-mime which had 70 "warriors." Reckoning the "warriors" as half the males the population would have been 280. Derby says the village of Notonto (of the tribe Nutunutu on the south bank of the lower Kings) had 300 inhabitants. These places were of course relatively large and important and do not represent the general average. However, the village of Notonto must have reached fully 150 persons.

Apart from the Mono, the tribes located on the Kings River were all Yokuts, as follows: Aiticha, Apiachi, Wimilchi, Nutunutu, Wechihit, Toihichi, Chukomina, and Choinimni. For these the modern ethnographers Kroeber, Gayton, Latta, and Stewart have been able to locate and identify 25 villages inhabited during the youth of informants. Since this covers a somewhat larger territory than was seen by Derby, the correspondence in number of rancherias is reasonably close. At 150 persons per village the population would be 3,750. If we add 1,700 for the Kings River Mono, the total is 5,450. However, there may have been some overlap, so this figure may be reduced to 5,000. It should be noted that the area embraced within this estimate includes the Kings River basin as a whole, together with that of all its affluents.

The Kaweah River from Lemon Cove to the town of Tulare diverges to form a delta, which originally contained a very large native population. At the time of the American occupation there had occurred a material reduction, which was accelerated by the fact that the region provided excellent farming land for the entering Americans. Hence the value for the population in 1850-1853 must be relatively low in comparison with preceding decades. In May, 1851, according to G. W. Barbour (1853, pp. 253-255) there were 7 tribes on the Kaweah, and 1,200 people came to treat with the commissioners. These tribes included the following: Chunut, Choinok, Wolasi, Telamni, Gawia, Yokod, and Wukchamni. Of these, the first, the Chunut, inhabited the shore of Lake Tulare and should not be included as a Kaweah River tribe. The estimated population of the remainder would, therefore, be approximately 1,000, if the figure of the commissioners is to be taken without qualification.

With respect to the individual tribes there are a few scattered bits of information. Derby (1852) mentions three rancherias or bands in the area: Cowees (Gawia) with 200 people, Thulime (Telamni) with 65 men, or roughly 200 people, and Heame-a-tahs (Telamni) with 200 people. Merriam in his "Yokuts List" cites an informant who said that the Wukchumne "used to number" 5,000 and occupied the valley now called Lemon Cove and up and down the Kaweah River. Clearly this is an extreme overestimate, unless the informant was referring to the period prior to 1800. Finally Merriam cites a letter by Lt. N. H. McLean, which states that the "Four Creeks Country" included the "Cahwiahs, Okuls, Choinux, Wicktrumnees, Talumnies" and in 1853 had not over 1,200 souls.[4]

It thus appears quite evident that the six Yokuts tribes, except perhaps the Wukchumni, had no more than 200 persons apiece during the era under consideration. From modern informants Kroeber, Gayton, and Latta have obtained for the Choinok, Gawia, Telamni, Yokod, and Wolasi collectively the names of only 8 villages. Assuming the Kings River value of 150 persons per village, which seems to be confirmed by Derby for the Kaweah River also, this means 1,200 persons for the five tribes. Gayton and Latta, however, find 15 names for the Wukchumni, which would indicate a population of 2,250. Such a figure is highly unlikely. It is probable that earlier times are referred to by the informants or that there is confusion among tribal affinities. Alternatively, the Wukchumni villages may have followed the style of the hill-dwelling Mono and have been very much smaller than has been indicated by Derby for the valley-inhabiting Yokuts. Since we cannot resolve the difficulty with the data at hand, it is better to accept the practically unanimous opinion of contemporary white observers that the population below Lemon Cove did not exceed 1,200 in 1851. To these must be added the 600 Mono previously discussed, making a total for the Kaweah River as a whole of 1,800 persons.

If the two river basins are considered jointly, the method of area comparisons as applied to the Mono, estimates by government officials, accounts by early pioneers, and the village lists secured from modern informants all apparently agree that the population of the region reached several thousand as late as 1850 and 1851. We may therefore accept the total of 6,800, or 5,000 on the Kings and 1,800 on the Kaweah.

KINGS-KAWEAH ... 6,800

THE TULARE LAKE BASIN

The shores of Tulare Lake (see maps [1] and [2], area 2) were aboriginally inhabited by three tribes, the Tachi, Wowol, and Chunut. In close proximity on the northeast were the Nutunutu, but since the latter have been included with the Kaweah River tribal group, they must be omitted from consideration here. Savage allocated 1,000 Indians to Tulare Lake (Dixon, MS, 1875). McLean said there were 1,000 Indians "on the lakes" in 1853, 500 of which were "Notontos," leaving 500 for the "Taches" and "Tontaches" (Merriam collection). The most reliable account is that of Derby (1852). However, Derby in his terminology confused the Tachi with the Chunut, in which mistake he has been followed by Merriam (under title "Indians of the Tache Lake Region in 1850," MS). Derby makes it clear in his account that he found the village of Sintache (population 100) at the northern side of the then nearly dry Lake Tontache, that is to say on the southern shore of the big Lake Tache (Tulare). These were probably Chunut. There was also a small rancheria which he called Tinte-Tache at the south side of the same lake, i.e., Tontache (population 50). These are likely to have been Wowol. The tribe known to ethnographers as the Tachi were north of the big lake (i.e., Lake Tache or Tulare). Their chief told Derby that they had 800 people and that their principal rancheria was northwest of the lake (population 300). Since Derby also applies the name of Tinte-Tache to the northwest village, it is clear that there were two rancherias of this name included in his account.