Adam Johnston, in a statement published in 1853 includes a map (Johnston, 1853, p. 242). Along the rivers shown on this map he has placed figures for population. According to him there were 900 Indians on the Stanislaus and 450 on the Tuolumne, or a total of 1,350. These are distinctly noted as reservation Indians and hence would not have included the entire population. Four years later, H. W. Wessels reported for the same area only 500-700 persons (Wessels, 1857). These were the Indians left on the reservations.
At about the same period, James D. Savage gave as his opinion that there were 2,500 people on the Stanislaus and 2,100 on the Tuolumne (Dixon, MS, 1875). In their report in 1853 Barbour, McKee, and Wozencraft refer to a statement by a chief named Kossus that under his jurisdiction were 4,000 persons and 30 rancherias from the Calaveras to the Stanislaus. Although these two estimates are widely at variance with those submitted by the officials, it must be remembered that both Savage and Chief Kossus may have been referring to a somewhat earlier date and that both included bands and settlements higher up the rivers than was actually reached by the commissioners. Hence, although the figure of over 4,000 is likely too high, 1,000 to 1,500 may have been too low.
With respect to the strictly lowland tribes there is but little doubt that by the year 1852 the northern Yokuts lying between Stockton and Modesto had practically disappeared. Thus the first state census, taken in 1852, showed only 275 Indians remaining on the lower Stanislaus. George H. Tinkham states that in the same year there were only 10 families (perhaps 50 persons) left from the tribe which formerly had inhabited the region between the Calaveras and the Stanislaus and had extended eastward along the latter stream as far as Knights Ferry (Tinkham, 1923). The valley plains can consequently account for no more than approximately 350 persons and it must be assumed that almost all the remaining natives were living along the border of the foothills and higher up in the mountains.
One item of some significance is the discussion of the Tuolumne River tribes by Adam Johnston, written in the year 1860, definitely after the Gold Rush period. He says there were six chiefs in command of six rancherias, the names of which he gives. These rancherias "contain from fifty to two hundred Indians, men, women and children." One of these bands, the Aplache, "resided further in the mountains," from which one may infer that the other five were also in the mountains. At an average of 125 per band, or rancheria, this means 900 people whose existence was known to Johnston as late as 1860. An equivalent number can be assumed for the Stanislaus, or 1,800 in all.
The ethnographers have given us an imposing list of villages for the area under consideration, derived entirely from modern informants. There are three of these lists, those of Kroeber (1925), Merriam[2], and Gifford,[3] which merit careful scrutiny. Kroeber's (p. 445 of the Handbook) includes 49 names, which he says are of villages "that can be both named and approximately located." Merriam's "Mewuk List" has 28 names of places located on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne. Gifford shows 49 villages which he says are "permanent," in addition to perhaps twice that number of "temporary" villages and camps. Gifford's list is probably the most carefully compiled of the three. The geographical location is indicated by counties but since his field of observation embraces Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, it coincides territorially quite exactly with the other two lists.
Certain villages are recorded by all three investigators, others by two of them, and some by only one. Concerning the existence of the first two groups there can be little, if any, doubt. Of those appearing on only one list some question might be raised. On the other hand, the care and conservatism exhibited by all three ethnographers makes it very difficult to doubt the essential validity of their data. The discrepancies are clearly due to the differences between informants and the high probability that no single informant could recall all the inhabited places over so large an area.
I have tabulated below the number of villages according to river system and according to occurrence in the lists mentioned.
| Stanislaus | Tuolumne | |
|---|---|---|
| Kroeber, Merriam, and Gifford | 8 | 13 |
| Kroeber and Merriam | 2 | 3 |
| Kroeber and Gifford | 6 | 5 |
| Kroeber only | 6 | 8 |
| Gifford only | 5 | 12 |
| Merriam only | 1 | 1 |
| —— | —— | |
| Total | 28 | 42 |
We have therefore 70 reasonably well authenticated villages in the hill area traversed by the two rivers. With regard to the number of inhabitants, further data are provided by Gifford. His informant gave for each permanent place an estimate of the number of persons present in the year 1840. Gifford secured his material in approximately the year 1915 from a man very old at the time. If the informant was then seventy-five years of age, he must have been born in 1840. Hence he could scarcely be expected to remember population figures from a date much earlier than his childhood. The names and location of the villages themselves were at least semipermanent and could have been derived from the informant's parents even if not from his own memory. Hence it is probable that the figure furnished to Gifford more nearly represents the number of inhabitants in 1850 than in 1840. The average value for all 49 villages is 20.8 persons. Yet 7 villages are stated to have held 15 persons, 11 villages 10 persons, and 3 villages 5 or less persons. Such a condition argues a rapidly declining population, for no normal aboriginal settlement is likely to have contained less than 20 inhabitants. Gifford's average of 21 persons per village must, however, be accepted as representing the closest we can get to the value for the period of 1850. This means a population of 588 for the Stanislaus and 882 for the Tuolumne. The total is 1,470 for the foothill region. Between 300 and 400 may be added to account for scattered remnants along the lower courses of these rivers and on the San Joaquin itself, or 1,800 for the entire area under consideration.