“I note what you say about tuberculosis, and must say that the opposite ought to be true, but it is not, for many reasons, most of which are mentioned above. Were it not for their careless and dirty habits, their lack of food and proper care, they ought to be the strongest race on the face of the earth. By proper treatment many cases could be cured. As it is they all die. Two physicians cannot tend to everybody on so large a reservation and with their limited means.

“These are a few things that I thought I should mention in order to fully answer your questions. By doing so, I did not in the least mean to criticise anyone in the Service, for I know that much has been tried and done in the past. Still I believe with the other missionaries, that the Indians can be saved if we try the methods suggested above or similar ones.”

CHAPTER XXXI. THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA

No scientist has devoted more time and study to the California Indians than Dr. A. L. Kroeber. In his description of California tribes and stocks, published in the Handbook of American Indians, he states that the California natives are rather shorter than the majority of those in eastern North America, and in the south, they are unusually dark. The astonishing characteristic of California Indians is their diversified languages. There are twenty-one distinct linguistic families. The larger stocks such as the Athapascan, Shoshonean and Yuman have forced their way into the State, whereas the great majority are small bands and may be considered purely Californian.

While pottery was practically unknown, textile arts (particularly basket-making) were very highly developed. “Houses were often made of grass, tule, or brush, or of bark, sometimes covered with earth. Only in the northwest part of the State were small houses of planks in use. In this region, as well as on the Santa Barbara islands, wooden canoes were also made, but over the greater part of the State a raft of tules was the only means of navigation. Agriculture was nowhere practised. Deer and small game were hunted, and there was considerable fishing; but the bulk of the food was vegetable. The main reliance was placed on numerous varieties of acorns, and next to these, on seeds, especially of grasses and herbs. Roots and berries were less used.[[58]]

“Both totemism and a true gentile organization were totally lacking in all parts of the State. The mythology of the Californians was characterized by unusually well-developed and consistent creation myths, and by the complete lack not only of migration but of ancestor traditions. Their ceremonies were numerous and elaborate as compared with the prevailing simplicity of life, but they lacked almost totally the rigid ritualism and extensive symbolism that pervade the ceremonies of most of America. One set of ceremonies was usually connected with a secret religious society; another, often spectacular, was held in remembrance of the dead.”

We are concerned in this book with the condition of the California Indians the past sixty years. Without an exception on the American continent, there is no area in which the native population has so suddenly and generally diminished. The confiscation of the mission properties by the Mexican Government, followed by the great influx of gold-hunters, adventurers and ranchmen from 1849–1860, are responsible for the deplorable condition in which these Indians found themselves about 1880. Prior to the influx of the Forty-niners, the Indians had been self-supporting (although the action of the Mexican government came near bringing about their destruction). California people themselves took little interest in the wretched condition of the aboriginal inhabitants and it was not until the United States Board of Indian Commissioners and the Indian Rights Association became active and sent commissions or individuals to California, that reforms were inaugurated. Honorable Albert K. Smiley, a citizen of California (and founder of the Lake Mohonk Conference) was especially active in this humanitarian work. A Mr. Painter was sent out by the Indian Rights Association in 1885. Painter made a thorough investigation and laid formal complaint, with the backing of the Mohonk Conference, before the President of the United States. The usual delays occurred. The President referred the matter to the Attorney General, who in turn referred it to the Secretary of the Interior. The Indian Rights Association now assumed responsibility, and Mr. Herbert Welsh, Secretary of that organization, sent his check for $3,300 to be held while the case of the Indians was pending before the court.[[59]]

The wrongs of the Indians were made public at Lake Mohonk by various speakers, and through the country generally by Mrs. H. H. Jackson. The case of the mission Indians, sustained by these various organizations and individuals, was heard in the courts and resulted in victory for the Indians of California.

During the ’90’s the Indians were further evicted and became exceedingly destitute. Many died of starvation. The Indians seemed utterly unable to protect themselves and miners and ranchmen alike took every advantage of them. As an illustration of the situation in California as compared with that in the Black Hills, South Dakota, I will here relate a story told me at Deadwood in 1889.