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A-4 * Mountain Democrat - fr-rlday, October 1,2004The Eastern Sierra Nevada: The Inyo Indian war, Part 1£By RICHARD HUGHEY Democrat columnistndian cultures in pre-Gold Rush America were amaz-‘ ingly diverse. They ranged gem the stealthy and aggressive ifckjuois in the east, and the ifuriantic mounted warriors of ije Plains tribes, to the passive. sConc-age inhabitants of California. The latter were derisively called Dinger Indians”«r. - wwby the while prospectors l^cause they dug roots from the mcl lor sustenance andigpunu i or i earned about naked. These l(idnms existed in small “tri-(J several hundred persons and stayed largely in a sJScfly circumscribed area.Overwhelmed by white {'* man’s diseases i-There were hundreds of tri-throughout the state. The I Dylans were territorial but they ripely sought to expand their holders by invading neighboring villages. They never acted cejicsivcly to Tight a common ert£mv because until the coming cxClhe Forty Niners they nevertl one. They were ovcr-elmcd by the white man and Ip diseases, and quickly disappeared.the eastern slopes of the■era Nevada and in the long vfelley land that adjoins them, ar • !•liqrdicr race of indigenous pop-ifiation existed. The predomi-i|u?l tribe was culled, with vari-spellings. ‘'Paiute” Indians, branch of the Utah nation. In ifce Panamini Valley and iniuUi western Nevada livedspuliiwesli tribes of Shoshone Indians. The Indians in Owens Valley were Ijbm the Paiute tribe.p! They lake to the warpathgThc Paiutcs had been particu-lgi.ty troublesome for the immi-AJmt.s coining through theGreat Basin to reach the Sierra Nevada. They raided and harassed wagon trains as they migrated south of the Great Salt Lake. Part of the troubles of the Donner Party stemmed from Indian depredations as they moved across the Great Basin to the Humboldt sink. It should not have been surprising, therefore, that when white men showed up in the Owens Valiev the Indians would eventually take lo tire warpath.No strong leader emerges Unlike their distressed brethren on the western slopes, the Paiutes and the Shoshone tribes combined, and had a charismatic leader among the Indians emerged to lead them, they could have put an army into the field of between 1,500 and 2,000 warriors. Joaquin Jim was the most feared chieftain among the Indians, but his strategy was strictly defensive. He held the land in northern Inyo and southern Mono counties as his fiefdom and stoutly resisted any attempts by while invaders to settle there.Rain and snow in the winter of I861-IS62 were so extreme the Paiute Indians in the Owens Valley felt constrained to raid cattle from the settlers for their survival. A herder saw an Indian driving away a steer and promptly shot him. The next day, the Indians kidnapped, tortured and killed one of the settlers. War was in Lhe air, and tribal shamans were making medicine to neutralize the residents’ firearms. Tribes came from the southern region to join in the Paiutes assembled near Bishop, and more Shoshones came west from Nevada to add warriors. Medicine men were telling the braves they had cast magic that made the warriors immune to the Americans' guns.Score tied In Bishop, the settlers were fortifying themselves as well as possible. Old firearms were dusted off and cleaned. A few farmers went into the field to test-fire their rifles to ensure they were in good working condition. They were seen by a war party that immediately reported back lo the chief that something had gone wrong with the shamans' magic. The Indians broke camp and the threat of an attack passed. At a subsequent powwow with the Indians, a treaty was signed. The whites promised not to molest theIndians and the Indians promised not to steal the white men’s cattle. As far as the killing was concerned, they agreed that the score was tied, one to one.Joaquin Jim, who remained an intractable enemy of the foreign invaders, did not attend the meeting. Two months after the treaty was signed, his braves made off with 200 head of the ranchers’ cattle from a herdbeing driven to Aurora. Whenthree of the drovers went in search of the steers, they were confronted by a band of 50 Indians who told them to return to their herd, with which request they immediately complied.More bloodshedTwo days after this encounter, a group of five settlers observed a band of four Indians moving toward a herd of cattle. The while men intercepted the Indians, who claimed they were only going to their horses. The white men said the Indians could continue so long as they left their weapons at the spot where they had been intercepted. The Indians refused, and two of the white men were shot with arrows. The white men drew' their revolvers and killed all four of the Indians.The 42 ranchers and settlers who had fortified themselves earlier at Bishop prepared for war. The Indians attacked the cabin of a prospector living at Benton. The old man held off the Indians for two days, killing 10 of them, according to accounts. On the second day the Indians succeeded in setting fire to the thatch roof of his cabin. When he ran from the building, he was met with a hail of arrow's and killed.A group of 23 white men moved out from the primitive fort that had been erected at Bishop to attack an Indian camp in the Alabama Hills. The campground w'as in a rocky area and the Indians were able to take cover among the boulders. The battle lasted all day and, according to reports, 10 Indians were killed and three white men were wounded.IIndians from neighboring areas came into Inyo to aid the indigenous Paiutes though they could not act cohesively, and the Indians’ numbers were not a real match for the settlers’ firepower. Casualties among the Americans were caused primarily by marauding bands of Indians in ambushes and raids.The whites attacked Indian campgrounds whenever they could be located, and there would be widespread killing in the assaults.Indians acquire firearmsAt the commencement of hostilities, the Indians were armed only with bows and arrows. As engagements increased, the Indians acquired firearms and more residents began to be killed with bullets. The Indians began hijacking freight wagons coming over the Walker Pass. They killed the teamsters and made off with the merchandise, which included rifles and ammunition.In 1862 a group of 25 white men, including the sheriff of Mono County, was attacked by •the Indians. The Americans took cover in a ditch. When the sheriff rose to look over the level of the ditch, he was shot in the head and killed. That night the while men retreated to Big Pine when the moon went down. There had been one fatality besides the sheriff, in one battle three white men were killed fighting off an attack of Indians. All three had been shot with rifles.On April 6, 1862 contingents of the U.S. Cavalry arrived in Owens Valley. One squadron had come west from Aurora and the other had come north from Southern California. Soldiers tracked a band of Indians into a canyon in Round Valley. The Indians assumed defensive positions among the rocks and fired on the soldiers, killing one trooper and wounding one corporal. The Indians were entrenched and couldn’t be dislodged by the soldiers who suffered two more casualties, including a citizen who was killed. The army unit was forced to withdraw.The army unit that had entered the canyon was 150 men strong, including 100 soldiers. The Indian band was estimated to be not more that 15 to 20 braves. It was a rear guard covering the main group that* was moving north with the women and children.White folks start leavingThe inability to quell the Indian uprising in Inyo County caused an exodus of ranchers and settlers from Owens Valley. By May 1862 the Indians were in full possession of Owens Valley, and the authorities were giving consideration lo a proposal “to turn it into an Indian reservation.” However, on July 4, a contingent of 160 soldiers arrived at Oak Creek establishing an encampment they called Camp Independence. Another unit arrived on July 5.Thereafter, there were isolated incidents, but in genera! an uneasy peace settled in the valley.In September a council was held with Indian chiefs at Camp Independence, and another treaty was signed in October, which was followed by a reduction in force at the military installation. After the New Year, however, teamsters wqre attacked and killed as thjjy brought their wagons through Walker Pass; a group of four prospectors was attacked and dll four killed south of Oweijs Lake; and a team of five wefofl-choppers was killed in the {tills near Long Pine. Campsites throughout the valley were raided,’ prospectors murdered, and property stolen.(To be continued Friday, Out. 8.) . :* IThe Working Man's Outfitter StoreSince 1948 ★ 469 Main St., Placervllle f 622-341:4miu.ugwpwmmPPWW'KMmvnwwm.M i uni*MiaaeraMAMOCgASlN*Giant Selection of 40 styles dfKNIVES CUTLERY Canvas Nylon Duffle*«u rrm ^ f^m and Travel Bags Z1(JjSmittiWfessun W SPVder'0 VlCTORINCK IN STOCK—vWORK SHORTS!Carhartty#: ONLY M995While supplies lastMon-Sat 9:30-6 Sun 10-4Other locations in: Burbank • Hollywood Santa Monica • Santa Barbara • BakersfieldSTEAK SSEAFOOD/-Introducing* *”... pEvery Tuesday Beginning ai 5 pmCountry, ‘Utsdfcm .»fcBy Bob Sharon 8 to 11 pm
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Placerville Mountain Democrat
Placerville, California, US
Fri, Oct 01, 2004
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