Sherburne Friend Cook

“ I liberated the Gentiles and we set forth toward the region of the Juchillones.
We had gone but a short distance when there began to assemble a great many Indians, uttering shrieks and cries, so that we had to go into line of battle again. Falling upon them, we killed one, and with this they all retreated. We followed our course in the direction we were going and concealed ourselves in a ravine near the beach. It has much timber, water, and firewood, good for a settlement. There we spent all the day hidden until nightfall when we went on to the rancheria of the Juchillones. ”

“ Disease, fugitivism to the deep interior, depression of the birth rate, economic and social upheaval, military butchery, all took such a toll of the nonmissionized, or surviving, Indians that certainly no more than one-half of the aboriginal number could have been actually baptized. At all events, the total number of baptisms represents a subminimal estimate of population. ”

“ Allowing 100 persons each for the abandoned village and the "fair sized" village and 150 for the one on Rodeo Creek, the four sites may be considered to represent at least 450 inhabitants. The village at Tormey had a population of 400, according to Font, and 500, according to Anza. No others are mentioned except the two in Concord Valley to which may be ascribed 100 persons each. If we use Font's estimate of 400 for the largest town, the total from Warm Springs to Concord Valley is 1,650. This is reasonably close to the value of 1,900 derived from Crespi. ”

“ Then: "It is evident that the land is not so good now, but it all continues full of oaks and live oaks...." Crossing the hills to the shore of the Bay the same rough, wooded country persisted—essentially as it is today.
During the three days many signs of natives were encountered. Near Walnut Creek "we came to three villages with some little grass houses...." Between Danville and Pleasanton there were "numerous villages of very gentle and peaceful heathen, many of them of fair complexion." From Pleasanton to the Bay no new villages or Indians are mentioned. ”

“ Uniting, they enter one of the estuaries which reach from San Francisco. In all this region, very well known for its climate, fine lands, much wood and walnut groves, the only water we found was one pool of stagnant water, another with good water although its water could not escape, and a spring which flows a little and which is next to the willow grove close to the inlet where it is said used to be the rancheria of the Tarquines. Granting what has been said and that Walnut Creek contains very little water, the area seems to me unsuitable for a foundation. ”

“ If we ascribe 100 inhabitants to an ordinary village and 200 to a "large" or "good" village, we get a total of 1,900 persons.
On the return trip through the interior hills Crespi notes three villages near Walnut Creek and numerous villages in the vicinity of Livermore Valley. If we allow "numerous" to be half a dozen, there is a total of nine villages. The size was likely to be smaller than on the Bay shore, say 50 persons. Then the total population represented would be 400-500. ”

“ From one point to the other the depth of the water is four varas, becoming shallower to two, when one sails close to the shore. Farther into the bay conditions would be the same as at the port for there is a channel which carries a considerable current. This is all the land of the Huchunes. It is quite bare, although there are some oak trees.
As far as the strait of the Karquines, including what we have covered yesterday and today, we must have spent about eight hours, all to the northeast, one-quarter north from the Mission. Here ends the above mentioned bay, estimated at 8 leagues. ”

“ It will be remembered that Crespi reported in 1772 that there were five villages between Milpitas and San Lorenzo, whereas Anza in 1776 found six. Danti, in a much more exhaustive survey, located only three. It is evident that during the intervening twenty years the native population in southwestern Alameda County had been seriously depleted, reduced perhaps more than half. Accordingly it must be recognized that the documents relating to the Danti-Sal expedition (and all later ones) are of little value for estimating the preconquest population of the East Bay. ”

“ From the Font-Anza diaries, together with that of Crespi, certain tentative conclusions may be reached.
1. The distribution of vegetation in 1775 was substantially the same as described by the American settlers of 1850 and thereafter and, allowing for the devastating influence of the white man, more or less as it is today. The exceptions are the removal of forests, such as the redwood stand on the Oakland hills, and the spread of introduced plants which has possibly occurred on the southern shore of Carquinez Strait. ”

“ The Indians fugitive from the Mission of San Francisco, Sacalanes and Cuchillones, are being recovered by means of emissaries and parties of soldiers who are treating them with the greatest gentleness and humanity. In the month of June, last, 18 of all ages and sexes came back to their ministers. In the following December the corporal of the guard of San José brought in 33 who wished to remain there [Mission San José] , as they had agreed with the Father President, because of the horror with which they regard the Mission of San Francisco. ”

“ No attempt is made to segregate the entries by year, since we are interested in the total, not the annual increment. Certain particular problems deserve comment.
The San Francisco record is very precise, since it allocates each neophyte to his rancheria, or at least to the local region of his origin. Santa Clara, however, as noted previously, gives no indication of the origin before 1805. By this time, all the local natives had been exhausted and only valley tribes are mentioned. It is probable that from 1777 to 1789 the natives in the immediate vicinity were being converted. ”

“ The total for San Francisco and San José equals 1,848 baptisms. Adding an estimated 400 for Santa Clara makes 2,248. This figure, which has to be regarded as a minimum for population since it covers only mission baptisms from the region, is as great as the estimates based on the expeditions of the first decade of settlement, and proves beyond question that those estimates were highly conservative. If we assume that the aboriginal population was twice the value of the baptisms, the total would have reached 4,496. ”

“ Although little direct information pertaining to population can be secured, it is nevertheless interesting to consider the prehistoric sites in the East Bay which have been noted by California archaeologists. Most of those which can be regarded as habitation mounds have [Pg 149] been recorded by the University of California Archaeological Survey, and have been plotted on map 1. ”

“ This fact shows that the two tribal groups, Sacalanes and Juchillones, had already been able to absorb the losses occasioned by the missionization of 40 persons per tribe—plus the conversion of probably many others who were not fugitives or at least were not captured by Amador, plus the attrition due to disease and disruption of food supplies—and yet were in a position to maintain a total of 6 rancherias, each of moderate to large size. The preconquest population per group must have reached at least 300 and very likely was much greater. ”

“ On this day Anza and Font made the acquaintance of two new species of fish, the sturgeon and the salmon, good descriptions of which are recorded by both explorers. Furthermore, the day was notable for encounters with the natives. Shortly after breaking camp the Spaniards were met by ten Indians who invited them to the nearby village (which Bolton says was at Tormey, about 2 miles west of Crockett) . This village was large; Font estimated the population as 400 persons and Anza as 500. ”

“ Amador's diary helps us to estimate the location and numbers of the tribal groups in question. After leaving Mission San José in the evening, his party traveled till dawn. Since all the men were mounted, this means a probable rate of 4 miles an hour for at least six hours, or 24 miles. The following day, "in the evening," they reached the first rancheria of the Sacalanes. Allowing a ride of three hours, the total distance would be 36 miles. Since there is no mention of the coast, the route must have been the well-known inland trail through Pleasanton and Dublin. ”

“ Cutter (1950, p. 113) states, regarding vegetation, that Cañizares found the north shore of the Bay covered with trees and the south shore arid and dry. Cañizares says the vegetated shore was "east" and the arid shore was "west." Both maps depict trees on both shores, but with the heavier concentration on the south side. The 1781 map uses for "Bosques de buenas Maderas" the symbol "Q." The latter appears at the southeast end of San Francisco Bay, in the vicinity of Oakland and Alameda, on the south side of the rivers at the head of Suisun Bay, and on the north side, well above Suisun Bay. ”

“ An originally fair-sized population therefore must have been dispersed nearly completely in twenty years.
No general, regional name was ever applied to these Indians, but a few individual rancheria names have been preserved. These are all designated in the San Francisco Baptism Book as lying on the "otra banda del estero" (or some similar expression) :
These records show, first, that from 1778 to 1786 the missionaries from San Francisco recognized fifteen inhabited places along the southeast shore of the Bay. ”

“ All day we went about five hours, all by oar, the sea being calm. The Island of Los Angeles and the points of Huchunes and Abastos form a double bay. That on the side of the Port [i.e., San Francisco] , the big one, has eight islands, most of which are small. One of them must be passed in sailing to the point of the Huchunes. It has a sandbar and must be passed a little distant to the west. It is noticeable only at low tide and on the western side is entirely covered with trees.
[Pg 146]
October 16. ”

“ From there to Martinez the canyons held a fair growth of oak. In those areas not bearing oak, the primary plant cover was grass. Neither Crespi nor Anza nor Font gives any hint of the heavy infiltration of shrubby vegetation, such as Baccharis, poison oak, or other chapparal species, which now extend down the entire slope of the hills from Crockett to Martinez. The deduction is reasonable, although strict proof is lacking, that the modern vegetation has entered the region since 1775. ”

“ One hundred, or even fifty, infuriated warriors would no doubt have appeared to be thousands to the fourteen terrified Christians, and the Governor would hardly want to report to the viceroy that his Mission Indians had been routed by a handful of wild natives. On the other hand, the incident proves the existence of a sizable rancheria somewhere in northern Contra Costa County in 1795. ”

“ Area 4. The interior valleys from Lafayette to Walnut Creek and Danville.—Part of this region was traversed by Fages and Crespi, who reported several villages. It is later identified as the home of the Saclanes. This tribal aggregate first comes into prominence in 1795 in connection with the murder of the San Francisco Christians, who slept on the beach and reached the Saclanes by noon. Amador, on his expedition of 1797, reached them in less than twenty-four hours from Mission San José. ”

“ From here a low island, level with the surface of the water, runs toward the east-northeast, ending at a point where the mountains divide. The second channel, which is quite large and capable of being sounded, immediately trends northeast, one quarter east, until it reaches the dividing point in the mountains where it enters a canyon, following the direction mentioned.
All this bay, which is called the round [bay] —although it is not such—is bordered by rough mountains without trees except two groves in the coves which are situated to the southwest. ”