WORK IN A NATIONAL FOREST 



BY 



Charles Howard Shinn, Supervisor of Sierra (North) National Forest 

 No. 7 : Land, Indians and Whisky 



HAVE something of a story to tell, 

 and a few questions to ask of those 

 fellow-workers in the Service who are 

 up against these particular problems. 

 They belong mainly to California, for 

 in most States the Indians are on 

 reservations and more directly under 

 Governmental control than here. Even 

 in California the special difficulties that 

 I shall describe are less serious south 

 of the Tehachipi. As it happens, my 

 friends Bigelow of Klamath, Barrett 

 of Lassen Peak, Elliott of Tahoe, 

 Britten of Stony Creek, and a few 

 others of the northern and central 

 forests of California, besides some of 

 our Pacific Coast Inspectors, are the 

 ones who can contribute most to a 

 symposium upon Indians. I hope 

 that the energetic editor of FORESTRY 

 ,\.\D IRRIGATION will wisely trouble all 

 these, and others too, for contributions 

 along this line. 



The full-blooded Indians of Calif- 

 ornia are estimated to have numbered 

 210,000 in 1834 under Spanish rule 

 and before the Days of Cold. They 

 now number but 17,000, and about 

 sixteen hundred of these live in the 

 National Forests. A map was pre- 

 pared in 1907 for the Northern Calif- 

 ornia Indian Association, which map 

 shows some nineteen points in Sierra 

 North at which Indians live in num- 

 bers of from ten to one hundred. These 

 places are not really "rancherias," 

 though they arc commonly called so. 

 The little Indian homes are scattered 

 here and there, wherever a spring can 

 be found and a little pasturage for a 

 few horses. These Indians wander 

 around to each others' camj s at differ- 

 ent seasons, or up into the higher 

 mountains, or down to the plains for 



the hop-picking and grape gathering, 

 returning to their homes in winter. 



In 1906 the report of C. E. Kelsey, 

 Special Agent for the California In- 

 dians, was issued, in which he says : 

 "There is also quite a number of In- 

 dians located within the boundaries 

 of the Forest Reserves. According to 

 figures of your Special Agent they 

 number 1181. They have no title to 

 the lands they occupy, and since the 

 establishment of the Forests it is un- 

 certain whether the lands within their 

 boundaries can legally be alloted to 

 them." Mr. Kelsey says further that 

 the Indians are protected by the forest 

 regulations and that there is "no occa- 

 sion for any action in respect to any 

 of them." 



Mr. Kelsey has again visited this 

 forest (March, 1908) and, comparing 

 notes, we decide that the total num- 

 ber inside of the forests is fully 2.490, 

 and a complete census will certainly 

 bring it to 3,000 or even 3.300 when 

 the proposed additions to il for- 



ests are made. The number in Super- 

 visor Bigelow's bailiwick is not less 

 than 7<;o; Sierra North, when the 

 proposed new area is taken in. will in- 

 clude not less than St : - ra South 

 and Sierra East have some : Monterey 

 has a few ; Diamond Mountain. Sh;>~ta. 

 Trinity, Stony Creek, Tahoe and Stan- 

 islaus hold about all the rest. We are 

 making a census here: and it is a 

 heaw of work, to... for we want 

 it more than a mere alphabetical list; 

 it must include all attainable personal, 

 historical and economic f; 



Kvidcntly the pr -ing 



np. m th"M- \\h.' wish to !_;ive the In- 

 dians "a white man's chance" are 

 many an us. In fact it appears 



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