In the western regions of Nevada County were the Maidu and the Nisenan Indians. The Maidu once populated an area that comprises, in whole or part, the counties of Lassen, Plumas, Butte, Sierra, Yuba, Sutter, Nevada, Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento. The southern Maidus were located in the middle of gold country, and the impact on them was greater than on any other California tribe. Their peaceful lifestyle changed overnight and was nearly obliterated by the ever- increasing hordes of miners seeking gold. The American Indians in the area that became Nevada City, the county seat of Nevada County, gave themselves a new name, the "Oustemahs." meanding near the town. Little remains in Nevada County to remind us of the native people who once had small camps throughout the county. The Maidu have no written record of their past. What is unique to these people is they have no memory or tradition of coming from some other place. Historians believe that they have been here many thousands of years. Also unique to these people is that they had no name that they called themselves. Thus, from the time of the arrival of white man, they were known as "Diggers," a name which covered a large portion of the Indians of California. In 1877, Stephen Powers published a book, "Tribes of California," and they were given a more fitting name. Finding that a name was lacking he used "Meidoo" or Maidu," the word in thier language meaning "Indian" or "man." The language spoken by the Maidu is distinct from all other tribes.
It was impossible to know the number of American Indians that inhabited the area prior to the Gold Rush. Even after that time, a few white men tired to learn thier native language, and none of the Indians could speak English, although some could converse in Spanish.
The numbers estimated at various dates vary greatly. One figure suggests there were 150,000 in all of California in 1848 prior to the gold discovery. It is estimated that in 1769 prior to the first permanent European settlement in California, the native population was 350,000. It was noted by Indian Agent W.P. Crenshaw, in a repot to the superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1854, that one of the problems of ascertaining thier exact number arises from the fact that they were frequently changing camps from one section to another.
Unfortunately, the white man brought diseases to which the American Indians had no immunity, and their population was decimated. The white man came with diseases such as smallpox, against which American Indians did not have immunity, and that disease was responsible for the majority of deaths among the native population. Other causes of death were starvation due to loss of thier sources of food, particularly the hunting grounds, because of the ever-encroaching white settlers and miners. In 1855, California's Indian Removal Policy moved the surviving Indians to reservations out of Nevada County. By the time any great number of settlers arrived in the towns of Grass Valley, Nevada City and Rough and Ready, the surviving American Indians had been moved to reservations several counties away. This move was not very successful and many of the surviving American Indians left the reservations to find thier way back to thier Nevada County homes.
On January 9, 2001, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution to recognize the Tsi-Akim Maidu tribe and support its pursuit of Federal recognition. The Nevada County Historical Society endorsed the resolution and appeared before supervisors to support it. At that time plans were under consideration by the tribe to build a cultural center in Nevada County where Indians and non-Indians can learn about the Maidus' heritage.
Local Tsi-Akim Maidu now have an office and thrift store at 548 Searls Avenue, Nevada City in the 7 Hills Business District. Current hours are Mon-Sat from 10:00 a.m. - 5 p.m. In the future they will be moving to a brand new facility on Main Street in Grass Valley that will include medical offices. For current informaton email is Tsiakm@aol.com.
Two helpful links are Native American Resources at Rootsweb Click Here
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Last updated:
May 16,2008
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