THE GOLD RUSH; MORE SUFFERING FOR THE INDIANS

Submitted by Ghostpainter on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 10:29am

The discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada by Indian Agent Johann Sutter, ushered in one of the darkest episodes of dispossession widespread sexual assault and mass murder against the native people of California. Sutter negotiated a treaty with the chief of the Coloma Nisenan Tribe which would have given a three year lease to lands surrounding the gold discovery site.

During those negotiations, the chief warned Sutter that the yellow metal he so eagerly sought was, very bad medicine. It belonged to a demon who devoured all who searched for it. How prophetic. Eventually the military governor refused to endorse Sutter's claims and the rest is as they say History.

Within a year, hoards of Gold Seekers from all over the world descended upon the gold fields with only one thing on there collective minds. Gold! the Indians were about to experience more murder and mayhem. The entire state was scoured by gold seekers.

Once gold was found in the upper Santa Ana river and the San Gabriel the Indians in the Inland Empire suffered once more, this time at the hoards of deserting soldiers, white and Mexican hustlers, Mormons and others desperate to find the gold at the end of there collective rainbows. The Military Governor and local Land owners sat back and did nothing except to guard their own precious holdings.

A virtual reign of terror descended upon on the tribesmen who lived around or on the mining camps. wholesale murder and violence against Indians resisting the miners developed into a deadly pattern. One Oustemah Nisenan female later recalled the horror she had witnessed and lived through.

My life of ease and peace just recently won from the oppressive Spanish Missionaries was once more interrupted by the arrival of the white men.Each day the population of the white man increased and each day our lives were changed. As gold fever increased, we were moved again and again, each time without notice. Sometimes they came in the night, kilking many while they slept. The Indians soon learned that those of the Americanos who were not white, but yet were Black, had more freedoms than they could ever imagine, soon learned that if they covered their faces in the blacken earth, their children nor themselves would be bothered by anyone.

Numerous vigilante type paramilitary troops were established, whose sole purpose for existence seems to have been to kill Indians and kidnap their children. Groups such as the Humbolt Home Guard, the Eel River Minutemen and the Placer Blades among others terrorized local Indians. No one cared. As long as the gold flowed out of the ground of California, these groups could get away with murder and they did. The handiwork of these well armed death squads combined with the widespread wanton random killing of Indians by miners resulted in the death of an estimated 100,000 Indians in the first two years of the gold rush. A staggering loss of two thirds of the population. Nothing in American Indian history is even remotely comparable to this massive orgy of theft and mass murder. Stunned survivors now perhaps numbering fewer than 70,000 teetered near the brink of total annihilation.

The newcomers sometimes met organized Indian resistance. In 1850 a Cupeno chief named Antonio Garra Sr. organized local Southern California Indians to resist an illegal tax imposed upon San Diego Indians by the county sheriff. Sporadic attacks upon both Americans and some Mexicans by Garra's followers resulted in a massive crackdown on Indian communities.

Soon a rival Cahuilla chief captured Garra and turned him over to the authorities who promptly hung him and several of his followers. In 1851 several mountain Miwok tribes offered armed resistance to the hoard of miners overrunning their territory. When one tribe destroyed a trading post owned by an American who kept at least 12 Indian wives a militia was formed and aggressively attacked Indians throughout the southern mines area which ranged from San Jacinto to Baja. In reality these Indian campaigns were motivated b

y the greed of the miners to gain Indian lands and provide political capitol for ambitious office seekers. Sadly both the state and federal government eventually reimbursed the vast majority of these paramilitary forays for expenses incurred. There is a rummer that is how the practice of scalping began. These groups were paid by how many scalps they brought in. Somewhat akin to our Military forces in Vietnam and the Philippines, paying for Heads of the Communist enemy by the number of heads they brought into the bases. Seems something's never change do they.

Gary Hall the ghostpainter.

Inland Empire Cities

THE GOLD RUSH; MORE SUFFERING FOR THE INDIANS

Post new comment

User login

Recent Comments

Navigation