Big Changes for a Traditional Culture: Colonizing the Lower Yuba Watershed 1821-1851

The Sierra Science Series at the Nevada County Campus welcomes Dr. Tanis Thorne and Hank Meals in a presentation titled: Big Changes for a Traditional Culture: Colonizing the Lower Yuba Watershed 1821-1851. The presentation will be held on Tuesday evening, April 18, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm, in the Multipurpose Center, building, N-12. Come early and enjoy a meet-and-greet and refreshments at 6pm. 

Traditional Nisenan lifeways began changing rapidly in the early nineteenth century when cattle, horses and new grassland plants appeared followed by Indian fugitives from the coastal missions. Then in 1833 a pandemic on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers decimated most of the large sedentary Nisenan villages and sent even more refugees into the foothills. White colonizers first appeared as fur trappers, then as entrepreneurs claiming land “given” to them as Mexican Land Grants. Beginning In 1848 hordes of Euro-Americans arrived searching for gold. The miners had no respect for existing practices and were completely dismissive of native culture.

Despite resistance and negotiation the Nisenan finally signed the Camp Union Treaty with the United States in 1851. The provisions of the treaty were ignored, and Congress never ratified the treaty.

How did the Nisenan adapt to these massive changes in traditional land use practices and social organization? How come after all they have experienced, they’re still here? These are the questions that Tanis Thorne and Hank Meals have been researching for years. How has science helped or in some instances, hindered their investigation?