From Yokuts to Tule River Indians: Re-creation of the Tribal Identity on the Tule River Indian Reservation in California from Euroamerican Contact to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 By Kumiko Noguchi B.A. (University of the Sacred Heart) 2000 M.A. (Rikkyo University) 2003 Dissertation Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Native American Studies in the Office of Graduate Studies of the University of California Davis Approved Steven J. Crum Edward Valandra Jack D. Forbes Committee in Charge 2009 i UMI Number: 3385709 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3385709 Copyright 2009 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Kumiko Noguchi September, 2009 Native American Studies From Yokuts to Tule River Indians: Re-creation of the Tribal Identity on the Tule River Indian Reservation in California from Euroamerican contact to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 Abstract The main purpose of this study is to show the path of tribal development on the Tule River Reservation from 1776 to 1936. It ends with the year of 1936 when the Tule River Reservation reorganized its tribal government pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. This dissertation also looks at the historical experiences of the Yokuts Indians, who became the main constituents on the Tule River Reservation, and how the IRA affected their political, cultural, and social organization. The Yokuts cultural past tells us that they were living as small, independent political groups, each sharing a common language with various dialects. However, they were eventually placed within a limited geographical area, called Tule River Reservation in 1856. Since then, the people on the Tule River Reservation created a more comprehensive identity as "People of Tule River." The IRA recognized the Tule River Reservation as one political entity, even or as a quasi-sovereign entity, and added them to the list of federally recognized tribes. Under the IRA, the people of Tule River Reservation shared a common political belonging. In practice, the IRA provided a new opportunity for Tule River Indians, who did not have ii any treaty contract with federal government, to survive as political entities, and to deal with the national authorities up to the 21st century. Having been negatively affected by the rapid growth of the Euroamerican population after the California Gold Rush, tribal depopulation by the disease and warfare in the 19th century, and the confused land policy under the so-called 18 unratified treaties and the reservation system, Native people in California became ignored, and "invisible people." Furthermore, urbanization and economic diversity are all issues which made the Native American experience in California somewhat different from the other Native peoples' experience. However, as recent studies have revealed, contemporary California Natives have been active in maintaining their political, economic and social power through the regional, tribal and intertribal organizations. This study contributes to the historical understanding of how the Yokuts acquired modern tribal autonomy and the building of the Tule River Indian Tribe. in Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Yokuts in Early life and Social Organization -1769 26 2. Spanish and Mexican Invasion, 1770-1843 42 3. Manifest Destiny and Anglo-American Invasion, 1844-1850 63 4. Unratified Treaties in California, 1850-1852 82 5. Tule River Indian War, 1856 109 6. Creation of Tule River Reservation, 1856-1878 128 7. Federal Bureaucracy on the Tule River Reservation, 1856-1932 144 8. Pre-IRA Political Organization, 1933 163 9. IRA Application Process in Sacramento Agency, 1933-1934 180 10. Political Reorganization of Tule River Reservation, 1934-1936 197 11. Tule River Cattle Association, 1936-1938 208 12. Conclusion 221 Appendix 228 Bibliography 261 IV Acknowledgments I am grateful to all those who helped me with this project. First, I thank Steven Crum, my major advisor in Native American Studies at University of California, Davis who supported my entire project over the years and always led me on the right path in my school life. I also thank two other dissertation committee members who reviewed my works and commented on it; Edward Valandra, Professor at University of South Dakota, who examined each chapter with insights and critical eyes; Jack Forbes, Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies at University of California Davis, who told me numerous information about California Indian History. I am also grateful to several Yokut individuals who allowed me to record interviews and to others who allowed me to ask questions and take notes during informal visits. Those with whom I conducted recorded interviews included Veron Vera, and Isadore Garfield. I thank the Tule River Tribal Council members and the Tule River Elder's Council members who gave me opportunities to present my research in front of them and to conduct my research on the Tule River Reservation. I also dedicate special thanks to my friends, Veron Vera and Dianne Vera on the Tule River Reservation. They not only offered me their house and food during my research on the Reservation, but also gave me their insights and heart-warming suggestions on my life. A number of scholars provided suggestions and comments on my works during my school life, including (in no particular order) Professors in Native American Studies at UCD; Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Stefano Varase, Ines Helnandez-Avilla and Martha Macri, and Thomas Biolsi, Professor at University of California Berkeley. My colleagues, Francis Kay Holmes, Susannah Daniel, Susan Stowell and Jason Lacy v provided a great deal of human and intellectual support in a difficult educational environment. I with to thank many archivests and their staffs who assisted me with my research at the National Archives in Washington D.C. and San Bruno, California; the History Room in the California State Library at Sacramento; the Special Collections at the University of California, Davis; the History Room in the Tulare County Library, California; the Ethnic Studies Library and the Bancroft Library at University of California, Berkley. I also thank the organizations that granted financial support for my school life at Davis as well as this undertaking. The Fulbright Scholarship for graduate studies (2004-2006) enabled me to finish my course work and gave me rich opportunities to make friendship with students and scholars all over the world. Thanks for the UCD graduate fellowship, I could finish good portion of my research. Stella Mancillas, and Tina Tansey worked for my financial support and helped my entire school life as graduate and undergraduate coordinators in Native American Studies at UCD. Lastly, I dedicate my dissertation to my family. They had spent numerous hours for my long distance calls from Davis to Japan patiently, and were good listeners for me. Without their supports, I could not have completed my dissertation. vi 1 Introduction The main purpose of this study is to show the path of tribal development on the Tule River Reservation in California from 1776 to 1936. It ends with the year of 1936 when the Tule River Reservation reorganized its tribal government pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934.l This dissertation also looks at the historical experiences of the Yokuts Indians, who became the main constituents on the Tule River Reservation, and how the IRA affected their political, cultural, and social organization. The Yokuts ethnology tells us that they were living as small, independent political groups, each sharing a common language with various dialects. However, most of them were eventually placed within a limited geographical area, called Tule River Reservation, in the late 19th century. Since then, the people on the Tule River Reservation intentionally or unintentionally created a more comprehensive identity as people of Tule River. It was the IRA which recognized the Tule River Reservation as one political entity and as a quasi-sovereign entity, and added them to the list of federally recognized tribes. Under the IRA, the people of Tule River Reservation became the Indians of "Tule River Tribe," which means they became a people sharing a common political belonging. In practice, the IRA provided a new opportunity and way for Indians in California, including those at Tule River Reservation (who did not have any ratified treaty contract with federal government), to survive as political entities, and to deal with the national authorities up to the 21st century. Indian New Deal Policy 1 Act of 18 June, 1934, 48 Stat. 984-88. 2 The decade of the 1930s was a watershed in American Indian policy. The failure of the forced assimilation of Native Americans for the previous half a century (1880s- 1930s) resulted in the economic poverty as well as the social and political subordination on Indian reservations. The well-known Meriam Report (1928) disclosed various Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) administrative problems. In 1926, Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work authorized Lewis Meriam and the staff of the Institute of Government Research in Washington, D.C., to conduct an investigation of the socioeconomic conditions among Indian people. The study resulted in the publication, The Problem of Indian Administration, or the so called Meriam Report. It was the first comprehensive study and analysis of Indian living conditions in 20th century. The report detailed the plethora of disastrous conditions affecting Indians at that time, such as high infant death rates, high mortality rates, poverty, horrendous health conditions, inadequate education, poor housing, and the problem of migrated Indians (Indians forced to leave the reservation because of land loss).