The Round Valley Indian Reservation is a federally recognized
Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
lying primarily in northern
Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...
, United States. A small part of it extends northward into southern
Trinity County. The total land area, including off-reservation trust land, is 93.939 km
2 (36.270 sq mi). More than two-thirds of this area is off-reservation trust land, including about in the community of
Covelo. The total resident population as of the
2000 census was 300 persons, of whom 99 lived in Covelo.
History of the Round Valley Natives
The Round Valley Indians consists of the Covelo Indian Community. This community is an accumulation of people from several tribes: the
Yuki, who were the original inhabitants of Round Valley,
Concow Maidu, Little Lake and other
Pomo
The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small grou ...
,
Nomlaki
The Nomlaki (also Noamlakee, Central Wintu, Nomelaki) are a Wintun people native to the area of the Sacramento Valley, extending westward to the Coast Range in Northern California. Today some Nomlaki people are enrolled in the federally recogniz ...
,
Cahto
The Cahto (also spelled Kato, especially in anthropological and linguistic contexts) are an indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. Today most descendants are enrolled as the federally recognized tribe, the Cahto Indian Tribe of the ...
,
Wailaki
The Eel River Athabaskans include the Wailaki, Lassik, Nongatl, and Sinkyone (Sinkine) groups of Native Americans that traditionally live in present-day Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt counties on or near the Eel River and Van Duzen River o ...
, and
Pit River
The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range.
The longest tributary of the Sacr ...
peoples. They were forced onto this remnant of the land formerly occupied by the Yuki tribe.
The Round Valley Indian Reservation began in 1856 as the Nome Cult Farm, an administrative extension of the
Nome Lackee Reservation located on the Northwestern edge of the Sacramento Valley, one of the five reservations in California legislated by the United States Government in 1852. The system of Indian reservations freed Indian land for the settlers' use, and cleared natives from the land by force.
When the reservation was established, the Yuki people (as they came to be called) of Round Valley were forced into a difficult and unusual situation. Their traditional homeland was not completely taken over by settlers as in other parts of California. Instead, a small part of it was reserved especially for their use as well as the use of other Indians, many of whom were enemies of the Yuki. The Yuki had to share their home with strangers who spoke other languages, lived with other beliefs, and who used the land and its products differently.
Indians came to Round Valley as they did to other reservations - by force. The word "drive", widely used at the time, is descriptive of the practice of "rounding up" Indians and "driving" them like cattle to the reservation where they were "corralled" by high picket fences. Such drives took place in all weather and seasons, and the elderly and sick often did not survive.
From years of intermarriage, a common lifestyle, and a shared land base, a unified community emerged. The descendants of Yuki, Concow Maidu, Little Lake and other Pomo, Nomlaki, Cahto, Wailaki, Pit River peoples formed a new tribe on the reservation, the Covelo Indian Community, later to be called the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Their heritage is a rich combination of different cultures with a common reservation experience and history.
Massacres and Fort Wright
Between July, 1856, when Superintendent of Indian Affairs,
Thomas J. Henley, requested official designation of the valley as Nome Cult farm, and the granting of his request in 1858, Round Valley slowly filled with farms and ranches despite its reservation status.
Relations between the various Indian groups, settlers and White employees of the reservation reached a state of extreme hostility. As part of the
California genocide
The California genocide was the killing of thousands of indigenous peoples of California by United States government agents and private citizens in the 19th century. It began following the American Conquest of California from Mexico, and the ...
, bloodshed became a frequent occurrence as settlers massacred native Americans, some at the behest of future first Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court
Serranus Clinton Hastings
Serranus Clinton Hastings (November 22, 1814 – February 18, 1893) was an American politician, rancher and lawyer in California. He studied law as a young man and moved to the Iowa District in 1837 to open a law office. Iowa became a territory a ...
between the years 1850–70. They killed at least 283 men, women and children, the most deadly of 24 known state militia campaigns. The perpetrators of these massacres were paid or reimbursed for expenses by the State of California.
Superintendent Henley requested that the United States Army be sent to the valley to mediate.
Late in 1858, a company of the
U. S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
departed Benicia for Mendocino County. Due to inclement weather, the march was forced to halt at Fort Weller in Redwood Valley, but Lieutenant Edward Dillon was sent ahead with a party of seventeen men to occupy the barracks in Round Valley.
Fort Wright was then established in December 1862, on the western edge of the Valley.
Originally the soldiers were to protect the Indians from White attacks but soon, as part of the
Bald Hills War
Bald Hills War (1858–1864) was a war fought by the forces of the California Militia, California Volunteers and soldiers of the U.S. Army against the Chilula, Lassik, Hupa, Mattole, Nongatl, Sinkyone, Tsnungwe, Wailaki, Whilkut and Wi ...
, were deployed to capture Indians throughout the area and bring them to confinement on the Reservation.
Federal legislation
![Nomecult1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Nomecult1.jpg)
President
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
formally established the Round Valley Indian Reservation by
Executive Order
In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...
on March 30, 1870, pursuant to the
Four Reservations Act of 1864. Life on the Round Valley Reservation has since been affected by much government legislation. Two of the most significant impacts were from the
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...
of 1887, also known as the Allotment Act, and the
Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...
of 1934, known as the IRA.
The Allotment Act caused the Reservation to be subdivided in 1894 into five and plots which were distributed to families. By assigning specific pieces of land to individuals, the Act opened the door to private land ownership for Indians. Although the land was allotted, it was still held in trust by the government. However, in 1920, allotees were allowed to "fee patent" their land: to receive a deed to it by giving up its trust status and accompanying benefits, such as freedom from taxation. Some Round Valley People lost their land as a result. Either they were unable to pay the new taxes on it or they sold it to whites or other Indians for the cash. Others prospered by establishing farming and stock-raising operations. They leased extra land and raised garden vegetables, hay, hogs, and cattle.
In 1934, the United States Congress passed the
Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...
. In the interests of promoting self-government, only those Indian organizations consisting of elected councils, rather than those based on cultural traditions, were recognized as tribes by the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Indians of Round Valley jointly elected a tribal council and wrote a constitution both of which still function. Along with this alteration in tribal management, a whole range of new regulations intended to halt the loss of land from the Indian Community was also instituted. The IRA repealed the Allotment Act and Indians on the Reservation were deprived of the legal ability to buy and sell land, hold deeds and to take out loans. The land was put back into trust status and trust land could not be used as security.
When first recognized, the tribe and reservation were both known as the Covelo Indian Community.
Round Valley Indian Reservation History.
''Round Valley Online Community Network.'' 2001 (retrieved 26 Feb 2009)
Other Pomo communities in Mendocino County:
* Coyote Valley Reservation
The Coyote Valley Reservation in Redwood Valley, California is home to about 170 members of the Coyote Valley tribe of the Native American Pomo people, who descend from the Shodakai Pomo. They are a federally recognized tribe, who were formerly ...
* Redwood Valley Rancheria The Redwood Valley Rancheria (officially known as Redwood Valley Little River Band of Pomo Indians) is a federally recognized Indian tribe located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California. The tribe is primarily composed of Pomo Indians. Red ...
See also
* Mendocino Indian Reservation
* Nome Lackee Reservation
* Sebastian Indian Reservation
The Sebastian Indian Reservation (1853-1864), more commonly known as the Tejon Indian Reservation, was formerly at the southwestern corner of the San Joaquin Valley in the Tehachapi Mountains, in southern central California.
It was located in the ...
* Smith River Reservation
Smith River Reservation was an Indian reservation on the Smith River, set aside April 9, 1862 by the Department of Indian Affairs to replace the Klamath River Reservation that had been destroyed by the Great Flood of 1862 and as a reservation fo ...
* Tule River Farm
The Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. The Tule River Reservation is located in Tulare County, California. The reservation was made up ...
* Fresno Indian Farm
* Kings River Indian Farm
* Klamath River Reservation
Notes
References
Maidu.com: Round Valley Indian Reservation History
Round Valley Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, California
United States Census Bureau
* Economic Development Administration. U.S. Dept of Commerce.
California Report: Round Valley Rancheria (p. 287-288)
''. File retrieved May 5, 2007.
External links
*
{{authority control
Native American tribes in Mendocino County, California
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Native American tribes in California
Maidu
Pomo tribe
Wintun
Populated places in Mendocino County, California
1856 establishments in California
Trinity County, California
California genocide