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
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...
in the
Tehachapi Mountains
The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwest ...
, in southern central
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
.
It was located in the southwestern Tehachapis, from
Tejon Creek and Tejon Canyon, west to
Grapevine Canyon (''Canada de las Uvas'').
[NPS: Tejon Reservation]
/ref>
History
Establishment
Edward F. Beale, the federal Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California, established this as the first 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 ...
in California in 1853.[
The 75,000 acre Tejon Reservation was within the private Rancho El Tejón Mexican land grant. However, Beale hoped if the land claims were upheld the land could be purchased by the federal government. To gain support for his efforts, Beale named the reservation after ]United States Senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
William K. Sebastian
William King Sebastian (June 12, 1812May 20, 1865) was an American politician and lawyer from Helena, Arkansas. He represented Arkansas as a U.S. Senator, Democrat, from 1848 to 1861. Sebastian withdrew from the Senate at the start of the Civil W ...
of Arkansas, Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee.[ He supported Beale's plans to form a series of reservations, garrisoned by a military post, on government owned land.
The Indians were to support themselves by farming. However, throughout the reservation's existence, drought, insects, and crop disease undermined the attempts at farming.][ The newly constructed Stockton – Los Angeles Road, replacing ]El Camino Viejo
El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles ( en, the Old Road to Los Angeles), also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta Cal ...
, skirted the western and northern sides of the reservation.
The reservation became operational in September 1853, and some California Indians
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...
moved in voluntarily. Among the tribes of Mission Indians
Mission Indians are the indigenous peoples of California who lived in Southern California and were forcibly relocated from their traditional dwellings, villages, and homelands to live and work at 15 Franciscan missions in Southern California and ...
the reservation held, were 300 Emigdiano Chumash Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California
See also
*Chumash traditional n ...
, whose homeland had included Tejon Canyon. In 1854, Lieutenant Beale reported that 2,500 Indians were living on the Sebastian Reservation.
In 1854, Fort Tejon
Fort Tejon in California is a former United States Army outpost which was intermittently active from June 24, 1854, until September 11, 1864. It is located in the Grapevine Canyon (''La Cañada de las Uvas'') between the San Emigdio Mountains and ...
was built to the southwest, to protect both the reservation's Indians and white settlers in the region from raids by the Paiutes, Chemeheui, Mohave people
Mohave or Mojave ( Mojave: 'Aha Makhav) are a Native American people indigenous to the Colorado River in the Mojave Desert. The Fort Mojave Indian Reservation includes territory within the borders of California, Arizona, and Nevada. The Colorad ...
s, and other Indian groups of the desert regions to the east. It was also to control the Indians who were living on the Tejon Reservation, and protect them from attacks by American immigrants and settlers.[
]
Operations
Farm equipment, cattle and sheep were brought to Tejon Reservation, and a staff of white employees hired to teach the Indians agriculture and supervise their activities. Hundreds of acres of land were plowed and planted with wheat, barley, and corn. Tejon Creek irrigated gardens, vineyards, and orchards. From the forest in upper Tejon Canyon Indians hauled timber from which they sawed the lumber needed at the reservation. Additionally there was wild game to hunt for in the Tehachapi Mountains and the San Joaquin Valley. In that year the Indians gathered an abundant wheat harvest.
In early 1854, with political change in Washington, Beale's detractors charged him with embezzlement of government funds. Settlers in the San Joaquin Valley resented the agricultural competition from the Indians, and claimed that too much land had been set aside for them. He was removed from his office, but was exonerated of the charges.
Colonel Thomas J. Henley, was Beale's replacement as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California. When Henley took charge, he noted only 800 Indians, with fewer than 350 present at one time, and only 1,500 acres under cultivation, indicating that numbers of Indians and amount of acreage under cultivation had been inflated by Beale.[ Henley established other reservations in California, and appointed Colonel James R. Vineyard as the resident agent at the Sebastian Reservation.
In 1855, some of the reservation's Indian residents fled, and Vineyard requested assistance from Fort Tejon to find them and force their return. The fort's commander refused, stating their role was to protect the Indians and punish any that committed hostile acts, but not return Indians that voluntarily resided on the reservation.
In 1856, rainfall was sparse but the harvest was enough for the 700 inhabitants that remained. A flour mill, granary, storehouse, and dwellings for the resident agent and the chiefs were built. A physician was also provided. In November 1856, the reservation was reduced to 25,000 acres. For 1856, the 700 Indians were reported as having 700 acres under cultivation.][
In 1857, drought continued, resulting in crop failure except were irrigation reached them and those grapevines and fruit trees that began to yield a harvest. The Indians were also encouraged to collect wild food during the winter. Despite that setback, new buildings were constructed and new arrivals increased the population to over 1,000.
A post office was established at the reservation in September 1858, but it was moved in 1859 to Sinks of Tejon Station, one of the stagecoach stations of the ]Butterfield Overland Mail
Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...
. By 1858, nearly all of the remaining inhabitants were living in houses. Several families were raising livestock, and the women had learned to make American style clothing.
By 1859, Henley had been replaced as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California.[
Finally, the winter of 1861—1862 was very wet causing Great Flood of 1862. It did break the 5-year drought, so the Reservation's Indians planted larger fields of grain, and there was a productive harvest during 1862. Additional Indians were encouraged to settle at the Sebastian Reservation, beyond the thirteen hundred that already lived there.
During the 1863 drought year, all the crops were lost except for 30 tons of hay. Settlers encroached on the Tejon Reservation's unsurveyed and unfenced land, with their cattle and sheep eating reservation crops.][
]
Demise
Meanwhile, by 1863 former agent Edward F. Beale had purchased five contiguous ranchos in the Tejon area, which included the Tejon Reservation land, and was raising 100,000 sheep. In 1863, he offered to lease 12,000 acres to the government, but withdrew the offer when he found that the government planned to move Owens Valley Paiute
The Mono ( ) are a Native American people who traditionally live in the central Sierra Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (generally south of Bridgeport), the Mono Basin, and adjacent areas of the Great Basin. The Eastern mono is often grouped under ...
Indians there. He noted that he had made the offer only because Indians already on the reservation were his friends.[
In the summer of 1863, over 900 Owens Valley Paiute were marched through the ]Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...
towards the Tejon Reservation, following their capitulation in the Owens Valley Indian War
The Owens Valley War was fought between 1862 and 1863, by California Volunteers and local settlers against the Owens Valley Paiutes, and their Shoshone and Kawaiisu allies, in the Owens Valley of California and the southwestern Nevada borde ...
. They ended up in the Tule River Indian Reservation.
The reservation was ordered closed in June 1864.[ Fort Tejon was also abandoned in 1864.
Jose Pacheco, a Tejón leader, wrote to General Wright on April 16, 1864:][ ]'' "I should not have troubled you with this letter, Dear General, did I not think the agents here had wronged us. You and our great father at Washington do not know how bad we fare, or you would give us food or let us go back to our lands where we can get plenty of fish and game. I do not think we get the provisions intended for us by our Great Father; the agents keep it from us, and sell it to make themselves rich, while we and our children are very poor and hungry and naked." ''
On July 11, Austin Wiley wrote:[ '' "I have the honor to inform you that all the Indians on the Tejon Farm and in the vicinity of Fort Tejon, some two hundred in number, have been removed from there to the ]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 ...
." '' Wiley noted that there was no food for the Indians at Tejon.
Shortly thereafter, D. N. Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, summarized the reasons for the reservation's failure: '' "The lack of legal title to the land severely restrained investment in construction and development, leaving the reserve and the Indians on it in a state of constant uncertainty. The ideal of converting Indians from food gathering to settled agriculture was never realized." ''
California Historical Landmarks
*The Sebastian Indian Reservation California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
number 133, signed January 31, 1934, reads:
:''NO. 133 SEBASTIAN INDIAN RESERVATION - The Sebastian or Tejón Indian Reservation (headquarters ten miles east of here) was established in 1853 by General Edward Fitzgerald Beale
Edward Fitzgerald "Ned" Beale (February 4, 1822 – April 22, 1893) was a national figure in the 19th-century United States. He was a naval officer, military general, explorer, frontiersman, Indian affairs superintendent, California rancher, ...
as one of several California reservations. The number of Indians quartered here varied from 500 to 2,000. General Beale acquired title to this area under Mexican land grant of 1843. In 1864 the U.S. government transferred the Indians to other reservations.''
*Rose Station also called Vaquero camp, also called Rancho Canoa is a California Historical Landmark signed May, 1, 1939.
The Rose Station California Historical Landmark reads:
:''NO. 300 Rose Station - From 1853 to 1875 this site, originally a vaquero camp of the Sebastian Indian Reservation, was known as Rancho Canoa (trough). In 1875, Wm. B. Rose built an adobe stage station on the site of the Overland Mail way station established 1858. Rose Station was a stockmen's headquarters, post office, and polling place.''californiahistoricallandmarks.com Landmark chl-300
/ref>
Both markers are located at Grapevine Road and 'D' Street 70 miles south of Mettler, California
Mettler, or Mettler Station, is a heavily Hispanic, low-income unincorporated area and census-designated place in Kern County
Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 909,235. ...
.
See also
* Chumash people
The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu ...
* Tejon Indian Tribe of California
The Tejon Indian Tribe of California is a federally recognized tribe of Kitanemuk, Yokuts, and Chumash indigenous people of California.
Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains, and Tehachapi Mountain ...
* Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation
The Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation is a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans. The Tule River Reservation is located in Tulare County, California. The reservation was made up of Yokuts, about 200 Yowlumne, Wukchu ...
* Indigenous peoples of California
The indigenous peoples of California (known as Native Californians) are the indigenous inhabitants who have lived or currently live in the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and after the arrival of Europeans. ...
* California Historical Landmarks in Kern County
Properties and districts listed as California Historical Landmarks within Kern County.
*Note: ''Click the "Map of all coordinates" link to the right to view a Google map of all properties and districts with latitude and longitude coordinates in t ...
*California Historical Landmark
A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance.
Criteria
Historical significance is determined by meeting at least one of ...
References
External links
National Park Service: A History of American Indians in California—the Tejon Indian Reservation
Historical Marker Database—HMdb.org: The Sebastian Indian Reservation
Bakersfield.com: The Sebastian Indian Reservation
{{authority control
American Indian reservations in California
Chumash
History of Kern County, California
Native American history of California
Tehachapi Mountains
Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass
1850s in California
1860s in California
Populated places established in 1853
1853 establishments in California
1864 disestablishments in California
Former American Indian reservations