Mr. MERITT. Is that the total claim of the California Indians against the Government?

Mr. COLLETT. We are not in a position to say that that is the total claim. We wish to have all claims submitted to the court, but that is the probable claim; I do not know of anything else. I do not know what the judgment of the court will be, but I do not see how the court could find a much greater sum than that.

The several Indian delegates who came to Washington, D. C., in behalf of the Indians of California were elected by their own people in a competitive election. The State was divided into seven districts. The officers of the auxiliaries were the commissioned persons to cast the votes for their organizations, and only officers were eligible for election.

For example, Mr. Stephen Knight's district, district No. 3, which consists of Indian auxiliaries in Mendocino, Lake, Sonoma, and Marin Counties, has nine auxiliaries with a total of 33 officers. In this district there were four candidates for whom votes were cast. Stephen Knight, of Ukiah, Mendocino County, received 552 votes as first choice and 372 votes as second choice. Ethan Anderson, of Upper Lake, Lake County, received 372 votes as first choice and 168 votes as second choice. Raymond Brown, of Covelo, Mendocino County, received 41 votes as first choice. Arthur Anderson, of Covelo, Mendocino County, received 41 votes as second choice. The several officers designated their choice of a delegate in writing and sent their ballots to the Indian Board of Cooperation for determination as to the person who had received the largest number of votes. The successful candidate, Stephen Knight, was then notified of his election and furnished with a prepaid round trip ticket and expense money.

Further example may be shown as to the choice of the delegates from district 1, which consists of Indian auxiliaries in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. This district includes ten auxiliaries and there were six candidates for whom votes were cast. District 1 was found to be entitled to two delegates. Frank Isles of Requa, Del Norte County, received 731 votes as first choice and 181 votes as second choice. Albert Wilder, of Orleans, Humboldt County, received 550 votes as first choice and 505 as second choice. Sherman Norton, of Hoopa, Humboldt County, received 432 votes as first choice and 50 votes as second choice. Albert James, of Loleta, Humboldt County, received 468 votes as first choice and 181 as second choice. Mrs. Rosie Stevens, of Requa, Del Norte County, received 58 votes as first choice, and Samuel Lopez, of Smith River, Del Norte County, received 221 votes as second choice. Those receiving the largest number of votes were Frank Isles and Albert R. Wilder. They were declared elected.

Because of the unfavorable and unwarranted attack on Mr. Wilder as the representative of the Indians of his district, it should be noted that he received votes from six of the ten organizations. The total of the votes cast for him was 1,055. This expression from the officers of the organizations within his district shows how highly the Indians regard him.

Mr. MERITT. And the Government would be entitled under the bill to a set-off for all gratuities of every kind and character?

Mr. COLLETT. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, who is the next witness?

Mr. COLLETT. Doctor Merriam.

STATEMENT OF DR. C. HART MERRIAM.

The CHAIRMAN. State your name in full, your residence, your occupation, and whom you represent.

Doctor MERRIAM. My name is C. Hart Merriam. My winter residence is in this city and my summer residence is at Lagunitas, Calif.

The CHAIRMAN. State whom you represent and what you are here for.

Doctor MERRIAM. I am a research associate in the Smithsonian Institution. I do not represent anybody here. I have been at work on the California Indians incidentally for 35 years and have given that subject my major time for the last 12 years. During the 25 years when I was Chief of the Biological Survey I incidentally began mapping the areas cccupied by the different tribes.

The CHAIRMAN. Then will you tell us what interest you have in this case if you are not representing anybody?

Doctor MERRIAM. My only interest is my interest in California Indians, with whom I have worked for more than 30 years.

The CHAIRMAN. I just wanted to get in the record why you have an interest.

Doctor MERRIAM. I have no affiliations that bring me into this matter; I am not even a member of the organization which is having the hearings, but I have been very much interested in Indians as a matter of American history.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you one more question: Who asked you to come here and present this information?

Doctor MERRIAM. Nobody asked me and I did not know until this morning that I was going to be heard. I thought you would like to see this map showing the distribution of Indian tribes in northern California, and I said to Judge Raker yesterday that I had here a map showing the actual distribution of the northern California tribes. This morning Mr. Collett asked if I would say a word in connection with it which, of course, I am glad to do.

The CHAIRMAN. Then your information will be wholly with reference to the property that is involved in this claim; is that the idea? To point out to us where the land was that was taken away from them?

Doctor MERRIAM. No; my maps cover the whole State. It is perfectly obvious that the State of California, when the whites first came there, belonged to the Indians. That would seem not open to discussion, and what I have shown on this map are the areas occupied by the different tribes. It is a matter of history that when gold was discovered in California, in 1848, that during the ensuing year 77,000 people reached San Francisco by vessels from various parts of the world, including a good deal of the scum of the earth, some criminals, and some very good men; and that these men swarmed over the northern part of the State and some other parts in an incredibly short time and with what seems to us now an incredibly terrible effect on the native population. In six years, during the height of the gold rush, they apparently exterminated at least 50,000 Indians. They destroyed their villages and homes, killed off hundreds if not thousands of the men, and enslaved the women and children. The CHAIRMAN. Are you giving us that information from your own knowledge or from history?

Doctor MERRIAM. I am stating it from a combination of historical knowledge, from statements published in the Humboldt Bay and other papers in the early fifties, and from what the old people have told me during the thirty-odd years I have been among

them.

The CHAIRMAN. Let us have a little understanding about the "extermination." You have used the word "extermination." Give us an illustration of how these Indians, 50,000 of them, were exterminated.

Doctor MERRIAM. They were regarded as enemies of the gold seekers. It is a matter of history and common knowledge in California that the miners in most of the camps wanted the Indian women and took them; that if the husbands and brothers objected they killed them and, in many cases, they took the women to their camps, burned down the villages, and burned all the food supplies acorns, fried salmon and eels that were put up for the next winter's provisions. On the Klamath and Salmon Rivers the giant miners' hose nozzles were aimed at Indian villages, dumping houses down into the canyons below.

The CHAIRMAN. Was that done all over the State or just in some sections?

Doctor MERRIAM. That was done in the mountains of the northwest and also in the Sierra Nevada.

The CHAIRMAN. And all that information came out at the time the endeavor was made to ratify the treaties?

Doctor MERRIAM. So far as I know nothing was said on that subject. The California delegation was against the Indians; in fact, most of the people in the West at that time were against the Indians; they were fighting Indians and had no sympathy whatever for them. The treaty ratification was suppressed and there is very little in the records concerning it, so far as I know.

The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead and tell us about the map.

Doctor MERRIAM. The map is for the purpose of showing that the whole area of the State was occupied by a large number of Indian tribes speaking different languages; that there were no unoccupied lands; they were either occupied as residence lands or as hunting grounds. For instance, along the high crest of the Sierra the Mewuk Indians hunted from the west up to the crest, and the Mono Lake Piutes hunted on the other side. The tribes had well-defined areas with definite boundaries.

The CHAIRMAN. I take it that the various shades on the map allude to some feature and have some significance.

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; each color represents a linguistic stock in which the language is wholly different from that of any other stock, as different as English is from Russian.

The CHAIRMAN. But all of the shades have reference to Indian tribes?

Doctor MERRIAM. Yes; within each stock the areas of the tribes are shown and the names of the tribes are written in red ink. Another point that might be mentioned in

connection with the early treatment of the Indians is that for years it was custc for the white people to make raids in order to punish Indians for alleged offenses many cases, in fact in nearly all cases, the raiders went entirely beyond the lim the tribe that could possibly have committed the alleged thefts of stock into the *tory of Indians speaking wholly different languages and who would not have shere the people who were assumed to have taken the animals. These distant people v butchered, and in many cases they had never seen white men before. For instan party of volunteer troops under a Government officer, Capt. N. Lyon, went from Francisco north to Clear Lake and Upper Lake and butchered a band of Indians o island in the lake. Those escaping into the tules were bayoneted. Then the tr marched through Cold Creek Canyon to Russian River and followed down Rus River 6 miles, where they struck another village of Indians.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you state the authority for that statement?

Doctor MERRIAM. My authority is the history of California, current newspapers, official report of Captain Lyon, who commanded the troops and directed the mass and the testimony of an Indian, Stephen Knight (now present in this room), whe grandmother and other relatives were butchered in that same village.

Mr. LEA. I was born in the county where that occurred and I have talked wi old Indians who were there at the time. That is a historical fact that no one questio The CHAIRMAN. I just wanted to get in the record the authority for it. Doctor MERRIAM. Mr. Knight, who is a member of that tribe and whose ancest were butchered by Captain Lyon, refers to an official report of the Clear Lake & Russian River massacres of May, 1850, in the Thirty-first Congress, second sessio Senate Document 1, part 2. pages 78 to 83, 1850, containing Captain Lyon's report May 23 of that year. Mr. Chairman, I am not drawing on imagination or hears for any remarks I make; they are based on history or personal observation.

The CHAIRMAN. When you make a statement of that kind I want the authority Doctor MERRIAM. That sort of thing went on for a number of years and is a man of record. Down in the San Joaquin Valley more than one tribe of Indians, includin men, women, and children, were driven, during the heavy rains of winter, to one these reservations which had been established by the Indian commissioners, and man of the old women and young children proved unable to make the trip and fell out b the wayside. One white man, who had an Indian wife, was living in a log cabi near King's River. He was ordered to give up his wife; he said he would not do and came out with a gun in his hand. The raiders said. "We will take her or you. and he answered, "You will take me first." and they shot him dead in his own door way and took his wife. Up in the northern part of Sacramento Valley, Indians wer driven across the mountains to Round Valley during the winter, when there was snow in the mountains; they were brutally driven and many perished by the way: and it is a matter of common knowledge that those who were unable to make the trip were shot and left in their tracks.

Mr. MONTOYA. What year were all of these things done?

Doctor MERRIAM. In the early fifties and up to about the early sixties.
Mr. ROACH. The depredations you speak of were all prior to the treaties?

Doctor MERRIAM. No; they were not prior to the treaties; they were subsequent to the treaties that were made in 1851 and 1852 by the Wozencraft Commission. Stated briefly, the State of California, when the Mexicans took possession of it. belonged to the Indians, and when we obtained it from Mexico in 1846 we were supposed to carry out the provisions of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but we have not done so. In view of the well-known fact that white people destroyed hundreds of Indian villages, burned their homes and their food supplies, enslaved their women and children and disseminated malignant diseases among them, can there be any doubt that they have a just claim against the Government? And is it not a fact that almost all the tribes in other parts of the United States have been compensated for their lands while the California Indians have not? As a whole the Indians of California were nonwarlike. They were not nomadic but lived in the same little valleys all their lives. Most of the tribes knew nothing of warfare and could not put up a fight that amounted to anything at all; so their country was simply taken from them. So far as I know, they have never been paid by the State of California or by the United States Government for any of the land of the splendid State of California that was once theirs but is now ours.

Mr. COLLETT. I would like to have you hear Helen Dare next. She is a San Francisco newspaper woman who is here, temporarily, in Washington, and she has been familiar with our work in California for a number of years.

STATEMENT OF HELEN DARE.

HELEN DARE. I thought it might be proper for you to know something about the ure of the "publicity," we will call it, rather than propaganda, because it is in sense “paid" publicity. I have been interested in the California Indians for a -at many years. Before the Indian Board of Cooperation was formed and before -. Collett began his work I became interested through my own knowledge of the aditions with respect to the Indians, as a newspaper woman going out on stories. Mr. SANDERS. Representing what paper?

HELEN DARE. Representing different papers. For over 10 years, until recently, nen I resigned on account of illness, I was on the San Francisco Chronicle, writing a gned article every day, an article which had more or less of an editorial complexion; at is, my articles were usually some discussion of occurrences rather than news ories. I discussed the news in relation to life. When I learned that Mr. Collett nd the Indian Board of Cooperation were interested in pushing this Court of Claims ill I found among our newspaper people a very strong support of the idea, and at Californians, so far as the newspapers reflect public opinion, are very strongly n favor of the final and just disposal of the California Indian problem that this bill eems to offer. Californians have been very much interested in and are very much shamed of the conditions under which our Indians struggle, and we have developed a great change of sentiment as a better knowledge of the conditions has been obained. This change to a more understanding and sympathetic attitude began, in my recollection, with the eviction of the Warner Hot Springs Indians 20 years ago. I was interested in that from the newspaper standpoint. I learned that it took the efforts of citizens to get action that was really beneficial to the Indians, who were finally evicted and were settled on what is known as the Pala Reservation.

But that took so long-two or three years, I think, before it could be accomplished, and the efforts of a great many Californians-that it seemed rather hopeless to get the whole California Indian problem settled without united effort on the part of the people of California themselves. So when Mr. Collett invited me to come here to help with the publicity end of it I was very glad to do this, but not as a job. As a matter of fact, the money I receive does not actually cover my expenses, so that you can not look at it as a money proposition. As far as the publicity is concerned, I prepare the news and we send it out from the office, dealing only with legitimate news; and all of the editorial expression that has followed that news has been voluntary and spontaneous, as well as exceedingly-what would you call it?-helpful and enthusiastic in support of this Court of Claims bill.

The CHAIRMAN. You say "spontaneous;" but that is after some facts have been brought to the attention of the newspapers by your publicity, and that publicity goes through you as the medium?

HELEN DARE. I say it is spontaneous and voluntary because when it was announced that I was coming here, having done constant work, and my name constantly being before the newspaper readers as a writer for a good many years, I have a big reading public, a big following, so when it was announced I was coming here through the San Francisco papers and through a number of other California papers, because of news sent out by the Associated Press, the papers at once very strongly approved editorially of the activity of the Indian Board of Cooperation and of my work with it, and the papers that had received information as to the bill which I sent them gave editorial approval of the whole project.

The CHAIRMAN. I regret I was not here when you started your testimony, and I am wondering whether you qualified as to whom you represent and what your connection with this association is.

HELEN DARE. I did not.

The CHAIRMAN. If you please, do that.

HELEN DARE. My connection?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; what your connection is.

HELEN DARE. It is largely as a volunteer, with not enough compensation to cover my expenses-the expenses of my living here and of my household in my absence from San Francisco.

The CHAIRMAN. But what is your capacity with this association?

HELEN DARE. To put forward the publicity, I send out all the stories of the actual activities carried on here in relation to the Court of Claims bill.

The CHAIRMAN. When did you come to Washington?

HELEN DARE. I arrived here with eight of these Californian Indians who are here to-day, on January 21.

The CHAIRMAN. And have you been here ever since?

HELEN DARE. Yes, sir.

connection with the early treatment of the Indians is that for years it was customary for the white people to make raids in order to punish Indians for alleged offenses. In many cases, in fact in nearly all cases, the raiders went entirely beyond the limits of the tribe that could possibly have committed the alleged thefts of stock into the territory of Indians speaking wholly different languages and who would not have sheltered the people who were assumed to have taken the animals. These distant people were butchered, and in many cases they had never seen white men before. For instance, a party of volunteer troops under a Government officer, Capt. N. Lyon, went from San Francisco north to Clear Lake and Upper Lake and butchered a band of Indians on an island in the lake. Those escaping into the tules were bayoneted. Then the troops marched through Cold Creek Canyon to Russian River and followed down Russian River 6 miles, where they struck another village of Indians.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you state the authority for that statement?

Doctor MERRIAM. My authority is the history of California, current newspapers, the official report of Captain Lyon, who commanded the troops and directed the massacre, and the testimony of an Indian, Stephen Knight (now present in this room), whose grandmother and other relatives were butchered in that same village.

Mr. LEA. I was born in the county where that occurred and I have talked with old Indians who were there at the time. That is a historical fact that no one questions. The CHAIRMAN. I just wanted to get in the record the authority for it. Doctor MERRIAM. Mr. Knight, who is a member of that tribe and whose ancestors were butchered by Captain Lyon, refers to an official report of the Clear Lake and Russian River massacres of May, 1850, in the Thirty-first Congress, second session Senate Document 1, part 2, pages 78 to 83, 1850, containing Captain Lyon's report of May 23 of that year. Mr. Chairman, I am not drawing on imagination or hearsay for any remarks I make; they are based on history or personal observation.

The CHAIRMAN. When you make a statement of that kind I want the authority. Doctor MERRIAM. That sort of thing went on for a number of years and is a matter of record. Down in the San Joaquin Valley more than one tribe of Indians, including men, women, and children, were driven, during the heavy rains of winter, to one of these reservations which had been established by the Indian commissioners, and many of the old women and young children proved unable to make the trip and fell out by the wayside. One white man, who had an Indian wife, was living in a log cabin near King's River. He was ordered to give up his wife; he said he would not do it and came out with a gun in his hand. The raiders said, "We will take her or you.' and he answered, "You will take me first," and they shot him dead in his own doorway and took his wife. Up in the northern part of Sacramento Valley, Indians were driven across the mountains to Round Valley during the winter, when there was snow in the mountains; they were brutally driven and many perished by the way; and it is a matter of common knowledge that those who were unable to make the trip were shot and left in their tracks.

Mr. MONTOYA. What year were all of these things done?

Doctor MERRIAM. In the early fifties and up to about the early sixties.
Mr. ROACH. The depredations you speak of were all prior to the treaties?

Doctor MERRIAM. No; they were not prior to the treaties; they were subsequent to the treaties that were made in 1851 and 1852 by the Wozencraft Commission. Stated briefly, the State of California, when the Mexicans took possession of it, belonged to the Indians, and when we obtained it from Mexico in 1846 we were supposed to carry out the provisions of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but we have not done so. In view of the well-known fact that white people destroyed hundreds of Indian villages, burned their homes and their food supplies, enslaved their women and children and disseminated malignant diseases among them, can there be any doubt that they have a just claim against the Government? And is it not a fact that almost all the tribes in other parts of the United States have been compensated for their lands while the California Indians have not? As a whole the Indians of California were nonwarlike. They were not nomadic but lived in the same little valleys all their lives. Most of the tribes knew nothing of warfare and could not put up a fight that amounted to anything at all; so their country was simply taken from them. So far as I know, they have never been paid by the State of California or by the United States Government for any of the land of the splendid State of California that was once theirs but is now ours.

Mr. COLLETT. I would like to have you hear Helen Dare next. She is a San Francisco newspaper woman who is here, temporarily, in Washington, and she has been familiar with our work in California for a number of years.