Bob Wick, BLM 

Cultural Resources Overview 

William R. Hildebrandt 

Sharon A. Waechter 

Jerome H. King 

Northwestern California 

U.S. Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Land Management 
Cultural Resources Overview 

for Northwestern California 

By: 

Jerome H. King 

William R. Hildebrandt 

Sharon A. Waechter 

Contributions by: 

Kaely R. Colligan 

Mary K. Davis 

November 2016 

Submitted to: 

Bureau of Land Management 

Redding Field Office 

6640 Lockheed Drive, Redding CA 96002 

and 

Bureau of Land Management 

Arcata Field Office 

1695 Heindon Road, Arcata CA 95521 

FAR WESTERN ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH GROUP, INC. 

2727 Del Rio Place, Suite A, Davis, California, 95618 

http://www.farwestern.com 530-756-3941 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY 

This Class I Overview presents a comprehensive overview of the cultural resources on lands 

managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Redding and Arcata Field Offices, including 

prehistoric and historic-era archaeological sites, historic architectural properties, and traditional use areas. 

While BLM has produced cultural resources overviews as part of its past land-use planning efforts, this 

document represents a substantial update and expansion on previous overviews. 

Per BLM Manual 8110, the purpose of this inventory is to “provide cultural resource specialists and 

managers with an informed basis for understanding the study area” in terms of: 

1. The range of variety, the apparent extent, and the probable importance... of each of 

the various kinds of cultural resources presently known to exist within the study area, 

including how and by whom they may be considered important. 

2. The natural settings and landscapes where the various known kinds of cultural 

resources might be expected to occur or not to occur within the study area, based on 

present information. 

3. The potential for and probable consequences of conflict between the known kinds of 

cultural resources and the various types of land and resource uses that are likely to be 

proposed in the study area or already exist. 

4. The need for new focused cultural resources surveys to improve the state of knowledge, 

especially where there are substantial data gaps because previous survey has been 

limited and/or biased, and the data gaps coincide with areas of potential land use. 

5. The human uses of the land and resources through time, as evidenced in the 

ethnographic, prehistoric and historic record, and the ways that this knowledge of 

successful and unsuccessful past adaptations might apply to decision making for 

current land-use proposals. 

BLM Manual 8110 also lays out a detailed outline for Class I Overview documents, which this 

document follows. It begins with a brief orientation to the study area. To aid in interpretation, a series of 

environmental/cultural zones, developed in consultation with BLM archaeologists, are presented. These 

include the Coast Range, the Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Range, the Upper Klamath, the 

Sacramento Valley, the Southern Cascade Foothills, and the Sierra Nevada. The Environment Context section 

follows, providing a brief overview of the natural environment of the planning area, including geology, 

climate, vegetation, and paleoenvironment. 

The History of Research section offers a very brief overview of the history of cultural resources 

investigations in the planning area. While a typical Class I overview would contain a complete accounting 

of previous studies, this is impractical given the large size of the planning area included here. 

The Prehistoric and Ethnohistoric Archaeology section provides a chronologically organized summary 

of the prehistory of each of the zones defined above, beginning with the earliest known human occupations 

in the region some 14,000 years ago, through to historic contact. 

The Prehistoric and Ethnohistoric Research Issues section lays out a series of major research themes 

emerging from the prehistoric context, both to provide potential directions for future research, and to set the 

stage for determining the management significance of prehistoric resources. We discuss ten research issues, 

including: Controlling Chronology; Identifying the First Colonizers of Northern California; Origins of Acorn-Salmon 

Economies in Northern California; Evolution of Milling Tools and Features; Inter-Regional Exchange; Rock Art; 

Historical Linguistics and Population Replacements; Pyrodiversity as a Land-Use Management Strategy; Native 

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American Rock Features and the Spiritual World; and Native Responses to Contact. This list is by no means 

exhaustive; rather, it focuses on the most current and significant topics within the larger region, and those 

which can be addressed with archaeological data sets that are known or likely to occur within the study area. 

The Ethnographic Context section provides a summary of the Native American groups inhabiting 

the planning area at historic contact, with a focus on material culture and its implications for the 

archaeological record of the region. 

The Historical Context section provides a broad historical overview of the planning area, from the 

earliest non-Native presence in the region through the modern era. It is organized according to a series of 

themes, including: Early Exploration and Colonization; The Gold Rush and Western Expansion; The Homesteading 

Era; The Extraction Economy; Maritime Activities; Infrastructure Development; and The New Century (including 

Federal Land Management). 

The Historical Research Issues section introduces a series of research topics which, like those 

presented earlier for prehistoric resources, form the basis for making management decisions regarding 

cultural resources. A distinction is made between “baseline” questions about the age, function, and 

occupants of historic-era sites and “higher-order” questions, including: Technology, Innovation, and 

Adaptation; Economic Strategies; Household Composition and Lifeways; Immigration and Cultural Adaptation; and 

Socio-Cultural Dynamics. Also in this section, the historical themes presented previously in the Historical 

Context are revisited and used as a basis for organizing historic-era cultural resources into a series of 

property types appropriate for making management decisions. 

The Contemporary Culture section briefly describes the present-day culture of the planning area, 

including Native American and non-Native groups, with a focus on their uses of public lands. 

The Cultural Resources Synthesis section views human history in northwestern California as a 

continuum, focusing less on ethnicity and more on changing patterns of human settlement, resource use, 

technology, and socio-cultural development. It begins with the first known human occupation of California. 

The Management Classification, Management Options, and Research Directions section begins the 

management-focused part of the document. While previous sections of the document provide contextual 

information for the entire planning area, this section focuses specifically on the known cultural resources 

on lands currently managed by BLM. This section lays out the types of cultural resources known in the 

planning area, their likely significance, and the BLM use categories to which they can be assigned. The 

relevance of these resource types to the research issues discussed earlier is presented as a general guide for 

making future management decisions regarding cultural resources. 

The Future Inventory Strategy section addresses one of the primary goals of this study, which is “to 

provide cultural resources specialists and managers with an informed basis for understanding the study 

area in terms of... the potential for and probable consequences of conflict between the known kinds of 

cultural resources and the various types of land and resource uses that are likely to be proposed in the 

study area or already exist” (BLM Manual 8110). This section concludes with a brief discussion of current 

BLM land uses and their relationships with the distribution of high-sensitivity BLM-managed lands. Also 

included is an annotated bibliography of the key cultural resources documents for the region, including 

both cited and uncited sources. It is intended to serve as a general reference for future cultural resources 

studies. The bibliography was compiled via an exhaustive study of documents on file at BLM, consultations 

with regional experts, and in-house research and literature reviews. 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

We owe a debt of gratitude to a long list of people. In particular, BLM Redding archaeologist Eric 

Ritter was instrumental in guiding the creation of this document. He shared his vast knowledge of Northern 

California archaeology and history with us, and much of that knowledge is reflected in these pages. Eric, as 

well as BLM Arcata archaeologist Sharyl Kinnear-Ferris, provided many insightful comments on an earlier 

draft of this document and helped extensively with the compilation of the thousands of relevant reports, 

articles, and site records. Thanks are also due to Amy Jordan, Andy Suppiger, and Lisa Grudzinski in the 

BLM Redding office, who provided help and guidance throughout the project. 

A number of other archaeologists also contributed their expertise to our summary of regional 

prehistory, including Greg White, Elaine Sundahl, Joanne Mack, Jeff Rosenthal, Jack Meyer, Jamie Roscoe, 

and Gerry Gates. 

Many Far Western staff members contributed to this effort. A huge amount of data-entry, scanning, 

and GIS-digitizing work was ably done by Kaely Colligan, Kathy Davis, Laurel Engbring, Kari Osegueda, 

and Ruth Zipfel. Kaely compiled the annotated bibliography in Appendix A, while Kathy studied every 

single site record, as well as completing a technical edit of the entire document. Project manager Kim 

Carpenter kept the authors and everyone else on an even keel. Thanks too to Nicole Birney and Mike Pardee 

in the production department. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ i 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................................................iii 

INTRODUCTION AND STUDY AREA ORIENTATION ................................................................................1 

Study Area Orientation .........................................................................................................................................1 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT.............................................................................................................................7 

Geology....................................................................................................................................................................7 

North Coast Ranges ...........................................................................................................................................7 

Klamath Mountains ...........................................................................................................................................8 

Sacramento Valley..............................................................................................................................................8 

Cascade Ranges ................................................................................................................................................12 

Sierra Nevada ...................................................................................................................................................12 

Climate...................................................................................................................................................................12 

Vegetation..............................................................................................................................................................13 

Important Animals...............................................................................................................................................14 

Paleoenvironmental Overview...........................................................................................................................20 

The Latest Pleistocene (22,000–13,500 cal BP) ..............................................................................................20 

The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (13,500–11,500 cal BP).....................................................................21 

Early Holocene (11,500–7000 cal BP) .............................................................................................................21 

Middle Holocene (7000–4000 cal BP).............................................................................................................22 

Late Holocene (4000 cal BP–AD 1850)...........................................................................................................22 

HISTORY OF RESEARCH (by William Hildebrandt).....................................................................................25 

Early Ethnographic Studies.................................................................................................................................25 

Reservoir Surveys and Excavations ...................................................................................................................26 

Early Cultural Resources Management and Academic Research Projects ...................................................26 

Contemporary Studies.........................................................................................................................................27 

PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY 

(by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter)...............................................................................................29 

Upper Klamath .....................................................................................................................................................30 

Paleoindian Period (14,500–12,800 cal BP)....................................................................................................30 

Paleoarchaic Period (12,800–7800 cal BP) .....................................................................................................34 

Basin Period (7800–5200 cal BP).....................................................................................................................36 

River Period (5200–2250 cal BP).....................................................................................................................37 

Canyon Period I (2250–1000 cal BP) ..............................................................................................................38 

Canyon Period II (post-1000 cal BP) ..............................................................................................................39 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s)..................................................................................................................39 

Sacramento Valley................................................................................................................................................40 

Paleoindian/Paleoarchic Period (13,400–8850).............................................................................................40 

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Borax Lake Pattern (8850–5700 cal BP)..........................................................................................................41 

Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–4500/3200 cal BP).............................................................................................42 

Whiskeytown Pattern (4500/3200–1600 cal BP)............................................................................................42 

Shasta Pattern (post-1600 cal BP)...................................................................................................................44 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s)..................................................................................................................46 

North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges...........................................................................48 

Paleoindian Period (13,400–12,800 cal BP)....................................................................................................48 

Borax Lake Pattern (10,000–6300 cal BP).......................................................................................................48 

Provisional Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–4500 cal BP).................................................................................49 

Mendocino Pattern (4500–1500 cal BP) .........................................................................................................50 

Tuluwat (formerly Gunther) Pattern (post-1500 cal BP).............................................................................51 

Contact Period (AD 1700s–1850s)..................................................................................................................53 

Sierra Nevada and Adjacent Lowlands.............................................................................................................55 

Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic (13,400–7800 cal BP)............................................................................................55 

Middle Holocene (7800–5200 cal BP).............................................................................................................55 

Martis/Bucks Lake Complex (5200–4500 cal BP)..........................................................................................56 

Mesilla Complex (4500–2500 cal BP) .............................................................................................................56 

Bidwell Complex (2500–1100 cal BP).............................................................................................................57 

Sweetwater Complex (1100–500 cal BP)........................................................................................................57 

Oroville/Chico Complex (post-500 cal BP) ...................................................................................................58 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s)..................................................................................................................59 

Southern Cascade Foothills and Lake Britton Area.........................................................................................59 

Southern Cascade Foothills and Adjacent Lowlands..................................................................................60 

The Lake Britton Area .....................................................................................................................................62 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s)..................................................................................................................63 

PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOHISTORIC RESEARCH ISSUES 

(by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter)...............................................................................................65 

Controlling Chronology ......................................................................................................................................65 

Projectile Point Chronologies .........................................................................................................................65 

Obsidian Hydration.........................................................................................................................................71 

Identifying the First Colonizers of Northern California .................................................................................72 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................72 

Origins of Acorn-Salmon Economies in Northern California ........................................................................73 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................74 

Evolution of Milling Tools and Features...........................................................................................................74 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................76 

Inter-Regional Exchange .....................................................................................................................................76 

Utilitarian Obsidian .........................................................................................................................................76 

Non-Utilitarian Obsidian ................................................................................................................................79 

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Shell Beads and Other Ornaments.................................................................................................................79 

Rock Art.................................................................................................................................................................80 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................82 

Historical Linguistics and Population Replacements......................................................................................83 

Arrival of the Wintu.........................................................................................................................................83 

Arrival of Algic and Athapaskan Populations in Northwest California..................................................83 

Arrival of Maiduan Speakers in the Northern Sierra Nevada...................................................................84 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................85 

Pyrodiversity as a Land-Use Management Strategy .......................................................................................85 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................85 

Native American Rock Features and the Spiritual World ..............................................................................86 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................87 

Native Responses to Contact ..............................................................................................................................87 

Data Requirements...........................................................................................................................................88 

ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT (by William Hildebrandt) ..............................................................................91 

Upper Klamath .....................................................................................................................................................91 

Modoc ................................................................................................................................................................92 

Shasta .................................................................................................................................................................93 

Sacramento Valley................................................................................................................................................95 

Wintu and Nomlaki.........................................................................................................................................95 

Chimariko..........................................................................................................................................................99 

Coast Range and Klamath Mountains...............................................................................................................99 

Core Northwest California Groups .............................................................................................................100 

Southern Athapaskan Groups......................................................................................................................102 

Yuki and Northern Pomo Groups ...............................................................................................................103 

Sierra Nevada......................................................................................................................................................104 

Konkow ...........................................................................................................................................................104 

Southern Cascade Foothills...............................................................................................................................107 

Achumawi and Atsugewi .............................................................................................................................107 

Yana .................................................................................................................................................................108 

HISTORICAL CONTEXT (by Sharon Waechter)............................................................................................111 

“Discovery”: Early Spanish and English Mariners........................................................................................111 

Coming into the Country: Early Exploration and Colonization..................................................................112 

Trappers and Explorers.................................................................................................................................112 

The Rush for Territory...................................................................................................................................114 

Summary .........................................................................................................................................................115 

The World Rushes In: The Gold Rush and Western Expansion ..................................................................115 

The Discoveries ..............................................................................................................................................116 

Summary .........................................................................................................................................................120 

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Public Domain: The Homesteading Era..........................................................................................................120 

The Homestead Act Opens the West...........................................................................................................120 

Native Resistance and the Indian Wars...........................................................................................................122 

The Extraction Economy ...................................................................................................................................124 

Gold and Copper Mining..............................................................................................................................124 

Logging and Lumbering ...............................................................................................................................144 

Maritime Activities.............................................................................................................................................146 

Fishing and Whaling......................................................................................................................................146 

Shipping ..........................................................................................................................................................147 

Aids to Navigation.........................................................................................................................................147 

Infrastructure Development: Transportation, Utilities/Communication, and Water Development ......148 

Transportation Systems.................................................................................................................................148 

Utilities/Communication...............................................................................................................................162 

Water Development.......................................................................................................................................163 

The New Century...............................................................................................................................................164 

Mining in the Twentieth Century ................................................................................................................165 

The Great Depression ....................................................................................................................................165 

Wartime Activities .........................................................................................................................................166 

Federal Land Management...........................................................................................................................167 

Modern Hydroelectric Development ..........................................................................................................169 

HISTORICAL RESEARCH ISSUES (by Sharon Waechter) ..........................................................................171 

Research Issues ...................................................................................................................................................171 

“Baseline” Information..................................................................................................................................172 

“Higher-order” Questions ............................................................................................................................172 

Summary .........................................................................................................................................................178 

Historic-Era Property Types .............................................................................................................................178 

Exploration and Colonization ......................................................................................................................178 

Maritime Activities ........................................................................................................................................179 

Early Infrastructure Development...............................................................................................................179 

The Extraction Economy: Mining and Logging.........................................................................................179 

Settlement and Agriculture...........................................................................................................................181 

Native Resistance and the Indian Wars ......................................................................................................181 

The New Century...........................................................................................................................................182 

Summary .........................................................................................................................................................182 

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE (by Sharon Waechter)...................................................................................183 

Contemporary Native American Groups and Land Uses ............................................................................183 

Traditional Cultural Properties, Landscapes, and Use Areas..................................................................183 

Current Land Uses .........................................................................................................................................184 

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Non-Native Land Uses and User Groups .......................................................................................................186 

Resource Extraction .......................................................................................................................................186 

Ranching and Farming ..................................................................................................................................186 

Recreation........................................................................................................................................................187 

CULTURAL RESOURCES SYNTHESIS (by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter)....................189 

The First Inhabitants ......................................................................................................................................189 

Major Environmental Shifts and Human Adaptations.............................................................................190 

Regional Diversification................................................................................................................................191 

Population Growth, Inter-group Conflict, and the Emergence of Trade ...............................................192 

Native American Religious Practices ..........................................................................................................192 

The Second Migration....................................................................................................................................193 

A New Philosophy of Land and Resource Use..........................................................................................193 

Coming of Age................................................................................................................................................194 

MANAGEMENT CLASSIFICATION, MANAGEMENT OPTIONS, 

AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS (by Jerome King and Sharon Waechter)...............................................195 

Known Cultural Resources on BLM Lands ....................................................................................................195 

National Register Eligibility..............................................................................................................................195 

BLM Use Categories...........................................................................................................................................197 

Management Classifications and Eligibility Considerations for Prehistoric Resources ...........................198 

Lithic Scatters..................................................................................................................................................198 

Milling Stations...............................................................................................................................................199 

Simple Habitations.........................................................................................................................................199 

Complex Habitations.....................................................................................................................................199 

Rock Art...........................................................................................................................................................200 

Rock Features..................................................................................................................................................200 

Quarries/Prospects.........................................................................................................................................200 

Summary of Known Prehistoric Resources by Type.................................................................................200 

Management Classifications and National Register Eligibility Considerations for Historic-Era 

Resources.............................................................................................................................................................201 

Traditional Cultural Properties, Landscapes, and Use Areas ......................................................................206 

FUTURE INVENTORY STRATEGY (by Jerome King)..................................................................................207 

Prehistoric Sensitivity Models ..........................................................................................................................207 

Theoretical Concerns .....................................................................................................................................207 

Surface Sensitivity Model: Methods ............................................................................................................208 

Surface Sensitivity Model: Results and Test...............................................................................................209 

Subsurface Sensitivity Model: Methods......................................................................................................215 

Subsurface Sensitivity Model: Results ........................................................................................................216 

Historic-era Sensitivity Assessment.................................................................................................................221 

Historic-era Sensitivity Assessment: Methods...........................................................................................221 

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Historic-era Sensitivity Assessment: Results..............................................................................................222 

Analysis of High-Priority Areas for Inventory...............................................................................................231 

Identifying Conflicts with Existing and Planned Land Uses .......................................................................232 

REFERENCES CITED ...........................................................................................................................................241 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS .....................................................................................................................................301 

APPENDICES 

Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

LIST OF FIGURES 

Figure 1. Planning Area. ............................................................................................................................................3 

Figure 2. Environmental/Cultural Zones Used in This Document. .....................................................................5 

Figure 3. Geologic Units.............................................................................................................................................9 

Figure 4. Elevation....................................................................................................................................................11 

Figure 5. Yearly Precipitation Totals......................................................................................................................15 

Figure 6. Annual Mean Temperature.....................................................................................................................16 

Figure 7. Natural Vegetation Communities..........................................................................................................17 

Figure 8. Distribution of Selected Oak Species. ....................................................................................................19 

Figure 9. Ethnographic Language Groups. ...........................................................................................................31 

Figure 10. Regional Chronological Sequences......................................................................................................33 

Figure 11. Squaw Creek Pattern Incised Slates.....................................................................................................43 

Figure 12. Regional Projectile Point Types............................................................................................................66 

Figure 13. Regional Obsidian Sources. ..................................................................................................................77 

Figure 14. Mining Districts (after Clark 1970).....................................................................................................117 

Figure 15. Environmental Effects of Mining. ......................................................................................................131 

Figure 16. Earthen Sluices and Rock Sluice Supports........................................................................................135 

Figure 17. Hydraulic Mining at the Huey Hill Placer Mine Siskiyou County. .............................................136 

Figure 18. Table Bluff and Cape Mendocino Light Stations. ............................................................................149 

Figure 19. Punta Gorda and Trinidad Head Light Stations..............................................................................150 

Figure 20. Shasta Overland Mail Route Broadside. ...........................................................................................154 

Figure 21. Surface Sensitivity Model....................................................................................................................211 

Figure 22. Surveyed Lands Used in Model Tests. ..............................................................................................213 

Figure 23. Landform Ages.....................................................................................................................................217 

Figure 24. Subsurface Sensitivity Model. ............................................................................................................219 

Figure 25. Source Data for the Exploration and Transportation/Infrastructure Themes..............................223 

Figure 26. Source Data for the Mining Theme....................................................................................................225 

Figure 27. Source Data for the Settlement/Agriculture and Maritime Themes..............................................227 

Figure 28. Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment..................................................................................................229 

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5

10

15

20

 25

30

Figure 29. Suggested High-Priority Areas for Inventory. .................................................................................233 

Figure 30. Areas of Critical Environmental Concern............................................................................................235 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1. Environmental/Cultural Zones. .................................................................................................................2 

Table 2. Military Forts in the Planning Area.......................................................................................................123 

Table 3. US Census Data, 1850–1870. ...................................................................................................................125 

Table 4. 1850 and 1870 Censes of Shasta County by Nationality .....................................................................126 

Table . 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Race. ..........................................................................126 

Table 6. 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Age. ...........................................................................126 

Table 7. 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Nationality. ..............................................................127 

Table 8. Timeline of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion. ...............................................................................127 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions)........................138 

Table . Lights and Lighthouses on BLM-Administered Lands in the Planning Area. ..............................151 

Table 11. Major Historic-Era Trails and Wagon Roads in the Planning Area. ...............................................156 

Table 12. Historic Railroads in the Planning Area (adapted from Robertson 1998, with additions). .........160 

Table 13. Infrastructure Property Types..............................................................................................................179 

Table 14. Mining Property Types. ........................................................................................................................180 

Table . Settlement and Agriculture Property Types. .....................................................................................181 

Table 16. Recorded Cultural Resources on BLM-Managed Lands. .................................................................195 

Table 17. Prehistoric Resource Types, Likely National Register Eligibility, 

and Applicable BLM Use Categories............................................................................................................199 

Table 18. Recorded Prehistoric Resource Types by Zone..................................................................................201 

Table 19. Existing National Register Evaluations by Prehistoric Site Type....................................................201 

Table . Historic-Era Components by Theme...................................................................................................202 

Table 21. Historical Themes and Periods of Significance..................................................................................203 

Table 22. Historic-Era Property Types and Research Potential........................................................................204 

Table 23. Historic-Era Property Types and Use Categories..............................................................................205 

Table 24. Predictive Themes and Scores for the Caltrans District 2 Prehistoric Sensitivity Model.............209 

Table . Distribution of Classes in the Surface Prehistoric Sensitivity Model..............................................209 

Table 26. Prehistoric Surface Sensitivity Model Test Results. ..........................................................................215 

Table 27. Subsurface Sensitivity Scaling Factors. ...............................................................................................216 

Table 28. Distribution of Classes in the Subsurface Sensitivity Model. ..........................................................216 

Table 29. Distribution of Classes in Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment.......................................................222 

Table . Test of Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment.......................................................................................231 

Table 31. Estimating Prehistoric Site Densities in a Sample Project Area.......................................................231 

Table 32. Proportions of BLM-Managed Lands Surveyed by Sensitivity Model Class. ...............................237 

Table 33. Distribution of Sensitivity Model Classes within Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. ..........237 

Table 34. Distribution of Sensitivity Model Classes within Grazing Allotments. .........................................239 

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INTRODUCTION AND STUDY AREA ORIENTATION 

This Class I Overview presents a comprehensive overview of the cultural resources of lands managed 

by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Redding and Arcata Field Offices, including prehistoric and 

historic-era archaeological sites, historic architectural properties, and traditional use areas. It begins by 

providing a synthetic treatment of the environment, prehistory, ethnography, history, and contemporary 

culture of the planning area as a whole. A framework for future management decisions regarding cultural 

resources is also provided, including a general approach to evaluating resources’ eligibility to the National 

Register of Historic Places (National Register). A key element of the overview is the development of 

Geographic Information System (GIS)-based sensitivity models for prehistoric and historic-era archaeological 

sites, which will help BLM assess the likely effects of land-use decisions on cultural resources, even where 

existing field inventories are incomplete or lacking. These models also provide the basis for an assessment of 

high-sensitivity areas on BLM land that lack field inventories. Finally, this document also includes an 

annotated bibliography (Appendix A) listing the key cultural resources documents for the region. 

This document was prepared by Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., (Far Western) 

of Davis, California. Far Western’s authorial team included William Hildebrandt, Ph.D., Sharon Waechter, 

M.A., and Jerome King, M.A. Dr. Hildebrandt authored the sections of the report having to do with 

prehistory and ethnography. Ms. Waechter wrote the sections having to do with history and contemporary 

culture. Mr. King authored the management-focused sections of the report and developed and tested the 

sensitivity models. Support in preparing this study was provided by Kaely Colligan and Kathy Davis. Dataentry work was completed by Laurel Engbring, Ruth Zipfel, and Kari Osegueda. 

STUDY AREA ORIENTATION 

The planning area includes the territories of the Redding and Arcata Field Offices, together covering 

some 22,590 square miles in northwestern California, including Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, 

Butte, and parts of Mendocino, Shasta, and Siskiyou Counties (Figure 1). Lands managed by BLM within 

these two field office territories make up a patchwork of widely scattered parcels, interspersed among 

privately owned lands as well as other federally managed lands (National Forests, National Parks). These 

BLM-managed lands are mostly rural and undeveloped but include various public facilities such as offhighway vehicle areas, hiking trails, and campgrounds. In the Arcata Field Office area, BLM-managed lands 

also include a few former coastal military reserves and light stations with standing structures, such as the 

Trinidad Head Light Station. Not included in the current planning effort are the lands managed by BLM as 

part of the King Range National Conservation Area; the Headwaters Forest Reserve; and the California 

Coastal National Monument, which consists mostly of offshore rocks. Excluding these areas, BLM-managed 

lands in the planning area comprise about 606 square miles, or about 3% of the overall planning area. 

In an attempt to summarize the truly daunting variety of environmental and cultural settings 

represented within the planning area, applicable sections of the document are organized according to six 

environmental/cultural zones, developed in consultation with Redding BLM archaeologist Eric Ritter 

(Table 1; Figure 2). These are based loosely on the Level III Ecoregion boundaries developed by the 

Environmental Protection Agency (2015), with some adjustments to account for cultural-historical 

considerations, and with some zone boundaries adjusted slightly to align with watershed boundaries. 

These zones should be understood as a general organizational tool, rather than a rigidly defined set of 

boundaries. The sizes and quantities of BLM-managed lands within these zones vary widely, and 

discussions in following sections of the document are scaled appropriately. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 1 Far Western 
 

Table 1. Environmental/Cultural Zones. 

ZONE BLM FIELD OFFICE 

AREA 

(SQUARE MILES) 

BLM-MANAGED 

LANDS 

(SQUARE MILES) 

Coast Range Arcata 3,075.4 83.0 

Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Range Arcata, Redding 8,729.1 215.3 

Upper Klamath Redding 4,532.7 165.6 

Sacramento Valley Redding 742.7 22.8 

Southern Cascade Foothills Redding 2,834.2 53.6 

Sierra Nevada Redding 2,677.2 65.9 

Total - 22,591.4 606.2 

Far Western 2 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
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Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 3 Far Western

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Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 5 Far Western

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Figure 2. Environmental/Cultural Zones Used in This Document. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT 

The study area consists of some of most diverse topographic, climatic, and ecological diversity 

found in California, and indeed in the Western United States. It encompasses six areas as defined for the 

project, four climatic regimes, five geological provinces, 28 vegetation communities, and countless 

combinations of these elements. At its most basic form, the region is defined chiefly by rugged and complex 

mountain ranges and the river canyons that divide them. Regional differences in topography, precipitation, 

and temperature produce distinct environmental conditions that determined past distributions of 

economically important plant and animal foods, which in turn influenced prehistoric human interaction, 

settlement-subsistence strategies, and land-use patterns. These environmental factors and changes in them 

through time, when combined with variations in geology, and the precious elements and minerals 

contained within certain units, influenced historic era land-use systems as well. This overview is 

necessarily broad and simplified, as a detailed description of each of the potential micro-habitats found at 

various BLM-managed lands would require dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of text. As such, future 

project-specific descriptions of environment should expand greatly upon those descriptions provided here 

to fully elucidate the types and nature of resources found in a specific project area. 

GEOLOGY 

Five major geomorphic provinces, segments of five major mountain ranges, multiple large river 

systems, and a limited number of large natural lakes fall within the study area. The geomorphic provinces 

roughly follow the broader study sub-areas defined in Chapter 1 (see Figure 2). The North Coast Ranges 

geomorphic province encompasses the Coast Range and portions of the Klamath Mountains/High North Coast 

Range sub-area. The Klamath Mountain province encompasses the northern portions of that same sub-area, 

while the Cascade Range Province includes sections of the Upper Klamath, Sacramento Valley, and Southern 

Cascade Foothills sub-areas. The Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada sub-areas match roughly the geomorphic 

provinces by the same name. The presence of five major geomorphic provinces means that there is varied 

and complex geology when the study area is taken together (Figure 3; California Geological Survey 2000). 

The following discussion follows the work of Meyer (2013) and Meyer et al. (2011). 

North Coast Ranges 

The North Coast Ranges consist of two main mountain belts that run north-south parallel to the coast, 

composed of many separate ranges, coalescing mountain masses, and major structural valleys (Page 1966). 

The majority of the range lies at elevations of about 2,000 feet, with at least two-dozen peaks or ridges that 

extend above 6,000 feet. The province contains many rivers and streams that flow through relatively narrow 

canyons in channels that are usually incised into, and often cross-cutting, the underlying bedrock. Within 

these ranges, the Eel River and its tributaries drain much of the southern portion of the study area, while 

important northern drainages include the Mattole, Mad, Klamath, and Smith, with the latter two originating 

in the Klamath Mountains. Numerous streams also drain eastward into the Sacramento River, the largest of 

which include Clear Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Thomes Creek, and Stony Creek. 

This region is primarily underlain by a disorderly assemblage of upper Jurassic and Cretaceousage marine sedimentary and metamorphic rocks known as the Franciscan complex (Page 1966). The range 

is generally bounded to the west by the San Andreas Fault and to the east by the Great Valley Fault, both 

composed of many individual fault segments. While chert and other siliceous rocks occur in most 

drainages, high quality obsidian is only available from the Borax Lake, Konocti, and Napa Valley sources 

located south of the study area. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 7 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coast range province also includes the coastal margin. A series of elevated marine terraces is found 

along the coastal margin throughout much of the project area. These terraces generally consist of former wavecut bedrock platforms that were uplifted by large-scale seismic and tectonic processes to their present position 

above the sea. Most are overlain by younger, near-shore sediments, and often by alluvium, colluvium, and/or 

sand dunes. North of Cape Mendocino, progressive uplift occurs along discontinuous areas where anticlines, 

or up-thrown sides of thrust faults of the Cascadia Fold and Thurst Belt, intersect the coast. 

Coastal dunes are found along the shore of Humboldt and Del Norte counties in the region. The 

formation of coastal dunes is related to several factors including sediment supply, grain size, nature of the 

shoreline, and the local wind system. In contrast to arid regions, coastal dune formation is influenced not 

only by vegetation (stabilizing or trapping sediment), but also by wave action, which serves to shape the 

shoreline and deliver suspended sediment. Sea level changes have strongly influenced coastal dune 

deposition, primarily through a large increase in sediment supply during and following marine 

transgressions (Carter et al. 1990). 

Finally, coastal lagoons and estuaries occur up and down the coast, but most are found north of 

Cape Mendocino (e.g., Humboldt Bay, Big Lagoon, Stone Lagoon, Lake Earl). This is also the case for large 

offshore rocks and islands, restricting the presence of major sea mammal rookeries and haulout areas to 

the more northerly latitudes. Most present-day estuaries are embayments formed in shallow depressions 

that have been partially or entirely sealed off from the ocean by the deposition of beach barriers and/or 

sand spits formed by wave action above the normal height of high tide (Bird 2008; Emmett et al. 2000). 

Seismic activity and the accompanying tsunamis periodically disrupt and reshape these coastal 

environments, often in ways that are visible in archaeological sites (e.g., van Bueren 2016). 

Klamath Mountains 

The Klamath Mountains are situated in the northeastern portion of Humboldt County, eastern 

Del Norte County, and the western portions of Siskiyou and Trinity counties. This rugged mountain 

range is composed of several smaller mountain ranges, including the Siskiyou Mountains, Trinity Alps, 

Scott Mountains, Salmon Mountains, and South Fork Mountains. Although the highest peaks reach 

elevations of 9,000 feet or more, the crest of the Klamath Range typically occurs at elevations between 

5,000 and 7,000 feet (Figure 4). 

The Klamath Mountains are composed of a series of accreted oceanic terrains that are generally 

older from west to east and include Paleozoic and Mesozoic marine sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic 

rocks (Figure 3). The principal drainages in the region are the Smith River on the north and the Klamath 

and Trinity rivers on the south, all of which drain directly to the Pacific Ocean. These rivers generally flow 

through steep, narrow canyons, undergo extreme annual variations in stream flow, with low flows during 

the summer and early fall, and high flows during winter and spring. The Klamath and Siskiyou ranges 

contain gold and other precious metals (silver, copper, tin) that were the focus of early mining efforts 

following the California Gold Rush of the mid-nineteenth century. 

Sacramento Valley 

The Sacramento Valley forms a long and nearly level alluvial plain with elevations that range from 

a high of about 4,010 feet at Mill Creek Rim to a low of about 148 feet at lower Foster Island, both in Tehama 

County. Uplift and erosion of the surrounding mountains led to the deposition of large alluvial fans at the 

base of the foothills along both sides of the Sacramento Valley during the middle and late Pleistocene 

(Dupre et al. 1991). Where the major rivers emerge from the western slope, they have built a nested series 

of massive alluvial fans which decrease in age basin-ward and often coalesce to create broad, low-gradient 

pediments that fringe the eastern Sacramento Valley. Alluvium from subsequent depositional cycles 

Far Western 8 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 9 Far Western

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Geologic Units 

Qds, Quaternary Dune Sand 

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Qg, Pleistocene Glacial Drift 

Qrv, Holocene Volcanics 

Qv, Quaternary Volcanics 

Tv, Tertiary Volcanics 

Ts, Tertiary and Quaternary Sedimentary 

KJfs, Early Cretaceous Metavolcanics 

KJf, Jurassic to Cretaceous Sedimentary 

J, Triassic and Jurassic Sedimentary 

Mzv, Mesozoic Volcanics 

P, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Sedimentary 

gr, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Plutonics 

m, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Metamorphic 

mv, Paleozoic and Mesozoic Volcanics 

T, Lower Tertiary Sedimentary um, Paleozoic and Mesozic Ultramafics 

TK, Late Cretaceous to Tertiary Sedimentary Pzv, Paleozoic volcanics 0 10 20 40 Miles

Ku, Cretaceous Sedimentary sch, Paleozoic schist 

Figure 3. Geologic Units. 

 

$ 750-1,000 2,000-2,500 Elevation (m) 

VALUE 1,000-1,250 2,500-4,083 

0 - 250 1,250-1,500 

250-500 1,500-1,750 0 10 20 30 Miles 500-750 1,750-2,000 

Figure 4. Elevation. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 11 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

progressively buried the downstream sections of many older alluvial fans, terraces, and natural levees 

toward the center of the valley, along with their capping soils (Shlemon 1972). 

Cascade Ranges 

The Cascade Range province extends from southern British Columbia through Washington and 

Oregon to northern California. Mount Shasta is the highest summit within the study area reaching over 

14,000 feet, while the lowest is the town of Ingot that lies at an elevation of about 1,160 feet. The southwestern 

end of this range stretches from Oregon through portions of Siskiyou and Shasta counties and reaches the 

northern parts of Butte and Plumas counties, where it ends. The divide between the southern Cascade Range 

and the northern Sierra Nevada provinces occurs in northern Plumas and Butte counties where it is variously 

placed near the North Fork or Middle Fork of the Feather River and upper reaches of Butte Creek. 

The range is characterized by a series of steep, rugged ridges, with many intervening narrow 

canyons, and a few relatively large valleys (i.e., Shasta Valley, Butte Valley, Hat Creek Valley, and Big 

Meadow/Lake Almanor) that form intermediate depositional basins, respectively from north to south and 

west to east. The largest drainages include the Shasta River, upper segments of the McCloud and North Fork 

Feather rivers, and part of the Pit River. While the Feather, McCloud, and Pit rivers are tributaries of the 

Sacramento River that generally drain southwestward, the Shasta River drains northwest to the Klamath 

River. The rest of the region is drained by many smaller streams, with the upper reaches of North Fork Battle, 

Butte, Cow, Deer, Hat, Indian, Lost, Mill, Pine, and Rock Creeks being some larger examples. 

In addition to Mount Shasta, the province contains numerous volcanic peaks, including Mount 

Lassen, as well as various non-volcanic formations. Despite the long history of volcanic activity, there are 

relatively few sources of toolstone-quality obsidian. Kelly Mountain is located several miles southwest of 

Mount Lassen in northern Plumas County, just outside the planning area boundary (Hughes 1986; White 

et al. 2005). The Tuscan formation, outcropping in a long belt throughout the Cascade foothills, also 

contains a number of isolated deposits of obsidian (Hamusek-McGann 1993). 

Sierra Nevada 

Only a small portion of the Sierra Nevada enters the study area. This steep, rugged mountain range 

is asymmetric in cross-section, with a broad, gradual western slope and a short, steep eastern slope. Unlike 

the crest of the central and southern Sierra Nevada, which lies well above 10,000 feet, the elevation of the 

northern crest is generally less than 8,000 feet. 

The western slope of the northern Sierra Nevada is drained by the Feather River, which originates 

from headwaters located high in the mountains. It has carved deep canyons through underlying bedrock, 

many thousands of feet in depth. Granitic rocks of the upper Sierra crest are divided from bedrock of the 

lower foothills by a series of northwest-trending fault blocks, known as the Foothill Fault Zone. The most 

important prehistoric sources of toolstone in this region were basalt (e.g., Gold Lake basalt), chert/flint, and 

other siliceous rocks, which outcrop in parts of Plumas and Lassen counties. A source of toolstone-quality 

obsidian has not been identified in the northern Sierra Nevada. Like the rest of the Sierra Nevada, goldbearing deposits on the Feather River and nearby drainages drew miners and prospectors to the northern 

Sierra Nevada during the Gold Rush. 

CLIMATE 

The climate in the study area is as varied as the geology and is, in large part, dictated by the orographic 

effects of geology on the building weather systems that generally move from west to east across the study area. 

The vast majority of precipitation in the area comes from Pacific frontal storms during the winter. These storms 

dump substantial amounts of rain and snow in the higher elevations of the Klamath Mountains and North 

Far Western 12 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coast Ranges (Figure 5; PRISM Climate Group 2016), with many locations reaching over 80 inches per year. 

As storms move east, however, rainfall decreases due to rain shadow effects and decreasing elevations. The 

rain shadow is most pronounced in the northern latitudes within eastern Siskiyou County where, despite 

overall high elevations, rainfall drops to below 16 inches per year in many locations. The Sacramento Valley, 

lying in the rain shadow of the North Coast Ranges averages about 24 inches per year, but benefits from the 

run-off of rainfall at higher elevations to the west, north, and east. As storms continue eastward, orographic 

uplift caused by the Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascade Range increases rainfall again where the 

southeastern margins of the study area can get 50 inches per year, and the headwaters of the Sacramento River 

can surpass 60 inches in some places. The northeast corner, however, remains quite dry. 

A great deal of variation in temperature also exists across the study area. The combination of 

temperature and precipitation has been used to classify California’s climate, with four zones established 

for most of northern California. The majority of the project area follows the Mediterranean climatic regime 

of warm and dry summers with wet and cool winters, but the continental weather patterns characterized 

by relatively higher summer and lower winter temperatures are found in the northeastern portions of the 

project area. These climatic patterns dictate, in large part, the vegetation that can grow and therefore the 

overall ecological setting throughout the region. 

The moderating effects of the Pacific Ocean result in cool summers and relatively warm winters in 

the westernmost areas (Figure 6). These temperatures, when combined with high winter rainfall, result in a 

climatic regime of Mediterranean/Summer Fog immediately adjacent to the coast and Mediterranean/Cool 

Summer across much of the North Coast Ranges and the western margins of the Klamath Mountains. To the 

east, where cold winter conditions take hold in the eastern Klamath Mountains and across into the Cascade 

Range and Upper Klamath zones, the climate shifts to what is classified as a Cool Continental/Dry Summer 

regime. Due to the lower elevation and more southerly latitudes of the Sacramento Valley, cold winter 

temperatures are less extreme and summer high temperatures are much greater, creating a 

Mediterranean/Hot Summer regime. Finally, upon reaching the Sierra Nevada, average temperature again 

decreases, with cold winters and cool summers, returning to Mediterranean/Cool Summer conditions. 

VEGETATION 

The vegetation of the study area is extremely diverse and complex even when taking only the broad 

community-level classifications into account and ignoring more detailed microclimate effects of slope, aspect, 

and drainage. The climatic classifications outlined above are highly correlated with the distribution of 

vegetation communities across the study area (Figure 7; Küchler 1976). Mediterranean/Summer Fog of the Coast 

Range Province along the outer coast produce small stands of Coastal Saltmarsh along the bays and lagoons 

north of Point Mendocino, Coastal Prairie-Scrub Mosaic, combined with Grand Fir-Sitka Spruce Forest and 

Redwood Forest in the north, and Redwood Forest and Mixed Evergreen Forest (with Rhododendron) in the 

south. Both of the latter vegetation communities continue well into the interior along the southern latitudes, 

occupying the Mediterranean/Cool Summer zone, but are replaced farther north by Mixed Evergreen Forest (with 

chinquapin) and Klamath Montane Forest (with Douglas fir) within the higher elevations. Similarly, Coast 

Range Montane Forest also covers the higher elevations in area to the south. 

Moving across the northern portion of the study area, Klamath Montane Forest (with Yellow Pine) 

takes over in lower elevation and slightly drier settings, and ultimately gives way to Oregon Oak Forest 

along this west-to-east trajectory. Upon reaching Cool Continental/Dry Summer regime of northeastern 

California, Sagebrush Steppe takes over the lower elevation areas and Yellow Pine, Sierra Montane, and 

Upper Montane Forest become dominant with increasing elevation. Sagebrush Steppe drops out when 

moving south in the more mesic Sierra Nevada, but Sierra Montane Forest remains dominant in the upper 

elevations, followed by Yellow Pine Forest in adjacent, lower elevation areas. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 13 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foothill areas surrounding the Sacramento Valley include a band of Chaparral, followed large swaths 

of Blue Oak-Gray Pine Forest at slightly lower elevations. California Prairie takes over within the Sacramento 

Valley Lowlands, with Riparian Forest occurring along the Sacramento River and its major tributaries. 

Although the bio-productivity of terrestrial habitats maps closely with precipitation patterns and 

remains consistently high throughout the project area, the distribution of economically important plants for 

Native Americans varies to a greater degree. Most notably, the great band of redwood forest that runs north 

to south along the Coast Range Province has been argued to represent a virtual food desert for huntergatherers (Colligan et al. 2015; Hildebrandt and Carpenter 2006). It is important, therefore to consider the 

distribution of economically important acorn species across the study area. The three most abundant varieties 

include black oak, tan oak, and blue oak (Figure 8), with tan oak and black oak being the two top-ranking 

species in the state, and Oregon oak coming in sixth place (Baumhoff 1978). As demonstrated by Figure 8, all 

three species are rare along the outer coast, the high elevation habitats of the Klamath Mountains and semiarid areas to the east, and the Sacramento Valley lowlands. Overall distributions include blue oak 

surrounding the Sacramento Valley, black oak found in almost all adjacent upland areas, and tan oak 

dominant in the northwest. Both tan oak and black oak co-occur within the southwestern part of the North 

Coast Ranges, which was one of the most productive places in the state (Baumhoff 1963). 

While acorns were certainly the most important economic plant in the study area prehistorically, 

each vegetation community also offered important berries, small seeds, and alternative nuts (sugar pine 

and gray pine), and tubers. 

IMPORTANT ANIMALS 

Prior to Euro-American settlement, the study area contained a wide range of economically important 

mammals, fish, and birds. Unfortunately, contemporary conditions bear only the slightest resemblance to the 

situation in prehistoric times. Many of the native species have been reduced in numbers, some to extinction, 

and their habitats have been modified or destroyed (Ingles 1965). Mammal resources once common to the area 

include black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), black-tailed hare (Lepus californicus), brush rabbit (Sylvilagus 

bachmani), western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus), ground squirrel (Spermophilus sp.), and pocket gopher 

(Thomomys sp.). Game birds include California quail (Callipepla californica), mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus), 

mourning dove (Zenaida macroura), and band-tailed pigeons (Columba fasciata [Storer and Usinger 1963:263– 

264, 267]). In coastal areas and the Sacramento Valley river corridors elk (Cervus elaphus) roamed in large herds 

and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) covered the grasslands surrounding the Sacramento Valley and the 

uplands in the eastern reaches of the Cascade range. Marine mammals were found along the coastal margin 

including most notably stellar sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), and 

occasional occurrences of northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus). Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) and sea otter 

(Enhydra lutris) were also resident to coastal areas. 

The lagoons and lakes of the region, as well as slower stretches of the numerous rivers and creeks 

were home to a variety of waterfowl that would have been attractive to both prehistoric and historic 

hunters. On the lagoons of the Coast Range province were various dabbling and diving ducks (Anatinae), 

geese (Anserinae), grebes (Podicephidae), coots (Fulica americana), and herons and egrets (Aredidae). 

Perhaps the most important resources in the entire study area were the fish found throughout the 

rivers and creeks, with various runs of salmon looming large in the ethnographic and archaeological record 

of the Coast Range, Sacramento Valley, and Cascade Mountain portions of the study area. The most important 

species were king (chinook) salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), silver (coho) salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), 

and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). They were of paramount importance on the Smith, Klamath, and 

Far Western 14 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

$ Annual Precipitation (mm) 

<500 2,000-2,500

500-1,000 2,500-3,000

1,000-1,500 3,000-4,400 0 10 20 30 Miles

1,500-2,000

Figure 5. Yearly Precipitation Totals. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 15 Far Western 
 

$ Annual Mean Temp (C) 

12-14

6-8

<6

14-16

8-10 16-18 0 10 20 30 Miles 10-12

Figure 6. Annual Mean Temperature. 

Far Western 16 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 17 Far Western

412 412 

325 

326 

333 

266 

404 

325 412 

266 

326 454 

333 

518 

404 326 

412 198 518 

518 

266 

454 

404 326 66 390 404 

390 520 412 

390 266 

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412 

404 333 

520 

452 

326 390 451 324 

451 328 

333 

452 

324 

257 257 

532 

451 324 

198 

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452 257 

328 

257 

Vegetation Description 325 - Sagebrush Steppe 452 - Coast Range Montane Forest 

81 - Alpine Communities and Barren 326 - Oregon Oak Forest 454 - Sierran Montane Forest 

107 - Coastal Saltmarsh 328 - Riparian Forest 481 - Desert Saltbush 

196 - Grand Fir-Sitka Spruce Forest 333 - Upper Montane-Subalpine Forests 518 - Mixed Evergreen Forest with Chinquapin 

$ 198 - Redwood Forest 390 - Northern Yellow Pine Forest 520 - Coastal Prairie-Scrub Mosaic 

201 - Tule Marsh 404 - Klamath Montane Forest with Douglas Fir 525 - Mixed Hardwood Forest 

257 - California Prairie 412 - Klamath Montane Forest with Yellow Pine 532 - Mixed Evergreen Forest with Rhododendron 

259 - Coastal Cypress and Pine Forests 417 - Cold Alpine Desert 569 - Northern Seashore Communities 

0 10 20 Miles 

266 - Yellow Pine-Shrub Forest 427 - Sierran Yellow Pine Forest 

324 - Chaparral 451 - Blue Oak-Gray Pine Forest 

Figure 7. Natural Vegetation Communities. 

 

0 10 20 30 Miles 

$ Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii) 

Tan Oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus) 

Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii) 

Figure 8. Distribution of Selected Oak Species. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 19 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eel River drainages, and also significant along the Sacramento River and its tributaries (Baumhoff 1963). 

Of crucial importance was the spring run of king salmon which added fresh food after a long winter relying 

on stored resources, but they did not occur on all streams. Significant spring runs do occur in the Smith, 

Klamath, Trinity, and Sacramento rivers, although many tributaries of the Sacramento did not carry 

sufficient flows for spring spawning, especially in streams flowing east out of the North Coast Ranges 

(Moyle 2002); see also Chapter 6 for a review of salmon availability by ethnographic group. Other piscine 

resources were also important, including Pacific lamprey (Lampetra lethophaga), stickleback (Gasterosteus 

sp.), sturgeon (Acipenser sp.), eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), coast range sculpin (Cottus aleuticus), and 

prickly sculpin (Cottus asper). 

Along the Sacramento River watershed a different set of fish taxa were available, including 

Sacramento sucker (Catostomus occidentalis), Sacramento pike-minnow (Ptychocheilus grandis), steelhead, 

California roach (Hesperoleucus symmetricus), riffle sculpin (Cottus gulosus), and hardhead (Mylopharodon 

conocephalus). 

Molluscan species were important along the coast, most notably California mussel (Mytilus 

californianus) along with various limpets (family Lottidae), chitons (Katarina spp./Cryptochinon spp.), and 

purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). Although popular to modern divers, red abalone (Haliotis 

rufenscens) are lacking in the archaeological record of northern California (Colligan et al. 2015). Freshwater 

mussel (Margaritifera falcata) was widely distributed prehistorically in the rivers and streams of northern 

California along with various other species of freshwater mollusc (Taylor 1981:143). 

PALEOENVIRONMENTAL OVERVIEW 

The best synthetic accounts of paleoenvironmental conditions within the study area are available from 

West (2007), White et al. (2005), Meyer (2013), Meyer et al. (2011), and are only briefly summarized here. 

The Latest Pleistocene (22,000–13,500 cal BP) 

Climate in the study area during the last glacial maximum, 22,000 years ago, was considerably 

cooler than at any time since. Known as the Wisconsin Glaciation, much of the world’s fresh water was tied 

up in glacial ice. Two massive ice sheets formed over most of Canada and portions of the northern United 

States (Grayson 1993). To the east, the 3,300-meter-thick (11,000-foot) Laurentide Ice Sheet extended from 

Labrador to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. On the west, the Cordillerian Ice Sheet formed 

an almost 2,400-meter-thick (8,000-foot) cap that extended as far south as modern Seattle. During the 

Wisconsin Glaciation, the crest of the Sierra Nevada and higher peaks of the Trinity Alps in the Klamath 

Range were covered by elongated sheets of ice. The glacier in the Sierra Nevada averaged roughly 50 

kilometers (32 miles) wide and extended from the headwaters of the Keaweah River on the south, to the 

Feather River on the north. 

Floral assemblages from throughout coastal central California indicate that late Pleistocene climate 

was more seasonal than today, with cooler temperatures, greater effective precipitation, and a longer rainy 

season (West 2000). Axelrod (1981) documents a near-continuous distribution of coniferous forest extending 

from the northern California coast as far south as the Channel Islands and Los Angeles. Pollen spectra and 

macrofossils from the north Coast Ranges also show a more continental and cooler climate during the late 

Pleistocene. In contrast to the coastal record, pollen and macrofossil evidence from the western slope of the 

Sierra Nevada-Cascade Range indicate that the late Pleistocene in the interior may have been equally cold, but 

comparatively dry. A cold climate is also indicated by lower surface water temperatures at Greenstone Lake 

(Porinchu et al. 2003) and Hidden Lake (Potito et al. 2006), reconstructed from Chironomid fossils (midge flies). 

Greasewood, which does not occur on the western slope of the Sierra today, is found in late Pleistocene 

sediments west of the crest in the central and southern Sierra, at Gabbot Meadow (Mackey and Sullivan 1991), 

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Exchequer Meadow (Davis and Moratto 1988), Nichols Meadow (Koehler and Anderson 1994), and Lake 

Moran (Edlund 1991). A cold-dry climate is further evidenced by the ubiquity and high frequencies of 

sagebrush and grasses and low frequencies of pine and cypress in virtually all late Wisconsin pollen records 

from the western Sierra (e.g., Davis and Moratto 1988; Edlund 1991, 1994; Koehler and Anderson 1994; Mackey 

and Sullivan 1991; Smith and Anderson 1992) and western Cascade (Starratt et al. 2002; West 2005). The proxy 

records from above 6,560 feet (2,000 meters) evince cold-adapted alpine vegetation dominated by sagebrush, 

grasses, and herbaceous species in areas now encompassed by montane forest, including Medicine Lake in the 

southern Cascade Range (Starratt et al. 2002). At a slightly lower elevation (ca. 6,000 feet [1,829 meters]) in the 

southern Cascades, West (2005) also reports very high concentrations of sagebrush pollen in sediments from 

Little Willow Lake dating between 15,900 and 14,100 cal BP. 

The Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (13,500–11,500 cal BP) 

West (2000:19) points out that “the transition from the late Glacial Maximum (22,000 years ago) of 

the Pleistocene to the Holocene appears to have occurred in a step-like manner but with several reversals, 

the most significant being the period called the Younger Dryas.” The Younger Dryas is a worldwide 

interval of colder climate that began abruptly around 12,900 years ago, lasting for approximately 1,100 

years (12,900–11,800 cal BP). Evidence of this brief reversal in the general warming trend leading to the 

Holocene comes from marine sediments along the California coast (Kennett and Ingram 1995), fossil pollen 

records from Clear Lake (Adam 1988; West 2000, 2001, 2002), and from pluvial lake basins in eastern 

California and Western Nevada (Benson et al. 1997). Although not generally recognized in the Sierra, some 

paleoecological records reflect a brief period of cooler conditions around the time of the Younger Dryas. 

Midge fly remains from Greenstone Lake show a brief decline in surface water temperature between 12,000 

and 11,500 cal BP, interrupting a sequential increase in temperature from the late glacial period through 

the early Holocene (Porinchu et al. 2003). 

Elsewhere in the Sierra-Cascade Range, primary shifts in vegetation occurred prior to the Younger 

Dryas, marking the transition from the late glacial climate of the Pleistocene to the post-glacial climate of 

the Holocene. 

Early Holocene (11,500–7000 cal BP) 

As the continental ice sheets began to melt toward the end of the Pleistocene, oceans of the world 

rapidly rose, causing the Pacific shoreline to migrate eastward several kilometers. Between 15,000 and 

11,000 years ago, sea levels rose about 55 meters (180 feet) at an average rate of about 13 meters (43 feet) 

every 1,000 years worldwide (Bard et al. 1996). By 10,000 years ago, 50% of the area formerly covered by 

glacial ice was exposed (Bloom 1983) and sea-level rise was progressing at an average rate of about 8.3 

meters (27.23 feet) every 1,000 years (Stewart et al. 2002). 

The transition to the Holocene after 11,800 years ago is reflected in a number of paleoenvironmental 

records marked by significant increases in temperature and decreases in precipitation (Adam and West 1983; 

West 2002). In the Clear Lake Basin, and elsewhere in the interior North Coast Ranges, the onset of the 

Holocene is marked by high oak and chaparral values, beginning about 9,500 years ago, reflecting an increase 

in drought-tolerant species (West 1993, 2001). On the western slope of the Sierra, paleoenvironmental records 

consistently indicate a transition to warmer and dryer conditions during the early Holocene. This drying trend 

is not reflected in the North Coast Ranges which appears to have received greater precipitation during this 

interval (Anderson 1990; Davis and Moratto 1988; Davis et al. 1985; West 1993). By about 11,500 cal BP, 

subalpine conifers such as lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), white pine, and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) became 

established at elevations up to 9,840 feet (3,000 meters) in the Sierra. High altitude forests were structurally 

different during the early Holocene than they are today, with montane chaparral shrubs and other openground species, indicating a more open forest (Anderson 1990). Sagebrush frequencies remained high from the 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 21 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

late Pleistocene to the early Holocene in virtually all pollen records from the upper Sierra, leading most 

researchers to believe that the climate remained quite dry (Anderson 1990; Davis and Moratto 1988; Davis et 

al. 1985; Edlund 1991; Smith and Anderson 1992). Additional evidence for a warmer early Holocene in the 

Sierra is provided by midge fly fossils from Greenstone Lake, which reflect surface water temperatures 

between 15.5 and 16.6 °C (60 and 62 °F), almost 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) warmer than temperatures recorded for the 

preceding Younger Dryas during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (Porinchu et al. 2003). 

Middle Holocene (7000–4000 cal BP) 

A number of studies from the Coast Ranges suggest peak Holocene warming likely occurred prior 

to 5000 cal BP. Oak and chaparral pollen reached highest frequencies in the North Coast Ranges, along with 

peak amounts of redwood pollen in more maritime settings (e.g., Adam 1988; Adam and West 1983; Adam 

et al. 1981; Heusser 1978; Jones and Waugh 1997; West 1993). Axelrod (1981) estimates that July 

temperatures during the middle Holocene in central California were about 1.0 °C (1.8 °F) warmer than 

today, corresponding to the 1.4 °C (2.5 °F) increase suggested by Adam and West (1983; West 1993). 

Of the paleoenvironmental records from the Sierra Nevada, those of the middle Holocene are the 

most variable, complex, and contradictory, especially between different regions. The middle Holocene (i.e., 

“Altithermal”) has long been characterized as distinctly warmer and drier than today, based on studies 

from the Great Basin and Desert Southwest (Antevs 1955; Baumhoff and Heizer 1965). While some Sierran 

records support this view (e.g., dendrochronologic, paleohydrologic), much of the pollen and macrofossil 

evidence indicates that conditions were cooler and wetter between about 7000 and 4000 cal BP (Anderson 

1990; Anderson and Smith 1994; Davis and Moratto 1988; Davis et al. 1976, 1985; Koehler and Anderson 

1994; Wood 1975; Woolfenden 1996). The apparent inconsistency of these records has led to a lack of 

consensus among researchers attempting to interpret the nature, extent, and magnitude of middle 

Holocene paleoenvironmental change in the Sierra. In the North Coast Ranges, pollen profiles from Tule 

Lake record an increase in Douglas fir and tanoak between 6800 and 5800 cal BP, also reflecting an increase 

in effective moisture in the northwest part of the state (West 1993). 

Late Holocene (4000 cal BP–AD 1850) 

During the late Holocene, pollen records from central and northern California suggest a return to 

more mesic conditions, with increased precipitation and less pronounced seasonal temperature variations, 

more characteristic of the modern climate (West 2000). At higher elevations in the North Coast Ranges, 

Douglas fir begins to expand between 3800 and 2300 cal BP, and most pollen records studied by West (1993) 

show an increase in pine and a decrease in oak. In the Sierra, the upper tree line migrated downslope some 

32 meters (105 feet) between 3400 and 2900 cal BP (Scuderi 1987) characteristic of declining mean 

temperatures. Greater abundance of charcoal in these sediments is thought to be a product of increased fire 

frequency and more pronounced seasonal drought (Smith and Anderson 1992). Elevated fir pollen 

frequencies are noted at Lake Moran where beginning 3800 cal BP (Edlund 1991) and in the Southern Cascade 

at Willow Lake beginning 3400 cal BP (West 2005). Cooler conditions are also evident beginning about 3200 

to 2500 cal BP by the elevational lowering of mountain hemlock and grand fir at high and mid-elevation 

meadow sites studied by Anderson (1990). Increased effective precipitation during the late Holocene is also 

indicated by the development of wet-meadows across much of the western slope of the Sierra, beginning as 

early as 5000 cal BP at some locations, but widespread by 3000 cal BP (Koehler and Anderson 1994; Smith and 

Anderson 1992; Wood 1975). Floral and pollen records from the western Great Basin indicate an expansion of 

western Juniper woodland into sagebrush steppe beginning perhaps 4,500 years ago increasing dramatically 

about 3,700 years ago (Wigand and Rhode 2002). 

Two periods of drought known together as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA), are recognized 

by low stands of Mono Lake between 1100 and 890 cal BP and 790 and 650 cal BP (Stine 1994). This is 

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consistent with reconstructed Sacramento River flows using tree-ring data, which suggest droughts 

occurred about 1,020 and 700 years ago (Meko et al. 2001). Meko et al. (2001), however, indicate the most 

severe drought in the last 1,100 years occurred in the Sacramento watershed 420 years ago. 

Evidence of a late drought in the Sacramento drainage notwithstanding, by about 650 cal BP warm, 

dry conditions of medieval times began to give way to the Little Ice Age in the Sierra Nevada, also known 

as the Matthes glaciation (Matthes 1939). This neo-glacial period reached its peak about AD 1850 and 

declined thereafter, ending about 1900 (Guyton 1998; Stine 1996). It is generally thought that this climatic 

shift was triggered by reduced solar activity which changed the atmospheric circulation of the winter storm 

track over the northern Pacific (Graham 2004). Increased precipitation and lower temperatures (1.0–2.0 °C 

cooler than today) led to greater snowfall and the expansion of glaciers during this interval. These changes 

are reflected in isotopic, lake sediment, macrofossil, pollen, and tree-ring records from throughout California 

(Stine 1996), along with a decrease in the frequency of fires as monitored by reduced quantities of charcoal 

(Swetnam and Baisan 2003). The Little Ice Age is the only widely recognized period of glacial growth in the 

Sierra during the Holocene, and the coldest period in at least the past 11,000 years. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 23 Far Western 
 

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HISTORY OF RESEARCH (by William Hildebrandt) 

There is a deep history of anthropological study in northern California, beginning with an emphasis 

on ethnography and then continuing forward with both ethnography and archaeology. The vast majority of 

this work can be divided into four primary periods: (1) Early Ethnographic and Archaeological Studies; (2) 

Reservoir Surveys and Excavations; (3) Early Cultural Resources Management Projects; and (4) 

Contemporary Studies. The following discussion provides a brief review of this history, giving the reader a 

feel for the historical contexts that influenced how we arrived at where we are today. It is not meant to be a 

comprehensive review of these studies, as a detailed accounting of the archaeological records from 

throughout the study area is provided in the following Prehistoric Context section (page 29). 

EARLY ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES 

Although a handful of important ethnographic studies took place in the late 1800s (e.g., Powers 

1877), the establishment of the Department and Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, 

Berkeley in 1901 marked the beginning of major ethnographic work in California. The research focus of the 

department and museum was defined soon thereafter by development of a program entitled the 

Ethnological and Archaeological Survey of California, but the true emphasis was placed on ethnography and 

not archaeology. Publication of this research was facilitated by the establishment of the University of 

California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography in 1903. The lasting significance of this series 

is clearly demonstrated in the Ethnographic Context (see page 91) where it is cited on numerous occasions 

(see also Golla 2011; Heizer 1978). 

In addition to professors in the Department of Anthropology like Kroeber, Gifford and Goddard, 

many of the early researchers were graduate students hoping to obtain as much cultural and linguistic 

information as they could from the dwindling Native populations of California, and many of the 

individuals cited in Chapter 6 fall within this category. In one case, Kroeber was so shorthanded on 

personnel that he was forced to send out a custodian from the museum, L. L. Loud, who conducted an 

ethnographic and archaeological study along the shores of Humboldt Bay, which still ranks as one of the 

best pieces of research ever conducted in the region. 

Other important ethnographers not directly associated with the University of California included 

C. Hart Merriam (privately funded), John P. Harrington (Bureau of American Ethnology), and Roland 

Dixon (American Museum of Natural History), all of whom made important contributions within our 

study area. We should also note that although Kroeber was not too interested in archaeology at this time, 

Phoebe Hearst did fund a limited amount of archaeological research around the state, including Sinclair’s 

(1904) search for Pleistocene man at Potter Creek Cave in Shasta County. 

Most of these ethnographic studies were published throughout the early 1900s, with many of them 

synthesized by Kroeber’s (1925) epic Handbook of the Indians of California. Some of this work extended through 

the 1930s (e.g., DuBois 1935), 1940s (Gifford 1940), and 1950s (Goldschmidt 1951), with a major flurry of 

activity between 1934 and 1939 as part of the Culture Element Survey of Native North America program where 

many of the most knowledgeable Native American consultants were revisited to collect ethnographic 

information using more systematic, quantitative methods than were used by the original researchers (Kroeber 

1935). After the 1930s, most of the primary information had been collected, and subsequent publications 

largely relied on existing data sets in their analyses (e.g., Baumhoff 1958; Kroeber and Barret 1960), 

culminating with publication of the California volume of the Handbook of North American Indians in 1978. 

After Kroeber’s retirement in 1946, Heizer took on more responsibility at the University of 

California and placed a greater emphasis on archaeology. Our study benefited from this new focus, 

especially along the north coast (e.g., Elsasser and Heizer 1966), the southern Cascade Range (e.g., 

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Baumhoff 1957), and adjacent areas within the Sierra Nevada (Elsasser 1960). Although these studies were 

limited in number, they produced large samples of material that still figure heavily in our current 

interpretations of the archaeological record. 

RESERVOIR SURVEYS AND EXCAVATIONS 

The frequency of archaeological studies increased significantly between 1947 and the early 1950s when 

the Smithsonian River Basin Surveys program was established. The program sent numerous archaeologists 

out to conduct surveys and excavations at proposed reservoir areas throughout the American West. Some of 

the most important early reservoir studies conducted within or near our study area were by Smith and 

Weymouth (1952), Treganza (1954, 1958, 1959), Treganza and Heicksen (1960, 1969), and Treganza et al. (1950), 

all of which were published though the University of California and, later, San Francisco State College. Some 

of these studies provided Meighan (1955) with the data for his classic study “Archaeology of the North Coast 

Ranges” published by University of California Archaeological Survey Reports. 

Additional reservoir studies continued into the 1960s, including those by Edwards (1966), King 

(1966), Childress and Chartkoff (1966), Olsen and Payen (1969), and Chartkoff and Childress (1966). 

Interestingly, very little of this latter work was published, and none through the standard University of 

California outlets. One exception was Ritter’s (1970) publication of his excavations at Lake Oroville in the 

new series Center for Archaeological Research at Davis, which is still published by graduate students at the 

University of California, Davis (Greenwald and Burns 2016). 

EARLY CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC RESEARCH PROJECTS 

With the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the signing of Nixon’s 1971 

Executive Order 11593, and various National Park Service publications providing guidance for 

understanding and implementing these laws and regulations, archaeological research within the new field 

of cultural resource management exploded during the 1970s. For the purposes of this discussion, this phase 

in the history of research continues into the mid-1980s, culminating in the publication of Moratto’s (1984) 

California Archaeology, where multiple archaeologists (including Moratto, Fredrickson, and Raven within 

our study area) summarized what was known about the record at the time. Chartkoff and Chartkoff (1984) 

also published their synthesis at this time in The Archaeology of California. 

In addition to major Section 106 projects associated with the construction of reservoirs (e.g., Johnson 

and Theodoratus (1984a, 1984b, 1984c) and timber harvest projects (Hildebrandt and Hayes 1983), several 

agencies commissioned cultural resources overviews and research designs to better understand and manage 

the resources on their lands. Some of the most important ones for our study area were Theodoratus (1979, 

1980, 1981), McCarthy et al. (1985), Bickle (1979), Jensen and Reed (1979), Tamez (1981), and Kowta (1975). In 

these studies, and in large-scale surveys that happened around the same time, a great deal of emphasis was 

placed on the development of prehistoric site typologies and settlement pattern models (Jackson 1976; 

Levulett et al. 1980; Stewart and Fredrickson 1979), many of which were tied to local ethnographies and 

synchronic in nature. 

Several important excavation projects also took place during this interval, with some representing 

cornerstones for the development of the cultural historic reconstructions provided in Chapter 4. The most 

important of these include O’Connell (197 1) for the Upper Klamath Zone; Clewett and Sundahl (1983) for 

the Sacramento Valley; Gould (1966) for the North Coast; Hildebrandt and Hayes (1983) for interior 

northwest California; Fredrickson (1973, 1974) for the North Coast Ranges; and Ritter (1968, 1970) for the 

Sierra/Cascade region. 

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CONTEMPORARY STUDIES 

The scope of research has grown significantly since 1984 and continues to do so to this day. Moratto 

and Chartkoff (2007:1), in the new synthesis California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity (edited 

by Jones and Klar [2007]), state that even a concise summary of major accomplishments since 1984 would 

require hundreds of pages of text. This is the case not only because the volume of work has increased 

exponentially, but because improvements in analytical methods (e.g., high precision radiocarbon dating, 

obsidian source and hydration studies, faunal and floral analyses, stable isotopes, ancient DNA), 

environmental reconstruction, and the application of advanced theoretical perspectives has expanded the 

number and range of research issues that can be addressed. 

Much of this work has been funded by cultural resources management contracts initiated by 

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest 

Service, National Parks Service, Army Corp of Engineers, and State Department of Water Resources, 

employing both private firms and academic foundations. Support has also come from various academic 

institutions, especially Shasta College, University of California, Davis, and California State University 

campuses at Chico, Sonoma, Humboldt, and Sacramento. Many of these institutions have produced 

important M.A. theses and Ph.D. dissertations, as well as follow-up publications in professional journals. 

Because most of the text presented in Chapters 4 and 5 focus on these post-1984 studies, we let those 

chapters serve as an example of where we have come and, hopefully, provide some useful guidance for 

were we are going in the future. 

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PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY 

(by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter) 

As outlined above in the Environmental Background, the study area contains a wide diversity of 

habitat types with varying degrees of economic potential. This high level of diversity is also found on a 

cultural level, especially with regard to Native languages, which show some of the highest levels of 

linguistic diversity ever recorded on earth (Figure 9). Before reviewing the prehistoric archaeological 

records of the study area, which are also quite diverse, we begin with a brief review of the languages that 

were spoken at historic contact (and still spoken today in some cases), as they reflect the outcome of a 

dynamic history of culture change over at least 13,000 years. 

Victor Golla (2011) provides an outstanding summary of the history and distribution of these 

languages, and his reconstructions will play an important role in the Prehistoric Research Issues section 

below, when addressing the research issue Historical Linguistics and Populations Replacements. It appears that 

Northern Yukian is the oldest language in the study area, and this isolated tongue was spoken in a 

relatively small area in the High North Coast Ranges, and on a narrow strip of land along the Mendocino 

County coast. Hokan languages are also thought to be quite old: these include Karok and Chimariko spoken 

along the Klamath and Trinity rivers; Shasta, Konomihu, and New River Shasta in the Upper Klamath zone; 

Achumawi and Atsugewi within the Pit River watershed and the northernmost part of the Southern 

Cascade Foothills zone; Yana in the remainder of the Southern Cascade Foothills zone; and Northern Pomo, 

spoken at the southern end of the Coast Range zone. 

Penutian languages are thought to be the next oldest group, with most of them arriving into the study 

area after 1500 cal BP, during multiple migrations from the Plateau and northwestern Great Basin. Penutian is 

a generalized phylum composed of multiple language families including the Wintuan languages (Wintu and 

Nomlaki), which were centered in the Sacramento Valley zone; Maiduan (Konkow and Chico Maidu or 

Mechoopda) in the Sierra Nevada zone and the southeastern part of the Sacramento Valley zone; and the 

Klamath-Modoc language spoken along the easternmost part of the Upper Klamath zone. 

Probably arriving during two separate migrations sometime after 1500 cal BP, the Algic languages 

(Yurok and Wiyot) were spoken on Humboldt Bay and the lower Klamath River within the Coast Range. 

Soon thereafter speakers of multiple Athabaskan languages arrived. These were located in the North Coast 

and High North Coast Ranges zones, and include the Hupa-Chilula, Mattole-Bear River, Kato, and the Eel 

River group (Nongatl, Sinkyone, Lassik, and Wailaki). 

The archaeological records associated with these zones also show significant differences, but the 

scale of these differences is sometimes difficult to ascertain due to contrasts in the amount and quality of 

information available from place to place. This is especially true when moving deep into antiquity. With 

these considerations in mind, the prehistoric record has been divided into five cultural-historical narratives. 

Four narratives correspond quite closely to the project zones (Upper Klamath; Sacramento Valley; Sierra 

Nevada and Adjacent Lowlands; and Southern Cascade Foothills and Adjacent Lowlands), while the fifth 

combines two zones together (North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges). We have 

combined the latter two zones because they largely share the same set of time sensitive projectile points, 

and both zones are necessary to produce a comprehensive culture history, as most of the earlier 

archaeological record occurs on the interior while most of the later-dating record is found on the coast. 

This is not a historical review of previous research, where we chronicle the major archaeological 

studies that have occurred in the past. Instead, each narrative is organized according to time period, giving 

focus to studies that we feel contribute the most important information about that interval of time. We give 

special attention to local environmental setting, artifact assemblage, subsistence remains, site structure, 

adaptive pose, and socio-political organization, and to the time-space distribution of all of these things. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 29 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Information about archaeological studies not referenced in the narratives can be found in the annotated 

bibliography presented in Appendix A. 

The narratives rely on chronological sequences that have already been developed for each zone 

(Figure 10). There are often differences in the nomenclature used to define temporal intervals from one zone 

to another (e.g., Periods versus Patterns versus Complexes), but we give no taxonomic or interpretive 

significance to them. We are simply interested in monitoring change over time, using the temporal intervals 

that have historically provided the highest resolution for doing so. All of the temporal ranges are expressed 

according to calibrated radiocarbon ages. This means that many of the age ranges will differ from their 

original publication because they were often based on uncorrected radiocarbon years at that time. 

UPPER KLAMATH 

The cultural historical time periods for the Upper Klamath zone (Figure 10) are drawn largely from 

the work of Mack et al. (1991) and Mack (2003), although we have added the Paleoindian and Paleoarchaic 

periods, which are not part of her original work. It is also important to note that that this zone stands apart 

from the others by having stronger cultural affinities to the northwestern Great Basin and Klamath Basin. 

This is especially true within Butte Valley and the adjacent Upper Klamath River Canyon, and to a lesser 

degree within Shasta Valley and the Lower Klamath River Canyon. 

Paleoindian Period (14,500–12,800 cal BP) 

Until relatively recently, most archaeologists believed that artifacts produced by Clovis people 

represented the oldest evidence of human occupation in North America (Haynes 1967; Waters 1985). These 

artifacts typically include fluted projectile points, large bifaces, and a variety of formal flake tools. Based 

on an analysis of radiocarbon dates from these ancient sites, Haynes (1992) argued that the Clovis 

adaptation dated between 13,390 and 12,810 cal BP. More recently, Waters and Stafford (2007) argue for a 

more narrow range of 12,960 to 12,740 cal BP, but this range has been rejected by many other Paleoindian 

researchers (Haynes et al. 2007). 

The search for a pre-Clovis archaeological record has been an ongoing concern for several decades, 

and many archaeologists have claimed such a discovery. But most of these so-called discoveries have been 

flawed in one way or another. According to Grayson (2011), a legitimate pre-Clovis site must provide an 

affirmative answer to the following questions: (1) are the findings truly archaeological (created by 

humans)?; (2) have they been firmly dated with radiocarbon or some other reliable means?; (3) is the deposit 

free from disturbance, ensuring tight associations between the artifacts and dateable material?; and (4) are 

the findings published with a level of detail that allows an independent analysis? 

Pre-Clovis (14,500–13,800 cal BP) 

There is only one purported pre-Clovis site located relatively near the study area that appears to 

meet all four criteria: the Paisley Caves in south-central Oregon (Jenkins et al. 2012, 2014). The caves are 

located in the northwestern Great Basin on the margins of Summer Lake Basin, about 75 kilometers north 

of Lakeview, Oregon. Paisley Cave #5 has a deep stratified deposit that includes a lower component dating 

from about 14,500 to 14,100 cal BP (12,400 to 12,200 radiocarbon years before present), which pre-dates the 

earliest estimates for Clovis by 800 years. This component includes Pleistocene megafauna, as well as 

bifaces, debitage, cordage, butchered bone, and human coprolites, the latter documented by the presence 

of human DNA. Multiple radiocarbon dates were obtained from the human coprolites (Gilbert et al. 2008; 

Hockett and Jenkins 2013; Jenkins 2007; Jenkins et al. 2012). 

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Wintu 

Shasta 

Yuki 

Karuk 

Konkow Maidu 

Yurok 

Hill Nomlaki 

Tolowa 

Nongatl 

Wiyot 

Southern Yana 

Hupa-Chilula 

Wailaki 

Sinkyone 

Okwanuchu 

Lassik 

Central Yana 

Cahto 

Pomo 

River Nomlaki 

Huchnom 

Mattole/Bear River 

New River Shasta 

Atsugewi 

Chimariko 

Achumawi 

Klamath-Modoc 

Coast Yuki 

Konomihu 

Northern Yana 

Achumawi 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 31 

$ Language group 

Algic

Athapascan

Hokan

Penutian 0 10 20 Miles

Yukian

Figure 9. Ethnographic Language Groups. 

 

cal BP Era Upper Klamath 

Upper 

Sacramento 

Valley 

Northernwestern 

California 

Southern Cascade 

Foothills 

Sierra Nevada 

and 

Adjacent Lowlands 

1000 

0 

2000 

5000 

10,000 

Late Holocene 

Post-4200 

Middle Holocene 

8200–4200 

Early Holocene 

11,700–8200 

Terminal 

Pleistocene 

25,000–11,700 

Canyon II 

Post-1000 

Shasta Tehama 

Post-1600 

Tuluwat 

Post-1500 

Oroville/Chico 

Post-500 

Mills Creek 

Post-500 

Sweetwater 

1100–500 

Dye Creek 

1400–500 

Kingsley 

2580–1400 

Deadman 

3800–2580 

Bidwell 

2500–1100 

Mesilla 

4500–2500 

Martis/Bucks Lake 

5200–4500 

Mendocino 

4500–1500 

Whiskeytown 

4500–1600 

Squaw Creek 

5700–3200 

Borax Lake 

8850–5700 

Borax Lake 

10,000–5700 

Clovis 

13,400–12,800 

Clovis 

13,400–12,800 

? 

? 

? 

Canyon I 

2250–1000 

River 

5200–2250 

Basin 

7400–5200 

Secret Spring 

8300–7400 

Paleoarchaic 

12,800–7400 

Clovis 

13,400–12,800 

Figure 10. Regional Chronological Sequences. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 33 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the great antiquity of these materials, they have been subject to a great deal of scrutiny, 

including independent research efforts. Goldberg et al. (2009) conducted detailed analysis of the 

coprolites and thought that their structure and composition were more consistent with ungulate dung 

than with human waste; Sistiaga et al. (2014) came to similar conclusions based on their analysis of lipids 

from the same samples. Poinar et al. (2009) argued that the human DNA found in the specimens could 

have leached in from later-dating components, and they identified some carbon isotope anomalies that 

lead them to question the radiocarbon dates as well. Rasmussen et al. (2009), Gilbert et al. (2008), and 

Jenkins et al. (2012, 2014) responded to these critiques by: (1) producing comparative samples of 

definitive human coprolites with similar structure and composition as the Paisley specimens; (2) clearing 

up issues with the radiocarbon assays; and (3) making a strong case for the absence of DNA leaching 

through the analysis of a series of control samples from the deposit. Based on these responses, the case 

for a pre-14,000 cal BP human occupation at the site seems quite strong. 

Although unequivocal evidence for pre-Clovis people is quite rare, and only documented in areas 

to the north, it seems possible that people were present in northern California at this time as well. It is 

important to emphasize that if these people used simple flaked stone technologies similar to those used 

later in time (i.e., lacking distinctive attributes like fluted points), it may be difficult at first glance to spot 

archaeological materials dating to the Pleistocene. Nevertheless, future researchers should pay special 

attention when working on Pleistocene-aged landforms and, where possible, use obsidian hydration data 

to help isolate these important materials. 

Clovis (13,400–12,800 cal BP) 

Fluted points are relatively common in the Great Basin and Columbia Plateau, but less so in 

California. The vast majority of California points are from surface contexts lacking material suitable for 

radiocarbon assay, and none have been associated with the remains of Pleistocene megafauna (Rondeau et 

al. 2007). They usually occur in isolated contexts but are sometimes found in major concentrations. The 

most important concentration near the current study area is in the Alkali Lake Basin of southeastern Oregon 

(Fagan 1988; Pinson 2004, 2011). 

There is one fluted point reported from Siskiyou County at Bartle Ranch (Jenkins 2005; Meyer 2013; 

Rondeau et al. 2007), and a few more noted in Butte Valley (Fentress 2002), along the Klamath River north 

of Butte Valley, and to the northeast within the Klamath Basin (e.g., Mammoth Springs, Sconchin Butte; 

Meyer 2013; Rondeau et al. 2007). Their precise age and cultural significance remains unknown due to their 

low number and isolated character. They are most often found adjacent to wetland habitats within the 

northwestern Great Basin, which also seems to be the case in our study area. 

Beaton’s (1991) excavations at Tule Lake Rockshelter (SIS-218A), located less than 12 kilometers east 

of the Upper Klamath zone, produced a radiocarbon date of 11,450 BP (13,300 cal BP) from a hearth feature. 

Later analysis of the materials from the site by Erlandson et al. (2014), however, concluded that the date was 

too old, and probably acquired from old wood. Their conclusion was based on the presence of several 

radiocarbon dates from deeper in the deposit that corresponded to the later Paleoarchaic Period (see below). 

Paleoarchaic Period (12,800–7800 cal BP) 

Paleoarchaic archaeological sites are more common than those dating to the Paleoindian Period, 

and are usually marked by Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, large bifacial knives, gravers, scrapers 

and, in rare cases, handstones and millingslabs. Flaked stone crescents are also common at a more limited 

number of sites located next to wetland areas, but they are not significantly present within the Upper 

Klamath zone. The Great Basin Stemmed series includes a variety of regional variants, but they are 

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typically characterized by weakly shouldered specimens with long, square-to-contracting stems that are 

often edge ground (Beck and Jones 2009). 

Most researchers have traditionally thought that Great Basin Stemmed sites post -date Clovis, 

which is consistent with the post-12,800 cal BP age of the Paleoarchaic Period used here. Beck and Jones 

(2010, 2012), following in the footsteps of Bryan (1979), have critiqued this position, arguing that stemmed 

points can be older than Clovis and reflect an entirely different culture that may have entered North 

America via a coastal route (see also Davis et al. 2012; Erlandson and Braje 2011). This hypothesis is quite 

intriguing, particularly given the recent reporting of stemmed points within a 13,223–12,964 cal BP 

component at Paisley Caves (Jenkins et al. 2012). This component is coeval with the Haynes et al. (2007) 

definition of Clovis (13,400–12,800 cal BP), but slightly older than the extremely narrow range (12,960– 

12,740 cal BP) proposed by Waters and Stafford (2007). 

Beck and Jones’ (2010:104) summary of the oldest radiocarbon dates associated with stemmed points 

in the western United States shows similar findings, but only five out of 25 overlap with Clovis, and none predate the Clovis interval (see also Goebel and Kenne 2014). There are also no radiocarbon dates from the 

California coast or adjacent Channel Islands that pre-date the age of Clovis, as the oldest known date is 12,900 

cal BP on human bone from Santa Rosa Island (Johnson et al. 2000; Rosenthal and Fitzgerald 2012). 

Early Holocene subsistence economies continued to focus on marshland habitats, but the 

addition of a few ground stone tools in a limited number of locations appears to signal a widening of the 

diet breadth. Due to the presence of multiple, exotic toolstones in many assemblages, it appears that 

there was a high degree of residential mobility (Beck and Jones 2010). The dominant presence of tools 

assumed to be associated with hunting and butchering, has led many researchers to argue that large 

game must also have been a primary subsistence resource during this time. This position has not been 

borne out by the vast majority of archaeological sites with faunal remains, however, as these assemblages 

are dominated by small game. Although we lack robust faunal assemblages from the Upper Klamath 

zone, Pinson’s (2007) work in southeastern Oregon found a small game focus early in the Holocene 

followed by the addition of large game later in time. 

The Erlandson et al. (2014) re-analysis of the Tule Lake Shelter (SIS-218A) noted above produced 

nine additional radiocarbon dates. Two of them had a two-sigma range of 13,090–12,930 cal BP, but these 

were from burned twigs at the very bottom of the deposit, and lacked good artifact associations. According 

to Erlandson et al. (2014), it remains unclear whether they were produced by people, or non-cultural 

processes like local wildfires. They argue that clear cultural deposits dating to the Paleoarchaic Period are 

present higher in the profile, and range between about 12,600 and 11,800 cal BP. 

This Paleoarchaic component, which corresponds largely to the Younger Dryas cool event (12,900– 

11,700 cal BP), had an abundance of fish bone, reflecting a focus on the lakes hore/marsh resources of Tule 

Lake (Beaton 1991), consistent with similar focus elsewhere in the northwestern Great Basin. The artifact 

assemblage is not fully reported, but may include three small fragments of Great Basin Stemmed points and, 

most interesting, four bone needles. Osborn (2014) has hypothesized that this technology originated, and was 

used most intensively, during the Younger Dryas to make close fitting clothes needed to survive the frigid 

winter conditions of the time. The presence of these tools at Tule Lake Shelter, in a dated component 

contemporaneous with the Younger Dryas, is certainly consistent with this hypothesis (Erlandson et al. 2014). 

Paleoarchaic findings within our Upper Klamath zone also include Great Basin Stemmed projectile 

points and formalized flake tools but, as noted above, appear to lack crescents. Butte Valley and the paleoshorelines of Meiss Lake seem to be important locations for these materials (Meyer 2013); Goebel’s surveys 

(1996 [cited in Fentress 1997, 2002]) and study of local landowner collections produced 50 lanceolate and/or 

stemmed points, one Clovis point, and many scrapers, gravers, and other formal flake tools. Large-scale 

excavations by Jensen and Farber (1982a) at SIS-342 found a single-component Paleoarchaic deposit 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 35 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

containing multiple stemmed points, formal flake tools, a limited amount of fragmentary bone and egg shell, 

but nothing suitable for radiocarbon assay (note, however, that their work predated Accelerator Mass 

Spectrometer dating). Obsidian hydration data from the Grasshopper Flat/Lost Iron Wells source group, 

located in the Medicine Lake Highlands, produced a tight cluster around a mean of 6.9 microns, which 

reflects a high degree of antiquity especially given the cool weather conditions of this location. This mean 

value, when using the Grasshopper Flat/Lost Iron Wells hydration rate developed for Nightfire Island by 

Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989:198), produces an age estimate of 9100 BP (10,260 cal BP). 

Paleoarchaic use of the Upper Klamath zone has also been documented by Hamusek et al. (1997), 

relying on obsidian hydration data from a variety of locations. Consistent with the findings outlined above, 

they found a bulge of hydration readings between 6.0 and 7.5 microns in Butte Valley, and a more sporadic 

presence in Shasta Valley, although the latter revealed readings in the 8.0 to 10.0 micron range. The relatively 

low frequency of activity in Shasta Valley could reflect the lack of a pluvial lake at this location (Meyer 2013). 

Early materials have also been found within the Upper Klamath River Canyon, which correspond 

to the earliest phase of Mack’s (1991) regional chronology (Secret Spring 8300–7400 cal BP). They were 

excavated from a component at 35KL21 dating to 7646 BP (8445 cal BP), and include a small assemblage of 

turtle and mammal bone, and a few bone tools. Despite the limited nature of these findings, the bone 

artifacts and use of wetland fauna are consistent with findings elsewhere in the region. 

Finally, it is important to note that despite the fact that most of the identified Paleoarchaic sites are 

surface phenomena, there are a handful of rockshelters in the western Great Basin that have produced rich 

assemblages of perishable items dating to this period. Much of this material appears to be part of a single, 

widespread Catlow Twining basketry tradition composed of rectangular mats and flexible bags (Adovasio 

1986; Baumhoff 1957). This tradition is represented in early Holocene components in southeastern Oregon 

(e.g., Fort Rock and Paisley caves), as well as western Nevada, where direct radiocarbon dates ranging from 

ca. 10,500 to 10,200 cal BP have been obtained from specimens excavated from Shinner Site A and Horse 

Cave. It is also expressed in the mats and bags associated with the Spirit Cave burial dated to ca. 12,600 cal 

BP (Connolly et al. 1998, 2016; Cressman 1942; Fowler and Hattori 2011). All of these findings place Catlow 

Twining basketry within the Paleoarchaic Period, and it seems highly likely that this tradition was used in 

our Upper Klamath zone as well, especially in Butte Valley. 

Catlow Twining persisted for thousands of years in western Nevada until about 4800 cal BP, 

when the more rigid Lovelock Wickerware and coiled baskets became the dominant basketry tradition 

in the Winnemucca, Humboldt, and Carson basins. It remained dominant in the northwestern Basin until 

about 1000 cal BP when a completely different basketry technology (including seed beaters and 

winnowing trays) appeared in most of the western Great Basin with the arrival of Numic-speaking 

peoples (Adovasio 1986; Bettinger and Baumhoff 1982; but see Connolly 2013). Most importantly for this 

study, Catlow Twining survived in northeastern California where it was traded to outlying areas by 

“ancestors of the Modoc or the Achomawi/Atsugewi peoples, among whom aspects of the tradition 

persist” (Fowler and Hattori 2011:215). The tight association between this basketry tradition and 

Paleoarchaic Stemmed point assemblages, and persistence of the basketry tradition among 

Achomawi/Atsugewi speakers (ancient languages of the Hokan stock; Golla 2011), may signal a high 

degree of continuity between these modern groups and some of the earliest people in the region. 

Basin Period (7800–5200 cal BP) 

This temporal interval witnessed a great deal of change from the preceding Paleoarchaic Period. 

Beck and Jones (2012), for example, argue that increased aridity associated with the Middle Holocene 

essentially ended the Paleoarchaic Period, including the use of Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, and 

the adaptive focus on wetland habitats, which were either eliminated or severely compromised in many 

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locations. We agree, and favor the 7800 cal BP dividing line because: (1) there is no doubt that people no 

longer used Great Basin Stemmed points; (2) this is about the time of the Mt. Mazama volcanic eruptions 

that sent ash over wide areas of the northern Great Basin, potentially pushing people into northeastern 

California; and (3) it marks the appearance of Northern Side-notched projectile points and a wholly 

different adaptation than existed before. 

A number of researchers have speculated that middle Holocene climatic warming may have either 

reduced human populations or led them to totally abandon the central Great Basin for better-watered 

locations on the periphery like our Upper Klamath zone (Baumhoff and Heizer 1965; Beck 1995; Beck and 

Jones 2012; Grayson 1993, 2011; Layton 1985; Madsen 2002; Milliken and Hildebrandt 1997). Moreover, the 

unique morphology of Northern Side-notched points, and their northern distribution, have led several 

researchers to suggest that these points are “ethnic markers” of more northerly populations who occupied 

the Columbia Plateau and moved southward (Delacorte and Basgall 2012; Layton 1985; O’Connell 1975). 

Along these lines, Chatters (2012:148–151) argues that the eruption of Mt. Mazama at around 7600 cal BP, 

and the resulting tephra blanket across much of southern Oregon, helped push Plateau peoples to the south. 

Throughout much of the wider region, this time period saw the rise of higher levels of residential 

stability, marked by the use of semi-subterranean house structures, greater investment in milling gear 

(including a variety of mortars), and a general elaboration of other flaked stone and bone implements in places 

like Surprise Valley (O’Connell 1971), the Fort Rock Basin (Helzer 2004) and, to a lesser degree, the Klamath 

Basin (Sampson 1985), where reliable sources of water still existed. Chatters (2012:149–151) characterizes the 

land-use strategy as “opportunistic sedentism.” He suggests that during periods of resource abundance, these 

residentially mobile people, who normally had little reliance on either storage or use of temporary field camps, 

would build substantial semi-subterranean houses in which they would reside for several months to several 

years, and argues the system prevailed until about 6000 cal BP. 

Within our Upper Klamath Zone, Mack et al. (1991) document the presence of Northern Sidenotched, Humboldt Concave Base, and McKee Unifaces at several sites along the Upper Klamath River 

Canyon. In addition to a diversified set of flaked stone tools, these assemblages included portable mortars, 

mullers, and stone bowls, as well as mammal bone and turtle, but only limited amounts of fish. These 

findings led Mack et al. (1991:80) to conclude that “large, seasonal campsites were used within the canyon, 

presumably part of a seasonal round which included adjacent areas at other seasons of the year.” 

Similar findings have been made in Butte Valley where, despite the declining size of Meiss Lake, it 

was still a favorable location compared to many valleys farther into the Great Basin that were completely 

desiccated (Fentress 2002; Meyer 2013). Sites associated with the lake and adjacent creeks contained 

Northern Side-notched and Humboldt Concave Base points, and a variety of milling gear (including bowl 

mortars), and they seem to reflect seasonal residential bases. 

Shasta Valley and the adjacent Lower Klamath River Canyon, which had minimal evidence of use 

during the preceding Paleoarchaic Period, show significant increases in occupation reflected by a bulge in 

obsidian hydration readings and relatively high frequencies of Northern Side-notched points and McKee 

Unifaces (Hamusek et al. 1997; Mack 2003). Other artifact types associated with this time period (stone 

bowls, mortars, mullers, and bone tools) have not been found in dateable contexts, but this could be the 

result of insufficient sample sizes (Mack 2003:60). 

River Period (5200–2250 cal BP) 

Climatic conditions began to improve during this interval, becoming significantly cooler and wetter 

between about 4500 and 2600 cal BP (Fentress 2002), and marked by an increasingly robust archaeological 

record. When placed within a wider context, this period is seen across much of the Great Basin and California 

as having been a cultural florescence or “golden age,” especially after about 4000 cal BP (Hildebrandt and 

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McGuire 2002). Along with the increasing sophistication in material culture, there was the rise of true 

settlement hierarchies and a greater use of large semi-sedentary base camps in many areas for the first time. 

This period has also been associated with the rise of logistical large-game hunting (Hildebrandt and McGuire 

2002; McGuire and Hildebrandt 2005; see also Broughton and Bayham 2003), and development of an 

unprecedented phase of toolstone production and biface manufacturing associated with major obsidian 

quarries, including those in the Medicine Lake Highlands (Hildebrandt and Mikkelsen 1994). 

Northern Side-notched points appear to persist in Butte Valley, but most assemblages are 

dominated by Elko Corner-notched, Siskiyou Side-notched, and McKee Unifaces. The frequency of 

archaeological sites continues to build, doubling from the preceding period. Sites show deep midden 

deposits for the first time and greater quantities of milling equipment, both indicating greater residential 

stability (Fentress 2002). 

This is certainly the case along the shores of Lower Klamath Lake at Nightfire Island, where 

centralized villages were established for the first time. These were accompanied by more complex 

assemblages of flaked stone, ground stone, and bone implements, which were used for a wider range of 

acquisition strategies (Sampson 1985). Mack (2003) has observed similar patterns along the Upper Klamath 

River where Elko Corner-notched, Siskiyou Side-notched, Clikapudi series, and Gold Hill Leaf-shaped 

points are dominant. In addition to extensive ground stone assemblages, more elaborate bone tool 

assemblages emerge, including bone and antler chisels and wedges, and harpoon barbs, the latter reflective 

of a greater emphasis on fishing. This was also the case at Nightfire Island (Mack et al. 1991:77). 

It appears that populations were also increasing within Shasta Valley, especially between about 

4000 and 2000 cal BP, as evidenced by increases in the number of time sensitive projectile points and 

obsidian hydration readings (Hamusek et al. 1997; see also Hildebrandt and Mikkelsen 1994). Nilsson 

(1991) also notes higher levels of settlement differentiation at this time, with lowland residential areas 

accompanied by an increase in logistical hunting in adjacent upland areas. Little is known about the 

character of other tool classes dating to this period, however. 

Canyon Period I (2250–1000 cal BP) 

Many of the projectile points used during the River Period persist into the Canyon I Period (e.g., 

Elko Corner-notched, Siskiyou Side-notched, Clikapudi series, and Gold Hill series). After about 1700 cal 

BP, however, bow-and-arrow technology, represented by the Tuluwat series (formerly Gunther; Rouvier 

2007), is introduced to the Upper Klamath River Canyon (Mack 2003; Mack et al. 1991). Other important 

temporal indicators include shell beads (Olivella F2b saucers and G3a rings). 

The subsistence-settlement pattern changes set in motion during the River Period (i.e., sedentism, 

logistical organization, obsidian exchange), seem to carry forward with the exception of the interval 

between 2600 and 2000 cal BP, when severe and persistent droughts took place throughout much of the 

Great Basin (Rhode 2016). These appear to have been felt in the study area as well. Fentress (2002), for 

example, suggests that increased aridity within Butte Valley at about 2000 cal BP caused people to move 

up from the valleys and focus more on upland root crops. This shift has also been recognized by Sundahl 

and Clewett (1988), based on a reduction in obsidian hydration readings in lowland settings during this 

time. Nightfire Island became a seasonal camp at 2700 cal BP, and was abandoned between 2100 and 2000 

(Sampson 1985), perhaps due to lower water levels in the local area. 

Although it is difficult to know how the Upper Klamath River Canyon was effected by this climatic 

event, it appears that the intensity of habitation continued to increase throughout the period. This is indicated 

by both a greater focus on fishing, and by the first evidence of house pits. This location also experienced an 

increase in settlement differentiation, including the establishment of upland root camps (Mack 1983). 

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Nilsson’s (1991) work in the larger Shasta Valley area found a similar range of dart points between 

2600 and 1400 cal BP (known as the Ager Phase), including Elko Corner-notched, Siskiyou Side-notched, and 

stemmed leaf-shaped points, but Tuluwat Barbed arrow points didn’t appear until after 1500 BP. Other artifacts 

linked to this period within Shasta Valley include unifacial and bifacial manos, unifacial metates, end scrapers, 

and side scrapers but, importantly, an absence of bowl mortars and pestles (see also Nilsson 1987). Similar to 

the other areas discussed above, major habitation areas were established along river banks at transition 

between valley and hills, and more specialized upland camps were quite common as well (Ritter 1989). 

Canyon Period II (post-1000 cal BP) 

Bow and arrow technology dominates after 1000 cal BP and includes Rose Spring, Tuluwat Barbed, 

and Desert Side-notched points, with the latter post-dating 500 cal BP in most places. The use of obsidian 

declines significantly in Butte Valley during this interval, which is consistent with reduced production at the 

quarries within the Medicine Lake Highlands (Fentress 2002; Hildebrandt and Mikkelsen 1994). The number 

and size of archaeological sites in Butte Valley also declines, and are dominated by milling stations, some of 

which may have been wokas processing sites. At the same time, the frequency of upland camps continues to 

expand, probably reflecting a greater emphasis on the use of upland root crops, especially epos (Fentress 2002). 

In contrast to Butte Valley, archaeological visibility continues to expand during the Canyon Period 

II along the Klamath River, reflecting a continued emphasis on fishing, acorns, and geophytes where 

available. House pit sites abound and ethnic differences seem to emerge, with upriver sites (probably 

Klamath/Modoc) containing unifacial shouldered mullers (probably for wokus processing), T-shaped 

drills, and house pits with benches and storage pits in the floors, but no multi-floored houses or pottery. 

Downriver sites (probably Shastan) and those within Shasta Valley have multi-floored houses, ceramic 

figurines and pottery fragments identified as Siskiyou Utility Ware, and a higher frequency of Tuluwat 

Barbed relative to Rose Spring projectile points (Fentress 2002; Mack 2011; Mack et al. 1991; Nilsson 1987, 

1988, 1991). It is also important to note that bowl mortars and pestles were used throughout late prehistoric 

times in the Klamath Basin proper and, to a limited degree, in upriver locations, but this is not the case in 

locations downriver or in Shasta Valley; in these areas, hopper mortars and flat-ended pestles dominate 

after 1000 cal BP. Finally, one of the best examples of this downriver Canyon Period II pattern is found at 

Iron Gate Reservoir, where Leonhardy (1967) excavated a major house pit village dating AD 1400 to 1600. 

This site lacks Siskiyou Utility Ware, however, perhaps indicating that this technology was not used this 

late in time along this stretch of the river (Mack 2011). 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s) 

Shasta peoples first came into contact with Europeans and Euro-Americans in the 1820s–1830s, as 

fur trappers passed through their territories. Like native groups in much of California, the Shasta were hit 

very hard by the Gold Rush. When gold was discovered on the Klamath River in 1850, they were crowded 

off their fishing and hunting grounds by Euro-American miners and subsequent settlers. One observer 

reported that their villages were burned and the people shot, as the newcomers “determined to wage a war 

of extermination against the Indians on the upper Klamath and its tributaries” (Gibbs 1853, cited in Silver 

1978:212). Fort Jones was established in Scotts Valley in 1852, and by the following year Yreka had an 

estimated (non-native) population of 10,000. All of this disruption was visited upon native villages already 

hard-hit by European diseases like smallpox and malaria. 

Silver (1978:212) notes that “by the 1870s the Shasta way of life had been badly shattered.” One 

coping mechanism was the adoption of various religious cults, most famously the Ghost Dance, whereby 

the ancestors would be summoned to return and overthrow the invaders. This and similar movements 

spread through many tribal territories. Despite any attempts at resistance, however, the Shasta—like other 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 39 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

northern California tribes—lost essentially all of their traditional lands and were forced to relocate to 

reservations established by the new government. 

Undoubtedly some people escaped into the rugged uplands to avoid contact with the white miners, 

settlers, and military, but to our knowledge no refuge sites have been identified or investigated in the 

Upper Klamath region. The most common artifacts marking contact-period archaeological sites tend to be 

glass trade beads, which first entered California in the 1820s with Russian traders and Euro-American 

explorers. Glass beads and other trade items arrived even earlier in Oregon with the Lewis and Clark 

expedition (1805-1806), and some of these items could have entered northern California via inter-tribal 

exchange. However, no Euro-American trade goods have been found so far at the pit-house villages in the 

upper Klamath River Canyon (Mack 2003; Mack et al. 1991), suggesting that the end of permanent 

occupation of the river canyon occurred sometime before historic-era contact. 

Waechter and Young (2015:Table 18) have assembled radiocarbon dates from nine sites in Shasta 

Valley and the Klamath River Canyon, the only sites in the vicinity for which radiocarbon dates have been 

reported. None of the sites returned an historic-period (or “modern”) date: the latest was 320 ± 60 BP, 

uncalibrated (no calibration reported) from SIS-900, the Meek Site, south of the small town of Ager 

(Johnston and Nilsson 1983; Nilsson et al. 1989). Data from SIS-266, a rockshelter north of Mt. Shasta, led 

Ritter (1989) to conclude that the site had been occupied perhaps as recently as 200 years before (i.e., AD 

1789). Hamusek and Haney (2001:11; see also Waechter and Young 2015) report that site SIS-329 on the 

Klamath River south of Yreka is believed to be at the approximate location of the Shasta village of A’chīt’

ter rah’ kah, as recorded by C. Hart Merriam. To date, however, no evidence of an ethnohistoric occupation 

has been found at the site. Similarly, site SIS-154 in northern Shasta Valley was hypothesized to be the 

location of the ethnohistoric Shasta village of Em-mah-kwit-te; however, as with SIS-329, no archaeological 

evidence was found to confirm this attribution (Nilsson 1987). In sum, no clearly contact-period sites have 

been reported for the Upper Klamath region. 

SACRAMENTO VALLEY 

The Sacramento Valley zone begins immediately south of the Upper Klamath zone, and 

corresponds quite closely to the western portions of Shasta and Tehama counties (see Figure 2). It also 

extends down into western Butte County, but this portion of the valley will be combined with the Sierra 

Nevada zone due to the tight geographical and cultural affinities between the two areas. The most useful 

chronological sequence for the larger Sacramento Valley zone comes from the work of Sundahl (1992). 

Rather than using simple time period designations, like those applied to the Upper Klamath zone, 

Sundahl’s sequence identifies cultural Patterns that are assigned to each time period (see Fredrickson [1974] 

for a discussion of this system). We generally follow Sundahl’s (1992) original system, but add a 

Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic interval (13,400–8850 cal BP) to the beginning. The subsequent cultural historical 

units include the Borax Lake Pattern (8850–5700 cal BP), Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–4500/3200 cal BP), 

Whiskeytown Pattern (4500/3200–1600 cal BP), and Shasta Pattern (post-1600 cal BP). 

Paleoindian/Paleoarchic Period (13,400–8850) 

There is very little evidence for Paleoindian or Paleoarchaic occupation of the Sacramento Valley 

zone. Fluted points have been found in only two locations, one within western Shasta County (Samwell 

Cave) and the other in Tehama County (Thomes Creek), and none have been associated with meaningful 

assemblages (Dillon and Murphy 1994; Meyer 2013; Rondeau et al. 2007; Treganza 1964). Meyer’s (2013:127) 

review of early Holocene projectile points from the two counties also shows a complete absence of Great 

Basin Stemmed points, clearly demonstrating very little influence from the Great Basin. Instead, the 

predominant early point form is the Borax Lake Widestem (97% of the early assemblages) but, as will be 

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discussed below, it has never been found in contexts pre-dating 8390 cal BP, leaving the Paleoindian and 

Paleoarchaic intervals largely devoid of an archaeological signature. 

Attempts to fill this late Pleistocene/early Holocene gap have occurred at two primary locations. 

The first, Potter Creek Cave, is located on the McCloud River above Shasta Lake. It has been well known 

for its Pleistocene faunal remains for more than 100 years, and several researchers have argued for an 

association between human made artifacts and the extinct megafauna, either based on the presumed 

presence of bone tools made from these animals or flaked stone tools used to butcher them (Sinclair 1904). 

Subsequent work at the site by Payen and Taylor (1976), however, found that the fracture and damage 

patterns on the bone were probably due to carnivores, and most of the true artifacts from the site (including 

one of the only directly dated atlatls in California) were around 2,000 years old, post-dating the Pleistocene 

fauna by thousands of years. 

The second attempt focused on surface scatters containing crude metavolcanic tools and debitage 

on old Pleistocene terraces in the Redding area (Brott and Dotta 1978; Clewett et al. 1982; Sundahl 1976). The 

heavy patination on much of this material, and the near absence of artifacts common to late Holocene sites 

nearby, led some to hypothesize that the artifacts were Pleistocene in age (Brott and Dotta 1978). Other 

researchers (Clewett et al. 1982; Ritter and Crew 2008) have suggested, however, that the most of the 

assemblages were probably late Holocene in age and probably represented specialized activity areas related 

to more permanent residential sites located in adjacent locations. 

Borax Lake Pattern (8850–5700 cal BP) 

Archaeological visibility increases significantly after about 9,000 years ago and is manifested by 

the Borax lake Pattern (8850–5700 cal BP). Most assemblages dating to this interval include Borax Lake 

Wide-stemmed projectile points, handstones, millingslabs, ovoid flake tools, and a variety of other 

utilitarian items (Clewett and Sundahl 1983; Kowta et al. 2000; Sundahl 1988, 1992). These materials are 

best represented at SHA-475 and SHA-499 in the Squaw Creek drainage where they have been associated 

with radiocarbon dates ranging between 8390 and 7450 cal BP (Sundahl 1992). Evidence for the Borax Lake 

Pattern is also found in upland areas surrounding the northern Sacramento Valley, especially to the west 

in Shasta (Kowta et al. 2000) and Trinity (Meyer 2013) counties. Palynological studies from a variety of 

locations show that the climate was generally warmer and drier at this time, and that oaks expanded into 

upland areas previously dominated by conifers (West et al. 2007), probably increasing the overall 

productivity of these habitats, and providing an incentive for local people to use these upland locations. 

Because many of the sites look like short-term residential bases (based on their diversified assemblages), 

and their assemblages often look quite similar in a variety of upland and lowland habitats, several 

researchers have hypothesized that they probably reflect a “forager” approach to subsistence-settlement 

organization (sensu Binford 1980), where little emphasis was placed on storage, and residential bases were 

frequently moved in response to seasonal changes in the availability of key economic resources 

(Hildebrandt and Hayes 1993; Kowta et al. 2000; Sundahl and Henn 1993). 

Sundahl (1992) also notes that the Borax Lake assemblages show subtle but significant geographic 

differences in their character, with those from the upper Sacramento River watershed (known as the 

“Chirpchatter Aspect”) distinguished by the dominance of Grasshopper Flat/Lost Iron Wells obsidian, by 

predominance of Wide-stemmed points with flat basal margins over those with indented bases, and by 

unshaped manos and millingslabs (see also Clewett and Sundahl 1983). Farther west, in the North Coast 

Ranges (see below), the “Trinity Aspect” shows preeminence of chert toolstone, indented bases on 

projectile points, a prevalence of deep serrations on projectile points and biface margins, and lateral wear 

facets on many of the unshaped manos (see also Sundahl and Henn 1993). 

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Finally, it is important to emphasize that, similar to the Upper Klamath zone, there are little 

similarities with areas north of the Oregon border (including the Klamath River) at this time. Connolly 

(1986:256) notes that there is no evidence for the Borax lake Pattern in Oregon, as early Glade Tradition 

assemblages are dominated by foliate (Cascade) projectile points, broad/oval bifaces, blade tools, and edgefaceted cobbles, which seem to show much stronger ties to the Pacific Northwest. 

Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–4500/3200 cal BP) 

At about 5700 cal BP several new artifact forms appear in the archaeological record. These materials 

are assigned to the Squaw Creek Pattern by Sundahl (1992), and correspond to the Pollard Flat Phase identified 

by Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989), based on their work in the Sacramento River Canyon. The assemblage is 

composed of Squaw Creek Contracting-stemmed, Pollard Diamond-shaped, and Mckee Uniface points, as well 

as handstones, millingslabs, ovoid flake tools and, in some places, incised slate. Most of the latter artifacts 

(nearly 1500) come from three sites in the Sacramento River Canyon (SHA-475, -1169, and -1175), and represent 

one of the largest portable rock art assemblages in North America (Gilreath 2007; McGuire 1989; Figure 11). 

On average, the artifacts measure 45 x 30 x 6 millimeters, and they typically have either parallel bands in-filled 

with a series of straight lines or crosshatching, or they have triangular and diamond bands in-filled with 

incisions. Some have perforations indicating that they were worn or carried by their owners, and their 

association throughout site deposits with utilitarian artifacts suggests that they commonly broke or were lost 

during everyday activities. Based on these findings, McGuire (1989:D43) argues that were amulets used by 

group members to provide “stylistic reinforcement of group affiliation and social integration.” 

Faunal remains from Squaw Creek Pattern sites are usually restricted to small calcined fragments, 

owing the acidity of soils within the conifer forest-dominated habitats, inhibiting our ability to learn much 

about hunting patterns. Plant remains, by contrast, were recovered from the Sacramento River Canyon 

sites, and show a dominance of gray pine and manzanita, with lesser, but significant, quantities of acorn. 

Small seeds were also found in low frequencies, represented by clover and plantain (Wohlgemuth 1989). 

Similar to the Borax Lake Pattern, many Squaw Creek sites are found in forested contexts, as well as 

lower elevation foothill areas where more diversified vegetation communities exist. This is especially true to 

the north, on the upper reaches of the Sacramento River watershed (Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989; Boynton 

1973; Cassidy et al. 1994; Clewett and Sundahl 1983) and in foothill areas along the west side of the Sacramento 

Valley (Baker 1990; Bevill and Nilsson 1999; Kowta et al. 2000; Tyree and Sundahl 2002). Moreover, intersite 

similarities in assemblage composition, coupled with the presence of artifact caches, evidence for flaked stone 

tool curation, and the near absence of mortars and pestles, are thought to indicate the continuance of a 

relatively mobile, forager-type adaptive strategy (Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989; Kowta et al. 2000). 

Whiskeytown Pattern (4500/3200–1600 cal BP) 

A major shift in subsistence-settlement organization appears to have occurred between about 4500 

and 1600 cal BP. Archaeological findings from this interval are assigned to the Whiskeytown Pattern by 

Sundahl (1992). These include a wide range of corner- and side-notched projectile points belonging to the 

Clikapudi series, handstones, millingslabs, notched pebble net weights, and bowl mortars and pestles (see 

also the Deadman and Kinsley complexes in Tehama County outlined below [Greenway 1982; Johnson 

1984]). As opposed to a generalized forager strategy, Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989) propose a “fissionfusion” model of subsistence settlement where “during the fall and winter the population was logistically 

organized around a strategically situated residential base camp, but at other times during the year the social 

unit dispersed and smaller groups followed a forager strategy, moving between productive resource tracts 

as warranted” (Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989:450). The fall-winter residential bases are thought to have 

been concentrated along the northern Sacramento Valley foothills, where both salmon and acorns were 

Far Western 42 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

0 5 cm 

Figure 11. Squaw Creek Pattern Incised Slates.

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 43 Far Western 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

plentiful (Baker 1984, 1990; Bevill and Nilsson 1999, 2001; Sundahl 1999; Tyree and Sundahl 2002), while 

warm-season camps were situated in a much wider range of environmental settings, often commingling 

with Squaw Creek Pattern sites in upland areas to the north. 

The spatio-temporal overlap of these contrasting assemblages led Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989) 

to conclude that the Squaw Creek and Whiskeytown groups exploited the same territories for at least 1,000 

years. Rather than occupying these areas simultaneously, they argued that occupations were disjunct in 

micro-time, with spatial overlaps in assemblage distributions reflecting the continuous shifting of a 

territorial boundary along the headwaters of the Sacramento River. The large number of incised stones 

(perhaps used as amulets) found in Squaw Creek Pattern contexts was also considered a reflection of 

boundary competition, as ethnographic data have shown that emblematic style transmission is often most 

pronounced under conditions of increased intergroup competition (McGuire 1989; Weissner 1983; Wobst 

1977). It should be noted, however, that evidence for this type of boundary competition has not been 

reported elsewhere in north-central California during this temporal interval, and it is considered a 

controversial issue by several local scholars (Kowta et al. 2000; Sundahl 1992). 

Before moving forward it is important to note that the Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989) hypothesis for 

winter sedentism within the Whiskeytown Pattern settlement system was based on a minimal amount of 

evidence from the local area. Rather, it was inspired by relatively high degrees of sedentism during this interval 

in many other parts of California (e.g., mounded villages on San Francisco Bay and the San Joaquin-Sacramento 

Delta, major residential sites in Clear Lake Basin and on the flanks of the Sierra Nevada, and along the Pit 

River), leading to the expectation that similar developments would have occurred along the major salmon 

streams of Shasta and Tehama counties. A growing body of data from the Redding area is beginning to show 

that this hypothesis is probably incorrect. More recent work by Hildebrandt et al. (2005) has demonstrated a 

lack of Whiskeytown Pattern riverine focus at numerous sites in the region (see also Clewett and Sundahl 1982; 

Jackson et al. 1997; Shapiro and Jackson 2001). Fish bone and shellfish remains are commonplace in later Shasta 

Pattern sites, as are large diversified artifact assemblages reflective of major residential bases (e.g., mortars and 

pestles, drills, bone tools, fishing gear, and shell ornaments). Of the six Whiskeytown Pattern deposits along 

the Sacramento River reviewed by Hildebrandt et al. (2005), none had significant frequencies of riverine 

resources (fish and shellfish), and the artifact assemblages are much narrower in scope. 

Plant remains are available from a lesser number of Whiskeytown Pattern sites, but provide 

important subsistence information nonetheless. Along the Sacramento River Canyon, and similar to the 

Squaw Creek Pattern, gray pine and manzanita dominate, followed by lesser quantities of acorn 

(Wohlgemuth 1989); this is also the case along Clear Creek at SHA-479 (Baker 1990) and at SHA-47 along 

the Sacramento River near Redding (Shapiro and Jackson 2001). The importance of small seeds increases 

to a limited degree relative to the preceding period, especially bedstraw and tarweed (Wohlgemuth 1989). 

Based on these findings, it appears that there was significantly less residential stability associated 

with the Whiskeytown Pattern than originally hypothesized by Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989). Instead, it 

appears more likely that although acorn (and some storage thereof) was an important component of the 

economy, higher levels of sedentism did not take place until later, when the intensive harvest and storage 

of salmon took place. 

Shasta Pattern (post-1600 cal BP) 

Geographic differences in artifact assemblages and presumed subsistence-settlement strategies 

continue into the Late Period (<1600 cal BP). Archaeological manifestations concentrated along the upper 

Sacramento drainage, originally referred to as the Shasta Complex (also referred to as the Redding Aspect of 

the Augustine Pattern; Sundahl 1992), include the bow and arrow, bone-tipped harpoon, and hopper mortar 

and pestle, among others. Variation in the artifact assemblage has been used to define three chronologically 

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discrete phases (Sundahl 1982). The earliest (1250–750 BP) tends to have square-stemmed Tuluwat Barbed 

projectile points (with lower frequencies of expanding-stem variants), winged drills, bipointed fish gorges, 

bone gaming pieces, incised bone pendants, and spire- lopped Olivella (recently renamed Callianax) shell and 

Glycymeris shell beads. Expanding-stem projectile points and winged drills are not present in the intermediate 

phase (750–350 BP), while a contracting- stemmed variant of the Tuluwat Barbed point, the Desert Sidenotched point, and crudely flaked obsidian blanks, large chert and basalt drills, paired arrowshaft abraders, 

and abalone shell pendants are relatively common. The late phase (450–100 BP) is identified with the Redding 

subtype of the Desert Side-notched series, triangular unnotched arrow points, hafted drills, incised pebbles, 

biconically drilled pebble pendants, incised charm stones, and clam shell disk beads. 

These materials have been associated with the arrival of the Wintu to northern California, and are 

thought to reflect a sedentary adaptation made possible by a subsistence system dependent on new fishing 

technology, and the large-scale storage of salmon and acorns (Broughton 1988; Dotta 1964; George 1981; 

Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008; Smith and Weymouth 1952; Sundahl 1982, 1992, 2006; Wohlgemuth 1992). 

As the frequency of trade items (e.g., shell beads) increased substantially in the late phase, intergroup exchange 

of subsistence resources and other important commodities may also have contributed to a reduction in 

settlement mobility. 

Subsistence remains are much more abundant in these later dating sites, especially in rich midden 

deposits located along the Sacramento River (Hildebrandt et al. 2005). An especially good example is SHA1043, located six miles south of Redding. At this site, mammals and fish were found in equal amounts. 

Mammals were represented by a relatively even mix of elk, deer, rabbits, and squirrels. Fish, by contrast, were 

more than 50% salmon, followed by lesser quantities of minnows and suckers. Plant remains from the site 

included both large and small seeded varieties, with the former group dominated by acorn, followed by 

manzanita nutlets and pine nuts. Small seeds included a variety of grasses and herbs, especially filaree and 

farewell to spring (Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008). Up in the Sacramento River Canyon, the importance 

of acorn also increased, but the most significant change was an increase in the abundance and diversity of 

small seeded plants including bedstraw, clover, and goosefoot (Wohlgemuth 1989). 

A large burial population was also excavated, moved, and reburied at SHA-1043 (Hildebrandt and 

Darcangelo 2008). The population exhibited a high degree of violence, with fully 63% of the males suffering 

from traumatic injuries to their bones: this included depression fractures to skulls from clubbing, and bones 

riddled with arrow points. A portion of the cemetery also overlaps the historic period, as evidenced by trade 

items from the Hudson’s Bay Company (e.g., glass beads and a covered copper kettle). The cemetery also 

contains proposed evidence of the 1832 malaria epidemic, as indicated by unusually high levels of mortality 

found among the youngest and oldest members of the population (Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008). 

Late Period Foothill Adaptations 

A contrasting Late Period record is found in upland areas surrounding the northern Sacramento 

Valley. It is represented by much smaller sites and rather simple assemblages consisting of small side- and 

corner-notched projectile points, Tuluwat-series forms, hopper mortars and pestles, handstones, 

millingslabs, and notched pebble weights. On the east side of the valley, these findings are assigned to the 

Tehama Pattern (Clewett and Sundahl 1982; Sundahl 1992), and are thought to reflect a more mobile pattern 

of settlement by populations speaking Hokan languages (e.g., Yana). These groups were pushed to the 

hinterlands by the late-arriving Wintu, who ultimately restricted access to the Sacramento River. 

Application of the Tehama Pattern to the west side of the valley has met with a great deal of 

controversy for a variety of reasons. First, the area was occupied by Wintuan-speaking peoples, leading to 

the conclusion foothill sites represented short-term, seasonal habitations by people affiliated with the Shasta 

Complex (Farber 1985; Farber et al. 1985). Although Farber (1985) recognized the presence of artifacts not 

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normally associated with lowland Shasta Complex occupations (e.g., notched projectile points, handstones, 

and millingslabs), he argued that these tools were simply used to obtain and process resources more 

commonly found in upland contexts. Baker (1990), in contrast, questioned the chronological integrity of the 

hypothesized assemblage, noting that notched projectile points, handstones, and millingslabs are typically 

associated with the preceding time period (i.e., Whiskeytown Pattern) and therefore should be decoupled 

from the more traditional Shasta Complex traits (see also Johnson 1993). 

Later excavations in the western foothills have produced a series of single-component assemblages 

more clearly related to the Shasta Complex (Bevill and Nilsson 1996, 1999; Farber and Neuenschwander 

1984; Jensen 1993, 1994; Sundahl 1996, 1999; Tyree 1992). Artifact assemblages and features from some of 

these foothill sites appeared quite similar in content to assemblages from sites located along the Sacramento 

River. This similarity led Jensen (1993, 1994) and Sundahl (1996, 1998) to propose that some of the sites 

represent permanent or near-permanent residential bases, rather than small ephemeral camps associated 

with large Shasta Complex villages on the Sacramento River (DuBois 1935). Jensen (1993, 1994) and Sundahl 

(1996, 1998) further hypothesized that several centuries of successful exploitation of resources along the 

Sacramento River led to significantly higher population densities, causing a budding-off of groups who 

established year-round settlements along the smaller stream course in the foothills sometime after 700 BP 

(see also Guilford-Kardell and Dotta 1980). 

Similar findings have been made in the western foothills farther south in Tehama County within 

the original homeland of the Nomlaki, or near the Wintu-Nomlaki boundary (Darcangelo et al. 2015; 

Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2001; Dondero and Johnson 1988; Johnson and Dondero 1990; Johnson and 

Theodoratus 1984a, 1984b, 1984c). Most of the sites in this locality had strong affinities with the Shasta 

Pattern, as their projectile point assemblages were dominated by the Tuluwat series and they contain rich 

midden deposits not unlike those found along the Sacramento River. They differ, however, by being much 

smaller and containing low numbers of human burials, probably reflecting extended family hamlets rather 

than large, multi-family villages. Due to the lack of high quality salmon streams in these locations (reflected 

by the paucity of fish bone in most deposits; Hill and O’Brien 2003), and the relatively recent age of most 

midden sites (most post-date 600 cal BP), it is possible that the western foothill settlements split off from 

those on the river when population densities reached critical mass in the latter, more productive habitats. 

This resulted in establishment of the Hill Nomlaki and Bald Hills Wintu in the region at historic contact 

(Darcangelo et al. 2015; Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a). 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s) 

The Wintu and Nomlaki are the primary groups occupying the Sacramento Valley Zone (see 

Ethnographic Context) and are the ethnohistoric representatives of the Shasta Pattern. Both groups first met 

Euro-Americans during a series of expeditions into the Sacramento Valley in 1826 and 1827 by Jedediah 

Smith and Peter Ogden. Visits intensified in the early 1830s when trappers from the Hudson Bay Company 

traveled through, sometimes in groups composed of over 100 people (Maloney 1945). These groups 

brought a variety of trade items like glass beads and copper kettles which were of great value to the Wintu 

and Nomlaki, but they also brought a devastating malaria epidemic that decimated much of the local Indian 

population during 1833 (Cook 1943; Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008). 

Although local populations recovered to some degree over the next 15 to 20 years, they were impacted 

again with the discovery of gold in the 1850s that brought thousands of miners into the area, especially within 

Wintu territory. These immigrants had little respect for the land or the indigenous people who lived there. 

Indian people were driven from their land and often killed in cold blood, including several massacres that have 

been documented by LaPena (1978) and Goldschmidt (1978). Native resistance to these atrocities resulted in 

several battles, including the “Wintoon War” that lasted for six months between 1858 and 1859, where 100 

Indians were killed and many of the survivors were moved to a variety of reservations (Castillo 1978). 

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But many people survived the killings and forced removals, occupying small villages located away 

from the larger White settlements, often in foothill settings away from their most productive salmon streams 

and other important foraging areas. Other tribal members secured work as laborers and domestic workers 

on ranches and farms as part of the growing agricultural industry. By the early 1870s, however, a series of 

religious revitalization movements began to take hold in an attempt to bring the old ways back (Bean and 

Vane 1978; Du Bois 1939). The Ghost Dance, for example, was introduced to northern California by a series 

of Northern Paiute prophets in 1871. Practitioners believed that if they participated in the traditional Round 

Dance for five nights, the White people would leave, and the dead ancestors and important animals like 

bear, deer, and wolf would return. A derivation of this religion, known as the Earth Lodge Cult, was adopted 

among the Wintu and Nomlaki soon thereafter, which included construction of large subterranean 

structures with the goal of bringing back the dead. The Earth Lodge Cult soon converted to the Bole Maru 

religion in 1874, and then the Big Head Dance among the Nomlaki (which is still practiced today), while the 

Wintu developed the Dream Dance which lasted only a few decades before fading away (Woolfenden 1970). 

Wintu and Nomlaki archaeological sites dating to this transitional period are relatively common 

within the Sacramento Valley Zone. Excavations along the Sacramento River eight miles south of Redding 

by Hildebrandt and Darcangelo (2008), for example, encountered a village site with a prehistoric Shasta 

Pattern component followed by one reflecting direct contact with the Hudson’s Bay Company and 

probably the John Work expedition of 1832–1833. The latter component included a cemetery population 

with an assemblage of glass beads similar to those supplied to Work at Fort Vancouver (Ross 1990), as well 

as a Hudson’s Bay Company covered copper kettle. This cemetery population also seemed to reflect the 

malaria epidemic, as it included multiple group burials with much higher rates of mortality among the 

youngest and oldest members of the group than was the case earlier in time. 

The next phase of occupation dates between 1850 and the early 1860s, and its archaeological 

manifestation is concentrated along the Sacramento River. Findings from these sites have been synthesized 

by Vaughan (2001) and show the addition of many Euro-American tools to the local economy (see also 

Woolfenden 1970). While most people were buried using traditional methods and were interred with 

traditional artifacts, many of the graves also included glass beads, ironstone cups, buttons, iron gold pans, 

ax heads, knives, shovels, ceramic bowls, and many other utilitarian items. The high frequency of these 

items may reflect the proximity of these sites to Shasta and other nearby early towns and the Sacramento 

River, and the relatively large Euro-American settlements that developed there. 

Occupations dating between about 1870 and 1880 have been documented in the Trinity Reservoir 

area (Treganza 1959), at Redbank Reservoir in Tehama County (Treganza 1954), and along Salt Creek, about 

15 miles northeast of Redding (Sundahl and Clewett 1991). The Salt Creek sites show a significantly 

different pattern than that reported by Vaughan (2001), including a much lower frequency of EuroAmerican goods. Although the region was fully occupied by Euro-Americans by this time, Sundahl and 

Clewett (1991) encountered multiple Wintu houses that differed little from their pre-contact forms, except 

for very large and deep dance houses that were probably related to the Earth Lodge Cult. Euro-American 

clothing and glass beads (Ritter 1991) were plentiful, but metal cookware, crockery dishware, and other 

items were not. Glass was predominately used to make tools, including projectile points, and there was 

little evidence for the use of guns or metal hooks for hunting or fishing. Despite maintaining many 

traditional parts of their culture, perhaps made possible by living away from major population centers 

along the Sacramento River, most of their major economic needs were probably met through the new 

market economy, with important commodities like flour obtained in return for their labor on local farms 

and ranches (Sundahl and Clewett 1991). 

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NORTH COAST AND KLAMATH MOUNTAINS/NORTH COAST RANGES 

The North Coast includes the outer coast and nearby mountains from central Mendocino County 

up to Oregon, while the Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges extend up to the major divide between 

the Sacramento River drainage and the western rivers that flow directly to the sea (e.g., Smith, 

Trinity/Klamath, Mad, and Eel). We have combined these zones into a single discussion because the same 

set of time sensitive projectile points apply to most of the land they encompass, and both zones are 

necessary to produce a complete and coherent culture history for the larger region, as most of the earlier 

archaeological record occurs on the interior while most of the later-dating record is found on the coast. 

Similar to the Sacramento Valley, the chronological sequence is ordered around a series of Patterns 

developed by Fredrickson (1974, 1984; see also Hildebrandt 2007), but with one exception. The exception 

occurs at the beginning, where we add the Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic interval (13,400–8850 cal BP) to be 

consistent with the other zones within our study. The next cultural historical unit is the Borax Lake Pattern 

(8850–5700 cal BP), followed by the Squaw Creek Pattern (ca. 5700–4500 cal BP), Mendocino Pattern (4500– 

1500 cal BP), and Tuluwat Pattern (formally known as the Gunther Pattern), post-dating 1500 cal BP. Finally, 

the Berkeley Pattern (2300–1500 cal BP) and Augustine Pattern (post-1500 cal BP) are relevant in the 

southernmost margins of both zones, as they probably reflect a relative late arrival of Pomoan speakers 

from the Clear Lake area. 

Paleoindian Period (13,400–12,800 cal BP) 

Similar to the preceding regions, the Paleoindian Period is the earliest cultural manifestation along 

the North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges, and is best illustrated by the fluted (Clovislike) projectile points and chipped stone crescents. Although they have been found south of the current 

study area at the Borax Lake site near Clear Lake, well-defined assemblages have not been found elsewhere 

in northwest California (White 2013). Fluted points have been discovered near the coast in Mendocino 

County (Simons et al. 1985) and in Siskiyou County (Jenkins 2005), but they were found in isolated contexts 

lacking strong associations with well-dated strata or other artifacts. 

Like the Sacramento Valley, there is not a well-defined projectile point type that pre-dates the Borax 

Lake Widestem and post-dates Clovis points, as the earliest radiocarbon date we have for the former type 

is 7945 cal BP from a site on Pilot Ridge in Humboldt County (Fitzgerald and Hildebrandt 2002); however, 

White et al. (2002) estimate a maximum age of 10,500 cal BP at Clear Lake based on obsidian hydration 

readings. Even with the White et al. (2002) earlier estimate, there remains a gap in diagnostic artifacts 

between about 12,800 and 10,500 cal BP. 

Borax Lake Pattern (10,000–6300 cal BP) 

Much more is known about the Borax Lake Pattern, as archaeological manifestations have been 

discovered and studied throughout the interior of Northwest California. Borax Lake Pattern sites extend 

from Clear Lake Basin north into Humboldt and Trinity counties, with many located in upland habitats. 

White (2013), in an excellent synthesis of this topic, pushes the age of the pattern back in time relative to 

what has been proposed for the upper Sacramento Valley, and identifies geographic variability in the age 

and composition of its assemblages. Projectile points in the Clear Lake Basin tend to be flat-based, basally 

thinned (essentially fluted), and significantly older (10,000–8,500 cal BP), than the later (8500 to 6300 cal BP) 

indented-base points with less basal thinning found within the northern reaches of the North Coast Ranges. 

These northern assemblages also include serrated bifaces, ovoid flake tools, handstones, millingslabs, and 

edge-flaked spalls. This diversified assemblage is commonly found in sites located across a wide range of 

environmental contexts, including ridgetops between 4,500 and 6,000 feet along Pilot Ridge and South Fork 

Mountain (Hildebrandt and Hayes 1993), in upland areas within Mendocino County (Huberland 1989), and 

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along terraces adjacent to the Trinity River (Sundahl and Henn 1993). Excavations at one of the ridgetop sites 

discovered a hard-packed house floor associated with the aforementioned assemblage and three possible 

post holes. A soil sample from the floor produced the radiocarbon date of 7945 cal BP mentioned above, 

making it one of the oldest houses ever excavated in California (Fitzgerald and Hildebrandt 2002). Obsidian 

hydration data collected from both upland and lowland settings indicate that the pattern may have persisted 

in Humboldt and Trinity counties until roughly 5000 cal BP, but this is far from certain as we have a limited 

understanding of obsidian hydration rates in this area. 

Faunal and floral remains have not been discovered in these northern sites, largely because conifer 

leaf litter and heavy rainfall compromise the preservation of subsistence remains. The composition and 

homogeneity of the Borax Lake artifact assemblages, however, appear to represent a “forager” approach to 

subsistence-settlement organization. With this strategy, little emphasis is placed on storage, and 

incongruities in the distribution of resources over time and space are solved by moving people from places 

of declining productivity to areas where foraging opportunities are enhanced. This approach requires 

frequent residential moves by the entire social unit, resulting in the generalized assemblages and 

homogeneous settlement structure observed in the archaeological record. 

Borax Lake Pattern sites are absent in southwestern Oregon, with the possible exception of site 

35JA53, which is located just over the California border on the Applegate River approximately 75 miles 

from the coast (Brauner and Nisbet 1983). They are also quite rare on the coast, largely due to sea level rise 

that has inundated most near-shore habitats dating to this interval (Meyer et al. 2011). One exception is a 

site located near McKinleyville about 1.5 kilometers from the coast, where Borax Lake Pattern artifacts have 

been found. Preliminary investigations at the site by Roscoe (1995) revealed an artifact assemblage 

consisting of both flaked and ground stone tools, but no evidence for marine resource use (e.g., no shellfish 

remains). Due to the widespread prairie and marshland habitats in the area, and the large number of 

projectile points and butchering tools found, Roscoe (1995) argued that the hunting and processing of large 

game (predominately Roosevelt elk) was probably a major activity at the site. 

Deposits dating to Borax Lake Pattern times have also been discovered on the Smith River near 

Hiouchi Flat (Tushingham 2005), though the artifact assemblage is more similar to that of Glade Pattern sites 

identified in southwestern Oregon. As summarized by Tushingham (2013), the Glade Pattern dates 

between 10,200 and 3800 cal BP and, in southwestern Oregon, seems to represent seasonal camps of small 

groups of highly mobile hunter-gatherers. Diagnostic artifacts include leaf-shaped projectile points 

(foliates), side-notched projectiles, and edge-ground cobbles. They have been found at a series of sites on 

mainly the Rogue and Coquille rivers. 

According to Schreindorfer’s (1985) work at the well-dated Marial site on the Rogue River, as well 

as findings from a variety of sites farther upstream along Elk Creek (Minor 2014), there appears to be some 

temporal patterning of Glade Pattern point styles. Large serrated foliates are more common before 8500 cal 

BP, and they increasingly co-occur with contracting-stemmed and side-notched points from 8500 to 4500 

cal BP. Smaller, non-serrated foliates, along with contracting-stemmed points, continue in time until the 

introduction of bow and arrow technology at about 2000 cal BP (Minor 2014; Pettigrew and Lebow 1987), 

though others have argued that leaf-shaped points are found in Late Period sites and may represent a 

functional class of artifacts used throughout most of antiquity (Connolly 1988). 

Provisional Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–4500 cal BP) 

Very little is known about this temporal interval in northwestern California. In the Pilot 

Ridge/South Fork Mountain area, for example, Hildebrandt and Hayes (1983, 1993) could not find single 

component assemblages falling between the Borax Lake and Mendocino Patterns, so they (probably 

incorrectly) pushed the age of the Borax Lake Pattern forward in time. Substantial evidence for this time 

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period is also lacking in the river valleys (Hildebrandt and Levulett 1997), although Tushingham (2009, 

2013) did produce a radiocarbon date of 5840 cal BP along the Smith River associated with a small 

assemblage of flaked stone tools. This is also the case for the north coast (Eidsness 1993; Gould 1966; 

Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002), where evidence for occupation does not occur until after 4500 cal BP when 

the Mendocino Pattern emerges. 

Hildebrandt and Hayes (1983) did find a significant number of contracting-stemmed points on 

Pilot Ridge/South Fork Mountain quite similar to those assigned to the Squaw Creek Pattern in Shasta 

County (Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989; Clewett and Sundahl 1983; Sundahl 1993). They also found several 

serrated lanceolate points (called the “Oregon Series”) comparable to those found in Glade Pattern sites, 

where they are found with contracting-stemmed points within the 5700–4500 cal BP time frame (Minor 

2014). Although we still do not have well-dated, single-component assemblages for this interval, we 

hypothesize that when they are discovered, they will have strong affinities to the Squaw Creek Pattern, 

thus our provisional creation of this pattern for the local area. Why its visibility is so marginal compared 

to Shasta County, where it is robust and relatively widespread, remains an important research issue for 

northwestern California. 

Mendocino Pattern (4500–1500 cal BP) 

The Mendocino Pattern first appears around 5,000 years ago in a limited number of places in 

Northwest California, but is not common until after about 4000 cal BP. Common artifacts include sidenotched, corner-notched, and concave-base dart points (of the Willits and Mendocino series), handstones 

and millingslabs, various types of flake tools and cobble tools, and, in some cases, a limited number of 

cobble mortars and pestles. McKee unifaces are also an important part of the assemblage. 

Dowdall (2002), Layton (1990), and Kennedy (2005) have excavated Mendocino Pattern 

components along the Mendocino and Sonoma coasts, where they estimate the pattern persists between 

about 5000 and 1500 cal BP. Most of these sites represent either temporary hunting camps or short-term 

forager residential bases occupied by people with a largely terrestrial subsistence orientation. 

The earliest manifestations of the Mendocino Pattern in the more northerly areas come from a 

variety of coastal and interior settings. Coastal evidence is available from Point St. George (Gould 1966), 

Humboldt Bay (Eidsness 1993), and the King Range of southern Humboldt County (Hildebrandt and 

Levulett 2002; Levulett 1985), but none of these sites pre-date 2500 cal BP. Similar to the Sonoma and 

Mendocino coasts, the sites appear to represent temporary hunting camps or seasonal encampments by 

people with a terrestrial orientation. 

Up in the northern mountains, most of the sites are specialized hunting camps, which is significantly 

different from the earlier Borax Lake Pattern where the uplands were dominated by residential sites. This 

finding led Hildebrandt and Hayes (1993) to hypothesize that the Mendocino hunting camps represented 

logistical forays from more substantial residential sites in the lowlands. Rather than representing a mobile 

system of settlement like the more southerly areas, they argue that a sedentary settlement system supported 

by the intensive harvest and storage of salmon and acorns emerged at about 2500 cal BP. 

Tushingham (2009, 2013) tested this hypothesis based on her excavation findings along the Smith 

River (see also Eidsness 1985). She found clear evidence for lowland residential activity beginning around 3100 

cal BP, reflected by a hard-packed house floor and associated hearth, and a full complement of flaked, battered, 

and ground stone tools, including mortars and pestles. These deposits also yielded charred acorn remains, but 

only limited amounts of salmon bone, and a near-absence of fishing gear, with the latter not becoming 

dominant until after 1500 cal BP (see below). Similar findings have been made farther south along the Mattole 

River at McKee Flat, where excavations yielded a diversified assemblage of both flaked and ground stone 

artifacts (including some mortars and pestles), and dark midden soils, but lacked the preservation of bone 

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(Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002). Both of these studies provide some support for greater residential stability 

during Mendocino Pattern times, perhaps made possible by a greater dependence on acorn storage, but the a 

heavy dependence on salmon appears to have occurred somewhat later. 

Berkeley Pattern 

The Berkeley Pattern appears to have originated near Clear Lake but extends up into the southernmost 

edge of our study area in Mendocino County at about 2300 cal BP, where it infringes upon the Mendocino 

Pattern. Artifact assemblages are quite elaborate and include leaf-shaped (Excelsior) and stemmed projectile 

points, a highly developed bone tool industry, many fishing-related implements (spears, harpoons, hooks, net 

sinkers), and a relatively high frequency of mortars and pestles. Site structure is also quite formalized, and 

includes black midden deposits, well-defined house floors, and a variety of other residential features. This 

higher degree of sedentism appears to be based on a subsistence economy built around the intensive use of 

acorns (Basgall 1987), large terrestrial game, and fish (Hildebrandt 2007; White et al. 2002). 

Berkeley Pattern occupations on the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts vary in intensity from place to 

place. Large residential bases are established in southern Sonoma County near Bodega Bay between 2300 

and 2000 cal BP, and include Excelsior points, shellfish hooks, notched net sinkers, bone tools, and mortars 

and pestles (Dowdall 2002; Kennedy 2005). These data, combined with stable isotope analyses on shellfish 

by Kennedy (2005), indicate year-round occupations during this interval. Similar findings have been made 

in Mendocino County north of Fort Bragg (MacKerricher State Park) where White (1991) excavated large 

house structures with multiple storage pits. These were associated with artifacts dominated by Clear Lake 

obsidian and other Berkeley Pattern indicators (e.g., Excelsior points, bone and antler tools, mortars and 

pestles), as well as rich faunal assemblages composed of sea lion, elk, and salmon. 

Most researchers attribute the expansion of the Berkeley Pattern as a reflection of the out-migration 

of Pomoan populations from their Clear Lake homeland, presumably replacing earlier Yukian speaking 

peoples who occupied these outlying areas (Basgall 1982; Baumhoff 1980; Fredrickson 1984; Golla 2011; 

White et al. 2002). 

Tuluwat (formerly Gunther) Pattern (post-1500 cal BP) 

After 1500 BP, several major changes occur in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, 

especially along the coast on Humboldt Bay and areas to the north (Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002; 

Tushingham 2009). Site frequency increases dramatically, and many locations were used as permanent 

villages for the first time. Artifact assemblages are increasingly diverse and include a large number of 

specialized woodworking tools (e.g., adzes, mauls and wedges) used for the construction of substantial 

plank houses and canoes. Excavations at multiple sites north of Cape Mendocino, where offshore rocks and 

islands are plentiful (Elsasser and Heizer 1964, 1966; Gould 1966; Milburn et al. 1979), have yielded high 

frequencies of Tuluwat barbed projectile points and thin concave-based points used to tip composite 

harpoons used for taking both marine mammals and fish. 

Ground and polished stone artifacts are also quite abundant, some exhibiting a great deal of artistic 

elaboration. Flanged pestles, well-made mauls (used with antler wedges), and notched net sinkers are 

common, while significant frequencies of steatite bowls, zoöform clubs, and polished stone adze handles have 

also been found. Fishing gear is common, represented by various bone and antler spears, harpoons, and hooks 

(Bennyhoff 1950). The emphasis on implements geared toward the marine environment is complemented by 

faunal assemblages dominated by seals, sea lions, and marine fish, including high frequencies of small 

schooling species (Tushingham and Bencze 2013; Tushingham and Christiansen 2015; Tushingham et al. 2013; 

Whitaker 2012). Many of these resources were obtained with the use of oceangoing canoes, either from distant 

offshore rocks or on the open water (Hildebrandt 1984; Hildebrandt and Jones 2004; Whitaker 2008; Whitaker 

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and Hildebrandt 2011). Shellfish were also important contributors to the diet but, unlike central and southern 

California, species from relatively deep in the intertidal like red abalone are essentially absent from the 

archaeological record (Colligan et al. 2015). 

Many northern coastal sites are structurally complex, as they typically have well-defined houses, 

cemeteries, artifact caches, and midden/refuse areas (Gould 1966; Whitaker and Tushingham 2014). 

Redwood houses have been discovered on multiple occasions and often have stone patios and prepared 

clay floors. In addition to the zoöform clubs, ceremonial items include large obsidian bifaces (used 

ethnographically in the White Deerskin Dance) and dentalia, most recovered from burial contexts. These 

items are buried with only a limited number of people in the population (including some children), and 

probably reflect the high level of social stratification known among the local peoples at historic contact 

(Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002). 

South of Cape Mendocino, along the southern Humboldt County and Mendocino coasts, offshore 

rocks are rare and the adaptation appears to be more terrestrial in its orientation (Hildebrandt and Levulett 

2002; Layton 1990). Although Tuluwat barbed projectile points are still used, harpoons, wood working 

tools, plank houses, and ceremonial objects are quite rare. Archaeofaunal remains also lack the maritime 

focus of the more northern areas, as they are typically dominated by deer and a lesser frequency of nearshore marine mammals. Most of these sites represent a seasonal littoral adaptation, with a large portion of 

the subsistence economy geared toward the interior. 

An interesting exception to this rule is a brief intrusion of Tuluwat Pattern people identified farther 

south by White (1991) in Mendocino County just north of Fort Bragg. The site is located next to a lagoon 

(Inglenook Fen) and was occupied between about 1600 and 1400 cal BP. It contained many northern artifact 

types including Tuluwat barbed projectile points, small concave-based harpoon tips, elk bone chisels, and 

stone mauls. Almost all of the obsidian in the site came from the northern Medicine Lake Highlands source 

area (as opposed to Clear Lake) and the faunal assemblage was dominated by elk and offshore birds, a 

pattern also similar to findings from northern sites at places like Stone Lagoon (except for the absence of 

seal and sea lion bone). This discovery led White (1991) to conclude that the initial colonization of 

Northwest California by Tuluwat Pattern people (probably Algic speakers) extended well south of their 

ultimate range, but retracted back to the more northerly areas (e.g., north of Cape Mendocino) where the 

presence of offshore rocks and islands allowed the more maritime-oriented subsistence economy to 

develop and flourish up to historic contact. 

The interior record is less clear due to the absence of large-scale excavations, but there are some 

important findings on some of the larger drainages in the region. In the early 1970s, for example, Chartkoff 

and Chartkoff (1975) conducted a survey of the middle reaches of the Klamath River, below Happy Camp, 

specifically targeting named Karok ethnographic villages identified by Kroeber (1925) and Bright (1978). 

This effort identified 160 sites, all of which were thought to post-date 1600 cal BP. More than 90% lay at the 

mouths of tributary streams, as the rugged nature of the surrounding terrain discouraged occupation of 

outlying areas. Later studies in the area pushed the settlement chronology back to between 2000 and 1500 

cal BP, but this earlier interval lacked evidence of intensive use of acorns or the local salmon fishery, leading 

Chartkoff (1989, 1991) to conclude that this economic system must have developed later in time. 

Tushingham’s (2009) excavations on the Smith River discovered a robust Tuluwat Pattern component 

composed of four semi-subterranean redwood plank houses with slab-lined hearths and, in one case, a paved 

floor. The artifact assemblage was much larger and diversified than during earlier Mendocino Pattern 

collection she documented there, and included Tuluwat barbed projectile points, net sinkers, fishing gear, 

mortars and pestles, and a wide range of other residential materials (e.g., steatite pipes) post-dating 1000 cal 

BP. Faunal remains showed a significant increase in salmon and, combined with the aforementioned fishing 

gear, indicated that the ethnographic salmon economy was fully in place by this time. 

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Tushingham’s (2009) findings are important because they show a time lag between the 

intensification of acorns (Mendocino Pattern) and salmon (Tuluwat Pattern). Why would this be the case? 

According to Tushingham (2009; see also Tushingham 2013; Tushingham and Bettinger 2013), the answer 

lies in the sequence of labor inputs required. Acorns are a back-loaded resource. Initial collection and storage 

is relatively cheap and easy, and only gets expensive later on when they need to be processed for 

consumption (ground, leached, and cooked). So as Mendocino Pattern people began to experiment with 

higher levels of sedentism and storage, creating multiple, low-cost caches of acorns enlisted minimal risk, 

because if they needed to be abandoned, the loss would be minimal. Salmon, in contrast, is a front-loaded 

resource. They are more difficult to acquire than acorns and, more importantly, they must be smoked/dried 

for storage right way. Once this expensive upfront work is completed, there is little effort required during 

the later consumption side of the process. Because of this upfront expense, salmon caches were much more 

valuable than acorn caches, and tended to tie people down in a much more significant way during Tuluwat 

Pattern times than was case before. 

Information from late prehistoric interior sites located farther south in Humboldt and Mendocino 

counties is largely derived from large scale surveys, with only limited amounts of data coming from 

excavations. Multiple surveys within the Round Valley region (e.g., Jackson 1976; McCarthy et al. 1985; 

Stewart and Fredrickson 1979; Treganza et al. 1950) found a large number of midden deposits, many 

including house pits. These studies, along with excavations at a series of nearby sites (e.g., Eidsness 1986; 

Holson 1986; Meighan 1955), show that lowland villages were first established during Mendocino Pattern 

times and became larger and more intensively occupied later in time, but none found evidence for a major 

focus on the local salmon fishery. They also revealed that Tulawat barbed projectile points reach down into 

Mendocino County, but overlap with Augustine Pattern materials when moving farther south, and are 

ultimately replaced by Rattlesnake Corner-notched points upon reaching the Sonoma-Mendocino county 

line (Baumhoff 1985; Jaffke 1997). 

The center of the Augustine Pattern is in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region and is marked 

by Rattlesnake Corner-notched projectile points, Olivella and clamshell disk beads, and a whole suite of 

artifacts linked to hunting, fishing, intensive acorn use, and a variety of domestic activities. There are also 

distinctive items associated with a large-scale ceremonial complex, including magnesite cylinder and 

“banjo” abalone ornaments, bird bone whistles and tubes, and flanged steatite pipes (Bennyhoff 1994). A 

full complement of these traits has not been found everywhere in the North Coast Ranges, showing a clear 

contrast between the Augustine and Tuluwat patterns in this region. 

Contact Period (AD 1700s–1850s) 

Tushingham (2013:24) notes that direct and sustained contact between Native and non-native 

peoples in far northwestern California came relatively late, when compared to the southern and central parts 

of the state. Even so, non-native influences were felt early-on, with the arrival of European trade goods and 

diseases like cholera, smallpox, and measles, spread between tribal groups. Kellawan and Costello report 

that “In the early 1830s, smallpox was particularly lethal in the North Coast Ranges,” and that there were 

also outbreaks of cholera, scarlet fever, whooping cough, and tuberculosis among coastal tribes (2011:73). 

Those authors go on to say that, “Based on Tolowa oral traditions, the village at Point St. George in Del Norte 

County was abandoned due to a cholera epidemic in the 1700s to early 1800s.” The Tolowa also suffered 

“horrific massacres in the 1850s, when hundreds of men, women, and children were killed and their villages 

were burned” (Tushingham 2013:112). Reportedly “many Tolowa survived simply by taking refuge in the 

inland mountains to flee violence ... For example, at the time of the [Crescent City] massacres, several 

Tolowa from coastal villages moved to Mill Creek, located across the river from DNO-26, ‘to wait until things 

died down’” (Tushingham 2013:146). It was a gruesome story that repeated itself across the state. 

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Introduced diseases are difficult to trace archaeologically (but see Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008 

for one example). The most common and readily identified archaeological markers of this period are glass 

trade beads. Motz et al. (1986) note that glass beads were introduced by the first European mariners, were 

distributed widely by the Spanish mission system, were used by the Russian-American Fur Company to 

purchase the land for Colony (Fort) Ross, and continued to be traded to Native people in California by fur 

trappers, gold miners, settlers, and merchants well into the nineteenth century. Those authors report on two 

protohistoric Shasta cemeteries (SIS-168 and SIS-837) in north-central Siskiyou County, both containing 

multiple varieties of glass beads. They note the different hypothesized date ranges and sources (e.g., 

Russian-American versus Hudson’s Bay fur trappers) of the various types, and interpret the differences in 

varieties between the two protohistoric cemeteries as indications that the two groups traded with different 

sources. They also concluded that some bead types were of higher value among the Shasta than were others, 

thus perhaps marking differences in status and wealth among those interred at the cemeteries. 

Another ethnohistoric site in the Klamath Mountain region is TRI-862, documented by Vaughan in 

1984. Using archaeological remains, public records, and oral history, Vaughan surmised that the “Salt Flat 

Ethnohistoric Complex” reflects multiple generations of Wintu occupation, from the early prehistoric 

period through the mid-twentieth century. (Several artifacts of Chinese origin suggest the possibility of site 

use by Overseas Chinese, as well.) As part of the Request for Determination of Eligibility documentation 

for the site, Ritter prepared a list of research questions relating to site chronology and structure, subsistence 

and settlement, technology, trade and exchange, and acculturation—questions that, with minor 

modifications, are appropriate for protohistoric sites in general. 

Perhaps the first protohistoric site investigated on the North Coast was the Yurok village of Tsurai 

(HUM-169) on Trinidad Bay. In 1949, archaeologists from the University of California excavated part of the 

village, finding iron swords, copper bracelets, glass beads, and arrowheads chipped from bottle glass, along 

with traditional artifacts (Heizer and Mills 1952; also see Elsasser and Heizer 1966). The site appeared to 

represent four different periods of native occupation: prehistoric (AD 1620[?]–1775, Discovery and 

Exploration (1775–1800), Exploitation and the Fur Trade (1800–1849), and Decline and Fall—the American 

Invasion (1850–1916). This makes HUM-169 especially significant, as it documents changes in Yurok life over 

the period before, during, and after initial contact with non-native people. As one example, the archaeologists 

found several items that seemed to be transitional between native and non-native design: a three-tined iron 

fork with a handle made of local bone, a crudely designed bone brush (tooth or hair) with native markings 

on the back, and what appeared to be whetstones fashioned of native schist or shale. In addition, Tushingham 

(2013:24) tells us that “there is evidence that historic contact changed the subsistence patterns of Tsurai 

villagers. For example, an increase in elk and deer bone suggests the hunting of these animals became more 

important, a development Heizer and Mills (1952:14–15) hypothesize is related to the introduction of guns.” 

In Tolowa country, the Contact-period component of site DNO-26 (within the ironically-named 

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park) contained a heavily burned, semi-subterranean sweathouse with a 

plank floor and in situ upright planks, along with glass and metal artifacts (Tushingham 2009, 2013). Oral 

history information collected by E. Ritter during his initial recordation of the site in 1969 indicated that it had 

last been occupied in 1902, by a “renegade” who was shot while fleeing into the forest. During excavations at 

the site, Tushingham found a wide variety of Native artifacts (net weights, arrow points, bowl mortars and 

pestles, steatite pipes) in association with brass shotgun shells, flaked glass, ammunition, buttons, mining 

tools, cut nails, and historically introduced foods (including beef). She notes that “comparison of the Contact 

Period artifact assemblage to that of the Later Period contexts has provided information critical [for] 

understanding the effects of Euro-American settlement on Native populations” (2013:81). Among other 

things, “the archaeological evidence suggests that[,] not only did people persist in living at Red Elderberry 

[DNO-26], they also continued to live much as they had before white contact” (Tushingham 2013:147). She 

surmises that one reason may have been the site’s location inland from the major white settlement at Crescent 

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City, where the Tolowa were “close to, and perhaps part of, a marginal multi-ethnic community” (2013:147). 

This shift from a mainly coastal settlement pattern to a more inland one was one of the most significant 

changes in Tolowa lifeways during the Contact period. 

In coastal Mendocino County, Van Bueren (2013) has reported on nearly a dozen Coast 

Yuki/Northern Pomo ethnohistoric sites near the mouth of the Ten Mile River, on the northern outpost of the 

Mendocino Reservation (1855-1868).1 He describes “shallow deposits with a mixture of traditional and 

historic artifacts [including many types of glass beads] that likely date from the 1850s to the 1860s” (2013:iii). 

Among the transitional items at the sites were flaked glass tools and debitage (greatly outnumbering stone), 

shell ornament blanks in association with glass beads, and dietary remains including both wild species and 

domestic sheep and cattle. Van Bueren concludes that these sites “offer initial insights into a poorly 

understood period of radical adjustments for indigenous inhabitants of the region” (2013:iii). 

SIERRA NEVADA AND ADJACENT LOWLANDS 

The Sierra Nevada and Adjacent Lowlands essentially correspond to Butte County for this study. 

The original archaeological sequences developed for this zone were largely based on work completed as 

part of the Oroville Dam project (Olsen and Riddell 1963), but were later improved by Ritter (1968, 1970) 

and then Kowta (1988) with more expansive data sets from surrounding areas. For the purposes of this 

discussion, we rely heavily on the work of Kowta (1988), especially after 5200 cal BP when formal 

archaeological patterns emerge in the record. We begin with the Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic interval (13,400– 

8850 cal BP) to be consistent with the other ecological zones within our study. The next cultural historical 

unit is ill-defined in the local area, so we simply call it the Middle Holocene (8850–5200 cal BP). We then 

move into the better defined local sequence, including Martis/Bucks Lake (5200–4500 cal BP), Mesilla (4500– 

2500 cal BP), Bidwell (2500–1100 cal BP), Sweetwater (1100–500 cal BP) and Oroville/Chico (post-500 cal BP). 

Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic (13,400–7800 cal BP) 

To our knowledge, no fluted points have been found within Butte County. A few isolated Clovislike forms have been recovered in the adjacent areas, including Thomes Creek in Tehama County (Dillon 

and Murphy 1994), Big Meadows in Plumas County (Kowta 1988), and Loyalton in Sierra County (Kowta 

1988). These findings indicate at least ephemeral use of the area between about 13,400 and 12,800 cal BP. 

Similar to the larger Sacramento Valley zone, we also lack clear indicators of the Paleoarchaic Period 

(12,800–7800 cal BP), as Great Basin Stemmed projectile points (or whatever the equivalent might be) have 

not been found in the local area. They have been found, however, in the Gold Lake area of Plumas County 

and farther to the southeast in the uplands of Nevada and Placer counties (McGuire et al. 2006). 

Middle Holocene (7800–5200 cal BP) 

This time period is well established in the larger Sacramento Valley and adjacent North Coast Ranges 

by the Borax Lake Pattern and Borax Lake Wide-stemmed projectile points. Age estimates are much older 

(10,000–6300 cal BP) in the North Coast Ranges (especially in Clear Lake Basin; White 2013) than in the Upper 

Sacramento Valley (8850–5700 cal BP; Sundahl 1992), and extend back into Paleoarchaic times. The interval is 

represented by a completely different pattern in the Upper Klamath Zone, as Basin Period (7400–5200 cal BP) 

assemblages are dominated by Northern Side-notched and Humboldt Concave-based projectile points. Well 

defined assemblages have not yet been established for the local area, however. 

1 Van Bueren notes that the coastal boundary between the Yuki and the Northern Pomo “was nebulous as a result of 

intermarriage and visits between the two groups” (2013:22). 

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Some headway has recently been made by a series of excavations along the Sacramento River near 

Hamilton City (Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski 2011). Work at a deeply buried deposit (2.2 to 2.5 meters 

below surface) produced a suite of radiocarbon dates ranging from 6600 to 6100 cal BP. The artifact 

assemblage included one corner-notched dart point, a flake tool, handstones, millingslabs, core/cobble 

tools, notched net weights, bone awl fragments, and a baked clay pipe fragment. Faunal remains were 

poorly preserved but did include deer and rabbit, minnow/sucker, salmon, and western pond turtle; only 

one piece of fresh water mussel was found. Plant macrofossils included abundant wild cucumber (perhaps 

used as fish poison; Starkey 2014), and smaller amounts of acorn, gray pine, juniper, and some local small 

seeded plants (mostly farewell to spring). 

Another deeply buried deposit (3.0 to 3.5 meters below surface) dating to 6020 cal BP has been 

found farther south along the Sacramento River between Princeton and Colusa (COL-247; White 2003). This 

lower component was sampled with auger borings (it could not be formally excavated), so it was not 

possible to retrieve a robust assemblage from this portion of the deposit. 

Martis/Bucks Lake Complex (5200–4500 cal BP) 

Our knowledge of the local archaeological record improves significantly after about 5200 cal BP. It 

appears that cultural diversity increased at this time, as the Squaw Creek Pattern (5700–3200 cal BP) is fully 

established in the northern Sacramento Valley area (Sundahl 1992), while the Martis (Bucks Lake) Tradition 

is found to the east along the Sierran/Cascade front (Kowta 1988). 

As outlined above, artifacts associated with the Squaw Creek Pattern include Squaw Creek 

Contracting-stemmed points, McKee unifaces, handstones, millingslabs, and ovoid flake tools (Basgall and 

Hildebrandt 1989; Bevill and Nilsson 1999; Clewett and Sundahl 1983; Kowta et al. 2000). Kowta (1988) 

identifies a very similar artifact assemblage along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada at Bucks Lake and 

considers it a variant of the larger Martis Tradition that characterizes much of the Sierra Nevada at this 

time. It is composed of Bucks Lake series projectile points (Markley 1981), which Kowta (1988:111) thinks 

are morphologically and temporally linked to the Squaw Creek contracting-stemmed points. The 

remainder of the assemblage is also dominated by handstones and millingslabs, and is thought to reflect 

short-term residential activities by relatively mobile populations. 

Mesilla Complex (4500–2500 cal BP) 

The Mesilla Complex along the Sierra/Cascade front includes corner-notched and contractingstemmed dart points, a predominance of handstones and millingslabs, limited use of mortars and pestles, 

bone pins and spatulae, small steatite bowls, a limited number of marine shell beads and ornaments, and 

is thought to reflect a continuance of the mobile, forager-like adaptation (Delacorte and Basgall 2006; Kowta 

1988; Ritter 1968, 1970). Kowta (1988) views the Mesilla as a western variant of the Martis Tradition, which 

is distinguished from the eastern variants by the absorption of central California traits such as shell and 

polished stone ornaments that probably had ceremonial functions. 

The valley bottom archaeological record remains rather sparse until about 4300 cal BP, but improves 

significantly based on the excavation of residential midden deposits at COL-247 (4385 to 3575 cal BP; White 

2003) and Llano Seco (BUT-233; 4300 to 2200 cal BP; Dreyer 1984). These components include a combination 

of contracting-stemmed, notched, and concave-base dart points that are somewhat consistent with findings 

in the larger region, but have not been affiliated with a formal pattern or time period (see also Zancanella 

1987). Artifact assemblages from these sites are variable in size, but include a wide diversity of domestic tools 

and the first evidence for the use of mortars and pestles in the local area. Acorn macrofossils have also been 

found in both sites, clearly documenting the long-term importance of this dietary staple. 

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White’s (2003) discovery of another component at COL-247 dating between 3222 and 2750 cal BP 

seems to represent a permanent village with affinities with Windmiller Pattern sites in the Delta, and Berkeley 

Pattern (Houx Aspect) settlements in the Clear Lake Basin. Major residential components have also been found 

within the current study area at the Cana Highway site (BUT-288; Deal 1987), the Wurlitzer site (BUT-294; 

Dreyer 1984), and GLE-700 (Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski 2011), although their relationships to other cultural 

complexes have not been proposed. Artifact assemblages from these sites reflect a greater reliance on mortarpestle technology, have a wide range of cooking features, show more intensive use of bone tools and, where 

analyzed, a greater emphasis on fish and shellfish, as well as floral and faunal remains reflecting multiple 

seasons of occupation. Combined, these attributes appear to represent the development of a fundamentally 

new collector adaptation (sensu Binford 1980) where centralized villages were supported by logistical forays 

to outlying areas, exchange relationships with neighboring groups, and greater dependence on long-term 

storage. It is important to emphasize, however, that this shift is not seen in the foothills, and may reflect a timelag between the foothills and valley in the establishment of a more sedentary settlement system. 

Bidwell Complex (2500–1100 cal BP) 

By around 2500 cal BP, the Bidwell Complex emerges along the foothills, and seems to reflect the 

higher degree of settlement stability observed in the valley during the previous period. Higher settlement 

stability is reflected by the emergence of formalized cemetery areas (Ritter 1968), and a diversified artifact and 

feature assemblage (Delacorte and Basgall 2006; Ritter 1968, 1970). Key artifacts include large corner-notched, 

side-notched, and stemmed dart points, and a variety of smaller arrow points. Both handstones and 

millingslabs, and mortars and pestles continue to be used, with the latter showing a significant use of wooden 

mortars. Steatite bowls reach maximum frequencies, also supporting the notion of higher settlement stability 

given that these heavy items are rarely used by mobile people (Ritter 1968:233). Fishing gear becomes more 

important, evidenced in increased frequencies of grooved and notched line/net sinkers. This is also supported 

by the continued importance of fish and shellfish in a variety of sites. Finally, formal cemetery areas are first 

established in the foothill areas at this time (Delacorte and Basgall 2006). 

Although Ritter (1968, 1970) thinks the foothill Bidwell Complex represents a shift to a more 

collector-like system similar to what occurred in the lowlands during the Mesilla Period, and that it might 

signal the establishment of tribelet social organization (see also Delacorte and Basgall 2006), Kowta (1988) 

sees it as an extension of the Mesilla adaptation with a more intensive use of local resources, and the 

addition of cultural traits borrowed from central California. According to Kowta (1988), it was not until 

after 1000 cal BP that a major reorganization of the adaptation took place. 

A relatively high degree of settlement stability continues forward throughout Bidwell times within 

the valley. White’s (2003) work along the Colusa Reach, for example, shows year-round settlement and 

only minor changes in subsistence, as the economic focus remains on acorns, deer, and fish. This is also the 

case near Hamilton City, where Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski (2011) see a general persistence of economic 

systems established during the preceding period. 

Sweetwater Complex (1100–500 cal BP) 

Cultural complexity and diversity continue to increase throughout most of northern California 

after 1100 cal BP. As outlined above, the Shasta Complex spread across the northern Sacramento Valley 

(Sundahl 1992), while the Augustine pattern developed farther south along the Colusa Reach (White 2003) 

and down into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Rosenthal et al. 2007). Both of these archaeological 

cultures reflect the establishment of large riverine villages supported by intensified subsistence economies 

with increasing dependencies on fish. 

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Archaeological findings along the Sierran front and in the Chico area also show several major 

changes. The Sweetwater Complex (1100 to 500 cal BP) within the foothills is marked by a dispersal of 

populations, breaking into smaller groups associated with bedrock mortar complexes established 

throughout the oak woodland zone (Delacorte 2015), or small task groups working upslope from larger 

villages along the Feather River (Ritter 1968). This shift in settlement structure and milling technology 

probably reflects a greater reliance on the storage of acorns, perhaps associated with a greater emphasis on 

private ownership (Bettinger 2015; Delacorte 2015). Centralized residential sites continue within the Chico 

area, characterized by large midden deposits containing rich artifact assemblages and cemetery areas 

(Basgall and Delacorte 2006; Ritter 1970). Tuluwat Barbed projectile points dominate, as do mortars and 

pestles (bowl and hopper forms) which largely replace handstones and millingslabs. It is also important to 

note that multiple burial populations show a significant increase in violence during this interval, perhaps 

related to increasing population densities and greater competition for resources (Nelson 1997). This also 

appears to be the time when Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski (2011) discovered a cache of four decapitated 

skulls near Hamilton City thought to reflect trophy-taking behavior. 

Highly polished schist tools thought to be sickles appear for the first time, and may have been used 

to harvest small seeds, the more intensified use of which is confirmed by plant macrofossil data from the 

valley (see below). Bone tools are also abundant, including utilitarian items such as gorge hooks and awls, 

as well as tubular bone beads and hair pins. Non-utilitarian objects include stone pipes, sucking tubes, and 

a variety of shell beads and ornaments, including split-punched Olivella beads (D-series) and banjo-shaped 

abalone pendants. Steatite bowls also occur at this time. 

A major shift in the subsistence economy was observed by White (2003) during this interval along 

the Colusa Reach, perhaps due to the in-migration of a new people. Small resident fish become much more 

important, probably due the use of new technologies like weirs, dip nets, and drag nets. The importance of 

small seeded plants relative to acorns also increase (as do all plant foods in general), although mortars and 

pestles are the primary form of milling gear used. 

Oroville/Chico Complex (post-500 cal BP) 

The post-500 cal BP record is called the Oroville Complex in the foothills (Olsen and Riddell 1963; 

Ritter 1968, 1970; see also Jewell 1964; Pritchard et al. 1966) and the Chico Complex down in the valley 

(Chartkoff and Chartkoff 1976, 1984), the latter of which has been thoroughly dated with a new suite of 

radiocarbon dates produced by Snyder (2014). The dispersed settlement system observed during 

Sweetwater times in the foothills, shifts back to the occupation of centralized villages that include formal 

cemetery areas separated from the main habitation areas (Delacorte and Basgall 2006). There are also cases 

where cemeteries were placed within village deposits, perhaps in places that were no longer occupied 

(Ritter 1968). The Oroville and Chico complexes are quite similar to one another, with the former including 

a high frequency of bone tools (e.g., bone beads, gorge hooks, gaming tubes, and bone awls) and milling 

equipment represented by both hopper and bowl mortars and pestles. Several new artifact classes are 

added to the assemblage as well, including Desert Side-notched points (in addition to the existing Tuluwat 

Barbed), stone beads, clam disk bead money, and a greater variety of other shell ornaments (Bayham and 

Johnson 1990; Chartkoff and Chartkoff 1984; Ritter 1968, 1970; White 2003). 

The valley record is represented by several major villages and appears to reflect significantly higher 

densities of people than living in the foothills. They contain highly diversified artifact assemblages, 

domestic features (many with house structures), and a rich assortment of subsistence remains. These 

findings reflect a relatively sedentary settlement system that relied on the intensive use of mortar-pestle 

technology, fishing (probably using weirs in some locations), and long-term storage of these foods. 

Although White (2003) lacks a post-500 cal BP component along the Colusa Reach, Hildebrandt and 

Kaijankoski (2011) found increases in the importance of small resident fish relative to salmon, and small 

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seeds relative to acorn. Both of these findings reflect a greater investment in technology, and more intensive 

uses of more costly, but abundant, resource types. They are also consistent with findings elsewhere in 

California where sedentary peoples dependent on the local fishery will intensify the use of small-seeded 

plants to a higher degree that people living in non-riverine settings (Wohlgemuth 2004, 2010). 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s) 

Within the planning area, this region encompasses most of eastern Butte County, omitting only Lassen 

National Forest lands on the north. A good deal of important archaeological research has been done in this 

area, most recently at Lake Oroville by archaeologists from CSU Sacramento and Sonoma State University. The 

Lake Oroville vicinity falls within the traditional territory of the Konkow or Northwestern Maidu (Kroeber’s 

[1932] “Hill Konkow”), northward to their uneasy boundary with the Yana in the vicinity of Rock Creek. 

According to Riddell (1978), the Konkow’s earliest contact with non-native people probably came 

in the 1820s, with Captain Arguello’s explorations up the Feather River and Jedediah Smith’s fur trapping 

expeditions. Contact was intermittent until the gold discovery in 1848, but it was sufficient to bring a 

disease epidemic, thought to have been malaria, that decimated the Maidu and many other groups in 1833. 

Riddell tells us that “this was a blow from which the natives never effectively rallied” (1978:385). 

With the Gold Rush came an onslaught of miners and settlers into Konkow territory. As their 

traditional food sources became scarcer, the Native people were forced to kill domestic livestock; retaliation 

from settlers and the military was “swift and excessive” (Riddell 1978:385). Hostilities escalated, with 

atrocities on both sides. McGowan (1961:138) states that “Indians north of the Feather River and in the Shasta 

and Siskiyou areas were more hostile and warlike than those in the valley.” An uneasy (and inequitable) 

peace came only with the establishment of reservations, in particular the Nome Lackee reservation, founded 

in 1854, and the forced removal of the Maidu from their lands (McGowan 1961). 

Protohistoric or Contact-period archaeological sites have been found in the foothills near Oroville 

that appear to have been refuge sites, where Maidu people were hiding from miners and other whites (E. 

Ritter, personal communication, September 2016). In addition, at least half a dozen Contact-period sites have 

been reported from the vicinity of Lake Oroville (e.g., Delacorte and Basgall 2012, 2014; Duncan and Smith 

1963; Ritter 1968). Most recently, Delacorte and Basgall (2014) have investigated two Native American 

habitation sites with glass trade beads and other non-native materials, including a percussion cap, a Federal 

Navy button, and a drill chipped from olive-green bottle glass. One of the sites, BUT-383/H, yielded no fewer 

than 14 different types of glass beads. The archaeologists conclude that “native people occupied one or more 

of the Euro-American homesteads at BUT-383/H,” probably working there as well. They go on to say that 

such sites offer “an unusual opportunity to investigate this dynamic and still poorly documented period in 

the state’s history and the social adjustments and turmoil that characterized it” (2014:105). 

SOUTHERN CASCADE FOOTHILLS AND LAKE BRITTON AREA 

This zone includes the Southern Cascade Range within eastern Tehama County and southeastern 

Shasta County. It encompasses a diversity of habitats, beginning in the Mt. Lassen uplands, and 

extending down through the foothills to the Bend area adjacent to the Sacramento River. Its northern 

reaches cover both sides of the Pit River drainage, including lands between Lake Shasta and Lake Britton. 

The Bend area is included here, and not in the Sacramento Valley zone, because it has much greater 

affinities with the Yana hill country to the east than with the Wintu valley lands west of the Sacramento 

River. Because the Lake Britton archaeological record is uniquely different from the rest of the Southern 

Cascade zone, it will be discussed separately below. 

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Southern Cascade Foothills and Adjacent Lowlands 

There is very little evidence for a deep archaeological record within this zone. In fact, prior to about 

4000 cal BP, the record is quite sporadic, consisting mostly of isolated projectile points, flaked stone scatters, 

and obsidian hydration readings (Johnston et al. 2001; White et al. 2005). One exception to this situation is 

the discovery of a stratified rockshelter located in the Bend area that contains a deeply buried middle 

Holocene component; the report was not completed at the time of this writing, however (White, personal 

communication 2016). The record dating after about 4000 cal BP is much clearer, and has been organized 

into four time periods: Deadman Complex (3800–2580 cal BP), Kingsley Complex (2580–1400 cal BP), Dye Creek 

Complex (1400–550 cal BP), and Mill Creek Complex (550 cal BP-AD 1845). 

Deadman Complex (3800–2580 cal BP) 

The full range of artifacts associated with this interval are not fully known but appear to include 

side-notched, unifacial leaf-shaped, and contracting-stemmed dart points, large disk-shaped abalone shell 

beads, large triangular abalone pendants, and scoop Olivella beads (Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a). 

Handstones and millingslabs are common, while mortars and pestles appear to be absent. Johnson and 

Theodoratus (1984a) hypothesize that the foothill areas were first colonized by the Yana at this time, when 

they used these habitats on a sporadic basis during a larger, residentially mobile seasonal round. 

Kingsley Complex (2580–1400 cal BP) 

Archaeological visibility increases during this interval, with sites found in a wide range of upland and 

foothill habitats (Baumhoff 1957; Bevill et al. 1996; Greenway 1982; Hamusek 1988; Johnson and Theodoratus 

1984a; Johnston et al. 2001; White et al. 2005). Side-notched and leaf-shaped dart points decrease in number, 

while corner-notched forms become quite common in a variety of locations; contracting-stemmed points also 

decrease in abundance. A series of wide-stemmed points have also been included in this assemblage, but this 

association has been contested by a variety of researchers (Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a:192). Other 

temporal indicators include scoop Olivella beads and spatulate bone tools (Greenway 1982). 

Hopper mortars and flat-ended pestles are added to the milling assemblage which was formerly 

restricted to handstones and millingslabs. Both single and multi-family structures have been observed in 

foothill habitats, as well as some tightly flexed burials, but none of these sites were occupied for long 

periods of time, leading to the conclusion that they reflect small residential areas occupied by relatively 

small band of mobile foragers (Bevill et al. 1996; Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a). 

Sundahl (1993, 2004, 2009) also finds the first evidence of occupation along the Sacramento River 

in the Bend area at this time, corresponding to Phase I of the local sequence established for this location. 

The assemblages are limited in size, but do include large corner-notched and leaf-shaped projectile points 

and cobble tools. Faunal remains include artiodactyls and rabbits, but little fresh water mussel and no fish, 

leading to the conclusion that the location was only used on a sporadic basis. 

Dye Creek Complex (1400–550 cal BP) 

Populations appear to have increased significantly during this interval. White et al. (2005) found 

an explosion in the frequency of Tuluwat Barbed arrow points (especially those with maximum neck 

widths greater than 6.5 millimeters) in the uplands of Lassen National Park after about 1100 cal BP. 

Excavations by Johnston et al. (2001) in the Ishi Wilderness found evidence of this time period in every site 

they sampled (which was not the case for any other interval); this was also the case for Sundahl’s (1993) 

work in the Bend area. 

Common artifacts associated with this period include the aforementioned Tuluwat Barbed points 

and small corner-notched arrows (often called Southern Cascade Corner-notched; Sundahl 1993; White et 

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al. 2005; see also Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a), rectangular and barrel Olivella beads, large circular 

abalone ornaments, perforated freshwater shell ornaments, and deer ulna artifacts. Ground stone 

implements continue to include hopper mortars and flat-ended pestles, and handstones and millingslabs. 

According to Bevill et al. (1996), this seems to have been a time of greater residential stability, with 

longer-term (but still seasonal) residential bases being established in the lowlands, and more logistical use of 

outlying, upland areas. This hypothesis is supported by deer dental increment analyses conducted by Johnston 

et al. (2011), and by occupations that occurred in the winter. Contrary to the expectations of Wiant (1981), 

however, these occupations do not appear to be focused on the capture of anadromous fish (Bevill et al. 1996). 

Mill Creek Complex (500 cal BP-AD 1845) 

The adaptations initiated during the preceding period continue forward into Mill Creek times. 

Tuluwat Barbed and Southern Cascade Corner-notched points continue to be used, while Desert Sidenotched points are added to the assemblage as well (Baumhoff 1957). White et al. (2005) hypothesize that 

the size of Tuluwat series points decreases over time, with specimens from this interval tending to have 

maximal neck widths of less than 6.5 millimeters. Other temporal indicators include medium-sized 

clamshell disk beads, Olivella spire-lopped beads, Glycymeris shell beads, magnesite cylinders, and twined 

basketry. Ground stone assemblages continue to include hopper mortars, flat-ended pestles, handstones, 

and millingslabs. The retention of handstones and millingslabs (Greenway 1982) is rather unusual, as these 

are replaced by mortar-pestle technology in all other parts of our study area. 

Many foothill sites retain a strong residential character, containing both family dwellings and larger 

communal houses represented by rock ring structures. Pitted boulder petroglyphs are sometimes found at 

these sites as well (Johnston et al. 2001). Judging by their size and midden constituents, Bevill et al. (1996) 

argue that they were probably seasonal encampments and not long-term, sedentary villages (Bevill et al. 

1996), which is consistent with several small residential sites reported later by Ritter and Tyree (1990) and 

Vaughan et al. (2011). Bevill et al. (1996) also note that there is no evidence for the depletion of large game 

in the local area, perhaps due to the relatively low densities of human population in the foothills, but they 

did note more intensive use of small seeds during this interval. Finally, the low density of bedrock mortars 

in Yana territory may also signal more residential mobility (and, perhaps lower population densities) than 

surrounding areas, especially to the south in Maidu country (Bevill et al. 1996). 

Moving to the lowlands, there seems to be a major increase in the frequency of these small residential 

sites, especially around the Bend area (Sundahl 1993, 2001, 2004, 2009). Most sites contain both handstonemillingslab and mortar-pestle technologies, as well as a continued emphasis on the use of heavy cobble-core 

tools. Net weights and probable bone harpoon fragments evidence fishing activities, but fish bone itself is quite 

rare in most sites. Freshwater mussel was also an important part of the diet. The persistence of handstones, 

millingslabs, and corner-notched points, and the absence of ceremonial blades, drills, arrowshaft smoothers, 

copious clamshell disk beads, and a variety of other artifacts diagnostic of the Shasta Pattern west of the 

Sacramento River, led Sundahl (1993) to conclude that sites located in the Bend locality probably represented 

the Yana, while the more elaborate assemblages to the west represented the Wintu or their ancestors. 

The distinctive nature of Yana settlement has also been emphasized by Johnson (2003), who argues 

that their low-density, highly mobile subsistence-settlement system was largely self-reliant, allowing them 

to stay isolated from their neighbors. In addition to their continued use of handstone-millingslab technology 

long after it was abandoned by valley-dwelling Wintu, and their distinctive Southern Cascade Cornernotched points (Dugas 1995), Johnson (2003) speculates that they may have been isolated genetically as well. 

Whitaker et al. (2009) also found territorial differences in the stylistic attributes of Desert Side-notched 

projectile points, with the Redding subtype falling predominately in Wintu territory and the General 

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subtype found more often in Yana lands. Dugas (1995) also notes that Yana Desert Side-notched points differ 

from those in Maidu territory based on a variety of morphological attributes. 

The Lake Britton Area 

The Lake Britton area lies along the Pit River within the northeastern corner of the Southern 

Cascade Foothills zone. Excavations by Cleland et al. (1995) produced a comprehensive prehistoric 

sequence documenting subsistence-settlement pattern shifts that differ from the Southern Cascade 

Foothills and Sacramento Valley zones, including earlier evidence for intensive use of riverine settings. 

Although Cleland et al. (1995) recognize six time periods within their study area, they highlight the 

presence of two basic adaptive patterns: Strategy II (8300–3200 cal BP) and Strategy III (post-3200 cal BP). 

While these sites were rich in flaked stone tools and subsistence remains, ground stone artifacts were 

surprisingly rare, providing little information on the evolution of milling technology in this area. 

Strategy II (8300–3200 cal BP) 

This strategy encompasses three time periods: Early Archaic A (8300–5700 cal BP), Early Archaic B 

(5700–4300 cal BP), and Middle Archaic A (4300–3200 cal BP). Surprisingly, the Middle Archaic A 

assemblages include very few stemmed points (e.g., Borax Lake Wide-stemmed), which are dominant 

downstream at this time (Sundahl 1992), instead they are dominated by Clikapudi Side-notched forms. The 

early age of these side-notched points could reflect greater affinities to the Upper Klamath zone (and 

northeastern California in general), as the Northern Side-notched point is a dominant temporal indicator 

for these areas during this period of time (see the Basin Period, page 36). Occupations along the Pit River 

are rather sparse at this time and largely confined to mid-slope terraces and benches well above the river. 

Occupations increase significantly during the Early Archaic B (5700–4300 cal BP), this evidenced 

by an increase in the number of components dating to this interval. Ground stone tools occur for the first 

time (handstones and millingslabs), as does evidence for pithouse structures. The upper terraces and 

benches remain the primary loci for occupation, but freshwater mussel begins to occur with regularity. 

Clikapudi Side-notched points continue to be used, but Clikapudi Corner-notched points are added to the 

assemblage as well. 

This basic assemblage continues into the Middle Archaic A (4300–3200 cal BP) Period, but clear 

settlement differentiation occurs for the first time, with habitation sites easily distinguished from 

specialized logistical sites. Habitation sites also begin to drop down onto the lower river terraces and true 

shell middens occur for the first time. 

Based on the predominant use of mid-slope benches and terraces at Lake Britton, and the emphasis 

on upland areas elsewhere, Cleland et al. (1995) argue that the Strategy II represents a forager-like 

adaptation, with relatively high levels of residential mobility. Faunal remains show an emphasis on deer 

hunting, and when combined with the low density of fishing implements, support this hypothesis, 

although the presence of freshwater mussel (taken mostly in the summer) show that riverine resources did 

figure into the overall adaptation. 

Strategy III (post-3200 cal BP) 

Both the Middle Archaic B (3200–2000 cal BP) and Late Archaic (2000–900 cal BP) Periods show 

increased residential activity along the lower river terraces, with every favorable location being occupied. 

Special-purpose flaked stone sites fall out of the record, indicating increasing logistical mobility with 

specialized hunting parties going farther afield for their prey. Side-notched projectile points are completely 

gone by 2000 cal BP, while Clikupudi Corner-notched continued to be used until they are replaced near the 

end of the Late Archaic. By the Emergent Period (post-900 cal BP), use of the lowland habitation sites 

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continued to grow, and Tuluwat Barbed and, at the very end of the sequence, Desert Side-notched arrow 

points, dominate the assemblages. 

These findings represent a fundamental reorganization of settlement, more in line with a “collector” 

adaptation (see also Kaijankoski et al. 2011). Seasonality studies on mussel show that major winter villages 

(based on sites established close to the river), were accompanied by dense shell midden, elaborate fishing 

gear (e.g., bone toggle harpoon fragments), and a greater amounts of fish, especially after 2000 cal BP. A more 

intensive use of local resources is documented by a decrease in the proportion of large versus small game, 

and in declining ages of mussels, the latter reflecting a depletion of larger more productive individuals. A 

greater use of seed crops also occurred at this time (mostly gray pine and manzanita). 

This pattern of human population growth and resource intensification continued forward until 

about 300–400 cal BP when there seems to have been a release in harvest pressure on local populations of 

both deer and mussels. This change was quite surprising, leading Cleland et al. (1995) to suggest that it 

may have been related to epidemics introduced to California by Europeans between AD 1650 and 1770 that 

may have reached the Pit River long before direct interactions with the Europeans occurred. 

Contact Period (AD 1820s–1850s) 

Johnson (1978:362) says that the earliest contact between the Yana and whites probably took place 

in 1821, during Arguello’s expedition from San Francisco up the east side of the Sacramento Valley. In the 

decades that followed, trappers from the Hudson’s Bay Company “probably had contact with the Yana 

along the Pit River and northeastern Sacramento valley” (Johnson 1978:362). In the mid-1840s, several 

Mexican land grants were awarded along the upper part of the valley, including two—Bosque (granted to 

Peter Lassen) and Rio de los Berendos (granted to Job Dye)—that extended into Yana territory. The 

California-Oregon Trail, the Lassen Trail, and Noble’s Road brought miners and settlers through the tribe’s 

territory, although most of these travelers were passing through on their way elsewhere. Despite these 

various incursions, Johnson (1978:362-363) reports that the Southern Cascade Foothills “was one of the 

regions in California that was least affected by early American mining and settlement.” 

Nevertheless, conflict between the Yana and the newcomers was inevitable, as the latter began to 

establish ranches and settlements in the valleys and graze their livestock in the adjacent foothills. The eastern 

side of the upper Sacramento Valley abuts the foothills of the Southern Cascades, whose many large streams 

flow westward to join the Sacramento River. On one of these streams, Deer Creek, lay a Yana village that was 

home to Ishi. This Yahi Yana man, made famous by anthropologists from the University of California, Berkeley, 

lived for 50 years with a small band of other Yahi in “the rocky confines” of the Southern Cascade foothills 

(Johnson 1978:363) in what was surely the longest-occupied refugium of the contact period in northern 

California. He finally emerged, starving, only after all the rest of his small group had died. 

That these people hid out in the hills is no surprise, given the many published accounts of hostilities 

between Euro-Americans and local native people. Several of these accounts were compiled by Dr. Norris 

Bleyhl, former director of the Merriam Library at CSC Chico, and published as part of an annotated 

bibliography (Bleyhl 1978-1979). A few of the more relevant annotations are excerpted here: 

In 1859 the valley declared an all-out campaign against the Indians. $3000 was used to finance 

the campaign. A group of seven men would hunt Indians for two months. Captain Burns 

proceeded up the south side of Deer Creek. They camped on Mill Creek at the Black Buttes. 

In July 1863 a party of Mill Creek (actually Yahi) Indians “on the warpath” passed through 

Clear Creek country between Chico and Oroville. The Lewis family was attacked and 

members killed, which aroused the community to vow to kill Indians[,] guilt[y] or not. 

In August 1865 the final conflict with the Mill Creeks occurred. The Yahi had murdered 

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three people in the area.2 ... The Yahi camp was found on the banks of Mill Creek and a 

battle took place. The result was most of the Indians were killed. This put an end to the 

scourage [sic] of the Mill Creek Yahis. However, those that hid in Mill Creek Canyon surfaced 

to kill cattle in April 1871. ... The settlers followed the raiders to Kingsley Cave, where 

more than thirty trapped Indians were killed [Nopel 1959; emphasis added]. 

There have been few formal investigations or technical reports on refuge sites or other Contactperiod sites in this region, although there are many articles, books, films, and other media focused on Ishi 

(e.g., Burrill 2011; Heizer and Kroeber 1979; Izzi 2014; Kroeber 1961; Pope 1920; Roberts 2012; Sackman 

2010; Waterman 1917). One exception is Baumhoff’s (1957) Introduction to Yana Archaeology, in which he 

discusses Contact-era materials from Payne’s Cave on Antelope Creek in northern Tehama County. Other 

studies (unpublished) have identified glass projectile points and flakes, glass trade beads, metal nails, 

remains of domestic cattle, and other non-Native items (Ritter, personal communication, October 2016). 

2 Note that Indians (as with cattle) were “killed,” but whites were “murdered.” 

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PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOHISTORIC RESEARCH ISSUES 

(by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter) 

The prehistoric sequences proposed for the project area (see the Prehistoric Context section, page 29) 

isolate the major trends exhibited by both the local and regional archaeological records. They also reveal a 

series of research issues or themes that range from interesting hypotheses in need of further evaluation, to 

major gaps in the archaeological record that need to be filled. Focusing on these research issues in the future 

will not only improve our knowledge of the past, but will also assist in determining the significance of 

archaeological sites based on their ability (or inability) to address them. 

We discuss ten research issues, including: Controlling Chronology; Identifying the First Colonizers of 

Northern California; Origins of Acorn-Salmon Economies in Northern California; Evolution of Milling Tools and 

Features; Inter-Regional Exchange; Rock Art; Historical Linguistics and Population Replacements; Pyrodiversity as 

a Land-Use Management Strategy; Native American Rock Features and the Spiritual World; and Native Responses 

to Contact. This list is by no means exhaustive; rather, it focuses on the most current and significant topics 

within the larger region, and those which can be addressed with archaeological data sets that are known 

or likely to occur within the study area. 

CONTROLLING CHRONOLOGY 

In the most general terms, the issue of chronology is concerned with the temporal ordering of 

archaeological data in terms of either absolute or relative time, and in the refinement of local and regional 

cultural-historical sequences. As such, chronological concerns represent an essential prerequisite to the 

investigation of all “higher-order” research questions having to do with diachronic changes in human 

behavior. Two chronological topics were identified as especially significant to this study: refinement of 

regional projectile point sequences, and development of obsidian-hydration age-conversion equations for 

certain widely used geochemical glass types. Shell beads and a variety of other ornaments are also important 

tools for controlling chronology, but they are discussed under Inter-Regional Exchange (page 76). 

Projectile Point Chronologies 

As outlined in the Prehistoric Context section above, multiple projectile point sequences exist within 

the current study area. The Upper Klamath Zone has strong affinities with the northwest Great Basin (e.g., 

Clovis, Great Basin Stemmed, Humboldt Concave-base, Northern Side-notched, Elko, Rosegate, Desert 

Side-notched) and, to a lesser extent, influences from the Klamath Basin (e.g., Siskiyou Side-notched) and 

northern California (e.g., Tuluwat Barbed [formerly Gunther Barbed]; Figure 12). As a result, researchers 

working in this zone can rely to a large extent on the most recent syntheses provided by Hildebrandt and 

King (2002), and subsequent contributions from Hildebrandt and King (2012), Smith et al. (2013), Hockett 

et al. (2014), and Smith et al. (2014). 

Moving to the Sacramento Valley, especially the upper Sacramento Valley in Tehama and Shasta 

counties, the projectile point sequence provided by Sundahl (1992; see also Basgall and Hildebrandt [1989]) 

remains quite viable (e.g., Clovis, Borax Lake Wide-stemmed, Squaw Creek Contracting-stemmed, 

Clikapudi Side- and Corner-notched, Tuluwat Barbed, and Desert Side-notched). The main problem with 

this sequence is the approximately 3,000-year void between Clovis and Borax Lake Wide-stemmed. This 

void also occurs in the North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges zones and is discussed 

in more detail below (see Identifying the First Colonizers of Northern California, page 72). 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 65 Far Western 
 

CLOVIS 

(from Rondeau et al. 2007) 

GREAT BASIN STEMMED 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

NORTHERN SIDE-NOTCHED 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

0 5 cm 

Figure 12. Regional Projectile Point Types (1 of 4). 

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(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

HUMBOLDT CONCAVE-BASE 

GATECLIFF SPLIT-STEM 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

ELKO SERIES 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

SISKIYOU SIDE-NOTCHED 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

0 5 cm 

Figure 12. Regional Projectile Point Types (2 of 4). 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 67 Far Western 
 

BORAX LAKE WIDE-STEMMED 

(from Hayes 1985) 

SQUAW CREEK CONTRACTING-STEMMED 

(from Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989) 

CLIKAPUDI SERIES 

(from Basgall and Hildebrandt 1989) 

0 5 cm 

Figure 12. Regional Projectile Point Types (3 of 4). 

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WILLITS SERIES 

ROSEGATE SERIES 

(from Hayes 1985) 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

TULUWAT SERIES 

(from Milburn 1979) 

CASCADE CORNER-NOTCHED 

(from White 2005) 

(from Hildebrandt and King 2002) 

DESERT SIDE-NOTCHED 

0 5 cm 

Figure 12. Regional Projectile Point Types (4 of 4). 

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The southernmost end of the North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges zones, 

especially ancestral Northern Pomo lands, has strong cultural affinities with the Clear Lake Basin. As a 

result, the comprehensive projectile point sequence developed by White et al. (2002) should be applied to 

these locations. 

Chronological patterns become much more problematic when moving north, as the availability of 

high-quality archaeological data is significantly reduced in many areas. Based on what we do know, it 

appears to begin with Clovis and Borax Lake Wide-stemmed (and the aforementioned gap between the 

two), but what comes next (i.e., between about 5700 and 3200 cal BP) remains an open question. The lack 

of a clear temporal indicator dating to this interval led Hildebrandt (2007:89) to extend the Borax Lake 

Wide-stemmed forward in time, hypothesizing that it may have been a holdover within this portion of the 

state. This was probably incorrect, as it seems more likely that this interval was filled by Squaw Creek 

Contracting-stemmed points (as in the upper Sacramento Valley); these points exist in the mountains of 

northwest California but have not yet been found in well-dated, single-component contexts. 

It is also important to note that Jensen and Farber’s (1982b) excavations at the confluence of the 

North Fork and Trinity rivers revealed a deeply buried deposit containing large side- and corner-notched 

points. They hypothesized that the component dated to between 5700 and 4500 cal BP, which would also 

fill this problematic time period. 

Between about 4500–1500 cal BP things become clearer, with the interval filled with Mendocinoseries projectile points (largely corner-notched dart points). These are quite similar to the Clikapudi series, 

and may differ in name only. After 1500 cal BP, the Tuluwat Barbed points take over. Unlike areas to the 

east, however, Desert Side-notched points do not make it out to the north coast. 

There is not a clear projectile point chronology for the Sierra Nevada and adjacent lowlands. Early 

workers in the region (e.g., Kowta 1988; Markley 1980; Ritter 1968, 1970) have proposed local sequences 

along with probable projectile point types that go with each time period (see the Prehistoric Context section, 

page 29), but more recent researchers in the region have called into question the utility of this work. 

Delacorte and Basgall (2006:35), for example, state that the projectile point chronologies proposed for the 

Lake Oroville vicinity and surrounding areas “have not proven particularly useful...for establishing more 

than coarse-grained temporal controls” (see also Delacorte and Bethard 2015). They also note that 

“Although some of the points appear to conform to types or categories previously defined in other regions 

(Gunther, Desert Side-notched), it would be imprudent to assume that their cultural or temporal 

significance is necessarily the same” (Delacorte and Basgall 2006:72). 

These chronologies do provide temporal ranges for five categories of points that are commonly 

found in the area. They include large corner-notched (5000–1300 BP), large stemmed points (5000–1300 BP), 

small corner-notched points (1150–450 BP), small stemmed points (that look like Tuluwat Barbed, 1150– 

450 BP), and small side-notched points (that look like Desert Side-notched, 450–120 BP). These temporal 

ranges are fully consistent with the small sample of projectile points recovered from White’s (2003) 

excavations along the Colusa Reach. 

Moving up to the Southern Cascade Foothills, the White et al. (2005) study in Lassen National Park 

simplifies a series of previous projectile point sequences where a multitude of types were proposed (e.g., 

Dugas 1995; Greenway 1982; Johnson and Theodoratus 1984a). The White et al. (2005) provisional 

chronology includes Wide-stemmed 10,500–7500 cal BP, Stemmed (5000–3500 cal BP), Contractingstemmed (3500–2200 cal BP), Corner-notched (3500–1100 cal BP), Large Gunther/Tuluwat (1100–650 cal 

BP), Small Gunther/Tuluwat (650 BP – Contact), Cascade Corner-notched (650 cal BP – Contact), and Desert 

Side-notched points (350 cal BP – Contact). 

Finally, Cleland’s (1995) findings farther north in the Southern Cascade Foothills at Lake Britton 

appear to reflect influences from both California and the Great Basin. His earliest phase of occupation (8300– 

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5700 cal BP) is represented by what he calls Clikapudi Side-notched, but given their great age at this location 

(much older than in the upper Sacramento Valley where the type was first identified; Sundahl 1992), it seems 

they have a greater linkage with Northern Side-notched points and the Great Basin region (as well as with 

our Upper Klamath Zone). They continue through the 5700–4300 cal BP phase, during which Clikapudi 

Corner-notched points are added, which might also be thought of as Elko (note also the absence of 

contracting-stemmed points which are found in all the other California sequences). Both forms continue 

forward into the 4300–3200 cal BP phase, but the side-notched points drop out after 3200 cal BP. Finally, a 

clear California influence comes in sometime between 2000 and 900 cal BP with the Gunther/Tuluwat 

Barbed, and the Desert Side-notched arriving later. 

Data Requirements 

Projectile point sequences are always a work in progress, especially in regions lacking deeply stratified 

sites with strong associations between well-defined types and radiocarbon dates. It follows, therefore, that 

future researchers should recognize the data gaps outlined above (and others), and do their best to fill them. 

The best approach is to isolate single-component assemblages and their associated projectile points, and date 

them with radiocarbon. If obsidian artifacts are also found in these contexts, they need to be subjected to 

geochemical sourcing and hydration analysis, so that we can improve our ability to develop accurate hydration 

rates for the various obsidian sources that were used throughout northern California. Finally, it is also 

important to build on the source-specific hydration database that already exists for individual projectile point 

types, as these findings will also improve our ability to control time in the archaeological record. 

Obsidian Hydration 

Source-specific obsidian hydration has been a very important tool for developing almost all of the 

chronological sequences reviewed in Prehistoric Context (page 29). The primary obsidian sources used for 

this purpose in the current study area are from the Medicine Lake Highlands, Tuscan, Borax Lake, and Napa 

source groups. Medicine Lake Highlands (predominately the Grasshopper Flat/Lost Iron Wells/Red 

Switchback subgroup) and Tuscan are the most commonly found obsidians in the study area, especially in 

the more northerly areas. Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989) originally proposed hydration rates for both of 

these source groups based on associations with radiocarbon dates. These constructs have seen relatively 

good success when applied to a variety of locations, but subsequent improvements have been made by a 

variety of researchers, the most important being Bayham and Johnson (1990) and Whitaker et al. (2009). 

Borax Lake and Napa obsidian tend to occur in the southernmost parts of the study area. The most 

useful hydration rate for Borax Lake obsidian has been proposed by White et al. (2002). Origer’s (1982) rate 

for Napa has also seen long term utility, but Rosenthal’s (2005) more recent contribution is an improvement 

on this original work. 

Data Requirements 

Similar to projectile points, obsidian hydration rates should always be considered an ongoing 

research concern. Whenever possible, it will be useful to develop additional radiocarbon-hydration 

pairings to improve the databases used to develop the existing rates and, if appropriate, propose a new, 

more accurate rate for a particular obsidian source. It will also be important to control for differences in 

local temperature, and how depth of deposit influences this variable. Rogers and Yohe (2016, and references 

therein) provide guidance in this regard. 

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IDENTIFYING THE FIRST COLONIZERS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Clovis projectile points are sparsely scattered across northern California, with a significant number 

falling with the current study area. They date to between 13,400 and 12,800 cal BP (Haynes et al. 2007), and 

have long thought to be the oldest evidence of humans in North America. More recently, however, findings 

from the Paisley Caves in southern Oregon show evidence for people dating back to between 14,500 and 

14,100 cal BP, and this component appears to have a Great Basin Stemmed projectile point with it (Jenkin 

et al. 2012). These findings give support to the hypothesis forwarded by Beck and Jones (2010, 2012) that 

there were people here before Clovis, and that Clovis was an in-situ development that probably originated 

east of the Rocky Mountains. 

Beck and Jones have further hypothesized that the pre-Clovis people may have entered North 

America via a coastal route, and moved into the interior along large drainage systems like the Columbia 

River. Although coastal data capable of testing this proposal are difficult to come by due to Holocene sea 

level rise, and pre-Clovis radiocarbon dates have yet to be found in these locations, some of the oldest 

radiocarbon dates from California do come from the Channel Islands (e.g., 12,900 cal BP; Johnson et al. 

2000; Rosenthal and Fitzgerald 2012). It is also important to note that obsidian hydration data from the 

Clear Lake Basin, including the Borax Lake Site, provide hints of pre-Clovis activity (White 2013). 

So if there was a pre-Clovis coastal entry into California, and this entry and dispersal could be 

marked by Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, it makes good sense to search for Great Basin Stemmed 

projectile points within the current study area and attempt to determine their actual age. Significant 

headway has already been made by Meyer (2013), as he has mapped out the geographic distribution of 

Clovis, Great Basin Stemmed, and Borax Lake Wide Stemmed points throughout northern California. What 

he found, however, is that almost all of the Great Basin Stemmed points are found in northeastern 

California associated with old pluvial lake basins (e.g., Butte Valley), while almost all Borax Lake Widestemmed points are found in the west, often in upland habitats. 

The fact that Great Basin Stemmed points are essentially absent from northwestern California does 

not necessarily reject the hypothesis that pre-Clovis people came down the coast and later dispersed into 

the interior, but it certainly provides no support for the idea. It is also important to emphasize that the 

oldest post-Clovis temporal indicator in northwest California—the Borax Lake Wide-stemmed—has a 

maximum age of about 10,000 cal BP at Clear Lake (White 2013) and, perhaps, somewhat later farther north. 

This leaves at least a 3,000-year gap between Clovis and Borax Lake Wide-stemmed for which we have no 

temporal indicator in the current study area. 

Data Requirements 

So what fills the 3,000-year void between Clovis and Borax Wide stemmed points in the current 

study? Part of the early end of the gap could be filled with Clovis points, as Beck and Jones (2010, 2012) 

argue that the western versions of the type persisted longer than they did in their point of origin in the 

southern plains (see also Rondeau et al. 2007). With regard to the later end of the gap, it is possible that we 

are underestimating the age of Borax Lake Wide-stemmed points. The fact that many of them have large 

basal thinning flakes reminiscent of fluting could indicate a technological linkage between Clovis and Borax 

Lake Wide-stemmed, and a chronological one as well (White 2013). 

If it is not the Borax lake Wide-stemmed, what could it be? One possibility is Cascade points. They 

are laurel-leaf-shaped (lacking stems), and either bipointed or with slightly rounded bases. These points are 

commonly found in the Pacific Northwest and on the Columbia Plateau (including southern Oregon; Ames 

et al. 1998; Connolly 1988), and may be chronologically equivalent to Great Basin Stemmed points found 

farther to the east. Because they lack obvious diagnostic features, they could exist in northern California 

assemblages and have yet-to-be-identified potential as late Pleistocene-early Holocene temporal indicators. 

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It follows, therefore, that future researchers should recognize this important gap in the northern 

California archaeological record, and search existing and newly discovered assemblages for potential artifact 

forms that can fill it. Clear descriptions of these artifacts should be made, and they should be dated with 

radiocarbon (if good associations exist) or source-specific obsidian hydration readings whenever possible. 

ORIGINS OF ACORN-SALMON ECONOMIES IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 

The ethnographic review (see Ethnographic Context, page 91) reveals that harvest and long-term 

storage of acorns and salmon were major economic pursuits among the majority of people living within the 

project area. A review of the archaeological record, however, shows a great deal of geographic variability in 

how and when this system developed. Tushingham (2009, 2013), for example, found that the intensified use 

of the two resources was not synchronous in northwest California. Instead, it appears that even though high 

levels of residential stability developed in the lowlands at around 3100 cal BP (as evidenced by house floors, 

a full complement of flaked, battered, and ground stone tools including mortars and pestles, and charred 

acorn remains; also see Hildebrandt 2007), fishing gear and salmon bone were not found in meaningful 

amounts, probably reflecting a more casual use of the fishery at the time. After 1500 cal BP, the frequency of 

both fishing gear and salmon bone increased significantly, and seemed to reflect the economic system 

observed during ethnographic times. 

Tushingham (2009, 2013; see also Tushingham and Bettinger 2013) proposed that this time lag was 

best explained by the sequence of labor inputs required for the two resources. Acorns are a back-loaded, as the 

initial collection and storage is relatively cheap and easy, and only gets expensive later on when they need to 

be processed for consumption (i.e., ground, leached, and cooked, or coated with clay and baked). So when 

people began to experiment with higher levels of sedentism and storage, creating multiple, low-cost caches 

of acorns entailed minimal risk, because if they needed to be abandoned the loss would be minimal. Salmon, 

in contrast, is a front-loaded resource—they are more difficult to acquire than acorns and, more importantly, if 

they are to be stored for later use, they must be smoked, dried, and stowed right way. Once this expensive 

upfront work is completed, there is little effort required during the later consumption side of the process. But 

because of this upfront expense, salmon caches were much more valuable than acorn caches, and tended to 

tie people down in a much more significant way once this commitment was made. 

Moving to the upper Sacramento Valley, Basgall and Hildebrandt (1989) originally proposed that 

the acorn-salmon, semi-sedentary economic system developed around 4000–3000 cal BP. But similar to 

Tushingham’s findings, subsequent work by Hildebrandt et al. (2005) showed that the major riverine focus 

(with fish bone and fishing gear; see also Hildebrandt and Darcangelo 2008) did not develop until after 1500 

cal BP. Also similar to Tushingham’s findings, plant macrofossil remains from the Sacramento River Canyon 

(Wohlgemuth 1989) and farther south along the Sacramento River (Dreyer 1984; Hildebrandt and 

Kaijankoski 2011), all indicate that acorns were an important resource by at least 4300 cal BP. 

The discontinuity between acorns and salmon seems to have occurred farther south along the 

Colusa Reach of the Sacramento River as well. During the phase dating between 4385 and 3460 cal BP, 

when acorn was important, White (2003:179) found that, “Cyprinids, perch, and sturgeon were probably 

harvested during spring and summer spawning runs. Intensive waterfowl and acorn harvest dominated 

the fall. Little use was made of salmonid fisheries.” Even between 3222 and 2750 cal BP, “Fish harvest was 

unchanged from the previous phase [with] little attention to salmonids” (White 2003:179). Finally, by his 

1180–970 cal BP phase, White (2003:180) found that, “For the first time, salmonids were a significant part 

of the local diet.” These finding are consistent with those of Broughton (1988, 1994), and could reflect a 

rather late introduction of weirs to the Sacramento Valley economic system (White 2003). 

A possible exception to this emerging pattern comes from the Lake Britton area, where there was 

a fundamental reorganization of settlement at about 3,000 years ago. Here, seasonality studies on mussel 

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shells show that major winter villages were established close to the Pit River, and were accompanied by 

dense shell middens, elaborate fishing gear (e.g., toggle harpoon fragments), and greater quantities of fish 

remains, especially after 2000 cal BP (Cleland et al. 1995). Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine how 

much salmon contributed to this increase based on the data presented. 

Data Requirements 

This exciting research issue can be addressed on a variety of levels by future researchers. Following 

the lead of the studies outlined above, it will be important to (1) monitor settlement pattern changes vis-à-vis 

key riverine habitat types; (2) assess the composition of artifact assemblages and features, paying special 

attention to tools associated with fishing and acorn processing, and features linked to long term habitation 

and storage; and (3) carefully study subsistence remains, making sure that proper fine-grained sampling 

procedures and analytical methods are used, similar to those used by White (2003) and Hildebrandt and 

Darcangelo (2008). It may also be useful to consider how construction of weirs and intensive salmon storage 

relate to higher levels of sedentism, and once they are in place, how the increased sense of permanent space 

relates to the establishment of formal cemetery areas (Ritter 1968). 

Finally, because salmon are keystone predators within a marine ecosystem composed of multiple 

trophic levels (many more than in terrestrial systems), and because carbon and nitrogen isotopes enrich when 

moving up through the food chain, humans relying on salmon will have a completely different isotopic 

signature than those who do not. These differences can be preserved in the osteological remains of these 

individuals, providing additional evidence for when this important economic transition occurred (Bartelink 

2009; Greenwald and Burns 2016). There are obvious issues of cultural sensitivity regarding the analysis of 

human bone for these purposes, but it is our experience that Native American tribal representatives can be 

open to isotopic studies in certain select situations. The importance of archaeological human bone from wellcontrolled contexts for these kinds of studies should not be overlooked. 

EVOLUTION OF MILLING TOOLS AND FEATURES 

The prehistoric archaeological sequences outlined above (see the Prehistoric Context section, page 

29) show a great deal of variability across both space and time in the kind of milling tools and features that 

were used. All areas show no milling gear during the late Pleistocene and earliest Holocene, followed by a 

dominant presence of handstones and millingslabs beginning about 8,000 years ago. Bowl mortars and 

pestles come on the scene quite early in the Upper Klamath zone, where they are present in the Basin Period 

(7800–5200 cal BP; Mack et al. 1991), especially in areas to the east well beyond the distribution of oak trees 

(O’Connell 1971). They were not regularly used until significantly later elsewhere, with sporadic evidence 

showing up in Sierra Nevada foothills and adjacent lowlands as part of the Mesilla Complex (4500–2500 

cal BP), in the upper Sacramento Valley as part of the Whiskeytown Pattern (4500/3200–1600 cal BP), and 

in the southern part of the North Coast Ranges as part of the Mendocino Pattern (4500–1500 cal BP). 

Bowl mortars and pestles were never used at all in the Southern Cascade Foothills, nor in the 

northern reaches of the North Coast and Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges. Instead, hopper (basket) 

mortars and distinctive pestles were used, and introduced throughout the study area after about 1500 cal 

BP, except in the Cascade Foothills where they are thought to be part of the Kingsley Complex (2580–1400 

cal BP). They co-occur with bowl mortars and pestles south of Yana territory within both foothill and valley 

habitats, but largely replace bowl mortars and pestles elsewhere. 

Bedrock mortars are only abundant in the Sierra Nevada south of Yana territory, and appeared 

during Sweetwater Complex times (1100–500 cal BP). It is also important to emphasize that the old 

handstone and millingslab technology was completely replaced within areas where large semi-sedentary 

populations took over (e.g., the Sacramento Valley and North Coast), but persisted in hinterland areas, 

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especially in Yana territory and perhaps parts of the Klamath Mountains/North Coast Ranges where 

populations were smaller and used more mobile settlement systems. 

Most researchers have long assumed that handstones and millingslabs were primarily used for 

small seeds, and mortars and pestles for acorns. This view was not based on archaeological findings, but 

on ethnographic analogy—ethnographers observed California groups processing acorns with mortars and 

pestles, and Great Basin peoples processing small seeds with handstones and millingslabs (the latter 

observation not being in California because the technology was so rare in the state during ethnohistoric 

times). But we are beginning to learn from the archaeological record that this assumption has not always 

been correct, especially deep in the prehistoric past. 

As noted above, the first exception occurs in northeastern California, where bowl mortars and pestles 

were used between 7800 and 5200 cal BP over 100 kilometers from the nearest major stands of oak. Second, 

plant macrofossil data from early Holocene components at Clear Lake, Los Vaqueros (Contra Costa County), 

and the Sky Rocket site (Calaveras County) show that acorns were a primary resource at this early time, but 

associated with handstones and millingslabs, and not mortars and pestles (Hildebrandt 2007; Rosenthal et al. 

2007). Third, although small seeds were used throughout prehistory, plant macrofossil data show that there 

was a major increase in their use late in time (Wohlgemuth 2004, 2010), including within the current study area 

(see Prehistoric Context, page 29), long after mortars and pestles became the dominant form of milling gear. 

Based on these findings, it has been hypothesized that the different types of milling gear may have 

been more highly linked to settlement organization than to the type of resource being processed 

(Hildebrandt 2007; Rosenthal et al. 2007). People operating within a mobile system of settlement that could 

not carry their milling gear (e.g., Martis/Bucks Lake Complex, Borax Lake and Mendocino Patterns) would 

have used the more expedient handstone-millingslab technology, as it could be produced on demand with 

little investment. Mortars and pestles, in contrast, are more costly to produce, but more efficient at 

processing food resources, and work well among more sedentary peoples who could rely on the regular 

use of their tools. It should be emphasized, however, that increased sedentism was often linked to acorn 

storage, so the intensive use of acorns and mortar-pestle technology obviously went hand-in-hand in many 

places during the late Holocene (Basgall 1987). 

If this proposal is correct, it would help explain why: (1) mortars and pestles were not accepted 

and used simultaneously throughout northern California, (2) mortars and pestles are not typically found 

in early Holocene contexts even though acorn plant macrofossils are, and (3) mobile peoples like the Yana 

continued to use handstones and millingslabs into the Late Period, even though they relied on acorns as a 

subsistence resource. 

Explaining the origin and distribution of bedrock mortars is also an important research issue that 

may be related to social organization. According to Bettinger (2015), their emergence at about 1,000 years 

ago co-occurs with a transition from a centralized, group-level system of food sharing, to one focused more 

on the private, family-level of ownership. The explosion of bedrock mortars at this time, and their 

distribution (small clusters in multiple locations), could reflect family ownership of both the milling features 

and the adjacent oak groves. Their concentration in the Sierra Nevada could partially be due to the presence 

of high-quality granitic bedrock (not present elsewhere), as well as higher population densities and levels of 

territoriality, at least when compared to the Yana where they are only sporadically present. 

Understanding the origin and distribution of hopper mortars and pestles is even less secure than 

the other forms of milling technology discussed above. Based on findings within the upper Sacramento 

Valley, the technology appears to have arrived with the Wintu (and the Shasta Pattern), and may have 

spread out from there. Even if this were the case, it has yet to be determined why it replaced bowl mortars 

and pestles in so many places, and why it did not in others, especially when moving into the southernmost 

margins of the study area. 

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Finally, tracing the origin and distribution of wooden mortars and pestles is also an important 

research issue, especially in parts of the Sacramento Valley where lithic resources were limited. In fact, 

some of the earliest evidence for mortar-pestle technology is evident in the lower Sacramento Valley and 

Delta, where wooden pestles (with their distinctive polish) have been found in components dating to 5800 

cal BP (Rosenthal et al. 2007). Although the earliest well documented presence in northern California dates 

to Bidwell Complex (2500-1100 cal BP) times, it seems likely that older examples will eventually be found 

in residential sites along the Sacramento River. 

Data Requirements 

This is a major, multi-dimensional research issue that will take several years to solve. First, it will be 

important to refine our knowledge of the time-space distribution of the various types of milling technologies 

(including their environmental settings), and document the settlement systems they were operating within 

(e.g., where are they along the mobile-sedentary continuum?). Second, a continued focus on the collection 

and analysis of plant macrofossils will help in this endeavor. And finally, future researchers should explore 

the collection and analysis of starch grains, as this appears to be a promising avenue of research that has the 

potential to clarify the full range of resources with which these tools and features were used. 

INTER-REGIONAL EXCHANGE 

Obsidian and shell beads are the primary archaeological indicators of exchange in California, as both 

commodities are relatively common in most parts of the state (Hughes 2011; Hughes and Milliken 2007). This 

is clearly the case in the current study area where obsidian from the Medicine Lake Highlands, Tuscan, Borax 

Lake, and Napa (Figure 13) is widely distributed across a wide range of places and times. Shell beads are less 

common, but also provide important insights about past interaction spheres and, ultimately, the rise of 

monetary systems late in time (Bettinger 2015). The following discussion highlights some previous studies of 

exchange, and provides guidance on how researchers could improve on this work in the future. 

We begin with obsidian, distinguishing between utilitarian and non-utilitarian uses, as they (and 

the exchange systems associated with them) followed differing pathways over time. We then turn to shell 

beads, which also appear to be associated with exchange systems that were disjunct from those linked to 

the utilitarian use of obsidian. 

Utilitarian Obsidian 

All of the prehistoric sequences reviewed by this study reveal major adaptive changes over time 

linked to a series of important economic developments, especially those associated with increased sedentism, 

population growth, territorial circumscription, and inter-regional exchange. Several researchers in the past 

have hypothesized that inter-group exchange should have reached maximal proportions late in time (after 

1000 cal BP) largely due to increased population density and less residential and logistical mobility. As local 

populations became increasingly restricted to smaller and smaller territories (see the tribelets described in the 

Ethnographic Context section, page 91), it was thought that non-local resources located significant distances 

from those territories were primarily obtained through trade rather than direct access by logistically 

organized forays, which was more likely earlier in time when population density and territoriality were 

significantly lower. Given the need to obtain both food and non-food resources from non-local areas, the 

movement of exotic obsidian was thought to be an important archaeological indictor of exchange, both for 

the obsidian itself and as a proxy for other commodities that do not preserve in the archaeological record. 

Although this hypothesis makes good sense, and finds some support in the ethnographic record, 

it has not been borne out by archaeological findings throughout most of California (Gilreath and 

Hildebrandt 2011; King et al. 2011), including those from the current study area. A study of Medicine Lake 

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Silver Lake/Sycan Marsh 

Spodue Mtn, 

Blue Mtn. Sugar Hill 

Grasshopper Flat/ 

Lost Iron Wells/ Massacre Lake/ 

Red Switchback Glass Mtn. Buck Mtn. Guano Valley 

East Medicine Lake 

Pinto Peak 

South Warners 

Fox Mtn. 

Bordwell 

Spring 

Kelly Mtn. 

Tuscan 

Borax Lake 

Mt. Konocti 

Napa Glass Mtn. 

Annadel 

$

0 10 20 30 Miles 

Obsidian sources 

Figure 13. Regional Obsidian Sources. 

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Highlands obsidian profiles by Gilreath et al. (1995; see also Hildebrandt and Mikkelsen 1994), for example, 

found that the production and exchange of this material, with a few exceptions, peaked between about 3000 

and 1000 cal BP, followed by a steep decline in this activity thereafter. This peak and decline was also found 

by Hildebrandt et al. (2005) in the northern Sacramento Valley, where they also observed that the post-1000 cal 

BP decline in Medicine Lake Highlands obsidian was replaced by the more local, but lower quality material 

from the Tuscan obsidian sources (see also Hamusek-McGann 1993; Jensen 1994; Sundahl 1982; Vaughan 1992; 

Vaughan and Sundahl 2002), as well as by local cryptocrystalline silicate stone (CCS) and metavolcanic stone 

at archaeological sites in the western foothills (Bevill and Nilsson 1996; Darcangelo et al. 2015). 

Moving south, a similar peak in production has been observed within the Borax Lake obsidian 

zone, but it appears to have started earlier, ranging between about 5000 and 1500 cal BP (White et al. 2002). 

Excavations at Hamilton City along the Sacramento River, at the southern end of the current study area, 

show a peak use in both Borax Lake and Medicine Lake Highlands obsidian between about 3000 and 1000 

cal BP, and the same decline and replacement with Tuscan obsidian thereafter (Hildebrandt and 

Kaijankoski 2011). Delacorte and Basgall’s (2006) work near Lake Oroville shows a significant presence of 

Borax Lake and Napa obsidian between about 5500 and 2300, the familiar peak in Medicine Lake Highlands 

obsidian between 2300 and 1200 cal BP, and the collapse thereafter, being replaced by more localized 

basalts, various CCS material, and Sierran obsidians. 

The reasons for the decline of obsidian production and exchange at the big obsidian quarry 

complexes are poorly understood. Most researchers working elsewhere in the state think it resulted from 

two main factors: social and economic disintegration stemming from the MCA (Jones et al. 1999; Moratto 

2011), and the reduced need for toolstone with the introduction of the bow and arrow (Gilreath and 

Hildebrandt 1997, 2011; Hildebrandt and McGuire 2002; Delacorte 2004). With regard to the MCA, Moratto 

(2011) argues that drought conditions significantly lowered the availability of useful plants and animals, 

reducing overall carrying capacity. This economic stress increased competition for declining resources, 

creating greater intergroup enmity and eroding social contexts that previously favored exchange. 

Simultaneous to the MCA, bow-and-arrow technology took hold throughout California and, in many cases, 

was accompanied by a change from biface-reduction technology (which requires a great deal of toolstone), 

to a simpler core-flake technology, where many tool types (including arrow points) were much smaller 

than before and could be made from flake blanks. Not only were lesser quantities of material required, 

making local toolstone more viable, a significant amount of material could be scavenged from older 

archaeological sites, effectively expanding the distribution of quarries. 

Data Requirements 

Despite the strong patterning outlined above, our knowledge of the dynamic nature of prehistoric 

obsidian exchange is far from complete, and the reasons why it changed over time and space are even less well 

understood. As a result, future researchers should continue to conduct obsidian source and hydration studies 

whenever possible, expanding on the existing database and improving the production profiles at the quarries 

and, more importantly, widening the geographic and temporal distribution of consumption activity in the 

study area. Obsidian hydration data alone, however, is not good enough to address this issue, because the ratio 

of obsidian to local non-obsidian toolstone is crucial; this means it is necessary to identify single-component 

assemblages (i.e., to determine what these ratios are for each time period within each localized study area). 

Determining the effects of the MCA on local adaptations is a more difficult task, requiring the 

analysis of large-scale settlement pattern data, and it is beyond the scope of this discussion. But testing the 

hypothesized shift in flaked stone technology associated with the introduction of the bow and arrow is 

much more approachable, as documenting a shift from biface-reduction to core-flake strategies is a 

relatively straightforward task for those trained in flaked stone analysis. The combination of source-specific 

obsidian hydration profiles, ratios of non-local obsidian to local toolstones from single-component areas, 

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and technological analyses of single-component flaked stone assemblages, when compared to the larger 

regional database, will make great strides toward expanding our knowledge of inter-regional exchange 

deep into the prehistoric past. 

Non-Utilitarian Obsidian 

The current study area is unique when it comes to this topic because there are two documented 

exchange systems focused on non-utilitarian obsidian artifacts that are not known elsewhere in California. 

They include ceremonial blades imported to northwest California (mostly into Wiyot, Yurok, Hupa, Karok, 

and Tolowa territory), and the practice of placing burials on beds of obsidian debitage, found mostly in 

Mattole/Bear River, Sinkyone, Wintu, and Nomlaki territory. Unlike the exchange of obsidian for utilitarian 

purposes, both of these systems seem to have occurred quite late in time, probably post-dating 500 cal BP. 

Large ceremonial obsidian blades or bifaces, which range between 25 and 50 centimeters long, were 

used as part of the White Deerskin Dance (Kroeber 1925). They also represented important markers of 

wealth and social rank, which is clearly evidenced by their distribution across burial populations in the 

region (Hildebrandt and Levulett 2002). Hughes’ (1978) analysis of the geochemical source of the blades 

and other, everyday utilitarian artifacts like projectile points, found that the latter items were from the 

closest Medicine Lake Highlands quarries, while the blades were almost always from more distant sources, 

including ones that included red obsidian (e.g., Warner Mountains, Vya, and Glass Buttes). He concluded 

that the exotic nature and more distant origin of the blades probably gave them added value beyond their 

large size and exquisite manufacture. 

Burying people on beds of obsidian debitage is documented farther south along the coast, 

especially within the King Range. The obsidian in these cases originated from the Medicine Lake Highlands 

and, in one example, included a bed of about 4,500 pieces of debitage produced by rapid hard hammer 

percussion. Based on obsidian hydration readings and associated temporally diagnostic artifacts (including 

clam disk beads), this burial practice appears to date within the last 300 years. Although the practice is not 

widely known, Levulett and Hildebrandt (1987) note that it has been found in Tehama County along Blue 

Tent Creek (Treganza 1954). 

Data Requirements 

Although both of these examples are concentrated on the coast, ceremonial blades and obsidian-bed 

burials are also sometimes found in the interior as well. It follows, therefore, that future researchers should 

map their respective time-space distributions, with the goal of discovering their origin and possible ethnic 

connections, especially given that the blades seem to be associated with the core northwest California 

groups, and that the obsidian beds seem more linked to the southern Athapaskan area. It also goes without 

saying that obsidian source analyses should be conducted whenever possible. 

Shell Beads and Other Ornaments 

Shell beads were exchanged in California and the Great Basin for a long time. Small numbers of 

Olivella (recently renamed Callianax) spire-lopped beads were moved from the coast to the interior southern 

California deserts about 10,000 years ago (Fitzgerald et al. 2005), while the Middle Holocene (roughly 5500– 

4500 cal BP) saw the movement of a limited number of grooved rectangle beads moving from southern 

California up the coast to the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as into the northwestern Great Basin, not that 

far from the northeastern margins of the current study area (Vellanoweth at al. 2014). Soon thereafter (about 

5000 cal BP), the production and exchange of shell beads increased, with rectangular Olivella beads regularly 

placed in burials throughout the greater San Francisco Bay area, lower Sacramento Valley, and the 

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but south of the current study area. The average number of beads per burial 

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(represented by a variety of Olivella wall beads) remained the same until about 1,000 years ago when the 

frequency quadrupled and remained relatively high thereafter (Rosenthal 2011). 

Although Rosenthal’s (2011) study does not extend into the current study area (it essentially ends 

in Colusa and Sutter counties), a comparison of his data with archaeological assemblages from these more 

northerly areas (including the study area) shows that they lie outside of the major Olivella bead trade 

network. South of our study area it is not uncommon to have tens of thousands of Olivella beads at a single 

site, and thousands of specimens with a single individual (Rosenthal 2011). Archaeological excavations 

within or near the study area in the Sacramento Valley also include Olivella beads, but only a handful 

compared to areas to the south (e.g., Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski 2011; White 2003). This is also the case 

when moving up into the adjacent foothills where Ritter (1968:148) states that “The number of beads per site 

seems to increase with a decreased distance to the valley” (see also Delacorte and Basgall 2006). 

Everything changes with the introduction of clam shell disk beads at about 450 cal BP. They become 

quite common in a variety of locations in the study area, dominating assemblages in the foothills (e.g., 

Delacorte and Basgall 2006; Ritter 1968), up the valley into the Redding area (e.g., Hildebrandt and 

Darcangelo 2008; Meighan 1955; Sundahl 1982), out to the north coast (Levulett and Hildebrandt 1987), and 

in the North Coast Ranges (Fredrickson 1984; Meighan 1955). The significance of these beads is noted in 

the ethnographic record, including their value as a medium of exchange which, consistent with the original 

hypotheses outlined at the beginning of this discussion, appear to have been used as a way to redistribute 

food in many parts of the state (Rosenthal 2011). 

Finally, it is important to note that several other bead and ornament types became important late 

in time throughout much of northern California. These include abalone ornaments, Dentalium, Glycymeris 

and limpet shell beads, pine nut beads, Vibunum seed beads, and steatite and magnesite beads. Their 

distribution in the archaeological record is best summarized by the following references (Dotta and 

Hullinger 1964; Farris 1982; Elsasser and Heizer 1964; King 1978; Loud 1918; Levulett and Hildebrandt 

1987; Milburn et al. 1979; Ritter 1968; Smith and Weyouth 1952; Sundahl 1982; Treganza 1954, 1963; 

Treganza and Heicksen 1960; Woolfenden 1970). 

Data Requirements 

There are many useful avenues of research to increase our knowledge and understanding of 

prehistoric bead exchange within the study area. First, it is important to classify them correctly, as subtle 

differences in their morphology can have significant implications for their age and place of origin. 

Classification of the beads should rely on Bennyhoff and Hughes (1987), supplemented by Milliken and 

Schwitalla (2009), and their ages derived from Groza et al. (2011). It is also important to obtain direct 

radiocarbon dates on a sample of beads whenever possible, to further our knowledge of their age in geographic 

locations for which we lack such information, especially in outlying places where there may have been a time 

lag in their arrival. And, finally, it is important to quantify their presence, and compare these data to other 

regional assemblages, to better understand their changing role in local economic systems over time. 

ROCK ART 

Three basic kinds of rock art exist in or near the study area: petroglyphs (art pecked, incised or 

abraded into the stone); pictographs (art painted on the rock); and portable art (small pieces of stone that 

are typically incised or painted). Pitted petroglyphs are relatively common in northern California, widely 

distributed in the northern Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades and the North Coast Ranges. They are 

variously known as cupule rocks or, when associated with lines or grooves carved into the rock, pit-andgroove petroglyphs. Three sub-groupings (also called styles) have been defined by Payen (1962): (1) pitted 

boulders (simply cupules); (2) pit-and-groove (two pits connected by a groove or a pit terminated by a 

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groove, or unconnected pits and grooves); and (3) complex pit-and-groove (extensive compositions 

[sometimes hundreds of cupules] and elaborate grooves). The latter sometimes has elliptical to rounded 

grooves bifurcated with a line, perhaps representing vulvas (see also Gilreath 2007). 

According to Gary and McLear-Gary (1988), nearly half of the of the more than 50 petroglyph sites 

recorded in Mendocino County include only cupules. They are usually located near water, and most 

researchers think they are associated with weather control and fishing (Kroeber and Gifford 1949; Heizer 

1953; Kroeber and Barrett 1960; Nissen and Ritter 1986). This form of art is thought to have originated deep 

in antiquity, perhaps starting around 7800 cal BP (Baumhoff 1980; Heizer and Baumhoff 1962). It seems to 

have persisted into ethnographic times in a limited number of places, especially among Hokan speaking 

groups and their neighbors (e.g., Pomo [known as baby rocks] and Karok [known as rain rocks]) as part of 

their world-renewal ceremonies (Nissen and Ritter 1986). They are also thought to be footprints of the first 

people by contemporary Achomawi tribal members, and places of great power that were used to initiate 

spirit quests into the mountains (Benson and Buckskin 1992). 

Based on these rough patterns, Baumhoff (1980) hypothesized that an ancient Hokan cultural 

substrate once covered much of northern California, and that the pitted petroglyphs may have been part 

of this cultural pattern. It was further hypothesized that the rock art tradition was largely replaced in the 

territories of newly arriving ethnolinguistic groups (e.g., peoples speaking Penutian languages), perhaps 

resulting in their continued production among Hokan speakers and an absence among other, more recent 

peoples. It was also expected that this would not be a one-to-one relationship, due to the probable 

borrowing of traits among certain groups. 

More recent work in the North Coast Ranges by Gary and McLear-Gary (1988) and Foster and 

Foster (2002) indicates that pit-and-groove may not be the oldest form art in the region. Based on the 

superposition and differential patination of a variety of key motifs, it appears that, in addition to pit-andgroove, some of the oldest elements include large ovals (also known as Pecked Curvilinear Nucleates), 

concentric circles, and grooved lines. These are followed by abstract curvilinear elements, and then by finescratched lines, and ultimately deep incised lines. 

Pit-and-groove rock art also occurs across the Sacramento Valley in the Sierra Nevada Zone, with 

concentrations in the Butte County foothill areas (Heizer and Clewlow 1973; Payen 1962). The area also 

includes a presumably later series of abstract curvilinear elements, also known as Valley-Sierra Abstract. 

Finally, incised lines are also found in this area and, as in the North Coast Ranges, probably tend to postdate the other forms (Payen 1962). A fine-grained analysis of these elements by Ritter and Parkman (1992) 

indicates that some (especially the circular motifs) could mark the arrival of the Konkow to the area. 

Another important rock art class well known in the northern Sierra Nevada is High Sierra AbstractRepresentational (also known as Style 7; Payen 1962). Although its northern distribution appears to fall just 

south and east of the current study area, its distinctive character is worth noting because it looks to be an 

ancient cultural indicator. Perhaps its most distinguishing attribute is the relatively high frequency of 

rough anthropomorphs and animal tracks, especially bear paws. Despite being linked to the Great Basin 

by some researchers (Elsasser 1960; Kowta 1988; Whitley 2000), its unique character and restricted 

distribution in the northern Sierra, as well as its strong geographical overlap with Martis Complex sites, 

appear instead to be a unique, ancient California phenomenon (Foster et al. 2005; Gortner 1984; Payen 1966). 

Several important rock art sites also exist up the valley not far from Redding. Van Tilburg et al. 

(1987) and Millett and Ritter (2013) document a concentration of panels known as the Church Rock site 

(SHA-39), composed of many cupules, grooved elements, and a more limited number of representational 

motifs including animal prints. The presence of representational figures has also been found at other nearby 

sites, including SHA-217, where humans, artiodactls, and birds are found, as well as foot prints of birds 

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and bears (Heizer and Clewlow 1973). Although the age of these elements is difficult to determine, it is 

certainly a distinctive, and a highly localized cultural pattern. 

A completely different kind of rock art was produced farther north, just east of our Upper Klamath 

Zone within Klamath-Modoc territory; it includes both petroglyphs and pictographs (Ritter 1998; Whitley 

2000). Whitley associates some of it with the Columbia Plateau and states that the: 

Plateau Tradition rock art is characterized by simple stick-figure humans, block-bodied 

animals, rayed circles or arcs, concentric circles, and ‘tally’ marks (or sets of short parallel 

lines), along with a variety of other, but less common geometric designs. The art includes 

engravings, usually pecked, and paintings, which tend to be thick lined and crudely 

rendered (Whitley 2000:68). 

Much of this art is concentrated within Lava Beds National Monument, adjacent to Tule Lake, and 

at Petroglyph Point, where there are several petroglyph panels located high on the cliff faces associated 

with wave-cut notches that would have been accessible (by boat) only deep in the past. The pictographs, in 

contrast, are found in more accessible areas, indicating that they are significantly younger in age (Gilreath 

2007; Lee et al. 1988). 

Three additional, and somewhat unusual, rock art forms are worthy of comment. The first, highly 

isolated finding, is a series of engraved stones incorporated among the pavers along the margins of a Hupa 

redwood slab house. They included various concentric arches, pits, and small grooves. One had 13 groves 

that may have been re-grooved according to lunar periods and, hence, they are known as Hupa Calendar 

Stones (Goldschmidt 1940). 

The second is an isolated petroglyph fragment found in the Yolla Bolly Mountains. It is unusual 

because it was made on non-local stone and had abstract curvilinear and rectilinear elements pecked into 

the stone, reminiscent of Great Basin styles and quite different from the local incising and grooving 

techniques (Meacham 1984). 

The third includes a limited number of pictographs found near Shingletown, including a 

polychrome painting of a face. This unusual element is not found in California but is common in the Pacific 

Northwest, perhaps reflecting visits by Native peoples traveling south with the large Hudson’s Bay Co. 

trapping expeditions, or by individuals associated with the Ghost Dance, which brought people together 

from many faraway places (Ritter 1986). 

Finally, a major concentration of portable rock art is located within the current study area, centered 

in the Sacramento River Canyon and adjacent lands. It is composed of small tablets that have been incised, 

often producing parallel bands in-filled with a series of straight lines and Xs, or more complex crosshatching using triangular or diamond shapes. It appears to be one of the largest (1,500 have been found) 

and well-dated (5700–3200 cal BP) assemblages in North America and is thought to be associated with a 

contested boundary area; wearers/owners of the tablets would be afforded “stylistic reinforcement of group 

affiliation” and differentiation from their neighbors (McGuire 1989:D43). 

Data Requirements 

The most obvious data requirement for the study of rock art is to continue finding it, and carefully 

record it. Once the panels have been found, each element should be classified using the most up-to-date 

methods developed in the local area. These data should be quantified and presented in a tabular fashion 

(i.e., provide counts of each element or motif type per site). Non-quantitative, presence-absence data are 

not sufficient to differentiate rock art complexes from each other and adjoining areas, nor are they sufficient 

for isolating change over time. 

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Observations concerning superpositioning and differential weathering should also be made, as 

these data may help isolate any chronological change in the mix of elements produced, and help place the 

overall complex in time. Chronological ordering can also be accomplished by analyzing the age of the 

associated archaeological record. With regard to the latter, Foster et al. (2005) and Gortner (1984) have made 

good headway on this topic within the northern Sierra by cross-tabulating projectile point types against 

rock art elements. Gilreath and Hildebrandt’s (2008) study of the relationship between land-use chronology 

and changing rock art styles in the Coso region might also provide a good model for future researchers in 

the current study area. 

HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS AND POPULATION REPLACEMENTS 

Due to the high level of linguistic diversity within the study area, and significant differences in the 

ages of the languages that were spoken, it is clear that new ethnolinguistic populations entered the region on 

multiple occasions. This situation has led historical linguists to work with archaeologists in the attempt to 

identify these hypothetical population movements in the archaeological record. While this is an interesting 

and worthy task, it is not an easy one because there is no guarantee that ethnicity, language, and material 

culture will co-vary with one another (Hughes 1992). Despite these issues, multiple models have been 

proposed to elucidate the linguistic prehistory of northern California. For the purpose of this study, we 

highlight three of them: the arrival and expansion of the Wintu, the arrival of Algic and Athapaskan 

populations in northwest California, and the arrival of Maiduan speakers in the northern Sierra. 

Arrival of the Wintu 

The Wintuan family includes Wintu, Nomlaki, and Patwin. Analysis of historical linguistic data by 

Whistler (1977) indicates that proto-Wintun split apart between about 3,000 and 2,500 years ago in Oregon, 

while Wintu/Nomlaki became a discrete branch about 500 years later. The Patwin probably migrated down 

the Sacramento Valley first, and ultimately pushed up against Miwok territory in the Suisun/Carquinez area 

by about 1500 cal BP. The Wintu/Nomlaki moved south out of Oregon next, settled the northern valley, 

divided into two distinct languages, and then spread up the various tributaries of the Sacramento and upper 

Trinity rivers. Whistler identified Oregon as the homeland of these languages, as he was able to identify 

several proto-Wintun words for plants and animals that live in Oregon, and also found that they borrowed 

new words from an existing population in California (the Miwok) for species in the Sacramento Valley area 

that were absent in Oregon (see also Golla 2011). 

The estimated arrival of the Wintu fits fairly well with the emergence of the Shasta Pattern at 1500 

cal BP, which represents a radical change in the archaeological record that one would expect with the arrival 

of a new people. An Oregon homeland is also consistent with the introduction of advanced salmon fishing 

technologies and large-scale riverine villages, as both of these phenomena were in existence at an earlier 

date in the northwest than in California (Moratto 1984). The displacement or assimilation of Chimariko 

speakers in the Trinity drainage, and Shasta speakers on the upper McCloud, indicates that the Wintu 

expansion was ongoing at the time of contact as well (Golla 2011). Expansion into Yana territory has also 

been documented within the archaeological record by Sundahl and Clewett (1991). 

Arrival of Algic and Athapaskan Populations in Northwest California 

The limited time depth of the coastal archaeological record in northwest California (see the 

Prehistoric Context section, page 29), and the high degree of linguistic diversity that characterizes the area, 

has also sparked interest of historical linguists, including Whistler (1979). The earliest people in the area 

were thought to be ancestral Karok (of the Hokan stock), who had an interior subsistence focus. About 1,000 

years ago, the Wiyot and soon thereafter the Yurok (both speakers of Algic languages) entered the area. It 

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appears that they originated from the Columbia Plateau, judging from similar cultural traits found in both 

areas (see also Fredrickson 1984; Moratto 1984: 565). The Wiyot occupied the previously underused coast 

and estuary habitats of Humboldt Bay, while the Yurok occupied the lower Klamath and adjacent coastal 

lands. These intrusions were made possible by their superior technological abilities to fish, build boats, and 

store salmon. Finally, Athapskan peoples are thought to have entered the region about 700 cal BP. Except 

for the Hupa, these groups occupied mainly peripheral areas, bringing with them knowledge of forest and 

riverine environments, as well as the toggle harpoon and sinew-backed bow (Fredrickson 1984). 

This model has been challenged by Gmoser (1993) who argued that the riverine-coastal interface 

had one of the highest resource potentials in the region and therefore should have been occupied for a long 

time (see also Codding and Jones 2013). He further suggested that the Wiyot and Yurok might be linguistic 

isolates, and may have actually lived in the area much longer than originally thought. This position, 

however, has not been adopted by more recent linguistic studies (e.g., Golla 2011). 

Although Tushingham (2009, 2013) has shown that people began to increase their settlement of 

riverine areas at about 3100 cal BP, she found that the intensive use of salmon (including storage) and 

coastal resources (including oceangoing canoes) did not happen until sometime after 1500 cal BP, and that 

these changes were so abrupt and significant that they probably reflected population intrusions similar to 

these hypothesized by Whistler (1979). Moreover, the higher settlement priority given to interior riverine 

habitats by Whistler’s (1979) model is largely matched by the distribution of Yurok settlements at historic 

contact, where there were more villages along interior riverine settings than along the coast (Pilling 1978), 

and higher population densities estimated for the interior as well (Baumhoff’s 1963). Finally, it is interesting 

to note that Kroeber (1939:28) also concluded, based on the spatial distribution of cultural traits, that the 

people of northwest California were “originally a river or river-mouth culture, later a beach culture, and 

only finally and in part a seagoing one.” 

Finally, the Late Period arrival of people from northern latitudes may also be reflected by changes 

in the use of certain key obsidian sources over time. Whitaker et al. (2008) found that prior to 1500 cal BP 

most obsidian in southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino counties originated from the south, largely 

from the Borax Lake source. After 1500 cal BP, presumably after the arrival of the Athapaskan speakers from 

the north, almost all obsidian also came from the north, mostly from the Medicine Lake Highlands. They 

concluded from these findings that the shift in conveyance patterns was probably due to stronger social ties 

among the new arrivals to their linguistic relatives to the north. 

Arrival of Maiduan Speakers in the Northern Sierra Nevada 

Most researchers agree that ancestral Maiduan-speakers originated in the northwestern Great 

Basin (Golla 2011; Moratto 1984; Whistler 1978). The minimal linguistic divergence among Maiduan 

languages probably reflects a single, relatively late entry into California. Kowta (1988) thinks they arrived 

about 1500 cal BP and settled to the south along the foothills or valley edge in what is now Nisenan territory. 

Later, they expanded north into the Oroville area, assimilating Hokan-speakers who are reflected 

archaeologically by the Mesilla (4500–2500 cal BP) and Bidwell (2500–1100 cal BP) complexes. These ProtoNisenan also grew in number and began to enlarge into what is now Konkow territory in Butte County, 

introducing various traits ultimately derived from neighboring groups from the south and forming the 

Sweetwater Complex (1100–500 cal BP), and representing the earliest Maiduans in Konkow territory. 

Finally, but still during Sweetwater times, the Proto-Konkow population expanded into Plumas County to 

establish Maidu-speakers there, as well as into the Sacramento Valley where numerous settlements of the 

Chico Maidu (Mechoopda) were established. 

Golla (2011:251) has a different view of where the first peoples settled, stating “That three of the 

four historic Maiduan languages were located in the northern third of Maiduan territory indicates a 

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southward spread, probably from a Proto-Maiduan homeland in the Feather River drainage.” He agrees 

with the timing and probable association with the Sweetwater Complex, stating that “this spread could not 

have begun before 800–1000 AD,” and with the late expansion out into the valley which probably occurred 

only during the last few centuries. 

Finally, Golla (2011:252) notes that a phonological profile shared by the Maidu and Washo, probably 

“diffused from Washo into Maiduan, most likely through Washo being substratal in all or part of ProtoMaiduan”—meaning that the Washo probably occupied large swaths of the western Sierra deep in the past. 

Data Requirements 

Archaeological data sets required to address hypothetical models of population replacements like 

those outlined above are similar to those required to deal with most other complex issues. It will be 

necessary to investigate sites with one or more temporally discrete depositional components that can be 

tied to a specific population or ethnic group on the basis of artifact types or other evidence. Generally, the 

best artifacts for this kind of analysis are those imbued with distinctive stylistic characteristics, such as 

projectile points, harpoon types, or other distinctive tools or ornamental gear. In addition, methods of 

house construction and interment, as well as styles of rock art have been used with varying success to 

address this issue within the study study area. 

Finally, the whole argument surrounding the identification of ethnic groups in archaeological 

assemblages has been revolutionized by advances in DNA fingerprinting, and there have been attempts to 

characterize both modern and prehistoric Californian and Great Basin human populations (Eshleman and 

Smith 2007). There are obvious issues of cultural sensitivity regarding the analysis of human bone for these 

purposes, but it is our experience that Native American tribal representatives can be open to genetic studies 

in certain situations. 

PYRODIVERSITY AS A LAND-USE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY 

The effects of human activity on past ecosystems is a topic that has recently come to the forefront of 

cultural resources studies. A recent book by Lightfoot and Parish (2009) reviews how Native burning, also 

known as the pyrodiversity approach to land management, served to maintain a complex mosaic of vegetation 

communities, enhancing the productivity of economic plants such as small seeds and acorns (see also 

Anderson 2005), as well as benefiting local deer populations (see also Taber and Dasmann 1958). One of the 

most important outcomes of this strategy was to prevent the encroachment of dense climax conifer forests on 

more-productive habitat types. This encroachment is, in fact, currently obscuring historically recorded 

ecotones in the current study area where many archaeological sites tend to be located (Keter 1995). Lightfoot 

et al. (2013) are currently making headway on this issue by forming collaborative programs composed of 

archaeologists, Native Americans, and biologists, to better understand the distribution of archaeological sites 

through controlled burning, archaeological survey and excavation, and traditional knowledge. 

Another aspect of the pyrodiversity approach is the dramatic change in fire-management philosophy 

and practice with the arrival of Euro-Americans in the region, and how that change continues to influence 

fire regimes and land management practices to the present-day. This unconformity in land-use practices 

between the native and non-native populations is also obvious in mining landscapes and clear-cut 

timberlands. These striking changes in land and resource use, from small-scale manipulation to wholesale 

extraction, have had long-lasting consequences for the local environments throughout the study area. 

Data Requirements 

One of the most obvious ways the archaeological record can contribute to the study of 

pyrodiversity and how post-contact landscapes have changed over the years is to conduct archaeological 

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survey in areas that have been previously burned. These types of studies have found multiple cases in 

which dense, impenetrable vegetation has covered up major prehistoric habitation sites, clearly showing 

that climax vegetation communities were not favored by Native peoples at these locations, and that they 

took measures to prevent encroachments of that type. Such surveys have also found previously unknown 

feature types in otherwise well-studied areas (Schneider 2008). 

Other approaches to this kind of study have been presented in a special issue of California 

Archaeology (2013; Volume 5[2]), where papers looking for evidence of prescribed burning through the 

analysis of plant macrofossils, archaeofaunal remains, phytoliths, and pollen spectra from the central coast 

could serve as a model for the current study area. 

NATIVE AMERICAN ROCK FEATURES AND THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 

Rock features made by Native Americans are important cultural resources in northern California, 

including certain parts of the current study area. Some were created deep in antiquity and some are still 

produced today by people following traditional religious practices. Based on what we know from the 

ethnographic and archaeological records, there are two geographic areas (with two differing traditions) 

within the study area where they occur in greatest abundance: one in northeastern California and the other 

in northwestern California. 

The northeastern California area is centered on the original homelands of the Klamath Tribes (Ray 

1963:xiii), but probably extends west into Shasta territory as well. Early interviews with local Indian 

people revealed that many rock features were built as part of religious activity geared toward obtaining 

power, as well as wisdom to help overcome periods of grief and hardship encountered during one’s life 

(Ray 1963; Spier 1930). 

A great deal of this activity was associated with boys’ puberty rites. During these rituals, boys 

would often go up into the mountains or other remote locations on multi-day vigils with the goal of 

obtaining power to help them acquire property, be a good hunter, become a leader, and develop the means 

to deal with difficult issues later in life. Questing activities included fasting, exerting a great deal of energy 

by running, stacking rocks into large piles, and swimming in mountain pools. Eventually, due to their total 

exhaustion, they could receive power through visions received while sleeping or praying, often in the form 

of a song. Similar methods of exertion and rock stacking could be used later in life by a shaman to enhance 

his powers, or by more common people to cope with the death of a loved one, improve gambling success, 

or deal with other life challenges (Spier 1930:95–96). 

Some of these early accounts, as well as information from modern Tribal members, show that a 

variety of other spiritual activities also occurred, and created a wider range of rock feature types in a 

diversified set of environmental settings. Many people, for example, would begin their spiritual questing 

and rock stacking at lower elevations, and did not move up to high elevation areas until they reached 

enhanced levels of training and understanding (Deur 2008; Spier 1930). It was also common to create 

modest features to enhance hunting success in places where game was especially abundant, and to build 

them adjacent to important plant gathering areas as well (Deur 2008). 

The archaeological manifestations of these activities take many forms (e.g., single rock placements, 

multiple rock placements, and larger rock mounds). Other less common rock features include talus pits/ 

hunting blinds, rock ring structures, U-shaped prayer seats, and defensive structures. A study of the 

frequency and distribution of these features in and around the Klamath Basin and Modoc Plateau by 

Hildebrandt et al. (2015) found that most of the features recorded are either single rock placements or small 

multiple rock placements. They were rarely associated with residential sites, and differed from sites lacking 

features by being more frequently found in basalt landscapes, at higher elevations, in low-growing 

vegetation, and within the viewsheds of important mountain peaks; they also tended to be located closer to 

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these mountain peaks than sites lacking rock features. These findings are consistent with the ethnographic 

record and highlight their spiritual significance to people past and present. 

The northwestern California features are best known through the work of Chartkoff (1983). They 

tend to be concentrated in Yurok, Hupa, and Karok territory and are composed of multiple types including 

U-shaped prayer seats often found on high landforms with excellent views, small rock stacks often used to 

mark traditional trails leading up to the prayer circles, and larger cairns and rock alignments also associated 

with the trails and prayer areas. Although difficult to date, Chartkoff (1983:745) feels that they have 

considerable time depth and, based on largely modern ethnographic interviews, that they are “associated 

with patterns of traditional religious activity involving power quests, ritual and medicinal training, and 

individual prayer.” 

Data Requirements 

Some of these rock features are quite subtle and difficult to identify in the field. As a result, it is 

important for field workers to familiarize themselves with this part of the archaeological record by reviewing 

previous archaeological studies on the subject, having discussions with knowledgeable archaeologists and 

tribal representatives about them, and making field visits to known sites. Upon finding them, it is important 

to describe the features in detail, including descriptions of their local environmental setting and viewshed. 

Although few formalized typologies exist, Hildebrandt et al. (2015) have developed one for south-central 

Oregon and northeastern California that might prove useful in the current study area as well. 

Finally, as noted by Chartkoff (1983:745) with regard to the northwest California findings: “It is not 

known yet whether the complex is unique to northwestern California or is manifested over a wider region.” 

This also applies to the features studied by Hildebrandt et al. (2015) farther to the north and east, indicating 

that the two zones identified here could be more apparent than real. This question can certainly be 

answered by reviewing survey results from the intervening areas, especially within the northern reaches 

of our Klamath Mountains/North Coast Range Zone. 

NATIVE RESPONSES TO CONTACT 

With the exception of disease epidemics, contact between Native and non-native peoples in the 

planning area did not begin to truly disrupt traditional lifeways until the late 1840s and 1850s, with the 

rush for gold and the prospect of “free” land. The newcomers’ greater numbers and more advanced 

technology (particularly in weaponry) gave them an overwhelming advantage in the battle over the land 

and its resources. Within a few decades, the Native people found themselves with little choice but to flee 

into marginal areas or find a way to survive in the new world order. As Tushingham (2013:145) has stated, 

“how northwestern California Indians [and other Native groups] survived during this period is an 

important research topic.” 

Delacorte and McGuire (1993), in their study of 23 sites in Owens Valley, divide the Contact period 

ino three phases that are applicable to the planning area as well (we have added the date ranges): indirect 

interaction and incipient contact [ca. 1800–1840], direct contact and cultural disruption [1840s–1850s], and 

post-contact economic assimilation and marginalization [post-1850s]. Those authors state that “postcontact culture change can be identified in the archaeological record” (1993:292), at the same time 

cautioning that “prehistoric artifactual remains (e.g., debitage and bone) can easily be mixed with 

[unrelated] historic debris, skewing the latter assemblages,” and that “some historic accumulations may 

reflect multiple occupations that incorporate both Native and Euro-American components” that are 

unrelated (1993:294). As with any interpretations of archaeological components and assemblages, it is 

critical that we are able to identify datable, single-component sites, loci, features, or strata that represent 

discrete occupations (in Delacorte and McGuire’s study, these were discrete house features). 

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Delacorte and McGuire (1993:34) are interested in “the timing, processes, and sequence of 

acculturative changes that eventually led to the collapse of native adaptations”; in other words, “the order 

and rapidity in which tradition pursuits were discarded for new economic opportunities afforded by the 

influx of European technologies, wage labor, and so forth.” They argue that, all other things being equal, 

“elements of the subsistence economy should be abandoned in order of their relative returns to labor and 

only if new economic opportunities furnish an equal or greater return.” By that theory, the use of rifles for 

hunting should be one of the first adaptations, given the longer range and greater force of such weapons. 

Where this is not the case, we can ask whether the use of rifles might be a disadvantage—for instance, when 

a group is in hiding and does not want to draw attention to itself by using such a noisy technology. 

Not all changes were quite so abrupt, however. In many—perhaps most—cases, Native people 

absorbed new technologies and practices into their traditional ones, creating a continuum rather than a 

distinct break in tradition (Schneider 2015). For example, Native American groups of northwestern 

California were well known for their woodworking skills, particularly the construction of dugout canoes 

and large fishing weirs. When historic-era logging became a major local economic activity, many Native 

men adapted their skills to this new activity, and multiple generations found jobs in the timber industry. 

These jobs allowed some Native people to continue living in their traditional homelands, maintaining 

many of their traditional activities while at the same time adapting their knowledge to the new economy. 

The adoption or adaptation of new artifacts and technologies was only one aspect of the Native 

response to contact with non-native peoples, however, albeit perhas the most visible one. Changes in 

resource use, settlement patterns, and even religious practices also occurred. We have noted elsewhere 

in this document that Native hunters were often forced to kill the settlers’ cattle, as their traditional prey 

(deer, elk, etc.) became more and more scarce. They also had to abandon many of their villages on the 

open grasslands or broad river terraces and retreat into less accessible “refuge” areas to avoid being 

murdered or herded onto reservations. Sometimes traditional religious practitioners were killed by their 

tribesmen for failing to cure those who had contracted the strange new diseases; in many cases, tribes 

adopted new religious practices, such as the Ghost Dance, hoping that higher powers would drive out 

the trespassers and restore the traditional order. 

None of these methods was entirely successful, however, and ultimately Native tribes were 

“assimilated” into the dominant social order (some to a greater degree than others). Many children were 

taken away to “Indian schools,” where they were forbidden to speak their native languages or wear their 

native dress. While being instructed in English, math, and other subjects, they missed the handing-down 

of traditional knowledge of things like medicinal plants, tool-making, and oral history. This created a 

social and cultural gap between generations, a gap that Native groups today are still working to heal. 

It is also important to consider changes in social and family structure brought about by the arrival 

of non-native people. Nearly all of the early arrivals were men, and many of these men lived with or 

married Native women and fathered children by them: thus, not only was there cultural and 

technological blending, but kinship and genetic blending as well. Such households, where they can be 

identified through archival research, could provide a wealth of documentary and archaeological 

information on transitions in material culture, diet, household composition, and other aspects of daily 

life. In addition, the offspring of these inter-racial unions would, potentially, have faced discrimination 

from both sides. How they dealt with this discrimination, how they defined themselves, and whether 

they continued to practice the traditions of both parents, are all interesting research topics. 

Data Requirements 

Ritter (in Vaughan 1984:72-74) has developed a set of research questions for investigating 

acculturation and related issues of interaction between Native occupants at Salt Flat (TRI-862/CA-030-0075) 

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and both Euro-American and Chinese immigrants. These questions have to do with how non-native 

materials were acquired and used, which goods were accepted and which were rejected (and why), 

whether the site contains evidence of revitalization movements or religious activities (e.g, the Ghost Dance, 

the Earth Lodge Cult, the Big Head Dance), and the like. To address these issues, as well as those outlined 

by Delacorte and McGuire (1993), Tushingham (2013), Delacorte and Basgall (2014), Van Bueren (2013), 

and others, will require careful examination of both the archival and the archaeological records; oral 

histories may also be very useful here. The most objective, unbiased source will be the archaeological 

record, provided that unmixed protohistoric/early historic-period contexts can be identified. 

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ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT (by William Hildebrandt) 

As outlined in the Prehistoric Context section above, the current study area includes a high level of 

ethnolinguistic diversity (see Figure 9). This level of diversity, however, is not matched by the economic 

and social adaptations among these groups. One of the most compelling examples of this situation comes 

from northwestern California, where the linguistically diverse Karuk (Hokan), Yurok (Algic), and Hupa 

(Athapascan) shared many traits with the larger Northwest Coast Culture Area, including plank houses, 

dugout canoes, salmon fishing, sea mammal hunting, ceremonial cycles, dentalium currency, use of 

wealth to acquire power and status, and an emphasis on the family (and not the tribelet) as the primary 

unit of social organization (Kroeber 1925). This regional cohesiveness can also be seen in other parts of the 

study area, and is often tied to ecological setting, sometimes (but not always) corresponding rather closely 

to the zones established for this study. As a result, the following discussion is organized according our 

zones, but we feel free to cross those boundaries whenever cultural affinities long recognized by early 

ethnographers are encountered. 

It should also be noted that we give primary focus on those parts of culture that are most strongly 

linked to the archaeological record, so that they might help us interpret the archaeological record in the 

future. These include subsistence-settlement strategies, and the technological systems used to implement 

those strategies, and how these things relate to socio-political organization. Construction of a large 

communal weir, for example, requires the organization of a relatively large group of people, and should 

be reflected by significant amounts of fish bone in the archaeological record, while casual fishing by more 

mobile, smaller groups of people should produce a different outcome. Similarly, the structural aspects of 

the archaeological record should also vary depending on whether people were living in permanent villages 

with well-made houses, or practiced a more mobile settlement strategy with lower investment in their 

housing. This continuum of residential stability also appears linked to the establishment of formal cemetery 

areas, which has obvious implications for the archaeological record as well. 

We are also interested in inter-group interactions, including amiable trade relationships where 

surpluses in one area may be redistributed to other areas experiencing resource short falls, increasing the 

benefit for all. Adversarial relationships are also important and will be documented, as these can create 

rigid boundaries between groups that restrict the flow of goods from one place to another, with some 

creating clear archaeological signatures (e.g., obsidian and shell beads). 

Finally, the languages groups outlined on Figure 9 are simply that—they delineate what people spoke 

and do not represent the actual landholding groups at the time of European contact. These groups were local 

communities, composed of people closely bound by blood, marriage, and proximity of residence. As discussed 

below, Kroeber (1932) introduced the term “tribelet” for the type of territorial multi-family landholding 

community that prevailed across most of the study area, except in northwest California where the family was 

primary socio-political unit. As a result, the tribelet or family will be the focus of the following discussion. 

UPPER KLAMATH 

This zone largely corresponds to the Modoc and Shasta. The boundary between these two groups 

is often used to offset the Northeast California Culture Area (which includes the Modoc) from the 

Northwest California Culture Area (which includes the Shasta), as the former occupy high plateau lands, 

much of it lacking salmon and acorns, while the latter occupy large swaths of land on the headwaters of 

the Klamath drainage where acorns or salmon are often abundant. 

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Modoc 

Much of what follows is derived from an ethnographic study conducted by McCarthy and Scotten 

(2004) as part of BLM’s Class I Cultural Resources Overview and Research Design for the Alturas, Eagle Lake, and 

Surprise Resource Areas (King et al. 2004). As illustrated by Figure 9, only a small segment of Modoc land 

falls within the study area, as most of it extends east of the Cascade Range and a little bit into Oregon where 

it meets lands held by its close relatives the Klamath. The Modoc and Klamath speak separate dialects of 

the Klamath-Modoc language which is a member of the Plateau Penutian subphylum (Golla 2011:133). 

Their language was unintelligible to their neighbors in every direction (Ray 1963:xiv). 

Traditional Modoc land centered around Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake, Clear Lake, and Lost 

River, the latter of which flows between Tule and Clear lakes (Kroeber 1925:318; Merriam and Talbot 

1974:14; Ray 1963:xi-xii). Their western boundary with the Shasta, which is most relevant to the current 

study area, largely followed the Cascade divide, extending northward from Mount Shasta to near the 

Oregon border [Ray 1963:xii]. The southern boundary with the Achumawi is less clear, with Merriam 

defining it as “a straight line from Mt. Shasta through Glass Mountain to Goose Lake” (Merriam and Talbot 

1974:14), while (Kroeber 1925:318) is more conservative, saying that it probably corresponds to uninhabited 

lands just north of the Pit River watershed. 

Tribal territory was divided into three geographic areas, with named groups (tribelets) occupying 

each place (Ray 1963:202). They included the Gumbatwas (“people of the west”), the Paskanwas (“river 

people”), and the Kokiwas (“people of the far-out country”). Gumbatwas lands extended into the current 

study area, ranging between 14,000 and 4,000 feet in elevation, and encompassing a variety of habitats 

including broad river valleys, lake shore and marshes, alpine zones, timbered uplands, barren lava flows, 

and sagebrush flatlands. 

In response to extreme seasonal differences in resource availability, the Modoc used a semisedentary settlement system. This was characterized by winter sedentism supported by stored foods, 

followed by warm season occupation of a variety of resource procurement camps. Permanent winter 

villages were established in the river valleys and could be quite large, occupied by up to 100 people (Stern 

1998:451). They were composed of multiple dwellings, which included earth-covered lodges, mat lodges, 

and wikiups. The semi-subterranean, earth-covered lodge ranged from 12 to 35 feet in diameter, and was 

entered through a hatchway on the roof (Kroeber 1939:327; Ray 1963:146; Stern 1998:450). The mat lodge 

was erected over a shallow pit, framed with willow poles, and covered with tule matting (Kroeber 

1939:326). This type of dwelling was more typically used in the spring fishing camps and summer villages. 

The third type of structure, also favored during the warmer months, was the wikiup, a portable dwelling 

made of bowed willows and tule mats. The wikiup was also used as a utility house in which foods were 

stored and women prepared food (Ray 1963; Stern 1998:451). Another structure used by the Modoc was 

the semi-subterranean sweat house. The sweat houses were for common use, and a sweat bath preceded 

the hunting of large game (Ray 1963:183; Stern 1998:451). 

The spring marked the beginning of the sucker spawning runs, which would occur in a variety of 

places into the summer. Camps were set up close to the fishing grounds, and reused year after year. Women 

gathered desert parsley (Lomatium spp.) and as the fish run intensified, they devoted their activities to the 

drying of fish. At the end of the main sucker runs, people moved to “the digging grounds for epos, the root 

crop which played the largest role in the Modoc economy” (Ray 1963:181). Camps were set up in locations 

that were close to the epos grounds, as well as local streams and rivers where resident trout were available. 

Waterfowl eggs were also gathered at this time. 

In early July, populations dispersed to some degree, moving from the root digging camps into a 

broader range of habitats to collect small seeds and hunt large game. Summer hunting focused largely on 

antelope and bighorn sheep, the former on the plains and the latter in extensive lava beds that cover much 

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of the local area. This was also the time that camas bulbs ripened and were gathered in the meadows 

throughout Modoc territory. In July, the yellow pond lily (Nuphar polsepalum) and its seeds, called wokas, 

became ripe (Colville 1904; Stern 1998:449). By August and September the men exploited a second run of 

suckers, while women harvested and dried several varieties of berries. 

Upland hunting of mostly deer and elk began in late September, as well as a continued harvest 

of the slower maturing mountain berry crop. This was also considered a good time to visit the Medicine 

Lake Highlands obsidian quarries. People began moving back to the winter villages during October to 

rebuild their houses and make other preparations for the winter. Although stored foods were of critical 

importance during winter, communal antelope drives were organized early in winter, and trout were 

harvested during a December run. Solitary hunting and ice fishing also supplemented the diet during 

the long winter months (Ray 1963). 

Social life was most elaborate when family groups congregated in the winter villages. Three types 

of leaders were recognized: a political leader or chief, a war leader, and a shaman. The role of chief was 

largely hereditary, but some leaders were also chosen for their oratory skills, and for their success in 

hunting, warfare, games and gambling (Kroeber 1939:320; Stern 1998:454). Also important to obtaining this 

position was economic and social support, as alliances were formed through marriage with other villages 

and regional areas. 

The position of war leader, which was a formal office among the Modoc, was autonomous from 

that of political chief. A man became such a leader on the basis of his proven abilities in warfare, which 

was relatively well developed by the Modoc. War was undertaken for territorial encroachment by other 

groups, for retaliation, and to take slaves (Ray 1963:134–136). Their main adversaries were the Pit River 

peoples to the south, from whom they took captives. The captives were kept by the Modoc as slaves or 

traded north through the Klamath for the lucrative slave trade on the Columbia River (Ray 1963:134–135). 

Their relations with Pit River peoples were not uniformly bad, however, as shell beads and various textiles 

from Pit River were sometimes exchanged for furs, bows, and dentalia (Davis 1961). 

Upon the death of a person, the body was immediately prepared for cremation by washing and 

dressing it in the person’s best clothing; other gifts and finery might be added. Ideally, cremation took 

place within 24 hours of death. A wood pyre was built at the burning ground, usually a rocky prominence 

near the village. When the pyre, body, and offerings had been entirely reduced, the ashes were covered 

with rock. Sometimes a slave was killed and cremated along with a Modoc (Ray 1963:113–117). In 

addition to the cremation ground near Sheepy Creek, some of these cremation sites have been identified 

to the east of Tule Lake. 

A man could develop a leadership role based on his abilities in warfare, which was relatively well 

developed by the Modoc. War was undertaken for territorial encroachment by other groups, for retaliation, 

and to take slaves (Ray 1963:134–136). Their main adversaries were the Pit River peoples to the south, from 

whom they took captives. These captives were kept by the Modoc as slaves or traded north through the 

Klamath for the lucrative slave trade on the Columbia River (Ray 1963:134–135). 

Shasta 

Multiple languages fall within the Shastan language family. Shasta and Konomihu, and probably 

New River Shasta were spoken in the central and western parts of Siskiyou County. A fourth language, 

Okwanuchu, was spoken at the headwaters of the Sacramento River, but appears to be a mixture Shasta and 

some unknown other language. Their ancestral territory is quite large, stretching from the Rogue River 

near Jacksonville, Oregon, across the Siskiyou Mountains to the upper Klamath River Canyon in California, 

south to the headwaters of the Salmon, Shasta, Scott, and Sacramento rivers, and north again from Mt. 

Shasta to the upper tributaries (e.g., Little Butte Creek) of the Rogue (Golla 2011:91). 

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Recounting the annual subsistence-settlement system used by the Shasta is somewhat difficult, as 

this was not the focus of early ethnographers that studied them (e.g., Dixon 1907; Holt 1946), nor those that 

have produced more modern texts (e.g., Renfro 2009; Silver 1978). It is clear, however, that (like the Modoc), 

the Shasta used a semi-sedentary settlement system composed of relatively large winter villages supported 

by stored foods, followed by warm season occupation of a variety of resource procurement camps. Villages 

were usually situated at the confluence of major streams, often along the interface between the valley floor 

and adjacent mountains (Silver 1978). Some of the largest villages had formalized internal structure with an 

assembly house in the center and dwelling houses surrounding it. The larger villages also had sweat houses 

for the men and menstrual huts for the women (Dixon 1907; Holt 1946). Both the assembly and dwelling 

houses were semi-subterranean and constructed out of large wooden planks. The dwelling houses had 

steeply sloping roofs, while the assembly structures had flat roofs covered with dirt. 

With advent of spring, most of the population moved out of the winter villages and occupied seasonal 

brush structures located at major fishing areas to for the spring king salmon run (Swezey and Heizer 1977). 

Fish were caught with a variety of methods including weirs, nets, harpoons, hook and line, and basketry traps 

(Dixon 1907). In addition to salmon, other riverine resources included suckers, eels, crayfish, turtles, and 

mussels, as well as steelhead, which had multiple runs during the year. Despite the riverine focus of the 

Shasta, canoes were rarely used or made (Silver 1978). A variety of large game were also pursued from the 

fish camps at this time of year, the most important being deer and elk (LaLand 1990). 

A variety of greens were used in early spring and, though not emphasized by most ethnographic 

studies (e.g., Dixon 1907; Silver 1978), geophytes must have been an important resource as well (Gleason 

2001; Todt and Hannon 1998). Dixon’s (1907:424) equivocal perspective on this subject is illustrated by the 

following: 

Roots and bulbs seem to have formed a rather smaller portions of the food-supply here 

than in the central part of the State, although camass (Camassia esculenta Lindl.) and “ipos” 

(Calochortus sp.), with one or two other roots and bulbs, were eaten to a considerable extent. 

This quote, combined with Gleason’s (2001:207) ranking of epos as the second most important plant 

food in the Shasta diet (second to fall-ripened acorns), indicates that people moved out of the lowland fish 

camps during the late spring and early summer to higher elevation areas where this important crop was 

available. Other important summer foods included wild current, spiderbush berries, wild grapes, 

chokecherries, blackberries, elderberries, serviceberries, thimbleberries, and gooseberries, as well as 

manzanita and madrone berries (Hamusek et al. 1997). The hunting of large game also intensified during 

summer, again requiring a dispersal into upland areas. 

The fall run of salmon began in late August and people again congregated in areas optimal for fishing. 

The focus on fishing during the fall differed from that in the spring because most of the fall harvest was stored 

for use during the winter. The most intensive form of capture involved the construction of a weir or dam 

across the river, with basketry traps set within them. According to Dixon (1907:428), these facilities were rare 

in Shasta territory, with only three known to him—at the mouth of the Shasta River, on the Scott River, and 

on the Klamath River at Happy Camp (the latter actually in Karok territory). Kroeber and Barret (1960:27) 

also report that small dams were built during the winter in Scott Creek Canyon and along Horse Creek. 

Once the main late summer/early fall salmon harvest was completed, the all-important acorn crop 

became available. People left the lowlands for the hill country, harvesting a variety of species including black 

oak, valley oak, and canyon live oak, occupying temporary small bark houses during these forays. Other nut 

crops harvested at this time included hazelnuts, in addition to those produced by the gray, ponderosa, and 

sugar pine. Once the harvest was in, people moved down to the lowland villages for the winter (Silver 1978). 

Shasta social organization was based on the family. Some of the smaller villages were composed of 

a single extended family, and most consisted of multi-family communities. These villages were organized 

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into larger divisions, not unlike the more formally defined tribelets identified by Kroeber (1925, 1962). The 

three main divisions in California were in Shasta Valley, Scott Valley, and in the Klamath River area, from 

the Scott River to Hornbrook. Each large village, and each of the above divisions, had a headman who was 

responsible for preserving the peace and helping resolve both intra- and inter-group disputes. When 

offenses were committed, the headman negotiated appropriate payment, often in the form of clamshell disk 

beads and dentalia. Other items of wealth used for exchange included Olivella beads, abalone ornaments, 

deer skins, and woodpecker scalps (Silver 1978). 

Land ownership occurred at the village level, with well-defined territories for its members. Certain 

fishing places, however, were privately owned, and a few wealthy families had the right to build fish weirs 

at key locations. The weir owners would commission workers to help build the weir and pay them with a 

portion of the catch. Certain hunting grounds could also be owned (Dixon 1907; Holt 1946; Silver 1978). 

The Shasta buried their dead. Only people who died far from home were cremated, with their 

remains brought back to the local area for burial. Each family had its own burial plot, and the person’s 

possessions were either burned or buried with them. The dead person’s dwelling was usually torn down 

and rebuilt for someone else, although the house of a headman was sometimes burned (Silver 1978). 

Violent interactions with other Shastan groups, as well as with their more distant neighbors were 

commonplace. Revenge was the primary motivation of inter-group conflict. The Shasta fought with the 

Modoc, for example, in response to the Modoc’s annual summer raids into California, and with the Wintu 

with which they had longstanding issues marked by regular battles (Merriam 1955; Silver 1978). The Shasta 

seemed to have more friendly relationships with the Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok, from whom they received 

acorns, baskets, dentalia, abalone, and other shells in exchange for pine nuts, obsidian blades, juniper 

beads, and “Wintu beads” (Silver 1978), the latter probably referring to clamshell disk beads. 

SACRAMENTO VALLEY 

The Sacramento Valley Zone is dominated by two major groups, the Wintu and Nomlaki (see 

Figure 9). The Okwanuchu, although occupying the northernmost part of the Sacramento Valley Zone, have 

already been discussed within the larger Shasta linguistic group, while the Konkow Maidu, who fall within 

the southernmost part of the Sacramento Valley Zone, will be addressed below within the Southern 

Cascade Foothills Zone. Due to the large degree of similarity between Wintu and Nomlaki subsistencesettlement patterns and social organization, they are combined into a single discussion. 

The Chimariko lived directly west of the Wintu within the headwaters of the Trinity River. Due to 

the location of their homeland, it makes sense to include them with other groups living in northwest 

California. But this small group of Hokan speakers had little in common with their western neighbors (i.e., 

Hupa, Yurok, Karok, Wiyot, and Tolowa), all of whom are linked to the larger Northwest Coast Culture 

Area (see below). Instead, the Chimariko appear to reflect an older cultural pattern that appeared to be 

fading fast, as they were losing territory to both the Wintu and Hupa (Golla 2011; Kroeber 1925), and 

numbered only a few hundred people at European contact (Silver 1978). As a result, they are briefly 

discussed in this section after the Wintu and Nomlaki. 

Wintu and Nomlaki 

Wintu and Nomlaki are both members of the Wintuan language family. Other members of this 

family include Patwin and Southern Patwin. The Wintuan language family is a branch of the larger 

Penutian linguistic stock. Wintuan, previously named Wintun or Wintoon, has three divisions, Northern, 

Central, and Southern (DuBois 1935; Goldschmidt 1978; Kroeber 1932; Merriam 1967). Northern Wintun 

corresponded to the Wintu, Central Wintun to the Nomlaki (alternately termed Wintun and Nom’-lak-ke), 

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and Southern Wintun to the Patwin. The Patwin “are well marked off culturally, and in speech as well, 

from the Wintun and the Wintu” (Kroeber 1932: 253). 

The Wintu were originally a large population made up of nine local tribelets: Nomtipom (upper 

Sacramento Valley), Winimem (McCloud region), Dau-pom (Stillwater), Elpom (Keswick), Klabalpom (French 

Gulch), Nomsus (Upper Trinity Valley), Norelmuk (Hayfork), Waimuk (upper McCloud River valley), and 

Dau-nom (Bald Hills; DuBois 1935; LaPena 1978). Wintu territory covered parts of Trinity, Shasta, Siskiyou, 

and Temama counties, including the headwaters of the Trinity River and large portions of the upper 

Sacramento River drainage (LaPena 1978:324). 

The Nomlaki were also divided into several tribelets, further separated by Hill dwellers and River 

dwellers (Goldschmidt 1951, 1978). River Nomlaki inhabited the Sacramento Valley and were composed 

of two local groups: the Memwaylaka (north region) and the Puymok (easterners). Hill Nomlaki occupied the 

foothill region to the west of the Sacramento River. There were four major Hill Nomlaki groups: Waykewe 

(Redbank drainage), Waltoykewe (north of Elder Creek), Nomlaka (Elder Creek to below Thomes Creek), and 

Noykewe (Grindstone Creek; Goldschmidt 1978:341). 

Each tribelet was an independent social group that owned a well-defined territory, and was further 

organized into a series of villages and camps. Villages were the primary social, political, and economic 

units of the society. Wintu village sizes probably ranged from 20 to 150 men, women, and children, and 

included between five and 50 houses. These dwellings were made from a conically shaped frame of wood, 

using three or four main vertical poles which were lashed together with smaller stringers. The house pits 

were excavated one to three feet into the ground, and the backdirt was banked up around the perimeter to 

form a raised footing; bark and evergreen boughs were used to cover the structure. They were about nine 

feet (three meters) in diameter, and were typically occupied by three to seven family members (DuBois 

1935; Goldschmidt 1951). 

Some of the larger villages containing 50 to 70 people also had an earthen lodge. They were large 

circular, semi-subterranean structures measuring 15–20 feet in diameter. Earthen lodges served as 

gathering places for the men, who would enter through a hole in the roof via notches cut into its center 

pole, or by using a separate wooden ladder lashed together with grape vines. The pit was deeper than a 

standard house, excavated to shoulder depth. Rafters radiated out from the center post every three or four 

feet, while pickets were lashed at right angles to the rafters every one to two feet. The roof was covered 

with a mixture of bark, brush, and earth (DuBois 1935; Goldschmidt 1951). 

Cemeteries were usually located away from the dwellings, with relatives buried close to one 

another. Decisions regarding the location of a specific grave were made by the old people who remembered 

the places where previous people had been interred. The body was placed in a crouching position with the 

elbows inside the knees, and it was tightly wrapped with deer sinew or rope. The grave pit was usually 

four feet deep, and sometimes lined with rocks and bark. Personal items like a bow and arrows, beads, or 

feathers were often interred with the body. Once the body and associated items were placed in the grave 

pit, it was covered with bark, stones, and soil (DuBois 1935; Goldschmidt 1951). 

Settlement and subsistence strategies of the Wintu and Nomlaki are similar enough to be discussed 

as a single entity, as both tribes practiced a semi-sedentary collecting scheme. They lived in permanent 

villages in the winter, subsisting mainly on stored food; they then occupied resource procurement camps, 

typically temporary brush shelters, during the spring and summer months (DuBois 1935). Kroeber 

(1925:354) states that valley people occupied permanent villages along the Sacramento River during winter, 

and moved to the adjacent plains near tributary streams during the dry half of the year. Hill people 

established winter villages where tributary streams reached the open valley, and moved to the mountains 

and hills during summer (see also Waugh 1995). Permanent villages were never entirely abandoned 

(Goldschmidt 1978), as a few elderly individuals would be left behind while the other villagers traveled to 

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their seasonal camps to collect food. According to Goldschmidt (1978), each village had its own special site 

in the hinterlands that it moved to each summer. 

The main food items collected for winter storage included salmon, acorns, deer, and manzanita 

berries (Merriam 1967). Additional resources included bears, rabbits, birds, steelhead trout, suckers, 

grasshoppers, seeds, tubers, clover, pine nuts, and other vegetable matter (DuBois 1935; Goldschmidt 1951, 

1978; LaPena 1978; Merriam 1967). 

Multiple runs of Chinook (king) salmon occurred in the Sacramento River, the most important 

being the fall run which began in October and extended until December. Several fishing strategies were 

used, some by a single person and others requiring a group. Single fishermen used elaborate composite 

harpoons to capture fish. Communal fish drives were used during summer when the water was low. With 

this technique, a net made from wild iris fiber was stretched across the river, and men with torches would 

drive the fish into the net at night; a dip net could also be used during communal fish drives. The most 

elaborate approach to fishing, and one of largest community projects among the Wintu and Nomlaki, was 

construction of a fish weir. Although little direct evidence from the Wintu is available, the Nomlaki 

pounded large posts (six to eight inches in diameter) into the bottom of the river with stones. Smaller 

stringers were lashed cross-wise with grape vine, and willows were then woven into the structure at one 

inch intervals, stopping the fish from moving upstream. Three pens (woven onshore) were attached behind 

gates left in the weir; platforms were often built on top of the pens to facilitate netting and spearing fish 

caught in the pens. Some gates were always left open to allow a portion of the fish to move up into adjacent 

territories, thereby avoiding hostilities with neighbors. 

The acorn harvest also occurred in the fall, with families gathering within the most productive 

groves for this event. Unshelled acorns were carried back to the village where they were processed for 

immediate consumption or stored for later use. Acorns were stored in the shell and placed in bark lined 

pits. Those to be eaten were cracked, shelled, and pounded using a stone pestle and a hopper (basketry) 

mortar. The Nomlaki exploited acorns from no less than eight species of oak trees (Goldschmidt 1978; 

Merriam 1967), and the Wintu had access to at least six species (DuBois 1935). Acorns were harvested in 

large quantities, especially in summer/fall procurement camps, and were then cleansed and stored in dry 

granaries for use during the winter months. 

The fall and winter diet was supplemented with the hunting of deer, bear, and rabbits. This was 

done either individually with bow and arrow, or communally with drives and snares. Bears were typically 

hunted in the fall, when they were more apt to be sluggish (DuBois 1935). Bear furs were highly prized 

possessions, used in trade and as burial wraps (Kroeber 1932). “The Wintoon say that they were ‘strong on 

bears’...and were called ‘Bear people’ by the Nose or Yahnah” (Merriam 1967:265). 

With the advent of spring, people moved out of the permanent winter villages into the hill country 

to harvest a variety of plant foods, including clover, miner’s lettuce, other greens, and a number of tubers. 

Summer brought a new set of plant resources, among them multiple species of berries (e.g., manzanita, 

skunk bush, and service berries). This was also the time for a variety of small seed resources, especially in 

the Bald Hills region, the specialty being “cotton flower” or salal (DuBois 1935). 

The spring salmon run began in May and continued until October, and salmon were caught both 

individually and in groups, but not with the large communal weir. Spring salmon were not dried when 

caught because they were considered to be too greasy. Instead, the fish were laid in a pit lined with hot 

rocks and covered with additional preheated stones. They were eaten after cooking, and any remaining 

meat was boned and flaked. The flaked flesh was then dried and pulverized into salmon flour, which could 

be stored for a considerable amount of time (DuBois 1935). 

Both Wintu and Nomlaki tribes were non-egalitarian societies. A wealth complex and secret society 

among Nomlaki groups was described by Goldschmidt (1978). Items associated with the wealth complex 

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included clamshell disk beads, tubular magnesite beads, and bear skins. A limited number of adult men 

were initiated into a secret society based on social and/or political status, and these men had more power 

in public matters. They also had the right to engage in trade of wealth objects and exerted control over most 

of the skilled crafts and professions. Flexed burials were likewise associated with the Nomlaki wealth 

complex (Goldschmidt 1978). 

Shamanic doctors were also important members of the social group. They were initiated once a year, 

and the position was open to both men and women. The ceremony took place in an earthen lodge, where the 

initiates would dance through the night until they received the supernatural spiritual power. Every shaman 

was expected to be a good singer, and possess several doctoring songs linked to his or her special spirits. 

Doctoring often began with the smoking of wild tobacco to help bring on the spirit helper through a trance, 

after which the sickness was usually sucked out of the body. Shamanistic prophesy was equally as important 

as doctoring, and also took place during a tobacco induced trance. Prophesies covered a wide range of 

subjects, including predictions about the location of game and the success of hunting trips, the future health 

of certain individuals, and upcoming weather. Poisoning was also known to occur, in which an unsavory 

shaman would send sickness to his or her rivals and enemies (DuBois 1935). 

For the Wintu tribe, inter-village trade comprised the majority of exchange; inter-tribelet and intertribal exchange was less common but perhaps of more economic importance. Specialty craftsmen in Wintu 

villages would exchange their wares with each other, and women would exchange baskets (LaPena 1978). 

Inter-tribelet exchange in the Wintu tribe consisted mainly of trading fish for seeds and acorns. The 

McCloud region was the richest in food supplies in the Wintu territory (DuBois 1935), particularly with its 

access to salmon runs. As such, food exchanges “were frequent between the Wintoon of the McCloud and 

those of the Trinity” (Merriam 1967:265) as well as others. Bald Hills Wintu obtained salmon from the more 

northerly groups by trading clam-disk money, deer, salt, and vegetable foods (DuBois 1935). Shasta Indians 

to the north provided Wintu groups with dentalia and obsidian, but the Wintu also obtained obsidian 

directly from Glass Mountain, which is approximately 60 miles to the northeast (LaPena 1978), as well as 

from the nearby Tuscan sources within Yana territory. 

Similar to the Wintu, internal trade between families in the same village was the most frequent form 

of exchange amongst the Nomlaki. As a result of occupational specialization, neighbors would need to 

purchase different tools and supplies from each other. Inter-tribelet exchange, particularly between Hill and 

River Nomlaki, played a key role in the culture. This trading involved the “transfer of the surplus produce 

of one environment for the different produce of another” (Goldschmidt 1951). Hill Nomlaki traded acorns, 

seeds, other vegetable items, and terrestrial animals for salmon and other aquatic animals from the River 

groups. Nomlaki groups also participated in a north-south trading system that extended from the San 

Francisco Bay to Shasta territory. The Bay region tribes traded shell and shell beads to tribes in central 

California for obsidian, animal pelts, and yew wood (Goldschmidt 1951). Kroeber (1932:358) notes that 

“white bivalve shells, dautede, perhaps small clams, that came from a distance and were worn in the ears, 

were rated at 200 beads; and belts of twenty brought up to 4,000 beads.” 

Disputes among members of the group often stemmed from criminal behavior. Murder sometimes 

demanded blood revenge, but the chief could often negotiate a payment to the grieving family and avoid 

capital punishment. Problems stemming from thievery could be solved by returning the stolen item, but 

the chief was ultimately responsible for assigning a price for the unsanctioned behavior of the guilty party. 

Finally, habitual trouble makers could be, with the sanction of the chief, soundly beaten by the group. On 

rare occasions certain people were killed if they refused to change their behavior. 

Large dances and other social gatherings were an important part of life, and were organized by the 

chiefs. Before a big event, runners were sent out to outlying villages to invite the guests and tell them what 

to bring. They were often organized around times of food surpluses like big pine nut harvests and salmon 

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runs. Some people had to travel up to two days to reach a celebration, and each community did their best 

to bring plenty of food and a variety of trade goods, both being measures of prestige. Sometimes 200–300 

people would come to these “Big Times,” where the feasting, dancing, and gambling would last from three 

to five days. Gambling contests were a huge activity, with fortunes of shell money and other valuables 

changing hands on a regular basis. 

Although the Wintu and Nomlaki usually had friendly relationships with outsiders and other 

tribelets within their territory, they did have traditional enemies that were viewed with caution. The Bald 

Hills Wintu, for example, did not like the Nomsus (“west people”), who were probably Athapaskan 

speakers from the uplands like the Lassik or Nongatl. They also had boundary issues with the Noze (Yana) 

who occupied the hills to the east, and many of the Wintu groups referred to them as “enemy” and 

“strangers.” When inter-group conflicts did arise, they were often solved through negotiations between the 

chiefs of the groups or individuals involved. But when negotiations failed and inter-group violence 

erupted, chiefs would organize tribesmen to fight, but not necessarily lead them into battle. These were 

usually small-scale battles caused by local problems, such as the murder of a relative or the theft of women 

by neighboring peoples (DuBois 1935; Goldschmidt 1951). 

Chimariko 

Chimariko territory measured only about 35 x 30 kilometers, and occupied the headwaters of the 

south and main forks of the Trinity River (Golla 2011; Silver 1978b). According to Kroeber (1925:109), they 

“were one of the smallest distinct tribes in one of the smallest countries in America.” They appear to have 

been divided into two tribelets (Trinity River and South Fork), each of which a limited number of villages 

(Golla 2011). Each village had a sweathouse and several smaller family dwellings. They were circular in 

shape with single ridge poles that were covered with bark and earth, showing much greater affinities to 

the Wintu than to their western neighbors who built plank structures. 

The Chimariko had an abundant food supply, with large quantities of salmon and eel from local 

streams and an abundant acorn crop available from the surrounding uplands; both were stored for winter 

use. Other important subsistence resources included deer, elk, and bear, as well as a variety of plant foods 

like roots, small seeds, berries, and pine nuts. Because of the richness and small size of their territory, the 

lowland villages were permanently occupied and the upland seasonal procurement camps were used on 

only a limited basis. Due to the permanent nature of their villages, the Chimariko buried their dead in 

formalized cemeteries located away from their dwellings. 

Because the headwater streams in their territory were relatively small, canoes and formalized weirs 

were not used (Kroeber 1925; Kroeber and Barret 1960). Instead, a variety of nets were sufficient to obtain 

the desired amount of fish. Most fishing, hunting, and gathering places were communally owned, but 

tobacco plots could be owned by individuals. Differential wealth did develop within the community and, 

like their western neighbors, obsidian blades, redheaded woodpecker scalps, and dentalia were all valuable 

commodities. Little is known about their trade relationships, as Davis (1961) notes only one item of 

exchange—obsidian from the Wintu. They were on bad terms with the Hupa, who regularly raided their 

territory and encroached on their land. Although they were also losing land to the Wintu, they were on 

more friendly terms with them, and inter-marriage and bilingualism were common (Kroeber 1925). 

COAST RANGE AND KLAMATH MOUNTAINS 

Native American groups living in northwest California have long been associated with the larger 

Northwest Coast Culture Area, differing significantly from other groups in California (Kroeber 1939). The 

Northwest Coast Culture Area extends from Canada and Alaska (including groups like the Tlingit and 

Kwakiutl) south to near Cape Mendocino, where groups like the Tolowa, Yurok, Wiyot, Karok, and Hupa 

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represent the southernmost expression of the culture. Kroeber (1925, 1939) saw the Yurok as the nucleus of 

this expression in northwest California, as they had the strongest linkages with groups to the north in the 

areas of technology, art, and ceremonial life, while the neighboring Tolowa, Wiyot, Karok, and Hupa had 

a secondary degree of relatedness. 

All of these groups lived in relatively high densities, and occupied permanent coastal and interior 

riverine settlements. Many of the settlements were supported by the storage of acorns, and the use of large 

communal fish weirs. River canoes, large oceangoing canoes, composite harpoons, and redwood smoke 

houses also facilitated the harvest and storage of fish and marine mammals. Wealthy families owned many 

of these capital-intensive technologies, as well as important resource areas such as acorn groves, river 

eddies for obtaining fish, and portions of offshore sea lion rookeries (Drucker 1937; Goddard 1903; 

Goldschmidt 1951; Kroeber 1925; Waterman 1920). 

Individual households possessing superior pools of labor could generate substantial food surpluses 

and other items of wealth, ultimately separating themselves from the less successful family units. Unlike 

most populations elsewhere in California, these northern groups lacked the tribelet organization originally 

defined by Kroeber (1925, 1936). Instead, Goldschmidt (1951) argued that the concept of village and tribe 

was essentially non-existent, as the individual or immediate family took precedence. “Though persons were 

identified by their village of residence and their tribe of origin, neither of these groups had any direct claim 

upon the action of the individual” (Goldschmidt 1951:507). There was a universal concept of privately 

owned property, including money (e.g., Dentalium), which was linked to differential wealth and power 

within the population (Fredrickson 1984; Gould 1975; Kroeber 1925). 

Moving south within the current study area, the southern Athapascan peoples (Chilula, Mattole/Bear 

River, Nongatl, Lassik, Sinkyone, Wailaki, and Cahto), as well as Yukian speakers (Yuki, Huchnom, and Coast 

Yuki) and the Northern Pomo (see Figure 9) all fall within Kroeber’s (1939) California Culture Area. Rather 

than focusing on maritime and riverine resources, they relied on a broader array of terrestrial foods, most 

notably the acorn. Tribelet organization took precedence, and groups living along the coast did not venture 

out to sea like the Yurok and Tolowa. Instead, they practiced a littoral adaptation where marine resources like 

shellfish and small schooling fish were obtained on a seasonal basis from the shore or near-shore locations. 

This economic system often resulted in a higher level of residential mobility than that observed farther north, 

as many people used a seasonal round that encompassed both coastal and interior habitats. 

As a result of these patterns, the following discussion is organized into three sections: (1) the 

Core Northwest California Groups (Tolowa, Yurok, Wiyot, Karok, and Hupa); (2) Southern Athapascan 

Groups (Chilula, Mattole/Bear River, Nongatl, Lassik, Sinkyone, Wailaki, and Cahto); and (3) Yuki and 

Northern Pomo Groups. 

Core Northwest California Groups 

The Tolowa, Yurok, Wiyot, Karok, and Hupa all lived in semi-subterranean plank houses located 

in permanently occupied villages. Major villages were located in strategic foraging areas such as estuaries 

and lagoons, protected river mouths, and high quality fishing areas along interior streams. Two types of 

houses were used, family houses and sweat houses. Construction of both types of houses required a great 

deal of labor to split and prepare the redwood planks with adzes, mauls, and wedges. There were usually 

three family houses for every sweathouse, forming what was known as the sweathouse group, which was 

organized along family lines (Gould 1966; Kroeber 1925; Tushingham 2009). 

Occupied by women and children, family houses were square or rectangular with maximum 

dimensions ranging between 15 and 21 feet. The walls were made of upright planks, and the plank roof was 

held up by a single roof beam. Although the Tolowa houses were single pitched, houses made by the other 

groups typically had double-pitched, gabled roofs (Tushingham 2009). Sweat houses were occupied by men 

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and post-pubescent boys, and were smaller than family houses, measuring roughly 12 feet (3.7 meters) in 

maximum dimension. They were entirely subterranean and the single-pitched roofs were covered with soil. 

Both houses often had stone pavers placed at their entrances and around the internal hearth (Gould 1978). 

As mentioned above, the household was the fundamental economic and social unit, lacking the 

higher level political organization of the tribelet that is found elsewhere in the study area. In addition to a 

variety of wealth items like obsidian blades, white deerskins, and dentalium shell money, all valuable 

property was privately owned, including mussel beds on offshore rocks, beaches where whales might wash 

up, salmon fishing spots, oak groves, and certain items like oceangoing canoes (Kroeber and Barret 1960). 

Each family also had its own cemetery plot placed away from the dwellings, where the deceased were often 

buried with their possessions within a series of redwood planks (Bright 1978; Elsasser 1978; Gould 1978; 

Pilling 1978; Wallace 1978). 

All groups lived in their permanent villages during the winter, relying on stored resources. With 

the advent of spring a variety of greens and root crops were harvested, and people took advantage of the 

spring salmon run. For those living on the coast, sea mammal hunting was a major enterprise, in which 

hunters would venture out to sea in oceangoing canoes to exploit offshore sea lion rookeries (Gould 1975; 

Hildebrandt and Carpenter 2006, 2011). Deepwater fishes were also obtained on occasion, but they were 

much less important than marine mammals due largely to the abundant anadromous fishery (Hildebrandt 

and Carpenter 2006, 2011) and surf fish resources that could be obtained during the summer (Tushingham 

and Christiansen 2015; Tushingham et al. 2013; Whitaker and Tushingham 2014). 

Smelt were the primary surf fish harvested along the northern beaches. Once they began to run, 

the fish could be mass-harvested as they swarmed to lay their eggs and spawn in shallow water. Men 

caught the fish with V-shaped nets, and the women dried them on the beach for approximately three days 

while occupying fish camps located nearby (Gould 1966; Kroeber and Barret 1960; Tushingham et al. 2013). 

Once dried, the fish were returned to the main village where they could be stored for winter use. The runs 

could last a month, representing one of the most important subsistence resources on the north coast 

(Tushingham and Christiansen 2015). 

Fall brought the acorn harvest and the large salmon run, both of which were major resources for 

all people living in northwest California. Acorns ranked second only to salmon, and were stored and 

processed in ways similar to other groups in California. Salmon (both Chinook and silver), as well as other 

anadromous fishes like steelhead, lamprey, and sturgeon, were obtained using a variety of technologies 

ranging from large communal weirs to simple fish spears and poisons (Kroeber and Barret 1960). All 

ethnographic accounts emphasize the importance of this resource. Rostlund (1952), for example, estimates 

that the Yurok may have harvested about 34,000 kilograms of fish a year, or about 110 kilograms per person 

(see also Baumhoff 1963). Most of this harvest occurred during the fall when the large weirs were 

constructed and produced a winter’s supply of fish in a relative short period of time. 

The largest weir was built by the Yurok along the Klamath River at Kepel. It was constructed 

during low water in September, when the river was uniformly six feet deep and no greater than 80 yards 

across. It was a complex barrier made of logs and poles with small openings allowing fish to enter 

enclosures or pens where they could be easily caught. Construction began by driving a series of vertical 

piles into the river bottom, which were shored against the current with slanting braces. Stringers were 

lashed between the piles, and hundreds of smaller stakes were placed upstream of the stringers to form the 

body of the dam (Hildebrandt and Carpenter 2006, 2011; Kroeber and Barret 1960). 

According to Kroeber and Barret (1960:12), strict construction techniques were used, some imbued 

with ceremonial significance. 

The weir was an elaborate structure built in ten named sections by ten groups of 

men...Vast numbers of fish were taken during the ten days that the dam was allowed to 

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stand. After that it was deliberately torn down, at least in part...Its destruction again 

cleared the channel and permitted the fish to ascend the stream to spawn, at the same time 

providing the upriver residents with their essential supply of fish. 

The absence of tribal-wide political authority seems to have affected the scale of intergroup conflict 

as well. Typical causes for conflict were murder, insult, or trespass and poaching, but most groups 

“recognized no crimes against the tribe or community” (Bright 1978:185). Instead, most crimes could be 

worked out through payment from one family to another. There were cases in which conflicts escalated to a 

higher level and multiple kinsmen would gather together and attack a neighboring village, claiming women 

and canoes, and burning down structures. Such a multi-battle feud occurred between the Yurok and Hupa, 

but was ultimately settled with payment of large quantities of wealth by each side (Kroeber 1925:51). 

Many items of wealth were obtained through exchange, such as the large obsidian blades and 

dentalia acquired from eastern and northern neighbors. In addition to other forms of treasure (e.g., 

redheaded woodpecker scalps), an active trade of subsistence commodities took place, with dried smelt, 

shellfish, and seaweed moving into the interior, and acorns and pine nuts coming back in exchange. 

Redwood dugout canoes were also an important trade item, originating among the coastal groups and 

distributed to those living in the interior (Davis 1961). 

Southern Athapaskan Groups 

As outlined above, the southern Athapaskan groups lacked the maritime adaptation of the people 

living to the north. In contrast to the Yurok and Tolowa territory, where sea mammals could be harvested 

from the offshore rocks and islands in oceangoing canoes, the coastal territories of the Mattole/Bear River 

and Sinkyone lacked offshore rookeries and oceangoing canoes were not used (Jobson and Hildebrandt 

1980; Hildebrandt 1984; Hildebrandt and Jones 2004). Instead, terrestrial mammals were much more 

important than marine mammals (Hildebrandt 1984) and deep water fishes were rarely caught (Nomland 

1935, 1938; Tushingham and Christiansen 2015). 

Another important distinction between the two groups is the anadromous fishery. First, southern 

Athapaskans did not benefit from a major spring salmon run (Baumhoff 1963:174) and, second, the fall runs 

did not reach the magnitude of those to the north. The latter is reflected by the construction of weirs, which 

were simpler than those of the Tolowa, Yurok, Wiyot, Karok, and Hupa. The Mattole, for example, built weirs 

from a series of vertical stakes placed in knee-deep water supported by multiple rocks. The stakes were infilled 

with brush, and three or four gaps were left for the fish to pass through. “Such a weir was the work of a single 

day for a half a dozen men, or even a smaller number.” (Kroeber and Barret 1960:26). The Sinkyone weirs “were 

merely a wall of rocks or a line of brush built across a stream” (Kroeber and Barret 1960:26). 

All groups lived in semi-permanent winter villages, but expanded into outlying areas during the 

warm times of the year, showing a higher degree of residential mobility than people living farther to the 

north. Houses differed too, as, for example, the Wailaki winter dwellings, which were “made of split slabs, 

standing upright or sloping in at the top to form a conical house” (Baumhoff 1958:176). Winter subsistence 

relied on stored foods that included fish, game, and plant foods such as acorn, gray and sugar pine nuts, 

hazelnuts, and buckeye. Emphasis on wealth was much less developed than it was among the northern 

groups, restricting status differentiation among the families belonging to a tribelet. They did, however, use 

family cemetery plots to bury the dead. 

In spring, people moved out to collect greens (especially clover), soap root, angelica, and a variety 

of other roots and bulbs. By late spring and early summer, they moved to seasonal camps up in the 

mountains. Usually only a few families would stay together in these camps, where men hunted deer and 

small mammals, and women collected a variety of plant foods such as berries and small seeds; steelhead 

and resident trout were also caught from some of the larger streams. 

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In September or October, when the acorns were ripe, people would return to their winter villages. 

Each family built a new house, and began to harvest acorn, buckeye, and peppernuts for immediate 

consumption and storage; deer meat was also smoked for storage at this time. After the first rain, the 

salmon ran again and these were processed for winter storage as well. 

Most warfare among tribelets or families was retaliatory in nature, a response to murder, witchcraft 

and, to a lesser extent, abduction and rape. Most was small scale (on the extended family level), and often 

accompanied by mythical stories (Kroeber 1925:152). There were, however, some cases in which largerscale conflicts took place, as when multiple Matttole/Bear River tribelets joined forces to fight the Wiyot 

along their shared border (Elsasser 1978). 

Intergroup exchange appears to have been less developed among the southern Athapaskan groups 

than with their northwest California neighbors, perhaps due to the lower priority placed on the development 

of wealth and large world-renewal ceremonies, both of which required significant quantities of exotic 

materials. Davis (1961) does note that an active shell bead exchange network was in place, with dentalia 

coming in from the north and clam disk beads arriving from southern and interior groups. 

Yuki and Northern Pomo Groups 

The Northern Yukian language include Yuki, Huchnom, and Coast Yuki, each of which represent 

distinct dialects or emergent languages (Golla 2011). Yuki speakers lived in and around Round Valley along 

the Middle Fork of the Eel River, and were composed of six tribelets. Their territory was quite diverse, ranging 

from 1,000 to 7,500 feet at the crest of the North Coast Ranges, where their eastern boundary joins that of the 

Nomlaki. The principal village of a tribelet could include up to 25 family houses, in addition to a large dance 

house used for ceremonial gatherings of all members of the tribelet (Foster 1944). 

Family houses were conical in shape, made with bark, and had no central post; the floors were 

excavated to a depth of about one foot. The main dance houses were 30 to 40 feet in diameter and excavated 

to a depth of four to five feet. They had center posts and were covered with soil. Small storage pits were also 

common, as were earth ovens used to bake a variety of items, including accord bread. Upon death, people 

were buried in flexed position within family plots, and interred with their personal possessions (Foster 1944). 

The Yuki seasonal round has been summarized by Stewart and Fredrickson (1980), based largely 

on the ethnographic accounts of Foster (1944). During winter (approximately November through February) 

they lived in their winter villages relying on stored foods that included acorns, pine nuts, hazelnut, 

peppernut, buckeye, and dried venison and fish. Spring (March to April) brought fresh food to the diet, 

including a variety of clovers, soaproot shoots, and angelica roots. By late spring/summer (May through 

August), people moved out of their winter villages to collect a diverse assortment of foods as they became 

available. Berries and small seeds were collected from a variety of locations, deer and small game were 

hunted, and steehead and resident trout were obtained from the larger streams. These outward movements 

eventually resulted in the establishment of seasonal base camps, many of which were located in upland 

areas. Finally, with the arrival of fall (September through October), deer hunting intensified, and acorn and 

pine nut collection began, all with the goal of creating winter stores. Fall salmon also ran at this time, and 

they were captured with simple brush weirs and dip nets (Foster 1944). 

The Huchnom lived along the South Fork of the Eel River. Their adaptations were quite similar to the 

Yuki, but differed in that they practiced cremation, similar to their Pomo neighbors to the south (Miller 1978). 

The Coast Yuki included 11 tribelets along a 50-mile stretch of the rugged Mendocino coast. Each 

tribelet had communally owned territory extending from the ocean into the interior. They occupied beach 

camps during the summer, relying on shellfish and surf fish (largely smelt), with the latter dried and stored 

for future use. Summer houses were simple brush huts that were rebuilt every year. They did not use 

marine watercraft (Gifford 1939; Miller 1978). 

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Similar to other Yukian groups, their interior winter villages included conical, bark-covered 

family houses, and each tribelet had a larger, more substantial assembly house. They also relied on the 

fall salmon run and acorn harvest, the former assisted by the one of the simplest types of weir reported 

by Kroeber and Barret (1960); it was composed of a log laid across the stream with a single post driven in 

the middle for reinforcement. 

Only a small sliver of Northern Pomo territory enters the current study area (see Figure 9). This 

zone was occupied by a single tribelet known as the Mato whose territory centered on Sherwood Valley, 

which included the headwaters of the Eel River and most of the Noyo River (Golla 2011). Similar to the 

Coast Yuki, they inhabited the coast during the summer, focusing on shellfish and smelt, and spent winters 

in villages in the interior, relying on stored acorns and salmon (McClendon and Oswalt 1978). 

Small-scale warfare was common among the Yuki, with their primary enemies being the Nomlaki, 

Kato, and some Pomoan groups. Revenge was the primary motive, and targets were often killed, with the 

decapitated heads of the vanquished used in victory dances. Most conflicts were eventually resolved when the 

“side suffering the heavier losses might be willing to quit, in which case the victors would be notified and, with 

the chief’s consent, a payment made to the losers and friendly relations resumed” (Kroeber 1925). Northern 

Pomo, as well as other Pomoan groups, sometimes formed larger multi-tribelet confederations, initiating war 

in response to “poaching, poisoning (witchcraft), abduction of women and children, theft of goods, or to protect 

or acquire prime resource areas” (Bean and Theodoratus 1978:298). Sometimes these relationships became 

permanent alliances, which was the case among the Northern Pomo and Yuki (Bean and Theodoratus 1978). 

Yuki trade relationships were primarily internal, and with their Northern Pomo neighbors. Coastal 

foods were exchanged for clam shell disk beads and dentalia, and salt was obtained from Northeastern Pomo 

groups. Pomo trade was more highly formalized through use of the trade-feast system, where multiple 

tribelets would gather together, exchanging goods, services, and marriage partners across a wide range of 

ecological zones. These feasts helped maintain intergroup ties, and distributed resources from places with 

surpluses to those falling short, with the latter groups repaying the debt through a system of delayed 

reciprocity (Bean and Theodoratus 1978; see also Hildebrandt 2009). 

SIERRA NEVADA 

The Sierra Nevada zone and adjacent Sacramento Valley lands largely correspond to lands 

occupied by speakers of Maiduan languages. These closely related languages include Konkow, Chico 

Maidu, Northeastern (or “Mountain Maidu”), and Nisenon. The current study area largely corresponds to 

Konkow and Chico Maidu territory (Golla 2011:137). 

Konkow 

Konkow was spoken along the Feather River watershed from just north of Marysville-Yuba City 

up to the Plumas County line. Twelve tribelets have been recognized, and there appears to be a dialect and 

cultural boundary between what Kroeber (1932) calls the “Hill Konkow” above Oroville and the “Valley 

Konkow,” people who lived downstream in the Sacramento Valley. Chico Maidu was spoken by multiple 

tribelets along the Sacramento River, including people living west of the river. The Chico Maidu and 

Konkow languages are quite similar to one another (they could actually be dialects; Golla 2011), and 

Kroeber (1932) has included the Chico Maidu into his “Valley Konkow” group based on their cultural 

similarities. Following Kroeber (1932), we will discuss the Konkow as a single group. 

Konkow tribelets subsisted on a diverse diet that included multiple species of fish, mammals, birds, 

insects, and plants, with acorn accounting for the largest portion of diet. Their main villages were relatively 

large, housing as many as 150 to 200 people in up to 20 family homes built around a central dance-house 

(Dixon 1905; Kroeber 1925). The large degree of storage practiced by the Konkow (especially the Valley 

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Konkow) allowed them to remain in their villages year-round, with logistical forays out to resource patches 

such as seed-bearing fields, acorn groves, and fishing and hunting areas. The tribelet territory was 

communally owned by members of the group, which provided rights to hunt, fish, and gather within the 

established boundaries. Territories were small, with Dixon (1905:201) noting that “twenty miles was an 

unusual distance to go, and few went to greater distances from their homes.” 

While the territory as a whole was owned communally, private property also existed: a man’s nets, 

bows and arrows, spears, canoes, clothing, and house were all private, while a woman’s baskets, utensils, 

pestles, mats, and digging sticks were her property. Some fishing holes were also privately owned by 

families, though others could fish in them if they received proper permission. The right to erect drive fences 

for deer hunting was similarly owned by families (Dixon 1905:223–225). 

Community territorial boundaries appear to have been rather strictly demarcated and guarded. 

Boundaries were determined through meetings between village headmen; once established, these 

boundaries might be marked by a symbol known to all which was carved into rocks at the edge of a 

territory. One such rock was reported by Ritter and Parkman (1992) and could indicate that this practice 

occurred in the prehistoric past as well. Dixon also reports that “each tribe or group of communities kept 

its boundary-lines constantly patrolled by men, who were to see that no poaching took place, and that the 

rights of each tribe were respected” (1905:225). 

Three types of houses were constructed: (1) large circular, semi-subterranean earth-covered 

houses; (2) smaller, conical huts built on the surface; and (3) temporary wind-breaks constructed during 

the summer (Dixon 1905:168–172). It appears that the more-sedentary valley peoples rarely used the latter 

two types, as they remained in or near their central villages much of the year. The subterranean type was 

used for residential houses, sweat houses, and in larger form, as a central dance house in important villages. 

House sites were excavated to a meter in depth and measured between six and 12 meters in diameter. At 

least two main oak posts were erected in the center of the depression, with a row of shorter posts on either 

side. The sides of the pit excavation were lined with wood or large slabs of bark, and roof beams were run 

from the edge of the excavation to the center posts. Large pieces of bark, branches, and leaves were placed 

on these beams, which were then covered with dirt excavated from the hole. 

Granaries were also built in and around the village. These were made by planting poles in a circle 

about a meter in diameter and twining willow between them to make a cylindrical receptacle capable of 

holding approximately one-third of a cubic meter of seeds or nuts (Dixon 1905:176). 

After subsisting largely on stored foods during the winter, people began to forage away from the 

village during the spring in pursuit of a variety of greens such as clover, sour dock, and waterleaf. Most 

importantly was the spring salmon run along the Sacramento and Feather rivers and their tributaries, 

where the fish were harvested using a variety of methods. In addition to dip nets, seines, basketry traps, 

spears, harpoons, and hook-and-line, the Konkow built simple weirs (also called guide fences) designed to 

direct fish through openings in the fence where they could then be speared. Eels and a variety of resident 

fish were also important components of the diet (Dixon 1903; Kroeber and Barret 1960). 

During summer, small seeds (particularly grasses) were harvested both for immediate 

consumption and for storage through the winter (Dixon 1905:188). Roots and bulbs were gathered with a 

digging stick and boiled, roasted, or eaten raw. Manzanita berries, available in the foothills, were stored 

for winter and used to make manzanita cider. Women and children also gathered large insects such as 

grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts (Dixon 1905:190). To gather these insects, they excavated a shallow pit 

and set the surrounding grass on fire, driving the insects into the pit where they were collected “by the 

bushel” (Dixon 1905:191). These too were dried and stored for winter use. 

Large and small game were hunted throughout the year, with deer inhabiting a wide range of 

environments, and elk and pronghorn favoring more open, grassland habitats. The acorn harvest occurred 

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during the fall, and large quantities of nuts were stored in the above-ground granaries. Dixon (1905:181) 

reports a dozen varieties of acorn harvested, with the most popular being black oak, canyon live oak, and 

interior live oak. Gray pine and sugar pine nuts were also harvested and stored at this time (Dixon 1905). 

Granaries were apparently capable of holding enough acorns to last between one and two years, facilitating 

year-round occupation of the valley floor and providing a fallback food during periods of scarcity. Salmon 

fishing again became important at this time, with large amounts caught and stored for winter use. 

Given the presence of tribelet property and distinct social boundaries, inter-group conflicts 

developed from time to time, with the Yana being a common foe. Although raiding and ambush were the 

typical forms of conflict, there were instances where multiple villages would band together for a fight. Dixon 

notes that inter-tribelet conflict included violent bouts of raiding and ambush using clubs, spears, and 

arrows: “Prisoners, if men, were usually killed...Slaves were not taken or used. As a rule, the slain were 

scalped...it is custom to torture captives of the male sex” (Dixon 1905:207). He also notes that “if a person of 

distinction were killed in an attack, and the body or head could be secured, it was tied to a pole on returning 

to the home village, and treated as described [tortured and despoiled] in the case of a live prisoner” (Dixon 

1905:207). This narrative is consistent with the four scalped and decapitated skulls found in the 

archaeological record by Hildebrandt and Kaijankoski (2011) near Hamilton City. 

Dixon (1905:201) notes that the Maidu were not particularly active traders. They are thought to have 

traded mainly with the Wintun to the west and north, acquiring beads which they then traded to tribelets in 

the eastern Sacramento Valley for salt, obsidian arrowheads, bows, raw toolstone, and pine nuts. 

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SOUTHERN CASCADE FOOTHILLS 

This zone includes portions of Pit River (Achumawi and Atsugewi) territory and most of 

traditional Yana (Northern, Central, and Southern Yana) lands. 

Achumawi and Atsugewi 

Pit River Indians have traditionally inhabited a vast area of northeastern California which 

encompasses the mountainous Pit River drainage, from southern Goose Lake all the way to Big Bend in Shasta 

County. Pit River tribes are comprised of two groups: the Achumawi, consisting of nine tribelets, and the 

Atsugewi, with two tribelets (Garth 1978; Kniffen 1928:303; Olmstead and Stewart 1978). The Achumawi and 

Atsugewi languages form the Palaihnihan family, a member of the Hokan stock; each language contains 

dialects which correspond to the tribelet divisions (Golla 2011; Olmsted 1966; Shipley 1978). 

The current study area includes only the westernmost margins of their original territory. The 

Achumawi included nine bands (Astariwawi, Kosalektawi, Hammawi, Hewisedawi, Atwamsini, Achomawi, 

Ilmawi, Itsatawi, and Madesiwi), but only the Madesiwi and parts of the Ilmawi and Itsatawi fall within the 

study area. The Atsugewi, who occupy the southern Pit River territory, consist of two bands: the Atsuge 

and the Apwaruge, with the former falling within and the latter located east of the study area. 

Traditional Achumawi territory contained great environmental diversity, ranging between 2,000 and 

14,000 feet and crosscutting vegetation communities characteristic of both California and the Great Basin. The 

western areas, which encompass the current study area, provided habitat for salmon and acorns, while steep 

waterfalls and adverse climatic conditions prevented these important resources from reaching lands to the 

east. The Achumawi subsistence-settlement system comprised a winter sedentism reliant on stored foods, 

followed by warm-season occupation of several resource procurement camps. Most winter villages among 

the western tribelets were located along the Pit River, and consisted of several large semi-subterranean 

structures, including family dwellings and ceremonial dance houses (also called sweat houses). Family 

dwellings (measuring roughly 2.5 x 4.0 meters) consisted of shallow excavations covered by a sloping roof of 

poles and bark. The larger ceremonial structures (about 6 x 9 meters) had a center post and were covered by 

posts and brush, with a final layer of soil (Kniffen 1928; Kroeber 1925; Olmsted and Stewart 1978). 

With the arrival of spring, people set out on foraging trips focusing on several types of greens 

(clover, thistles), resident fishes (pike, suckers), aquatic invertebrates (mussels, crayfish), root crops (epos, 

camas), and the spring salmon run west of Fall River. These lowland subsistence pursuits continued into 

the summer, when people began to move upslope toward foraging opportunities in the mountains. Deer 

hunting became a common activity, as was the collection of berries and small seeds, and long trips to the 

Medicine Lake highlands were taken to obtain obsidian (Kniffen 1928; Olmsted and Stewart 1978). 

Large and small game hunting appears to have intensified during the fall, including organized 

drives with the use of fire (Merriam 1926). The most important fall resources in western Achumawi territory 

were salmon and acorns. High-quality fishing areas were sometimes owned by individual or village groups 

(Kniffen 1928), and were harvested with a variety of nets (e.g., dip, gill, and seines), bone tipped harpoons, 

basketry traps, and simple weirs made from poles and brush (Dixon 1905; Kroeber 1925; Olmsted and 

Stewart 1978). 

Upon the death of an individual, the body was wrapped in a hide or net and cremated on the top 

of a pyre prepared at the regular burning place near the village; the personal belongings were also burned 

with the body (Voegelin 1942). 

The Achumawi and Atsugewi were generally on good terms with their immediate neighbors, 

sharing “hunting and gathering resources, thus insuring that when a wild crop failed in one area its 

inhabitants could always use a neighbor’s land where crops were better” (Garth 1978). They were also able 

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to trade commodities during these interactions, as well as larger gatherings when people would get 

together for festivals. Primary items of exchange included clam disk beads, dentalia, obsidian, a variety of 

textiles, and other utilitarian objects (Davis 1961). 

Occasionally, low-level conflicts would emerge where, for example, a shaman was suspected of 

poisoning someone in a neighboring village. Of much larger consequence were the regular raids by horseriding Modoc and Paiute who would capture Achumawi and Atsugewi members and either keep them as 

slaves or sell them up on the Columbia River where the major slave trading markets were located. 

Yana 

The Yana occupied the east side of the Sacramento Valley, bordering the Achumawi and Atsugewi 

to the north, the Konkow to the south, the Maidu to the east, and the Wintu and Nomlaki to the west (see 

Figure 9). Their western boundary did not quite reach the Sacramento River, as a narrow strip of land east 

of the river was controlled by the numerically superior Wintu and Nomlaki (Johnson 1978). Yana is a single 

language divided into three dialects: Northern Yana, Central Yana, and Southern Yana. Southern Yana was 

spoken in a series of subdialects, each associated with a small mobile band, including Yahi, which was 

spoken by Ishi (Golla 2011). 

Yana territory ranged between 300 and 10,000 feet in elevation and encompassed a wide range of 

habitat types. The foothills included several varieties of oaks and grasses, while the uplands were covered 

with a mixed conifer forest. Game animals, mostly deer, were quite plentiful, and salmon entered most of 

the larger streams, forming an important component of the diet. 

Similar to the Pit River peoples to the north, the Yana used a semi-sedentary adaptive strategy, 

which combined winter sedentism with relative mobility during the warmer times of the year. During 

winter, when most of the uplands were covered with snow, populations congregated in lowland villages 

and relied on stored foods. Most of the settlements were located along a narrow strip of land ranging 

between 1,000 and 2,000 feet, and included semi-subterranean earth covered structures among the 

Northern and Central Yana, and less substantial conical houses covered with cedar or pine bark in the 

south among the Southern Yana (Johnson 1978; Sapir and Spier 1943). 

Numerous tribelets existed in Yana territory. Each included a major village with a principal chief 

and large assembly house, surrounded by several smaller allied villages. Tribelets owned particular tracts 

of land among the Northern Yana, and there was private ownership of certain seed plots and fishing places 

(Johnson 1978; Gifford and Klimek 1939). Upon the death of an individual, the body was flexed and placed 

in a deep burial pit with their valuables broken and buried with them. After burial, their house and other 

possessions were burned. There is no mention of formal cemetery plots, but most accounts indicate that 

burial occurred near the village (Sapir and Spier 1943). 

Although seasonal population movements are not clearly described by Yana ethnographers, 

discussions of particular resource types provide a rough view of the probable subsistence-settlement 

strategies that were used. According to Sapir and Spier (1943:249), Yana populations were dependent on 

“hunting, fishing, and, most important of all, gathering of wild roots, seeds, berries, nuts, and other 

vegetable products.” Beginning in spring, several varieties of roots were harvested, including epos, annis 

root, camas, tiger lily, and brodiaea. 

During the spring and early summer the Yana were given permission to occupy salmon fishing 

camps along the Sacramento River within Wintu territory (Sapir and Spier 1943). Similar sites must have 

been occupied in the uplands during summer, because “during the hot summer months after the greens 

had shriveled and the seeds were spent, few food items were available below 2,500 feet” (Johnson 1978). 

Other important summer foods included trout and suckers, numerous insects, sunflower and Clarkia seeds, 

a variety of berries, and hazelnuts (Johnson 1978; Sapir and Spier 1943). 

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The acquisition and storage of acorns and salmon was a major undertaking in the fall, although 

salmon are considered a secondary resource (Johnson 1978:2364). It was customary for men to help knock 

down acorns in the foothills and then travel to the Sacramento River where they would catch and dry a 

winter’s supply of salmon. Salmon were obtained with spears, harpoons, hook and line, and small seine 

nets, but the use of weirs is not mentioned. While the men were busy fishing, women would collect the 

acorns and prepare them for storage. During the remainder of the fall and winter, populations congregated 

at winter villages, subsisting largely on stored foods (Sapir and Spier 1943). 

The Yana tended to be isolated from their neighbors and “were never on good terms with 

surrounding peoples for any length of time” (Johnson 1978:363). Most conflicts arose from poaching and 

to avenge the taking of women (Gifford and Klimek 1939), and took the form of small, tribelet- or villagelevel attacks. Sometimes multi-tribelet alliances occurred, including cases where the Northern Yana were 

paid by the Atsugewi to help fight the Wintu (Johnson 1978:363). 

Inter-group exchange was also minimized by the poor relationships with outsiders, but it did 

include obsidian and barbed arrows from the north (Shasta and Achumawi), as well as clamshell disk 

beads, magnesite cylinders, and dentalia from the south and west (Maidu, Nomlaki, and Wintu). These 

items were exchanged for baskets, buckeye fire drills, deer hides, and salt (Davis 1961; Johnson 1978). The 

limited nature of these interactions, however, is clearly evidenced by comparing the frequency of beads 

found in Nomlaki and Wintu sites, where they are plentiful, to sites in Yana territory, where they are found 

only rarely (see Prehistoric Context, page 29). 

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT (by Sharon Waechter) 

The non-native history of the planning area has been a complex continuum of events, trends, 

technological advances, demographic changes, inter-group contact and conflict, socio-economic 

development, and environmental alteration. While it can be seen as part of the larger continuum of human 

occupation in northwestern California, beginning with the first arrivals millennia ago, this latest phase of 

human history also represented an abrupt and momentous change in all aspects of human lifeways, and 

environmental alteration in the region and throughout the American West. Perhaps the biggest factor in this 

change—besides the sheer number of people entering the region—was a fundamental shift in the philosophy 

of land use. We explore this topic again in a later section of this overview. 

This history has been written many times: in diaries, journals, and newspaper accounts by those 

who witnessed the actual events; in “period” histories by professional historians who were somewhat 

removed from the events and who often introduced the social and racial biases of their times; and by 

modern authors, many of whom tend to simply repeat what has already been written, with little or no 

critical analysis. It is not our intention to write yet another version of this history. Instead, the following 

narrative is meant as a brief synthesis of those events and developments which (1) had the greatest impact 

on the social, cultural, environmental, and economic history of northwestern California, and (2) left 

historical and archaeological remains on the landscape that now fall under BLM jurisdiction and 

management. While primary research and re-analysis are beyond our scope here, we try to focus as much 

as possible on key sources, those that present actual historical or archaeological data. 

The documents reviewed for this overview draw on a variety of sources. Probably the most reliable 

of these are official maps and records (USGS topographic maps, County Assessor’s Records, company 

records, census records, etc.), especially those that have been “ground-truthed” through archaeological 

investigations; histories that are based directly on those records; and the archaeological data itself. Next are 

the period newspapers and first-person accounts, which are sometimes colored by personal biases and lapses 

of memory but otherwise provide our best view of particular events. “Official” histories, especially those 

written in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, tend to be influenced by contemporary social and 

cultural attitudes, but these are still valuable secondary sources. Tertiary sources—those that merely quote 

from or reproduce earlier works—are only marginally useful and are rarely included in this review. 

Any attempt to subdivide the non-native history of such a vast and heterogeneous area must be 

somewhat arbitrary, but some kind of organizational structure is necessary for both research and 

management purposes. The following narrative is presented largely by period, emphasizing the major 

historical events and developments in each region, particularly those that left archaeological remains on 

the landscape. Certain topics—particularly the Gold Rush and its aftermath—are applicable to all regions 

to one degree or another, and others (for instance, the Extraction Economy) span essentially the entire 

historic period. For this reason, we have not assigned specific date ranges to the various topics. 

“DISCOVERY”: EARLY SPANISH AND ENGLISH MARINERS 

It was along the coast that the non-native history of California began, first with sporadic visits by 

Spanish and English mariners and then by explorers and fur trappers from Spain, Russia, England, and the 

United States. Unfortunately, there is little evidence of these activities in the surviving archaeological 

record of the region. 

The search for a northern sea route between the Old World and the New, and for safe harbors along 

the way, became a primary objective for Spain and England within half a century after the European 

“discovery” of North America. For some 250 years, mariners from both nations traveled along the coast, 

apparently without ever making landfall in Mendocino, Humboldt, or Del Norte County. Finally, in 1775, 

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Spanish sailors under the command of Lieutenant Bruno de Heceta and Juan Ferdinand de Bodega y 

Quadra came ashore at Trinidad Head on Cape Mendocino.3 The day was Trinity Sunday, and the 

Spaniards named the bay accordingly.4 

Nixon (1966:162) states that Trinidad Bay and Cape Mendocino soon became a stopping point for 

Manila galleons sailing between Manila and Acapulco. Paterson et al. (1978:6) say that British sea captain 

George Vancouver visited the bay in 1793 but “formed a low opinion of the supposed harbor, the only one 

then known on the north coast.”5 According to Hotchkiss (1957), he referred to it as a “nook.” 

Although there are several other accounts of explorations along the far northern California coast, 

the dearth of detailed records for this period suggests that these early visitors did not venture far from 

shore or have prolonged encounters with the local native populations. The earliest such encounters north 

of Sonoma seem to have been in the Fort Ross area to the south of our study region, between the Russians 

and the Pomo people among whom they settled (e.g., Lightfoot 2005). Consequently there are no 

documented archaeological resources from this time period within the planning area. 

COMING INTO THE COUNTRY: EARLY EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION 

The early decades of the nineteenth century were a period of multi-national exploration of the 

American West, triggered in part by the Lewis and Clark expedition and by the competing interests of 

certain European powers. The first tentative explorations of the planning area were driven, like so much of 

human endeavor, by economics: what kinds of natural resources would be found there, and who would be 

the first to get rich by exploiting them? Enter the fur trading companies and explorers. 

Trappers and Explorers 

The histories of the North West Company, the Russian-American Company, and the Hudson’s Bay 

Company in northern California are well known. Leader (1928) gives an almost painfully detailed description 

of the early fur companies in California and Oregon, noting that, despite Spanish regulations, “American 

merchants were [already] trafficking for sea otter skins along the coast of California” by the late eighteenth 

century (1928:38). They came by land and by sea. Many overland parties entered from British territory to the 

north, others from American lands to the east. Some of the earliest were led by now-famous explorers like 

Peter Skein Ogden (1825-ca. 1830), Jedediah Strong Smith (1826–1828), John Work (1832–1833), and James 

Douglas (1840). All of these men left journals of their travels, now available on-line (for example, transcripts 

of Smith’s journals can be found at (http://www.mtmen.org/mtman/html/jsmith/index.html). The journals are 

perhaps most valuable for their first-hand accounts of encounters with Native groups whose traditional 

lifeways had not yet been completely disrupted. The entries suggest that local tribes were variously curious, 

hostile, or afraid of the outsiders. 

The Northern California Coast 

Within two years of Lewis and Clark’s famed explorations, fur trading companies were landing at 

Humboldt Bay. In an atlas and explanatory volume compiled by a Russian named Tebenkof in 1848, credit 

for the “discovery” of Humboldt Bay is given to Captain Johnathan Winship, “an American, in an American 

vessel, with an American crew—but all...temporarily in the service of the Russian American Company” 

3 Some authors have argued for a much earlier discovery of the Humboldt Coast by British mariner Francis Drake. 

Paterson et al. (1978:5) name Bodega as the discoverer of Trinidad Bay; they do not mention Heceta at all. 

4 Diary excerpts from Heceta and several other early mariners are recounted at length by Heizer and Mills (1952). 

5 Paterson et al. (1978) draws heavily from official maps and records, and is considered here to be a reliable source of 

“first-hand” information on the histories of Humboldt, Mendocino, and western Trinity Counties. 

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(Irvine 1915:26).6 Historian and geographer George Davidson, reading the same atlas, cites part of the text: 

“[a]ccording to the Colonial Documents of the Russian American Company, it appears that [the bay] was 

discovered by citizens of the United States. In 1806 there was in it (an American vessel) under the command 

of (Jonathan) Winship” and a party of Aleut sea otter hunters (Hotchkiss 1957:31).7 Within a decade, the 

fur trappers had greatly diminished the sea otter population on the coast, and the Russian-American 

Company withdrew, leaving the region to the British and American trappers. While it is not mentioned in 

most histories, the loss of sea otters also must have deprived the region’s Native populations of an 

important source of food and pelts. 

Paterson et al. (1978:6–7), citing Coy (1929), provide the following information on early Native/nonnative encounters during this period: 

In 1803 the American ship Lelia Byrd under the command of Captain William Shaler arrived 

at Trinidad Bay after a voyage from Canton...The ship and the work parties attracted the 

attention of the local Indians[,] who came to observe the proceedings in a civil manner. As 

more and more Indians arrived, however, the tone of the gathering became more 

ominous...No violence erupted despite the tense situation and the Lelia Byrd sailed away 

to the south. 

Hotchkiss (1957:29) describes this “tense situation” in a bit more detail: 

Trade was started with the Indians[,] who at first appeared to be quite civil, but as their 

numbers increased, they became more troublesome. Distribution of presents restored some 

harmony, but as they were gradually augmented by reinforcements from neighboring 

tribes, the situation became so critical that all the work on repairs had to be done under the 

protection of the guns. 

We know that trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith also visited the North Coast during his travels 

in northern California: on May 6, 1826, he wrote that he had encountered “the noblest trees I had ever 

seen[,] being 12 or 15 feet in diameter[,] tall straight & handsome.” Smith also noted that the party had 

killed several elk, and that they camped that night in sight of the ocean. These explorers may have been the 

first American citizens to stand among the giant coastal redwoods of northwestern California. 

The Northern Interior 

The standard wisdom is that the overland parties of trappers and explorers who traveled into 

northern California in the 1820s and 1830s were the first non-native people to visit the interior of the state. 

Both Peter Ogden and Jedediah Smith traveled through the upper Sacramento Valley and into the Trinity 

country in the 1820s. In February 1827, Ogden reportedly camped among the “Sastise” or Shasta (Leader 

1928:14–15). 

Smith describes his travels along what he called the “Buenaventura River,” trapping beaver and 

hunting elk along the way. He and his party were almost certainly traveling along the Sacramento River: 

in his journal entry of December 26, he reports that “It was the instruction of the Genl to Don Lewis that I 

should cross the Buenaventura River near its entrance into the Bay of St. Francisco.” The party traveled up 

the river in rainy weather, crossing muddy “Slous” and encountering several “indian villages” and “dirt 

lodges.” In April and May 1828, Smith and his party ventured through southern Trinity County near 

Hyampom. By that time Smith had exchanged the fur trade for the horse trade, driving some 300 horses 

6 Irvine provides a lengthy and detailed discussion of early exploration along the coast, with many anecdotes (but few 

references). 

7 This apparently was the last recorded vessel to enter Humboldt Bay until 1850. The bay was “rediscovered” from 

inland by the Gregg-Wood Party in December of 1849. 

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up the Sacramento Valley and west through a low gap in the coast ranges west of Red Bluff: “His route 

probably followed Hayfork Creek from the present location of Wildwood to the South Fork of the Trinity 

River to the Klamath River” (Paterson et al. 1978:8). 

Leader (1928) describes John Work’s party of trappers in the Feather, and possibly Yuba, River 

areas. (Although several of Work’s journals are available on-line, his account of the expedition into the 

Sacramento Valley is not one of them.) There were so few non-native settlements in the region at that time 

(1832–1833) that some of the trappers had to go all the way to Colony Ross on the Sonoma coast to buy 

ammunition. Northern California was still a wide-open frontier—if you conveniently overlooked the fact 

that Indian people inhabited every part of it, and had done so for millennia. 

The Rush for Territory 

By the time the first white explorers entered the study region, the southwestern part of “Alta 

California” had already been under Spanish rule for several decades, as part of an expansionist plan “for 

missionaries to establish missions and civilize the Indians, but also for soldiers to found frontier outposts 

and settlers to start farming communities” (Robinson 1948:33). This grand plan was foiled by Mexican 

independence in 1821. By the time Ogden entered the north state in 1825, California was part of the newly 

independent “empire” of Mexico, whose colonial government was understandably hostile toward the 

British, Russian, and American incursions. Smith’s journal entries describe the “welcome” he received from 

missionaries at Mission San José (“St. Joseph”): 

They did not appear disposed to hear me, and told me I could go no further and soon 

showed me the way to the guard house. My horses were [taken] away and for two days I 

could get no satisfaction whatever. They would neither put me in close confinement nor 

set me at liberty. No provision whatever was made for my subsistence... 

...Finally Lieut. Martinos came up from St. Francisco. After a little conversation with him 

I found I was to be tried for an intruder...[Smith’s Journal of His Second Expedition to 

California, 13 Jul 1827 – 3 Jul 1828]. 

The lack of hospitality was not limited to the Spanish and Mexican authorities, either. According 

to the journals of John Work, the Russians at Colony Ross would not sell him as much ammunition as he 

requested, and they charged him “high prices for an inadequate supply of powder, lead, and tobacco” 

(Leader 1928:97). They also warned him that there were “no beaver in the few small rivers” along the coast, 

in order to “discourage any encroachment on their preserves.” For his part, Johann Sutter wrote to the 

Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, forbidding them to send trappers into his “Tularies.” 

Apparently his letter was ignored (Leader 1928:102). The European settlers and Mexican authorities were 

right to be worried: by the early 1840s the first emigrant wagons were rolling into northern California via 

the Siskiyou, Yreka, Nobles, Applegate/Lassen, and other trails.8 The race for territory was on. 

Mexican Land Grants 

Agriculture began in this region even before the Gold Rush, with the Mexican land grants awarded 

to a number of early settlers. The young Mexican government began accepting private applications for 

grants of land under the jurisdiction of the pueblos and presidios. While the majority of these grants were 

made in central and southern California, in 1844 and 1845, Governors Manuel Micheltorena and Pio Pico 

granted nearly 300,000 acres in Shasta, Tehama, Butte, and Colusa Counties alone to American or EuroAmerican settlers (http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/collections/ussg/index-us-surveyor-general-maps/). 

8 Rose et al. (2010), Sullivan et al. (2005), Tveskov et al. (2001), and Wilson (1998) provide archaeological information 

on some of these trails. 

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Many of these, the northern-most Mexican grants in California, clustered along both banks of the upper 

Sacramento River (Smith 1997:7–10). The northernmost of all California ranchos was Rancho de Buenaventura 

(sometimes written as Buena Ventura), a three-mile-wide swath of land stretching for 19 miles along the 

west side of the Sacramento River from Cottonwood Creek northward beyond what is now the city of 

Redding, granted to P. B Reading in 1844 (further evidence that Smith’s “Buenaventura” river was actually 

the Sacramento). These ranchos were typically made up of the most fertile and desirable lands. Maps 

(diseños) are available for many of these grants, including Buenaventura, but they lack detail and are not to 

scale, so they are of limited value for historical or archaeological study. 

A recent study by Greg White (2015) of John Bidwell’s Rancho Chico provides a wealth of 

photographs and primary information on another of the northern California ranchos. White summarizes 

the development and layout of the rancho headquarters, and the archaeological evidence that has been 

uncovered there over the years. He also describes Bidwell’s relationships with the native Konkow people, 

including his use of Indian labor on the rancho (and the fact that “Indian attacks” burned his operation to 

the ground in 1851). Other studies have also provided information on the early ranchos: Treganza (1957) 

performed test excavations and architectural details on Ide’s Adobe near Red Bluff and, more recently, 

Shasta College has been excavating in Vina, searching for Peter Lassen’s second adobe. 

Summary 

As with the previous period, the events of the first half of the nineteenth century in northwestern 

California left little in the way of archaeological remains. In general, the 1830s and early 1840s was a time 

when “Yankees in California still remained but a small handful...a tightly-knit community of traders and 

seafarers, despite their wide dispersal up and down the coast” (Hawgood 1958:27). The early trappers were 

followed in the 1840s by settlers encouraged to emigrate to the far west in response to federal land policies, 

such as the Preemption Act of1841, which encouraged the transfer of lands from the public to the private 

domain (Moratto et al. 1994). During this period the US became interested in annexation of California and 

sent “scientific expeditions” to the Pacific Coast, beginning in 1841 with US Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes 

(Martin et al. 1981:12). Even so, until 1846 Alta California remained primarily a Mexican territory, and most 

of the population was of Mexican, Spanish, or Native American ancestry. 

THE WORLD RUSHES IN: THE GOLD RUSH AND WESTERN EXPANSION 

This period was, without a doubt, the defining era in the history of northwestern California. 

Growing tensions between the Mexicans, Russians, British, and Americans over ownership of Alta 

California (and events in Texas) led ultimately to the US declaring war on Mexico in May 1846. The war 

lasted less than two years, and in 1848 Mexico ceded more than half a million square miles of western 

territory to the United States. While this added significantly to the size of the US, it was overshadowed by 

another event that would affect not only California but the entire country: the discovery of gold. The events 

that took place after that discovery would truncate the development of Native society, throw multiple 

ethnic and racial groups together in one relatively small area, and unleashed a storm of economic rivalries 

and environmental changes that would affect California up to the present-day. 

In other words, the Gold Rush was about much more than just mining. It changed every aspect of 

northern California: the social, cultural, and ethnic makeup; philosophies of land use and ownership; 

hydrology and vegetation patterns; governmental legislation; even the physical landscape itself. To 

investigate “Mining” as a theme unto itself is to over-simplify this complex web of relationships and 

interactions. As Selverston et al. (2005:147) found in their study of mining in the Oroville district, “The sites 

do not fit into tidy thematic packets, as many of them represent more than one theme.” They go on to say 

that “[m]any of the resources discovered are strongly related to more than one expected historical theme, 

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creating a mosaic of interrelated parts of a complex past” (2005:191). In this overview we attempt to present 

historic mining as part of that mosaic: we consider the discovery of gold as an impetus for western 

expansion, mining as part of the Euro-American economic mindset of resource extraction, and the major 

demographic and technological changes that gold mining brought to the north state. 

The Discoveries 

Every school child in California learns that gold was discovered at Johann Sutter’s sawmill on the 

American River in Coloma, El Dorado County, in 1848, and that the central Sierra Nevada foothills held the 

“Mother Lode” of gold-bearing quartz veins. (There were earlier discoveries in southern California by the 

Spanish, and no doubt Native Americans were aware of its presence). But this was only the first of many such 

discoveries, and only one of several gold-rich areas. Clark (1970:Figure 2) provides a coarse-grained map of 

the two largest and richest gold-bearing regions of California: the “Sierra Nevada Province,” including a wide 

swath of foothills and lower mountains from Plumas and Butte Counties on the north to Fresno County on 

the south; and what he calls the “Klamath River Province,” taking in all of northern Del Norte, western 

Siskiyou, northeastern Trinity, and far western Shasta Counties. It is easy to recognize where gold mining 

had the biggest impact, and why, when we look at a more-detailed adaptation of Clark’s map (Figure 14). 

Eastern Butte County, for instance, lies at the northwestern-most tip of the Sierra Nevada province, and—not 

coincidentally—the Oroville District produced more gold ($55 million) than any other single mining district 

in the planning area (Clark 1970:Table 6). Even more impressive, however, was the Klamath Mountains 

geomorphic province. Smith (1995:1) tells us, for example, that the Trinity region was “[t]he second highest 

gold producing area of California.” It was the placer deposits along the Trinity and Klamath River drainages 

that produced the most gold overall. It has been estimated that (as of 1970) $35 million worth of gold had 

been mined from the Trinity River placers alone (Clark 1970). 

“Ho! For the Trinity!”9 

Trinity and neighboring areas of Shasta and Tehama Counties saw some of the earliest gold mining 

activity outside the Mother Lode region; Beason and Wee (in Byrd et al. 2008) provide an excellent 

summary of this activity. In their study of the Horsetown Mining Complex, Vaughan and Ritter (1992) 

relate the well-known story of how fur trapper and explorer-turned Army paymaster Pearson B. Reading 

and his Indian laborers discovered gold at what would become Readings Bar on Clear Creek, near Douglas 

City, in July 1848. Petersen (1965:22; cited in Vaughan and Ritter 1992) says that the Clear Creek district 

became the most important gold mining district in Shasta County, bringing would-be miners over the 

Lassen Trail to the Clear Creek Diggings (later One Horse Town and then Horsetown). “On an 1851 map 

of California, Shasta and One Horse Town were the only towns [depicted] in northern California” at that 

time (Vaughan and Ritter 1992:7). Before long, however, the region would be overrun by placer miners, 

forcing the Native peoples to abandon their villages along the creeks and rivers. 

Forks of the Feather River 

In the Sierra Nevada foothills of Butte County, the first gold panning on the Feather River took 

place just months after the “discovery of gold by Euroamericans on the American River” (Selverston et al. 

2011:3-2, 3-10), when early settler and rancho owner John Bidwell found placer gold on a bend of the river 

in March 1848. He made a second discovery farther upriver, at what would become the town of Bidwell 

Bar (now inundated by Lake Oroville). Soon the area was swarming with miners, as nearly 2,000 of them 

moved in: “wherever the eye wandered on the slopes and ravines close to the edge of the river, tents were 

9 Alta California newspaper, April 10, 1850. 

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Igo 

Ono 

Jelly 

Dodge 

Gilta 

Hoopa Denny 

Orick 

Yreka 

Seiad 

Inskip 

Concow 

Bangor 

Honcut 

Shasta 

Helena 

Salyer 

Humbug 

Magalia 

Redding 

Platina 

Hayfork 

Snowden 

Liberty 

Dedrick 

Big Bar 

Orleans 

Oak Bar 

Hamburg 

Hurleton 

Merrimac 

Cherokee 

Oroville 

Lewiston 

Oro Fino 

Dorleska 

Callahan 

Wyandotte 

Gas Point 

Dog Creek 

Carrville 

New River 

East Fork 

Weitchpec 

Somes Bar 

Hornbrook 

Gottville 

Scott Bar 

Forbestown 

Sawyer Bar 

Cecilville 

Happy Camp 

Monumental 

Bidwell Bar 

Yankee Hill 

Butte Creek 

Centerville 

Clear Creek 

Whiskeytown 

Bully Choop 

Weaverville 

Stuart Fork 

Minersville 

Knownothing 

Burnt Ranch 

Smith River 

Polk Springs 

French Gulch 

Douglas City 

Coffee Creek 

Willow Creek 

Indian Creek 

Dillon Creek 

Clipper Mills 

Junction City 

Eastman Gulch 

Cottage Grove 

Crescent City 

Harrison Gulch 

Trinity Center 

Island Mountain 

Forks of Salmon 

Deadwood (Shasta Co.) 

Deadwood (Siskiyou Co.) 

Cottonwood (Siskiyou Co.) 

Cottonwood (Shasta/Tehama Co.) 

Canyon Creek 

Gazelle 

Fools Paradise 

Old Diggings 

Backbone 

Kimshew 

Morris Ravine 

0 10 20 Miles !

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Mining Districts (After Clark 1970) 

Gold-Bearing Areas 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 117 

Figure 14. Mining Districts (after Clark 1970). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pitched” (Gerstaecker 1946:162, cited in Selverston et al. 2011:3-10). Many of these newcomers arrived from 

Oregon Territory, as reflected in the names of several mining areas on the Feather River: Oregon Gulch, 

Oregon Gulch Creek, Oregon Bar. The first several years of the Gold Rush in this area “experienced 

sustained and intensive placer gold mining made possible by a large and diverse influx of miners into the 

state, and rapid advances in simple placer technology” (Selverston et al. 2011:3-9). We summarize those 

technological developments later in this overview. 

On the North Coast 

The discovery of gold had a more indirect effect on the coastal region. Although there was a shortlived “rush” at Gold Bluffs, where gold existed in the sands on the beach, no one was ever able to find a 

practical, cost-effective way to separate it out. Instead, the mining “pay dirt” for early Coast Range towns 

like Trinidad, Union (now Arcata), and Eureka were as entry points and supply centers for the Trinity and 

Klamath River mines (Paterson et al. 1978). By 1852 Union/Arcata led the trade, bringing in more than half 

a million dollars in 1855 alone. 

Reading’s naming of the Trinity River, on the mistaken belief (based on early Spanish navigation 

charts) that it flowed into Trinidad Bay on the north coast, led to a search for a coastal route to the river. In 

1848, the first ships began to arrive in Humboldt and Trinidad Bays in nearly half a century: Bailey (2008:13) 

reports that, because of the rugged terrain bordering Shasta County to the east, “most of the miners arrived 

at the isolated Trinity River gold fields from San Francisco via Trinidad Bay and Eureka.” This opened up 

pack trails that ran overland to the mouth of the Trinity River and then up the Klamath, over the Bald Hills, 

or directly east to Weaverville. These trails also carried supplies from the ships to the mines. For a time, 

steamboats traveled from San Francisco Bay up the Sacramento River, mainly as far as Red Bluf but on 

several occasions as far as the vicinity of Redding, giving miners and their suppliers another way of 

accessing the rugged mountains region. 

In the Klamath/Siskiyou Mountains 

Once it was discovered that it was the Klamath River, not the Trinity, that flowed to the ocean, 

many miners followed it into the interior—despite the opinion of at least one early individual that “[t]he 

treacherousness of the entrance to the river, owing to the shifting channel at its mouth...finally forced 

conviction on the most sanguine that the Klamath River was not a practicable line of communication with 

the mines of the interior” (Van Dyke 1891). Undoubtedly the many Native tribes along the river were even 

less pleased to see it used as a travel route for the would-be miners. 

The first mining in the Klamath River region reportedly was conducted by Lindsay Applegate, who 

traveled south from Jacksonville, Oregon, in 1849 to mine along Beaver Creek and the Klamath and Scott 

Rivers (Wells 1881:53). By June of the following year, prospectors from the Trinity River had crossed the 

Salmon-Trinity Alps and found gold in the Klamath/Siskiyou region. Within a year, the “northern mines” 

were drawing prospectors from all corners of the earth. Without roads, they traveled by foot or mule train, 

staying for only a short time in any one place (Fiorini-Jenner and Hall 2002:8). The Klamath River Gold Rush 

came principally in 1852, however, when 500 to 1,000 miners were working near its junction with the Salmon 

River. Three of the first mining camps in the area were Cottage Grove, Cottonwood (Henley), and Happy 

Camp; only the latter still exists as a settlement (Waechter and Marvin 2011). 

Although some placer mining took place along the Scott and Shasta Rivers, the mountainous region 

of the Upper Klamath River did not see the kind of large-scale mining boom that would transform areas like 

the Trinity basin or the Sierran foothills. Beckham (2006:4) says that “[t]he Upper Klamath River Canyon 

yielded no useful mineral deposits,” and that placer mining on the Klamath did not extend above the mouth 

of the Shasta River. Most of the miners eventually departed for other regions after the easily accessible gold 

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was depleted, while others died penniless and destitute. A few settled in the valleys, meadows, and along the 

edges of the rivers, some to ranch and others to log the vast stands of timber in the steep riverine canyons. 

Summary 

More than any other historic-era activity, mining left its mark on the landscape as archaeological 

sites and features: prospect pits, ditches and flumes, adits, shafts, placer tailings, dredger tailing fields, 

hydraulicked hillsides, miners’ camps, and settlements. Many mining camps and supply centers evolved 

into permanent settlements. Of the recorded historic-era components in the planning area, nearly 40% can 

be directly linked to mining; if we omit the indeterminate components, the total rises to 52% (see ahead to 

Table 20, page 202). No doubt this is due to the sheer scale of mining in northern California, the 

conspicuousness of the archaeological remains left by mining, and the enduring nature of these remains. 

Sometimes less obvious, but no less significant, are the social and economic effects mining has had on the 

development of the state. We return to this topic in a later section. 

PUBLIC DOMAIN: THE HOMESTEADING ERA 

The discovery of gold in several areas of northern California brought the region keenly to the 

attention of the US government. In November 1848, President James K. Polk “pronounced that economic 

opportunity in California would allow the US to compete with Great Britain, the dominant global power” 

of the time (Selverston et al. 2011:3-9). After California was granted statehood in 1850, many in the US 

government began to push for the opening of western lands to independent farmers. Southern politicians, 

however, feared that western farmers would compete with southern plantations for the agricultural 

market, and would lead to the creation of more anti-slavery states. It was not until the South ceded from 

the Union at the start of the Civil War that Congress was able to pass the first Homestead Act, in 1862. 

Ultimately there would be nearly 10.5 million acres of Homestead Act lands granted in California alone 

(https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/statenumbers.htm). 

The Homestead Act Opens the West 

Although there were certainly thousands of acres under cultivation and livestock grazing in the 

planning area before that time, the Homestead Act created the next big influx of settlers to California. It 

offered “unoccupied” land to any US citizen who was willing to settle on the land and farm it for at least 

five years. With this opening of public lands to private ownership came the need for cadastral surveys to 

identify property boundaries; enter the General Land Office, first established in 1812 and now of critical 

importance in the implementation of the Homestead Act (Crazier n.d.; White 1982). 

Not all of the claims were legitimate, though: it was common practice for eligible children of large 

families to file separate (but adjacent) claims, locking up large areas of land; mining and lumber companies 

sometimes did the same. Some, though certainly not all, of the large family landholdings in California today 

originated from these fraudulent practices. 

Another impetus for the growing number of farmers and ranchers in 1860s California was the fact 

that they could sell much of their production to mining camps, for up to 10 times the pre-boom rates. Sheep 

and cattle production in many areas doubled during this period, to meet the miners’ increasing desire for 

fresh meat and dairy products (e.g., Moratto et al. 1994). The extensive networks of mining ditches built in 

the 1850s–1860s also provided irrigation water for the early farmers and ranchers in and near the mining 

regions, further encouraging settlement there. 

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The Birth of California Agriculture 

While agriculture in California actually began in the late eighteenth century with the Franciscan 

missions, it was the US government’s forced relocation of Native people from their ancestral territories in 

northwestern California that opened that region to large-scale agriculture. In the North Coast Ranges, the 

1860s saw the expansion of small farms and dairies into the fertile valleys and prairie lands of Humboldt 

and Mendocino Counties, especially along the Eel, Bear, and Mattole Rivers. Maniery and Millett (2008:6) 

also mention settlers along the Smith River in Del Norte County who “planted fruits, raised cattle, sheep, 

and chickens, sold butter, and lived a self-sufficient life.” Paterson et al. (1978:16) describe an expansion 

outward from the “coastal enclaves” like Humboldt Bay and the heavily cultivated regions of southern 

Mendocino and northern Sonoma Counties, into more hinterland areas. 

But stock raising was the main agricultural activity for much of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, 

as cattle and sheep ranchers expanded into the upland prairies and mountains east of the redwood belt. In the 

nineteenth century, ranchers had essentially free and unregulated access to grazing lands. Although small 

family farms and dairies were the norm in the early years, a few large ranching operations were established, 

notably George White’s vast holdings in Mendocino County, Townsend and Cary’s Eden Valley Ranch south 

of Covelo, and the 250,000-acre Russ family dairy and stock ranches in Humboldt County.10 Ranching also 

stimulated other, related businesses like tanneries, creameries, and woolen mills. 

The “opening” of the west was slower in some areas than in others. In the Klamath and Siskiyou 

mountains, the first homesteaders lived largely off the local wildlife—black-tail and mule deer, rabbits, 

salmon and trout. Gradually they established small farms in Butte, Shasta, Pleasant, and other valleys, and 

on benches along the rivers, but the lack of good roads or other means of transport largely cut them off 

from outside markets. The rugged landscape and lack of developed transportation systems kept the 

agricultural industry small and local, with subsistence crops like grains, potatoes, and livestock the primary 

commodities. Small orchards sprang up as well.11 Without good roads, however, produce could not be 

transported very far. Cattle (and to a lesser degree, sheep) became a primary agricultural product, for the 

simple fact that they could literally walk themselves to market (Beckham 2006:83). 

In the upper Sacramento Valley, farming and ranching were already well established by the 

Homesteading era: the 300,000 acres of rancho lands in Butte, Tehama, and Shasta Counties had been under 

cultivation and grazing for nearly two decades. For example, White (2015:15) notes that John Bidwell had 

“shift[ed] his focus to agriculture and merchandise to provision the growing immigrant population of 

California” during the Gold Rush, and that by 1857, Bidwell “had 350 acres under cultivation, supporting 

a diverse array of tree and row crops (The California Farmer 1857). His ranching and farming enterprises 

grew and diversified steadily through 1868.” The lands along the Sacramento River comprised some of the 

most fertile ground in the world, and by the late nineteenth century had been planted in fruit and nut 

orchards, grape vines, and fields of strawberries.12 Several small agricultural communities sprang up along 

the river, including the Saron Fruit Colony (formerly Jelly’s Farm) and the Bend Colony. Today the valley 

remains one of the prime agricultural regions in the world. 

10 Paterson et al. (1978:44) cite the S. B. Fountain Papers (n.d.) as listing the Russ holdings at 50,000 acres; Irvine 

(1915:471) lists them at 250,000 acres. The Fountain Papers may be referring to an earlier period and/or only a part of 

the vast Russ family enterprise. 

11 Remnants of some of these early orchards can still be seen; see, for example, BLM (2006). 

12 Additional information on regional agriculture can be found in Smith (1997), who provides a discussion of historicera livestock ranching in western Tehama County, and in Bevill and Nilsson (2001), who summarize the agricultural 

history of western Shasta County. 

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The Environmental Effects of Agriculture 

Eventually farming and ranching (particularly overgrazing) would contribute to dramatic changes 

in grassland plant species in many areas (e.g., Keter 1989, 1990), and the fenced-range system increasingly cut 

off the Native inhabitants from their traditional hunting and gathering grounds. As with mining and logging, 

the scale of environmental change brought on by Euro-American agriculture in northern California was 

immeasurable. Within a few generations, native plants were largely replaced by grains, orchards, and row 

crops—even by introduced weed species such as star thistle, Russian thistle, and “wild” oat. Plowing of open 

prairie lands and clearing of trees for farming left only remnants of native grasslands and gallery forests. 

Grazing took its toll as well: in his Early California Reminiscences, John Bidwell (cited in White 

2015:14) wrote that it was “not easy to conceive and understand the change in the condition of the country 

caused by the extensive pasture of horses and cattle on these [upper Sacramento Valley] plains.” Even 

greater changes were to follow, however, with the development of large-scale water management systems 

in the early twentieth century (see ahead to Transportation and Water Development, page 148). By the early 

twentieth century, federal land management agencies would begin to regulate grazing and other activities 

on public lands, but by that time much environmental damage had already been done. 

NATIVE RESISTANCE AND THE INDIAN WARS 

The Homestead Act and the resulting flood of settlers to northwestern California worsened an already 

grim reality for the Indian peoples living here. Almost as soon as the first explorers had entered the region, 

tensions arose between them and the Native populations. There is little information on these early encounters 

from the Native point of view (one exception being Norton 1979, cited by Keter [1990]), but it is clear from the 

diaries of some traders and explorers, cited above under that heading, that they considered the “Indians” to be 

troublesome, at best. As is typical when two such disparate cultures meet (and vie for the same territory), 

curiosity developed into suspicion, suspicion into animosity, and animosity into violence. 

The period between 1853 and 1865 was particularly violent: “The massacres and upheaval of the 

1850s are referred to by many Indian people as the Holocaust (Tushingham 2013:25). Multiple massacres 

of Native people took place across northwestern California, including the 1859–1860 “Mendocino War” 

that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Yuki and other Indian people in the Round Valley vicinity 

(Baumgardner 2006; Carranco and Beard 1981); the 1860 massacre of nearly an entire Wyot village on 

Tuluwat (Gunther) Island in Humboldt Bay (Tiley and Tushingham 2011); the near-annihilation of almost 

the entire Sinkyone tribe at Needle Rock on the Mendocino Coast (Margolin 1981); and equally tragic events 

at Burnt Ranch on the Trinity River, Bloody Island in Clear Lake, and countless other locations. In the words 

of one California author: 

Supported by a community fearful of the “Indian menace” and greedy for Indian land, 

legitimized by newspapers that extolled the “manifest destiny” of the white race, groups 

of men throughout northwestern California formed “volunteer armies” that swooped 

down upon Indian villages, killing men, women and children indiscriminately. After such 

raids the men—often a ragtag troupe of unemployed miners—would present expense 

vouchers to the state and federal governments for actions against “hostile Indians.” In 1851 

and 1852 California authorized over $1 million for such excursions. It was nothing short of 

subsidized murder [Margolin 1981:165–166]. 

As Adkins notes, the “core of the conflicts” was the fact that the two cultures “held a wholly different 

approach to resource use” (2007:72): [w]arfare, a severe reduction in population, and confinement to 

reservations removed the Indians as an obstacle to the process of Euro-American settlement. The way was 

opened for the unbridled development of the resources of northwestern California...” Miners and loggers 

were indifferent to the erosion and subsequent siltation of fishing streams, settlers and ranchers felt that they 

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“owned” the land that had formerly been open to all, and increasingly fenced Native people off from their 

traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering grounds. Retaliations by Native people raised panic among whites, 

who lobbied for protection from the military. As a result, no fewer than 13 US military forts were established 

in northwestern California between 1850 and 1865 (Table 2). The first three forts were established in the 

interior (Siskiyou, Shasta, and Tehama Counties), with the rest in the North Coast Ranges and Klamath 

Mountains. The US Army and (during the Civil War) the California Volunteers, often assisted by local 

ranchers and settlers, “launched incessant attacks from these camps, driving Indians from their exposed 

villages and forcing them to take refuge higher in the mountains” (Wee 1980:50). 

Table 2. Military Forts in the Planning Area. 

NAME REGION (LOCATION) DATES 

Fort Jones Upper Klamath (Central Siskiyou County) 1850–1858 

Fort Reading Upper Sacramento Valley (Anderson) 1852–1867 

Fort Vose Upper Sacramento Valley (Nome Lackee Indian Reservation, Tehama County) 1855–1858 

Fort Ter Waw North Coast Ranges (Del Norte County) 1857–1862 

Fort Gaston Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges (Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation) 1858–1892 

Fort Seward Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges (Eel River) 1861–1862 

Fort Baker North Coast Ranges/Klamath Mountains (Humboldt County) 1862–1865 

Fort Wright Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges (Round Valley) 1862–1866 

Fort Anderson North Coast Ranges (Redwood Creek) 1862–1866 

Camp Lincoln North Coast Ranges (Del Norte County) 1862–1869 

Camp Grant North Coast Ranges (Weott) 1863–1865 

Fort Iaqua North Coast Ranges (Humboldt County) 1863–1866 

Fort Humboldt North Coast Ranges (Eureka) 1863–1867 

Keter (1990:2) provides an example of this forced exodus, during what he calls the Refuge Period 

in the North Fork Eel River Basin, from 1854 to 1864—a period when “nearly the entire aboriginal 

population of the region either died of disease [or] were killed, sold into indentured servitude, or removed 

to reservations.” Unique among scholarly works about this era, Keter’s study also looks at the “relatively 

rapid, irreversible, and significant changes to the environment” that have occurred since (and in large part 

because of) the land-use practices and attitudes of the Euro-Americans who occupied the area—in 

particular the ways that livestock overgrazing depleted the native perennial bunchgrasses and forbs and 

caused general deterioration of the native vegetation (1990:16–21). 

Another very interesting aspect of Keter’s study is his discussion of the archaeological signature of 

refuge sites. This topic has been explored in other regions as well, including the North Coast Ranges (Tamez 

1981), the American Southwest (LeBlanc 1999), and northeastern California (Waechter 2002). LeBlanc’s “social 

conflict” model states that sudden, major shifts in settlement, especially from open and easily accessible 

habitats to remote or hidden places with more difficult access, likely reflects mounting inter-group hostilities. 

Waechter (2002:62) explains that, “[d]uring periods of population/resource imbalance, social and ethnic 

conflicts are almost inevitable—particularly when the imbalance is caused by an influx of new people into an 

already occupied area.” The archaeological signatures of refuge can include habitation sites in remote and 

inaccessible locations, unusually large caches of weaponry, and living areas that are obscured behind screens 

of rock and/or vegetation and invisible from a distance (but with a good outward line of sight). Where such 

sites include historic-era artifacts, including obsidian with hydration readings of less than 1.0 micron, it is 

entirely possible that they were occupied by Native people escaping the US Army, volunteer militia, or hostile 

settlers (see above under Prehistoric and Ethnohistoric Archaeology Contact Period). 

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While there were murders and other atrocities on both sides, it is clear from the diaries, letters, and 

histories written by Euro-Americans that many of them considered the Native people to be less than fully 

human. This attitude persisted for two hundred years, partly as a rationalization, no doubt, for the 

annihilation of thousands of Native people and the theft of their lands. The bigotry is clear, even in socalled scholarly writings, in such phrases as “the prowling and treacherous Indians” and “savages” 

(Bledsoe 1881:8–9). As recently as 1957, Hotchkiss wrote about “tribes of the most primitive types of Indians 

whose menacing tactics plagued the white man from the earliest time of discovery” (1957:6). Little wonder 

that many Native people today still feel animosity toward Euro-Americans. 

THE EXTRACTION ECONOMY 

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the “wholly different approach to resource use” (Adkins 

2007:72) that characterized European and Euro-American activities in California would change not only the 

economic landscape but the physical one as well. At the risk of resurrecting the myth of the “noble savage,” 

it is fair to say that Native peoples tended to view the land and its resources as things to be used but also 

respected and left unspoiled. Non-natives, on the other hand, came from a very different tradition. Adkins 

(2007:12) expresses it this way: “The Euro-American world view held that the natural resources in the region 

were commodities available for exploitation within a free market system. By the 1850s, this non-indigenous 

world view had reached every corner of California and the West.” For our study region, these “commodities” 

were primarily gold and other minerals, timber, agricultural land, and—necessary to all—water. 

Gold and Copper Mining 

Since gold was the first commodity to see large-scale extraction in northwestern California, let us 

begin there. We have already described the various discoveries across the region in 1848–1849, and the 

subsequent tidal wave of immigration. What followed this initial period of discovery were demographic, 

environmental, and technological transformations on an unprecedented scale. 

Changing Demographics 

Beginning in 1848, the relatively small population of mostly Native Americans, Mexican nationals, 

and a few Europeans and Euro-Americans in northern California was besieged by gold seekers and 

adventurers. Native people who had managed to survive the original onslaught of foreigners now faced 

overwhelming odds, and—ironically—rancho owners like Johann Sutter and John Bidwell found 

themselves having to defend their property rights against squatters. The demographics of California 

transformed virtually overnight. 

Census records for the Gold Rush period in the planning area are, unfortunately, limited and 

incomplete (Table 3). Only four of the counties in the planning area had been established by the time of the 

1850 federal census, and even in those four counties, the numbers almost certainly do not include Native 

Americans or Asians. The data are useful, then, only in revealing the dramatic increase in European and 

Euro-American population during the first two full decades after the gold discovery. From 1850 to 1860, 

the four counties for which we have census data increased in non-native population by at least 68%; in 

Mendocino County it was nearly 100%. 

Surprisingly, the following decade (1860–1870) saw a decrease in population in six of the nine 

counties. While the populations of the Coast Range counties continued to increase, every other region 

experienced a loss in European/Euro-American inhabitants—most notably Trinity County, which lost more 

than a third of its white population. The six counties with a loss in population are also the ones that were 

most directly and intensively impacted by the Gold Rush. This suggests that the census data reflect the 

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Table 3. US Census Data, 1850–1870. 

COUNTY 

INCORPORATION 

DATE JUNE 1, 1850 JUNE 1, 1860 10-YEAR 

INCREASE JUNE 1, 1870 10-YEAR INCREASE 

Butte 1850 3,574 12,106 70.5% 11,403 -5.8% 

Mendocino a 1850 55 3,967 98.6% 7,545 90.2% 

Shasta a 1850 378 4,360 91.3% 4,173 -4.3% 

Trinity 1850 1,635 5,125 68.1% 3,213 -37.3% 

Klamath 1851 (abolished 1875) n/a 1,803 - 1,686 -6.5% 

Siskiyou a 1852 n/a 7,629 - 6,848 -10.2% 

Humboldt 1853 n/a 2,694 - 6,140 128.0% 

Tehama 1856 n/a 4,044 - 3,587 -11.3% 

Del Norte 1857 n/a 1,993 - 2,022 1.4% 

County Totals - 5,642 43,721 87.1% 46,617 6.6% 

State of California 1850 92,597 379,994 75.6% 560,247 47.4% 

Notes: Census data from this period generally do not include Native Americans or Asians (Chinese). a Portions of these counties are 

outside the planning area, including a large part of Mendocino County. 

large numbers of would-be miners who failed to strike it rich and moved on to “greener pastures” 

(sometimes literally) in places like Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. 

County census records provide lists of individuals by name and place of birth. The 1850 census for 

Shasta County, for instance, lists 378 individuals (189 males, 7 females, and 182 with no gender indicated), 

with an average age of 29.13 Nearly 86% of them had come from other US states, including all but one of 

the females (she was from Ireland, a 30-year-old woman traveling with two small boys). Ten of the 378 

were children under the age of 16, all of them traveling with adults of the same surname. 

Judging by the names and birthplaces listed, there were no Asians included in the 1850 census, and 

quite possibly none in the county (Table 4). More than 96% were from the US, Britain, or western Europe. 

By 1870, however, Chinese immigrants made up more than 14% of the population of Shasta County. A 

more-detailed look at the 1870 census shows the breakdown of numbers by race, as identified by the 

individual (or perhaps by the census taker; Table 5), by age (Table 6), and by place of birth (Table 7). By 

this time more than 40% of the US citizens had been born in California, nearly all of them under the 

age of 16. These data show that, while the size and diversity of the population had increased between 1850 

and 1870, whites of European ancestry still made up well over 80% of the non-native inhabitants. By far the 

largest of the other non-native groups were the Chinese.14 

13 Available on-line at http://us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/ca/shasta/1850/index.txt 

14 Pierson (2008:32), citing Smith 1995, reports that the 1852 census “shows the number of Chinese in Shasta County to 

be 3,000.” However, our search of the on-line database for the 1852 census showed 36 Chinese males and no females. 

The reason for the discrepancy is unclear, but given that only 104 Chinese were recorded in neighboring Tehama 

County in 1860 (Reed 1980:5), the 3,000 may be an over-estimate. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 125 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

Table 4. 1850 and 1870 Censes of Shasta County by Nationality 

1850 CENSUS 1870 CENSUS 

PLACE OF BIRTH 

COUNT % COUNT % 

US 319 84.4 2,751 71.1 

British Isles 33 8.7 251 6.5 

Western Europe 12 3.2 192 5.0 

Central/Eastern Europe - - 54 1.4 

Scandinavia 4 1.1 9 0.2 

Canada 3 0.8 37 1.0 

Latin America - - 9 0.2 

China - - 553 14.3 

Australia 2 0.5 3 0.1 

Unknown 5 1.3 8 0.2 

Totals 378 100.0 3,867 100.0 

Note: Non-native inhabitants only. 

Table 5. 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Race. 

% OF RACE FEMALES MALES TOTALS TOTAL 

Black 2 6 8 0.2 

Chinese 5 549 554 14.3 

Indian 8 9 17 0.4 

Mulatto 14 15 29 0.7 

White 1,232 2,025 3,257 84.2 

Unknown 1 1 2 0.1 

Totals 1,262 2,605 3,867 100.0 

Table 6. 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Age. 

AGE FEMALES MALES 

Children (birth-16) 685 786 

Young Adults (17–30) 249 551 

Adults (31–50) 263 1,024 

Older Adults (51–70) 58 233 

Elderly (>70) 7 11 

Total 1,262 2,605 

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Table 7. 1870 Census of Shasta County by Gender and Nationality. 

PLACE OF BIRTH FEMALES MALES TOTALS % OF TOTAL 

US (outside California) 567 1,076 1,643 42.5 

California 543 565 1,108 28.7 

China 4 549 553 14.3 

British Isles 82 169 251 6.5 

Western Europe 43 149 192 5.0 

Central Europe 10 43 53 1.4 

Canada 6 31 37 1.0 

Latin America 2 7 9 0.2 

Scandinavia - 9 9 0.2 

Australia 2 1 3 0.1 

Eastern Europe - 1 1 0.0 

Unknown 3 5 8 0.2 

Totals 1,262 2,605 3,867 100.0 

% of Total 32.6 67.4 - -

The Overseas Chinese in Northern California 

Chinese sojourners began to arrive in the “Gold Mountain” almost immediately after the first 

discoveries, mostly from southern China (Table 8). According to the 1852 California census, by that year there 

were 20,391 individuals who gave their birthplace as China. The immigrants proved to be hard and steady 

workers for the most part, and thousands were hired to build the California to Utah section of the first 

transcontinental railroad; many of the railroad workers then turned to mining once the railroad was completed 

in 1869; others went on to build other railroads, like the Oregon & California north from Sacramento. 

Table 8. Timeline of Chinese Immigration and Exclusion. 

1848 Gold is discovered at Sutter’s Mill in El Dorado County, California; many Chinese arrive to 

mine for gold. 

1850 A Foreign Miners’ tax mainly targets Chinese and Mexican miners. 

1852 There are approximately 25,000 Chinese in America. 

1854 Chinese are banned from giving testimony in court. 

1862 The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association is formed. 

1865 The Central Pacific Railroad recruits Chinese workers, ultimately employing about 15,000. 

1869 The first transcontinental railroad is completed; many Chinese workers shift to mining. 

1870 California passes a law against the importation of Chinese and Japanese women for 

prostitution. 

1871 Eighteen Chinese are killed in anti-Chinese violence in Los Angeles. 

1873 “Panic of 1873”: the start of a major economic downturn that lasts through the decade; is 

blamed on corrupt railroad companies. 

1877 Anti-Chinese violence erupts in Chico, California. 

1878 The Court rules Chinese ineligible for naturalized citizenship. 

1880 There are approximately 106,000 Chinese in America; California passes anti-miscegenation law 

(no interracial marriage). 

1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibits Chinese immigration; the next year, annual Chinese 

immigration drops from 40,000 to 23. 

Note: Adapted from the Stanford History Education Group (http://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/Lessons/ 

Unit%206_Gilded%20Age/Chinese%20Immigration%20and%20Exclusion%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf) 

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A great deal has been written about the Overseas Chinese and their role in the California Gold 

Rush (as well as the Western Pacific Railroad and the development of California overall). Particularly 

good discussions for the planning area are provided by Reed (1980), Tordoff and Seldner (1987), Tordoff 

and Maniery (1986, 1989), Kelly and McAleer (1986), Hitchcock (1998), Hamusek-McGann et al. (1999), 

Maniery and Millett (2008), Leland et al. (2015), and various studies done by Sonoma State University 

for the Lake Oroville project. 

The scenario is well known: Overseas Chinese came to California and the West by the thousands to 

escape poverty and political unrest at home, planning to make their fortunes in the gold fields and then 

return to China. Like other ethnic groups, they faced discrimination from white miners and settlers, 

triggered as much by economic greed and the need for scapegoats as by actual racism.15 Marvin (Waechter 

and Marvin 2011:26–27) writes that the Chinese were “willing to work long hours for less pay...With such 

an increase in [the Chinese] population, resentment grew among other groups. Not only were the Chinese 

able to glean gold from workings that had been abandoned by less patient miners, but they also declined to 

spend their earnings locally. Instead, they sent it back to their families in China, sending more than $50,000 

in gold dust in 1867 alone (Fiorini-Jenner and Hall 2002:66–67).” McDonald (1979:61) notes that in Siskiyou 

County, “Chinese had come to own a large number of placer mines [that had been abandoned by other 

miners] by 1870, a situation which alarmed some but pleased...local merchants, stockmen, and farmers who 

otherwise would have had less business.” In another example, a local newspaper reported in 1871 on an 

“episode of violence between Portuguese and Chinese miners” near Hawkinsville that reportedly “erupted 

over water rights” (Yreka Journal December 6, 1871, cited in LaLande et al. 2015:14). 

In retaliation for what they saw as unfair competition, the white miners pressed the government 

for regulations that would stem the tide of Chinese in the gold fields, including a Foreign Miners Tax, 

levied in 1850, that was targeted mainly at Asian miners. When the tax proved to be no great deterrent, the 

government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act led to a dramatic decrease in Chinese 

immigrants in California: in April 1853, the Shasta Courier newspaper reported that an estimated one 

thousand Chinese had entered Trinity County in the previous two weeks; most of them began immediately 

to mine along the Trinity River. By April 1886, the Trinity Journal estimated that there were probably only 

about 40 Chinese in the county, mostly working as cooks and miners. 

The archaeology of Overseas Chinese is a productive field of study. In fact, a recent issue of 

Historical Archaeology, the journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology, is devoted entirely to the 

archaeology of Overseas Chinese railroad workers (SHA 2015). There are a great many period newspaper 

accounts, census records, mining claims, mercantile inventories, and other documents that provide 

information on these sojourners, and their archaeological signatures—porcelain “rice” bowls, Chinese 

Brown-glazed Stoneware storage vessels, wen (Chinese coins), gaming pieces, opium paraphernalia, and 

other artifacts—are much more distinct and recognizable than those of other ethnic groups. Another class 

of artifacts often found at Overseas Chinese sites are items modified for adaptive reuse, especially in 

hinterland areas: e.g., tin cans cut, flattened, and punched with nails to make sieves or steamers; wire 

handles attached to cans to create buckets; wen or rounds of cut tin used as wick holders (see examples in 

Baxter 2004; Kelly and McAleer 1986; Lindström 1993; Lindström and Waechter 2007; and Ritter 1986). 

Many of the stone fences, flume/ditch systems, and other features of the cultural landscape have been 

attributed to the Overseas Chinese. “These particular immigrants were familiar with agricultural irrigation 

techniques that could easily be adapted to hydraulic engineering for mining...The summer of 1860 witnessed 

a flurry of flume building by the Chinese” (Kelly and McAleer 1986:5). In hinterland regions of California 

(including much of the planning area), the landscape is dotted with mining sites, railroad workers’ camps, 

15 Kelly and McAleer (1986:7-8) state that “there was not much anti-Chinese activity [in Trinity County] until the early 

1870s, when Chinese were said to outnumber adult whites ... and when a world-wide depression hit in 1873.” 

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colliers’ camps, and other types of sites with Chinese “signatures” that have survived largely because of their 

remoteness (e.g., Baxter 2004; Lindström and Waechter 2007; Ritter 1986; Vaughan 1985b; Waechter 2013; 

Woodrum 2009b). Studies of these resources can provide valuable insights into nineteenth-century cultural 

conflict, acculturation, frontier consumerism, and a host of other research topics. 

One particularly detailed investigation of Chinese (and general) gold mining in the Shasta/Tehama 

region is Tordoff’s (with Seldner 1987) history and archaeology of the Cottonwood Mining District. The 

authors use archival research and archaeological investigations at 13 sites/loci to compare Euro-American 

and Chinese mining practices in the district, their different adaptations, and interactions between the two 

very different ethnic groups. They identify “at least five overlapping periods of mining development” in 

the area (1987:227): 

 Euro-American exploration and mining (1849–1850) 

 Euro-American mining and development of ditch systems, possibly using Chinese laborers 

(1850s–1860s) 

 Euro-American mining and increasing Chinese mining, with many whites switching to other 

pursuits (1860s–1870s), 

 Predominantly Chinese mining (1870s–1880s+)16 

 Reworking of streams by American dredging companies (1900s). 

One point Tordoff makes is that ethnic tensions between the two groups never reached the levels 

seen in other regions: “...heavily capitalized, White-owned company mining, such as that which occurred in 

the Mother Lode and Trinity regions, never developed [in the Cottonwood district], and thus, neither did the 

hostility which frequently accompanied large company mining and Chinese labor” (1987:47). This might 

explain the dominance of Chinese mining here in the 1870s–1880s, when anti-Chinese sentiments was on the 

rise in other areas. Interestingly, Kelly and McAleer (1986:10) report less racial friction in Trinity County also, 

with Chinese miners being given equal rights with Euro-American miners and eventually filing their own 

claims “to what turned out to be some of the better river areas to mine.” Clearly, the relationships between 

the Overseas Chinese and the non-Chinese in nineteenth-century California were complex and variable, as 

human interactions tend to be, and should not be over-simplified. 

Beyond Gold 

We should point out that mining in the planning area included more than just gold and silver. 

Zinc, copper, even platinum were mined in various places. Copper mining, in particular, was an important 

economic activity: 

During the 1862 rush, miners found that the ore contained other valuable metals, including 

silver. However, the discovery that copper was also present would have the greatest 

influence on the area’s future development. Copper ore was mined beginning in 1862 in 

the same area as the Bully Hill gold discoveries. Production was limited because the ore 

had to be shipped overseas to be processed by smelters in Wales. However, continued 

exploration revealed an enormous copper belt stretching in an arc for 30 miles through the 

mountains north of Redding [the Shasta copper-zinc belt]. It became apparent that mines 

in this area could be very profitable with construction of smelters near the mines. In the 

1890s, several large mining companies established operations in the copper belt, 

expanding the mines and building stamp mills and smelters. Copper producers benefited 

16 This might have been due in part to completion of the transcontinental railroad, which had employed thousands of 

Chinese laborers who were now in need of work. 

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from the growing use of electricity, which created an expanding market for copper [Beason 

and Wee in Byrd et al. 2008:30]. 

Kett (1947) describes one of these copper mining areas: Iron Mountain, 12 miles northwest of the 

town of Redding. He notes that “in the early [eighteen-]sixties William Magee...in association with Charles 

Camden, secured the property as an iron mine” (1947:108). The Historical Archaeological Research Design 

(HARD) research group identifies Iron Mountain and several other important copper mines in the planning 

area counties: the Afterthought, Balaklala, Bully Hill, Hornet, Keystone, Rising Star, Shasta King, and Sutro 

mines in Shasta County; the Big Bend mine in Butte County; the Blue Ledge and Gray Eagle mines in 

Siskiyou County; and the Island Mountain mine in Trinity County (Caltrans 2008:23). They report that the 

Iron Mountain Mine “accounted for 42 percent of the state’s total production,” with fully 54% from Shasta 

County overall (2008:24). The BLM site record database lists several other, presumably smaller copper 

mines as well, along with associated ditches, roads, and other features: Lawson Butte (CA-030-1658), Sheep 

Springs (CA-030-1659), Quartz Hill (CA-030-0161), and possibly the Lemurian Mine (CA-030-1471). Zinc 

was produced as a by-product of the copper mines. 

Clark (1970) describes “copper booms” during the Civil War and again during World Wars I and II, 

including copper mining in Butte County and in the Shasta copper-zinc belt surrounding what is now Shasta 

Lake. The West Shasta district and the East Shasta district produced large quantities of copper and zinc ore 

from the 1890s to about 1920. Kristofors (1973:12) describes the copper belt of Shasta County as “a horseshoe[-

]shaped belt” roughly 30 miles long and up to four miles wide, encompassing the towns of Redding, 

Anderson, and Cottonwood, as well as the Shasta Lake vicinity. In nearby Trinity County, the Island 

Mountain sulfide deposit, discovered in 1897, yielded nine million pounds of copper between 1915 and 1930 

(as well as 144,000 ounces of silver and 8,600 ounces of gold). In addition, small amounts of platinum were 

mined in Humboldt, Del Norte, and Butte Counties and on the Klamath River (Clark 1970:37, 140, 178, 180). 

Hislop and Hughes (2007:59) list 10 mines in Tehama County that produced chromium, copper, or both. 

Kristofors (1973) summarizes the history of copper mining and smelting in Shasta County between 

1896 and 1919, a period when the county “developed into one of the major copper mining regions of the United 

States, producing nearly 620 million pounds of copper (1973:3). He also describes the environmental damage 

caused by those activities. Poisonous fumes released by the smelters degraded nearby agricultural lands and 

forests, leading to what Kristofors calls “one of the earliest cases of federal intervention in a conservation crisis” 

(1973:xi) when the government forced two of the smelters to cease their operations (see also Bloom 2010). 

The Environmental Effects of Mining 

As Kristofors and others have shown, mining had (and has) an enormous impact on the physical 

environment, everything from scattered prospect pits to huge tailings fields to the washing away of entire 

hillsides with hydraulic monitors (Figure 15). The fact that every type of mining and its resulting features 

are still visible on the landscape illustrates the duration of these impacts. Adkins (2007) provides a 

particularly detailed (and damning) picture of the environmental effects of mining along the Trinity River, 

where siltation and debris destroyed fish runs, disrupted transportation, and increased flooding problems, 

and how mining in general “rapidly and extensively disrupted the ecosystem of the region” (2007:100). The 

same was true in all regions where mining took place on a large scale (see, for example, Kristofors 1973). 

Placer mining, perhaps the most innocuous method, still caused lasting damage: miners literally 

moved streambeds, redirecting them into ditches, and removed, sifted, and redeposited the stream gravels 

looking for the free gold. “Booming,” where water was dammed up and then released all at once, cut huge 

channels into the hillsides. Hard-rock or lode mining left adits, tunnels, shafts, and waste rock in its wake. 

The most destructive method, however, was hydraulic mining, followed by large-scale dredging. 

Far Western 130 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

Hydraulic Mining Scars 

Tailings Piles of Ohio Flat 

Figure 15. Environmental Effects of Mining.

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The cavalier attitude of nineteenth century whites toward these environmental degradations is 

reflected in an 1853 article in the San Francisco Daily Alta California newspaper that describes a new method 

of mining (hydraulicking) as being “as novel as it is efficient”: 

The column of water thus produced [from the hydraulic monitor] ranges from twenty to 

one hundred feet according to the height of the hill...[S]uch is the immense power of the 

water as it escapes from the pipe, that no alluvial deposit can resist the force...The toughest 

clay dissolves like wax, thus disintegrating much fine gold...The excellence of the plan and 

the wonderful celerity with which the work progresses must be seen to be 

appreciated...Then witness the operation of the new appliance: the hydraulic apparatus is 

brought in contact with the debris...which melts like ice under a midsummer sun, and lo! 

in much less time than it requires to describe the operation, the huge mass is released from 

its diluvian home and comes tumbling down into the space below...The reduction of 

manual labor [is] at least two-thirds...[Daily Alta California, June 7, 1853]. 

Despite the “efficiency” of the method, hydraulic mining played a major role in the “conflict that 

erupted in the Sacramento Valley in the 1880s among mining, farming, and navigation interests” (Billington 

et al. 2005:313). Although large-scale hydraulic mining was severely curtailed by the Sawyer Decision in 

1884, it continued to be employed in Siskiyou and other northwestern counties by impounding the tailings 

in dams and operating only in specific seasons. 

It is hard from our modern vantage point to understand this attitude. It may be that these people 

assumed the earth would soon heal itself from these assaults, or that they simply did not care; what is clear 

is that they believed the economic gain was worth the environmental price. This attitude is by no means 

extinct in the world today. 

The Technology of Gold Mining 

Detailed descriptions of regional mining history and technological evolution can be found in 

several sources, including Bailey (2008), Caltrans (2008), Jones et al. (1981), Selverston et al. (2005, 2011), 

Tordoff (2013), and Waechter and Marvin (2011). Selverston et al. (2011:Chapter 3) describe the evolution 

of mining from simple placering using pick, shovel, and pan, to ground sluicing, drift mining, lode mining, 

hydraulicking, and mechanized dredging (Appendix F of that document also provides a useful glossary of 

gold mining terminology).17 Those authors also provide a detailed description of the various forms of goldbearing placers and gravels. 

Similarly, McDonald (1979:62–63) describes the “influence of technological, economic, and social 

developments” reflected in the gold mining industry on the Klamath National Forest, including the Scott 

and middle/upper Klamath Rivers: first individual labor and low capital investment (surface placers), then, 

as the easily accessible gravels played out, somewhat more labor-intensive mining of buried placers and 

load deposits involving water-conveyance systems (dams, ditches and flumes) that caused some miners to 

pool their resources. Hydraulic mining required large investments in equipment, such as flumes, pipes, 

giants, and sluices; dredging and hard-rock mining were also expensive, and soon the lone miner became 

essentially a thing of the past. These developments paralleled the overall trends in gold mining throughout 

northwestern California in the second half of the nineteenth century. 

Tordoff (2013), Marvin (Waechter and Marvin 2011), Selverston et al. (2011), and others also 

identify the types of archaeological resources left on the landscape by these various technologies. A slightly 

17 However, Maniery and Millet (2008:7), citing Williams [1930], report that it was mostly Euro-Americans who 

participated in the “evolving extraction technology.” Chinese miners reportedly continued to use cradles or rockers 

throughout the nineteenth century. 

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abridged version of Marvin’s discussion is presented here, with additions. While her discussion is specific 

to western Siskiyou County and the Klamath region, the technologies were applied throughout the gold 

mining regions of California. 

Placer Mining (1849–1930s) 

Placer mining was the initial extraction method used in northwestern California. Granitic rock, quartz 

lodes, and the contact zones were washed, eroded, and naturally milled, and the native gold concentrated in 

former and present streams and gravel beds. It was this “freed” or placer gold that attracted the Gold Rush 

miners. Typical tools included the pan or batea, a cradle or rocker, a sluice box, a long tom, or a combination 

of these. Miners would literally move the streambeds, removing gravels, sifting them, and re-depositing 

them, all the while storing water in check dams and redirecting the streams into ditches. Typical 

archaeological remains of placer mining include stacks of sifted gravels and water-rounded cobbles, 

sometimes in combination with check dams, ditches, channels, and sluice scars. Early mining operations also 

might include arrastras: circular, animal-driven crushers for breaking down the ore. 

River Mining (1850s–1870s) 

By the early 1850s, river mining employed water wheels and wing dams constructed to turn the 

rivers and work their beds, in addition to the long toms or sluices. Vast piles of waste rock were left along 

the riverine areas as miners employed derricks and booms to remove the heavy rocks from the auriferous 

sands, which were then sluiced to remove the gold. 

Drift Mining (1850s–1900s) 

Some miners found placers by digging, often to bedrock, in the old riverbeds. “Coyoting,” a technique 

that was typical of hard-rock mining, was sometimes used in drift mining as well. With this method, the miner 

would dig a shaft to the pay dirt and then “drift” into the streak from a mine adit. Drift mines, which involved 

sinking shafts or excavating horizontal adits into the gravel terraces, was an early method of reaching the goldbearing gravels in the ancient riverbeds. Gravels were extracted from shafts with windlasses or small 

headframes, while adits (mine entrances) defined horizontal workings, as did ore cars and tracks. 

Hard-rock (Lode) Mining (1850s-present) 

Hard-rock mining for gold began in 1850s but was never as rich or productive in the planning area 

as in the Mother Lode of the Sierran foothills. Although this method of exploration is largely a subsurface 

operation involving prospecting for gold-bearing quartz veins, it did leave many surface remains. 

Technological developments in mining and milling of ore were necessary to make the working of the lode 

deposits profitable: air drills, pumps, rock crushers (stamps), vanners, and the like. Because of the relatively 

greater investment needed for this technology, it usually involved several miners or a mining company. 

The most recognizable archaeological remains of hard-rock mining are adits, shafts, and tailings aprons; in 

some cases, mill structures or foundations, stamp mills, ore cart rails, or timbers from headframes or adit 

shoring also survive. 

Ground Sluicing and Booming (1850s–1900s) 

Ground sluicing and booming, early hydraulic methods of washing soils by gravity down a hill to 

pan or sluice the remains at the bottom, was common in the second half of the nineteenth century. These 

types of mining activities also required large amounts of water delivered through ditches and flumes. In 

ground sluicing, the ditch water was turned down the hillside to wash the dirt into the sluices at the lower 

elevations. Booming involved building a reservoir, letting it fill up, then cutting the dam and allowing the 

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water to rush downhill, cutting great channels 10 or more feet deep into the hillsides. The reservoirs and 

ditches from these technologies are still visible in many places on the landscape today, although these same 

features can also represent other types of mining. Earthen sluice traces and stacked-rock sluice supports can 

also be found, though these tend to be more subtle and harder to identify (Figure 16). 

Hydraulic Mining (1870s–1930s) 

By the 1870s, hydraulic mining was the most popular and productive form of mining the benches 

and terraces along rivers and their tributaries. Miles of ditches, flumes, and reservoirs were constructed 

to bring water to the mines and power the monitors that cut away the banks to recover the gold in long 

sluices. Working day and night (with pitch torches), first white and later Chinese miners cut away miles 

of riverbanks (Figure 17). 

Hydraulic mining had actually begun in the Mother Lode in the 1850s, when Anthony Chabot 

attached a wooden nozzle to a canvas hose and washed ancient river gravels. Over the next 20 years, miners 

improved upon Chabot’s design, developing the “little Giant” that would be used for more than 100 years 

thereafter. The Giant, or monitor, required vast amounts of gravity-fed water at high head to spray on the 

ancient river gravels. Torrents of water would melt away boulders, trees, gravel, and dirt, all mixed with gold. 

This technique, always the most successful method of extracting placer gold, reached its peak in the 1880s 

and 1890s, when miles of ditches, flumes, reservoirs, tunnels, and pipelines were constructed to supply water 

to the operations. Hydraulic mining, with its sheer hillsides and large open pits, created the dramatic 

landscapes seen today along many rivers and creeks in the mining regions of northern California. 

Dredging (1890s–1950s) 

By the 1890s, dredge mining was finding success in Montana and New Zealand and word had 

spread to California. Selverston et al. (2011:3–21) describe the process this way: 

The gold dredge that evolved in California consisted of a barge that contained the 

machinery to excavate, process, and discharge gravels from gold-bearing deposits. The 

dredge floated in the river itself, or as it worked its way away from the river, in its own 

traveling pond. The excavation of the gravels was accomplished with a continuous chain 

of large iron buckets, not unlike a huge chainsaw blade, lowered from one end of the barge. 

It scooped material from the bottom of the pond and its bank and conveyed it onto the 

barge, where it was dropped into a mechanized sluicing device for gold recovery. The 

processed tailings were taken off the barge from the rear, by a long conveyer to be 

deposited on the opposite bank of the pond in large arc-shaped tailings piles. The earliest 

versions of these bucket-line dredges used steam power; electrical power soon took over, 

followed later by power from internal combustion engines.18 

Tordoff (2013:45–61) defines and illustrates two types of dredging: bucket-line (described above) 

and dragline. She describes bucket-line dredging as “mining on a fantastic scale” (2014:45), and notes that 

the first wooden dredge used anywhere in the world was operated on the upper Trinity River. The dredge 

tailings are now inundated by Trinity Lake. Dragline dredging involved a smaller, more portable dredge 

(sometimes called a “doodlebug”) and was used during the Great Depression. The most tell-tale sign of 

dredge mining on the landscape today are tailings, sometimes quite extensive, either in “high, arcing piles 

of rock...strung out in long lines...that double back on themselves” (Tordoff 2013:73), low, straight rows, 

or (for dragline dredging) in isolated or clustered conical piles. 

18 Newland et al. (2011) report on their evaluation of a 5,000-acre dredge field at Oroville (CA-BUT-465H). 

Far Western 134 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

Earthen Sluice Trace 

Rock Sluice Support 

Figure 16. Earthen Sluices and Rock Sluice Supports. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 135 Far Western 
 

Late 1890s Photo Courtesy of University of California, Davis 

Department of Special Collections 

Today 

Figure 17. Hydraulic Mining at the Huey Hill Placer Mine Siskiyou County. 

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Mining Districts in the Planning Area 

Several major mining districts developed in the planning area during the nineteenth century, and 

archaeological surveys in these districts have recorded associated resources ranging from scattered 

prospect pits and small tailings piles to huge complexes of mine workings, support facilities (blacksmith 

shops, powder houses, etc.), workers’ housing, hydraulic cuts, waste rock, and extensive ditch/reservoir 

systems. Clark (1970:13) lists three “Principal Gold Districts” within our area: Oroville and Magalia in Butte 

County, and French Gulch in Shasta and Trinity Counties. He also describes dozens of “areas within [the 

primary districts] that, in the past, have been themselves loosely called “districts” (1970:185). Table 9 lists 

all of the “areas” and “districts” shown on Clark’s Plate 1 and on our Figure 14 that fall into the current 

planning area. Relatively few of these, however, fall within lands currently managed by BLM. 

Shasta and Trinity Counties 

Clark’s Klamath Mountains Province takes in portions of all of our regions except the Southern 

Cascade Foothills and Sierra Nevada. However, the vast majority of BLM-managed lands within this 

province are concentrated in east-central Trinity and west-central Shasta Counties, between the North Fork 

Trinity River and Shasta Lake. Within this zone is one of Clark’s “Principal Gold Districts” (French Gulch), 

as well as several other major mining areas: Shasta, Redding, Whiskeytown, Weaverville (which includes 

the famous LaGrange hydraulic mine), and many more. Within the French Gulch district were two 

principal lode (hard-rock) mines: the Brown Bear, which produced more than $15 million in gold; and the 

Gladstone, at $6.9 million (Clark 1970:Table 7). It also includes the Washington, the first lode mine every 

worked in Shasta County. According to Clark, the French Gulch district has been the most productive 

source of lode-gold in the Klamath Mountain Province. 

The largest and best-known of the hydraulic mines in the Trinity region (and one of the largest in 

California) was the LaGrange Mine, located in Oregon Gulch just west of Weaverville. It was said to have 

produced $3,500,000 in gold between 1893 and 1918 (Wee and Costello 2001:12). To head-off prospective 

lawsuits over its dumping of tailings and other debris, the LaGrange Hydraulic Mining Company actually 

purchased a “right-of-way” stretching four and half miles down Oregon Gulch to the Trinity River, where 

they could legally discharge detritus from their hydraulic operations. This area included the town of 

Oregon Gulch, which “was eventually covered with debris to an estimated depth of four to five hundred 

feet” (Adkins 2007:171). Costello and Wee (2000) and Wee and Costello (2001) have prepared an in-depth 

historical context and evaluation reports for the LeGrange Mine Historic District and Oregon Gulch. The 

mine has been determined eligible for listing on the National Register, and it is a California State Historical 

Landmark (No. 778). It seems somewhat ironic that, in the 1930s, the State Highway Commission used 

hydraulic giants from the abandoned LaGrange Mine to cut a right-of-way through Oregon Mountain for 

State Route 20 (now State Highway 299), washing more than 10 million cubic yards of material into the 

open pit of the mine (Wee and Costello 2001:17). 

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, mining remained a primary economic activity in most 

of northwestern California. When hydraulic mining was outlawed in the Mother Lode mines by the 1884 

Sawyer decision, because of the tons of debris it sent down into the Central Valley waterways, many 

hydraulic operations moved into “the state’s isolated northwestern counties, whose westward-flowing 

rivers and drainages were exempt from the ban” (Bailey 2008:6–7).19 By 1898, there were 327 hydraulic 

mines “working or claimed” in Trinity County (Adkins 2007:171); the LaGrange would continue operating 

for another 20 years. Overall, mining along the Trinity River “helped create and sustain the county’s 

19 Adkins (2007:149-155) gives a detailed account of the “intricate legislative and legal battles” that led up to the Sawyer 

Decision. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 137 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Western 138 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions). 

DISTRICT COUNTY PRINCIPAL TYPE(S)

a PRIMARY PERIOD(S) OF OPERATIONa NOTES/RELATED STUDIES 

SIERRA NEVADA PROVINCE 

Bangor-Wyandotte Butte Placer, Drift, Hydraulic 1850s–1890s -

Bidwell Bar Butte Placer 1848–1850s -

Butte Creek Butte Placer, Drift, Hydraulic, Dredge 1850s–1920s -

Cherokee Butte Hydraulic, Diamonds - -

Clipper Mills Butte/Yuba Drift, Hydraulic - -

Concow Butte Placer, Lode - -

Forbestown Butte Placer 1848–1900s -

Honcut Butte Dredge - -

Hurleton Butte - - -

Inskip Butte Lode ca. 1900s -

Kimshew Butte Drift, Hydraulic - -

Magalia Butte Placer, Lode ca. 1850–1890s -

Merrimac Butte Placer, Lode “During and after Gold Rush”; 1930s+ -

Mooreville Ridge Butte/Plumas Hydraulic - -

Mooris Ravine Butte Placer, Lode ca. 1849–1916 -

Oroville Butte Dredge, shallow placer 1848–1863, 1893–1916b Newland et al. (2011); Praetzellis et al. (2006); 

Selverston et al. (2005, 2011) 

Polk Springs Tehama - - -

Yankee Hill Butte Placer, Lode ca. 1849–1900s, 1933–1942 -

KLAMATH MOUNTAINS PROVINCE (INCLUDES SHASTA/TRINITY REGION) 

Backbone Shasta - 1886–1913 -

Bully Choop Trinity Lode late 1880s-early 1900s -

Callahan Siskiyou Placer, Bucket-line dredge - -

Cecilville Siskiyou Placer, Lode - 3,000–5,000 Chinese miners reportedly worked 

the Salmon River “by means of flumes and wing 

dams” (Clark 1970:134). 

Centerville Shasta Lode - -

Clear Creek Shasta Placer - -
 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 139 Far Western 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions) continued. 

DISTRICT COUNTY PRINCIPAL TYPE(S)

a PRIMARY PERIOD(S) OF OPERATIONa NOTES/RELATED STUDIES 

KLAMATH MOUNTAINS PROVINCE (INCLUDES SHASTA/TRINITY REGION) continued 

Coffee Creek Trinity Placer, Lode, Dragline dredge - -

Cottage Grove Siskiyou - - Site of very early mining camp on the Klamath 

River near its junction with the Salmon 

(Waechter and Marvin 2011:17). 

Cottonwood Siskiyou Placer, Lode - -

Cottonwood Shasta Placer, Dredge - -

Deadwood Siskiyou Placer, Lode, Dredge - -

Deadwood Shasta Placer, Lode - -

Dedrick-Canyon Creek Trinity Lode, Hydraulic 1880s–1930s -

Dillon Creek Siskiyou Placer, Drift “Gold Rush”; 1953–1960 -

Dog Creek Shasta Placer, Lode “Gold Rush”; 1890s–1900s -

Dorleska Trinity Lode 1890s and later -

Forks of Salmon Siskiyou Placer 1849 and later -

French Gulch Shasta/Trinity Placer, Lode 1849-ca. 1914 Includes first quartz (lode) mine worked in 

Shasta County (Washington Mine). 

Gas Point Shasta - - -

Gazelle Siskiyou Lode 1880s–ca. 1907 -

Gilta Siskiyou Placer, Lode mostly pre-1900 -

Gottville Siskiyou Placer - -

Hamburg Siskiyou Placer ca. 1852–1860c Operations included construction of wingdams, 

derricks, sluices, and Chinese pumps (Waechter 

and Marvin 2011:33). 

Harrison Gulch Shasta Placer, Lode 1896–1914 -

Helena-East Fork Trinity Placer, Lode - -

Hoopa Humboldt Placer, Lode - Copper/Gold district; some of the gold 

recovered as a by-product of copper mining. 

Hornbrook Siskiyou Placer - -

Humbug Siskiyou Lode, Dredge - -

Igo-Ono Shasta Placer, Hydraulic, Drift, Dredge ca. 1851–1890; 1933–1959 See Ritter (1986). 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Western 140 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions) continued. 

DISTRICT COUNTY PRINCIPAL TYPE(S)

a PRIMARY PERIOD(S) OF OPERATIONa NOTES/RELATED STUDIES 

KLAMATH MOUNTAINS PROVINCE (INCLUDES SHASTA/TRINITY REGION) continued 

Indian Creek Siskiyou Placer, Hydraulic ca. 1848 and later Also included Gray Eagle copper mine 

(Waechter and Marvin 2011:24). 

Jelly (Ferry) Tehama Placer, Dredge - Chinese miners used ground sluicing to mine 

the gold-bearing gravels. 

Knownothing Siskiyou Placer - -

Liberty Siskiyou Placer, Lode 1850s–1910 Also known as the Black Bear district. 

Minersville Trinity Placer, Lode - -

Monumental Del Norte Lode ca. 1900 and later -

New River-Denny Trinity Placer, Lode 1849 and later; 1930s -

Oak Bar Siskiyou - - -

Old Diggings Shasta Hydraulic, Lode “Gold Rush”; 1904–1919; 1930s Also known as the Buckeye district. 

Orleans Humboldt Placer, Hydraulic ca. 1849-early 1900s; 1930s -

Oro Fino Siskiyou Placer, Lode “Gold Rush” and later; 1930s–1940s -

Platina Shasta Placer - -

Redding Shasta Placer, Lode, Dredge 1848 and later; 1930s Originally “Reading” 

Sawyers Bar Siskiyou Placer - -

Scotts Bar Siskiyou Placer, Hydraulic, Lode 1850 and later -

Seiad Siskiyou Hydraulic, Dredge - Also included several chromite mines 

(Waechter and Marvin 2011:24). 

Shasta-Whiskeytown Shasta Placer, Dragline Dredge 1849 and later; 1930s Hamusek-McGann et al. (1999): study of 18 

historic-era mines in the Whiskeytown area. 

Bevill and Nilsson (2001): historical overview of 

Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity NRA. 

Smith River Del Norte Placer, Hydraulic 1850s–1870s Chrome also mined here during WWI and 

WWII. 

Snowden Siskiyou Placer - -

Somes Bar Siskiyou Placer - -

Stuart Fork Trinity - - -
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 141 Far Western 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions) continued. 

DISTRICT COUNTY PRINCIPAL TYPE(S)

a PRIMARY PERIOD(S) OF OPERATIONa NOTES/RELATED STUDIES 

KLAMATH MOUNTAINS PROVINCE (INCLUDES SHASTA/TRINITY REGION) continued 

Weaverville Trinity Placer, Hydraulic, Dragline Dredge 1848–1942 Includes the La Grange Mine (see text). 

Costello and Wee (2000), Wee and Costello 

(2001). 

Trinity River Trinity, Humboldt - - Adkins (2007); Bailey (2008); Tordoff (2013) 

Big Bar - - - -

(Fool’s) Paradise - Placer, Lode - -

Burnt Ranch - - - -

Carrville - Placer, Lode, Dredge - -

Cottonwood Creek - - - -

Dodge - Placer - -

Douglas City - Placer - -

Eastman Gulch - Placer, Lode - -

Happy Camp - Dredge - -

Hayfork - Hydraulic, Dragline Dredge - -

Indian Creek - - - -

Junction City - Hydraulic, Dredge - -

Lewiston - Placer 1850s-ca. 1900 Also known by other names, including Ohio 

Flat. Kelly and McAleer (1986) 

Poker Flat - Placer - Name possibly derived from “Polka Flat,” 

reflecting large percentage of German miners. 

Salyer - - - -

Shasta Copper/ - Lode 1850s–1950s Gold, silver, copper, and zinc mined here. 

Zinc Belt Includes West Shasta and East Shasta districts, 

the latter partially inundated by Shasta Lake. 

Trinity Center Trinity Placer, Dredge - -

Yreka Siskiyou Placer - Also known as the Hawkinsville district. 
 

 

 

 

Far Western 142 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 9. Primary Mining Districts in the Planning Area (from Clark 1970, with additions) continued. 

DISTRICT COUNTY PRINCIPAL TYPE(S)

a PRIMARY PERIOD(S) OF OPERATIONa NOTES/RELATED STUDIES 

COAST RANGES PROVINCE 

Smith River Del Norte Placer, Hydraulic 1850s–1870s -

Crescent City Del Norte Placer 1850s and later Small-scale operations to recover gold and some 

platinum from black sand deposits on beaches 

Monumental Del Norte Lode ca. 1900 and later -

Island Mountain Trinity Lode 1915 and later Sulfide deposits mined for copper, silver, and 

gold 

Orick Humboldt Placer 1852–1880s Small-scale operations to recover gold and some 

platinum from black sand deposits on beaches 

Notes: a Information from Clark (1970) unless otherwise noted; b From Selverston et al. (2011); c From Marvin (Waechter and Marvin 2011). 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

economic base [and] reflected significant advances in mining technology over time: from pan and 

waterwheels, to hydraulics, and finally to dredges” (Bailey 2008:7). 

The Shasta/Trinity area encompasses perhaps the most thoroughly studied of all historic mining 

districts in the planning area. Costello and Wee (2000) and Wee and Costello (2001) have produced in-depth 

studies of the Oregon Mountain Summit and LaGrange Mine historic properties and archaeological remains 

in Lower Oregon Gulch; Bevill and Nilsson (2001) and Hamusek-McGann et al. (1999) have researched 

historical mining in the Whiskeytown area; Kelly and McAleer (1986) carried out archaeological 

investigations at one site in the Lewiston/Ohio Flat district; Ritter (1986) has done a study of a Chinese mining 

venture near Igo; Sundahl and Ritter (1997) report on excavations at two multi-component sites that include 

evidence of Chinese occupation; Vaughan and Ritter (1992) discuss one of the most important gold mining 

districts in Shasta County (Clear Creek), as well as Chinese miners in the region, types of mining technology 

used, and early settlements; and Tordoff (with Seldner 1987) writes about the history and archaeology of the 

Cottonwood Mining District south/southwest of Redding, predominately a placer mining area with limited 

hydraulicking. Valuable historical studies of mining along the Trinity River have been done by Adkins (2007), 

Bailey (2008), Rich (2014), and Tordoff (2013). Additional information on gold mining in the region is available 

from single-site investigations by LaLande et al. (2015); Vaughan (1986); and Vaughan and Ritter (1992). 

The Mother Lode 

Although the planning area does not extend into the heart of the “Mother Lode” as it is typically 

defined, Selverston et al. (2011:3–5) point out that “there are lode deposits throughout the Sierra Nevada 

in addition to the interconnected Mother Lode, including some in eastern Butte County.”20 Some of the 

most recent (and most thorough) historical overviews of gold mining in California can be found in a series 

of reports by Sonoma State University on the archaeology of Lake Oroville (see, in particular, Selverston et 

al. 2005, 2011; Walker and Phil 2015). These studies rely heavily on primary sources, including Gold Rush 

diaries and historic maps, to describe the early history of eastern Butte County. 

Among the most productive of the northern lode-mining districts in Butte County were the areas 

around Forbestown, Yankee Hill, and Magalia near what is now Lake Oroville (see Figure 14). However, 

lode mining was not the main activity, at least in the vicinity of the reservoir: of the 292 sites with gold 

mining property types within the Lake Oroville FERC boundary, Selverston et al. (2011:Table 3.2-197) 

identified 97 sites with placer mining remains but only 12 with lode mining features. 

BLM-managed lands in Butte County are mostly concentrated along Butte and Big Chico Creeks 

and the West Branch, Middle Fork, and South Fork of the Feather River. Important mining districts in these 

areas included Butte Creek (on Butte Creek), Magalia, Bidwell Bar, Yankee Hill, Cherokee, and Forbestown. 

Clark (1970) describes these districts in detail; the following are brief summaries of that text. 

Butte Creek was primarily a dredging area that extended for nearly 12 miles along the creek, 

between Chico and Centerville. Clark (1970:32) reports that there was some placer, hydraulic, and drift 

mining as well, in the early years, but by the beginning of the twentieth century the creek gravels were 

being “worked with primitive power shovels and washing plants.” Selverston et al. (2011:3-43 to 3-44) cite 

several archaeological studies of the Butte Creek area, including Elliot’s 1995 thesis on BUT-854/H, a mining 

camp that has been listed on the National Register (period of significance 1850–1874); and another mining 

camp, BUT-1106/H, investigated under an agreement between BLM and California State University, Chico 

(Kraft 1998; Ritter 1989). 

20 According to these authors, the “prevailing definition” of the Mother Lode includes a 120-mile-long area between 

Mariposa and northern El Dorado County. We question this definition, as it appears to omit the major lode-mining 

zones in Placer and Nevada Counties. 

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The Magalia district, 15 miles northeast of Chico, was “extensively mined during and after the gold 

rush [sic]” and was “one of the most productive placer mining districts in the state,” with much of the gold 

coming from drift mines (Clark 1970:88). The major drift mines were the Emma, Indian Springs, Magalia, 

Pershbaker, and Royal mines. The Magalia district also produced the 54-pound “Willard nugget” in 1859. 

Bidwell Bar, one of the earliest of California’s Gold Rush settlements, was named for John Bidwell’s 

second discovery of gold on the Feather River in 1848. According to Clark, however, “the gravels were 

exhausted in a few years and the miners moved elsewhere” (1970:30). It now lies inundated beneath the 

waters of Lake Oroville. 

The extensive Yankee Hill mining district saw both placer and lode mining. Like many areas, 

Chinese miners reworked the “exhausted” placers after the white miners had moved on. Within the district, 

the Surcease mine was worked “on a major scale” in the 1890s–1900s, yielding more than $1 million in gold, 

and the Big Bend mine produced copper during the Second World War (Clark 1970:131). 

The output of the Cherokee district, supposedly named for a “party of Cherokee Indians who 

migrated here in the 1850s to mine gold” (Clark 1970:36), came mostly from its single large hydraulic mine 

of the same name. The Cherokee mine produced about $15 million during the course of its operations, some 

of it in the form of diamonds recovered from the gold-bearing gravels. 

Forbestown is 15 miles due east of Oroville. Placer mining during the Gold Rush yielded “huge 

amounts of gold” from the South Fork Feather River (Clark 1970:49). One major mine within the district 

was the Gold Bank, which operated “on a major scale” from 1888 to 1904. Clark (1970:49) tells us that 

moderate mining activity continued here through the 1930s. 

Logging and Lumbering 

In nineteenth- and early twentieth-century California, mining, logging, and settlement went hand-inhand. Mining—particularly lode mining—required vast quantities of wood for timber shoring, headframes, 

steam power, and building construction. In his description of travels through the region in the late 1850s, Isaac 

Cox remarked that “every mining camp along the Trinity River had its own sawmill” (Adkins 2007:98). Much 

of the lumber was used to build flumes in the river canyon, to carry water to the placers and to power hydraulic 

monitors. One local Trinity lumberman, Franklin Buck, estimated in the summer of 1856 that he had sold more 

than 100,000 board feet of lumber to the mines (Adkins 2007:99). Wooden flumes were also constructed to 

move logs from the timber stands to the mills, as with the historic Chico Flume, the Empire Flume, and the 

Blue Ridge Flume in the Shasta/Tehama region (Hutchinson 1956; Smith 1992; Woodrum 2009b). 

Gradually the scale and intensity of logging in all forested areas of northwestern California 

evolved from water-powered sawmills and oxen to transport the logs to the mills, to steam-driven 

sawmills, steam donkeys, and logging railroads. The remains of these activities can still be seen in many 

locations, in the form of narrow-gauge railroad segments, donkey sleds, boilers, work camps, and other 

archaeological sites and features. 

The markets also expanded, from local mining interests and residents to “far-off destinations such 

as San Francisco, Hawaii, Australia, and the Philippines” (Adkins 2007:132). The spread of settlement meant 

an increased demand for wood as well, to build cabins, corrals, stores, and other structures. Both of these 

activities stimulated the local lumber industries throughout the north state. Small sawmills arose to supply 

the local areas, especially in more remote areas that could not easily access larger markets, while large 

lumber operations served major towns and regions. 

Logging the Redwoods 

Redwood lumbering in the North Coast Ranges began in the 1850s and quickly became one of the 

most important economic activities, especially in Humboldt and northern Mendocino Counties. The first 

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sawmills sprang up along Humboldt Bay in 1850, and though many failed within a year, by 1860 Humboldt 

had become the second-ranking county in California in the production of lumber, sawing 30,000,000 board 

feet annually. The June 6, 1861 edition of the Alta California reported that “[l]umbering is the main 

occupation and source of employment” in the Humboldt Bay region. According to Irvine (1915:113), 

lumber companies cut nearly six billion board feet of redwood lumber between 1889 and 1913. Most of the 

lumber was shipped to the San Francisco market (Bearss 1969). Redwood lumbering created perhaps the 

first millionaires in Humboldt County, including Canadian lumberman William Carson, whose 1884 

Victorian mansion—built almost entirely of redwood—still stands in the town of Eureka. 

Not only redwoods were logged, however. As the local industry expanded, lumber companies also 

cut stands of Port Orford cedar, Douglas-fir, tanoak, and several species of pine. In the early years, horsedrawn carts carried the logs to the edge of Humboldt Bay (Carranco and Sorensen 1988); eventually they were 

replaced by machinery, as the lumber companies built the first railroads in California. By 1854–1855 there 

were already 20 miles of these railways in Humboldt County, and more were constructed as the closer timber 

stands were cut over and the lumber companies had to go farther afield. Several studies within the mill town 

of Falk, near Eureka, provide insight into the daily lives of workers in the local lumber industry in the late 

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Bryant and Rich 2011; Heald 2002; Rich and Roscoe 2009). 

Logging the Interior 

In other regions, particularly the dense timber stands of the Klamath Mountains and High North 

Coast Ranges, logging was and is an economic mainstay. Although Adkins (2007:201) says that logging 

and milling did not occur on an industrial scale in the Trinity River Basin until after World War II, the 

County Assessor’s Reports of County Statistics list 18 water-powered sawmills in Trinity County by 1858. 

Sawmills were established along the Klamath, Scott, Salmon, and Trinity Rivers and their larger tributaries; 

Belden (1997) identifies a total of 44 sawmills in Trinity County alone. Most were run by water power or 

steam, and later by gas-powered engines. In the early years logs were moved downriver to the sawmills or 

hauled out by high-wheeled wagons and teams of oxen or horses. Early-on, sawmills often were mobile, 

self-contained features that were moved to new locations when all the merchantable trees in an area had 

been cut down. Rivers or draft animals were used to transport the logs to the mills. The work crews 

typically consisted of a cook, several choppers, a few sawyers, and additional workers to peel and ring the 

trees after they were felled. Logging camps were set up, and might include shanties for housing workers, 

a cookhouse, a storehouse, a repair shop, and a barn for the animal teams. 

Some of the earliest logging in the planning area, however, took place in the upper Sacramento Valley: 

Bevill and Nilsson report that the “first recorded incident of logging in present-day Shasta County occurred in 

1844,” in the vicinity of what is now the town of Cottonwood (Bevill and Nelson 2001:127). The logs were rafted 

downstream to Johann Sutter’s fort at New Helvetia (Sacramento). The lumber industry did not really take off, 

however, until the Gold Rush triggered an immense need for flumes, dams, mine timbers, mills, cabins, and 

other wooden structures. Smith (1997:47) tells us that the first lumber mill in Tehama County was built in ca. 

1851, on the Sacramento River above Mill Creek. In Shasta County, there were at least eight sawmills by 1852— 

“all but one located in the Horsetown and Whiskeytown mining districts” (Bevill and Nilsson 2001:128). The 

lack of good roads, however, limited the amount of lumbering to the hills on either side of the Sacramento 

Valley. The forested mountains east of Redding and Red Bluff were not logged to any great degree until the 

mid-1860s, and areas to the north not until the early 1870s. The construction of the California & Oregon 

Railroad to Redding in 1872 and on to Oregon in the early 1880s provided an easier way to move lumber to 

market and expanded local operations (Bevill and Nilsson 2001:131). 

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Railroad Logging 

Railroad logging in California’s timberlands has been the subject of books, magazine articles, historical 

society publications, tourist attractions, and historical/archaeological studies. These railroads began as a way 

to access remote regions that had no developed road systems, and expanded to reach increasingly distant 

timber stands. This created a need for remote camps for the workers and a system for transporting the logs. 

Logging railroads served both purposes, moving portable camp structures (“skid shacks”) into the woods and 

logs back out to the mills. Railroads were expensive to build, however, and railroad logging systems “required 

a larger and more highly skilled workforce and more capital outlay” (Caltrans 2013:96). 

Miller (2014) describes several of the logging railroads in the North Coast region, including a twomile-long rail system from Union (Arcata) to Humboldt Bay that was later incorporated into the Arcata and 

Mad River Railroad; the McKay & Company Railroad; and the short-line Freshwater Railroad. The latter was 

eventually acquired by the Pacific Lumber Company and operated into the 1940s. Borden (1958) presents a 

history of the Oregon & Eureka Railroad, which operated for only nine years (1903–1911). Carranco and 

Sorensen (1988) provide a detailed discussion of railroad logging in Humboldt County from 1854 to the 1930s, 

when rubber-tired vehicles took over the job of transporting logs from the forest to the mills. 

Many logging railroad systems were active in other regions as well, including those operated by 

the LaMoine Lumber and Trading Company in Shasta County (Vaughan 1985a), the Red River Lumber 

Company in Shasta and Lassen Counties (Maniery and Baker 1997); the McCloud River Lumber Company 

in Siskiyou County (Elliott 1990; Vaughan 1985b); the Butte & Plumas Railway Co. (Robertson 1998); and 

others. On the Klamath National Forest alone, 15 different railroad logging systems were in operation in 

the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with another 11 on the Shasta-Trinity (Tamez et al. 

1988:76–78). Many others operated just to the south, in the Sierra Nevada timber zones. 

Tamez et al. (1988) identified four primary research domains for railroad logging in California: 

environment, technology, economics, and society and culture. Their “Contextual History for Railroad Logging 

in California” was prepared as part of a Programmatic Agreement between the US Forest Service Region 5 

(California), the State Office of Historic Preservation, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, for 

the treatment of railroad logging systems on National Forest lands. Several studies followed from that research 

design, including those by Elliott (1990) and Vaughan (1985a, 1985b). More recently, a historical context and 

archaeological research design for work camps, including logging and lumber camps, has been published by 

the HARD research group (Caltrans 2013). That publication presents contextual background, property types, 

and research themes for railroad logging camps, and borrows Conners’ (1990) ranking system for determining 

the integrity of archaeological remains associated with those camps. 

MARITIME ACTIVITIES 

Although limited geographically, maritime activities have been important on the North Coast since 

the beginning of the historic period in northwestern California. These have included early explorations (see 

that section, above), economic pursuits, military undertakings, and boating/lifesaving operations. The 

Humboldt coast, in particular, has a long history of commercial fishing and canneries, shipping of lumber 

and other commodities, and lighthouse facilities. Commercial fishing (of salmon in particular) began in the 

1860s and continues to be a major part of the local economy today. 

Fishing and Whaling 

The salmon fishery and canning industry on the North Coast are well known. What is less 

commonly known, however, is that whaling was also a busy industry along the California coast throughout 

the second half of the nineteenth century (Bertão 2006; Caltrans 2013; Warrin 2007).” Before 1850, the coastal 

whaling industry took precedence, followed by the state’s salmon fisheries. California’s early whaling and 

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fishing industries were dependent on the exportation of their products” (Caltrans 2013:128). As on the East 

Coast, the principal product was whale oil. According to Bertão (2006), most of the whalers on the 

California coast were Portuguese from the Azores. 

Obviously, most of this activity took place offshore, but the whaling industry also created facilities 

on land: 

In cities, whalers often lived in boardinghouses, but in rural areas along the California 

coast they created their own housing by erecting cabins and outbuildings (Bertão 2006:14– 

16)...Shore whalers built their facilities in sheltered harbors, atop bluffs, using the beach 

below to anchor the whales. Whaling companies generally operated out of a single 

strategic building used to store supplies, to hold meetings, and to serve as a hospital, if 

needed. Married whalers usually secured their own quarters or built their own dwellings. 

When whaling operations shut down, buildings were often dismantled and relocated to 

another site (Bertão 2006:27–29). In some whaling camps, whalers cultivated small gardens 

and raised animals for food [Caltrans 2013:129]. 

Caltrans (2013:Table 4) lists three known whaling stations within the planning area counties: Whaler 

Island in Crescent City Harbor, operating from 1885 to 1895; Trinidad Bay, used for an unknown period 

beginning in 1861; and Buhne Point in Humboldt Bay, from 1855 to an unknown end-date. According to 

Warrin (2007), the whaling industry continued sporadically in California until 1972. To our knowledge, no 

whaling- or fishing-related sites have been identified on BLM-managed lands in the planning area. 

Shipping 

As early as the 1850s, Humboldt Bay developed a small export lumber industry (Paterson et al. 

1978:15). The lack of a good road system meant that sawmills had to be close to the bay for ease of shipment 

of finished redwood lumber from the Humboldt and Mendocino coasts to San Francisco. Paterson et al. 

(1978) report that, at the turn of the twentieth century, there were 50 lumber ports along “the redwood coast,” 

served by a fleet of lumber schooners that anchored in Humboldt Bay. These ships were “the main link to 

the outside world” until the construction of a railroad between Eureka and San Francisco in 1914. Even then, 

shipping remained a primary mode of transport for the local redwood industry: in 1915 Irvine reported that 

“[a]t this time redwood shingles can be shipped from Humboldt Bay to Chicago on a sixty cent rate and to 

New York and Boston via the Isthmus of a sixty-seven and a half cent rate...” (Irvine 1915:119). 

In addition to redwood, these ports processed and shipped bark from the tanoak or tanbark oak 

tree, a common understory species in redwood forests. The bark, rich in tannins, was used to tan leather 

goods, and by the late nineteenth century the harvesting and shipping of tanbark was a major economic 

activity along the North Coast. Irvine (1915:120) tells us that “the quality of tan bark found in this county 

is the very highest,” and that “thousands of cords of tan bark have been shipped out of the county, and 

there are still many thousands of cords to be gathered.” The industry continued to thrive into the first 

decades of the twentieth century, when the loss of large tanoak trees caused it to decline. 

Aids to Navigation 

To aid in shipping and navigation in general, various entities and individuals built lighthouses 

along the California coast. Within the planning area, these include the Battery Point Light at Crescent City 

(1856–1982), the Cape Mendocino Light (1868–1970s, subsequently dismantled and reassembled at Mal 

Coombs Park in Shelter Cove), the Punta Gorda Light (1912–1951), the Point St. George Reef Light (1982– 

1975), the Humboldt Harbor Light (North Spit, 1856–1892; abandoned and replaced by the Table Bluff Light), 

the Table Bluff Light (1892–1961), and the Trinidad Head Light (1871-present; Figures 18 and 19). 

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The Humboldt Harbor Light once stood on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay behind the Coast Guard 

Station. It was abandoned in 1892 in favor of a higher lighthouse on Table Bluff. The older lighthouse 

collapsed in 1933, but foundation ruins remain. These ruins were recorded by BLM archaeologists in 1983 as 

site HUM-662H. Test excavations were conducted here, but the results have not yet been written up. The 

recovered artifacts are curated at the BLM office in Arcata. The site was determined ineligible for the National 

Register, because it lacked integrity (Pfilf 1995). The Table Bluff Light was constructed on a promontory south 

of the bay, above the South Jetty. Grangaard (2002:9) reports that the nearby town of Table Bluff once 

contained “a hotel (built by Van Aerman in 1852), a saloon, blacksmith shop, livery stable, general store, 

schoolhouse, dance hall, grange, church, six homes, and a post office established in 1861.” The lighthouse was 

deactivated in 1961; as of 2014, all that remained were the foundations. The lighthouse was determined 

ineligible in 2011 for lack of integrity (Munson 2014). 

Table 10 summarizes the detailed descriptions and photographs available on the US Coast Guard 

website. (That site does not provide detailed information on the Humboldt Harbor Light.) 

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT: TRANSPORTATION, UTILITIES/COMMUNICATION, 

AND WATER DEVELOPMENT 

These two themes are presented in this separate section because they relate to virtually all of the 

other themes, events, and trends that make up the history of northwestern California. They tended to be 

means to an end, whether that end was immigration, access to mining areas, linkages between settlements, 

transport of goods, or water to support all of these (and other) elements. 

Transportation Systems 

Transportation features and systems are critical to the development of any region: without them, 

people and products cannot move efficiently. Foot and pack trails, ocean and river corridors, wagon/stage 

roads, and railroads literally opened California up to the miners, settlers, merchants, and companies that 

would guide the development of the state through the end of the nineteenth century. The result was a maze 

of travel corridors, some of which survive today as modernized routes, while others exist only as faint 

linear traces...if at all. 

Ocean and River Routes 

The earliest of these transportation systems were the ocean routes used by European explorers and 

fur trappers, as described earlier. These continued to be important as shipping routes and for carrying the 

many thousands of gold miners who arrived at Yerba Buena (San Francisco), Eureka, and other ports on 

their way to the inland mines. With the exception of these ports (and later, lighthouse stations), ocean travel 

obviously left no archaeological remains on the landscape. 

River travel soon became an important way of moving commercial goods and passengers, 

especially on the Sacramento. Before the era of hydraulic mining, which silted up many of the waterways 

between the Sierra Nevada and the San Francisco Bay, ships (and salmon) moved easily along the river to 

inland ports at places like New Helvetia (Sacramento), Tehama, and Reeds Creek Landing (Red Bluff; Smith 

1997; Wilson 1998). Wilson reports that “From 1850 onward, freight and passengers were moved by wood[-

]fired steam[-]powered paddle craft, and in later years by coal[-]fired steam, upriver as far as conditions 

would permit. From these river transport termini, wagon roads led on to the North” (1998:8). 

Smith (1997:14) tells us that “[r]iver navigation was the lifeblood of Red Bluff in the early years,” 

when “[t]he gold mining districts to the north desperately needed a point of supply nearer than San 

Francisco or Sacramento.” Steamboats began arriving at Red Bluff in 1852, and the town soon became a 

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Figure 18. Table Bluff and Cape Mendocino Light Stations.

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Figure 19. Punta Gorda and Trinidad Head Light Stations. 

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Table 10. Lights and Lighthouses on BLM-Administered Lands in the Planning Area. 

NAME ORIGINAL LOCATION 

YEARS OF MATERIALS OPERATION 

TOWER SHAPE ORIGINAL LENS HISTORICAL NOTES 

Humboldt Harbor Light North Spit, Humboldt 

Harbor 

1856–1892 Brick Round on 

rectangular house 

Fourth order lens Abandoned in favor of higher lighthouse on 

Table Bluff. Only ruins remain. 

Table Bluff Light Table Bluff, Humboldt Bay 1892–1961 Wood Square Fourth order lens Replaced Humboldt Harbor Light. Only ruins 

from Humboldt remain. Sometimes called Humboldt Bay Light 

Bay relocated to Station and confused with Humboldt Harbor 

Table Bluff Light Station. 

Punta Gorda Light 12 mi. south of Cape 

Mendocino, Humboldt 

Co. 

1911–1951 Reinforced concrete Square Fourth-order Bulls Included two-story lighthouse, concrete oil 

Eye house, wooden fog-signal building, 

blacksmith/carpenter shop, three sheds, barn. 

Currently (2016) subject to condition assessment 

by BLM.. 

Old Cape Mendocino Light Cape Mendocino, 

Humboldt Co. 

1868–1970s Concrete, cast iron 16-sided 

pyramidal 

First-order 43-foot tower one of the highest in the US at 422 

Fresnel, moved to ft above sea level; lighthouse structure 

Humboldt Co. dismantled and moved to Shelter Cove in 1998. 

fairgrounds 1950 

Trinidad Head Light Trinidad Harbor, 

Humboldt Co. 

1866–present Stone, brick Square pyramidal Fourth-order Originally included small two-story lighthouse, 

Fresnel single Victorian residence, small barn, bell 

house. Housing and barn razed by US Coast 

Guard in 1960s; replica Memorial Lighthouse 

stands in Trinidad, with original lens. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thriving community supported in part by the river trade. The importance of river transport was reflected 

in the large number of ferry landings up and down the Sacramento. Smith also notes, however, that the 

Sacramento River was not navigable year-round “because of the dangers of snags, sand bars, and the 

insufficient summer depths of the river” (1997:14). During those times, people and supplies had to move 

by pack mule or wagon along the many trails that ran along both sides of the Sacramento River. 

Nevertheless, steamboats continued to “ply the waters of the Sacramento” as late as 1937 (Smith 1997:15). 

Pack Trails and Wagon/Stage Roads 

The many foot and pack trails, often based on Native trails, that brought the first trappers and 

explorers into the north state include various routes of and connectors to the Oregon-California emigrant 

trail.21 There have been several archaeological and historical studies done on these early trails, among them 

the Yreka Trail (Sullivan et al. 2005), the Siskiyou Trail (Tveskov et al. 2001), and the Old Sacramento Trail 

(Ritter 2009). These trails often had various routes and were known by various names; Beaton and Wee (in 

Byrd et al. 2008:34–35) note the following: 

One early route, the California Trail or the Old Sacramento Trail, followed the Sacramento 

River and crossed the mountains north of the present site of Redding. It was used by the 

trapper Michel LaFramboise in 1832. A segment of the Siskiyou Trail carried Hudson’s Bay 

trappers between Oregon and the San Francisco Bay along the west side of the Sacramento 

River. This route began as a trapper’s trail before becoming a pack trail, wagon road and 

coach road... 

Hopeful settlers and miners poured into the study area along the California-Oregon Trail 

between 1840 and 1860. Once travelers reached Oregon, they had three trails to choose 

from to reach California, all of which passed through the upper Sacramento River Valley. 

The Eastern Route followed the Pit River to Cottonwood Creek and to Red Bluff. The 

Western Route reached Shasta from the west, and the Central Route followed the west 

bank of the Sacramento River through the valley. 

Brock (2000), Helfrich (1984), and others provide information and locations of trail markers placed 

by Emigrant Trails West along the Lassen, Applegate, and Nobles Trails, as well as the Truckee River and 

Carson River routes of the Oregon-California Trail. These and other early trails provided the main avenues 

of travel for emigrants entering northern California and southern Oregon in the 1840s–1860s, until the 

completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. Many of these early trails subsequently developed 

into commercial or freight roads. 

One early emigrant trail is a tantalizing mystery. The so-called “Lost” or “Forgotten Emigrant Trail” 

is mentioned in local historian Myrtle McNamar’s 1952 narrative Way Back When (now out of print). As cited 

in a draft report by Deborah Tibbetts, on file at BLM’s Redding office, McNamar describes the trail this way: 

...[M]any miles could be shed [from the Nobles Pass route] by following the Lassen Trail 

to the head of Deer Creek, thence over a new trail through the north eastern [sic] part of 

Tehama County, via Child’s Meadows, Morgan Springs and the Mineral section to the 

head of South Battle Creek, thence down [the] south side of South Battle Creek Canyon to 

the Apple ranch on Paines (Paynes) Creek; this being almost as of Highway 36 [Tibbetts 

2016:17]. 

21 This trails is variously known as the Overland Emigrant Trail, The Overland Trail, the California-Oregon Trail, the 

Old Oregon Trail, and other names. It includes several California State Historical Landmark designations. 

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Based on the results of archaeological research by BLM’s Redding office in 2012 and 2015, Tibbetts 

theorizes that a portion of the “Forgotten Emigrant Road” is now incorporated into Spring Branch Road, 

running parallel to (and south of) Battle Creek. 

In the early days, roads were often built by individuals who then charged toll for their use. River 

crossings (ferries) were also privately owned and operated; one local example is Jelly’s Ferry, established in 

1857 by early settler Andrew Jelly. The ferry “served stage coaches running between Sacramento and Shasta, 

as well as teamsters, lumber handlers from area mills, sheep drivers, and local travelers trying to reach Red 

Bluff. The ferry operated for nearly 100 years before it was replaced by a steel-truss bridge in 1950” (Beason 

and Wee in Byrd et al. 2008:32). Jelly’s Ferry Road connected Shingletown, Fort Reading, Red Bluff and Shasta; 

a segment of the road was incorporated into the county road system in 1860. Another early ferry crossing on 

the Sacramento was begun by Pierson B. Reading and purchased in 1868 by William Ball, just south of Ash 

Creek. Ball ferried freight wagons, livestock, and stagecoaches until 1897, when a bridge was constructed 

nearby. Today Balls Ferry Road runs parallel to the river east of the town of Anderson. 

The expanding system of wagon roads served as the main transportation routes for most of the 

planning area, later augmented (or sometimes superseded) by rail lines. Mail and passengers also traveled 

these early roads by stage coach. An 1866 broadside printed by the Oregon Stage Line boasted an “Overland 

Mail Route to California...Through in Six Days to Sacramento [from Portland]...Fare Through, Fifty 

Dollars” (Figure 20).22 Today many of the early routes are overprinted by modern paved roads, for the 

simple fact that it was easier and less costly to improve existing roads than to build new ones. 

On the North Coast, where shipping was of major importance, terrestrial transportation arteries 

were much slower to develop: it was not until 1876 that an overland road was constructed between Eureka 

in Humboldt County and Ukiah in Mendocino County. Small settlements sprang up along the route, and 

agricultural products (along with other goods) now moved more easily between the two areas. Smaller 

wagon roads were constructed to link the main route with more isolated settlements on the coast and in 

the interior. However, it was not until the early twentieth century that major routes (notably the 

Northwestern Pacific Railroad to Humboldt Bay in 1914 and the Redwood Highway in the 1920s) would 

open up the North Coast to the rest of California and to Oregon. 

The development of terrestrial transportation systems was vital to the rugged and remote inland 

regions as well. For the first two decades after the gold discoveries, people and supplies had to travel along 

slow and circuitous routes on foot or using pack trains, river boats, and wagons. In 1871, a 105-mile-long 

wagon road was opened to connect Yreka—a “center of commerce in the northern interior of California” 

(Beckham 2006:114)—to Fort Klamath in southern Oregon. The Topsy Road, as it was known, was a 

primary freight route through the region for three decades, and by 1900 several stage stops had been 

established: Ager, Bloomingcamp, Beswick, and State Line Ranch in California; and Way Station/Ranch, 

Topsy, and Chase Station in Oregon. A 2,500-foot-long segment of Topsy Road has been recorded under the 

BLM site number CA-030-2027. (There are no way stations in the site record database; presumably these 

have not been formally recorded.) 

Another important early route in the planning area was the Shasta-Yreka Road/Turnpike (CA-030-

0187/SHA-2806H), a “historic Gold Rush and post-Gold Rush road system [that] stretched for about 100 

miles, linking the old historic mining towns of Shasta and Yreka” (Woodrum 2009a:2). The feature has been 

determined eligible for listing on the National Register (Ritter 2009). In her historical overview of the road, 

Woodrum notes that, “[i]n the early days of settlement in Shasta County...the town of Shasta was 

geographically isolated from northern destinations by rough terrain, hostile Indians, winter snow and 

22From the California State Parks website at http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/22491/files/shasta_1866%20overland%2 

0mail%20route_oregon%20line.jpg). 

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Figure 20. Shasta Overland Mail Route Broadside. 

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spring flood, and a paucity of roads to other major settlements...” (2009a:2). In the early 1850s, it was “four 

or five days of hard travel” to cover the 100 miles from Shasta to Yreka. Nevertheless, period newspapers 

“chronicled a steady flow of mule packers, settlers, gold seekers, traders and merchants, and other 

travelers” between the two county seats (Woodrum 2009a:3). The road segment recorded as CA-030-

0187/SHA-2806H appears to have been part of a stage route from Shasta that connected to the OregonCalifornia Trail on its way to Yreka (Woodrum 2009a13). 

The Middle Creek Road (CA-030-1079; SHA-2667H) was constructed by the citizens of Shasta in the 

early 1880s to connect the town with the new California & Oregon Railroad line along the Sacramento River 

(Woodrum 2011). The road was an attempt by the citizens to make up for the fact that the railroad had bypassed 

their town. It partly followed the “road to Red Bluff” and then turned northeast to parallel the north bank of 

Middle Creek (Woodrum 2011:48). Woodrum also notes that portions of the road have been obliterated by 

Highway 299 West and Iron Mountain Road. Even so, Ritter (2011) identified intact segments with a variety of 

artifacts: horse and mule shoes, tack, wagon parts, rock retaining walls, and even personal items. 

Table 11, while certainly not exhaustive, lists many of the more important trails and wagon roads in 

the planning area, and all roads that appear in the BLM site database. Route names changed over time, and 

often the same route was given more than one name; names used on the table are taken from reports and site 

records provided by BLM. The “Earliest Known Date” listed on the table is also somewhat arbitrary in many 

cases, as trails often developed into wagon roads over time, with no clear-cut date of “construction.” In other 

cases the dates indicate the earliest known map showing the route. Many other early (unnamed) routes were 

also used to connect mining areas, ranches, and towns, but it is not feasible to identify them all. 

Public Railroads 

As we have noted, lumber companies built the first railroads in northern California, beginning in 

the early 1850s; the logging railroads in Humboldt County appear to have been the first. But these systems 

were limited to the transport of work crews and lumber for specific companies. The first true passenger 

and freight lines open to public travel were slower in coming: 

...[O]nly a few local railroads began to serve central California’s mining areas, where stage 

company operations soon displayed transportation superiority to those of any other state. 

Excellent Concord stage coaches could be transported to California about as easily as mud 

wagons that offered more common services in other states. But heavy locomotives and iron 

for railroads and their tracks could be imported only with great difficulty. So attention 

focused almost entirely upon California demands for a transcontinental railroad that 

would make local lines practical as well [Robertson 1998:5]. 

Once the transcontinental railroad arrived, those “local lines” began to proliferate: as of June 30, 

1876, California already had 18 standard-gauge and nine narrow-gauge railroads (Robertson 1998:17). At 

first, these were concentrated in the more heavily populated areas of southern California, the San Francisco 

Bay Area, and the Central Valley. Table 12 lists the historic systems operating in the planning area. 

Orsi (2005) provides an extremely detailed discussion of the history of the Southern Pacific, one of 

the largest and most important railroads in the American West. Over a period of 80 years, the Southern 

Pacific would gradually purchase, consolidate, and expand many predecessor lines (including the Central 

Pacific) in the West and Southwest. By the 1920s, the company had constructed or purchased mainlines up 

and down the length of California, including the Northwestern Pacific from San Francisco to Humboldt 

Bay (completed in 1914) and a line from Marysville to Redding that on 1874 maps is labeled as the Oregon 

Division of the Central Pacific Railroad. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 155 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Western 156 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 11. Major Historic-Era Trails and Wagon Roads in the Planning Area. 

NAME 

BLM OR 

PRIMARY NO. REGION(S) EARLIEST KNOWN DATE 

NOTES/OTHER DESIGNATIONS REFERENCES 

Shasta-Yreka Road/Turnpike CA-030-0187 Upper Klamath/ 

Sacramento Valley 

pre-1860 Sometimes labeled as a branch of the Old 

Sacramento River Road and OregonCalifornia Trail. 

Ritter (2009) 

Humboldt Wagon Road CA-030-0272 Upper Sacramento 

Valley/ Southern 

Cascades/ Sierra Nevada 

Foothills 

1863 Chico & Humboldt Wagon Road; road 

houses built at Ten Mile House, Fourteen 

Mile House, Forest Ranch. 

BLM site record 

Old Shasta Road CA-030-0551 Upper Sacramento Valley ca. 1851 Shasta Wagon Road, Redding & Shasta 

Wagon Road; Highway 299W 

Woodrum (2011) 

Shasta to Red Bluff Road CA-030-0576 Upper Sacramento Valley 1851 Red Bluff Road; connected Shasta to Woodrum (2011); 

Middletown, Horsetown, Cottonwood, and BLM site record 

Red Bluff 

Balls Ferry/Shingletown/ 

Ft. Reading Road Complex 

CA-030-0635 Upper Sacramento 

Valley/ Southern Cascade 

Foothills 

1861 - BLM site record 

Haight Brothers Cattle Trail CA-030-0710 Upper Klamath 1860s Haight Brothers Road, Martin’s Trail BLM site record 

Yreka Trail CA-030-0878 Upper Klamath 1833 South Emigrant Trail, Siskiyou Trail, Pitt 

River Road; reportedly traveled by early 

trapper and explorer John Work 

Sullivan et al. (2005); 

BLM site record 

Pitts River Road CA-030-0879 Upper Klamath 1850s Yreka-Fall City Road BLM site record 

Middle Creek Road CA-030-1079 Upper Sacramento Valley 1884 - Ritter (2011) 

Bull Hill Road CA-030-1121 Southern Cascades/ Sierra 

Nevada Foothills 

1872 - BLM site record 

Jelly to Inks Creek Road CA-030-1149 Upper Sacramento Valley 1857 - BLM site record; 

Byrd et al. (2008) 

Road to Junction City CA-030-1181 Upper Sacramento Valley 

and Klamath Mtns/High 

No. Coast Ranges 

1882 Main road from Weaverville to Junction 

City 

BLM site record; 

Colby (1982) 

Democrat Gulch Road CA-030-1190 Upper Sacramento Valley 

and Klamath Mtns/High 

No. Coast Ranges 

1911 - BLM site record 

Whitmore’s Road CA-030-1197 Klamath Mtns/High 

North Coast Ranges 

1881 - BLM site record 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 157 Far Western 

Table 11. Major Historic-Era Trails and Wagon Roads in the Planning Area continued. 

NAME 

BLM OR 

PRIMARY NO. REGION(S) EARLIEST KNOWN DATE 

NOTES/OTHER DESIGNATIONS REFERENCES 

Road from Weaverville to CA-030-1224 Upper Sacramento Valley 1913 - BLM site record 

Steiner Flat and Klamath Mtns/High 

No. Coast Ranges 

Stony Gulch Road CA-030-1234 Upper Sacramento Valley - - BLM site record 

Lewiston Turnpike CA-030-1236 Upper Sacramento Valley 1858 Tower House to Weaverville -

and Klamath Mtns/High 

No. Coast Ranges 

Turtle Creek Road CA-030-1297 Southern Cascade - - BLM site record 

Foothills 

Benson Mine Road CA-030-1347 Upper Sacramento Valley 1920s - BLM site record 

Road to Old Shasta CA-030-1399 Upper Sacramento Valley 1853 Wagon road between Old Shasta and BLM site record 

nearby mining areas; segment of 

Sacramento River Road 

Upper Coram Road CA-030-1407 Upper Sacramento Valley - - BLM site record 

Southeast Eastman Sled Road CA-030-1492 Klamath Mtns/High - - BLM site record 

North Coast Ranges 

Old Highway 299 CA-030-1498 Upper Sacramento Valley - Abandoned segments BLM site record 

East Fork Road CA-030-1513 Upper Sacramento Valley - - BLM site record 

Coram Road North CA-030-1720 Upper Sacramento Valley - - BLM site record 

Copley Trail CA-030-1722 Upper Sacramento Valley 1884 Pack and foot trail, later used to access BLM site record 

copper mines in the mountains northwest 

of Keswick 

Texas Location Road CA-030-1762 Upper Sacramento Valley - - BLM site record 

Belle Mill Road CA-030-1864 Southern Cascade pre-1860 Hogback Road Woodrum (2009b); 

Foothills BLM site record 

Camden Toll Road CA-030-1891 Upper Sacramento Valley 1852/1861a Created from a 1849 packer’s trail; partly Colby (1982); 

overprinted by Old State Highway/ Smith (2008); 

Highway 299W Woodrum (2011) 

Denny Historic Road CA-030-1973 Southern Cascade - Possible segment of Tehama Wagon Road BLM site record 

Foothills 

Shasta-Weaverville Road CA-030-1986 Upper Sacramento Valley 1857–1858 Buckhorn Toll Road, Lowden’s Toll Road; BLM site record 

and Klamath Mtns/High mostly overprinted by State Route 20 

No. Coast Ranges 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Western 158 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 11. Major Historic-Era Trails and Wagon Roads in the Planning Area continued. 

NAME 

BLM OR 

PRIMARY NO. REGION(S) EARLIEST KNOWN DATE 

NOTES/OTHER DESIGNATIONS REFERENCES 

Ponderosa Way CA-030-1987 Sierra Nevada 1933–1935 Ponderosa Truck Trail, built as a fuelbreak BLM site record 

by CCC enrollees 

Topsy Road CA-030-2027 Upper Klamath 1871 Topsy Grade, Topsy Wagon Road; section BLM (2003); 

of Yreka-Fort Klamath Wagon Road Newland and Walker (2015) 

Utah Construction Company P-04-002548 Sierra Nevada - - BLM site record 

Road; OR-A156H 

Fort Gaston Trail P-12-001191 Coast Ranges 1850? Arcata to Hoopa Trail BLM site record 

Tan Bark Road P-23-003299 Coast Ranges Late 1880s Old Government Trail BLM site record 

North Fork Trail P-53-001766 Klamath Mountains/High 1850s? “One of the earliest historic routes in BLM site record 

North Coast Range Trinity County”; replaced by Hobo Gulch 

Rd. in 1930s 

Oregon-California Trail - All except North Coast 1840s California Trail, Overland Emigrant Trail, NPS (2015); 

California Historical Landmark #799 OCTA (2016); 

Wilson (1998) 

Beckwourth Trail - Sierra Nevada 1851 Sparks, NV to Marysville, CA Hammond and Hammond 

(1994); 

Morgan and Mitchell (2011) 

Lassen Trail - Southern Cascades/ 1848 Lassen Cut-Off Colby (1982) 

Upper Sacramento Valley 

Nobles Trail - Southern Cascades/ 1852 Overprinted by portions of Highway 44 Lassen County Office of 

Upper Sacramento Valley Education; Colby (1982); 

Vaughan (1994) 

Siskiyou Trail - Upper Klamath 1840s–1850s Portion of Oregon-California Trail Tveskov et al. (2001) 

Crescent City to Trinidad - Coast Ranges 1894 First north-south road on the northern Bearss (1969); 

Wagon Road California coastline Redwood National Park 

site record database 

Lockhart Wagon Road - Upper Klamath/ 1855 Yreka to Red Bluff section of old emigrant Colby (1982) 

Sacramento Valley trail 

Yreka Road - Upper Klamath/ 1859 Trinity Road Woodrum (2009a) 

Sacramento Valley 

Old Sacramento Road - Upper Klamath/ 1861 Lower Soda Springs and Pit River Road, Woodrum (2009a) 

Sacramento Valley Red Bluff-Yreka Road 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 159 Far Western 

Table 11. Major Historic-Era Trails and Wagon Roads in the Planning Area continued. 

NAME 

BLM OR 

PRIMARY NO. REGION(S) EARLIEST KNOWN DATE 

NOTES/OTHER DESIGNATIONS REFERENCES 

Sacramento River Trail - Upper Klamath/ 1830s Early trail first mapped by Hudson’s Bay Woodrum (2009a) 

Sacramento Valley Co. trappers 

Marysville-Shasta Road - Upper Sacramento Valley 1849 Early stage road accessing Bidwell’s ranch White (2015) 

Flat Creek Road - Upper Sacramento Valley 1861 West bank of Sacramento River from Woodrum (2009a, 2011) 

Waugh’s Ferry to Spring Creek 

“Lost/Forgotten Emigrant - Upper Sacramento Valley 1872 Spring Branch Road? State Route 36 Ritter personal 

Trail” communication, (2016); 

McNamar (1952; in Tibbetts 

2016 draft) 

Waugh’s Ferry Road - Upper Sacramento Valley pre-1884 Led east from near the town of Shasta, Woodrum (2011) 

crossing the river at Waugh’s Ferry 

Tehama County Wagon Road - Upper Sacramento Valley 1863 Part of “Forgotten Emigrant Trail”? Tibbetts (2016 draft) 

Buckhorn Toll Road - Upper Sacramento Valley 1907 Alternate route to Weaverville Colby (1982) 

and Klamath Mtns/High 

No. Coast Ranges 

Powellton/Humbug Road - - - - -

Note: a Colby (1982) and Woodrum (2011) state that this road was constructed/finished by Charles Camden in 1861; Smith (2008), however, reports that it was built by Levi 

Tower in 1852 and purchased by Charles Camden in 1861. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Far Western 160 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 

Table 12. Historic Railroads in the Planning Area (adapted from Robertson 1998, with additions). 

NAMEa DATES OF 

OPERATION 

TYPE NOTES 

Arcata & Mad River Railroad Company 1881–1983 Common carrier, lumber -

Bucksport & Elk River Railroad/Railway Co. 1885–1953 Common carrier, lumber Name changed in 1932 

Butte & Plumas Railway Co. 1901–1940 Logging -

Butte County Railroad Co. 1903–1915 Common carrier, lumber -

California & Northern Railway Co. 1901–1904 Common carrier, lumber Sold to San Francisco & Northwestern Railway Co. in 1904 

California & Oregon Railroad Co. 1869–1870 Common carrier, mining, Operated for only a few months before being consolidated 

agriculture into the CPRR in 1870 

California Redwood Co. 1883–1901 Logging -

California, Shasta, & Eastern Railway Co. 1913–1926 Common carrier, lumber -

Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) 1899–1959 Common carrier Existed both earlier and later under different names 

Colusa & Hamilton Railroad Co. 1913–1917 Common carrier, -

agriculture 

Eel River & Eureka Railroad Co. 1884–1903 Common carrier, logging -

Feather River Railway Co. 1940–1966 Common carrier, lumber -

Fruit Growers Supply Co. 1913–1953 Logging -

Glen Blair Redwood Co. 1903–1928 Logging -

Humboldt Northern Railway Co. 1905–1958 Logging -

Iron Mountain Railway Co. 1896–1924 Common carrier, mining -

Klamath Lake Railroad Co. 1903–1913 Common carrier, lumber -

Long-Bell Lumber Co. 1926–1955 Logging -

McLoud River Railroad Co. 1897–1992 Common carrier, logging Still operating (as of 1998) as McLoud Railway Co. 

Northern California Railway Co. 1860–1898 Common carrier Began as California Northern Railroad Co. in 1860; 

consolidated into Southern Pacific Railroad 1898 

Northern Redwood Lumber Co. 1903–1956 Logging Widened to standard gauge in 1925 

Northwest Pacific Railroad Co. 1888–1992 Common carrier, lumber Began as San Francisco & North Pacific Railway Co., 

became Northwest Pacific Railroad in 1907; merged with 

SPRR in 1992 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 161 Far Western 

Table 12. Historic Railroads in the Planning Area (adapted from Robertson 1998, with additions) continued. 

NAMEa DATES OF 

OPERATION 

TYPE NOTES 

Oregon & Eureka Railroad Co. 1875–1911 Lumber Oregon & Eureka Railroad Co. (began as Humboldt & Mad 

River Railroad in 1875, then Humboldt Bay & Trinidad 

Railroad, then Eureka & Klamath River Railroad; merged 

into Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1911) 

Pacific Lumber Co. 1869–1977 Common carrier, logging -

Sacramento Northern Railway 1889–1987 Common carrier Began as Marysville & Yuba Street Railroad Co. in 1889, 

went through many different reorganizations—Shasta 

Southern, Northern Electric, etc.—became Sacramento 

Northern Railway in 1921, operated until 1987 and then 

merged into UPRailroad 

Sierra Lumber Co. 1875–1907 Logging Began as Sierra Flume & Lumber Co. 

Yreka Western Railroad Co. 1888- Common carrier, mining, Began as Yreka Railroad Co., still in operation as of 1995 

lumber 

Note: a Railroad lines changed names often as new corporations were formed and one line merged with another (see Notes). 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Southern Pacific also had a hand in other aspects of California’s growth. The “Big Four” who 

owned the Southern Pacific Railroad adhered to the “Homestead Principal,” which posited that public 

lands in the West should be used to encourage small-farm settlement. Shortly after he was elected governor 

of California, Leland Stanford “agitated on behalf of setters’ rights to public lands” (Orsi 2005:58). His 

support helped to influence the US Congress to pass the Homestead Act of 1862. The company was also 

instrumental in the outlawing of hydraulic mining in California, in support of the farmers and ranchers 

who shipped their produce and livestock on the railroad—and whose prosperity had a direct impact on 

the railroad’s success (Orsi 2005:54–55). Ironically, Southern Pacific used this same destructive technology 

a few years later, “to speed and reduce the cost of constructing its Siskiyou line connecting the state to 

Oregon” (Orsi 2005:210). The Siskiyou line, opened in 1887, ran for 95 miles between the towns of Ashland 

and Weed. Today it operates as the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad, between Weed and Eugene. 

Historic railroads in the planning area site database include the Magalia and Skyway segments of 

the Butte County Railway (CA-030-0885 and CA-030-0886), a segment of the Feather Falls Railway through 

Oregon Gulch (CA-030-1348), and the Shasta Segment of the Sacramento River Railroad/Oregon & 

California Railroad (CA-030-1763). 

Utilities/Communication 

The first electrified communication system in California was the telegraph. The first lines were 

constructed by small local companies beginning in 1853, to connect towns within the state. Soon there were 

several eastern companies vying with each other to build lines across the country and connect with the 

West. In 1860 the US Congress passed the Pacific Telegraph Act, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury 

to accept bids for construction of a transcontinental line. The Western Union Telegraph Company won by 

default when the other bidders dropped out. 

In California, Western Union consolidated the small local companies into the California State 

Telegraph Company, and construction began on an interstate line. By 1861 “isolated California, whose only 

means of communication with the outside, hitherto, had been the slow, hazardous journey over the plains, 

across the Isthmus or around the Horn, was in close communication with the eastern coast” (Bates 

1914:181). Bates reports several “amusing incidents” as the public encountered the new system: 

Some curious spectators thought that the messages were being carried over the wire and 

tried to catch glimpses of them as they were being carried along. Others believed the wire 

was hollow and the messages were being carried by an enchanted spirit. The Indians saw 

that the poles made a cross and conceived the idea that the Yankees were fencing in the 

country with crosses to keep the devil out [1914:182–183] 

In 1866 Western Union purchased a controlling interest in the California State Telegraph Company, 

and all of the lines in California became part of Western Union’s Pacific Division. “Lines were extended in 

every direction following the railroad, and it was not long before the state became a net-work of telegraph 

lines” (Bates 1914:185). Western Union dominated the industry from the 1860s onward, using the railroads 

to establish their lines. A mutual relationship developed, as railroad companies provided a “protected” 

route for telegraph lines and offices. In turn, Western Union provided free messaging to promote safe travel 

and avoid collisions (Lindström et al. 2007:67). The relationship was sometimes a rocky one, however, as 

telegraph and railway companies fought over such issues as the definition and use of “public domain” 

versus private property. As the twentieth century began, more and more railroads began to construct their 

own lines. As telephones became more popular, small companies began to construction their own systems 

to replace the earlier telegraph lines. 

The US Forest Service began installing telephone lines in the western forests in 1910. Coats (ca. 

1978) describes these early systems as “single-wire grounded circuit” lines strung between trees, to serve 

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rangers, logging operators, local residents, and “fire control cooperators.” In the 1930s and early 1940s, the 

CCC constructed two-wire lines on federal lands, but by the 1950s, most of the telephone lines had been 

torn down or sold to private companies. Today they are sometimes visible as small white porcelain 

insulators embedded in trees, some with segments of heavy-gauge wire still attached. 

Only a few communications lines have been recorded on BLM lands in the planning area. Quite 

often old lines have been upgraded and modernized, and are not easily recognizable as historic features 

except where they are depicted on old maps. Among the known historic lines are the “Weaver Road and 

telegraph line” recorded as site CA-030-1336; a segment of the Paynes Creek Telephone Line (CA-030-0368); 

an “older telephone line” running along Forbestown Road (CA-030-1929); and portions of two other 

(unnamed) lines recorded as CA-030-0842 and CA-030-0952. 

Water Development 

The site record database for the planning area includes 173 sites with water-related features or 

components. Of these, more than 71% appear to be related to mining, and nearly all of those are ditches. 

The remainder include water-supply features tied to residences or settlements, dams or culverts along old 

roadways, logging flumes/chutes, and at least one ditch that supplied water for hydroelectric power. 

Water for Mining 

Essentially every type of mining requires some amount of water, for washing, sluicing, booming, 

cooling, or supplying the hydraulic monitors (see The Technology of Gold Mining, page 132). Placer mining, 

by definition, involved an on-site water supply, but most other methods required that water be transported 

via ditches, flumes, and pipelines. In particular, hydraulic mining used vast amounts of water to expose 

the ancient gold-bearing gravels and wash them down into the sluices. This water had to be delivered at 

high “head” (pressure), which often meant storing it in reservoirs from which it could be released all at 

once and gravity-fed down to the monitors. Coleman (1952:94) estimated that, “at the zenith of hydraulic 

mining,” the total combined length of mining ditches in the California gold regions “had reached 8,000 

miles.” These water-supply systems are represented today by many miles of ditches (some abandoned, 

others repurposed), collapsed flumes, and small dams/reservoirs. 

Water for Settlement/Agriculture 

The first non-native settlers built their homes and towns along rivers and streams, or at active 

springs. As the populations grew, however, and needed more water for both human consumption and for 

farms and ranches, more-distance sources had to be tapped. Wells were drilled, springs were developed, 

and water was transported through ditch/flume systems and pipelines—often abandoned mining features. 

It is difficult in many cases to determine the exact origins of these ditches (mining, agriculture, other), 

particularly those that have been modified for re-use. Larger systems often appear on period maps, but 

smaller ones usually do not. The attributions of these ditches typically are based on associations with other 

types of features, or on historic-era maps that depict the systems. 

Water for Logging 

Logging in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often involved wooden flumes and chutes 

that delivered the lumber from the mountain mills, downslope to where they could be floated down a river 

or loaded onto waiting wagons or rail cars. Remnants of these features, either three-sided box flumes or twosided “V”-flumes, are sometimes found on the landscape, along with deep, wide linear earthen channels or 

stacked-rock support features. Large mill ponds are sometimes found as well, where the logs were stored 

while awaiting the saw. Very few logging-related water features have been identified and recorded in the 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 163 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Area; those that have include the Empire Flume (one section recorded as BLM site CA-030-0474) and 

the Blue Ridge Flume, sections of which have been recorded under various site numbers. Both of these 

systems were constructed in the Shasta/Tehama area in the early 1870s. Smith (1992:3) reproduces 

Hutchinson’s (1956) map of major lumber flume systems feeding down to the Sacramento River near Red 

Bluff and Los Molinos, and down Big Chico Creek to the town of Chico. 

Water for Hydroelectric Power 

The water systems built by miners and (to a lesser degree) loggers would propel northern 

California to the forefront of water-powered generation of electricity. As Clark (1970:2) has noted, “a 

number of the old ditches, flumes, and reservoirs that once supplied water to the hydraulic mines now are 

parts of hydroelectric and irrigation systems” of California. Another mining invention would also become 

important to the hydroelectric industry: “The prime mover most widely applied in California” was the 

“Pelton or free jet tangential impulse wheel” (Reynolds and Scott 1980:7). 

These systems, coupled with the steep mountain topography, made hydroelectricity an obvious choice 

for the state. The waters of the Sierra, for example, fall quite steeply down the west slope, making it possible 

“to build not one but sometimes as many as six generating plants on one stream” (Coleman 1952:92). The Coast 

Ranges, on the other hand, have relatively flat gradients and erratic streamflow, making hydroelectric power 

generation much more difficult [Reynolds and Scott 1980:8). Electrical power for coastal towns like Eureka was 

provided by steam-powered generators as recently as the 1950s (Coleman 1952). 

The Sierran plants would produce “energy that was to transform arid and semiarid lands into 

bountiful sources of agricultural wealth” and “give to industry and commerce the means of production in 

regions where the high cost of coal fuel had retarded growth” (Coleman 1952:102). By 1900, California had 

25 hydroelectric plants, including the Yreka plant, built in 1895, and Centerville, built in 1898 (Reynolds 

and Scott 1980:16). By 1910, both Redding and Red Bluff had small electric lighting plants. 

One important early system was built on Battle Creek and its tributaries, on the line between Shasta 

and Tehama counties. Its first plant, Volta, was constructed in 1901 (Reynolds and Scott 1980; also see Kellawan 

2012). Additional plants would include South (1910), Inskip (1910), and Coleman (1911). Spurred by the 

dramatic increase in copper mining in the Shasta District around 1890–1900, the Battle Creek system was built 

by the Keswick Power Company (subsequently renamed the Northern California Power Company) to supply 

cheap energy to the Shasta mines and smelters. It continues in operation today, with many upgrades, by the 

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, providing hydroelectric power to portions of northern California. 

The earliest operations lacked the ability to transmit power over great distances and were typically 

small operations that generated power for local areas. Later developments in power transmission would 

greatly expand the industry, and are reflected in the many power lines that crisscross California today. In 

addition to these lines, archaeological features associated with hydroelectric power in the planning area 

include the Miocene Canal and flume (CA-030-0191), built during the Gold rush and later converted for 

power generation; the Table Mountain Hydroelectric Dam test adit (CA-030-1146), possibly constructed to 

test bedrock integrity in preparation for the proposed Iron Canyon Dam; the “alleged” South Battle Creek 

hydroelectric construction camp (CA-030-1947); and the Upper and Lower Centerville Canal (CA-030-1765), 

built in 1875–1907 between the Centerville Head Dam and the Centerville Powerhouse. 

THE NEW CENTURY 

The first half of the twentieth century was perhaps the most extreme period of cultural, political, and 

economic upheaval in US history: two world wars, a great economic depression, widespread epidemics of 

polio and influenza, a failed experiment in the prohibition of alcohol that triggered the rise of organized crime, 

Far Western 164 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a successful movement to finally give women the right to vote. In northwestern California, national and 

global events would lead to a major shift in the economy, particularly associated with mining. 

Mining in the Twentieth Century 

The first decades of the twentieth century saw a continuation of mining as a major economic force 

in the planning area, particularly in Shasta, Trinity, and Butte cCounties. At the turn-of-the-century, the 

first successful bucket-line dredging began on the lower Feather River near Oroville: “Gold dredging soon 

became a major industry that continued for more than 65 years” (Clark 1970:7). Major advances were made 

in lode mining, as well: 

These changes enabled many more lode deposits, especially large but low-grade 

accumulations, to be profitably worked. The improvement of air drills, explosives, and 

pumps, and the introduction of electric power lowered mining costs greatly. The 

introduction of rock crushers, increase in size of stamp mills, and new concentrating 

devices, such as vanners, lowered milling costs. Cyanidation was introduced in 1896 and 

soon replaced the chlorination processes [Clark 1970:7]. 

Clark also tells us that “[t]he lost, high-grade Tightner vein was rediscovered at Alleghany in Sierra 

County” in 1904, causing a revival of gold mining in the Alleghany district that continued until 1965; he 

also reports that Alleghany was “the last district in the state where gold mining was the chief industry” 

(1970:7). World War I caused a decrease in gold production (though it also triggered a boom in the mining 

of copper and other important metals). Gold mining then went through a hiatus, only to be revived once 

again by the stock market crash in 1929. 

The Great Depression 

It was during the Great Depression that a large number of mining claims in northwestern California 

were taken up, when many unemployed miners and other workers returned to abandoned mine sites and 

dredger operations to eke out a living. Clark (1970:xi) says that “[d]uring the depression years of the 1930s, 

gold output in the state was nearly as high as it had been during the gold rush.” Vaughan (1994:12) states that 

“20,000 depression[-era] miners came to the mountains throughout California, attempting to eke out a 

living...” and leading to “serious social problems” in the rural areas whose populations suddenly swelled by 

as much as 200%. Miller (1998) provides a public-level narrative of the daily lives of the Depression-era miners 

on the “Western mining frontier,” as well as the political and economic climate of the times. 

Unlike the Gold Rush, however, the 1930s claims were worked not just by male miners, but by 

families who saw an opportunity to survive by making a living reworking the placers of the nineteenthcentury miners. Building cabins and homes in the hydraulicked and placered-out areas, they also planted 

orchards and gardens and raised livestock to supplement their mining activities. These Depression-era 

mining sites are often marked by abandoned orchard trees, household refuse, and 1920s–1930s-era artifacts. 

Several sites from this era have been recorded in the planning area, though additional research will be needed 

to connect them with twentieth-century mining. One example with both Depression-era artifacts and mining 

remains is the Ryan Site (SHA-2430/H/CA-030-0433) on Olney Creek, just northwest of Redding. Another is 

SHA-2399/H/CA-030-0520, the subject of Ritter et al.’s (2014) investigations of a small, rural hamlet in 

Rattlesnake Gulch, just southwest of Redding. The archaeology and history of this multi-ethnic 

“neighborhood” of miners, farmers, and their households provide an intimate look at the social and economic 

lifeways of the larger Redding vicinity during the first deaces of the twentieth century. 

The new influx of miners created more competition for local jobs, strains on county services, and 

issues for federal land managers. According to Winthrop and Chambers, about a third of these small claims 

were located on public lands managed by the US Forest Service (1988:13); many more were located on lands 

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administered by the BLM. The 1930s brought other far-reaching changes to the mountainous areas of 

northwestern California, as well. Many mills were closed as timber markets dwindled. By 1935 the railroads 

had been essentially replaced by trucks as transport for the struggling timber industry. Much of the 

abandoned timber lands were acquired by the Forest Service, which still manages these lands today. 

In addition to the these small claims, federal lands also became prime locations for “hobo camps” 

and “Hoovervilles”—family camps set up by those seeking employment in the construction of dams and 

other federal work projects, and those who simply could not afford to live anywhere else. Some of these 

homes were built by workers who stayed on after the construction projects were completed. BLM razed a 

number of these houses in Shasta County in the 1960s, but foundations and cultivars still remain (Rocca 

1993, 1995; Ritter, personal communication, September 2016). 

Despite these hardships, northwestern California fared relatively well during the economic hard 

times between the two World Wars. In their study of the Depression era in western Siskiyou County, for 

example, Winthrop and Chambers (1988:1) attribute the survival of such rural areas to “a stable and 

enduring self-sufficient economy” somewhat removed from the larger cash economy, and to the continued 

dependence on gold mining (and, according to oral histories collected by the Klamath National Forest, on 

various other enterprises: “[o]thers engaged in bootlegging; there were lots of stills throughout the 

mountains, and the law often looked the other way” [Vaughan 1994:16]). Many others found part-time 

work as Forest Service fire-fighters, or joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. 

The interviews with long-time local residents smack more of nostalgia than of deprivation, as the 

interviewees recalled a simpler time when being poor was just “a way of life.” Loneliness and fear, which 

Winthrop and Chambers call “two national themes of the Depression Era,” seem to have been less prevalent 

in these more self-sufficient regions than elsewhere in the country. Those “national themes” would be all 

but forgotten, however, when America found itself drawn into another world war. 

Wartime Activities 

The First and Second World Wars affected northern California in a number of ways. During World 

War I, enlistments were not particularly high: military records in the National Archives indicate that there 

were 157 draft rolls in the state during World War I, of which only 13 were for counties in the planning 

area, compared to 37 just in the city of Los Angeles. 23 Even so, many of the local men had special skills that 

made them particularly desirable. The July 13, 1917 issue of the Red Bluff Daily News ran this article 

(reproduced in part): 

FORESTRY REGIMENT TO FRANCE ABOUT READY TO ASSEMBLE IN SAN 

FRANCISCO...Fifty more loggers and lumber men are needed at once from California. Men 

applying immediately to the district forester’s office, San Francisco, either in person or by 

letter, or to forest supervisors at Los Angeles, Oriental, Escondido, Placerville, Bishop, Yreka, 

Red Bluff, Alturas, King City, Quincy, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Sisson, Northfork, Sonora, 

Nevada City, Weaverville, Calif., and Gardnerville, Nevada, have a splendid chance of being 

enlisted for immediate service in the French forests. Woodsmen who are skillful choppers, 

fellers, buckers, swampers, cordwood cutters, log loaders, log rollers, carriage men and 

teamsters are the classes wanted...The regiment will convert available timber behind the 

battle lines in France into railroad ties, trench timbers, mine props, bridge timbers, lumber, 

and cordwood needed in the military operations of the British Army. 

In addition to men with forestry skills, planning area counties offered important metal and mineral 

deposits. While many of the gold mines saw decreased activity during the war, or were shut down entirely, 

23 https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww1/draft-registration/california.html 

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the copper belts of Shasta and Butte Counties experienced a boom period (Clark 1970). However, only one 

resource in the BLM database can be tied definitively to the era of the First World War: the Humboldt Bay 

lifesaving station (Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay), built in 1936 to replace an older station, “figured 

prominently” in the rescue of “the 27-man crew of the Navy submarine H-3 on December 14, 1916,” and 

the “safe removal of 421 enlisted men and 17 officers from the doomed USS Milwaukee on January 12, 

1917” (Van Kirk 1977:3). 

A few more sites can be linked to World War II. By the time the US entered the war in 1942, longrange submarines and bombers had changed the face of war and increased the chances of attack on the 

American mainland—particularly along the coastlines. Coastal areas of California, Oregon, and 

Washington were thought to be particularly vulnerable to enemy attack: 

Soldiers from west coast Army posts...were rushed to various points along the coast to 

prepare defenses against an invasion. California’s beaches were strung with miles upon 

miles of barbed wire. Coastal cities were blacked out and citizens sandbagged their homes 

and businesses [California State Military Department 2016]. 

Volunteer lookouts were posted all along the coastline, and defensive facilities were established. 

The Clarke Museum in Eureka, Humboldt County, has posted this description of the situation: 

...A network of 55 air raid warning posts, staffed 24 hours a day by civilian volunteers, 

was established to provide an early warning system for the community. Each post was 

equipped with state-of-the-art airplane detection instruments and a direct telephone line 

to any army command post. Upon detection of an air raid threat an alarm would be 

sounded throughout the county. 

...Due to the close proximity to the Pacific, blackouts in coastal communities such as 

Ferndale, Eureka, Samoa, and Trinidad were seen as a crucial step to avoid air attacks 

along the Humboldt coastline [Clarke Museum 2016]. 

One rare survival of the defensive facilities established during the way is located in Redwood 

National Park: the Klamath River early-warning radar station (Radar Station B-71). The station was 

operated by members of the Army Air Corps who were quartered at the nearby town of Klamath (NPS 

2016). This was the northernmost of 22 radar stations built along the Pacific Coast during the Second World 

War. In addition, at least three wartime resources have been recorded on BLM-managed lands in the 

planning area: a World War II radio receiver that was placed at the former location of the Humboldt Harbor 

Lighthouse, ammunition bunkers at the Samoa Dunes, and the Humboldt Bay Coast Guard station, which 

was “involved in beach patrols” during the war (Van Kirk 1977:3). 

The Second World War, like the first, also had an economic impact on the planning area. The 1942 

War Production Board Limitation Order L-208 ordered all non-essential gold mines to cease production, to 

conserve equipment and manpower for the war effort. As a result, “[g]old mining was curtailed during 

World War II and has not recovered since...Alleghany [in southwestern Sierra County] was the only town 

in California after World War II where gold mining was the principal segment of the economy” (Clark 

1970:xi, 21). Some mining resumed in the planning area after the war, including the Dillon Creek and IgoOno districts and in the Shasta zinc-copper belt, but never on a scale anything like what occurred in the 

nineteenth century. 

Federal Land Management 

Federal management of public lands in California began less than 60 years after its annexation by the 

United States, beginning with the first Forest Reserves—including the Shasta Forest Reserve—in 1905 (US 

Forest Service 2016). Recognizing the timber, grazing, mineral, water, and other valuable resources on those 

lands, the US Congress called for federal management of public lands in the west, a shift from the earlier policy 

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of encouraging private settlement. New regulations covered the use of these lands, in an attempt to balance 

the various extractive enterprises with conservation, environmental protection, and recreation. 

A critical aspect of this new management philosophy, particularly the laying-out of Forest Reserves 

and other public lands, was the establishment of accurate land boundaries. The General Land Office (GLO), 

first created in 1812 as part of the Treasury Department, had been instrumental in the defining of ownership 

boundaries for homesteads, mining patents, railroad patents, and other interests beginning with California 

statehood (and continuing to this day). The GLO also served as a clearinghouse for all land records. In 1946, 

the US Grazing Service and the General Land Office merged to form the Bureau of Land Management, which 

continues to maintain the historical GLO plats and survey data (White 1982). 

The California redwoods were among the first natural resources in the north state to draw the 

attention of preservationists. From an estimated 2,000,000 million acres of old-growth redwood forest in 

1850, unrestricted clear-cutting had removed nearly 90% by the middle of the twentieth century. The Save 

the Redwoods League, founded in 1918, lobbied for preservation of what remained. The US Congress and 

the California State Park Commission (now the Department of Parks and Recreation) established multiple 

National and State Parks in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties for cooperative forest management and 

stabilization of soils, wildlife, and watersheds. 

Management of other forests also fell (and continues to fall) partly under the jurisdiction of the 

federal government in California, mostly under the purview of the US Forest Service but also, to a lesser 

extent, under BLM. Logging has been particularly important to the local economies of the Klamath and 

Trinity regions. This continuum of activity has created an archaeological record of the technological and 

procedural changes in the logging and lumbering industry over a period of 150 years. 

Federal land- and resource-management agencies quickly became a key element in the economic 

and political life of the region. Ranger stations were established, staffed with rangers, trail crews, and 

dispatchers, employing men who could no longer make a living by mining. The Forest Service put in 

telephone lines, kept roads and trails open, fought wildfires, issued grazing permits, and began 

reforestation projects (Fiorini-Jenner and Hall 2002:100–104). After World War I the local presence of federal 

agencies increased, as the government designed and implemented policies and regulations relating to the 

protection of natural resources. Firefighting became a primary focus, and protection of the forest’s timber 

resources was paramount. 

The BLM was not established until 1946, with the merger of the General Land Office and the 

Grazing Service. The agency was designed to fill a very specific need: 

Rather than offering land that could be divided up into farm-size units and claimed by 

hardy yeomen, the West presented vast areas of land, characterized by elevation, 

ruggedness, and aridity, that were not at all suited to farming. The long-range outcome 

was a vast domain of otherwise unwanted land that stayed in the ownership and under 

the management of the federal government...The greatest share of that land is now the 

responsibility of the BLM [Limerick 2016].24 

One key function of the BLM and other federal agencies was (and is) management of grazing lands 

and allotments. The unregulated grazing that took place prior to passage of the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act 

caused damage to soils, plants, and water sources, causing erosion and other problems (BLM 2016). Water 

projects, foraging surveys, fencing, and permitting were implemented to alleviate these issues. Another 

important element of BLM land management in northwestern California is public recreation, particularly 

at places like the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, the Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural 

Area, the South Spit of Humboldt Bay, and the Samoa Dunes Recreation Area. 

24 A very detailed history of the agency and its multiple-use mission is presented by Muhn and Stuart (1988). 

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Modern Hydroelectric Development 

By the end of the nineteenth century, “the fever of hydroelectric development was sweeping 

California” (Coleman 1952:212). Within a few decades, electrical power was increasingly in demand in the 

state, and power company engineers began looking to the hydroelectric generation possibilities of the 

Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges, where mining had already shown it to be feasible on a 

smaller scale. Passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902 provided federal funds for the construction 

of dams, reservoirs, and canals in the West. These features were designed to provide irrigation water, but 

they also created additional opportunities for hydroelectric development. 

One of the earliest such development in the planning area was the North Mountain Power Company 

operation near Junction City, built in 1904. The system included ditches, flumes, and siphons to transport 

water from Canyon Creek to a powerhouse on the Trinity River below Junction City; upon its completion 

the company “began selling electricity to Eureka and other communities on the coast” (Adkins 2007:271). 

Adkins also says that the North Mountain Power Company supplied most of the electricity in northwestern 

California until Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) purchased the company in 1919 (interestingly, Coleman 

(1952) does not mention the company at all, at least by that name). Archaeological resource P-53-001413, the 

Junction City Water Ditch, apparently carried water used to generate power for the town of Junction City. 

It is possible that the ditch is associated with the North Mountain operations. 

Very soon, the federal government began to withdraw potential hydroelectric development sites, to 

“prevent speculation and the inevitable inefficiency, inadequate funding, and poor planning of most private 

hydroelectric projects” (Adkins 2007:272). Under the Federal Water Power Act of 1920, a Federal Power 

Commission was created to issue licenses for the construction, operation, and maintenance of dams, 

reservoirs, powerhouses, and related features. The following year, the USGS began surveying potential 

hydroelectric dam and reservoir sites across the country. Some of the first federally funded archaeological 

surveys would follow: the River Basin Surveys (1945–1964) directed by the Smithsonian Institution. 

Hydroelectric power generation has become a vital activity in the planning area, with federal 

(Bureau of Reclamation) power plants at Shasta, Keswick, Trinity, Spring Creek, French Gulch, and 

Lewiston (BOR 2016a); and a complex network of dams, tunnels, canals, and plants operated by PG&E on 

the major rivers and their tributaries. Relevant studies of these resources include Coleman (1952), Reynolds 

and Scott (1980), Billington et al. (2005), Adkins (2007), Byrd et al. (2008), and Kellawan (2012). In particular, 

Billington et al. and Montgomery and Clawson (1946) provide detailed histories of the Central Valley 

Project and one of its key features: Shasta (originally Kennett) Dam. In 1990, the California State Office of 

Historic Preservation determined Shasta Dam and its power plant eligible for the National Register. 

According to their website, Reclamation is nominating the Central Valley Project to the National Register 

as a Multiple Property Listing (BOR 2016b). 

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HISTORICAL RESEARCH ISSUES (by Sharon Waechter) 

Our review of existing studies and historical sources has identified a number of important events, 

developments, and periods in the non-native history of the planning area, from the early landings by Spanish 

and English mariners along the north coast to the end of World War II and the beginnings of the modern 

era. This context, together with the numbers and types of resources known to exist on BLM-administered 

lands in northwestern California, have been used to recognize the following research themes: 

 Early Exploration and Colonization 

 Maritime Activities 

 Early Infrastructure Development: 

o Transportation 

o Communication 

o Water Development 

 The Extraction Economy 

 The Overseas Chinese in Northern California 

 Settlement and Agriculture 

 Native Resistance and the Indian Wars 

 The New Century: 

o The World Wars 

o The Great Depression 

o Power/Hydroelectric Development 

o Federal Land and Resources Management 

As we will discuss in a later section, the themes most commonly reflected in the existing BLM site 

database are Mining, Infrastructure, and Settlement/Agriculture. The research issues that follow are 

intended to include all of the themes, but with an emphasis on these three. 

RESEARCH ISSUES 

Historical archaeologists differ widely in their identification of research issues. In some cases these 

are simple, straight-forward questions about the nature of a site: How old is it? Who lived here? What were 

they doing? At the other end of the spectrum are ambitious and often unrealistic queries into much larger 

issues: What can this site tell us about the degree of ethnic acculturation in nineteenth-century California 

mining operations? How were laborers at this early twentieth-century logging operation affected by the 

rise of unions? 

Both levels of inquiry are important. However, as Carmosino (1998:10) has argued, it is necessary 

to answer certain site-specific questions before moving on to higher-level theoretical issues: “These specific 

questions address site function, chronology, gender, ethnicity, and economics. When these limited sets of 

data are combined, they have the potential to contribute to a number of theories regarding the social, 

cultural, economic, and technological aspects of a...community.” The HARD research group (Caltrans 

2010:140) puts it another way: 

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The hypothetico-deductive model may be useful to establish baseline information about 

an archaeological site. Using this method, one can ask and expect answers to practical, 

lower-order questions about a property’s structure, content, and condition...Important 

sites also contain information about the historical conditions that created them[,] because 

they are, to varying degrees, local manifestations of forces that affected society at large. 

“Baseline” Information 

Selverston et al. (2011:3-47–3-55) define several site-specific questions: Where (resource location), 

When and for How Long (period[s] of use), What (the activity that produced the site), How (how the activity 

operated), and Who (the group[s] or individual[s] responsible for generating the archaeological record at the 

site). These questions must be addressed before we can consider the larger issue of how a particular resource 

fits into the overall historical context of a region, and whether it adds significantly to our understanding of 

local, regional, or national history. If the evaluation of a site reveals that it does not contain the necessary 

data to address these first-order questions, then the site is very unlikely to be National Register-eligible. 

Where are the resources distributed across the landscape? Are site locations tied to transportation 

routes, access to towns and markets, distribution of economically important resources such as gold, timber, 

or grazing lands? What can site distribution tell us about the land-use practices? Can we identify specific 

characteristics to predict where similar sites and cultural landscapes will be found? 

When and for how long were the sites used or occupied? From the historical context of a region, we 

can identify periods of significance for various property types. For example, the three periods of 

significance for mining in the study area were ca. 1849 to 1863 (Initial Mining Boom), ca. 1895–1920 (Copper 

Mining Era), and ca. 1930–1939 (Depression-Era Mining Resurgence). Mining sites that fall into these 

periods are more likely to have historical significance than those that do not. Length of occupation or use 

is also important to consider, especially where a site has been occupied for a very long time and the 

associated remains have been hopelessly mixed: this will limit the site’s potential to provide meaningful 

information on a specific period or a particular inhabitant. 

What activities took place at the sites? This question speaks to site function, and allows us to 

identify the property type. Many sites exhibit multiple activities—e.g., a homestead may also contain 

water-development features, and a mine site often includes habitation features. To get a true picture of site 

function, all of the primary activities must be identified. 

How did the primary activities operate? At mining and other extraction sites, the question of 

“how” typically relates to the methods used for extraction, processing, and transportation of the product 

to market. At homesteads, work camps, and towns, there are also issues of how families or groups obtained 

food, acquired shelter, interacted with their neighbors, disposed of refuse, and the like. Technological 

innovation, adaptation, and implementation are critical themes in many historical archaeological studies. 

Who was responsible for the activities reflected in the archaeological record? While a property may 

contain important information on technology, chronology, and patterns of distribution, it takes on added 

significance if we can identify the corporate, ethnic, gender, age, and/or socio-economic profiles of the people 

who lived or worked there: the ways these people used or adapted their traditional skills and knowledge to 

suit the situation; the divisions of labor according to class, race, gender, or age; the types of interaction 

between occupants; and the degree of connectedness to outside markets and the larger society. 

“Higher-order” Questions 

When a site is evaluated and found not to contain data for addressing even the “baseline” 

questions, it is usually found to be ineligible for the National Register. On the other hand, where sites 

contain data that reflect their period(s) of occupation, activities, and associations, it may be appropriate to 

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investigate higher-order research questions, through data recovery excavations, oral history interviews, 

and/or in-depth archival research (see, for example, Ritter et al. 2014). While such questions will need to be 

tailored to the site being investigated, we offer here a list of research domains broadly applicable to the 

types of historic-era resources known to exist on BLM lands in the planning area. Additional issues may 

well be identified in future studies, as our knowledge base increases and the information gaps become 

more apparent. Some of the following is adapted from the HARD publications (Caltrans 2007, 2008, 2010, 

2013), each of which takes into account many of the more important studies and research topics for 

historical archaeological research in California. Other sources are cited in the text. 

Technology, Innovation, and Adaptation 

This theme covers issues of technology (tools, equipment, construction methods) used by miners 

and mining companies, lumber companies and loggers, railroad workers, homesteaders, farmers and 

ranchers, and other groups who lived and worked in northwestern California during the historic period. 

As a rural or frontier region, much of the planning area in the nineteenth century would have experienced 

some lag in the introduction of new technologies; this isolation may be reflected in the modification or 

adaptation of existing technologies to meet changing local conditions, or the local development of new 

technologies. It is also possible that different cultural or ethnic groups modified or adapted their traditional 

tools and methods to the new environment. 

Mining Technology 

Mining technology can be divided into the categories of (1) exploration, (2) extraction, and (3) 

processing. These are reflected in features such as prospect pits; mine shafts, adits, and tunnels; tramways 

and trails; tailings and other waste debris; ponds and ditches; and ore-processing facilities (stamp mills, 

ball mills, arrastras, etc.). Mining technologies used in California in the mid-nineteenth century often 

depended on the miners’ places of origin, as different countries and regions had their own forms of 

extraction and processing. Related to this issue is the adaptation of traditional techniques to a new 

environment—as, for example, with the Overseas Chinese and their reported use of traditional stackedrock building techniques in the construction of mining ditch benches, wing and coffer dams, and even 

dwellings made of rearranged tailings. 

Mining technology also changed over time, as the “easy” gold was exhausted and more intensive (and 

more expensive) technologies became necessary to extract the gold. Often during gold mining, other valuable 

metals and minerals were discovered—silver, copper, platinum, chromium, etc. —and new technologies might 

be developed to capture these, as well. Archival research, particularly in company files, can be used to compare 

the documentary evidence with the archaeological record. To address this issue, however, sites must contain 

relatively intact, recognizable features, tools, and equipment that reflect the technologies being used and the 

ways these may have differed over time or between companies (or regions). 

(Railroad) Logging and Lumbering Technology 

Much has been written about the tools, equipment, and construction methods used by nineteenth 

and early twentieth-century lumbering and railroad-logging operations in the West, both scholarly works 

and public-level narratives (e.g., Belden 1997; Berry 1917; Carranco and Sorensen 1988; Hutchinson 1956; 

Myrick 1962; Ormsby 1972; Raymond 1917; Robertson 1998; Tamez et al. 1988; Wilson 1908). Archaeological 

remains of these operations are relatively common in the wooded areas of northern California, as skid 

trails, traction engine roads, railroad grades, chutes and flumes, fields of high-cut stumps, mills, abandoned 

work camps, and many other features. Archival research can often identify the particular lumber 

companies that built and used these systems, and the technologies involved. 

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Much of the written information, however, is based on the “ideal” rather than the “real.” As 

Mackey et al. (1997:2.5-17) have noted, there is often a significant difference between historical 

documentation and archaeological remains: “the literature is largely prescriptive in nature, describing how 

an author thinks a railroad grade [for example] should be constructed. The literature deals mainly with 

idealized methods. Archaeological data provide the only way to determine how these features actually 

were built.” Often the actual technologies used were adaptations to on-the-ground conditions that made 

the “ideal” methods untenable. The same can be said about sawmills, work camps, and other kinds of sites 

associated with logging and lumbering. The archaeological sites and features associated with these 

activities could provide information on the actual technologies used, and the extent to which they deviated 

from accepted standards of the day. 

The Technologies of Infrastructure Development 

The development of a region typically begins with the development of a transportation system to 

carry people and goods into and out of the area. The planning area includes pack trails, wagon/stage roads, 

railroads, and automobile roads dating from the earliest non-native settlement to the present. Such routes 

have the potential to contribute to issues of technology and adaptation if they were constructed using 

innovative or extraordinary methods as, for example, construction of the first railroads through the most 

rugged mountainous areas of northwestern California. For sites to contribute to this theme, they must include 

surviving features (trestles, retaining walls, tunnels, etc.) that reflect new or unique technologies, or 

adaptations to specific local conditions, that deviated from the norm for the era. Early routes that have been 

largely modernized and overprinted by modern roads or grades probably will not retain sufficient integrity 

to be found eligible for the National Register under any criteria—with the likely exception of outstanding 

properties like the Overland Emigrant National Historic Trail (i.e., the Oregon-California Trail). 

Communications and utility lines, like roads and railroad grades, have very often been upgraded and 

modernized, leaving few historic elements; in other cases they have been dismantled and the construction 

materials used elsewhere. Even where old lines were simply abandoned in place, they are not likely to provide 

much in the way of important information on technology or adaptation. One exception, though outside the 

planning area, is the world’s first successful long-distance telephone line (California Historical Landmark No. 

247) on San Juan Ridge in Nevada County. Though little remains of this line except its route, it is important for 

its association with early infrastructure development in the state (Criterion A). 

Water-supply features and systems reflect one of the key infrastructure developments in northern 

California. These include some of the earliest and most extensive mining ditches and flumes, as well as 

hydroelectric features (dams and storage reservoirs, penstocks, power-generation plants, etc.) that are 

among the first in the nation. Both types of features might be found eligible for the National Register under 

Criterion A, for their association with two of the most important developments in California’s history; in 

addition, where these features and systems retain evidence of historic-era technologies or technological 

development, they could also be eligible under Criterion C and/or Criterion D. 

Agricultural Technology 

The Caltrans (2007:100, 191) publication on agricultural properties tells us that “[b]y the 1860s, 

California had become the proving ground for new technology.” California farmers, as part of “an 

immigrant population not bound by established patterns,” adopted new equipment and techniques long 

before Midwestern farmers. In the period from the 1880s to the early 1900s, “technological advances 

abounded in agriculture,” and there was “rapid adaptation by California farmers of [these] new 

technologies” (Caltrans 2007:100–101). Many casual observers have seen evidence of this rapid adaptation, 

in the form of outdated, abandoned farm equipment littering many farmsteads. 

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Most of this rapid acceptance of new technology took place in the rich agricultural regions of the 

state, like the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. “Whether or not this rapid mechanization held true for 

farmers who operated on marginal lands or...in some of the state’s less accessible areas, such as the Sierra 

Nevada region [or] the Siskiyou Mountains...remains unclear” (Caltrans 2007:101). Archaeological and 

archival research on farms, orchards, dairies, and ranches in the planning area may help to answer the 

question of whether technological advances in agriculture affected these other areas to the same extent, or 

if farmers in such marginal” or less accessible areas were slower to give up traditional methods (e.g., horsedrawn equipment versus combine harvesters). Cost certainly would have been a factor, as small, remote 

farming operations probably could not easily afford the newest technologies. This might be reflected in the 

agricultural operations during periods of economic hardship, such as the crash of 1873, the panic of 1893, 

and the Great Depression of the 1930s. 

Economic Strategies 

This topic explores the decisions made by miners, homesteaders, farmers, and others about how to 

meet the needs of basic subsistence, produce income, and support a household or commercial operation. 

These decisions are often reflected in the archaeological record through settlement patterns, changing land 

use, and—most directly—consumer goods. 

“Consumer behavior” involves the procurement, use, and discard of material goods. Food 

containers, dishware, medicine bottles, butchered animal bone, broken tools, lost clothing fasteners, and 

other remains are common constituents at historic-era archaeological sites, making this one of the easiest 

research issues to address. The study of consumer goods can provide information on foodways, socioeconomic status, access to markets, population demographics, ethnicity, and, in work environments, 

company policy and competition for labor (Franzen 1992; Henry 1991). In addition to the contents of these 

refuse deposits, it is important to note their locations on the landscape; disposal patterns can speak to issues 

of sanitation and hygiene within a town, work camp, or household. 

Henry (1991:6) argues that “consumption is one of the more important ways of signifying 

membership in a group, particularly in class, status, and ethnic groups,” but that there also will be 

“variability in the group life-style as expressed by its [individual] members.” An individual’s age, sex, level 

of education, health, and personality can influence his or her consumer choices at least as much as the class 

or ethnic group to which he or she belongs. The choices these individuals make, and the geographic, ethnic, 

social, and labor environments within which they make them, can provide valuable insights into the forces 

that guide some aspects of human behavior. 

Consumer behavior in late nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century rural America was also influenced 

by larger market forces. For example, Shoup (1983), in his analysis of historic properties in Redwood National 

Park, discusses the degree of outside influence (economic and otherwise) on “self-sufficient,” “dependent,” 

and “metropolitan” communities. The HARD research team (Caltrans 2007:186), in another example, describes 

how “cash stores and mass marketing” came to replace traditional bartering systems, and the way that 

advertising and cheaper consumer goods promoted “ ‘the continuous disposal of old things,’ rather than their 

reuse, repair, or resale as valuable recyclable materials.” Under the right conditions, this movement should be 

reflected in refuse disposal patterns of households and communities. The record may also reflect the effects of 

modernization on consumer behavior, as new technologies (electricity, home appliances, etc.) became 

available, and as improved roads provided greater access to these technologies. 

Refuse deposits are the most common and visible representative of consumer behavior, particularly 

in rural areas. They are often evaluated under the QIVA + R criteria: there must be sufficient quantity of 

materials, the deposit must retain integrity of form and location, there must be a variety of artifacts, and there 

must be proven association with “an individual household, an ethnic or socio-economic group, or a specific 

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activity or property use” (Caltrans 2008:168–169; Costello 1999); in addition, the refuse must have a certain 

degree of rarity: “remains linked to household types or activities that are uncommon. Because they are scarce, 

they may have importance even in cases where they otherwise fail to meet other thresholds of importance 

(McIlroy and Praetzellis 1997:277)” (Caltrans 2008:168–169). “Rarity” speaks to the issue of “redundancy”; 

that is, when a site contains only redundant types of data—data that have been collected from, or are known 

to exist at, many other sites in the area—it loses a good deal of its data potential. 

Household Composition and Lifeways 

The HARD team (Caltrans 2007:193) notes that “[h]ouseholds constitute the smallest residential 

units that can usually be discerned in archaeological analysis.” They define a household as a group of people 

“sharing domestic activities such as consumption and production,” either a single individual, a nuclear 

family, an extended family, or unrelated individuals sharing living quarters. Urban households can be 

compared with those in rural areas, cities compared with small towns, farm households with miners’ cabins, 

immigrant households with Euro-American ones. Households headed by women, households containing 

multiple generations of a family, bachelor households, wealthy households or impoverished ones—all can 

provide particular insights into the lifeways of their residents, including waste disposal practices, sanitation, 

health and hygiene, and similar factors. This topic is also closely linked with those of Economic Strategies 

and Consumer Behavior. Households, as typically “single-component” sites, often can provide a clearer 

picture of historic life than can a larger community, where refuse and other remains reflect the behaviors 

and activities of multiple families, classes, ethnic groups, and other entities. 

Immigration and Cultural Adaptation 

This topic is particularly relevant in an area like northern California, where immigrants from all 

over the world found themselves in sudden and close proximity during the Gold Rush. Indeed, the HARD 

group (Caltrans 2008:126–140) provides an extensive overview of Native Americans, Chinese, Europeans, 

North Americans, and Latin Americans in the California mines, along with a series of research questions 

about links to the homeland, ethnic markers, organization of space, degree of isolation between ethnic 

groups, ethnically distinct mining methods and technologies, and other aspects of immigrant life. This issue 

is closely linked with Ethnicity, which we discuss below under Socio-Cultural Dynamics. 

Socio-Cultural Dynamics 

This theme covers such issues as social stratification, cultural interaction, gender, and ethnicity. Sites 

that were occupied by heterogeneous populations—for example, mining camps, towns, and company work 

camps—hold the greatest potential for investigating these issues. For example, Hardesty (1994:36–37) argues 

that large-scale management and coordination of workers at corporate mines and mills “encourages the 

development of a standardized and highly structured set of social relationships” that are reflected in distinctive 

living conditions among the workers. Larger camps, as well as towns and other longer-term settlements, 

typically had “higher proportions of families [versus single males, and] generally developed a wider array of 

amenities, social activities, and institutions” (Caltrans 2013:17). Old townsites and work camps scattered 

throughout the planning area have the potential to address various research questions under this topic. 

Gender 

Gender studies have, until the last few decades, been somewhat rare in California archaeology, 

despite the fact that women were often present at nineteenth-century sites: “Women also became part of the 

workforce, usually in the cookhouse, although other jobs mentioned include seamstress, laundress, and even 

driving a team of horses pulling logs” (Franzen 1992:92). Women were also notably present in the early gold 

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fields, where they often worked as miners (Caltrans 2008:71–72). In her thesis on of Victorian culture at Old 

Forbestown in southeastern Butte County, Carmosino (1998:86) notes that “by 1880 twenty-five percent of 

the population were women.” Of these, one in five was employed: one hotel keeper, several teachers, and a 

few who took in boarders. Where there are women, often there are children as well: the 1880 census listed 

160 children in Forbestown. Women would take on additional employment over time, as postmistresses, 

milliners, druggists, nurses, laundresses, cooks, and other workers. 

Women are often considered to have had a “civilizing” effect on frontier life, bringing such 

Victorian values as cleanliness, thrift, sexual restraint, and abstinence from alcohol. The stereotype of the 

Western mining camp or frontier town is one of gambling, drunken brawls, prostitution, and a general 

disregard for legal or social standards. A review of period newspapers often supports this view. The degree 

to which women were able—or even willing—to bring “morality” to these situations might be evaluated 

through archaeological and archival research into the early settlements in the planning area. 

Ethnicity 

Another important aspect of social and cultural organization is ethnicity. The on-line Oxford 

Dictionary defines this sometimes vague term as “of or relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or 

dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition.” The question for 

archaeologists, posed more than 30 years ago by Robert Schuyler (1980:viii), is this: “Is ethnicity... 

recognizable in the archaeological record?” 

If we use the Oxford Dictionary definition, the answer appears to be...”somewhat.” Franklin and 

Fesler (1999:3), using a very different and more complex definition, caution that we must be careful not to 

equate so-called “ethnic markers” with ethnicity. Nevertheless, certain features and artifact assemblages 

allow us to conclude—probably correctly in most cases—that a particular site was occupied by people from 

a particular ethnic population. Most archaeological research into ethnicity has tended to focus on certain 

more “visible” groups, including Africans/African-Americans and (in the West) the Overseas Chinese. Many 

“Chinese” sites have been investigated in northern California, especially in the gold mining districts of the 

Sierra Nevada and the Shasta-Trinity region, for the simple reason that they are relatively easy to recognize. 

As recent scholars have argued, however, it is important that archaeologists avoid stereotyping the 

groups we study, and interpreting the record within the framework of those stereotypes. Voss and Allen, 

for example, point out that “the population of nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants to the United 

States...was multifaceted and internally diverse” (2008:12). We lose the opportunity to explore this 

diversity when we paint all Overseas Chinese (or other groups) with the same broad brush. If we hope to 

interpret the archaeological record of ethnicity, it is not enough simply to record sites and artifacts; it is 

critical that we also investigate the archival evidence (period newspapers, census records, company 

records, photographs, etc.) and, wherever possible, consult with individuals or organizations with intimate 

knowledge of the populations we hope to study. 

Dynamics of Labor 

America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw major changes in working 

conditions, wages, and stratification of the labor force, especially as individual ventures were largely 

replaced by corporate ones. How a labor force was organized depended on such factors as company 

policies; the ethnic, gender, and social make-up of the workforce; the technology used by the laborers; and 

the presence or absence (and influence) of unions, guilds, or other labor organizations. 

Praetzellis and Praetzellis (1993:iii) offer a model for “the study of the social environment of rural 

industry,” noting that social control of workers by their employers in rural work camps depended in part 

on the size of the operation. Camps run by large companies tended to be ruled bureaucratically, with less 

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concern for workers’ needs and desires; smaller operators, on the other hand, were more idiosyncratic in 

their management styles, but in general “the environment was paternal, rather than institutional” 

(Praetzellis and Praetzellis 1993:iii). 

Another critical factor was the ways in which labor was organized within the different ethnic groups. 

Chinese and Japanese workers tended to work within a system of contractors (the Chinese Six Companies, the 

Japanese keiyaku-nin), intermediaries who “arranged the work, negotiated wages, and often arranged living 

and supply for their workers, and took a slice of their wages” (HARD 2007:17). There also were appreciable 

differences between the working lives of “‘Native or old-time immigrant laborers, who are boarded by the 

employers in the camps, or who individually prepare their own meals,” and the ‘Foreigners’ or newly arrived 

immigrants who “‘organized into their own boarding gang on a cooperative basis, having their own cook, who 

prepares the meals according to their national customs and tastes’ (Higbie 2003:106)” (HARD 2007:17). 

Historical archaeologists are also interested in how the information in the archaeological record 

compares with existing ideas about working-class culture in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century 

America. Stereotypes about frontier work camps “obscure the fact that many workers retained family and 

ethnic ties, certain elements of traditional material culture, and a propensity to take collective action to secure 

some of their desires” (Franzen 1992:94). It is difficult to form an accurate picture of the rural workforce: the 

jobs were seasonal and temporary, the workers themselves were transient and moved from job to job or even 

industry to industry, and individual workers often were not included in census or other records—particularly 

if they were recent immigrants. Despite their lack of visibility, however, these transient and usually low-paid 

workers had a huge impact on the economic and social development of the West. 

Summary 

In this section we have identified several important research themes, and provided two levels of 

research issues: “baseline” questions about the where, when and for how long, what, how, and who of an 

archaeological site; and “higher-order” questions of society and culture, economics, and technology. In the 

next section we identify various historical property types under each theme, and the likelihood that each 

property type can address the research questions. 

HISTORIC-ERA PROPERTY TYPES 

Each historical theme is represented by several different property types. As the HARD research 

team has noted, “[t]hese property types do not exist in isolation, but must be identified and interpreted 

within their functional and historical context” (Caltrans 2008:81). Those researchers go on to explain that 

“site significance increases with the size, complexity, visibility, and focus” of the property types that are 

present. A single mining feature (adit, prospect pit, ditch segment) will have less significance than a group 

of related features; on the other hand, a cluster of features that are not related in function or time—e.g., a 

nineteenth-century mine that has been overprinted by a twentieth-century quarry operation—may lack 

sufficient focus or integrity to be considered eligible for the National Register. 

The resource types identified here are based on the existing BLM site database and on other kinds 

of resources that, judging by the historical context, are likely to be found during future inventories. All 

themes are represented, but the discussion focuses on those themes that are most common in the site 

database (i.e., Mining, Infrastructure, and Settlement/Agriculture). 

Exploration and Colonization 

These earliest of non-native sites survive only rarely and typically are identified through archival 

research. Most often they are remnants of very early (pre-Gold Rush) trails, adobes, or features associated 

with Mexican-era ranchos. In the planning area, only a few surviving pre-Gold Rush resources have been 

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documented, among them the “Sacramento River Trail,” reportedly mapped by Hudson’s Bay Company 

trappers in the 1830s (Woodrum 2009a); portions of the Yreka Trail, said to have been used by John Work 

in 1833 (Maloney 1945, cited in site record for CA-030-0878); and remains associated with John Bidwell’s 

adobe and rancho (White 2015). Any surviving resources from this period that have integrity to their period 

of significance are likely to be eligible for the National Register, because they date to an era for which we 

have very little archaeological information. 

Maritime Activities 

Terrestrial properties directly related to maritime activities can include landings/harbors, 

jetties/breakwaters, lighthouses, lifesaving stations, fish canneries, whaling stations, abandoned or 

repurposed ships, and military facilities. Ten maritime-related resources appear in the BLM site database, 

all of them (not surprisingly) in the Coast Ranges region. All of these can be considered important for their 

associations with California’s maritime history; however, their potential eligibility will depend on whether 

they retain integrity to their period(s) of significance. 

Early Infrastructure Development 

A vital element in the exploration, settlement, and development of the planning area were the 

transportation corridors, water supply systems, communications links, and power generation facilities that 

were established there. Transportation and water features represent the next-highest number of recorded 

resources in the planning area, though still well behind those related to mining (Table 13). In and of themselves, 

these types of properties may not provide a great deal of information, beyond their locations, methods of 

construction, but the artifact assemblages that may survive along these features—particularly early roads and 

trails—can provide important insights into the consumer behaviors, disposal practices, and other aspects of 

life and culture during the period of use (see, for example, Barnes et a. 2004). Also important are the residential 

properties (waystations, construction camps) that may be associated with infrastructure development. 

Table 13. Infrastructure Property Types. 

SUB-THEME ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS 

Transportation Pack/foot trails, wagon/stage roads, railroads, ferry crossings, bridges, 

culverts, waystations 

Water Development Ditches, flumes, dams, storage reservoirs, pipelines, cisterns, wells, siphons, 

control gates 

Communication Early mail routes, telegraph/telephone lines (poles/towers, wire, insulators) 

Power Generation/Transmission Dams, reservoirs, power plants, transmission lines, substations, towers, 

insulators, transformers, penstocks/pipelines 

The Extraction Economy: Mining and Logging 

Mining Property Types 

These property types reflect the technologies described earlier: placer/river mining, hard-rock 

(lode) mining, hydraulic mining (including ground sluicing and booming), and dredging (Table 14). They 

include three main aspects of all mining technology: exploration, extraction, and processing. The 

categories are adapted from the HARD research group (Caltrans 2008); detailed definitions and 

illustrations can be found in that publication. 

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Table 14. Mining Property Types. 

ACTIVITY TECHNOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS 

Exploration Hand Prospect pits, “coyotes,” claim markers 

Mechanical Trenches 

Extraction Placer Mining Tailings, cutbanks/channels, drifts, check dams, 

ditches, sluice scars 

Hard Rock (Lode) Pits, cross-cuts, surface vein workings; shafts, adits, 

Mining tunnels, inclines; headframes and shoring; rails and 

ore carts; waste rock piles 

Hydraulic Mining Major erosion features, reservoirs/dams, ditch/flume 

systems, earthen or stacked-rock sluice supports 

Dredging Large tailings fields 

Processing Small-scale/manual Arrastras, “Chili mills” 

Industrial Stamp mills, mill tailings, Pelton wheels, smelters 

Ancillary - Dwellings, roads/trails, refuse deposits, other 

activities features directly associated with mining remains 

Note: Adapted from Caltrans (2008) and Waechter and Marvin (2011). 

Several of these property types from the same period or operation often exist together at a single site, 

forming a mining complex: for example, the Salt Creek Mine (CA-030-0002) south of Shasta Lake, the Grass 

Valley Creek Historic Placer Mine (CA-030-0006) near Lewiston, the Clear Gulch Mine (CA-030-0027) just 

north of Junction City, the Banner mine and mill site (CA-030-0345) northeast of Oroville, and many others. 

Logging and Lumbering Property Types 

Historic-era logging and lumbering in northern California left the remains of sawmills (sometimes 

with associated “mill towns,”), transportation features (traction engine roads, railroads), flumes and chutes, 

work camps, even fields of high-cut stumps (see, for example, Lindström and Waechter 1996). The fact that 

these remains make up less than 2% of the recorded resources in the BLM database probably reflects, in part, 

the difficulties of logging in the very rugged terrain, the vast treeless areas of the Sacramento Valley, and 

perhaps the fact that later logging has often obliterated the earlier features. The logging/lumbering properties 

that have been recorded are mostly segments of logging railroad, remains associated with major log flumes 

(e.g., the Blue Ridge and the Empire), and sites identified through archival research. Some investigations have 

also been carried out at “mill towns,” such as the town of Falk, just south of Eureka (Rich and Roscoe 2009). 

The Overseas Chinese 

This category is called out separately because of its special research potential. As we have noted in 

the historical context discussion, the archaeology of the Overseas Chinese has become a major topic for 

archaeologists in California and elsewhere. Many of the property types under this heading are the same as 

those identified for other themes, with the additional criterion that they contain “ethnic markers” or other 

indications of Overseas Chinese occupation. Some resources are presumed to be Chinese because of their 

names (i.e., “Chinese Ditch”—CA-030-1188; “Canyon Creek China Cabin—CA-030-0450); others are 

identified as such in the archival record. For the most part, however, these properties have been recorded 

as Chinese because of the artifacts present: porcelain “rice” bowls, jian you ware, opium-smoking 

paraphernalia, Chinese wen (coins), etc. Low, horseshoe-shaped hearths, two- and three-chambered stoves 

made of brick or stacked stone, and other stacked-rock features are often presumed to be of Overseas 

Chinese origin as well (e.g., Lindström and Waechter 2007). 

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Settlement and Agriculture 

These two themes often overlap, since one of the primary goals of settlement in northwestern 

California was the raising of crops and livestock. Two important overviews and research designs from the 

HARD research group are relevant here: Townsites (Caltrans 2010) and Agriculture (Caltrans 2007). The HARD 

group (Caltrans 2007:145–170) identifies “three broad functional classifications” of agricultural property 

types: ranches, farms, and multi-use properties. Within these they define various subcategories (cattle ranch, 

sheep ranch, dairy, poultry farm, etc.). Because archaeological remains often cannot be identified that 

precisely, we use the more-general categories of livestock ranches, farms, and orchards (Table 15). Settlement 

property types used here include townsites (clusters of dwellings and public facilities) and homesteads 

(individual dwellings and associated features). Important examples of these property types in the planning 

area include sites like the Andrew Jelly farm and homestead (CA-030-0410) on the Sacramento River near 

Table Mountain, William Perry’s farm and orchard (CA-030-1770) between the Sacramento River and Paynes 

Creek, an apple orchard (CA-030-1309) associated with the historic Lowden Ranch near Lewiston (BLM 2006), 

and Carmosino’s (2000) study of the Mud Valley Ranch in Trinity County. Property types associated with 

settlement and agriculture have perhaps the greatest potential for addressing the topics of household 

composition and lifeways, economic strategies, and consumer behavior. 

Table 15. Settlement and Agriculture Property Types. 

PROPERTY TYPES SUB-THEME ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS 

Townsitesa Infrastructure Waste disposal facilities, water supply systems, power generation and 

transmission features, levees, roads, bridges, public buildings or spaces 

Residential House remains, yards, privies, wells, gardens, outbuildings, refuse 

Commerical Shops, open-air markets, offices, associated waste facilities and refuse 

Industrial Factories, storage yards, disposal features, refuse 

Homesteads Dwellings, privies, wells, yards, gardens, outbuildings, animal pens, 

ornamental plantings 

Farms and 

Orchards 

Fields, fence lines, stone walls, irrigation features, trees 

Ranches Ranch houses, line shacks, fence lines, corrals, loading chutes, scaling 

stations 

Note: a Adapted from Caltrans (2010). 

Native Resistance and the Indian Wars 

Although there is ample documentation of Native resistance to being forced from their territories 

and cut off from necessary resources, and of harsh reprisals by settlers and militia, few archaeological 

remains in the planning area have been linked to these events. One exception is the Fort Gaston Trail (HUM1896), which connected Forts Humboldt, Curtis, Anderson, and Gaston ca. 1850–1865, and the locations of 

the actual forts (Fort Humboldt, for example, is now a State Park, and an adobe house has survived at Fort 

Gaston; there are no standing structures at Fort Reading). Known refuge sites in the planning area include 

Ishi’s camp in Deer Creek Canyon, and Forks of Butte near Forest Ranch (BUT-854/CA-030-0400; Elliott 

1995). Any such resources that might be recorded in the future would certainly be significant, both to 

archaeologists and to living Native peoples. 

Some archaeological work has been done, however, at a few of the military forts from this period. 

Archaeologists Trudy Vaughan and Dr. Eric Ritter both carried out investigations at Fort Reading, although 

no reports are available as yet (E. Ritter, personal communication with the author, July 2016). They 

uncovered structure foundations, scattered artifacts, burials, a segment of the Nobles Trail, and an 

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underlying prehistoric deposit. As with refuge sites, remains of these military forts and any ancillary 

features are likely to be highly significant. 

The New Century 

We consider several property types together here, even though they often had different functions, 

because they represent California’s (and the nation’s) transition into a very different world order. The 

Conservation Movement and the founding of the first Forest Reserves, the Reclamation Act, the Women’s 

Suffrage Movement, the Progressive Era, all reflected a sea change in American social, economic, and 

political attitudes. Activists fought for improved working conditions, regulations governing child labor, 

scientific management of natural resources, assimilation (or restriction) of immigrants, and an end to 

political corruption. The era of unchecked extraction of natural resources for economic gain gave way to 

more responsible land use, due in large part to increased government regulation. 

Property types from this era tend to be highly recognizable, due to better preservation, more abundant 

and familiar artifacts, and a profusion of documentary information. In particular, features and facilities 

constructed by government entities (e.g., wartime signal stations, dams, bridges, CCC camps) will be well 

documented with maps, drawings, plans, and reports. In these cases the resources may be most significant 

under National Register Criteria A (important events) or C (engineering or artistic merit), assuming they retain 

sufficient integrity. Many of these sites may also provide important information on socio-cultural dynamics, 

where groups of dissimilar individuals—such as CCC enrollees—were thrown together; and on economic 

strategies, where (for example) Depression-era families and individuals faced serious hardship. 

One important example of a CCC project in the planning area is the Ponderosa Way, constructed 

between 1933 and 1937 as a fuelbrake to protect local residents and upland timber areas from wildfires 

(Ritter 2014). It is reported to be the largest CCC project ever constructed, 687 miles long from Kings County 

to Shasta County. In addition to the route itself, the resource includes bridges, stone culverts, and rock 

retaining walls, as well as secondary roads and their infrastructure. Site BUT-1693H/CA-030-1987 is a 

recorded segment of the route on BLM-administered lands. The Ponderosa Way is eligible for listing on 

the National Register of Historic Places “in its original configuration[,] where present[,] under Criterion A 

whereby they are associated with the American Depression and the CCC program[;] and Criterion C[,] 

with distinctive engineering features including roads, culverts, retaining walls and drains, and bridges that 

retain integrity” (Ritter 2014:3). 

Summary 

The research themes and issues identified here are intended to focus on the primary types of 

historic-era archaeological resources known (or presumed) to be present in the planning area. The research 

issues reflect current work by historical archaeologists in California, and particularly the research designs 

that have been developed by the Caltrans-sponsored HARD research teams. We expect that, as data gaps 

are identified and filled, and new paradigms emerge, these research issues will evolve and change; 

however, for the present, the issues discussed here should guide archaeological evaluations at historic-era 

sites on BLM-administered lands in the planning area. 

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CONTEMPORARY CULTURE (by Sharon Waechter) 

Cultural resources involve more than just archaeological sites or historic structures. Federal mandates 

published in the Antiquities Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Native American Graves 

Protection and Repatriation Act, and numerous other regulations are intended to guide the preservation, use, 

and management of all types of heritage resources. These can be tangible places—a rock art site, for example, 

or an abandoned mine—or they can be places with less-tangible spiritual or traditional values that are 

nonetheless important to living people. Additionally, history is not a finite concept with a beginning and an 

end—which is why the 50-year “cut-off” for defining a historical resource under Section 106 continues to 

extend forward each year. The land uses occurring today, and the people responsible for them, will become 

the history of tomorrow. Accordingly, this section provides an overview of the contemporary cultural setting 

of the planning area, including both Native American and non-Native populations. 

CONTEMPORARY NATIVE AMERICAN GROUPS AND LAND USES 

Traditional Cultural Properties, Landscapes, and Use Areas 

National Park Service Bulletin 38 (Parker and King 1998) defines traditional cultural properties 

(TCPs) as properties that have played a significant role in a community’s “historically rooted beliefs, 

customs, and practices,” such as a location where spiritual practitioners have traditionally gone to perform 

their ceremonies, or the historical residence of an esteemed leader. Often these places are sacred to the 

community, who feel strongly that their locations should remain confidential. This makes these places 

difficult to identify and protect; it is important that local Native people are consulted in the management 

of such resources. 

More recently, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation launched a “Native American 

traditional cultural landscapes initiative,” broadening the definition of a TCP to include properties that do 

not fall under the National Register categories of “sites, districts, buildings, structures, or objects”: 

There is no single defining feature or set of features that comprise a traditional cultural 

landscape. Such places could be comprised of natural features such as mountains, caves, 

plateaus, and outcroppings; water courses and bodies such as rivers, streams, lakes, bays, 

and inlets; views and view sheds from them, including the overlook or similar locations; 

vegetation that contributes to its significance; and manmade features including 

archaeological sites; buildings and structures; circulation features such as trails; land use 

patterns; evidence of cultural traditions, such as petroglyphs and evidence of burial 

practices; and markers or monuments, such as cairns, sleeping circles, and geoglyphs 

[National Park Service website].25 

Like TCPs, traditional cultural landscapes are not readily apparent to those who are not members of 

the traditional community—including most archaeologists. In order to identify and protect such properties, it 

is critical that cultural resources managers consult with the community in question, whether Native American 

or another group. The same is true of traditional use areas; for example, locations where Native women have 

traditionally gathered basketry plants or families have gone for generations to collect pine nuts. 

It is also important to recognize that “tradition for Native Americans is dynamic: that tradition changes 

in response to conditions of history and social context” (Theodoratus 1984:iii). This dynamic is difficult for most 

non-Native people to understand or appreciate, especially when Native religious practices “are vastly different 

in many ways from the Christian traditions of the majority of American society” (Theodoratus 1984:iv). One 

25 http://www.achp.gov/docs/landscapes%20q%20&%20a%207-11-12.pdf 

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example of this difference is in the identification of spiritual places. Many Native people see natural places— 

mountains, caves, springs—as “imbued with spiritual power,” even when there are no visible markers to identify 

them as such (Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen are two obvious examples). In addition, the spiritual power of a place is 

diminished when the surrounding environment is altered. These are concepts foreign to the modern Christian 

viewpoint, and difficult for many land managers to understand. Such differing viewpoints have caused extreme 

polarization, and continue to create conflict between Native people and federal land managers.26 The situation is 

made even more difficult for land managers who are willing to recognize and protect spiritual places, because 

Native people are understandably reluctant to identify them. Theodoratus’ 1984 study, and others like it, is a 

critical step toward resolving some of these issues. 

Many traditional cultural properties have been identified in ethnographic studies that involved 

reviews of historical and anthropological documents and “consultation with Native American leaders and 

religious practitioners” (Theodoratus 1984:iii). Locations of such places are usually kept confidential, 

because of their special spiritual values to Native people. 

Current Land Uses 

According to the website http://www.courts.ca.gov/3066.htm, there are currently 109 federally 

recognized Indian tribes in California and 78 entities petitioning for recognition, nearly 100 separate 

reservations or Rancherias, and “a number of individual Indian trust allotments.” As of March 2016, tribal 

groups in the planning area that had been formally recognized by the federal government and the State of 

California included the following: 

 Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria 

 Berry Creek Rancheria 

 Big Lagoon Rancheria 

 Blue Lake Rancheria 

 Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Rancheria 

 Cahto Indian Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria 

 Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria 

 Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians 

 Elk Valley Rancheria 

 Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California 

 Greenville Rancheria 

 Grindstone Rancheria of Wintun-Wailaki 

 Hoopa Valley Tribe 

 Karuk Tribe 

 Klamath Tribes 

 Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria 

 Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma 

 Mooretown Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California 

 Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians of California 

26 One well-publicized example of such a conflict was the Gasket-Orleans or “G-O” Road (Theodoratus 1984; 

Theodoratus and Blount 1983). The court found in favor of the Native people, but the decision was later overturned in 

favor of the Forest Service. 

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 Pit River Tribe (XL Ranch, Big Bend, Burney, Likely, Lookout, Montgomery Creek, Roaring 

Creek Rancherias) 

 Quartz Valley Indian Community of the Quartz Valley Reservation of California 

 Redding Rancheria 

 Resighini Rancheria 

 Round Valley Indian Tribes, Round Valley Reservation 

 Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California 

 Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation 

 Wiyot Tribe 

 Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation 

These and other Native American communities in the planning area take a keen interest in the 

protection of TCPs (including archaeological resources) and use areas, and of their rights of access to these 

places. Many tribes maintain a cultural committee that focuses on these issues for the benefit of the larger 

community. For more than a century, these people had little or no power to voice their concerns. While 

there were exceptions, it was only in the 1970s, at the birth of the modern environmental movement, that 

local, state, and federal agencies began to consult with Native groups on a regular basis. 

Understandably, many Native people are even more concerned with pressing issues like 

unemployment, health care, and access to higher education for their youth. The growth of Indian Gaming 

under the 1998 Tribal Government Gaming and Self-Sufficiency Act has provided many tribes—though 

certainly not all—with a major means of self-employment and economic advancement for the first time in 

generations. It has also led to inter-tribal and intra-tribal conflict, as gaming tribes struggle to balance 

traditional values and family loyalties with the politics of affluence. 

As of March 2016, there were “Indian casinos” at Smith River, Elk Valley, Trinidad, Hoopa, Blue 

Lake, Bear River, Branscomb (near Laytonville), Corning, Redding, and Burney. New casinos open 

regularly. Typically the “gaming tribes” use the proceeds to supply income, housing, roads, schools, healthcare facilities and other services to their members, and sometimes to the larger community as well. Still, 

many non-gaming tribes continue to suffer from poverty and lack of social services. Several organizations 

have been formed to address this problem. For example, the Northern California Indian Development 

Council (NCIDC), headquartered in Eureka, is a private, nonprofit corporation providing education, 

community health and wellness, employment training, and other services to some 14,000–15,000 clients 

statewide, with a focus on Del Norte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties: 

NCIDC was established in 1976 to research, develop and administer social and economic 

development programs designed to meet the needs of Indian and Native American 

Communities; to provide support and technical assistance for the development of such 

programs, and the conservation and preservation of historic and archeological sites and 

resources [http://ncidc.org/about-ncidc]. 

Other examples include the federal Indian Health Service (IHS), the California Indian Health 

Program, California Indian Legal Services, local institutions like the Redding Rancheria Indian Health 

Services, and Native American Studies programs at Humboldt State University and other California 

universities and colleges. Some tribes are also supporting language schools and other facilities to carry on 

traditional tribal culture. 

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NON-NATIVE LAND USES AND USER GROUPS 

Essentially all of the land uses discussed in earlier sections of this document—maritime activities, 

logging, mining, agriculture, infrastructure development, hydroelectric power development, federal land 

management, recreation—continue today. Only exploration and settlement have waned, as modern 

highways and communications have linked virtually every corner of the north state. The emphasis has 

shifted somewhat, with more individuals employed in agriculture, land management, and recreation 

(including Indian gaming) than in mining, but the extraction economy is nevertheless alive and well in 

northwestern California. 

Resource Extraction 

The National Mining Administration reported in 2012 that mining in California provided direct 

employment to 22,820 people, including the mining of various metals, minerals, and fuels.27 The great 

majority of this employment came through companies; very few miners today are self-employed, especially 

compared to the nineteenth century. Today the environmental and permitting restrictions on mining have 

made it more complex and expensive, but also much less damaging to the natural environment. (One 

indication of this is the fact that the State Mining and Geology Board falls under the Department of 

Conservation.) The BLM manages mining and minerals on public lands under their jurisdiction, through 

its Mining Law Administration Program, and continues to operate under the General Mining Law of 1872, 

as amended (30 U.S.C. §§ 22-54 and §§ 611-615). 

Logging is also an important economic activity in the planning area today; however, the lands with 

most of the merchantable timber tend to fall under the management of the US Forest Service. Forestry is a 

relatively small part of BLM’s land management activities in the region. 

Ranching and Farming 

Agriculture is still an important land use in northwestern California today, although “cultivation” 

has taken on a new connotation over the last several decades. While ranching and dairying in the region 

began with the first Mexican ranchos and have occupied multiple generations of ranching families, the 

“marijuana (Cannabis sativa) economy” has been an economic boon, especially in the “Emerald Triangle” of 

Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino Counties, in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Until 

2015, with the passage of several state laws involving the legalization of medical marijuana, the industry 

was completely “underground”; today this one sector of the industry is conspicuous and regulated. 

The growth of marijuana on public lands has been a management issue for BLM, the Forest Service, 

and other agencies in northwestern California. Although the cultivation itself is relatively benign, illicit 

growers have often set dangerous traps to ward off intruders, creating a safety hazard for government 

employees and the public. Their operations have introduced biocides and herbicides to the local streams, and 

their trash litters the landscape. There have also been conflicts between ranchers and land-management 

agencies like BLM, in large part because of the environmental degradation that can come from over-grazing, 

and the feeling on the part of ranchers that the federal government and its permitting process are too invasive. 

Some progress has been made: recently, groups like the California Cattlemen’s Association have begun to 

stress “greener and more efficient beef production,” arguing that “environmental stewardship and best 

practices for green farming go hand-in-hand with managing a successful and long-term family business” 

(http://www.calcattlemen.org/cattle_101/cattle_and_the_environment.aspx). However, both ranching and 

marijuana cultivation continue to create land-use conflicts for the BLM. 

27 http://www.nma.org/pdf/states/econ/ca.pdf 

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Recreation 

Public recreation is an important land use in the planning area. Recreation areas administered by 

BLM include (among others) the Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural Area, the Sacramento River 

Rail Trail (a National Recreation Trail), the Trinity River Wild and Scenic Area, the Forks of Butte 

Recreation Area, and the Chappie-Shasta OHV Area (Redding Field Office); and the Lacks Creek 

Management Area, Samoa Dunes OHV Area, and Mike Thompson Wildlife Area on the South Spit of 

Humboldt Bay (Arcata Field Office). Special Recreation Permits are issued for commercial use, competitive 

events, organized group events, or use of a designated special area. BLM also administers several 

wilderness tracts that provide opportunities for “unconfined” recreation, including the Ishi, Yolla BollyMiddle Eel, South Fork Eel River, and Elkhorn Ridge wilderness areas. The Yuki Wilderness is co-managed 

by BLM and the Mendocino National Forest. 

Some of these recreation areas—notably the Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural Area—are 

known to contain significant cultural resources (historic properties) and have been the subject of 

archaeological and historical studies in the past. Recreation use, and particularly OHV use, can be very 

detrimental to these resources. 

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CULTURAL RESOURCES SYNTHESIS (by William Hildebrandt and Sharon Waechter) 

The 15,000 years or more that human beings have occupied the New World are typically divided by 

scholars into “prehistory” and “history.” To some degree this makes sense, because the period between about 

AD 1650 and 1850 saw an abrupt and wholesale takeover of already-occupied lands by a completely different 

group of people—a kind of population nonconformity separating two very different cultural traditions. In this 

synthesis, however, we attempt to view the human history of northwestern California as a continuum, focusing 

less on ethnicity and more on changing patterns of human settlement, resource use, technology, and sociocultural development. We begin with the first known human occupation of California. 

The First Inhabitants 

The first evidence of people in the planning area is a limited number of Clovis projectile points 

lightly scattered across a wide range of environmental settings. These distinctive fluted weapons date to 

between 13,400 and 12,800 cal BP in the American Southwest and western Great Plains, where they were 

used to hunt now extinct Pleistocene megafauna. All of the California artifacts are undated isolated surface 

finds, so we must assume that they are of a similar age, or somewhat later if the people migrated out to 

California from a more eastern point of origin. Many researchers think that the ancestors of the Clovis 

people originated in Asia and entered North American by crossing the Bering Sea land bridge and traveling 

south through a series of gaps in the continental glaciers that existed at that time. 

The next archaeological pattern is commonly assigned to the Paleoarchaic Period. It is 

characterized by Great Basin Stemmed projectile points, highly formalized dome-shaped tools used for a 

variety of tasks, and a lack of milling equipment. Sites of this age are often concentrated around the shores 

of old pluvial lakes, many of which are now dry. This is certainly the case within the current study area, 

where significant numbers of stemmed points are found only in Butte Valley along the ancient shores of 

Meiss Lake. This archaeological pattern has traditionally been thought to post-date Clovis and the 

extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna, and probably dates between 12,800 and 7800 cal BP. Due to the 

dominant presence of projectile points and the absence of milling gear, most researchers think large-game 

hunting remained a primary focus of their subsistence economy. 

This sequence of events has recently come under question because of a building body of evidence 

from south-central Oregon (not far from our study area) showing that Great Basin Stemmed projectile 

points might actually pre-date Clovis, and represent the first colonists of North America. These findings, 

combined with new discoveries of great antiquity on southern California’s Channel Islands, have led to the 

hypothesis that people making Great Basin Stemmed points migrated down the coast and spread eastward 

into the interior populating much of the American West. Clovis is now thought to have been a later, 

independent cultural development that essentially died out with the Pleistocene megafauna, while the 

Great Basin Stemmed cultures continued forward for thousands of years. 

Our study area currently has little to offer regarding the age of Great Basin Stemmed projectile 

points and associated materials, as no radiocarbon dates have been obtained with these artifacts. We can 

say, however, that there are few or no Great Basin Stemmed points west of the Sierra-Cascade ranges, 

which provides little support for the hypothesis that people traveled down the coast and moved into the 

interior—at least in northern California. If such a migration did occur, the people may have chosen a 

different route—like the Columbia River, where the terrain was more conducive to travel. 

So what is the post-Clovis archaeological record for the western part of the study area if it is not 

represented by Great Basin Stemmed projectile points? The answer is the Borax Lake Pattern. It is 

represented by Borax Lake Wide-stemmed points and a much wider variety of tools, including the first use 

of milling gear (handstones and millingslabs). These sites are found throughout the North Coast Ranges and 

the headwaters of the Sacramento River, but nowhere else. Unlike previous periods, we have dated its 

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artifact assemblages with radiocarbon and obsidian hydration. Obsidian hydration age estimates from the 

Clear Lake Basin and surrounding areas indicate an age range between about 10,000 and 6300 call BP, while 

radiocarbon dates of about 8000 cal BP have been obtained from two sites farther north. But even with the 

10,000 cal BP age estimate for the Borax Lake Pattern, there remains a large gap between it and the end of 

Clovis at about 12,800 cal BP (or somewhat later, given the time lag for reaching California). Filling this gap 

remains an important research issue in the study of northern California prehistory. 

Major Environmental Shifts and Human Adaptations 

After about 7800 cal BP, adaptive variability began to take place across the study area, especially 

between the Upper Klamath zone (with its strong ties to the Great Basin, which were maintained throughout 

prehistory), and areas to the west. Within the Upper Klamath Zone, radical changes took place because most 

of the pluvial lakes had dried by this time, and the eruption of Mt. Mazama (now Crater Lake) devastated 

much of central Oregon, perhaps pushing people into northeastern California. The new culture that developed 

was characterized by a higher degree of settlement stability (house floors are commonly found), and it appears 

that atlatl technology was introduced for the first time, represented by the highly distinctive Northern Sidenotched projectile point. This was also the time when bowl mortars and pestles were first used, but not for 

acorns, because these artifacts are only found in sites well east of California’s oak groves. 

The Borax Lake Pattern continued forward in the west, until about 5700 cal BP. Sites from this 

period are largely found in upland habitats, and appear to reflect a subsistence-settlement system geared 

toward a high degree of residential mobility. For the period after 5700 cal BP, archaeological visibility 

improves significantly, with relatively strong evidence for occupation in all parts of the study area. Squaw 

Creek Contracting-stemmed points were introduced in the upper Sacramento River and the Klamath 

Mountain/North Coast Ranges, and several other comparable forms like the Bucks Lake Stemmed and 

Martis series emerged in the northern Sierra Nevada. Although populations appear to have been 

expanding into a wider range of habitats, settlement systems seem to have remained mobile (moving 

people to the resources, rather than resources to the people), and the reliance on stored resources was 

minor compared to what would come later. 

By about 4000 cal BP, another pulse of changes occurred, providing some of the first hints of the 

lifeways that would eventually dominate, especially those dependent on the intensive harvest and storage 

of acorns and salmon. This new economic focus did not develop all at once, however. Instead, it appears to 

have been a sequential process, beginning first with a more intensive use and storage of acorns (and only a 

casual use of salmon), and later with the complete acorn-salmon complex observed at historic contact. It has 

been hypothesized that this time lag between acorns and salmon occurred because acorns are a back-loaded 

resource—the initial collection and storage of them are relatively cheap and easy, and only get expensive 

later on when the nuts need to be processed for consumption (i.e., ground, leached, and cooked). So when 

people who traditionally practiced a relatively flexible, mobile settlement system began to experiment with 

higher levels of storage, creating multiple, low-cost caches of acorns meant minimal risk, because if they 

needed to be abandoned, the loss would be minimal. Salmon, in contrast, is a front-loaded resource. They are 

more difficult to acquire than acorns and, more importantly, they must be smoked/dried for storage right 

way. Once this expensive upfront work is completed, there is little effort required during the later 

consumption side of the process. But because of this upfront expense, salmon caches were much more 

valuable than acorn caches, and tended to tie people down in a much more significant way—something that 

people did not chose to do until many generations later (see below). 

We can see the acorn-first situation in many places, including settlements along the Smith and 

Mattole rivers, and along much of the Sacramento River and adjacent tributaries. All of these places 

produced charred acorns and bowl mortar and pestle technology, but little fish bone or sophisticated 

fishing technology. Sometime after 1500 cal BP, however, the riverine-focused economies began to take 

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hold, many of which have been associated with the arrival of new ethnolinguistic groups. Speakers of 

Wintuan languages (Wintu and Nomlaki) settled in the Sacramento Valley, bringing with them the bow 

and arrow (and the distinctive Tuluwat Barbed projectile point) and advanced fishing technology, 

including use of large communally built weirs. This was also the case in northwest California with the 

arrival of Algic speakers (Yurok and Wiyot), and later by speakers of Athapaskan languages like the 

Tolowa, Hupa-Chilula, and several others in Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino Counties (Nongatl, 

Mattole, Sinkyone, Lassik, Wailaki, and Cato). 

Most of these groups were fully committed to the storage of both acorns and salmon, and this 

commitment to the front-loaded salmon led to higher levels of residential stability. Archaeological 

excavations in the Sacramento Valley and North Coast Ranges document the rise of this more village-based 

lifeway through the discovery of the remains of well-built houses, sweat lodges, elaborate artifact 

assemblages, and formal cemetery areas. 

Regional Diversification 

Regional economic diversity became more apparent now, marked in part by the more intensive 

use of coastal resources. This was especially the case north of Cape Mendocino, where people used large 

oceangoing canoes to hunt seals and sea lions on distant offshore rocks and islands. This new development 

is represented archaeologically by the presence of large stone harpoon tips and the butchered remains of 

Stellar sea lions and northern fur seals. The importance of sea lion hunting can also be seen on a spiritual 

level, this reflected by a shrine composed of 1,000 seal lion skulls placed on a small offshore rock near 

Trinidad. Construction of the oceangoing dugouts was an expensive proposition and could only be 

accomplished by rich individuals with the resources to hire out much of the work. This differentiation of 

wealth in the community can be seen archaeologically by major inter-personal differences in the 

distribution of valuables (e.g., obsidian blades, shell beads) buried with the dead. 

Speakers of Maiduan languages (Konkow and Chico Maidu) are thought to have arrived in the 

Sierra Nevada and adjacent lowlands at about 1100 cal BP, adding to the regional diversity. People living 

on the Sacramento River made the full commitment to the acorn-salmon economy and formed large 

permanent villages supported by stored resources. People living in the hills began using bedrock mortars, 

and the large number and dispersed distribution of these features could reflect the private, family 

ownership of certain oak groves and the milling facilities used to process the crop. This is also the time 

when hopper (basket) mortars and pestles replace bowl mortars and pestles over much of the study area. 

Why this technology was considered superior to the original one is a mystery, and this remains an 

important research question for the region. 

Throughout much of California, obsidian was a valuable commodity due to its beauty and superior 

tool-making qualities. Large obsidian quarries on the Medicine Lake Highlands and at the Borax Lake 

sources were the main suppliers of high-quality stone for much of the study area, especially places lacking 

good local tool stones. Based on obsidian hydration data collected from the quarry areas, and from outlying 

archaeological sites where the material was consumed, it appears that the peak period of production and 

inter-regional exchange occurred between about 4000 and 1000 cal BP. After that time, the system appears 

to have collapsed, with people shifting to the use of local, often inferior stone. Why this occurred is 

uncertain, but it could reflect a reduction in the demand for high quality stone due to the introduction of 

the bow and arrow, which required much less material than the older atlatl and dart technology, as well as 

a greater focus on fishing, which required little or no stone at all. It has also been suggested that with 

increased population packing and higher degrees of territoriality, inter-group relationships may have 

soured in many places, where neighbors became enemies rather than trading partners. The major drought 

associated with the MCA (1150–600 cal BP) may have contributed to the friction as well, as competition 

over a dwindling resource base intensified. 

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Population Growth, Inter-group Conflict, and the Emergence of Trade 

A review of the ethnographic literature shows that inter-groups conflict was quite real, with 

numerous examples of violent interactions. It seems likely that the long history of population replacement 

outlined above created some of this conflict, especially among people being pushed out of their original 

homelands. Speakers of the oldest languages like the Yuki, Chimariko, and Yana were being pushed into 

smaller, more marginal habitats, and viewed many of their neighbors as mortal enemies. The severe nature 

of these relationships is reflected by a limited number of burial populations where violent injuries appear 

on many of the people. One of these populations located in Wintu territory showed that more than 60% of 

the men aged between 20 and 30 suffered trauma (some lethal, some non-lethal)—more than three times 

the frequency among women in the same age group. 

Despite the decline of the inter-regional obsidian trade network, and the high levels of inter-group 

violence, an active trade network of a variety of other commodities occurred during periods of peace. 

Although most of these items do not preserve in the archaeological record, one of the main items of 

exchange, shell beads, do preserve and act as a proxy measure of this activity. Between about 5000 and 400 

BP, Olivella shell beads were actively traded throughout central California, especially within the San 

Francisco Bay area, the lower Sacramento River, and the upper San Joaquin. For some unknown reason, 

this trade system extended north to the southern margins of our study area, where the flow of beads 

decreased significantly. South of this transitional area, it is not uncommon to have tens of thousands of 

Olivella beads at a single site, and thousands of specimens interred with a single individual—while only 

handfuls of beads are usually found at sites to the north. 

After about 400 cal BP, however, a completely new system developed, focused on clam disk beads 

along with a variety of other beads and ornaments. Based on ethnographic accounts we know that clam 

disk beads were used as money, and they are found in large numbers all the way up to the northern 

Sacramento Valley and into adjacent parts of the study area as well. Similar to the Olivella beads, however, 

they are not equally distributed across the land, as the vast majority are found among the more wealthy 

communities along the major river valleys and less so among people living in hinterland areas (e.g., the hill 

country in Yana territory). 

Native American Religious Practices 

Although its beginnings are murky, the spiritual side of life is also evidenced by the ancient 

archaeological record. Ancient petroglyphs with cupules and grooves and a variety of other abstract 

elements, are widely distributed across the North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and southern Cascades 

Many researchers think that they were associated with Hokan-speaking populations and were no longer 

produced after the arrival of more recent ethnolinguistic groups, except in certain places where Hokan 

speakers were not replaced (e.g., parts of Pomo and Karuk lands). More recent rock art traditions, both 

petroglyphs and pictographs, include representational elements (e.g., humans, animals, foot prints) but 

these are relatively rare, except to the northeast in Lava Beds National Monument, where high densities of 

decorated panels are found along the old shores of Tule Lake. 

Rock features linked to religious activities were created deep in antiquity, and some are still 

produced today by people following traditional practices. Most are found in northeastern and 

northwestern California, where they are used to obtain power and to gain wisdom to help overcome 

periods of grief and hardship encountered during one’s life. The archaeological manifestations of these 

activities take many forms—single rock placements, multiple rock placements, larger rock mounds, Ushaped prayer seats—and are often found at higher elevations within the viewsheds of important mountain 

peaks. They continue to have spiritual value for contemporary Native people, because the features form 

tight connections with their ancestors, allowing them to walk in their footsteps and see the landscape as 

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they saw it—particularly in those places where the landscape has remained relatively unaltered. This level 

of spirituality and respect can be felt at other kinds of archaeological sites as well, and by other members 

of the community. It follows, therefore, that the desire to better understand and protect this rich 

archaeological record is a worthy goal indeed. 

The Second Migration 

Religion, along with technological innovation, would also be an element of a new and much larger 

wave of migration into California that began in the late eighteenth century—one that would increase both 

the human population and the level of socio-cultural diversity (not to mention inter-group conflict) on an 

unprecedented scale. Although the early Franciscan padres who founded the first Spanish missions in 

southern and central California no doubt were motivated by their religious zeal, this was simply one 

element of the Spanish Crown’s plan to expand its New World territories. 

Within a few decades, however, Spain faced competition from the Russians, British, and EuroAmericans, beginning with fur trappers and explorers on the coast and in the northern interior. Only 35 years 

after the founding of the first Alta California mission, San Diego de Alcalá, the Russians founded Colony Ross 

on the Sonoma County coast; a scant three years after the founding of the last mission, San Francisco de Solano, 

trapper Jedediah Strong Smith reached northern California by land. The next three decades would bring the 

greatest social, political, and environmental upheaval in the human history of the future state. 

One wonders how the Native Californians perceived these events, whether they had any inkling of 

what the changes would mean to them and to their descendants. Milliken (1995:Preface) has done an 

outstanding job of documenting the experiences of the Native people around San Francisco Bay “at the time 

of the European invasion,” examining what he calls “the process of missionization and its consequences.” 

Perhaps more than any other current scholar, Dr. Milliken has attempted to understand the social, 

environmental, and political contexts within which the Native people decided to “attach themselves” to one 

of the local Spanish missions. He argues that these people “struggled with those [mixed] feelings [of hatred 

and admiration] in a terrible, internally destructive attempt to cope with changes that were beyond their 

control,” and that even those who rejected the new order eventually capitulated, “because of changes in their 

tribal lands, disease, depopulation, and the accompanying collapse of intergroup alliances.” 

The same can no doubt be said for Native people in northern California. Although no missions or 

presidios were ever founded in the planning area, the newly introduced diseases that swept through the 

populations, the takeover of their traditional lands and resources, and the heinous attempt by many Whites 

to capture or murder them, created in the Native people the same “struggle to cope with changes that were 

beyond their control.” In the period 1850 to 1867, the US government built forts and sent troops to subdue 

the indigenous groups (and to protect them from vigilante groups), escalating the situation into full-scale 

“Indian Wars.” Some of these groups finally chose to accept the inevitable, eventually finding work at local 

ranches, selling their traditional crafts in towns, or otherwise “assimilating” into the new culture. Others— 

like the famous Ishi and the “Mill Creeks”—held out until the very end, until there was essentially no place 

for them to go except onto a reservation or into the new social order. 

A New Philosophy of Land and Resource Use 

This process was greatly accelerated by the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada and the 

Shasta/Trinity region, followed immediately by California statehood. The Gold Rush was about much more 

than just mining: it changed the social, political, technological, and physical landscapes of northern 

California in profound ways. Seemingly overnight, the population changed from mostly Native Americans 

and Hispanics to overwhelmingly white Europeans and Euro-Americans. Other groups—notably the 

Overseas Chinese—would arrive in large numbers as well, and would face prejudice and hostility from the 

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white majority. Gold mining along the Klamath, Trinity, and Feather Rivers, and mining for gold, silver, 

and copper in the Shasta/Trinity region, disrupted what might otherwise have been a gradual, organic 

migration of newcomers to the West Coast. Instead the region experienced a “growth spurt” that caused 

tremendous strain on both the Native peoples and the natural environment. 

The strain on the environment was exacerbated by the newcomers’ philosophy of land-use. Unlike 

the Native populations, who used the land and its resources in a more respectful way, the Euro-American 

immigrants practiced an “extraction economy” that valued short-term economic gain over long-term 

conservation and management. Extensive cutting of old-growth forests, massive erosion and sedimentation 

caused by hydraulic mining, plowing up of native grasslands for cultivation, over-grazing of sheep and 

cattle, damming of rivers and streams to supply water for mining and irrigation, hunting of whales off the 

north coast: the extraction economy imperiled the natural environment to a degree that would not be 

moderated until the advent of the conservation movement in the early twentieth century. 

Even while they were despoiling the natural environment, however, the Euro-Americans were 

developing new technologies (e.g., the hydraulic monitor, the Dolbeer steam donkey) and building an 

infrastructure that would—for better or worse—connect northwestern California to the outside world. 

Roads, railroads, communications, power generation, and other systems brought progress and 

development to the new economy. These developments, along with the passage of protective legislation 

like the Sawyer Decision of 1884, the Antiquities Act of 1906, and the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, would 

bring California into the modern age. 

Coming of Age 

Of course, the “modern age” has not always been prosperous or peaceful. The first half of the 

twentieth century was perhaps the most difficult period in US history, with two World Wars, the Great 

Depression, Prohibition, and deadly epidemics of influenza and polio. Much of the planning area, being 

rural and remote (and relatively self-sufficient), suffered less hardship than other parts of the country, 

although the coastal areas had to contend with the threat of invasion during both wars and the deplorable 

mass incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during the second. 

On the positive side, the period 1900–1945 also saw a great deal of modernization (telephones, 

electrification, automobiles, aircraft, paved roads, etc.). It was also the beginning of the conservation 

movement and federal land management, both of which put an end to widespread mass destruction of the 

physical and cultural landscapes in California and elsewhere across the nation. The extraction economy 

lives on, but it is now tempered by the recognition that restraint and mitigation are necessary to sustain a 

productive environment and protect our cultural heritage. With that recognition has come the concept of 

“multiple use” of public lands, and the ability of Native peoples to have a voice in the conservation and 

management of their TCPs. 

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MANAGEMENT CLASSIFICATION, MANAGEMENT OPTIONS, AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS 

(by Jerome King and Sharon Waechter) 

This section begins the management-focused part of the document. While previous sections 

provide contextual information for the entire planning area, this section focuses specifically on the known 

cultural resources on lands currently managed by BLM. We lay out the types of cultural resources known 

in the planning area, their likely significance, and the BLM use categories to which they can be assigned. 

We then discuss the applicability of these resource types to the research issues presented earlier, as a 

general guide for making future management decisions regarding cultural resources. 

KNOWN CULTURAL RESOURCES ON BLM LANDS 

As of July 2016, there are 1,650 formally recorded cultural resources on BLM-managed lands 

within the NCIP planning area (Table 16). These include 1,289 archaeological sites; 325 isolated finds; 23 

buildings/structures/objects (e.g., buildings, bridges); five National Register districts, some comprising 

resources recorded separately as archaeological sites; one proposed district; two TCPs/traditional use 

areas; and five resources with site numbers and map locations but lacking any other documentation. As 

summarized further below, however, only a small percentage of BLM-managed land has been surveyed 

for cultural resources. 

Table 16. Recorded Cultural Resources on BLM-Managed Lands. 

RESOURCE TYPE AGE ARCATA REDDING TOTAL 

Archaeological site Prehistoric 49 355 404 

Archaeological site Multi-component 11 102 113 

Archaeological site Historic-era 15 751 766 

Archaeological site Unknown - 6 6 

Isolate Prehistoric 2 179 181 

Isolate Multi-component - 8 8 

Isolate Historic-era 1 125 126 

Isolate Unknown/modern - 10 10 

Building, structure, or object Historic-era 6 17 23 

National Register district Prehistoric - 1 1 

National Register district Historic-era 2 2 4 

Proposed district Historic-era - 1 1 

TCP/traditional use area - - 2 2 

Unknown - 5 5 

Total 86 1,564 1,650 

Total w/prehistoric component 64 646 710 

Total w/historic-era component 33 1,004 1,037 

NATIONAL REGISTER ELIGIBILITY 

The primary metric by which cultural resources on federal lands are evaluated for significance is 

whether they are listed on, or considered eligible for listing on, the National Register. Resources that have 

been determined eligible are referred to under the law as “historic properties.” Only a few historic 

properties on BLM-managed land in the planning area have actually been listed on the National Register, 

but many others have been evaluated and determined eligible for listing, with formal concurrence by the 

California State Office of Historic Preservation. Still more resources have had eligibility recommendations 

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made by surveyors, but do not have formal concurrence for those determinations from the State Office of 

Historic Preservation. For resources that have not been evaluated for their National Register eligibility, the 

lead federal agency is responsible for such evaluations whenever a federal undertaking may have an effect 

on those resources. 

The National Register eligibility criteria (36 CFR 60.4) state, in part, that “the quality of significance 

in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, 

buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, materials, workmanship, 

feeling, and association, and 

(A) That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad 

patterns of our history; or 

(B) That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or 

(C) That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of 

construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, 

or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack 

individual distinction; or 

(D) That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or 

history. 

Prehistoric sites are most commonly evaluated with respect to Criterion D. Because prehistoric sites 

can rarely be associated with specific events or persons, Criteria A and B usually do not apply (although 

some contact-period sites in the planning area can indeed be associated with recorded historical events; 

Criterion A may also arguably apply to “events” broadly considered, such as the peopling of the New 

World). Criterion C typically only applies to prehistoric sites with architectural elements or other features, 

such as rock art, that can be considered from a stylistic or artistic standpoint. Accordingly, the following 

discussion focuses on Criterion D. Under this criterion, sites are considered important if they have yielded, 

or have the potential to yield: 

important information about some aspect of prehistory or history, including events, 

processes, institutions, design, construction, settlement, migration, ideals, beliefs, lifeways, 

and other facets of the development or maintenance of cultural systems...Any 

consideration of a property’s eligibility under Criterion D must address (1) whether the 

property has information to contribute to our understanding of history or prehistory and 

(2) whether that information is important [NPS 1982:28]. 

Thus, the information contained in a prehistoric site is important under Criterion D if it can be used 

to address pertinent research issues. The Prehistoric Research Issues section lays out ten major research topics, 

including Controlling Chronology, Identifying the First Colonizers of Northern California, The Origins of 

Acorn/Salmon Exploitation, The Evolution of Milling Tools, Inter-Regional Exchange, Rock Art, Historical 

Linguistics and Population Replacements, Pyrodiversity as a Land-Management Strategy, Native American Rock 

Features and the Spiritual World, and Native Responses to Contact. In the Prehistoric Site Typology section below, 

we tie these research issues to a simple classification of prehistoric site types, laying out which site types 

can be expected to address which research issues. 

In contrast, historic-era sites and features are often considered for eligibility under all four criteria, 

not just Criterion D. Sites typically are evaluated against a matrix of themes and periods of significance, 

and these are specific to geographic locations and historical contexts. As an example, the theme of Maritime 

Activities will be applicable to the North Coast Ranges but much less so to the inland regions, and there is 

more than one period of significance for those activities: they will be highly significant during the early 

exploration and Gold Rush periods and again during World Wars I and II, but less significant in the era inbetween. To be eligible under Criteria A, B, or C, a property must retain integrity to the period(s) of 

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significance, but even sites with compromised integrity can be eligible under Criterion D, if they retain 

some information potential. 

BLM USE CATEGORIES 

BLM Manual 8110 lays out a series of use categories to which cultural resources can be assigned, 

either individually or as part of a class, during the land-use planning process. Cultural resources can be 

assigned to multiple uses, or reassigned from one use to another. The following descriptions of use 

categories are excerpted from the manual: 

 Scientific Use. This category applies to any cultural property determined to be available for 

consideration as the subject of scientific or historical study at the present time, using currently 

available research techniques. Study includes methods that would result in the property’s 

physical alteration or destruction. This category applies almost entirely to prehistoric and 

historic archaeological properties, where the method of use is generally archaeological 

excavation, controlled surface collection, and/or controlled recordation (data recovery). 

Recommendations to allocate individual properties to this use must be based on 

documentation of the kinds of data the property is thought to contain and the data’s 

importance for pursuing specified research topics. Properties in this category need not be 

conserved in the face of a research or data recovery (mitigation) proposal that would make 

adequate and appropriate use of the property’s research importance... 

 Conservation for Future Use. This category is reserved for any unusual cultural property 

which, because of scarcity, a research potential that surpasses the current state of the art, 

singular historic importance, cultural importance, architectural interest, or comparable reasons, 

is not currently available for consideration as the subject of scientific or historical study that 

would result in its physical alteration. A cultural property included in this category is deemed 

worthy of segregation from all other land or resource uses, including cultural resource uses, that 

would threaten the maintenance of its present condition or setting, as pertinent, and will remain 

in this use category until specified provisions are met in the future. 

 Traditional Use. This category is to be applied to any cultural resource known to be perceived 

by a specified social and/or cultural group as important in maintaining the cultural identity, 

heritage, or well- being of the group. Cultural properties assigned to this category are to be 

managed in ways that recognize the importance ascribed to them and seek to accommodate 

their continuing traditional use. 

 Public Use. This category may be applied to any cultural property found to be appropriate for 

use as an interpretive exhibit in place, or for related educational and recreational uses by 

members of the general public. The category may also be applied to buildings suitable for 

continued use or adaptive use, for example as staff housing or administrative facilities at a 

visitor contact or interpretive site, or as shelter along a cross-country ski trail. 

 Experimental Use. This category may be applied to a cultural property judged well-suited for 

controlled experimental study, to be conducted by BLM or others concerned with the 

techniques of managing cultural properties, which would result in the property’s alteration, 

possibly including loss of integrity and destruction of physical elements...Experimental study 

should aim toward understanding the kinds and rates of natural or human-caused 

deterioration, testing the effectiveness of protection measures, or developing new research or 

interpretation methods and similar kinds of practical management information. It should not 

be applied to cultural properties with strong research potential, traditional cultural 

importance, or good public use potential, if it would significantly diminish those uses. 

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 Discharged from Management. This category is assigned to cultural properties that have no 

remaining identifiable use. Most often these are prehistoric and historic archaeological 

properties, such as small surface scatters of artifacts or debris, whose limited research potential 

is effectively exhausted as soon as they have been documented. Also, more complex 

archaeological properties that have had their salient information collected and preserved 

through mitigation or research may be discharged from management, as should cultural 

properties destroyed by any natural event or human activity. 

MANAGEMENT CLASSIFICATIONS AND ELIGIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS 

FOR PREHISTORIC RESOURCES 

The simple prehistoric site typology presented here provides a means of characterizing a site’s 

constituents, its likely ability to address the research issues presented above, and hence its likely National 

Register eligibility. While other, less-common resource types could undoubtedly be defined in the planning 

area, this typology should cover the great majority. 

The typology is based only on artifact and feature constituents, and does not consider 

environmental setting, depositional context (e.g., open-air vs. shelter), co-occurrences with other sites, or 

site size. There are four primary types (Lithic Scatter, Milling Station, Simple Habitation, and Complex 

Habitation), and three ancillary types (Quarry, Rock Art, Rock Feature). Where a particular site meets the 

criteria for both a primary and an ancillary site type, the primary type is modified accordingly (e.g., “Simple 

Habitation/Quarry,” “Complex Habitation/Rock Art”). The ability of each site type to address each of the 

research issues, and hence its likely National Register eligibility is summarized in Table 17. The table also 

lists applicable BLM use categories for each type. 

Isolated artifacts are not included in the typology. They have very limited information potential 

beyond their recordation; thus, they can be considered categorically ineligible to the National Register and 

should be discharged from further management once recordation is complete. However, isolated features, 

such as bedrock millingslicks, rock art panels, and hunting blinds, are all treated as sites for the purposes 

of this typology, regardless of how they were originally recorded in the field. 

Lithic Scatters 

These sites contain only flaked stone debitage and/or tools. They are typically small and shallow, 

representing only short-term occupations during which lithic tools were manufactured or repaired. The 

ability of these sites to address the research issues listed above is generally limited, unless they contain 

obsidian suitable for addressing the Exchange issue, or specific projectile point types suitable for addressing 

the Colonization of Northern California issue. They are most appropriately assigned to Scientific use, and can 

typically be discharged from management after documentation and testing have realized their data 

potential, or demonstrated the lack thereof. A widely-used programmatic approach to realizing the data 

potential of sparse lithic scatters is outlined in the CARIDAP treatment program developed by the 

California Office of Historic Preservation (Jackson et al. 1988). 

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Table 17. Prehistoric Resource Types, Likely National Register Eligibility, 

and Applicable BLM Use Categories. 

RESEARCH ISSUE 

LITHIC 

SCATTER 

MILLING 

STATION 

HABITATION 

QUARRY 

SIMPLE COMPLEX 

ROCK 

ART 

ROCK 

FEATURE 

Chronological Controls - - + + - - -

Colonization of Northern California +a - +a +a +a - -

Origin of Acorn/Salmon Economies - + + + - - -

Evolution of Milling Tools - + + + - - -

Inter-regional Exchange +b - +b +b +b - -

Rock Art - - - - - + -

Historical Linguistics and Population - - + + - + -

Replacements 

Pyrodiversity as Land-use Management - + + + - - -

Native American Rock Features - - - - - - + 

Overall likely National Register significance Low Low Moderate High Low Highc Low 

Applicable BLM Use Categories S S S S, C S S, C, P S, C, T 

Notes: a With diagnostic projectile points and/or obsidian hydration data; b With geochemical sourcing data; c Also 

potentially eligible under Criterion C. S – Scientific; C – Conservation; P – Public; T – Traditional. 

Milling Stations 

These sites contain bedrock milling features and/or portable milling tools, with little if any other 

associated prehistoric materials. As the name implies, activities at these sites typically were limited to food 

processing. While these sites can obviously address the Evolution of Milling Tools issue, particularly via 

starch-grain or plant macrofossil analysis, their data potential is generally limited because it is difficult to 

establish their age. Despite this low overall data potential, test excavations may sometimes be called for, to 

confirm the lack of an associated archaeological deposit. 

Simple Habitations 

These sites, in addition to flaked stone, also contain bedrock or portable milling equipment; and/or a 

midden deposit; and/or accumulations of dietary remains such as shell or animal bone. Thermal features and 

scattered fire-cracked rock are also common at these sites, but are not necessary or defining characteristics of 

the type. These sites were likely occupied by families or small groups of families, rather than the task-oriented 

groups expected at lithic scatters and milling stations. The presence of dietary remains, particularly plant 

macrofossils, may be used to address the issue of Origin of Acorn/Salmon Economies, as well as Pyrodiversity. 

Many of the dietary remains and thermal features common at these sites are also suitable for dating via 

radiocarbon. These sites therefore have the potential to address the Chronology issue as well, by allowing 

refinement of projectile point typologies or the age-conversion equations used in obsidian hydration dating. 

Overall, their potential to yield important information is moderate. 

Complex Habitations 

These sites contain the constituents of Simple Habitations, but also have unambiguous evidence of 

residential structures (e.g., house pits or large rock rings). They are typically large, located at prime spots for 

subsistence resource procurement, and represent major occupation centers. They have the highest data 

potential in the typology, with the ability to address nearly the full range of research issues discussed above. 

The presence of residential features and their associated hearths and work areas means that these sites can 

contain tightly focused, household-specific assemblages, which are extremely valuable for archaeological 

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interpretation. Some Complex Habitations may be identifiable as named ethnographic or contact-period 

villages; to the extent that these villages are associated with prominent historical events, they could be 

considered for National Register eligibility under Criterion A as well as Criterion D. Because of their very 

high data potential, they should be considered for Conservation use where possible, as well as Scientific use. 

Rock Art 

The rock art in the planning area mostly consists of cupules and petroglyphs (and at least one or 

two pictograph locations), some in association with other archaeological remains and others in isolation. 

Obviously, sites of this type can address the Rock Art research issue, though (as with milling features) their 

data potential is limited by the difficulty in dating them directly. Rock art can be dated indirectly via 

unambiguous associations with dated archaeological assemblages, though such associations can be hard to 

prove. The overall National Register significance of this site type is high, because, despite the challenges in 

interpretation under Criterion D, they are also potentially eligible under Criterion C. Rock art sites present 

a unique management challenge, because they are often highly visible, vulnerable to vandalism, and may 

have spiritual importance to contemporary Native Americans. BLM should consider assigning these sites 

to Conservation use, or where public access cannot be limited, to Public use as part of interpretive displays 

that stress the importance of protecting archaeological resources. 

Rock Features 

This site type includes cairns, walls, and small rock rings, some interpreted as hunting blinds or 

storage features, others lacking an obvious function. Some are isolated features, while others are associated 

with an assemblage. (Larger rock rings interpreted as residential structures are not included here, but rather in 

the Complex Habitation type.) Because of the difficulty in dating these features, they generally have very limited 

data potential. Few, if any, of the small number of rock features recorded on BLM-managed lands have been 

identified as the kinds of spiritually significant markers discussed in the Research Issues section; however, the 

documented geographic distribution of the latter (Hildebrandt et al. 2015) suggests that they may well occur 

on BLM-managed lands. If they can be identified as such, they should be reserved for Traditional use. 

Quarries/Prospects 

Quarries are sites where raw material was obtained for making stone tools. These can range from 

small, informal workshops to major obsidian sources exploited over thousands of years of prehistory. 

However, only the relatively minor Tuscan obsidian source is located within the planning area, and no 

obsidian quarries have been recorded on BLM-managed lands within it. Rather, the known sites of this 

type are mostly small chert or basalt quarries, some likely representing single episodes of prospecting or 

assaying raw material. Without the ability to directly date the material (as can be done with obsidian), or 

indirectly via association with a dated archaeological assemblage, the ability of these sites to address 

research issues is limited. Like the Lithic Scatter site type (of which these can be considered a specialized 

subtype), Quarries can be assigned to Scientific use, and can typically be discharged from management 

after documentation and testing. 

Summary of Known Prehistoric Resources by Type 

Table 18 shows the numbers and geographic distribution of the 517 known prehistoric sites on 

BLM-managed land in the planning area, organized by the typology. A few prehistoric resources are 

unique or enigmatic, or are insufficiently described in the site record database (e.g., “village”) and cannot 

be assigned to type. 

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Table 18. Recorded Prehistoric Resource Types by Zone. 

TYPE 

UPPER 

KLAMATH 

SACRAMENTO 

VALLEY 

COAST 

RANGE 

KLAMATH 

MOUNTAINS/ 

HIGH NORTH 

COAST RANGE 

SIERRA 

NEVADA 

SOUTHERN 

CASCADE 

FOOTHILLS 

TOTAL 

Lithic Scatter 51 34 12 23 4 77 201 

Milling Station 1 1 - 1 35 3 41 

Simple Habitation 16 45 12 11 19 82 185 

Complex Habitation 4 7 - 10 12 14 47 

Quarry (only)a 3 1 - 1 2 2 9 

Rock Art (only) a - 1 - - 3 3 7 

Rock Feature (only) a 4 - - - - 8 12 

Other/no info 1 2 4 6 2 - 15 

Total 80 91 28 52 77 189 517 

Sites with quarrying 3 1 - 2 2 2 10 

Sites with rock art 2 1 - - 5 5 13 

Sites with rock features 5 2 - - - 19 26 

Note: a Ancillary type – additional sites containing these features are tallied under their primary type. Sites listed as Quarry (only) 

are a subtype of the Lithic Scatter type. 

A quick test of the effectiveness of this typology in organizing sites by likely National Register 

eligibility can be made by tallying previous evaluations/determinations by site type (Table 19). These show 

very good agreement with the expected eligibilities given in Table 17; only 8% of sites typed as Lithic 

Scatters were evaluated as eligible, while 100% of Complex Habitations were found eligible. However, this 

table also serves as a cautionary note, as it shows that a site of any type may ultimately be found eligible 

for the National Register, and thus that there is no substitute for formal evaluation. The typology is 

intended only as a planning tool for prioritizing resource management. 

Table 19. Existing National Register Evaluations by Prehistoric Site Type. 

TYPE ELIGIBLE NOT ELIGIBLE TOTAL % ELIGIBLE 

Lithic scatter 4 46 50 8.0 

Milling station 1 2 3 33.3 

Simple habitation 18 11 29 62.1 

Complex habitation 5 - 5 100.0 

Quarry (only) 1 7 8 12.5 

Rock art (only) - 1 1 -

Rock feature (only) - 4 4 -

Other/no info - 1 1 -

MANAGEMENT CLASSIFICATIONS AND NATIONAL REGISTER ELIGIBILITY 

CONSIDERATIONS FOR HISTORIC-ERA RESOURCES 

Historic-era resources are more difficult to classify into a few categories, as they cover a much wider 

range of themes and configurations than do prehistoric resources. Instead, we have assigned them to theme 

and (in some cases) sub-theme. Table 20 shows the numbers of recorded historic-era archaeological 

components on BLM-managed lands in the planning area, by research theme. Components are counted, 

rather than sites, because many sites contain features related to more than one theme: for example, a 

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Table 20. Historic-Era Components by Theme. 

ZONE 

THEME COAST 

RANGES 

KLAMATH 

MOUNTAINS/ 

HIGH NORTH 

COAST RANGE 

SACRAMENTO 

VALLEY 

SIERRA 

NEVADA 

TOTAL THEME SOUTHERN PERCENTAGE 

UPPER CASCADE DESIGNATIONS a OF TOTAL 

KLAMATH FOOTHILLS 

Exploration/Colonization - - 1 - - 3 4 0.3 

Maritime Activities 10 - - - - - 10 0.6 

Infrastructure 

Transportation - 36 51 41 13 15 156 10.0 

Water Development - 63 70 18 4 16 141 11.0 

Communication 2 2 1 2 1 3 11 0.7 

Extraction Economy 

Mining - 180 318 47 18 44 607 38.9 

Logging - 9 3 4 9 - 25 1.6 

Overseas Chinese - 10 13 4 3 4 34 2.2 

Settlement/Agriculture 26 26 50 11 13 24 150 9.6 

Native Resistance/Indian Wars 6 6 1 4 1 3 21 1.3 

The New Century 

Wartime 6 6 1 4 1 3 21 1.3 

Great Depression 2 - 1 2 2 - 7 0.4 

Hydroelectric Development - 1 - 4 2 - 7 0.4 

Land/Resources Management 2 - - - - - 2 0.1 

Indeterminate 18 49 107 25 58 98 355 22.7 

Note: a Someresources arecountedundermorethan onetheme,sototalsites ≠totalthemedesignations. 

homestead that also has evidence of mining activities, or a mining ditch that was later repurposed for 

irrigation. It is important to note that these component/theme assignments are based on the information 

provided in the site records, and some of them probably will need to be revised in the future, as each site 

is investigated more thoroughly. In addition, there are many known resources that have not been formally 

recorded on BLM-administered lands and so are not included in the site database: for instance, nineteenthcentury military forts and segments of early explorers’ trails. 

Clearly (and not surprisingly) the most numerous components are those related to mining, 

followed by early infrastructure development and settlement/agriculture. The low percentages of other 

component types do not necessarily mean they are less significant for our understanding of regional 

history; rather, it may simply reflect the fact that these types of resources are geographically restricted (i.e., 

Maritime Activities), more difficult to identify, and/or more likely to have been overprinted by later 

features. In fact, because of their relative rarity, any survivors may actually have greater significance: an 

intact segment of a very early exploration route, for example, is almost certainly more significant than a 

scatter of prospect pits. Themes that are under-represented in the existing site database may reflect data 

gaps that can help to guide future research. 

The periods of historical significance for these themes vary by region. The periods shown in Table 

21 are based on major events—e.g., the 1862 Homestead Act, the 1869 completion of the first transcontinental 

railroad, the Great Depression—or on major activities, as with the period of construction of military forts to 

subdue (and protect) the Native peoples (1850–1865). The rankings (High—Moderate—Low) refer to the 

applicability of each period to the listed themes. They are intended as general guidelines rather than hardand-fast demarcations. The key point is that sites which cannot be assigned to any particular period or linked 

to any particular event/development probably will have very limited significance. 

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Table 21. Historical Themes and Periods of Significance. 

PERIOD 

THEME 

PRE-1800 1800–1845 1846–1863 1864–1900 1900–1945 POST-1945 

Exploration/Colonization High High High/Moderate Low Low Low 

Maritime Activities High High High/Moderate Moderate High Low 

Early Infrastructure Development n/a High High/Moderate High/Moderate High/Moderate Low 

The Extraction Economy n/a High High/Moderate Moderate Moderate Low 

Overseas Chinese n/a High High High Moderate Low 

Settlement/Agriculture n/a High High Moderate Moderate/Low Low 

Native Resistance and the Indian Wars n/a High High Moderate Low Low 

The New Century n/a n/a n/a n/a High Moderate/Low 

Indeterminate Low Low Low Low Low Low 

CONSIDERATION FACTORS 

Pre-1800 All very early resources are potentially significant, since the period is not well documented in northern California. 

1800–1845 Period of early exploration, fur trappers/traders, Spanish and Mexican ranchos 

1846–1863 Statehood, Gold Rush, military forts/Indian wars 

1880–1914 Large-scale development of mining and logging technologies, transportation/communication/water systems 

1914–1945 Major national and international events: World Wars I and II, Great Depression; development of the Central Valley Project in 

California 

Post-1945 Resources dating to after WWII tend to be very thoroughly documented, lessening the likelihood that they will add to our 

understanding of local, state, or national history. 

Table 22 presents a matrix for determining the potential for a particular resource type to address 

the research issues discussed earlier. This matrix assumes that the property types retain at least some 

integrity to their period(s) of significance. The potential for a particular resource type to contribute to the 

identified research issues is based on several considerations. For instance, rural homesteads and isolated 

mining camps may well shed light on frontier consumer patterns, where those who are removed from the 

main supply systems must make consumer choices: what and how much to purchase, for example, and 

what to supply for themselves through hunting, fishing, or gardening. On the other hand, workers or 

military personnel living at corporate or government facilities typically are supplied with food and other 

necessities by their employers, making these sites less valuable for addressing the issue of consumer 

behavior but perhaps more valuable for studying patterns of socio-cultural interaction. 

Table 23 lists the recommended use categories for each property type. Obviously these are broad 

generalizations and will need to be refined on a site-by-site basis. Historic-era archaeological sites, by 

definition, do not include intact standing structures (these would be classified as Historic-Architectural or 

Built-Environment resources), but are at best the collapsed remains of such structures. In most cases the 

appropriate use of such a resource is for its information potential (Scientific Use). If a particular resource is 

of exceptional importance—for instance, an intact section of the Oregon-California Trail or a Native 

American refuge site occupied during the period of the Indian Wars—it may be more appropriate to 

conserve it for the future (Conservation Use or Traditional Use). Where interpretation or recreation will not 

adversely affect a resource, the best management purpose may be Public Use. And, where a resource is not 

likely to provide any information beyond its recordation—for example, an isolated prospect pit or a short 

segment of abandoned and in-filled ditch—it may be most appropriate to release it from further 

management altogether, once it has been recorded. These decisions should be made by, or in consultation 

with, a qualified historical archaeologist. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 203 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

Table 22. Historic-Era Property Types and Research Potential. 

RESEARCH ISSUES 

PROPERTY TYPES BY THEME TECHNOLOGY 

AND ADAPTATION 

ECONOMIC 

STRATEGIES 

HOUSEHOLD 

COMPOSITION 

AND LIFEWAYS 

IMMIGRATION 

AND CULTURAL 

ADAPTATION 

SOCIO-CULTURAL 

DYNAMICS 

EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION 

Early trails Moderate Moderate/Low Moderate/Low High/Moderate Moderate 

Ranchos/Adobes High High High High High 

MARITIME ACTIVITIES 

Landings/Harbors/Jetties High Moderate Low Low Low 

Lighthouses and lifesaving stations High Moderate Moderate Low Moderate 

Fish canneries High Moderate Low Low Moderate 

Whaling stations High Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate 

Military facilities High Moderate/Low Moderate Low High 

NATIVE RESISTANCE AND THE INDIAN WARS 

Military forts Moderate Low Moderate Low High 

Refuge sites Moderate/Low Moderate Moderate Low Moderate 

Abandoned rancherias Low Moderate High Low High 

EARLY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT 

Roads/trails Moderate Low Low Low Low 

Railroads (non-logging) High Low Low Moderate Moderate 

Bridges and ferry crossings High Low Low Low Moderate 

Waystations Moderate High High Moderate High 

Water-supply systems (non-mining) High Moderate Low Low Low 

Utility lines High Low Low Low Low 

Power plants High Moderate Moderate Low Moderate 

Construction camps Moderate High High High/Moderate High 

MINING 

Prospecting/Exploration Moderate Moderate Moderate/Low Moderate Moderate 

Extraction High High Moderate/Low Moderate Moderate 

Processing High High Moderate/Low Moderate Moderate 

Camps Moderate/Low High/Moderate High Moderate High 

LOGGING 

Railroads High Low Low Moderate Low 

Chutes/Flumes High Low Low Low Low 

Skid roads/Traction engine roads Moderate Low Low Low Low 

Camps Moderate High High High/Moderate High 

OVERSEAS CHINESE 

Camps Moderate High High High Moderate 

Mining locations (usually placering) High Moderate Moderate High/Moderate High/Moderate 

Stacked-rock walls, flume benches, High Low Low Moderate Moderate 

similar features 

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Table 22. Historic-Era Property Types and Research Potential continued. 

RESEARCH ISSUES 

PROPERTY TYPES BY THEME TECHNOLOGY 

AND ADAPTATION 

ECONOMIC 

STRATEGIES 

HOUSEHOLD 

COMPOSITION 

AND LIFEWAYS 

IMMIGRATION 

AND CULTURAL 

ADAPTATION 

SOCIO-CULTURAL 

DYNAMICS 

SETTLEMENT AND AGRICULTURE 

Townsites Moderate High/Moderate High High High 

Homesteads Moderate High High Moderate/Low Moderate 

Farms/Orchards/Ranches High High High Moderate High/Moderate 

THE NEW CENTURY 

Wartime features/facilities High Low Moderate/Low Moderate/Low High 

Depression-era mining/habitation sites High High High Moderate/Low High 

CCC and WPA features/facilities High Moderate/Low High/Moderate Low High 

Power/Hydroelectric Development High Moderate/Low Low Low Low 

Federal Land/Resources Management High/Moderate Low Low Low Moderate 

Table 23. Historic-Era Property Types and Use Categories. 

USE CATEGORIES 

PROPERTY TYPES BY THEME SCIENTIFIC 

USE 

CONSERVATION 

FOR FUTURE 

USE 

TRADITIONAL 

USE 

PUBLIC USE/ 

INTERPRETATION 

EXPERIMENTAL 

USE 

RELEASE FROM 

MANAGEMENT 

(AFTER FULL 

DOCUMENTATION) 

EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION 

Early trails - + - + - -

Ranchos/Adobes - + - + - -

MARITIME ACTIVITIES 

Landings/Harbors/Jetties - - - - - + 

Lighthouses and lifesaving stations + + - + - -

Fish canneries + - - - - -

Whaling stations + - - - - -

Military facilities + - - + - -

NATIVE RESISTANCE AND THE INDIAN WARS 

Military forts + + - + - -

Refuge sites - - + - - -

Abandoned rancherias - - + + - -

EARLY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT 

Roads/trails - - - + - + 

Railroads (non-logging) + - - + - -

Bridges and ferry crossings - - - - - + 

Waystations + - - - - -

Water-supply systems (non-mining) - - - - - + 

Utility lines - - - - - + 

Power plants + - - - - -

Construction camps + - - - - -

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 205 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 23. Historic-Era Property Types and Use Categories continued. 

USE CATEGORIES 

PROPERTY TYPES BY THEME SCIENTIFIC 

USE 

CONSERVATION 

FOR FUTURE 

USE 

TRADITIONAL 

USE 

PUBLIC USE/ 

INTERPRETATION 

EXPERIMENTAL 

USE 

RELEASE FROM 

MANAGEMENT 

(AFTER FULL 

DOCUMENTATION) 

MINING 

Prospecting/Exploration - - - - - + 

Extraction + - - - - -

Processing + - - - - -

Camps + - - - - -

LOGGING 

Railroads + - - + - -

Chutes/Flumes - - - - - + 

Skid roads/Traction engine roads - - - - - + 

Camps + - - - - -

OVERSEAS CHINESE 

Camps + - - - - -

Mining locations (usually placering) + - - - - -

Stacked-rock walls, flume benches, - - - - - + 

similar features 

SETTLEMENT AND AGRICULTURE 

Townsites + - - + - -

Homesteads + - - - - -

Farms/Orchards/Ranches + - - - - -

THE NEW CENTURY 

Wartime features/facilities + - - + - -

Depression-era mining/habitation sites + - - - - -

CCC and WPA features/facilities + - - + - -

Federal Land/Resources Management - - - + - -

Hydroelectric Development + - - - - + 

TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTIES, LANDSCAPES, AND USE AREAS 

Unlike other cultural resource types, TCPs, landscapes, and use areas are generally not 

discoverable by cultural resources professionals other than via consultation with local traditional 

communities, which should be a routine part of BLM’s land-use planning. The only two such resources in 

the current inventory were identified by Native American informants. BLM should consider reserving 

these, and any others that may be identified in the future, for Traditional use. 

Far Western 206 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FUTURE INVENTORY STRATEGY (by Jerome King) 

This section addresses one of the primary goals of this study, which is 

to provide cultural resource specialists and managers with an informed basis for 

understanding the study area in terms of...the potential for and probable consequences 

of conflict between the known kinds of cultural resources and the various types of land 

and resource uses that are likely to be proposed in the study area or already exist [BLM 

Manual 8110]. 

To meet this goal, we present a set of GIS-based sensitivity maps for the planning area, which 

identify areas of high potential for cultural resources. We then use these maps to identify gaps in inventory 

coverage of those areas. Because prehistoric and historic-era resources present substantially different 

challenges for sensitivity modeling, we provide separate sensitivity maps for each. . We conclude this 

section with a brief discussion of current BLM land uses and their geographic distribution relative to highsensitivity BLM-managed lands. 

PREHISTORIC SENSITIVITY MODELS 

Here we present a set of two prehistoric sensitivity models, one for surface sensitivity and one for 

subsurface (buried-site) sensitivity, both based on the recently developed models for Caltrans District 2 by 

Meyer et al. (2013). We begin with some theoretical background on sensitivity modeling, then turn to 

detailed methods and results for each of the two models. 

Theoretical Concerns 

The sensitivity of a landscape for prehistoric archaeological sites is typically estimated using 

environmental data that approximate its subsistence potential for prehistoric foragers. For example, proximity 

to water plays a primary role in most sensitivity models, not only because water is a basic requirement for 

survival, but also because it is often correlated with the presence of a range of subsistence resources. Similarly, 

characteristics such as soil type, vegetative cover, and landform type are all commonly used in sensitivity 

modeling, because they can serve as proxies for the types and quantities of subsistence resources to be found 

in a given area, and hence overall attractiveness for occupation. Some models also consider the energetic costs 

of moving between areas where different types of subsistence resources are concentrated, the likely travel paths 

taken between them, and hence the location of trails and other sites along these travel paths. 

These approaches assume that prehistoric settlement systems were based primarily around 

subsistence pursuits, and thus may fail to take account of social, political, and religious/ideological factors 

that also undoubtedly shaped prehistoric settlement and use. Without some theoretical basis on which to 

make predictions about these aspects of prehistoric land use, however, one cannot incorporate them into a 

sensitivity model. 

There are also practical limitations to sensitivity modeling. One of the primary limitations is the 

range of environmental data that are available. Many datasets of great potential relevance to archaeological 

site patterning have not been fully developed (e.g., the distribution of workable toolstone sources). Others 

may not be accurate enough to use at the desired map scale, or may reflect modern rather than prehistoric 

conditions (e.g., vegetative cover). However, even imperfect or incomplete environmental datasets may still 

contribute to a statistically robust sensitivity model. Conversely, a sensitivity model need not incorporate 

every single potentially relevant environmental dataset in order to be statistically robust. 

Sensitivity modeling in archaeology can take both inductive and deductive approaches. Inductive 

models are basically exploratory, seeking correlations between known archaeological site locations and 

environmental data (King and Young 2006; King et al. 2004). Deductive models, by contrast, build expectations 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 207 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

about site patterning from first principles, and treat the observed archaeological record as a test case, 

sometimes performing surveys specifically to test a completed model (e.g., Zeanah 1996). The basis for building 

a deductive model’s expectations may come from simple common-sense considerations, or from theoretical 

constructs such as optimal foraging. In practice, since deductive models often use an iterative or ‘fine-tuning’ 

methodology, the difference between inductive and deductive approaches is not always clear-cut. 

Whether using the known record at the initial stage of model-building or as a test, it is important 

that sampling bias be controlled. While some studies have the luxury of using purely random-sample 

survey data in support of model-building (e.g., McGuire and King 2011), in most cases the available 

archaeological survey coverage is decidedly non-random with respect to the environmental variables being 

tested. If this bias is not controlled, there is a risk that the completed model will end up largely reflecting 

the distribution of surveyed areas rather than that of sites. Controlling for survey coverage is a simple 

matter of restricting the ‘training’ or testing of the model to surveyed areas. However, in practice survey 

coverage data can be much harder to come by than site location data. 

Ultimately, the success of a sensitivity model can be judged by whether it shows significant 

differences between the observed site densities in each sensitivity class. No sensitivity model will 

successfully predict the location of every single site, no matter how many environmental variables are 

included in it. Some less-common site types may simply reflect a unique mode of land use that no model 

can adequately capture. Nonetheless, a sensitivity model should have value for research and planning as 

long as it shows statistically significant trends in site densities. Sensitivity models created in support of 

cultural resources management goals, such as this one, should also show significant differences between 

sensitivity ranks in terms of their likely management significance. That is, given that certain site types are 

more likely to rise to significance than others, the model should quantify the distribution of likely 

significant site types by sensitivity class. 

Surface Sensitivity Model: Methods 

As a starting point for the current study, we used the sensitivity model recently developed as part 

of a geoarchaeological study of Caltrans District 2, covering much of the current planning area (Meyer et al. 

2013; also see Meyer et al. 2011). The District 2 model was developed in an inductive fashion, exploring the 

predictive power of a wide range of environmental datasets, including topography (elevation, slope, aspect, 

landform curvature, metabolic travel cost); hydrography (distance to water, distance to confluence, stream 

order); climate (effective temperature, length of growth season, precipitation); lithic sources; and modern 

vegetation type. Continuous variables, such as distance to water, were tested to determine the best ‘breaks’ 

along which to divide them into categorical themes. Also, spatial correlations between different themes were 

explored, with the goal of reducing redundancy. The model was tested against a dataset of known 

prehistoric site locations compiled from various sources, including Caltrans’ internal cultural resources 

database, and data compiled for the 2004 Surprise/Eagle Lake/Alturas Class I Overview (King et al. 2004). 

While several thousand site locations were available for model testing, these were not accompanied by 

survey-coverage information, making it impossible to correct for potential sampling bias. 

Ultimately, five environmental themes were selected for inclusion in the District 2 model: distance 

to perennial water, as mapped by the National Hydrography Dataset (USGS 2016a) and modified to 

remove man-made features and to include prehistoric lake extents; distance to perennial stream confluence; 

elevation; slope; and landform curvature (rate of change in slope). Topographic data were generated from 

the National Elevation Dataset (USGS 2016b). The other themes were rejected as lacking strong predictive 

power, or being strongly spatially correlated with the ones that were ultimately selected. Each of the five 

selected themes was scored according to its observed correlation with known site locations (Table 24). 

These themes and their associated scores were then combined in the GIS to produce a single layer with 

Far Western 208 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 24. Predictive Themes and Scores for the Caltrans District 2 Prehistoric Sensitivity Model. 

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR VERY HIGH HIGH MODERATE LOW VERY LOW 

Distance to Water (meters) 

Elevation (meters) 

Slope (degrees) 

Distance to Confluence (meters) 

Landform Curvature 

<100 (+3) 

<1200 (+2) 

0.5 to 4 (+2) 

0–100 (+2) 

Slightly convex or 

Slightly concave (1) 

100–200 (+2) 

1200–1600 (+1) 

4–9 (+1) 

100–200 (+1) 

Flat (0) 

200–400 (+1) 

1,600–2,000 (0) 

<0.5; 9–14 (0) 

200–400 (0) 

Concave (0) 

400–800 (-2) 

2,000–2,500 (-1) 

14–19 (-1) 

400–800 (-1) 

Convex (0) 

>800 (-3) 

>2,500 (-2) 

>19 (-2) 

>800 (-2) 

Very convex or 

Very concave (-1) 

Combined score range for class 5 to 10 1 to 4 0 -1 to -4 -5 to -10 

overall sensitivity scores ranging from -10 to 10; these combined scores were then grouped into five 

sensitivity classes, from Very Low to Very High (Table 24). The reader is referred to Meyer et al. (2013) for 

a much more detailed discussion of the model’s construction. 

For the current study, we used the District 2 model as originally formulated, except that (1) the 

modeled area was expanded to include the current planning area, by extending it into Humboldt, Del Norte, 

and southern Butte counties; (2) the combined surface sensitivity scores were subjected to a low-pass filter to 

smooth boundaries between zones and reduce the occurrence of ‘island’ cells in the completed model; and (3) 

standing bodies of water were excluded from the model due to the lack of topographic information. The overall 

result was substantially similar to the original District 2 model, but with less ‘noise.’ 

Surface Sensitivity Model: Results and Test 

Figure 21 shows the completed sensitivity model. (This overview figure is meant to illustrate 

general geographic trends only, and should not be used for project planning; the accompanying GIS layer 

shows a great deal more detail.) Table 25 shows the distribution of model classes both within the planning 

area as a whole and on BLM-managed lands. The distribution of model classes within the larger planning 

area is quite similar to that of BLM-managed lands, although BLM manages a smaller percentage of Very 

High sensitivity lands. 

Table 25. Distribution of Classes in the Surface Prehistoric Sensitivity Model. 

PLANNING % OF BLM LANDS % OF CLASS AREA 

TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) 

Not modeled 141.7 0.6 3.2 0.5 

Very low 3,051.6 13.5 97.2 16.0 

Low 11,505.2 50.9 329.9 54.4 

Moderate 4,470.0 19.8 104.4 17.2 

High 2,836.9 12.6 62.3 10.3 

Very high 586.0 2.6 9.5 1.6 

Total 22,591.4 - 606.5 -

Unlike the District 2 study, we are able to test the completed model with survey-controlled 

prehistoric site location data, generated as part of the data-compilation element of this study. This allows 

us to quantify the observed site densities within each rank, both for prehistoric sites generally and for 

specific site types that are more likely to present management concerns. 

Controlling for survey bias is a simple matter of confining the model test to previously surveyed 

areas, and the sites within them. While overall quality of past surveys may vary dramatically, we attempt 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 209 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to minimize potential bias by excluding all surveys identified as informal reconnaissance, those not on 

current BLM-managed lands, and all those conducted before 1990. (The 1990 cutoff date is an arbitrarily 

chosen point after which our sample of surveys can be reasonably assumed to be similar in terms of quality 

of coverage and site documentation. Many additional surveys lying outside current BLM lands and/or prior 

to 1990 could no doubt have been included, but doing this would have required a case-by-case evaluation 

of which surveys should be included in the test. In any case, the test is reasonably robust without them. 

Nothing is implied here about the adequacy of these surveys; see the Analysis of High-Priority Areas for 

Inventory discussion below, page 231.) 

The surveyed areas used for the test are well-distributed geographically, and reasonably extensive, 

covering about 64.3 square miles of BLM land (Figure 22). All model classes are well-represented in the test 

dataset. 

Our test sample of site locations is restricted to prehistoric sites falling within these surveyed areas. 

Isolated finds are excluded. Each site is rendered as a center point, regardless of its overall size, and is 

deemed to fall within the sensitivity class where that center point is located. While some larger sites may 

span multiple sensitivity zones, the center point value serves as a reasonable approximation. In total, there 

are 272 sites in the sample. (It should be noted that there is some overlap between these data and the 

exploratory site-location dataset used to construct the original District 2 sensitivity model.) 

The null-hypothesis assumption of the test is that sites are randomly distributed with respect to 

the model classes, and thus are present in numbers directly proportional to the surveyed area of each model 

class. These expected frequencies per class are compared to the observed numbers of sites within each class. 

The degree of deviation from the expected value for each class is expressed using standardized residuals 

(McGuire and King 2011), which at this sample size are roughly comparable to z-scores. A successful test, 

then, would ideally show highly negative values (-2 or less) for the lowest-sensitivity classes, and highly 

positive values (2 or more) for the highest-sensitivity classes. 

Table 26 shows the test results, with standardized residuals and observed site densities for each 

class. In general, the model performs well. Considering prehistoric sites as a whole, observed site densities 

range from 1.3 sites per surveyed square mile in the Very Low class, to 8.2 sites per square mile in the Very 

High class. Both the standardized residuals and site density figures show, however, that there is no real 

observed difference between the Low and Moderate sensitivity classes, suggesting that the model might 

potentially be improved by revisiting how the source themes are grouped. But, if the sample is limited to 

sites that are most likely to rise to National Register eligibility, we see results that provide better 

confirmation of the model, and suggest that the classes do not need adjusting. Overall, sites typed as Simple 

or Complex Habitations are the most likely to rise to National Register significance (see the Management 

Classification section, page 195). Considering just those types, the model shows the expected overall trends 

in site densities and standardized residuals (Table 26). 

Because the site densities within each class are based on real-world observations, these figures can 

be extrapolated to a given planned project area to produce an overall quantitative estimate of the numbers 

of sites likely to be observed in that area. It should be cautioned that the model should not be used for 

clearance, and is not a substitute for survey; as the table shows, some sites are present even in areas mapped 

as Very Low sensitivity. 

Far Western 210 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 211 Far Western

BLM-Administered Lands 

$ Surface Sensitivity 

Not Modeled (Water) 

Very Low 

Low 

Moderate 

0 10 20 Miles High 

Very High 

Figure 21. Surface Sensitivity Model. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 213 Far Western

$

Model test areas 0 10 20 Miles 

BLM administered lands 

Figure 22. Surveyed Lands Used in Model Tests. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 26. Prehistoric Surface Sensitivity Model Test Results. 

PREHISTORIC SITES HABITATIONS ONLY 

CLASS 

Very low 

Low 

SURVEYED BLM 

LAND (SQUARE 

MILES) 

8.8 

32.5 

% OF 

TOTAL 

13.7 

50.5 

SITE 

COUNT 

11 

131 

STANDARDIZED 

RESIDUAL 

-4.3 

-0.5 

DENSITY 

(SITES/SQUARE 

MILE) 

1.2 

4.0 

SITE 

COUNT 

4 

45 

STANDARDIZED 

RESIDUAL 

-2.9 

-1.6 

DENSITY 

(SITES/SQUARE 

MILE) 

0.5 

1.4 

Moderate 10.9 16.9 42 -0.6 3.9 18 -0.2 1.7 

High 

Very high 

9.3 

2.8 

14.5 

4.4 

65 

23 

4.1 

3.2 

7.0 

8.2 

33 

13 

4.1 

3.6 

3.5 

4.6 

Total 64.3 - 272 - 4.2 113 - 1.8 

Subsurface Sensitivity Model: Methods 

The District 2 study also included a sensitivity assessment for subsurface (buried) cultural 

resources. This was produced by modifying the sensitivity scores in the surface sensitivity model with a 

subsurface-potential scaling factor. This scaling factor was produced via a detailed study of digital soilsurvey data, including both high-resolution SSURGO soil surveys and lower-resolution STATSGO data 

(NRCS 2015a, 2015b; see Meyer et al. 2013 for a wealth of information on compilation methods). 

The reasoning behind the scaling factor was based on the stability of land surfaces and the relative 

amount of time (within the overall span of human occupation) that those land surfaces would have been 

available for use. Land surfaces that were stable through part of the Holocene and subsequently covered 

by deposition of a younger landform would have potential for intact buried deposits. In contrast, presentday land surfaces that have been stable since before the beginning of human occupation would have little 

or no potential for intact buried deposits, because any cultural material deposited on those landforms 

would still be at the surface. The potential of more recent landforms to contain subsurface deposits would 

vary according to the relative amount of time that the now-buried landforms beneath them were exposed 

and available for occupation. Thus, the most recent landforms would have the highest buried-sensitivity 

scaling factors, except for disturbed contexts. 

The final District 2 subsurface sensitivity map was produced by multiplying the surface sensitivity 

scores by these subsurface-potential scaling factors, and grouping the modified sensitivity scores into five 

classes, similar to the surface model. 

For this study, we used the District 2 subsurface model as originally formulated, except that we 

extended the soil-age map to encompass the entire current planning area (Figure 23); used a newly adjusted 

set of scaling factors for landform age (Table 27; Meyer 2016); and combined it with the slightly revised 

surface model described above. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 215 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 27. Subsurface Sensitivity Scaling Factors. 

SCALAR 

SURFACE LANDFORM AGE VALUE 

AGE CLASS (CAL BP) (MEYER 

2016) 

Artificial Cut/Fill - 4.5 

Historic-Modern (Channel) - 3.0 

Historic-Modern - 5.5 

Recent Holocene 600–100 9.9 

Latest Holocene 2200–1150 9.2 

Late Holocene 4200–2200 8.4 

Middle Holocene 8200–4200 7.0 

Early Holocene 11,700–8200 4.1 

Latest Pleistocene/Younger 12,900–11,700 1.6 

Dryas 

Terminal Pleistocene 25,000–12,900 0.1 

Older Pleistocene or earlier >12,900 0.0 

Subsurface Sensitivity Model: Results 

Figure 24 shows the completed sensitivity model. (Again, as with the surface sensitivity model, this 

figure is meant to show general geographic trends only; project planners should use the accompanying GIS 

data). Table 28 shows the distribution of sensitivity classes within the planning area and BLM-managed lands. 

In the planning area as a whole, the percentage of areas classed as High or Very High sensitivity is low; on 

BLM lands, it is vanishingly low, no doubt due to the fact that BLM manages few of the valley-bottom settings 

that score highly in this model. However, it should not be concluded that there are no subsurface 

archaeological deposits anywhere on BLM land. Particularly in the upland areas mapped via lower-resolution 

STATSGO data, there may be small, unmapped depositional settings within larger areas mapped as low or 

moderate sensitivity. Thus, the model should not be used for clearance. Despite these cautions, the model can 

give land managers a general sense of the potential for buried prehistoric deposits, when a planned 

undertaking will involve deep ground disturbance. 

Table 28. Distribution of Classes in the Subsurface Sensitivity Model. 

PLANNING BLM MANAGED % OF % OF VALUE AREA LANDS TOTAL TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) (SQUARE MILES) 

Not modeled 154.9 0.7 3.6 0.6 

Very low 20,109.5 89.0 580.7 95.7 

Low 1,765.3 7.8 20.7 3.4 

Moderate 354.4 1.6 0.8 0.1 

High 198.3 0.9 0.7 0.1 

Very high 9.1 - - -

Total 22,591.4 - 606.5 -

Far Western 216 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 217 Far Western

Water Younger Dryas 

Artificial Cut and Fill Terminal Pleistocene 

Historical-Modern (Channel) Older Pleistocene 

Historical-Modern Pre-Quaternary 

$ Recent Holocene 

Medieval Climatic Anomaly 

Latest Holocene 

No data 

Late Holocene 

0 10 20 Miles Middle Holocene 

Early Holocene 

Figure 23. Landform Ages. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 219 Far Western

BLM-Administered Lands 

Buried Site Sensitivity 

$ Not Modeled (Water) 

Very Low 

Low 

Moderate 

0 10 20 Miles High 

Very High 

Figure 24. Subsurface Sensitivity Model. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HISTORIC-ERA SENSITIVITY ASSESSMENT 

Creating sensitivity maps for historic-era resources is substantially more difficult than for 

prehistoric sites, because of the much wider range of activities represented, and the fact that these 

activities were often driven by factors other than subsistence potential, as they largely are for prehistoric 

sites. Further, while archaeologists’ decisions about the significance of prehistoric sites usually involves 

a straightforward consideration of research potential, the same cannot be said of historic-era sites; a much 

wider range of considerations about integrity, associated historical people and events, and periods of 

significance comes into play. Because of these complications, a quantitative model like that proposed for 

prehistoric sites cannot be offered for historical resources. Instead, we undertake a general, nonquantitative assessment of historic-era site potential, assembled by creating thematic maps for the major 

historical themes developed above, and then combining these into a single overall map depicting the 

general potential for historic-era archaeological resources. 

Historic-era Sensitivity Assessment: Methods 

While many different sources of information, such as historical maps and land records, could in 

principle be used to predict the location of historic-era archaeological sites, our study was necessarily 

limited to sources that could be readily obtained in a digital format for the entire planning area. We focused 

on five major historical themes: Exploration/Colonization, Transportation, Mining, Settlement and 

Agriculture, and Maritime Activities. 

For the Exploration theme, we used the mapped alignments of the various branches of the California 

Trail (including the Yreka Trail), as mapped by the National Park Service (NPS 2015), and buffered this to 

one kilometer (Figure 25). Of course, we recognize that early explorers used many different trails throughout 

northwestern California, but concrete data on the locations of these trails are lacking. 

Data are more available for later transportation routes, many of which have no doubt obscured the 

earlier explorers’ trails. We have created a map of major roads as shown on a 1948 official state road map 

(California Department of Public Works 1948). This was done by using an existing GIS layer depicting presentday roads, and subtracting post-1948 improvements such as Interstate 5 and the rerouting of roads around 

more recent reservoirs such as Lake Oroville (Figure 25). Some now-disused roads also required digitizing to 

complete the layer. Undoubtedly the model could be improved by including the other routes listed in the 

historical context section, but these could not be plotted accurately without a prohibitively detailed and timeconsuming compilation of historical maps. The finished layer for roads and trails was buffered to one 

kilometer. We also obtained a railroad layer and buffered this to one kilometer as well (Figure 25). 

For the Mining theme, we used the 505 named mine locations from the Geographic Names 

Information System (GNIS) database (USGS 2016c), which lists place names on topographic maps. These 

data are stored as points and do not accurately show the extent of larger features. We also used more than 

4,000 mine locations from the Topographically Occurring Mine Symbols (TOMS) dataset, which depicts 

mines, tailings, prospects, and other mining-related features shown on topographic maps (California 

Department of Conservation 2016). Unlike the GNIS data, larger features in the TOMS data are shown as 

polygons; many are redundant with the GNIS data. For named mines and mine features, we used a buffer 

of one kilometer; for unnamed prospects and tailings, we used a buffer of 500 meters (Figure 26). 

For the Settlement and Agriculture theme, we used the 660 points for “populated places” listed in 

the GNIS data, and buffered these to one kilometer. (Not all of these were necessarily historic in age, but 

again, detailed examination of each location against historical maps would have been an unreasonably timeconsuming effort.) Also from GNIS, we used another 725 points, including all buildings or locales identified 

as “historical,” as well as all ranches, homesteads, and “places,” and buffered these to 500 meters. We also 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 221 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

digitized the footprint of urbanized areas for larger cities such as Eureka, Chico, Oroville, Redding, and Yreka, 

as depicted on historical USGS quads circa 1945, and buffered these to one kilometer (Figure 27). 

Finally, for the Maritime theme, we included the few GNIS points for lighthouses, and buffered 

these to one kilometer (Figure 27). 

To create the sensitivity model, we combined the available data related to these historical themes 

into a single layer. Because this assessment is based on highly generalized data, we did not designate any 

area as low sensitivity, only as elevated above a baseline “normal” level. Areas within the buffer of a single 

historical theme were designated as High sensitivity, while those falling within the buffer of two or more 

themes were designated as Very High sensitivity. As with the prehistoric sensitivity models, we removed 

water bodies from the assessment because the source datasets are incomplete for these areas. 

Historic-era Sensitivity Assessment: Results 

The completed sensitivity assessment is shown in Figure 28, and the distribution of sensitivity 

classes is shown in Table 29. As with the prehistoric models, the distribution of sensitivity classes on BLMmanaged lands largely mirrors that of the planning area as a whole. Also, as with the prehistoric models, it 

should be cautioned that this is a general assessment for planning purposes, and not a substitute for detailed 

research and field survey. Historical research into a given project area is likely to reveal a wealth of detail 

that is not reflected in this simple assessment. Unlike prehistoric resources, historic-era sites can often be 

predicted with prefield archival research, especially using older USGS topographic maps that indicate 

locations of individuals’ houses, fields, fences, and the like. Such research can be used to refine the sensitivity 

model on a project-by-project basis. 

Table 29. Distribution of Classes in Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment 

PLANNING AREA % OF BLM LANDS % OF CLASS (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL 

Not modeled 141.7 0.6 3.2 0.5 

Normal 18,087.9 80.1 475.4 78.4 

High 3,547.0 15.7 107.1 17.7 

Very high 814.8 3.6 20.8 3.4 

Total 22,591.4 - 606.5 -

Nonetheless, a simple test of the model using existing survey data suggests that it is effective at 

identifying high-sensitivity areas. For this test, we use the same survey data selected for the prehistoric 

model test; i.e., post-1990 surveys on BLM-managed lands. Because of the very large extent or linear nature 

of many historic-era sites, we use overall combined site area rather than site counts as the metric for this 

test. As with the prehistoric model test, isolates are excluded. As Table 30 shows, of the 65.4 square miles 

in the test survey area, roughly 3.4 square miles is covered by recorded historic-era sites, or 5.3% of the test 

survey area, which is a remarkably high figure. The observed densities behave as expected, ranging from 

2.7% of the Normal sensitivity class to 12.4% of the Very High sensitivity class. 

Far Western 222 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
0 10 20 Miles 

$

Major Roads (1948) 

Rail 

Major Early Trails 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 223 

Figure 25. Source Data for the Exploration and Transportation/Infrastructure Themes. 

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0 10 20 Miles 

$

Mapped Mining-Related Features 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 225 

Figure 26. Source Data for the Mining Theme. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 227 Far Western

$

GNIS Maritime Features 

GNIS Historic Structures/Ranches 0 10 20 Miles 

GNIS Populated Places 

Figure 27. Source Data for the Settlement/Agriculture and Maritime Themes.Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 229 Far Western

$ BLM-Administered Lands 

Value

Not Modeled (Water) 

Normal 

High 0 10 20 Miles 

Very high 

Figure 28. Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 30. Test of Historic-Era Sensitivity Assessment. 

SURVEYED HISTORIC % OF % OF DENSITY CLASS BLM LAND SITE AREA TOTAL TOTAL (% SITE) (SQUARE MILES) (SQUARE MILES) 

Normal 42.3 65.7 1.1 33.4 2.7% 

High 17.1 26.7 1.6 48.2 9.6% 

Very high 5.0 7.9 0.6 18.4 12.4% 

Total 64.3 - 3.4 - 5.3% 

ANALYSIS OF HIGH-PRIORITY AREAS FOR INVENTORY 

The sensitivity analyses presented here provide a simple means of identifying areas within a given 

project planning area with the highest sensitivity for cultural resources. In a GIS environment, BLM staff can 

inspect the project area for previous surveys and previously recorded cultural resources. The adequacy of any 

previous surveys should be considered, as discussed further below. For areas that lack adequate survey, the 

sensitivity models provide a means of prioritizing new field survey. Also, when comparing different planned 

project alternatives, it is possible to calculate the average overall sensitivity rank for different alternatives. 

Further, because the surface prehistoric sensitivity model has quantitative site-density estimates 

for each class, it is possible to calculate an estimated number of prehistoric sites expected in a project area. 

This is done by first finding the overall area of each model class within the project area and then multiplying 

these areas by the site-density estimates presented in Table 26 above. Table 31 shows a sample prehistoric 

site-density projection using these density figures, using the boundaries of the Lacks Creek Area of Critical 

Environmental Concern (ACEC) as a hypothetical project area. The table shows the analysis both for 

prehistoric sites as a whole, and for just those site types most likely to be National Register eligible (i.e., Simple 

and Complex Habitations; see Management Classification, page 195). The projected overall site total is about 52, 

and the total for likely eligible sites is about 22. Of course, there are many additional environmental and social 

factors not considered in the model that undoubtedly had effects on prehistoric settlement patterns, so it is 

expected that actual findings could vary from these projections, both in this sample area and elsewhere. But, 

this approach can provide a good first approximation. 

Table 31. Estimating Prehistoric Site Densities in a Sample Project Area. 

ALL SITES HABITATIONS ONLY 

CLASS 

PROJECT AREA 

(SQUARE MILES) MODEL DENSITY 

(SITES/SQUARE MILE) 

PROJECTED SITE 

COUNTS 

MODEL DENSITY 

(SITES/SQUARE MILE) 

PROJECTED SITE 

COUNTS 

Very low 0.5 1.2 0.7 0.5 0.3 

Low 6.1 4.0 24.2 1.4 8.5 

Moderate 2.4 3.9 9.4 1.7 4.1 

High 2.3 7.0 16.4 3.5 8.2 

Very high 0.1 8.2 1.2 4.6 0.7 

Total 11.5 51.9 21.7 

Under Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act, BLM has a general responsibility to 

inventory cultural resources on the lands it manages, whether or not they are subject to effects from 

planned land uses. As opportunities to conduct these types of inventories arise, BLM may wish to prioritize 

areas that have the highest sensitivity for cultural resources, using the sensitivity models presented here. 

While there are many potential ways of prioritizing survey efforts, we provide a sample analysis (Figure 

29). This analysis identifies BLM-managed lands that are (1) classified in the prehistoric or historic-era 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 231 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

models as having High or Very High sensitivity; (2) never systematically surveyed; and (3) situated in 

contiguous blocks of more than 320 acres (0.5 square miles). 

As Figure 29 shows, the suggested survey areas for prehistoric and historic-era resources differ, 

because they are based on different sensitivity assessments. For prehistoric resources, the largest of the 

suggested survey areas are in the Bend area; in the Lacks Creek drainage; along the North Fork of the Eel 

River near Bald Mountain; along Elk Creek south of Round Valley; and along Grass Valley Creek in the 

Whiskeytown area. For historic-era resources, the suggested survey areas are much larger because the 

sensitivity assessment is more general, but the largest areas are concentrated in the mining district between 

Redding and Weaverville, and in northern Shasta Valley between Yreka and Hornbrook. 

BLM may wish to adjust some of the factors going into this analysis. One of the most important of 

these is the potential addition of a threshold date, beyond which a survey would no longer be considered 

adequate by current standards, and thus should be considered for resurvey. For this analysis, we 

considered any previous systematic survey as adequate. However, the advent of GPS technology, and 

evolving recording standards, have undoubtedly rendered some older surveys obsolete. On the other hand, 

it is unreasonable to dismiss the value of these older surveys categorically. Ultimately, it will be for BLM 

and its cooperating agencies to decide which existing surveys are considered adequate, and what threshold 

date is appropriate, if any. Appendix B provides the necessary data for BLM to adjust these analyses 

according to various threshold dates, if desired. 

Table 32 shows the amount and distribution of existing survey coverage on BLM-managed land by 

sensitivity model class, showing all known surveys as well as two arbitrarily selected threshold dates (1990 

and 2000). Depending on the threshold date selected (if any), between 5 and 17% of BLM-managed lands 

can be considered to be adequately inventoried. Of the 104.1 total square miles of inventory, 65.9 square 

miles (63% of total survey coverage) was completed in 1990 or later, and 29.3 square miles was completed 

in 2000 or later (28% of total coverage). Regardless of the cutoff date selected, however, the trends in the 

distribution of survey coverage are similar. Existing survey coverage is disproportionately located in the 

higher-sensitivity zones of both the prehistoric and historic-era models. This does not indicate sampling bias 

in the models, because we controlled for it during their formulation. Most likely, this trend is due to the fact 

that that the sensitivity models comport well with archaeologists’ common-sense in-field decisions about 

which kinds of landforms are worthy of targeted survey. Whatever the cause, the data indicate that BLM 

has so far done a good job of prioritizing its survey efforts. 

IDENTIFYING CONFLICTS WITH EXISTING AND PLANNED LAND USES 

Finally, we briefly compare the assessed sensitivity of BLM-managed lands against existing and 

anticipated land uses, with a view to identifying potential conflicts with those uses. Since the upcoming 

Resources Management Plan may substantially revise BLM’s land-use plans, this discussion necessarily 

remains general in nature. Several of the major existing land uses are considered here. 

Preservation/Special Management Status. Many of the most culturally sensitive BLM-managed 

lands are already afforded official recognition in the land-use planning process by designation as Areas of 

Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs). These include the Bend, Swasey, and Forks of Butte ACECs in the 

Redding Field Office area, and the Lacks Creek and Manila Dunes ACECs in the Arcata Field Office area 

(Figure 30). The approximately 85 square miles of BLM-managed lands designated as ACECs includes a 

disproportionate amount of high-sensitivity land, at least according to the prehistoric model (Table 33). This 

provides additional support for preserving these ACEC designations in future land-use planning. 

Far Western 232 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
0 10 20 Miles 

Priority survey (prehistorics) 

Priority survey (historics) 

BLM administered lands 

$

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 233 

Figure 29. Suggested High-Priority Areas for Inventory. 

 

 

 

 

Sacramento River/ 

Bend Area 

Lacks Creek 

Elder Creek 

Red Mountain Forks of Butte Creek 

South Fork Eel River 

Deer Creek 

Gilham Buttes 

Mill Creek 

Butte Creek 

Jenny Creek 

Shasta and Klamath Rivers Canyon 

Mattole 

Beach 

Swasey Drive 

Clear Creek/Sacramento River Island 

Baker Cypress 

Manila 

Dunes 

Hawes Corner 

Iaqua Buttes 

0 10 20 Miles 

$

BLM Areas of Critical Environmental Concern 

BLM-Administered Lands 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California Far Western 235 

Figure 30. Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table 32. Proportions of BLM-Managed Lands Surveyed by Sensitivity Model Class. 

ALL SURVEYS 1975-2015 SURVEYS 1990–2015 SURVEYS 2000–2015 

TOTAL BLM 

TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL LAND 

SURVEY 

(SQUARE 

MILES) 

% OF ZONE 

SURVEYED 

SURVEY 

(SQUARE 

MILES) 

% OF ZONE 

SURVEYED 

SURVEY 

(SQUARE 

MILES) 

% OF ZONE 

SURVEYED 

(SQUARE 

MILES) 

PREHISTORIC SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 1.5 47.2 1.5 47.1 1.4 44.0 3.2 

Very low 14.0 14.4 8.8 9.1 2.4 2.5 97.2 

Low 50.8 15.4 32.5 9.8 13.3 4.0 329.9 

Moderate 18.5 17.7 10.9 10.4 4.9 4.7 104.4 

High 15.0 24.1 9.3 15.0 5.1 8.3 62.3 

Very high 4.3 45.0 2.8 29.6 2.1 21.9 9.5 

Total 104.1 17.2 65.9 10.9 29.3 4.8 606.5 

HISTORIC-ERA SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 1.5 47.2 1.5 47.1 1.4 44.0 3.2 

Normal 72.8 15.3 42.3 8.9 15.5 3.3 475.4 

High 23.1 21.5 17.1 15.9 9.1 8.5 107.1 

Very high 6.7 32.3 5.0 24.1 3.3 15.6 20.8 

Total 104.1 17.2 65.9 10.9 29.3 4.8 606.5 

Table 33. Distribution of Sensitivity Model Classes within Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. 

BLM LANDS % OF ACECS % OF VALUE (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL 

PREHISTORIC SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 3.2 0.5 0.1 0.1 

Very low 97.2 16.0 4.6 5.4 

Low 329.9 54.4 45.3 53.2 

Moderate 104.4 17.2 19.1 22.4 

High 62.3 10.3 13.7 16.1 

Very high 9.5 1.6 2.4 2.9 

Total 606.5 - 85.2 -

HISTORIC-ERA SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 3.2 0.5 0.1 0.1 

Normal 475.4 78.4 71.5 83.8 

High 107.1 17.7 12.1 14.2 

Very high 20.8 3.4 1.6 1.9 

Total 606.5 - 85.2 -

Land Exchanges/Conveyances/Disposals. Historically, BLM has had a policy of disposing of or 

exchanging isolated parcels to consolidate its managed lands into contiguous blocks. When land passes 

out of federal management, however, compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 

Act is required just as if it were subject to a project undertaking. When considering future disposals or 

exchanges, BLM may wish to consider withholding selected parcels that are highly sensitive for known 

or suspected cultural resources, as an alternative to potentially costly Section 106 compliance, and to 

dedicate these parcels to preservation. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 237 Far Western 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recreation. Dispersed recreation (hunting, fishing, backcountry hiking) is expected to have 

generally limited impacts on cultural resources. Higher-traffic recreation in specially designated areas such 

the Trinity Wild and Scenic River or the Bend Outstanding Natural Area present a somewhat higher risk 

to cultural resources simply as a consequence of their higher visibility. Construction of hiking or vehicle 

trails in more heavily-visited areas may involve some potential direct impacts to cultural resources, but 

most can likely be avoided by changes to the project design; the bigger risk to cultural resources is the 

increased visibility and access afforded to cultural resources by these improvements, rendering them 

vulnerable to vandalism and illicit artifact collection. Where appropriate, BLM should consider dedicating 

some higher-visibility cultural resources in heavily visited areas to public use, as an opportunity to educate 

the public about the value of preserving these resources. 

BLM also operates off-highway vehicle areas, including the Chappie-Shasta and Samoa Dunes 

areas. These obviously present a much higher potential risk to cultural resources than other forms of 

recreation, particularly “open” areas where vehicles are not restricted to existing trails. BLM may wish to 

prioritize survey in higher-sensitivity parts of these recreation areas. 

Resource Extraction. Mining and timber operations can also have significant effects on cultural 

resources. In addition, mining claims often include areas where mining took place historically, threatening 

the integrity of any historic-era remains. BLM should continue its policy of conducting cultural resources 

surveys before permitting these activities. In practice, however, many of these extraction operations are in 

rough terrain that prevents systematic survey and complete coverage. Getting adequate survey coverage of 

a given parcel has usually been a matter of professional judgement. BLM may wish to use the sensitivity 

models provided here as a guide for designing a more systematic approach to survey coverage: for example, 

requiring that surveys must include complete, systematic Class III coverage of all lands classed as High or 

Very High sensitivity. For operations that include deep ground disturbance, the subsurface sensitivity model 

should also be consulted. BLM may wish to require archaeological monitoring of ground-disturbing 

operations in areas with High or Very High subsurface sensitivity. 

Grazing. There are 40 grazing allotments in the planning area, covering about 88 square miles of 

BLM-managed land. The sensitivity models show that these allotments contain proportionally less highsensitivity land than BLM-managed lands as a whole (Table 34). Despite this overall trend, there are some 

high-sensitivity lands within these allotments. Livestock grazing can have significant effects on cultural 

resources when animals are concentrated near watering troughs, watercourses, or shaded areas (Halford 

1999). BLM may wish to consider prioritizing survey of higher-sensitivity areas of these allotments, and/or 

placing restrictions on certain types of activities on high-sensitivity lands. 

Far Western 238 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

Table 34. Distribution of Sensitivity Model Classes within Grazing Allotments. 

GRAZING BLM LANDS % OF % OF VALUE ALLOTMENTS (SQUARE MILES) TOTAL TOTAL (SQUARE MILES) 

PREHISTORIC SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 3.2 0.5 - -

Very low 97.2 16.0 19.7 22.3 

Low 329.9 54.4 49.1 55.7 

Moderate 104.4 17.2 11.5 13.1 

High 62.3 10.3 7.0 8.0 

Very high 9.5 1.6 0.8 0.9 

Total 606.5 - 88.2 -

HISTORIC-ERA SENSITIVITY CLASS 

Not modeled 3.2 0.5 - -

Normal 475.4 78.4 78.2 88.6 

High 107.1 17.7 8.9 10.1 

Very high 20.8 3.4 1.1 1.2 

Total 606.5 - 88.2 -

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 239 Far Western 
 

Far Western 240 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Flat Project. Center for Archaeological Research at Davis Publications 13. 

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White, Gregory G., James West, and Jack Meyer 

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National Park. Archaeological Research Program, California State University, Chico. 

Whitley, David S. 

2000 The Art of the Shaman: Rock Art of California. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Wiant, Wayne C. 

1981 Southern Yana Subsistence and Settlement: An Ecological Model. Master’s thesis, California State 

University, Sacramento. 

Wigand, Peter E., and David Rhode 

2002 Great Basin Vegetation History and Aquatic Systems: The Last 150,000 Years. In Great Basin 

Aquatic Systems History, edited by R. Hershler, D. B. Madsen and D. R. Currey, pp. 309-367. 

Smithsonian Contributions to Earth Sciences 33. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 

DC. 

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1998 The Oregon to California Trail California Segment: Ashland, Oregon to Sacramento, California. 

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Wilson, W. L. 

1908 Elements of Railroad Track and Construction. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 

Winthrop, Kathryn R., and Anne Chambers 

1988 Poor But Not So Poor: The Depression Era in Western Siskiyou County. Winthrop Associates 

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Honor of James B. Griffin, edited by edited by E. Cleland, pp. 317-342. Anthropological Papers 

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California, edited by Mark E. Basgall and William R. Hildebrandt pp:H1-H37. Center for 

Archaeological Research at Davis. 

1992 Plant Macrofossils from CA-SHA-47 and CA-SHA-236, Redding, California. In Archaeological 

Investigations at CA-SHA-47 and CA-SHA-236, Redding, Shasta County, California, by T. 

Vaughan pp.105-140. Coyote & Fox Enterprises. 

2004 The Course of Plant Food Intensification in Native Central California. Ph.D. dissertation, 

Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis. 

2010 Plant resource structure and the prehistory of plant use in Central Alta California. California 

Archaeology 2(1):57-76. 

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Wood, Spencer H. 

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dissertation, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. 

Woodrum, Barbara 

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Shasta-Yreka Road (CA-SHA-2806H) Historic Properties Treatment Plan. Bureau of Land 

Management, Redding, California. 

2009b Fluming the Hogback: Historical Resources Related to The Empire Flume, Tehama County, California. 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology/History, Bureau of Land Management, 

Redding, California. 

2011 Middle Creek Road Historical Background. In The Middle Creek Road (CA-SHA-2667H) 

Historic Property Treatment Plan Implementation, by E. Ritter. Bureau of Land Management, 

Redding, California. 

Woolfenden, Wallace B. 

1970 A Study in Historic Sites Archaeology. Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, California 

State University, San Francisco. 

1996 Chapter 4: Quaternary Vegetation History. In Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Final Report to 

Congress, Vol II, Regents of the University of California, Berkeley. 

Zancanella, J. K. 

1987 A Study of Projectile Points from the East Central Saramento Valley, California. Master’s thesis, 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico. 

Zeanah, D. W. 

1996 Predicting Settlement Patterns and Mobility Strategies: An Optimal Foraging Analysis of HunterGatherer Use of Mountain, Desert, and Wetland Habitats in the Carson Desert. Ph.D. dissertation, 

Department of Anthropology, University of Utah. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 299 Far Western 
 

Far Western 300 Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

Jerome King has worked as a professional archaeologist since 1991, and has worked with Far 

Western since 1999. He is a principal with the company as well as co-director of its GIS program. He has 

directed a wide range of survey and excavation projects throughout California and the western Great Basin. 

His work has been published in American Antiquity, the American Museum of Natural History Anthropological 

Papers, the Journal of Archaeological Science, the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, and other 

outlets. As a GIS specialist, he has completed a number of landscape-level archaeological sensitivity 

modeling studies, sample survey designs, and large-scale cultural resources data-acquisition and 

maintenance projects. 

William Hildebrandt is an authority on northern California prehistory. Since completing his 1981 

dissertation work in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, he has directed multiple large-scale excavation 

projects throughout northern California. He is co-author of the book Life on the River: The Archaeology of a 

Native American Culture (2008, Heyday Books), which has been used as a supplemental reader at colleges 

and universities throughout California. He also authored the chapter on northwest California in California 

Prehistory: Colonization, Culture, and Complexity (2007, AltaMira Press), which is currently the primary 

textbook for California prehistory. He has published over sixty other articles or book chapters in many 

important outlets, including the Smithsonian Institution, University of California Press, University of Utah Press, 

University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Center for Archaeological Research at Davis, American 

Antiquity, Journal of Anthropological Anthropology, and the Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology. 

Sharon Waechter has been a professional archaeologist since 1979, working for the Forest Service 

(Mendocino and Eldorado National Forests); the Bureau of Land Management (Arcata Resource Area, 

Ukiah District); the Anthropological Studies Center at Sonoma State University; and since 1991 as a field 

director, principal investigator, and report editor at Far Western. While she has experience in areas 

throughout California and western Nevada, Ms. Waechter’s areas of particular interest and expertise are 

the history and archaeology of northern California. She has many years’ experience in archaeological 

survey and excavation, Native American and agency consultation, project sensitivity and impacts 

assessments, management plans, and public outreach/interpretation. 

Cultural Resources Overview for Northwestern California 301 Far Western 

 

APPENDIX A 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CULTURAL RESOURCES DOCUMENTS 

Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Adkins, Richard 2007 The Destruction of the Trinity River, California 

(1848-1964) 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

Oklahoma 

KM History Timeline of the destruc

mining and logging. 

Report Allen, Wesley 2009 Archaeological Site Impact Assessment of the 

Effect of Fire Suppression Activities on CA-SHA4473, Near Redding, Shasta County, California 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SV Prehistory Post-wildfire assessme

camp. Analytical studiesourcing, lithic analysis 

Report Ames, Mike and 

Richard Edwards 

1974 Historic Site Inventory of Butte County: A Field 

Work Project 

Report prepared for Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California. 

SN History Inventory of historic site

Book Andrews, Ralph W. 1958 Redwood Classic: Panorama of a Century Superior Publishing Company, 

Seattle, Washington 

CR History Collection of historical 

Report Angeloff, Nick 2000 A Cultural Resources Inventory of the South 

Spit of Humboldt Bay, Humboldt County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, 

Arcata, California 

CR Prehistory, 

History 

Archaeological inventoHumboldt Bay, with limnot formally recorded o

Report Bailey, Jim 2008 The Other California Gold: Trinity County Placer 

Mining, 1848-1962 

Technical Service Center, US Bureau of Reclamation 

KM History Documentation of the C

and Siskiyou counties. 

Article Baker, Ethel 1967 The Cave at Kingsley Cove Wagon Wheels 17(1):36-39 SV Prehistory, 

History 

Evidence of the massaarea was used by Yahi winter camp east of Re

Report Baker, Suzanne 1984 Archaeological Investigations in the Tower 

House District, Whiskeytown Unit of the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Archaeological Consultants, Oakland, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation at CA-SHA-

Yeh-Choo-Pus) and invHouse District, WhiskeRecreation Area (CA-SSHA-195, CA-SHA-196studies: Soil analysis, hobsidian sourcing and Research issues: Site cchronology; Cultural afDietary information; Tra

Report Baker, Suzanne 1990 Archaeological Excavations at CA-SHA-479 and 

CA-SHA-195, Whiskeytown Unit, WhiskeytownShasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, Shasta 

County, California 

Archaeological/ Historical Consultants, Oakland, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: Obslithic analysis, fauna reanalysis. Research isssettlement, and seasonExchange relationshipsaffiliation. 

Article Barnes, James J., Eric 

W. Ritter, and Barbara Woodrum 

2003 'We Weren't White Trash': Rural Modernization 

and Family Life along Northern California's Rattlesnake Gulch, 1910-1935 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 16:199-207 

SV History Examination of a 20th c

2399/H, regarding workand consumer behavio

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 1 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Barnes, James J., Eric 

W. Ritter, Richard Silva, Tammy Sullivan, John Hitchcock, Richard Jenkins, and Claude Singleton 

2004 Making Inroads: A Progress Report on an 

Archaeological and Historical Study of the Yreka Trail 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 17:77-84 

UK History Study of the Yreka Tra

Book Basgall, Mark E., and 

William R. Hildebrandt (eds) 

1989 Prehistory of the Sacramento River Canyon, 

Shasta County, California: Excavations at CASha-1176, Sha-1175, Sha-1169, Sha-476 

Center for Archaeological Research at Davis 

SV Prehistory Data recovery at four s

River canyon, Shasta CSHA-1175, CA-SHA-11studies: Projectile poinanalysis, ground stone remains, radiocarbon dobsidian hydration and Cultural chronology; SuGroup organization; Et

movements. 

Report Bauman, James N.D. The Harrington Collection of Indian Place 

names in North Central California 

Center for Applied Linguistics, 

Washington, DC 

UK Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Ethnography based on 

Book Baumgardner, Frank H., 

III 

2006 Killing for Land in Early California: Indian Blood 

at Round Valley: Founding the Nome Cult Indian Farm 

Algora Publications, New York KM History Discussion of the Roun

Nome Cult Farm in nor

Book Baumhoff, Martin A. 1957 An Introduction to Yana Archaeology Reports of the University of 

California Archaeological Survey 40. University of California, Berkeley 

SCF Prehistory Excavation of Payne C

archaeology. Analyticabead analysis, organic cordage, braid, buckskartifact assemblage. Resequence in Yana ArchMill Creek Complex). 

Article Baumhoff, Martin A. 1958 California Athabaskan Groups In University of California 

Anthropological Records 16:157-233 

CR, KM Ethnography Ethnography of Athaba

Article Baumhoff, Martin A. 1980 The Evolution of Pomo Society Journal of California and Great 

Basin Anthropology 2(2):175-185 

CR Prehistory Summary of archaeolo

Springs Dam Project, won the arrival of Pomoathe age and function of 

Article Baumhoff, Martin A. 1985 North Coast Range Point Types Center for Archaeological 

Research at Davis 8:172-215 

CR Prehistory Synthesis of North Coa

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 2 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Chapter Bean, Lowell J., and 

Dorothea Theodoratus 

1978 Western Pomo and Northeastern Pomo In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 180-189. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

CR Ethnography Western Pomo and No

Book Bearss, Edwin C. 1969 History Basic Data, Redwood National Park, Del 

Norte and Humboldt Counties, California 

National Park Service CR History History of Redwood Na

synthesis of the Yurok, and historic-era explora

Report Beckham, Stephen Dow 2006 Historical Landscape Overview of the Upper 

Klamath River Canyon of Oregon and California 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM History Overview of early explo

transportation, logging projects, and tourism/refar northern Siskiyou Cfamilies and ranches. N

Report Belden, George 1997 Trinity County Sawmills Belden Forestry KM History Trinity County sawmills

44 sawmills. 

Article Benson, Arlene and 

Floyd Buckskin 

1992 Achomawi Jumping Rocks and the Concept of 

the Test 

American Indian Rock Art 15: 31-

38 

UK Prehistory Discussion of cupules o

by the Achomawi as ju

Report Berrien, Gay 1990 Valdor Prison Road Camp Big Bear Ranger District KM History Draft report of the Burn

Details on camp life, indescriptions. 

Article Bevill, Russell 2004 Obsidian Hydration: The Squaw Creek Site 

Revisited 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 17:133-138 

SCF Prehistory Excavations at the Squ

focusing on obsidian hy

Report Bevill, Russell and 

Elena Nilsson 

1996 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-559, 

Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Mountain Anthropological Research 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Report Bevill, Russell and 

Elena Nilsson 

1999 The Archaeology of The Tower House Site, CASHA-192/479/H, Shasta County, California Dames & Moore, Inc., Chico, California SV Prehistory, History Evaluation of the Towe

192/479/H). Analytical and hydration, lithic maand historic artifact assChronology; Site functisubsistence; Lithic procexchange; historic occu

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 3 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Bevill, Russell and 

Elena Nilsson 

2001 Cultural Resources Overview of the 

Whiskeytown Unit, Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Mountain Anthropological Research and URS Corporation, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Synthesis of cultural reinvestigations of the WShasta-Trinity National frameworks/sequence California and WhiskeyAmerican history and c

Early Historic exploratioeconomics (Lumber, raHistoric cultural resourc

Report Bevill, Russell, Kathleen 

Hull, and Elena Nilsson 

1996 Archaeological Investigations at CA-TEH-563 

and FS 05-06-51-40 

Mountain Archaeological Research and Dames & Moore 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

habitation sites. Analytanalysis, obsidian hydranalysis, faunal analyssediment and stratigrap

Issues: Cultural chronoSettlement patterns; Cuorientations; Cultural p

Report Bickel, Polly 1979 A Study of Cultural Resources in Redwood 

National Park 

National Park Service CR Prehistory ): Cultural resources ov

Park, emphasizing the development of synchrand site typologies. 

Report Billington, David P., 

Donald C. Jackson, and Martin V. Melosi 

2005 The History of Large Federal Dams: Palling, 

Design, And Construction in the Era of Big Dams 

Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado 

SV History The history of federal in

construction. Chapter 7 and northern California 

Book Bledsoe, Anthony 1881 History of Del Norte County, California with a 

Business Directory and Traveler's Guide 

Wyman & Co. CR History History of Del Norte Co

Book Bleyhl, Norris 1978 Indian-White Relationships in Northern 

California between 1840 & 1920 in the Congressional Serial Set of United States Public Documents 

Merriam Library Special 

Collections, California State University, Chico 

SN, SV Prehistory, 

History 

Publication of the Bleyhresearch of the Indian-WCalifornia. 

Book Bloom, Khaled 2010 Murder of a Landscape: The California FarmerSmelter War 1897-1916 Western Land and Water Series, University of Oklahoma Press, 

Norman 

SV History Study of the farmer-sm

decades in Shasta CouMountain Copper Com

Report Blount, Clinton, Shelly 

Davis-King, and Randall Milliken 

2008 Native American Geography, History, 

Traditional Resources, and Contemporary Communities and Concerns 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SN, SV Prehistory, 

History, Ethnography 

Native American culturlinguistic distribution anethnogeography (MiwoNisenan/Maidu, NorthwPomoan, Washoe, Yanperiod and events. 

Book Borden, Stanley T. 1958 The Western Railroader for the Western Railfan: 

Oregon and Eureka Railroad 

Northwestern Pacific CR History Historic railroad line Or

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 4 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Report Report Book Chapter Book Paper Thesis Report Report 

Bouey, Paul D., Eric Wohlgemuth, and Dwight D. Simons Boynton, Michael J. Bramlette, Allen G., and David A. Fredrickson Breschini, G. S. and T. Haversat, ed. Bright, W. Brott, Clark W. Brott, Clark W., and J. D. Dotta Broughton, Jack M. Brown, G. Chester Bryant, Jeff, and William Rich 

1993 1973 1979 1986 1978 1982 1978 1988 1916 2011 

Cultural Resources Test Excavations, Sacramento Systems Evaluation, Phase II, Butte and Sutter Counties, California Interim Progress Report for the Archaeological Salvage of the Hedge Creek Site 4-SIS-S5, Siskiyou County, California An Archaeological Study of CA-HUM-405 at the Mattole River Bridge, Humboldt County, California Symposium: A New Look at Some Old Sites Karok Moon Lee One: Life in Old Chinatown, Weaverville, California New Problems and Hypotheses in Dealing with Archaeolithic Traditions: Evidence from the Southern Cascades Archaeological Patterns of Prehistoric Fish Exploitation in the Sacramento Valley Mines and Mineral Resources of Siskiyou County Archaeological Investigations at Locus 12 (“Bachelor Cabin”), Elk River Mill and Lumber Company’s Townsite of Falk, Headwaters Forest Reserve, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Humboldt County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico Sonoma State University Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory 6 In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 289-305. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Great Basin Foundation Paper presented at the 12th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico Report XIV of the State Mineralogist, California State Mining Bureau, San Francisco Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University 

SV SV CR CR, KM KM SCF SV UK CR 

Prehistory Prehistory 

Prehistory 

Prehistory Ethnography 

History 

Prehistory Prehistory History History 

Evaluation of CA-BUT-Analytical studies: Lithianalysis, faunal analyshydration, macrobotanassemblage. Research Settlement Systems, SIntergroup Interaction. Interim progress report Hedge Creek site (4-SIno analyses. Evaluation of CA-HUMSummary discussion olisted in Part II as S-00

A series of papers by s

on classic excavations Discussion of the KaroA data recovery report Chinatown in WeavervSociety of California Arpaper presentation on Holocene transition in tAnalyses faunal remainsites and finds that salmuntil reaching the northbecomes smaller on mconstruction. Also finds more important late in tof the diet breadth. Inventory of mines, typSiskiyou county. Excavation of the Bacharchitectural analysis. Renvironment; Economic Gender and feminism; policy; Technological cSanitation and water ac

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 5 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Bureau of Land 

Management 

2006 A Study of Select Historic Orchards of Trinity 

County 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM History Collaborative agreeme

California Resource Ceorchards. Significant hiwith Gold Rush and po

Book Burrill, Richard L. 2011 Ishi’s Untold Story in His First World: A 

Biography of the Last of His Band of Yahi Indians in North America 

The Anthro Company, Red Bluff, 

California 

SCF Biography of Ishi, the Y

Report Byrd, Brian F., Paul 

Brandy, William R. Hildebrandt, Stephen Wee, Mark Beason, and Toni Webb 

2008 Cultural Resources Alternatives Assessment for 

the Shasta Lake Water Resources Investigation, Shasta and Tehama Counties, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Prehistoric and historicShasta Lake. Research and origins of sedentisWintu regional expansiWintu society from 193settlement; mining; lumNational Forest; Recre

Thesis Carmosino, Penni L. 1998 Victorian Culture and Women at CA-BUT1298H, Forbestown, California California State University, Chico SN History Master's thesis on the 

demographics (class dof the 19th century minin southeastern Butte C

Report Carmosino, Penni L. 2000 Historical Archaeology at the Mud Valley 

Ranch, Trinity County, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Historical Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM History -

Book Carranco, Lynwood and 

Estle Beard 

1981 Genocide and Vendetta: The Round Valley 

Wars in Northern California 

University of Oklahoma Press KM History Discusses the history o

inhabitants of Humboldand early settlers. 

Book Carranco, Lynwood and 

Henry L. Sorensen 

1988 Steam in the Redwoods Caxton Printers Ltd. CR History Historical overview foc

and railroad logging in primarily Del Norte, HuCounties. 

Report Cassidy, Julie K. 1992 Explaining Lithic Assemblage Differences in the 

Medicine Lake Highlands, Siskiyou County, California 

U.S. Forest Service UK Prehistory Examination of obsidia

sites located in the MedAnalytical studies: Obslithic analysis. ResearcMobility strategy. 

Report Cassidy, Julie K., D. 

Elliott, and E. Sundahl 

1994 Archaeological Test Excavations at the 

Prehistoric Component of CA-SHA-1961/H, Pollard Flat, Shasta County, California 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: Lithi

analysis, obsidian hydrChronology that resolvHildebrandt (1989); Arcreflecting adaptations iCanyon; Archaeologicacultural chronology or s

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 6 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Cazier, Lola N.D. Surveys and Surveyors of Public Domain 1785-

1975 

Bureau of Land Management, US 

Government Printing Office, Washington DC 

CR, KM, UK, SCF, SN, SV 

History The history of surveyin

United States, on publi

Chapter Chartkoff, Joseph L. 1989 Exchange, Subsistence, and Sedentism along 

the Middle Klamath River 

In Research in Economic Anthropology 11:285-303, edited by Barry L. Isaac, JAI Press Inc., New London, Connecticut 

KM Prehistory Argues that the Middle 

record is all late prehisoccupations did not occexchange in this lithic-p

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 1991 The Collord Site (CA-SIS-S15): A Proto-Karok 

Village at Happy Camp 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 4:23-43 

KM Prehistory Site assemblage of CA

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 2004 Calories and Construction: Ecology of 

Extraction Strategies on the Lower Klamath River 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 17:23-26 

KM Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Fish dam strategy on th

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 2010 The Finch Site and the Root Site: A Comparison 

of Riverine Adaptations by Late-Period HunterGatherers in California and Michigan 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 

SV Prehistory Comparison of two rive

western Butte County aMichigan. 

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 2014 Prayer Seats on the Mountains: A Focus on the 

Archaeology of Religious and Ritual Features in Sites 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 28:22-25 

KM Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Discussion of Yurok rituMountains. 

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 2015 One-Room Schoolhouses in the Eel River 

Delta: A Source for Information about Certain Early Historic Cultural Patterns in Humboldt County 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 29:148-151 

CR History Focus on historic-era s

of Ferndale on the Eel 

Article Chartkoff, Joseph L. 

and Kerry K. Chartkoff 

1975 Late Period Settlement of the Middle Klamath 

River in Northwest California 

American Antiquity 40(2):172-179 KM Prehistory A study on the settleme

habitation sites along t

Report Chartkoff, Joseph L. 

and Kerry K. Chartkoff 

1976 Excavations at the Patrick Site Department of Anthropology, 

Michigan State University 

SV Prehistory Excavation at the Patri

habitation, by Universitand California State Unwith over 40 housepit (subsurface structures. Contains artifact descriTrade, Subsistence; Ti

Book Clark, William B. 1970 Gold Districts of California Bulletin 193, California Division of 

Mines and Geology, Sacramento, California 

CR, KM, SN, SV 

History California Gold Districts 

Klamath Mountains, CaMojave Desert, TransvModoc Plateau, and Co

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 7 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Cleland, James H., 

Frank Bayham, Russell Bevill, James C. Chatters, James H. Cleland, Sandra Flint, Mark R. Hale, Steven Heipel, Michael S. Kelly, Alison MacDougal, Janet L. McVickar, 

1995 Prehistory of the Middle Pit River, Northeastern, 

California: Archaeological Investigations at Lake 

Britton, Pit 3, 4 and 5 Project 

KEA Environmental, Inc., San Diego, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

1417, CA-SHA-375, CASHA-1474, CA-SHA-14studies: Lithic analysissourcing and hydrationglass beads, faunal an

protein residue analysiissues: Intensification; Paleoenvironmental re

Elena Nilsson, and W.G. Spaulding 

Chronology; SubsistenDemography; Social incontact and acculturati

Report Clewett, S.E, William 

Dreyer, Makoto Kowta, Eric W. Ritter, Elaine Sundahl, K.D. Tyree 

1990 Archaeological Investigations in the Upper 

Sacramento Valley 

Bureau of Land Management, California State University, Chico, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and Shasta College 

SV Prehistory Draft report of the Flat 

030-0202). Analytical sassemblage, lithic analfaunal analysis. Reseaconcerns by A. Farber inadvisable applicationclassification scheme (

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1978 The Archaeology of Shake Cabin, FS 05-14-59-

41, Shasta County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV History Shake Cabin site (FS 0

structures with a possibDiscusses historic artifaartifact descriptions. Refunction and RelationshTrading Co. 

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1979 Zeigler Springs Archaeological Research, A 

High Elevation Site in Trinity County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

KM Prehistory Zeigler Springs Site (FS 

Analytical studies: Lithi

Issues: Ascertain whetlevel remained within thextent and integrity of sidentify the location of tthe cultural affiliation, ththe site, and to place th

northern California pre

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1981 The Archaeological Investigation of Eagle 

Court, A Partial Mitigation of CA-SHA-266, Redding, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Mitigation at CA-SHA-2

Obsidian sourcing and burials, artifact assembbeads). 

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1982 Archaeological Testing for the Hartnell Avenue 

Extension Project, Redding 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Testing at CA-SHA-992

995. Analytical studieshydration, radiocarbon 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 8 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1982 Clikapudi Archaeological District 1981 Field 

Research 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Testing at Clikapudi Di

14-58-114), CA-SHA-2SHA-230 (F.S. 05-14-514-58-117), CA-SHA-2Analytical studies: Obsdata, and lithic analysisRelationship between tindustries and the implapplied to northern Cal

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1983 Archaeological Excavations at Squaw Creek, 

Shasta County 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: Lithiobsidian hydration. Rescomponents; ReconstrDetermination of socioExplanation of Cultural 

Report Clewett, S.E. and Elaine 

Sundahl 

1985 Archaeological Investigations at Sugar Pine 

Canyon, Shasta County 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Sugar Pine Canyon. Ananalysis, obsidian hydrissues: Chronology; Cufunction; Tuscan obsid

Report Clewett, S.E., E. 

Spencer, and F. Teach 

1982 The Archaeological Investigation of CA-SHA900, The Benton Tract, Redding Shasta College Cultural Resource Center, Redding, 

California 

SV Prehistory Mitigation at CA-SHA-9

assemblage (lithic anaChronology of the hilltoExamines metavolcaniquarrying. 

Report Colby, Howard 1982 A Century of Transportation in Shasta County, 

1821-1920. Occasional Publication No. 7 

Association for Northern California Records and Research 

SCF, SV History Overview of transporta

Discusses early roads freight transport, water roads, and railroads. 

Article Colligan, Kaely R., 

Adrian R. Whitaker, and William R. Hildebrandt 

2015 Where the Pavement Ends: An Assessment of 

the Near Absence of Haliotis rufescens in the 

Archaeological Record on Alta California's North Coast 

California Archaeology 7(1):33-57 CR Prehistory Assessment of the lack 

archaeological record nResearch issues: Experates; Sea otter compeforaging; Terrestrial res

Book Colman, Lois 1972 Tailings of Butte Creek Canyon 1833-1971: A 

History of Big Butte and Little Butte Canyons 

Centerville Recreation and Historical Association 

SV History The history of Big and 

1971 

Thesis Connolly, Thomas 

James 

1986 Cultural Stability and Change in the Prehistory 

of Southwest Oregon and Northern California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 

CR, KM Prehistory Develops a comprehen

southwest Oregon and California. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 9 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Cook, Roger A. 1979 Summary Report of Archaeological Test 

Excavations at CA-SIS-342 on 02-SIS-97 P.M. 41.5 to 42.3 

California Department of Transportation, Sacramento, California 

UK Prehistory Test excavations at CA

Artifact analysis, and FResearch Issues: Areadepth and formation of 

activities at the site; Dewithin prehistory. 

Report Costello, Julia G. and 

Stephen R. Wee 

2000 Oregon Mountain Summit and La Grange Mine 

Historic Properties: Supplemental Archaeological Survey Report, Historic Study Report, and Historic Resources Evaluation Report for the Curve Correction Project, State Route 299, near Weaverville, Trinity County 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

KM History Evaluation of the La Gr

and Oregon Mountain Sfocuses on the potentia

Book Coy, Owen 1929 The Humboldt Bay Region, 1850-1875: A study 

in the American Colonization of California 

State Historical Association, Los Angeles, California 

CR History Historical background o

(1850-1875). 

Report Daniels, Brian Isaac 2006 Shasta Nation TCP Study PacifiCorp, Portland, Oregon KM, UK Ethnography Assessment of the sign

resources (TCPs/SCRsDrainage): Habitation (Hunting; Fishing; GatheSpirituality/Ceremonial

histories and interviews

Report Darcangelo, Michael, 

William Hildebrandt, and Adelina Asan 

2015 Data Recovery Excavations at CA-TEH-1262/H 

for the Bowman Road Bridge Replacement Project 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Obsidian sourcing and human remains, lithic afauna and shellfish ana

use chronology; Subsischange; Inter-regional 

Thesis Deal, Krista C. 1987 The Archaeology of the Cana Highway Site, CABUT-288, Butte County, California M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico SV Prehistory, History Master's thesis analyzi

288, the Cana Highway Analytical studies: Lithibone artifacts, historic Chronology; Subsisten

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2007 Status and Research Assessment of the CABUT-84 Archaeological Collection Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, 

California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory Research assessment 

Recommendations for archaeological collectio

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 10 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2009 Archaeological Assessment of Two Prehistoric 

Sites (CA-BUT-218 and CA-BUT-2422) at Loafer Creek, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Assessment of CA-BUTLake Oroville. Analyticafaunal and floral remainhuman tooth, obsidian historic artifacts. ReseaSettlement Patterns anSubsistence IntensificaSocial Evolution and C

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2009 Archaeological Assessment and Prehistoric Site 

Evaluations at the Bloomer Point, Knoll, and Group Campgrounds 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Lake Oroville. Natural SCultural Context (early Mesilla Complex, BidwComplex, Oroville ComFlaked stone analysis, bedrock features, obsid

Research Issues: Chroand Interaction Sphereand Climate Change; SComplexity. 

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2012 Archaeological Assessment of CA-BUT-162 at 

Bloomer Ravine, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Assessment of CA-BUTFeather River drainageanalysis, faunal and floanalysis, bedrock featusourcing, radiocarbon dResearch Issues: Chroand Interaction Sphereand Climate Change; SComplexity. 

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2014 Archaeological Assessment of CA-BUT-3135 at 

the Bidwell Canyon Boat Ramp, Lake Oroville, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory Assessment of CA-BUT

Analytical studies: Lithihydration and sourcingChronology; SettlemenSpheres; Subsistence Change; Social Evoluti

Report Delacorte, Michael G. 2014 Archaeological Assessment of Two Prehistoric 

Sites (CA-BUT-2512 and CA-BUT-2608) at Loafer Drainage, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Assessment of CA-BUTthe Loafer drainage, LaLithic analysis, bedrock 

obsidian hydration and Research Issues: Chroand Interaction Sphereand Climate Change; SComplexity. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 11 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Report Report Report Report 

Delacorte, Michael G. 2014 Archaeological Assessment of Two Prehistoric 

Sites (CA-BUT-198/H, CA-BUT-383/H) West of Kennedy Ravine, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN 

Delacorte, Michael G. 2015 Data Recovery Investigations at CA-BUT362/H, Locus A-B, Lake Oroville, Butte County, 

California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN 

Delacorte, Michael G. 2015 Archaeological Assessment of CA-BUT-2282, 

CA-BUT-2285, and CA-BUT-2535 on the Western Shore of Lake Oroville, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN 

Delacorte, Michael G., and Kenneth R. Bethard 

2015 Archaeological Assessment of the Prehistoric 

Component at CA-BUT-199/H at the Craig Saddle Campground, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN 

Delacorte, Michael G., and Mark E. Basgall 

2006 Archaeological Assessment of Seven 

Prehistoric Loci at CA-BUT-362/H at McCabe Creek, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN 

Prehistory, History Prehistory, History Prehistory, History Prehistory, History Prehistory 

Assessment of two siteBUT-383/H, at Lake Oranalysis, faunal and floobsidian hydration and bead analysis, historic Chronology; SettlemenSpheres; Subsistence Change; Social EvolutiData recovery at CA-BAnalytical studies: Lithiremains, obsidian hydrradiocarbon dating, beaResearch Issues: Chroand Interaction Sphereand Climate Change; SComplexity. Assessment of CA-BUTCA-BUT-2535 at Lake Lithic analysis, floral reobsidian hydration and Research Issues: Chroand Interaction Sphereand Climate Change; SComplexity. Assessment of CA-BUTAnalytical studies: Lithiremains, mussel shell aand sourcing, historic aChronology; SettlemenSpheres; Subsistence Change; Social EvolutiAssessment of CA-BUTLithic analysis, obsidiafaunal remains, paleobissues: Chronology; SeSubsistence and clima

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 12 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Delacorte, Michael G., 

Kenneth R. Bethard, William L. Norton, Bridget R. Wall, David W. Glover, and Michelle D. Noble 

2012 Archaeological Assessment of Thirteen Class 6 

Sites at Lake Oroville, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory Assessment of 13 sites 

362/H, CA-BUT-2216, CA-BUT-2321, CA-BUTBUT-2433, CA-BUT-242485, CA-BUT-2991. Aanalysis, faunal and floobsidian hydration and Chronology; SettlemenSpheres; Subsistence Change; Social Evoluti

Report Delacorte, Michael G., 

William E. Larson, and Kenneth R. Bethard 

2014 Archaeological Assessment of Three Sites (CABUT-328/H, CA-BUT-522, CA-BUT-2528/H) 

near the Enterprise Boat Ramp, Lake Oroville, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Assessment of three si522, and CA-BUT-2528Analytical studies: Lithiremains, bedrock featusourcing, basalt sourciIssues: Chronology; SeInteraction Spheres; SuClimate Change; Socia

Report Deur, Douglas 2003 Final Report: Traditional Cultural Properties and 

Sensitive Resource Study, Klamath Tribes 

- UK Ethnography Traditional Cultural Pro

Resource Study for the ethnographic interviewamong the numerous tand arguments for NRH

Article Dillon, B.D. and D.W. 

Murphy 

1994 A Fluted Point from Thomes Creek, Tehama 

County, California 

Tularg Newsletter 7(3):2-6 SV Prehistory Discovery of a fluted po

Tehama County. 

Report Dillon, Brian 1994 Historical Background for the De Vilbiss Ranch, 

Mendocino, California 

- CR History Early history of De Vilb

County. 

Report Dittus, Lotus E. 1969 Summary of Excavation: The Ladd Site 4-SHA222 California State University, Chico SV Prehistory Excavations at the Lad

Redding. The report is results and soil observaShasta Complex. 

Book Dixon, Roland B. 1902 The Huntington California Expedition—Maidu 

Myths 

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 17.2 

SN Ethnography Ethnography of Maidu 

Book Dixon, Roland B. 1905 The Huntington California Expedition—The 

Northern Maidu 

Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 17.3 

SN Ethnography Ethnography of the No

Book Dixon, Roland B. 1907 The Shasta Bulletin of the American Museum 

of Natural History 

UK Ethnography Ethnography of the Sha

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 13 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Docken, Robert, A. 

Hurtado, M. Lortie, C. Litzinger, P. Howard, and D. Felton 

1982 A Cultural Resource Overview for the 

Mendocino National Forest and the East Lake Planning Unit, BLM, California, Volume II: History 

California Archaeological Consultants, Inc., Woodland, California 

CR History Historical overview pre

events/developments rland use, transportationseekers," government predictive model and d

types. 

Report Dondero, Steven B., 

and Jerald J. Johnson 

1988 Cottonwood Creek Project, Shasta and Tehama 

Counties, California: Dutch Gulch Lake, Excavations at Six Prehistoric Sites 

US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento, California, and Shasta-Trinity National Forests, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

SHA-294, CA-SHA-114TEH-748 at Dutch Gulc1988 

Report Dotta, James 1964 Excavation of 4-SHA-237, the Duncan Ranch, 

Shasta County, California 

- SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology o

Ranch, including 27 bupractices. Analytical sturemains, burial artifacts tools). 

Report Dotta, James N.D. Report on Shasta 162 - SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology a

focuses on recovered h

Report Dotta, James, and R. 

Hullinger 

1964 The Salvage Archaeology of a Wintu Fishing 

Station, SHA-207, Shasta County, California 

Redding Museum and Art Center, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology o

burials. Analytical studanalysis, faunal analysassemblage. 

Article Douglass, Robert G 2006 Transportation Development along the Feather 

River 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 19:83-89 

SN History Focus on mule packing 

era transportation for thBig Bend Mule Trail (COroville Ferry crossing 

Thesis Dreyer, William R. 1984 Prehistoric Settlement Strategies in a Portion of 

the Northern Sacramento Valley, California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Thesis study on the se

Northern Sacramento Vethnographic village loc

site location analysis, aanalyses. Research issand Settlement strateg

Article Drucker, P. 1937 The Tolowa and their Southwest Oregon Kin University of California 

Publications in American 

CR Ethnography Ethnography of the Tol

Archaeology and Ethnology 36(4):221-299 

Article DuBois, C.A. 1935 Wintu Ethnography University of California 

Publications in American 

KM, SV Ethnography Ethnography of the Win

Archaeology and Ethnology 36(1):1-148 

Thesis Dugas, Michael 1995 Ethnolinguistic Boundaries at the Maidu 

Frontier: A Stylistic Analysis of Projectile Points 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SN Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Discussion of ethnolingFrontier (Maidu and Yapoint analysis. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 14 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Dugas, Michael, Amy 

Huberland, and Robert Weaver 

2014 Yuki Settlement on the Black Butte River 

Revisited 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 28:26-42 

KM Prehistory Reexamination of the B

challenge previously he

Book Dugas, Michael, Diane 

Watts, Jamie Moore, Jim Johnston, Chris O'Brien, and Wally Woolfenden 

2001 Black Rock and Beyond: A Decade of 

Archaeological Test Excavations in Yahi Territory 

Lassen National Forest and Mountain Heritage Associates 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

620, CA-TEH-562, CA-TEH-1822, CA-TEH-20293. Analytical studiesremains, historic artifacsourcing and hydrationincrement analysis, ma

remains. Research issuand resource acquisitio

Thesis Edwards, Robert L. 1966 The Prehistory of the Pui'mak Wintun, Thomes 

Creek, Tehama County, California 

M.A. Thesis, University of California, Davis 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Thesis study of the PuiTEH-256, CA-TEH-261studies: Artifact descrip

Research issues: Argumodel for the northern 

Paper Edwards, Robert L. 1966 An Archaeological Survey of the Yuki: EtselFranciscan Reservoir Region, Mendocino 

County, California 

Unpublished student paper in Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State College 

CR Prehistory Archaeological invento

Reservoir Region. 

Thesis Eidsness, Janet P. 1985 Prehistoric Archaeology Within Chimariko 

Territory, Northwest California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Sonoma 

KM Prehistory Synthesis of prehistoric 

and recordation of 118 excavated. Research Isdevelopment of temportypology. 

Report Eidsness, Janet P. 1986 Archaeological Data Recovery at CA-MEN320/643 for the Proposed Black Butte Bridge, 

Mendocino National Forest 

Cultural Resources Facility, Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 

KM Prehistory Excavation at CA-MEN

Bridge. Analytical studi

hydration and sourcing

Research issues: Spacsubsistence/settlement Interaction/exchange s

Report Eidsness, Janet P. 1993 Archaeological Investigations at CA-HUM-351/H 

on Humboldt Bay, California for the Arcata 

Community Park and Sports Complex 

Report on File, Northwest 

Information Center, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 

CR Prehistory, 

History 

Investigations at CA-HAnalytical studies: Lithi

and sourcing, faunal reremains, shell bead, anissues: Time/Space sysubsistence/SettlemenInteraction/exchange s

Report Elliott, Daniel R. 1990 Historical Archaeology at the Tate Creek 

Logging Camp, CA-SIS-1535H, of the McCloud River Lumber Company, Siskiyou, California 

US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service 

UK History Tate Creek Logging Ca

61-315). Discusses strdescriptions, and followLogging Research Desfocusing within the soc

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 15 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Elliott, Daniel R. 1995 Foodways and Economic Systems on the Late 

California Gold Rush Frontier 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SN History "Forks of Butte" (CA-BU

settlement from late 18site's historic artifact asIs the archaeology of Shistoric information? Wbeverage products comand beverage containeproducts? Supplied footo urban populations. 

Article Elsasser, A. B. 1981 Notes on Yana Ethnobotany Journal of California and Great 

Basin Anthropology 3(1):69-77 

SCF Ethnography A list of plants collected 

1914 by T.T. Waterman at U.C. Berkeley. This wMerriam (1979) field chsummary of plant usag

Report Elsasser, Albert B. and 

Robert F. Heizer 

1966 Excavations of Two Northwestern California 

Coastal Sites. 

In Excavation of Two 

Northwestern California Coastal Sites & The Pistol River Site of Southwest Oregon pp.1-149. University of California Archaeological Survey Reports 

CR Prehistory Excavation at CA-HUM

HUM-169 (Tsurai). Inclartifact inventory and d

Report Emberson, Geri 2000 Ethnographic Overview and Traditional Use 

Study of American Indian Affiliations Within the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, California 

National Park Service SV Ethnography Ethnographic overview 

Whiskeytown National review, Ethnographic ooverview, environmentMountain Province, CaCentral Valley ProvinceEthnographic subsistenFishing; Material cultur

Thesis Eugster, Susan E. 1990 Freshwater Mussel Utilization at a Late 

Prehistoric Period Archaeological Site (CA-BUT12) in the Northern Sacramento Valley, California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory -

Report Farber, Alfred 1980 Espee Archaeological Test Excavations Near 

the Crest of the North Coast Ranges, Mendocino County, California 

- CR Prehistory -

Report Farber, Alfred 1982 Archaeological Data Recovery At Site CA-TEH962, Mendocino National Forest - KM Prehistory Data recovery at CA-T

Lithic analysis, obsidiapollen analysis. Reseacomponents; Relationsethnography; Site funcSubsistence strategiesstone implications. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 16 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Farber, Alfred 1985 Alternative Approaches to the Shasta Complex 

and Adjacent Expressions: Assemblages, Cultural Ecology, and Taxonomies 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 7(1):1-36 

SV Prehistory 

Report Farber, Alfred, and N. 

Neuenschwander 

1983 Archaeological Test Excavation at Prehistoric 

Site CA-TRI-327, Trinity County, California 

- KM Prehistory Test excavations at CA

Lithic analysis, plant rehydration and sourcingsettlement patterns. 

Report Farber, Alfred, and N. 

Neuenschwander 

1984 Archaeological Test Excavation at the Fay Hill 

Site, CA-SHA-1481, Shasta County , California 

Professional Archaeological Services, Paradise, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Test excavations at CARedding. Analytical stuhistoric artifacts, faunaand sourcing, radiocarbidentification. Research Trade/exchange; Tech

Report Farber, Alfred, Eric W. 

Ritter, and P. Jensen 

1985 Archaeological Data Recovery at site CA-SHA782, Shasta County, California Jensen & Associates, Chico, California SV Prehistory Data recovery at the D

Analytical studies: Lithiand sourcing, faunal (bhuman teeth, botanical Chronology; technologand settlement; Trade/organization; Religious

Article Farris, Glenn J. 1990 Vigesimal Systems Found in California Indian 

Languages 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 12(2):173-190 

CR, KM, UK, SCF, SN, SV 

Ethnography Farris attempts to defin

vigesimal systems. He Northern and South Ca

Report Fentress, Jeffrey B. 1997 Archaeological Investigations of 15 Prehistoric 

Sites at Meiss Lake, Butte Valley, California 

Klamath National Forest UK Prehistory Investigations at 15 site

CA-SIS-1701, CA-SIS-1706, CA-SIS-1708, CASIS-1711, CA-SIS-1711714, CA-SIS-1715, CA1717. Analytical studiehydration and sourcingand flora remains. ResLithic technology; Raw and trade; Site function 

Report Fentress, Jeffrey B. 2002 The Archaeology of Butte Valley, Siskiyou 

County, California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

Oregon 

UK Prehistory A prehistoric sequence 

from 48 archaeological Projectile points, lithic tand sourcing, Researctechnology; raw materi

Article Ferneau, Jennifer A. 1989 Radiocarbon Dates from Sinkyone Wilderness 

State Park: Variability and Concordance 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 2:9-17 

CR Prehistory Radiocarbon samples f

Gulch. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 17 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Fiorini-Jenner, Gail L., 

and Monica Jae Hall 

2002 Western Siskiyou County, Gold and Dreams Arcadia Publishing, San 

Francisco, California 

UK History History of early settlem

County. 

Article Fitzgerald, Richard T., 

and Vicki Ozaki 

1994 Splish, Splash, and Crash: Geological 

Implications on the Coastal Archaeological Record of Northwest California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 7:95-103 

CR Prehistory Geologic setting of the 

the relationship with the 

Article Fitzgerald, Richard T., 

Jr., and William R. Hildebrandt 

2002 Will the True Age of the Borax Lake Pattern 

Please Stand Up? The Archaeology of CA-HUM573, an Early Holocene Site on the South End of Pilot Ridge, Humboldt County, California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 15:1-7 

KM Prehistory Radiocarbon data from 

providing Early Borax l

Report Flynn, Katherine, and 

W. Roop 

1975 Archaeological Testing of 4-Hum-245 and 4-

Hum-246, Pine Ridge, Humboldt County, California: High Altitude Seasonal Camps near Hupa Mountain, Humboldt County 

- KM Prehistory Testing at CA-HUM-24

Research objectives incamps and site and too

Report Forbes, Kari L. 1990 An Ethnographic Study of the Contemporary 

Values of the Foothill Konkow, Butte County, California 

California State University, Chico SN Ethnography Contemporary values o

including environmentaand ethnogeography. 

Report Foster, Amy E. 1982 The Salvage Excavation of a Portion of CASHA-501, Shasta County, California - SV Prehistory, History Excavation results of C

Discusses lithic artifact bone and bone tools, hremains. Research issu

Book Foster, Daniel G. and 

John W. Foster 

2002 Slakaiya Rock (CA-TRI-1): A Rediscovered 

Petroglyph Site Near the Eel River, Trinity County, California 

- KM Prehistory Examination of CA-TR

petroglyph site. 

Article Foster, John W. 2000 Ajumawi Fish Traps: Harvesting and Managing 

Suckers in the Springs of the Pit River Drainage 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 15:66-93 

SCF Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Examination of stone fiCounty. 

Thesis Fredrickson, David A. 1973 Early Cultures of the North Coast Ranges Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR Prehistory Ph.D. dissertation disc

specifically the Houx PRanges. 

Chapter Fredrickson, David A. 1984 The North Coastal Region In California Archaeology, edited 

by Michael J. Moratto 471-527. Academic Press, New York 

CR Prehistory Discussion of Northwes

Russian River archaeosettlement patterns, lan

Report Garfinkel, Alan P. 1982 Archaeological Investigations at Hotinakcohata, 

A Chimariko Village at Cedar Flat, Trinity County, California 

California Department of Transportation, Sacramento, California 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TRI-4

Hotinakcohata. Analytichistoric artifact assemb

sourcing and hydrationChronology; Site functi

Report Garibaldi, Julie, and 

William R. Hildebrandt, ed. 

2007 Data Compendium for Life on the 

River—History of the Wintu People as seen from Archaeological Site CA-SHA-1043, Kum Bay Xerel (Shady Oak Village) 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory Data compendium for a 

SHA-1043, south of Re

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 18 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Chapter Garth, T. R. 1978 Atsugewi In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 236-243. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

SCF Ethnography Discussion of the Atsug

Paper Gary, Mark and 

Deborah McLear-Gary 

1988 The Keystone Petroglyph Site (CA-MEN-2200) Paper presented at the 22nd 

annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

CR Prehistory Society of California Ar

paper presentation on sites including the KeysMEN-2200), the Spyrocand the Feliz Creek site 

Thesis George, Julia 1981 Faunal Analysis of CA-SHA-266 M.A. thesis, California State 

University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Faunal Analysis at CA-

Article Gifford, Edward W. 1939 Coast Yuki Anthropos 34:292-375 

(Reprinted: Sacramento Anthropological Society Papers 2, Sacramento State College, 1965) 

CR Ethnography Ethnography of the Co

Other Gifford, Edward W. 1940 Karok Field Notes, Part 2 Department and Museum of 

Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. Manuscript #179 on file at Bancroft Library, Berkeley 

CR Ethnography Ethnographic field note

Article Gifford, Edward W., and 

Stanislaus Klimek 

1939 Culture Element Distribution, IV: Yana University of California 

Publications in American 

SCF Ethnography Ethnography of the Ya

Archaeology and Ethnology 37(4):117-254 

Chapter Gilreath, Amy J. 2007 Rock Art in the Golden State: Pictographs and 

Petroglyphs, Portable and Panoramic 

In California Prehistory: Colonization, Culture and Complexity pp. 273-288, edited by Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar. Altamira Press, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania 

KM, UK Prehistory Discussion of California 

prehistoric and ethnogr

Thesis Gleason, Susan Marie 2001 In Search of the Intangible: Geophyte Use and 

Management Along the Upper Klamath River Canyon 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Riverside 

UK Prehistory Comprehensive review 

Oregon and northern Cplaced on the archaeolactivity. 

Article Goddard, Pliny Earle 1903 Life and Culture of the Hupa American Archaeology and 

Ethnology 1(1):1–88. Berkeley 

CR Ethnography Hupa ethnography on t

from 1897-1900. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 19 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Goetter, Karin L., Mark 

K. Walker, Makr D. Selverston 

2014 Parish Camp Saddle Dam Limekiln and Quarry 

(CA-BUT-621H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Saddle Damn Limekiln West Branch Feather Rdiscusses the site histo

19th century quarry an

Chapter Goldschmidt, W. 1978 Nomlaki In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 341-349. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

CR, KM, SV Ethnography Ethnography of the No

Book Golla, Victor 2011 California Indian Languages University of California Press CR, KM, UK, 

SCF, SN, SV 

Prehistory Inventory and descripti

languages. 

Book Golomshtok, Eugene 1922 Tehama County Mounds Phoebe Hearst Museum of 

Anthropology, Berkeley, California 

SV Prehistory Brief field notes describ

Tehama County 

Book Gould, Richard A. 1966 Archaeology of the Point St. George Site and 

Tolowa Prehistory 

University of California Publications in Anthropology 

CR Prehistory Monograph of field wor

George with Tolowa m

Report Gray, Robert E. 1980 Inventory and Historical Overview of the 

Railroad Systems in the Mother Lode Sierra Mountain Range, California 

California State University, Sacramento 

SN, SV History Synthesis of California 

Lode Sierra Mountain RRailroad, Nevada CounRailroad, Hetch Hetchy Railroad, Yosemite ShoLogging Railways etc. 

Thesis Greenway, Gregory 1982 Projectile Point Variability at Dead Man's Cave, 

CA-TEH-290, in the Southern Cascade Mountains of Northeastern California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento 

SCF Prehistory Thesis study on CA-TE

Discusses the statisticaResearch issues: Projetemporal complex mark

Article Greenway, Gregory 2004 Seasonality and Site Function at Dead Man's 

Cave (CA-TEH-290) 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 17:123-132 

SCF Prehistory Focus on dental increm

of CA-TEH-290 (Dead describe seasonality anand Yana settlement a

Report Greenway, Marlene L., 

Beth Elstien, and Eric W. Ritter 

2015 The Buckskull site, CA-HUM-718: An Upland 

Middle Period Chert Processing Camp 

Bureau of Land Management, Arcata, California 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-HUM

processing camp. Analobsidian hydration and 

Report Greenwood, Roberta, 

and Laurence Shoup 

1984 Archaeological Investigations in the Sacramento 

River Canyon, Vol. II: Archaeological Testing and Historical Research at CA-SHA-1176 

INFOTEC Development, Inc., 

Hillsdale, California 

SV History A detailed look at how 

Creek/Dogtown) develocrossroads/waystation development of the Satransportation route, an“different types of socieCalifornia during the paSelf-Sufficiency, and M

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 20 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Hamusek, Blossom 1988 The Stratigraphy and Archaeology at CA-TEH1490: A Hunting Camp in Yana Territory, 

Northern California 

Archaeological Research Program, California State University, Chico 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Analytical studies: Stramacrobotanical remainsourcing and hydrationextend of the site; Straaffiliation and chronolo

Book Hamusek, Blossom 1993 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SIS-1608, 

McCloud Station Site, Siskiyou County, California 

CDF Archaeological Reports 8 UK Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-1

Obsidian sourcing and macrobotanical remainProcurement patterns; extent and depth of the Chronology; Buried site 

Report Hamusek, Blossom 1993 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SIS-1643, 

CA-SIS-1646, and CA-SIS-1647, Butte Valley Wildlife Area, Siskiyou County, California 

Archaeological Research Program, California State University, Chico 

UK Prehistory Investigations at CA-SI

CA-SIS-1647 in Butte Vstudies are limited to litobservations. 

Report Hamusek, Blossom 1996 A Cultural Resource Survey of the Bend Area, 

Tehama County, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF History Archaeological survey 

Sacramento River. Sixt1624, CA-TEH-1625, CCA-TEH-1628, CA-TEHTEH-1632, CA-TEH-161635, CA-TEH-1637, CCA-TEH-1641, and CATEH-1623H), and three TEH-1630/H, CA-TEH-1638/H). Research issuhistory/chronology; Setsubsistence strategies; Historic research. 

Report Hamusek, Blossom, and 

Jeff Haney 

2001 Archaeological Investigations for A'-chit'-terrah'kah - a Portion of CA-SIS-329 along the 

Klamath River in Siskiyou County, California. Phase II Investigation and Determination of Eligibility 

Caltrans, District 2, Redding, 

California 

UK Prehistory Excavations at CA-SIS

Artifact analysis, faunahydration. Research Issubsistence systems; Texchange. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 21 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Hamusek, Blossom, 1997 Archaeological Explorations in Shasta Valley, Cultural Resources Publications: UK Prehistory, Inventory of 4,300 acre

Eric W. Ritter, and Julie California Archaeology, Bureau of Land History with surface collections 

Burcell Management, Redding, California prehistoric, four historic 

Projectile point analysishydration, historic artifaand chronology; Settleeconomics; Lithic technExploration and transpmanagement. (also lis

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 22 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Article Article Report Book Chapter 

Hamusek-McGann, Blossom 

1993 What X Equals: The Archaeological and 

Geological Distribution of "Source X" Tuscan Obsidian in Northern California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SCF, SV Prehistory Comprehensive review 

complex, tracing the dioccurrences of the stonand used by prehistoric 

Hamusek-McGann, Blossom 

1995 The Tuscan Obsidian Source of Northern 

California: Archaeological Implications and Geochemical Variability 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 8:13-32 

SCF, SV Prehistory Obsidian characterizat

source concluding in twgeochemical groups. 

Hamusek-McGann, Blossom, Eric Ritter, and Julie Burcell 

1998 Living on the Edge: Archaeological Signatures 

of the Eastern Shasta Valley Foothills, Siskiyou County, California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 11:102-111 

UK Prehistory A summary of "Archaeo

Valley, California" (see

Hamusek-McGann, Blossom, Sandra S. Flint, Melinda Peak, and Barry A. Price 

1999 Evaluation of 18 Historic Mines in the 

Whiskeytown Unit, Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Applied EarthWorks, Inc. KM History National Register evalu

mining resources in the 

National Recreation ArMount Shasta Mine (CAMine (SHA-2139/H), ththe Desmond Mine (SHMine (SHA-2702H). Mucanals, roads, buildingsconsidered as elementlandscape.” RecommeNational Register histo

Hannon, Nan and Richard K. Olmo (eds.) 

1990 Living with the Land: The Indians of Southwest 

Oregon 

Proceedings of the 1989 symposium on the Prehistory of Southwest Oregon, Southern Oregon Historical Society 

Prehistory Proceedings of the 19

Prehistory of Southwesauthors include Melvin Mack, Brian O'Neill, S. 

Sundahl, Richard HughRichard Pettigrew, DonLiberman, Jeff LaLandeWinthrop, Shirley SilveGeorge Fence, and Ly

Hawgood, John A. 1958 The Pattern of Yankee Infiltration in Mexican 

Alta California, 1821-1846 

In Pacific Historical Review 27(1):27-37. University of California Press 

CR, KM, UK, SCF, SN 

History Paper evaluating the "Y

California during the Musing the term "Yankee Rush era, post 1840. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 23 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Hayes, John, David A. 

Fredrickson, and Thomas M. Origer 

1985 An Analysis of Redwood National Park Artifacts Redwood National Park CR, KM Prehistory Study on a series of 28 

Redwood National Paranalysis, obsidian studHUM-439, HUM-441, H444, HUM-446, HUM-4HUM-478, HUM-479, H484, HUM-490, HUM-5HUM-528, HUM-530, H625, HUM-643, HUM-6HUM-685. 

Report Heizer, Robert F., and 

A.B. Elsasser 

1964 Archaeology of HUM-67, the Gunther Island 

Site in Humboldt Bay, California 

University of California Archaeological Survey Reports pp.5-122 

CR Prehistory Excavations at CA-HU

in Humboldt. Includes ibaked clay artifacts, boshellfish artifacts, huma

Book Heizer, Robert F., and 

John E. Mills 

1952 The Four Ages of Tsurai: a Documentary 

History of the Indian Village on Trinidad Bay 

University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles 

KM Prehistory, 

History 

Prehistoric and historic 

Book Heizer, Robert F., and 

Theodora Kroeber 

1979 Ishi the Last Yahi: A Documentary History University of California Press. 

Berkeley & Los Angeles, California 

SCF Ethnography Documents regarding I

Report Heizer, Robert F., and 

Thomas R. Hester 

1970 Shasta Villages and Territory California Indian Library 

Collections 

SV Ethnography Compilation of 156 Sha

Report Hildebrandt, William R,. 

and Michael J. Darcangelo 

2001 Phase II Excavation Report and Determination 

of Eligibility on CA-SHA-273/275 for the Middle Fork Cottonwood Creek Bridge Replacement Project on State Route 36, Near Platina, Shasta County, CA 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory Excavation at CA-SHA

36. Analytical studies: Lremains, faunal and floand hydration, and radissues: Chronological sSubsistence-settlemenregional exchange. 

Thesis Hildebrandt, William R. 1981 Native Hunting Adaptations on the North Coast 

of California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR Prehistory Dissertation study on h

construction of hunting north coast. Research Mammal abundance; Himplications; Butcherin

Article Hildebrandt, William R. 1984 Late Period Hunting Adaptations on the North 

Coast of California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 6(2):189-206 

CR Prehistory Constructs a model for 

hunting technology/tecNorth Coast. AssociateCA-HUM-129, CA-HUMHUM-176, CA-HUM-17279, CA-HUM-281, CAHUM-186, and CA-HU

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 24 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Hildebrandt, William R. 2007 Northwest California: Ancient Lifeways among In California Prehistory: CR Ethnography Synthesis of previous w

Forested Mountains, Flowing Rivers, and Rocky Colonization, Culture and research issues on CaOcean Shores Complexity pp. 83-98, edited by 

Terry L. Jones and Kathryn A. Klar. Altamira Press, Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 2003 Cultural Resources Evaluation Report for Point Far Western Anthropological CR Prehistory Survey results of CA-D

and James M. Roscoe St. George Research Group, Inc., Davis, Point St. George. 

California 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 1983 Archaeological Investigations on Pilot Ridge, Anthropological Studies Center, KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-HUM

and John F. Hayes Six Rivers National Forest Sonoma State University, and 588, CA-HUM-595/H, C

Anthropological Research, San CA-HUM-558, CA-HUMJose State University HUM-546/H, on Pilot R

analysis, obsidian souranalysis. Research issFlaked stone manufactSynthesis (temporal indchange). 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 1984 Archaeological Investigations on South Fork Far Western Anthropological KM Prehistory Data recovery of CA-H

and John F. Hayes Mountain, Six Rivers and Shasta Trinity Research Group, Inc., Davis, 240. Analytical studies

National Forests California analysis, obsidian hydr

issues: Development oDevelopment of tempoassemblages; Developsubsistence-settlemenof a model of social inte

Article Hildebrandt, William R., 1993 Settlement Pattern Change in the Mountains of In There Grows a Green Tree: KM Prehistory Summarizes excavatio

and John F. Hayes Northwest California: A View from Pilot Ridge Papers in Honor of David A. California and propose

Fredrickson, Center for focused on the rise of sArchaeological Research at salmon storage. Davis 11:107-120 

Book Hildebrandt, William R., 2008 Life on the River: The Archaeology of an Heyday Books SV Prehistory Research summary of 

and Micheal J. Ancient Native American Culture a Wintu occupation witDarcangelo epidemic. 

Chapter Hildebrandt, William R., 2004 Evolution of Marine Mammal Hunting: A View In Prehistoric California: CR Prehistory, Effects of prehistoric an

and Terry L. Jones from the California and Oregon Coasts Archaeology and the Myth of Ethnography and sea lion population 

Paradise, edited by L. M. Raab published 1992 in the Jand Terry L. Jones, pp. 53-72. Archaeology) University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 25 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Hildebrandt, William R., 

and Valerie A. Levulett 

1997 Middle Holocene Adaptations on the Northern 

California Coast: Terrestrial Resource Productivity and its Influence on the Use of Marine Foods 

In The Archaeology of the California Coast During the Middle Holocene, J. Erlandson and M. Glassow (eds.), UCLA Institute of Archaeology Perspectives in California Archaeology 4:143-150 

CR Prehistory Summarizes the middle 

record of northwest Cahypothesis explaining weconomies developed than they did in the nor

Chapter Hildebrandt, William R., 

and Valerie A. Levulett 

2002 Late Holocene Emergence of Marine Focused 

Economies in Northwest California 

In Catalysts to Complexity: Late 

Holocene Societies of the California Coast, J. Erlandson and T. Jones (eds.), pp. 303-319. Institute of Archaeology Perspectives in California Archaeology 6 , University of California, Los Angeles. 

CR Prehistory Summarizes the late H

of northwest California of maritime adaptations organization. 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 

Jennifer Burns, James Roscoe, and Allika Ruby 

2009 Report of the 2008 Archaeological 

Investigations Conducted at Tuluwat (CA-HUM67/H), Humboldt County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR Prehistory Recovery at Tuluwat (C

the artifact inventory. 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 

Julia Costello, and Michael Darcangelo 

2006 Phase II Archaeological Evaluation of CA-SHA1513/H, on Buzzard Roost Road, as Part of the 

Proposed Cedar Creek Bridge Replacement Project (Bridge 06C-238), Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SCF Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SHA-Road. Analytical studieanalysis, obsidian hydr

artifacts, historic featurChronological ordering settlement pattern chan

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 

Michael Darcangelo and Trudy Vaughan 

2005 Extended Phase I/Phase II Excavations and 

Determination of Eligibility on CA-SHA-571/H for the Sacramento River Bridge Replacement Project on Airport Road (Bridge #06C-0008), Near Anderson, Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Obsidian sourcing and lithic analysis, flora, fauhistorical artifact assemChronology; SubsistenChange; Inter-regional 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 

Michael Darcangelo, Mike Meyer, and Julia Costello 

2005 Archaeological Evaluation (Phase II) Report for 

the Prehistoric and Historic-Period Components of Site CA-TEH-1262/H (P-52-001262) for the Proposed Bowman Bridge (#08C-0009) Replacement Project, Tehama County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Testing at CA-TEH-126stone analysis, ground flora remains, shellfish radiocarbon dating, obsprojectile point chronolResearch issues: Chrosettlement pattern; Patexchange. 

Report Hildebrandt, William R., 

Paul M. Brandy, Nathan E. Stevens, and Amy E. Foutch Porras 

2015 Rock Features of South-Central Oregon and 

Northeastern California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

UK, SCF Prehistory Classification system fo

commonly found in sounortheastern California

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 26 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Hill, Christine, and 

Christopher O'Brien 

2003 Zooarchaeology at CA-TEH-984 Proceedings from the Society for 

California Archaeology annual meeting 16:29-35 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of zooarcha

TEH-984 in the Mendo

Book Hislop, Donald L. and 

Benjamin M. Hughes 

2007 Tehama County Place Names - SV History Catalogue of names an

County. 

Thesis Hitchcock, Charles 

Richard 

1998 Oroville, California, 1850-1870: A Study of 

Diversity in the California Mining Country 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Berkeley 

SV History Discussion of the “anth

including White attitudeOverseas Chinese, and maintained their culturainto the cultural of the Edirect quotations from p

Report Holson, John J. 1986 Data Recovery Excavations at CA-MEN-268, 

CA-MEN-320/643, and CA-MEN-321, Mendocino County, California 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

KM Prehistory, 

History 

Data recovery at CA-Mand CA-MEN-321. Anaobsidian hydration and faunal remains, bead ahistoric artifacts. Reseasystematics; SettlemenInteraction/Exchange s

Book Holt, Catharine 1946 Shasta Ethnography Anthropological Records 3(4). 

University of California Press 

KM, UK Ethnography Overview of Shasta eth

Sambo (a Shasta of the including habitat, mateorganization, religion, a

Thesis Hotchkiss, Helen E. 1957 The Early History of Trinity County, California M.A. Thesis, University of 

California 

KM History History of Trinity Count

Coast, land ExpeditionWeaverville (Political a

Article Huberland, Amy 1989 Etsel Ridge Archaeological Project: A Multi-Site 

Approach to Prehistoric Adaptation in the Middle Eel Uplands 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 2:19-34 

KM Prehistory Settlement and subsist

obsidian sourcing and 

Book Huberland, Amy and 

Erin Dwyer 

2001 Results of Archaeological Test Excavations at 

CA-SHA-1486, LaTour Demonstration State Forest 

CDF Archaeological Reports 28 SCF Prehistory Test excavations at CA

Demonstration State FObsidian sourcing and Research issues: ChroSettlement; Flaked StoExchange Patterns. 

Article Hudson, Travis 1981 To Sea or Not to Sea: Further Notes on the 

"Oceangoing" Dugouts of North Coastal California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 3(2):269-282 

CR Prehistory "Expansive" arguments 

(1980) on "oceangoingCalifornia. 

Article Hughes, Richard E. 1978 Aspects of Prehistoric Wiyot Exchange and 

Social Ranking 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 5(1):53-66 

CR Prehistory Obsidian sourcing at C

geographic source of th

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 27 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Hull, Kathleen L., Elena 

Nilsson, and Michael S. Kelly 

1992 Understanding Yana Prehistory: Application of 

Multiple Analyses 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 5:159-169 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of three site

1723, CA-SHA-1752) nYana territory boundaryanalysis, blood residueobsidian hydration. 

Report Hutchinson, W.H. 1956 California Heritage: A History of Northern 

California Lumbering 

Diamond National Corporation SCF, SN, SV History History of Lumbering in 

Lumber Company, Blue Company, Butte Flume Flume and Lumber CoCorporation. 

Book Irvine, Leigh H. 1915 History of Humboldt County, California Historic Record Co., Los 

Angeles, California 

CR, KM History History of Humboldt Co

Northern California and interaction with Native Organization of Humboschools, churches, and industry. 

Report Jackson, Robert J., 

Hannah S. Ballard, and William A. Shapiro 

1997 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-2561, 

Shasta County, California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc. SV Prehistory Investigations at CA-SH

Gulch Site, a prehistoristudies: Lithic analysishydration, and faunal reChronology building; Cfor subsistence/settlmeEthnic identity and pop

Report Jackson, Robert, and 

Hannah Ballard 

2008 Archaeological Evaluation Report for Prehistoric 

Components of CA-SHA-4169/H, CA-SHA4172/H, Buckhorn Grade Improvement Project, Shasta and Trinity Counties, California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc. KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

both prehistoric habitatcomponents. Analyticafaunal analysis, historic 

hydration and sourcingvs. in-place developmemodels; Mobility; Excha

Specific Research: Prohydration rate developmPaleoenvironment; Site 

Report Jackson, Thomas L. 1976 Report of the Middle Eel Planning Unit 

Archaeological Survey 

US Forest Service, Region 5, San Francisco, California 

CR Prehistory Extensive survey proje

sourcing. Excavations MEN-900. (also listed 

Report Jackson, Thomas L., 

and Christopher T. Morgan 

1997 Phase II Archaeological Investigations at CATEH-115/H, Tehama County, California Pacific Legacy, Inc., Aptos, California SV Prehistory, History Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Obsidian sourcing and faunal analysis, historic Research issues: ChroSettlement/Subsistenceidentity. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 28 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Jaffke, Todd D. 1997 A Spatial and Temporal Analysis of 

Morphological Variation Among Gunther Barbed Projectile Points of the Central North Coastal Ranges 

M.A. Thesis, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park 

CR Prehistory Thesis identifying spat

associated with GuntheMendocino County. 

Chapter Jenkins, R. C. 2005 A Fluted Point from Siskiyou County, California In Archaeology Without Limits: 

Papers in Honor of Clement W. Meighan, edited by B.D. Dillon and M.A. Boxt, pp. 61-68, Labyrinthos, Lancaster. 

UK Prehistory Discussion of a fluted p

County. 

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1977 Test Excavations at CA-SHA-543 on the East 

Fork of Clear Creek Shasta County, California 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory - 

Book Jensen, Peter M. 1980 Archaeological Excavations at the Kett Site, CASHA-491, Shasta County, California CSU Chico Anthropological Papers 2 SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

issues: Chronology; ReSocio-economic activitSacramento Valley/Foo

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1985 Archaeological Test Excavations at site CASHA-1430 near Bella Vista, Shasta County, 

California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Test excavations at CA

Shasta County. Report and discussion on bone

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1990 Archaeological Test Excavations at Prehistoric 

Site "Spring Valley #1" Located near Churn Creek, North Redding, Shasta County, California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Testing at Spring Valle

limited to analysis of th

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1990 Archaeological Data Recovery Excavations at 

Site CA-SHA-483, Near I-5 and Oasis Road, Shasta County, California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Artifact assemblage (lit

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1993 Archaeological Test Excavations, Site CA-SHA551, Near Oasis Road and Interstate 5, 

Redding, Shasta County, California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Testing at CA-SHA-551

Radiocarbon data, humassemblage (lithic anaFunction; Temporal Pa

Report Jensen, Peter M. 1994 Archaeological Data Recovery, Site CA-SHA961, Girvan Road at Olney Creek, Redding, 

Shasta County, California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

analysis; beads, radiocshellfish remains. ReseSettlement/subsistence

Report Jensen, Peter M., and 

A. Farber 

1982 Archaeological Data Recovery Program at CASIS-342 on 02-SIS-97 PM 41.5 to 42.3 California Department of Transportation, Sacramento, 

California 

UK Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-3

analysis, macrobotanicobsidian sourcing and assemblage, Research sequence; SubsistenceObsidian sources and Geoarchaeology; Site t

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 29 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Jensen, Peter M., and 

A. Farber 

1982 Archaeological Test Excavation at Site CA-TRI205 on 02-TRI-299 PM 36.7 to 37.2 02206-

135711 

California Department of Transportation District 2, Redding 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TRI-2

analysis, faunal analysassemblage, obsidian sResearch issues: Site Population movements

Report Jensen, Peter M., and 

Kathleen Tyree 

1993 Archaeological Surface Collection and 

Subsurface Testing Program Site CA-SHA1968/H, Near the Sacramento River, Redding, Shasta County, California 

Jensen & Associates, Chico, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: lithic Site Function; TemporaUse and Subsistence P

Report Jensen, Peter M., and 

Paul R. Reed 

1979 An Anthropological Overview and Cultural 

Resources Inventory of the Northern Sacramento Valley and Southern Cascade Range. 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF, SV Prehistory Archaeological synthes

Valley and Southern Cethnographic, prehistor

Discusses managemenCalifornia archaeologic

Article Jewell, Donald P. 1964 Archeology of the Oroville Dam Spillway California Department of Parks 

and Recreation Archeological Reports 10, Sacramento, California 

SN Prehistory Excavations at CA-BUT

Oroville Dam spillway, 

Article Jobson, R., and W. R. 

Hildebrandt 

1980 The Distribution of Oceangoing Canoes on the 

North Coast of California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 2(2):165-174 

CR Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Discusses evidence coocean-going canoes ancharacterize the occurrnorth coast. 

Report Johnson, Jerald J. 1966 Archaeological Investigation at 4-SIS-258 Site 

Report 

Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis 

UK Prehistory Site report for 4-SIS-25

of age. No front cover f

Report Johnson, Jerald J. 1966 A Preliminary Survey of the Archaeological 

Resources of Lower Mill Creek 

Department of Anthropology, University of California 

SV Prehistory Archaeological survey 

survey results and site 

Report Johnson, Jerald J. 1987 Tehama Lake Excavations at Six Prehistoric 

Sites 

Hornet Foundation, California State University, Sacramento 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

1197, CA-TEH-1211, Cat Tehama Lake. Analysoil analysis. Research boundaries; Chronolog

Exchange systems. 

Report Johnson, Jerald J. 1988 Dutch Gulch Lake Excavations at Six 

Prehistoric Sites 

Hornet Foundation, California State University, Sacramento 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

SHA-294, CA-SHA-114TEH-748 at Dutch GulcLithic analysis, beads (data, soil analysis, obs

dendrochronology, arcanalysis. Research issEconomic exchange; Pstudies; cultural assem

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 30 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Article Report Report Report Report 

Johnson, Jerald J. 1994 Prehistoric Human Remains, Petroglyphs, Institute of Archaeology and SV 

Structures and Miscellaneous Features from Cultural Studies Report Number Northeastern California 6. Department of Anthropology, 

California State University, Sacramento 

Johnson, Jerald J. 2003 The Yahi and Southern Yana: An Example of Proceedings from the Society for SCF 

Conservatism, Genetic Isolation, and an California Archaeology annual Impoverished Resource Base meeting 16:95-102 

Johnson, Jerald J., and 1984 Dutch Gulch Lake Intensive Cultural Resources Foundation of California State SV 

D. Theodoratus Survey University, Sacramento and 

Theodoratus Cultural Research, Sacramento and Fair Oaks, California 

Johnson, Jerald J., and 1984 Tehama Lake Intensive Cultural Resources Foundation of California State SV D. Theodoratus Survey University, Sacramento and 

Theodoratus Cultural Research, Sacramento and Fair Oaks, California 

Johnson, Jerald J., and 1984 Black Butte Lake Intensive Cultural Resources Foundation of California State SV D. Theodoratus Survey University, Sacramento and 

Theodoratus Cultural Research, Sacramento and Fair Oaks, California 

Johnson, Jerald J., and 1990 Excavations at Archaeological Site CA-TEH-10, Hornet Foundation, California SV S. Dondero Cemetery 1: Black Butte Lake, Glenn and State University, Sacramento 

Tehama Counties, California 

Prehistory Prehistory, Ethnography Prehistory Prehistory, History Prehistory, History Prehistory 

Winter village sites in thCreek Ranch. Summary of settlemenSouthern Yana tribes inresource background. Intensive archaeologicaLake including 117 pre

components) and 166 includes the prehistory ethnographic findings (inventory), historical finagriculture), project impsignificance for the NRIntensive archaeologicaincluding 80 prehistoric components) and 33 hincludes the prehistory (Bald Hills Wintu and Nethnographic findings, mining, early settlers, rimpacts and evaluation Inventory and evaluatioNRHP of Orland ButtesRecreation Area, Southand Nomlaki Coves, SqBurris Creek Recreatioauger testing, ethnograhistoric investigations (Removal, relocation ancemetery, CA-TEH-10 studies: Human remain(shell beads, lithics, faudentition, obsidian souPenutian cultural boundprehistory; Exchange nSubsistence activities. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 31 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Chapter Johnson, Jerald Jay 1978 Yana In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 225-235. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

SCF Ethnography Yana ethnography. 

Article Johnson, Jerald Jay 1993 Manos and Metates in Northern California: An 

Example of the Need for More Stringent Application of the Scientific Method 

In There Grows a Green Tree: Papers in Honor of David A. Fredrickson, Center for Archaeological Research at Davis 11: 335-350 

KM, SV Prehistory Comprehensive review 

northern California, incspace distribution of eaarchaeological and eth

Report Johnson, Keith L. 1976 Test Excavations at the Old Tower House Site 

(CA-SHA-192), Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Testing at Old Tower HAnalytical studies are lanalysis and historic ar

Report Johnson, Keith L. and L. 

Skjelstad 

1974 The Salvage Archaeology of Site 4-SHA-177, 

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Shasta County, California 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology o

studies: Lithic analysis, artifact assemblage. 

Chapter Johnson, Patti J. 1978 Patwin In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 350-360. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

SV Ethnography Discussion of the Patw

Report Johnston, James and E. 

Nilsson 

1983 Archaeological Test Excavations at the Meek 

Site: CA-SIS-900 

Mountain Anthropological Research, Yreka, California 

UK Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-9

studies: Obsidian sourcanalysis, Research issValley; Lifeways of the 

Report Johnston, Jim, Chris 

O'Brien, Michael Dugas, Diane Watts, Jamie Moore, Wally Woolfenden 

2001 Ishi Wilderness Area: Archaeological Test 

Excavations 

Mountain Heritage Associates and Lassen National Forest 

SCF Prehistory Testing at CA-TEH-710

1767, -1822, -200, -704Lithic analysis, faunal a

macrobotanical analysPaleoenvironment, prebackground. faunal anaConstruction of a culturpast lifeways, Understa

Book Jones, Alice Goen (ed.) 1981 Trinity County Historic Sites Trinity County Historical Society, 

Weaverville, California 

KM History Historical resources inv

narrative, anecdotes an

families, ranches, minemining district), etc. Exsources, including newbooks (as well as many descriptions of 52 key 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 32 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Jones, Theodore E. 2004 Archaeological Investigations at CA-HUM-323, 

The Nooning Creek Site, King Range National Conservation Area, Humboldt County, California 

Origer and Associates CR Prehistory Investigation of CA-HU

Analytical studies: Lithiand sourcing. Researcoccupants; ChronologyTechnological and soc

Report JRP Historical 

Consulting 

2005 Historical Resources Evaluation Report, 

Evergreen Road Bridge (08C-0008) Replacement Project Over South Fork of Cottonwood Creek, Tehama County, California 

JRP Historical Consulting, LLC, Davis, California 

SV History Evaluation of the Everg

Cottonwood Creek. 

Report Kaijankoski, Philip, 

Deborah Jones, and Patricia Mikkelsen 

2011 Test and Data Recovery Excavations at CASHA-2602 for the PG&E Hat Creek 

Powerhouse 1 Pedestrian Bridge Replacement Project, Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Radiocarbon, obsidian analysis, faunal analysissues: PaleoenvironmChronology of the Pit R

Social Interaction and M

Report Kellawan, Rebecca 2012 Cultural Resources Survey and Evaluation for 

the Volta No. 1 Powerhouse Domestic Waterline Upgrade Project, Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Recordation of historic No prehistoric artifacts 

Report Kelly, John L. and H. 

John McAleer 

1986 An Archaeological Survey, Assessment, and 

Recommendations for the Ohio Flat Mining District, CA-TRI-943, Trinity County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM History Ohio Flat Mining Distric

Analytical studies: featuAlso included in LowdeLewiston Mining DistricOhio Flat Mining Distric

Report Kelly, M. S., E. Nilsson, 

and J. H. Cleland 

1987 Archaeological Investigations at Lake Britton, 

California Pit 3, 4, 5 Project Archaeological Site Testing 

Wirth Environmental Services, San Diego, California 

SCF Prehistory Excavations at CA-SHA

356, CA-SHA-375, CASHA-383, CA-SHA-385

CA-SHA-396, CA-SHA400, CA-SHA-407, CASHA-431, CA-SHA-4331401, CA-SHA-1417, CCA-SHA-1465, CA-SHALake Britton. Analyticaand hydration, radiocarfaunal analysis, beads ceramics, historic artifamacrobotanical analys

analysis, human remaiPaleoenvironment, CulSettlement/Subsistenceinteraction/Migration, C

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 33 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Kennedy, Michael 

Anthony 

2005 An Investigation of Hunter-Gatherer Shellfish 

Foraging Practices: Archaeological and Geochemical Evidence from Bodega Bay, California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR Prehistory Experimental archaeolo

for 18 open coast and eCounty. 

Paper Keter, Thomas S. 1989 Overview of the Prehistoric and Historic 

Grasslands of the North Fork Basin of the Eel River 

Paper presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

KM Prehistory, 

History 

Society of California ArFork and Eel River basactivities, and cultural h

Paper Keter, Thomas S. 1990 Settlement and Conflict: The Refuge Period and 

Historic Settlement in the North Fork Eel River Basin 1854-1864 

Paper presented at the 24th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

CR, KM History, 

Ethnography 

Society of California Artraditional Athapascan Eel River basin was desettlement (1854-1864)

Paper Keter, Thomas S. 1991 Territorial and Social Relationships of the Inland 

Southern Athabascans: A New Perspective. Paper presented to The Society for California Archaeology 

Paper presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

KM Prehistory Society of California Ar

and social relationships Athabascans. Includes overviews. Research Isorganization (with otherelationships. 

Paper Keter, Thomas S. 1992 The Effects of Historic Land-use Activities on 

the Streams and Aquatic Resources of the North Fork of the Eel River 

Paper presented at the 26th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

CR, KM History Society of California Ar

land-use activities on thIncludes sections on anand the historic land-usenvironment. 

Report Keter, Thomas S. 1995 Environmental History and Cultural Ecology of 

the North Fork of the Eel River Basin, California 

Heritage Resource Program, Six Rivers National Forest 

KM Prehistory Analysis of ethnograph

used by the Wailaki anpotential prehistoric site area of the North Fork 

Article Keter, Thomas S. 1999 A Look Back: Twenty-Five Years of Cultural 

Resources Management on the Six Rivers National Forest 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 12:173-187 

KM History Cultural Resources Ma

Rivers National Forest. 

Article Kett, W.F. 1947 Fifty years of operation by the Mountain Copper 

Company, Ltd., in Shasta County, California 

California Journal of Mines and Geology 43(2): 105-162 

SV History General geology of the 

Report King, Jerome, Kelly 

McGuire, Kimberley Carpenter, Mary Maniery, Cindy Baker, Helen McCarthy, and Heather Scotten 

2004 Class I Cultural Resources Overview and 

Research Design for the Alturas, Eagle Lake, and Surprise Resource Areas 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

UK, SCF, SN Prehistory, 

History 

Class I cultural resourcLake, and Surprise Resissues: Prehistoric- Ch

Subsistence-settlemengame hunting; PopulatChronology; DemograpEthnicity; Technology; strategies. 

Report King, Thomas F. 1966 An Archaeological Survey of the Dos Rios 

Reservoir Region, Mendocino County, California 

National Park Service KM Prehistory Large-scale survey of t

Round Valley. Recordesites. (also listed in Pa

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 34 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Kniffen, Fred B. 1928 Achomawi Geography University of California 

Publications in American 

SCF Ethnography Ethnography and geog

Archaeology and Ethnology 23(5):297-332 

Report Kowta, M. 1988 The Archaeology and Prehistory of Plumas and 

Butte Counties, California: An Introduction and Interpretive Model 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SN Prehistory An interpretive model o

Butte counties. Discussgeographical backgrouWashoe. Includes discregional chronology. 

Report Kowta, Makoto, 

Blossom Hamusek, William Dreyer, Russell Bevill, Philip Lydon, Eric Wohlgemuth 

2000 Archaeology of the Platina Site, CA-SHA-279, 

Shasta County, California 

Report submitted to ShastaTrinity National Forests and 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Field school project (19

SHA-279). Analytical sanalysis, archaeobotanhydration and sourcing Mobility strategies; CheSettlement and Mobility research: Identify comptypes", reconstruct the component. 

Thesis Kraft, Jarith A 1998 Gold Miners Living on the Fringes: A Historical 

Ethnographic Study, Butte County, California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV History M.A. thesis on the arch

investigations at CA-BUMiners Camp near CenCenterville mining distrfrontier,” with both Eurooccupations. Assessme

Report Kraft, Jarith A. and 

Barbara Woodrum 

2005 Historical Overview of the Tehama-Shasta Bend 

District, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: History, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Overview of the history 

Tehama and Shasta co

Report Krieger, Julie 1987 Archaeological Excavations at Fowlers 

Campground, F.S. Site No. 05-14-61-44, Siskiyou County, California 

U.S. Forest Service UK Prehistory Excavations at Fowlers 

Analytical studies: Lithi

and sourcing, radiocarbTaxonomy of dated arcsignificance; Ethnic and 

Report Krieger, Julie and 

Andrew Goheen 

1984 Archaeological Excavations, Giant Crater 

Prehistoric Site FS 05-14-61-324 

U.S. Forest Service UK Prehistory Test excavations at the 

61-324. Analytical studobsidian sourcing and 

Thesis Kristofors, Kris V. 1973 The Copper Mining Era in Shasta County, 

California 1896-1919: An Environmental Impact Study 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV History Copper mining 1896-19

Geography MA. Envirofrom the direct smelting 

Article Kroeber, A.L., and E.E. 

Gifford 

1949 World Renewal: A Cult System of Native 

Northwest California 

University of California Anthropological Records 13:1-155 

CR Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Reviews religious systeemphasizing world renWhite Deer Skin Dance 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 35 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Kroeber, Alfred L. 1932 The Patwin and Their Neighbors University of California 

Publications in American 

SV Ethnography Ethnography of the Pat

Archaeology and Ethnology 29(4):253-423 

Book Kroeber, Alfred L. 1936 Karok Towns University of California 

Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 35(4):29-38. 

KM Ethnography Ethnography of Karok t

settlement names and compiled through interv

Book Kroeber, Theodora 1961 Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild 

Indian in North America 

University of California Press. Berkeley & Los Angeles, California 

SCF Ethnography Biography of Ishi, the Y

Article Lake, Robert G. 1983 Shamanism in Northwestern California: A 

Female Perspective on Sickness, Healing and Health 

White Cloud Journal 3(1): 31-42 CR Ethnography Study on the perspectiv

female Yurok shaman. 

Report LaLande, Jeff, Eric W. 

Ritter, and James J. Barnes 

2015 Archaeology of a Chinese Mining Camp (Site 

CA-SIS-1801H) Located near Hawkinsville/Yreka, Siskiyou County, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

UK History Discussion of a Chines

1801H) and associated north-central Siskiyou C

Chapter LaPena, Frank R. 1978 Wintu In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 324-340. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

KM, SV Ethnography Discussion of the Wintu 

Article Larson, William E. 2010 The Smith Creek Rockshelter: Results of Test 

Excavations at a Rockshelter Located in Humboldt County, California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 24 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of the Smith 

Humboldt County. 

Report Larson, William E. 2014 Archaeological Assessment of Three Prehistoric 

Sites (CA-BUT-214, CA-BUT-336, CA-BUT568) at Lake Oroville, Butte County, California 

Archaeological Research Center, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Sacramento 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Assessment of CA-BUT568 at Lake Oroville. Aanalysis, faunal and floanalysis, human remaihydration and sourcingdating, historic artifactsChronology; SettlemenSpheres; Subsistence Change; Social Evoluti

Thesis Lassiter, Francisco 1984 The Cultural Ecology of the Sinkyone Indians of 

Northwestern California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Humboldt 

CR Ethnography Ecology of the Sinkyon

Book Layton, Thomas N. 1990 Western Pomo Prehistory: Excavations at 

Albion Head, Nightbird's Retreat, and Three Chop Village, Mendocino County, California 

Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles 

CR Prehistory Investigations from Alb

MEN-1809, and CA-MERetreat (CA-MEN-1805MEN-790). 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 36 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Leader, Herman A. 1928 The Hudson's Bay Company in California Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California 

CR History The Hudson's Bay Com

1821 to modern. 

Thesis Lechner, Theresa Marie 2005 The Late Kingsley/Early Dye Creek Fauna from 

CA-TEH-290 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento 

SCF Prehistory Thesis study of the sub

of the southern Cascadanalysis at CA-TEH-29Analytical studies: faunanalysis, lithic analysis radiocarbon data, obsidResearch issues: Subs

Report Leigh, Anastasia T., 

Lisa, A. Shapiro, and Robert J. Jackson 

2002 Phase II Investigations at CA-TEH-303 and CATEH-305 on State Route 99, Tehama County, 

California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc., Cameron Park, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Analytical studies: Lithiand hydration, faunal abeads, historic artifact analysis. Research issSettlement/Subsistence

Thesis Leonhardy, Frank C. 1961 The Cultural Position of the Iron Gate Site M.A. Thesis, Department of 

Anthropology, University of Oregon 

UK Prehistory Investigation at Iron Ga

Klamath River. The thedescriptions, house floofaunal remains, projectradiocarbon data. Resecultural comparison. 

Book Leonhardy, Frank C. 1967 The Archaeology of a Late Prehistoric Village in 

Northwestern California 

Museum of Natural History 

Bulletins 4 

Prehistory Published version of Le

Article Lesure, Richard G. 1998 The Constitution of Inequality in Yurok Society Journal of California and Great 

Basin Anthropology 20(2):171-194 

CR, KM Ethnography Counter argument to C

inequality in kin-based Yurok ethnographic ev

Report Levulett, V., T. 

Ruhstaller, and L. Bell 

1980 Class III Inventory of Northwestern California 

Timber Tracts within Sustained Yield Unit 13 Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino Counties 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR, KM Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Intensive cultural resouHumboldt, Trinity and Minventory includes one multicomponent sites, a

Thesis Levulett, Valerie Anne 1985 The Prehistory of Southwestern Humboldt 

County: A Study of Coastal Archaeological Sites in the King Range National Conservation Area 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR Prehistory Dissertation study on H

in the King Range (CAHUM-175, CA-HUM-27281, CA- HUM-182, CAHUM-248). Analytical sobsidian sourcing; faunhuman skeletal remainChronology of coastal ocoastal resource use; C

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 37 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Levulett, Valerie, and 

William R. Hildebrandt 

1987 The King Range Archaeological Project: Results 

of the 1984 Field Season: Excavations at CAHum-307, Hum-276, Hum-270, and Hum-175 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

CR Prehistory Archaeological investig

(CA-HUM-307, CA-HUHUM-175) within the KConservation Area. Anbone and antler artifactremains, obsidian hydrradiocarbon data, buriaChronological sequencTrade/exchange; Settle

Other Littlejohn, Hugh W. 1928 Nisenan Geography: Field Notes and 

Manuscript (CU-23.1 No. 18) 

University of California Archives; Museum of Anthropology Archives; Ethnological Documents, Berkeley, California 

SCF, SN Ethnography Field notes from Hugh 

ethnography. 

Report Lloyd, Jay B, Douglas 

R. Harro and Andrew P. Monastero 

2008 Testing and National Register Evaluation of CABUT-1225/1226/1227/1228/H at Round Valley 

Reservoir 

Applied EarthWorks, Inc. SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Archaeological NortherNevada and Southern studies: Lithic analysishydration. Research issTechnology; Settlemenstrategies; subsistence

Article Loud, L.L. 1918 Ethnogeography and Archaeology of the Wiyot 

Territory 

American Archaeology and Ethnology 14(3):221-437 

CR Prehistory Ethnogeography and a

territory. Discusses ethtribes, and contact peri

Book Lydon, P. A. and J. C. 

O'Brien 

1974 Mines and Mineral Resources of Shasta 

County, California 

California Division of Mines and 

Geology, Sacramento, California 

SCF, SV History Describes the geologic

discusses the many meminerals present. 

Article Lyman, R. Lee, Linda. A 

Clark, and Richard E. Ross 

1988 Harpoon Stone Tips and Sea Mammal Hunting 

on the Oregon and Northern California Coasts 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 10(1):73-87 

CR Prehistory Analysis of Gould's (19

arguments on arrow an

Chapter Mack, Joanne M. 1991 Upper Klamath River Canyon Prehistory In Klamath River Canyon 

Prehistory and Ethnology, Cultural Resource Series No. 8. 

UK Prehistory Prehistory and chronol

River Canyon region. 

Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, Portland 

Report Mack, Joanne M. 1996 Preliminary Report on the Upper Klamath River 

Canyon Project: Sumer of 1995 Archaeological Testing Report on CA-SIS-1198 and CA-SIS1721, Site Evaluation Report, and Ethnobotanical Report 

Pomona College, Claremont, California 

UK Prehistory Testing, evaluation and 

and CA-SIS-1721. Inclreports, site catalogues

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 38 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Mack, Joanne M. 1999 Report on the Upper Klamath River Canyon 

Project: Summers of 1996 and 1997 Archaeological Testing Report on CA-SIS-1198 and CA-SIS-1721, Site Evaluation Report, and Ethnobotanical Report 

University of Notre Dame UK Prehistory Survey results and eva

CA-SIS-1721. Archaeoreport of the Upper Kla

Report Mack, Joanne M. 2000 Archaeological Investigations at the Wise Eagle 

(CA-SIS-2136) and Geese Flying (CA-SIS2135) Sites, Klamath River Canyon. Includes obsidian sourcing/hydration, radiocarbon, pollen, blood residue, soil chemistry analyses, 

Report prepared for Bureau of Land Management 

UK Prehistory Evaluation of Wise Eag

Flying (CA-SIS-2135) s

Report Mack, Joanne M. 2003 Test Excavation at Paradise Craggy Village (CASIS-1066H), Upper Klamath River, Northern 

California 

Report prepared for Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SIS-1Village. Analytical stud

artifact assemblage, famacrobotanical analysdata, obsidian sourcing issues: Subsistence paTrade networks and int

Chapter Mack, Joanne M. 2011 On the Role of Siskiyou Utility Ware as a Social 

Network Marker in the Late Prehistoric Northern California and Southern Oregon 

In Perspectives on Prehistoric 

Trade and Exchange in California and the Great Basin, edited by Richard E. Hughes, pp. 114-134. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City 

UK Prehistory Research on ceramics 

southern Oregon and nSiskiyou Utility Ware w

Article Mack, Joanne M. 2015 Comparison of Two Shasta Villages’ Obsidian 

Source Use 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 29:33-38 

UK Prehistory Comparison of obsidia

village sites, The Iron Gsite (CA-SIS-1198). 

Report Mack, Joanne M., D. J. 

Theodoratus, M. M. Ashman, H. McCarthy, and D. L. Genett 

1991 Klamath River Canyon Prehistory and Ethnology Cultural Resource Series No. 8. 

Report on file, US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, Portland 

KM, UK Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Land-use chronology fo

Report Maniery, J. G. 1990 Northern Pomo Prehistory, Archaeological Test 

Excavations at CA-MEN-2138: Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California 

PAR Environmental Services, 

Inc., Sacramento, California 

KM Prehistory -

Report Maniery, Mary L., and 

Marshall Millett 

2008 Living on the Smith: Architectural History and 

Historical Archaeology of Jedediah Smith Campground and Hiouchi Flat, Redwood National and State Park 

PAR Environmental Services, 

Inc., Sacramento, California 

CR History Archival and field inves

resources within the JeNational and State Paron historical archaeolo

Report Maniery, Mary L., and 

Monica Nolte 

2012 Archaeological Test Excavations at the Zopfi 

Homestead, Hiouchi Flat, Del Norte County, California 

PAR Environmental Services, 

Inc., Sacramento, California 

CR Prehistory, 

History 

Testing of the Zopfi hoHiouchi Flat. Includes phistoric artifact summa

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 39 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Mark, Robert, and 

Evelyn Billo 

1998 Two Stray Quadrupeds at Weitchpec Rock Art Papers 13:155-156 CR Prehistory Two quadruped petrog

discovered near Weitch

Report Martin, Ilse B., David T. 

Hodder and Clark Whitaker 

1981 Overview of the Cultural Historic Resources of 

Euro-American and Other Immigrant Groups in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest 

Geoscientific Systems and Consulting, Playa Del Rey, California 

KM, UK, SCF, SV 

History Overview of the Euro-A

resources of within the Includes list of historic NRHP. 

Report Martin, Ilse B., David T. 

Hodder and Clark Whitaker 

1981 Overview of Cultural Historic Resources of EuroAmerican and Other Immigrant Groups in the 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest 

Geoscientific Systems and Consulting, Playa Del Rey, California 

KM, UK, SCF, SV 

History Overview of the Euro-A

resources of within the Includes list of historic NRHP. 

Book McCarthy, Helen 2012 Field Guide to Plants Important to the Oroville 

Maidu Community with Maidu Names and Uses 

California Department of Water Resources 

SN Ethnography Oroville plant field guid

Book McCarthy, Helen, 

Heather Scotten, and Brandy Doering 

2004 Konkow Maidu Tribal Presence in the Lake 

Oroville Area: An Ethnographic and Ethnohistoric Inventory 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SN Ethnography Ethnography of the Ko

Oroville Area. Includes and site inventory. 

Report McCarthy, Helen, 

Heather Scotten, and Brandy Doering 

2009 Maidu Life in the Feather River Area: A Photo 

Essay 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SN Ethnography Ethnographic investiga

Maidu people and plac

Report McCarthy, Helen, 

William Hildebrandt, and Laureen Swenson 

1982 A Cultural Resource Overview for the 

Mendocino National Forest and the East Lake Planning Unit, BLM, California: Volume I: Ethnography and Prehistory 

California Archaeological Consultants, Inc., Woodland, California 

KM, SV Ethnography Cultural resources inve

the Mendocino Nationalimited to lithic analysisDevelopment of chronoof subsistence changessubsistence/settlement organization changes; 

Article McCarthy, Helen, 

William R. Hildebrandt, and Laureen K. Swenson (eds) 

1985 Ethnography and Prehistory of the North Coast 

Range, California 

Center for Archaeological Research at Davis 8 

CR Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Ethnography and prehiRange. Research issueprediction of site locatio

Article McCoy, Jessica and 

Heidi Shaw 

2015 Chasing Archaeological Site Narrative: The 

Case of CA-TEH-74/H 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 29:165-171 

SCF Prehistory, 

History 

Re-investigation of CApresent condition throu

Report McDonald, James 1979 Cultural Resource Overview, Klamath National 

Forest, California 

Klamath National Forest KM, UK Prehistory, 

History 

A synthesis of Klamath environment and cultur

Chapter McGuire, Kelly R. 1989 Incised Stones In Prehistory of the Sacramento 

River Canyon, Shasta County, California 

SV Prehistory Analyses a large assem

portable rock art, and parchaeological contextfunction within the large

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 40 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report McGuire, Kelly R. and 

M. E. Basgall 

1985 Test Excavations at Sheepy East 1, Lower 

Klamath Lake Siskiyou County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

UK Prehistory Testing at Sheepy Eas

Analytical studies: Lithiobsidian sourcing and shell beads, faunal ana

Report McInturf, Hack 1994 Once Upon a Depression Unpublished manuscript SV History A manuscript on mining Article Meacham, C.M. 1984 A Great Basin Pecked Style Petroglyph in the 

North Coast Ranges 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 6(2):260-265 

KM Prehistory Discussion of a petrogl

the Yolla Bolly-Middle E

Report Meighan, Clement W. 1955 Archaeology of the North Coast Ranges, 

California 

In Papers on California Archaeology, University of California Archaeological Survey Reports 32-33:1-37 

KM Prehistory Compares excavations 

archaeological complexRanges. Includes artifa

Article Merriam, C. H. 1926 The Classification and Distribution of the Pitt 

River Tribes of California 

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 78(3):1-52 

UK, SCF Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Ethnic relations and geof northeastern Californ

Report Meyer, Jack 2013 A Geoarchaeological Overview and 

Assessment of Northeast California: Cultural Resources Inventory of Caltrans District 2 Rural Conventional Highways: Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity Counties 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

KM, UK, SCF, SV 

Prehistory Geoarchaeological ove

Lassen, Modoc, Plumaand Trinity Counties. A

and soil survey. Resealocation models; Paleovolcanism and archaeo

Report Meyer, Jack, and 

Jeffrey S. Rosenthal 

2008 A Geoarchaeological Overview and 

Assessment of Caltrans District 3 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SN, SV Prehistory Geoarchaeological rep

including environmentaCascade Range, CoasValley. Discusses burie

archaeological site stru

Report Meyer, Jack, Philip 

Kaijankoski, and Jeffrey S. Rosenthal 

2011 A Geoarchaeological Overview and 

Assessment of Northwest California Cultural Resources Inventory of Caltrans District 1 Rural Conventional Highways: Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Lake Counties 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR, KM Prehistory Geoarchaeological rep

Research issues: ArchPaleocoastal migrationand sampling buried si

Report Mikkelsen, Patricia, and 

Deborah Jones 

2010 Data Recovery Excavations at CA-SHA-3643/H 

at the Pit 1 Weir Access at Cassel Bridge, Fall River Mills, Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SCF Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SHA-Lithic analysis, fauna, b

source and hydration, hResearch issues: Chrosettlement pattern chan

Report Mikkelsen, Patricia, 

Michelle Tiley, and Pit River Tribal Members 

2009 National Register of Historic Places Registration 

Form for the Pit River Aboriginal Cultural District, Shasta County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SCF Prehistory, 

History, Ethnography 

National Register of HiIncludes "Prehistoric SProperties within the PDistrict" 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 41 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Milburn, John W., David 

A. Fredrickson, Meredith Dreiss, Laurie Demichael, and Wendy Van Dusen 

1979 Volume I—A Preliminary Report on the 

Archaeology of CA-HUM-129 

Anthropological Studies Center, Cultural Resources Facility, Sonoma State University 

CR Prehistory, 

History 

Excavation of CA-HUMIncludes discussion on prehistoric and historic remains, lithic analysisand hooks. 

Chapter Miller, V.P. 1978 Yuki, Huchmon and Coast Yuki In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 249-255. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

CR, KM Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Discussion of the Yuki 

Article Millett, Marshall and E. 

Ritter 

2013 The Church Rock Petroglyph Site: Function, 

Style, Digital Documentation, and 3D Visualization 

American Indian Rock Art 

40:1017-1040 

SV Prehistory Analysis of the rock art 

Rock Petroglyph Site. 

Article Moore, Jamie 2004 Acculturation Model for the Mountain Maidu Proceedings from the Society for 

California Archaeology annual meeting 17:17-22 

SN Ethnography Examination of the Mou

American interactions d

Article Moore, Jamie 2009 The Ghost of Procurement Past and the 

Humbug Basalt: XRF Identification along with Spatial and Temporal Distribution in Portions of Butte, Lassen, Plumas, and Tehama Counties, Northern California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 21:103-108 

SCF, SN, SV Prehistory Source identification fo

California. 

Report Moratto, Michael J. 1973 An Archaeological Overview of Redwood 

National Park 

National Park Service CR Ethnography Archaeological overvie

and inventory of cultura

Report Moratto, Michael J. (Ed) 1995 Archaeological Investigations, PGT-PG&E 

Pipeline Expansion Project, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California 

INFOTEC Research, Inc. and Far 

Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc. 

SCF, SV Prehistory Report of surveys, exca

involving 695 cultural rePG&E Pipeline ExpansWashington, Oregon, a

Article Moss, Madonna L. and 

Jon M. Erlandson 

1998 Early Holocene Adaptations on the Southern 

Northwest Coast 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20(1):13-25 

CR Prehistory A review of Minor (199

use of the term "pre-littHolocene" for the north

Article Motz, Lee, Eric W. 

Ritter, and James Rock 

1986 Glass Trade Beads from Two Shasta Sites in 

Siskiyou County, California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 8(1):116-128 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

A study on the glass beprotohistoric cemeterie937) in Siskiyou Count

Book Napton, Kyle L. and E. 

A. Greathouse 

2000 Archaeological Investigations at CA-TEH001621/H, California Department of Forestry 

and Fire Protection Ishi Conservation Camp, Tehama County, California 

CDF Archaeological Reports 25 SCF Prehistory Testing at CA-TEH-162

Obsidian sourcing and faunal remains, soil cheissues: Settlement; Site Subsistence economy; 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 42 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Napton, Kyle L. and E. 

A. Greathouse 

2010 Archaeological Investigations at P-53-

000942/CA-TRI-942, Trinity County, California 

California State University, Stanislaus 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TRI-9

analysis. Research issuchronology; SubsistencRelationship with the S

Other New Haven Colony 

Historical Society 

N.D. Wilkes Expedition; Diary of Passed Midshipman 

Henry Eld, 7 September 1841 to 29 October 1841 

New Haven Colony Historical 

Society 

CR, KM, UK, SV 

History Diary September-Octob

Fort Vancouver to OregFrancisco, California. In

Report Newland, Michael and 

Mark Walker 

2015 A Cultural Resources Damage Assessment of a 

Segment of the Topsy Road, Siskiyou County, California 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

UK History Damage assessment o

Klamath Wagon Road) Obsidian sourcing and 

Article Newland, Michael D. 2006 Gold in the Tailings Proceedings from the Society for 

California Archaeology annual meeting 19:93-96 

SN History Evaluation and reconst

sites, Spring Valley GuMcCabe Creek Comple

Report Newland, Michael D. 

Margaret J. Markwyn, Robert G. Douglass, Mark D. Selverston 

2012 DRAFT: Spring Valley Gulch Placer Mining 

Complex (CA-BUT-1872/H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Technical report and ev

the Spring Valley Gulch the southside of the Wereport discusses the sit

165 historical features representing the remaimining along Spring Va

Report Newland, Michael D. 

Mark D. Selverston, and Margaret J. Markwyn 

2013 Enterprise Bench Placer Mine (CA-BUT2570H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Placer Mine, located nereport discusses the sitmid- to late- 19th centu

Report Newland, Michael D. 

Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2011 DRAFT: Nash Homestead Complex (CA-BUT2229H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Technical report of CA

Homestead Complex, oForebay. The report disevaluation of 19 histori19th century and reprehomestead complex of 

Report Newland, Michael D. 

Robert G. Douglass, Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Flea Valley Ditch (CA-BUT-1068H): Site 

Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

located on the west baRiver. The report disculate-19th century lumbe

Report Newland, Michael Mark 

Selverston, Lori Stevens, Adrian Praetzellis 

2011 Oroville Dredge Fields (CA-BUT-465H): Site 

Technical Report and NRHP Evaluation. Forks of the Feather River Historic District Evaluation 

Department of Water Resources, State of California 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Fields site. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 43 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Newland, Micheal D., 

Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Big Bend Still (CA-BUT-2429H): Site Technical 

Report 

Report Report 

Nickels, Adam, Eric Ritter, John Fogerty, Amy Barnes, and Mark Carper Nilsson, Elena 

2015 1985 

Cultural Resources Investigation for Limekiln Project Area, Trinity River Restoration Program, Trinity County, California Archaeological Test Excavations at CA-SIS1088, Siskiyou County, California 

Report Nilsson, Elena 1987 Archaeological Test Excavations at CA-SIS154, CA-SIS-1103, and CA-SIS-1105, Siskiyou 

County, California 

Report Nilsson, Elena 1988 Archaeological Test Excavations at the Ager III 

Sites CA-SIS-331, CA-SIS-332, CA-SIS-1281, and CA-SIS-1282, Siskiyou County, California 

Report Nilsson, Elena 1990 Archaeological Test Excavations at CA-TRI1019: A Late Prehistoric Site in the Upper Trinity 

River Region of Northern California 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

located on the north bathe North Fork Feather discusses the site historemains of a domed ro19th to early-20th centu

Bureau of Reclamation, Sacramento, California 

KM History Survey of a portion of t

limited subsurface testMining site (LK-01/CA-II as FY2015-27) 

Mountain Anthropological Research, Greenview, California 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SIS-1Analytical studies: Lithiand hydration, radiocarassemblage, faunal anRelationship between C

48; Site function; Chronsubsistence patterns; EAmerican intrusion. 

Mountain Anthropological Research, Redding, California 

UK Prehistory Evaluation at CA-SIS-1

1105.Analytical studiesanalysis, obsidian sourradiocarbon data, histoResearch issues: Chrosubsistence; Euro-Amemovements; Shasta Co

Mountain Anthropological Research 

UK Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-3

SIS-1282, all semi-permareas. Analytical studieflotation analysis, faunaradiocarbon dating, obshuman osteological anResearch Issues: Site Settlement/subsistence American contact and ause; Relationship of Shmigrating population (wWhistler's (1997) modePenutian speakers into 

Mountain Anthropological Research, Chico, California 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TRI-1

site. Analytical studies: analysis, macrobotanicand hydration. ResearcChronology; SettlemenComplex. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 44 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Paper Nilsson, Elena 1991 Coming of Age: Archaeological Research Within 

Shasta Valley, Siskiyou County, California 

Paper presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

UK Prehistory Paper given at the Soc

annual meeting summaarchaeological databasprovisional two-phase c

Report Nilsson, Elena, K. 

Morgan Banks, Gregory Greenway 

1989 Archaeological Data Recovery Investigations at 

CA-SIS-900: A Late Prehistoric Site in Shasta Valley, California 

Mountain Anthropological Research, Chico, California 

UK Prehistory -

Report Nilsson, Elena, 

Kathleen Hull, and Russell Bevill 

1996 Archaeological Inventory of the Proposed 

Orwick Land Exchange, Scott Mountain, Siskiyou County, California 

Dames & Moore, Inc., Chico, 

California 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

Survey of 48 parcels, stesting of eight sites wi

Siskiyou county. Analyobsidian hydration and as FY1997-16) 

Report Nilsson, Elena, Russell 

Bevill, and Jerald J. Johnson 

1996 Archaeological Investigations at CA-PLU-969/H 

Drakesbad Resort, Warner Valley, Lassen Volcanic National Park 

Mountain Anthropological Research and Dames & Moore 

SCF Prehistory Test excavations at CA

multicomponent site locValley. Analytical studiesourcing and hydrationradiocarbon data, orgasediment analysis and Research issues: Paleochronology; Subsistencpatterns; cultural affiliaand obsidian procurem

Report Nilsson, Elena, Sandra 

Flint and Gregory Greenway 

1991 Archaeological Test Excavations at CA-TEH1488, the New Creek Site, Tehama County, 

California 

Mountain Anthropological Research 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

lithic scatter (with humastudies: Lithic analysisanalysis, shellfish analyassemblage, macrobothydration and sourcing Site function; ChronoloSubsistence/settlemen

Article Nissen, K.M., and E.W. 

Ritter 

1986 Cupped Rock Art in North Central California: 

Hypothesis Regarding Age and Social/Ecological Context. 

American Indian Rock Art 11:59-75 

SV Prehistory Discovery of a rock art 

SHA-511). 

Book Nixon, Stuart 1966 Redwood Empire: An Illustrated History of the 

California Redwood Country 

E. P. Dutton and Company, New York 

CR History A general-audience his

short on scholarship. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 45 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Noble, Michelle D. 2011 An Examination of Variability in Northern 

California Ground Stone Technologies 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento 

SN, SV Prehistory Ground stone technolo

northern Sierra Nevada and the Feather River 362/H), The SacramenBUT-288), and the souResearch Issues: IntenRaw material choice; Tcomposition. 

Article Nomland, Gladys 1935 Sinkyone Notes University of California 

Publications in American 

CR Ethnography Ethnography of the Sin

Archaeology and Ethnology 36(2):149-178 

Article Nomland, Gladys 1938 Bear River Ethnography 2 University of California 

Anthropological Records 2(2):91-124 

CR Ethnography Ethnography of the Bea

Article Nopel, John 1959 The Yana and Yahi Indians of Butte County – 

Part I 

Diggin’s 3(3)2, 4-11. Butte County Historical Society 

SN, SV Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Discussion and descriptribes. 

Report Oetting, Albert C. 1996 Archaeological Inventory and Evaluation of the 

Orwick BLM Copco Lake Land Exchange Parcels, Siskiyou County, California 

Heritage Research Associates UK Prehistory, 

History 

Inventory and evaluatioExchange Parcels. Limsites. Analytical data: Lhydration and sourcingFY1997-17) 

Chapter Olmsted , D. L., and O. 

C. Stewart 

1978 Achumawi In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 225-235. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

UK, SCF Ethnography Achumawi ethnography 

Report Olsen, William H. and F. 

A. Riddell 

1963 The Archaeology of the Western Pacific 

Railroad Relocation, Oroville Project, Butte County, California 

Department of Parks and Recreation, Division of Beaches and Parks, Interpretive Services Section 

SN Prehistory Test excavations at CA

BUT-105, CA-BUT-131analysis, faunal analysissues: Archaeological the Oroville Area. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 46 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Origer, Thomas M. 1995 An Evaluation of CA-HUM-945: An 

Archaeological Site near Redway, Southern Humboldt County, California 

Thomas M. Origer, Consulting Archaeologist, Cotati, California 

CR Prehistory Evaluation of CA-HUM

Analytical studies: Lithiand sourcing, ethnobotissues: Extend of cultuSite integrity; Chronoloand social change; 

Report Origer, Thomas M. 2000 A Search for an Earthquake: Archaeological 

Investigations at CA-HUM-177, Humboldt County, California 

Origer and Associates CR Prehistory, 

History 

Investigations at CA-HUDebitage analysis, obsfaunal analysis, floral a

historic artifact inventor

Book Orsi, Richard J. 2007 Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad 

and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930 

University of California Press CR, KM, UK, 

SV 

History Detailed discussion of 

technological, and land

Pacific Railroad and its information on SPRR inagencies, some discus(Taylor Grazing Act, Sa

Book Palmer, Lyman L. 1880 History of Mendocino County, California Alley, Bowen & Co., San 

Francisco, California 

CR History History of Mendocino C

War, county history, miCalifornians, Mexican gand political histories. 

Paper Parkman, Edward B., 

and Sylvia StewartWhite 

1985 Yontocket: Returning Balance to the Center of 

the Tolowa World 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

CR Ethnography Yontocket village and T

11, CA-DNO-13). 

Report Parkman, Edward Breck 1984 An Archaeological Evaluation of the Yontocket 

Village Site (CA-DNO-19), Lakes Earl and Tolowa Project. California Department of Parks and Recreation, Northern Region Headquarters, Santa Rosa, California 

California Department of Parks and Recreation, Northern Region Headquarters 

CR Prehistory Evaluation of CA-DNO

excavation with no ana

Report Paterson, Alan M., 

Rand F. Herbert and Stephen R. Wee 

1978 A Historical Overview of California's North 

Coast Region with Particular Reference to Designated lands in Sustained Yield Unit No. 13 

CR History History of Humboldt an

including trapping, loggtransportation in assoc

Book Payen, Louis A. 1966 An Atlatl from Potter Creek Cave, Shasta 

County, California 

Unpublished manuscript SV Prehistory Discussion of an atlatl 

Cave including comparregional and cultural-te

Article Payen, Louis A. and R. 

E. Taylor 

1976 Man and Pleistocene Fauna at Potter Creek 

Cave, California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 3(1):51-58 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Data analysis at the Pocontroversy. Reported obsidian hydration on texcavation by Payen (1

Report Peak and Associates 1984 A Lithic Examination of the Collection from CASHA-1434 Peak & Associates, Inc. SV Prehistory Lithic analysis of flakes 

for the City of Redding

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 47 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Peak, Ann S. 1977 Final Report on the Test Excavations at CASHA-544, Lake Redding Estates, Shasta 

County, California 

Peak & Associates, Inc. SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

studies are limited to litissues discusses the p

Book Petersen, Edward 1965 In the Shadow of the Mountain – A Short History 

of Shasta County, California 

Self-published, Cottonwood, California 

SV History Shasta County history 

miners, and settlers of 

Report Pfilf, Julie 1995 Research Design for the 

Historical/Archaeological Investigations at CAHUM-662H, the Humboldt Harbor Lighthouse near Samoa, Humboldt County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Arcata, California 

CR History Research design for in

662H, the Humboldt Haissues: Earl Pomeroy's World Systems Theory

Patterns; Chronology; Aorganization; Ethnicity 

Article Philben, Vicki, and Eric 

Ritter 

2009 Ceramic Assemblage from the Old Shasta 

County Hospital (CA-SHA-4321H), 1855-1900 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 22 

SV History Examination of the cera

Shasta County Hospita

Thesis Pierson, Heidi K. 2008 The Historical Archaeology of Ethnicity at Two 

Mining Sites in West Redding, California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV History Thesis study of the Bird

3642H) and Double Ha1787H). Research Issuoccupied by Chinese mmining camps? 

Chapter Pilling, A.R. 1978 Yurok In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 137-154. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

CR Ethnography Discussion of the Yuro

Thesis Plyley , Stefan D. 1996 The Shasta Indians of California: A Historical 

Geography 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

Historical geography of Issues: How did the preaffect the subsistence Indians? How did the gShasta Villages and foobetween the Shasta anarrangements were mabetween the Shasta anthe post-treaty conditio

Article Pope, Saxton T. 1920 The Complete Medical History of Ishi University of California 

Publications in American 

SCF The Complete Medical 

Archaeology and Ethnology 13(5):175-213 

Article Pope, Saxton T. 1974 Hunting With Ishi - The Last Yana Indian Journal of California and Great 

Basin Anthropology 1(2):152-173 

SCF Ethnography Reprint of Saxton T. Po

Last Yana Indian". 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 48 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Praetzellis, Adrian, Mark 

D. Selverston, Mike Newland, Mark Walker, Jo Markwyn, and Robert G. Douglass 

2006 McCabe Creek Placer Mining Complex (CABUT-362/H): Evaluation and Site Technical 

Report, Oroville Facilities Relicensing FERC Project No. 2100 

Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 

KM History Brief overview of the M

Complex (CA-BUT-362Discusses six major erand 1942. 

Article Pritchard, W. E, D. M. 

Hill, Sonia R. Purcell, and Roy Purcell 

1966 The Porter Rock Shelter Site (But-S177), Butte 

County, California 

University of California Los Angeles Archaeological Survey Annual Report 8, pp. 291-315 

SN, SV Prehistory Excavations at a late-p

Valley, with projectile p

Report Raskin, Karen 2014 Archaeological Excavations at Locus 7 

Homesite in the Town of Falk and the Elk River Mill and Lumber Company, Headwaters Forest Reserve, USDI-Bureau of Land Management, Humboldt County, California 

Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University 

CR History Investigations at the He

the town of Falk. Discuprevious studies. Excabuilding analysis and h

Report Reed, Karen L. 1980 The Chinese in Tehama County: 1860-1890. 

Research Paper No. 6 

Association for Northern California Records and Research 

SV History Overview of the anti-Ch

and violence that markgeneral anti-Chinese aspecific locale of Teham

Report Reese, Elena, Will 

Anderson, Hannah Ballard, and William Shapiro 

2009 Archaeological Mitigation Report for the AGTPUD-8 Site Pacific Legacy, Inc. KM History Archaeological mitigati

complex. (also listed in 

Report Reynolds, Linda 1981 Mumbo Jumbo Archaeological Site: (FS #05-14-

59-184) A Preliminary Report 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding, California 

KM Prehistory Limited test excavation 

Mumbo Jumbo Site. Reinventory and field met

Report Reynolds, Terry S., and 

Charles Scott 

1980 Battle Creek Hydroelectric System - SV History History of the hydroele

and the expansion of hin Northern California: 

Report Rich, William 2014 A Cultural Resources Investigation for the 

Trinity River Restoration Program-Dutch Creek Phase Located in Junction City, Trinity County, California 

William Rich and Associates KM History Inventory of eight histo

(WRA-01), Lang JunkaCreek Mine (CA-TRI-7003), Munster/Myers MinMine (WRA-07), Joe HUnknown Mine (WRA-0

Report Rich, William, and 

James Roscoe 

2009 Historical Archaeological Investigations at the 

Train Engine House in the Townsite of Falk and the Elk River Mill and Lumber Company Headwaters Forest Reserve, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Humboldt County, California 

Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University 

CR History Historic investigations a

the town of Falk. Discumain engine house buiIncludes interpretation and discusses domestiworkplace alcohol cons

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 49 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Riddell, Francis 1982 Cultural Resource Review of Butte Valley 

Wildlife Area, Siskiyou County 

Department of Fish and Game UK Prehistory Twenty-four sites recor

Area, Siskiyou County. Base of hills facing the sites along creeks. No artifacts in this report. Tdescriptions and NRHP 

Chapter Riddell, Francis A. 1978 Maidu and Konkow In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 370-386. Handbook of North American Indians 8, 

SN Ethnography Maidu and Konkow eth

William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

Thesis Ritter, Eric W. 1968 Culture History of the Tie Wiah (4-But-84), 

Oroville Locality, California 

M.A. Thesis, University of California 

SN Prehistory Excavation at Tie Wiah 

Analytical studies: Obsshell bead analysis, huIssues: "...postulated ppatterns will be comparethnographic literature.

Article Ritter, Eric W. 1970 Northern Sierra Foothill Archaeology: Culture 

History and Culture Process 

Center for Archaeological Research at Davis 

SN Prehistory Cultural-historical summ

with an emphasis place

Article Ritter, Eric W. 1985 Multifaceted Research and the Enigmatic 

Shingletown Cliff Paintings of Northern California 

American Indian Rock Art 12:65-74 

SCF Prehistory Study of Shingletown c

Report Ritter, Eric W. 1986 The Historic Archaeology of a Chinese Mining 

Venture near Igo in Northern California 

Cultural Resources Report: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Inventory of historic art

mining found near Igo. 

Report Ritter, Eric W. 1987 Archaeological Test Excavations at Spider 

Rockshelter (CA-Teh-1432), Lower Mill Creek Canyon, California 

Cultural Resources Report: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Testing at CA-TEH-143

site. Analytical studies: remains, obsidian sourartifact assemblage. Rechronology; SettlemenTrade/exchange; Depo

Report Ritter, Eric W. 1989 Sheep Rock Shelter (CA-SIS-266): 

Archaeological Test Excavations in Shasta Valley 

Cultural Resources Report: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

UK Prehistory Evaluation at CA-SIS-2

Analytical studies: Lithiseed analysis, palynolosourcing and hydrationissues: Site integrity; CIdentify intact deposits. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 50 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Ritter, Eric W. 1994 An Archaeological Inventory and Evaluation for 

Select Western Tehama County Lands 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM, SV Prehistory Limited testing of six si

Analytical data: Limited analysis of Prospect CCA-030-584 (Snag VieFly Site), CA-030-586 (587 (Leather Oak ScatQuarry), and CA-030-5listed in Part II as FY19

Report Ritter, Eric W. 1996 Supplemental Report on Archaeological Site 

Testing for the Western Tehama Land Exchange Project 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Limited testing of sites 

(also listed in Part II as 

Article Ritter, Eric W. 1998 Boundary, Style and Function: Extrapolation 

from the Keno, Oregon, Pictographs 

American Indian Rock Art 25:81-101 

UK Prehistory An excellent example o

complex in southern Ofound in the Lava Beds 

Report Ritter, Eric W. 2009 Implementation of the Shasta-Yreka Road CASHA-2806 Historic Properties Treatment Plan Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California SV History Treatment plan implem

Road (CA-SHA-2806Hbackground and contexFY2010-03) 

Report Ritter, Eric W. 2011 The Middle Creek Road CA-SHA-2667H 

Historic Property Treatment Plan Implementation 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Middle Creek Road (CA

implementation. Discusassemblage. (also liste

Article Ritter, Eric W. and E.B. 

Parkman 

1992 Rock Art of the Foothills of the Northern Sierra 

Nevada Southern Cascade Range Interface 

American Indian Rock Art 18:81-104 

SCF, SN Prehistory Discussion of known pe

of the northern Sierra Nfoothills. 

Report Ritter, Eric W. and K.D. 

Tyree 

1999 Rockshelter Excavations on Hogback Ridge, 

Tehama County, California: the Archaeological Record 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Excavation of three roc

CA-TEH-1554 (B&B Ro(Blue Dick RockshelterRockshelter). Analyticaobsidian sourcing and analysis, faunal and floResearch issues: ChroSettlement/SubsistenceTrade/exchange; Site f

Report Ritter, Eric W. KD Tyree 

and Elaine Sundahl 

2013 Archaeological Resources of the West Tehama 

Land Exchange Project 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Excavation of CA-TEH

Analytical studies: Lithi

chert petrography, bloo

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 51 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Ritter, Eric W., ed. 1992 Gold and Lumber: Two Papers on Northern 

California History and Archaeology 

Cultural Resources Publications: History/Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Two papers on Norther

Archaeology. Paper 1: Investigations at the HoShasta County, Califorhistory in northern Calif030-0475 (trenches, roa granite quarry, adits aHistoric Blue Ridge FluCounties, California (DBlue Ridge Flume impo

company. 

Report Ritter, Eric W., James 

Barnes, and Barbara Woodrum 

2014 Frank and Lena's Neighborhood: Historical 

Archaeology in Rural Early 20th Century Northern California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology/History, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Twentieth century rura

specifically CA-SHA-23Discusses historic artifaIssues: Socio-political oenvironment; Industrial

Chapter Ritter, Eric, and Harvey 

L. Crew 

2008 The Multiplicity of Prehistoric Flaked Stone Tool 

Assemblages in the Northern Sacramento Valley 

In Avocados to Millingstones, 

Papers in Honor of D.L. True, edited by Georgie Waugh and Mark E. Basgall, pp. 27-50. Monographs in California and Great Basin Anthropology No. 5 Archaeological Research Center, California State University, Sacramento 

SV Prehistory Discusses surface lithic 

terraces in Redding 

Film Roberts, Magdalena 2012 A Man Called Ishi ALVA Productions, California 

State University, Chico 

SCF Biography of Ishi, the Y

Book Robertson, Donald 1998 Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History, 

Volume IV: California 

Caxton Printers, Ltd., Caldwell, 

Idaho 

CR, KM History Overview of railroads in 

operation, history of co

passenger, logging, etcand military forts, with dwithout details/landmar

Book Rocca, Al M. 1993 The Shasta Dam Boomtowns, Community 

Building in the New Deal Era 

Redding Museum of Art and History, Redding, California 

SV History Shasta Dam towns and 

Book Rocca, Al M. 1995 America’s Shasta Dam, A History of 

Construction 1936-1945 

Redding Museum of Art and History, Redding, California. 

SV History Construction of the Sha

Paper Roscoe, J. 1995 CA-HUM-513/H, A Borax Lake Pattern Site 

Located in a Coastal Setting 

Paper presented at the 29th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

CR Prehistory Society of California Ar

paper presentation of d

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 52 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Rose, Chelsea E., Katie 

Johnson, and Mark A. Tveskov 

2010 ‘On and Onwards’: A Comprehensive Study for 

the Applegate Trail, The Southern Route to Oregon 

Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, Ashland, Oregon. Prepared for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). 

UK History A Comprehensive Stud

Report Rosenthal, Jeff and 

Jack Meyer 

2009 Cultural Resources Survey and 

Geoarchaeological Investigation of the Hamilton City Flood Damage Reduction and Ecological Restoration Area, Glenn County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Prehistory Reconnaissance and g

of seven prehistoric anarchaeological sites, sihistoric-period buildingstructures, and one lan

Report Ruby, Allika 2013 Extended Phase I and Phase II Archaeological 

Investigation of CA-HUM-1157 for the Van Duzen-Peanut State Route 36 Improvement Project, Humboldt County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-HUM

Analytical studies: Artifissues: Chronology; Resettlement patterns; Litexchange and the Atha

Book Sackman, Douglas 

Cazaux 

2010 Wild Men: Ishi and Kroeber in the Wilderness of 

Modern America 

Oxford University Press SCF Ethnography Stories of Ishi and Alfre

Report Salter, John 2003 White Paper on Behalf of the Karuk Tribe of 

California: A Context Statement Concerning The Effect of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project on Traditional Resource Uses and Cultural Patterns of the Karuk People Within the Klamath River Corridor 

PacifiCorp in Connection with Federal Energy Relicensing Commission 

CR, KM Ethnography Documents Karuk triba

within the Klamath Rivehealth and salmonid reethnographic interview

Article Sapir, Edward, and 

Leslie Spier 

1943 Notes on the Culture of the Yana University of California 

Anthropological Records 3(3):252-253 

SCF Ethnography Notes on the Culture o

Report Schlichter, Alice 1981 Wintu Dictionary UC Berkeley Department of 

Linguistics 

KM, SV Ethnography Wintu dictionary. 

Article Selverston, Mark D. 2006 Historical Maidu of the Feather River Proceedings from the Society for 

California Archaeology annual meeting 19:77-82 

SN Prehistory, 

History, Ethnography 

Summarizes the poten

exploring the Konkow Mthe colonial expansion 

Report Selverston, Mark D., 

Adrian Praetzellis, and Robert G. Douglass 

2011 Forks of the Feather River Historic District, 

Historic-era Resources District Evaluation 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Historical research on 

Historic District 1830-1historic-era properties welaborating on three do

rush, settlement, and o

Report Selverston, Mark D., 

Margaret J. Markwyn, Mark Walker, Michael G. Delacorte, and Mark Basgall 

2005 Archaeological and Historical Resources 

Inventory Report, Oroville Facilities Relicensing 

FERC Project No. 2100 

Sonoma State University and California State University 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Archaeological and histotal of 478 historical, 2component sites were 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 53 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Selverston, Mark D., 

Micheal D. Newland, Robert G. Douglass, and Margaret J. Markwyn 

2011 DRAFT: Bell Ranch Placer Mining Complex (CABUT-499/H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Technical report of CA

Placer Mining Complexreport discusses the sithistoric-era componentfeatures that date to the 

Report Shackley, Steven M. 1987 US Sprint Fiber Optic Cable Project 

Archaeological Testing of Four Sites in California: CA-BUT-5, TEH-1468, SHA-1684, SIS-332 

Dames & Moore, Inc., Chico, 

California 

UK, SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-BUT-

332. Wide spatial range Lithic analysis, historic sourcing and hydrationGatherer mobility and land residential mobility

Report Shapiro, L. A., R. J. 

Jackson, A. T. Leigh, and K. C. Long 

2000 Phase II Investigations: CA-TEH-45, State 

Route 99 at Antelope Creek, Tehama County, California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc., Cameron Park, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation at CA-TEH-

Analytical studies: Lithihuman bone, shell beahydration, radiocarbon Research issues: ChroSettlement/subsistenceTechnology; Site forma

Report Shapiro, Lisa 2007 Phase III Data Recovery at Prehistoric 

Archaeological Site CA-TEH-34 for the Toomes Creek Bridge Replacement Project on State Route 99 in Tehama County, California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc., Cameron Park, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

analysis, obsidian souranalysis, paleoethnobobeads, shellfish remainChronology; settlemenmobility and ethnolinguand assemblage reconexternal relations. 

Report Shapiro, Lisa and 

Robert J. Jackson 

2001 Phase III Archaeological Investigations in the 

Eastern Locus of CA-SHA-47 for the Proposed Turtle Bay Bridge on the Sacramento River in Redding, Shasta County, California 

Pacific Legacy, Inc. SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

analysis, obsidian souranalysis, archaeobotanArchaeological ContexReconstruction of paleotechnology; Settlementorganization; External r

Article Shaw, Heidi A. and Eric 

W. Ritter 

2015 Ailments and Cures in California’s Early Shasta 

County History (1849-1900) 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 29:21-32 

SV History Review of historic-era h

through archaeological 

Report Shoup, Laurence H. 1983 An Interpretation and Assessment of the 

Significance of the Historic Cultural Properties of Redwood National Park 

- CR History Discussion of historica

resources in the park, eEarlier presentation of Dependency model use(1984). 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 54 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Chapter Silver, Shirley 1978 Chimariko In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 205-210. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

KM Ethnography Discussion of the Chim

Chapter Silver, Shirley 1978 Shastan Peoples In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 211-224. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

KM, UK Ethnography Discussion of the Shas

Article Simons, Dwight D., 

Thomas N. Layton, and Ruthann Knudson 

1985 A Fluted Point from the Mendocino County 

Coast 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 7(2):260-269 

CR Prehistory Discussion on a fluted, 

point discovered near C

Article Simpson, Glenn D. 1998 Wreckers on the Bay: The Archaeological 

Potential of Historic Shipwrecks in the Humboldt Bay Region 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 11:135-140 

CR History Predictive modeling for 

historic shipwrecks with

Report Sinclair, William 1904 The Exploration of the Potter Creek Cave University Press SV Prehistory Excavations at Potter C

quaternary fauna and b

Book Smith, C. E., and W. D. 

Weymouth 

1952 Archaeology of the Shasta Dam Area, California Reports of the University of 

California Archaeological Survey 18. University of California, Berkeley 

SV Prehistory Excavation of three site

(Site 22, Site 21, and SLithic analysis, beads (remains. 

Chapter Smith, Dottie 1992 The Historic Blue Ridge Flume of Shasta and 

Tehama Counties, California 

In Gold and Lumber: Two Papers 

on Northern California History and Archaeology. Cultural Resources Publications: 

SV History A study of the construc

logging practices, like tin the Shasta/Tehama 

History/Archaeology. Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

Report Smith, Dottie 1997 Historical Overview of the Western Tehama 

County Foothills 

Cultural Resources Publications: History, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History History of western Teh

lands. Discussion on plogging, agriculture, live

Report Smith, Dottie and E. W. 

Ritter 

1995 Historic Data Inventory of the Shasta County 

Interlakes Special Recreation Management Area 

Cultural Resources Publications: History, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Discussion of mining (g

hydroelectric developmlists and describes >16Information on Shasta Project. 

Article Smith, Sheli O. 2006 The Archaeological Survey of the Shipwreck 

Frolic 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 19:43-48 

CR History Archaeological survey 

Frolic at Point Cabrillo 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 55 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Snyder, Devin 2014 Evaluating the Validity of The Chico Regional 

Cultural Chronology: Radiocarbon and Obsidian Analysis at Three Late Period Village Sites 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Radiocarbon and obsid

CA-BUT-7 and CA-BUTthe Chico cultural sequchronology building. Rathe Chico Complex, hodoes not. 

Article Spier, Leslie 1930 Klamath Ethnography University of California 

Publications in American 

KM, UK Ethnography Ethnography of the Kla

Archaeology and Ethnology 30 

Chapter Stern, T. 1998 Klamath and Modoc In Plateau, edited by D. E. 

Walker, pp. 446-466. Handbook of North American Indians 12, W. C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

UK Prehistory Discussion of the Klam

Article Stewart, Suzanne 2006 They Came to Stay: Post-Gold Rush Settlement 

at the Forks of the Feather River 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 19:97-102 

SN History Comparison of researc

rush historic-era sites (194/H, -2522/H). 

Report Stewart, Suzanne B., 

and David A. Fredrickson (eds) 

1979 A Cultural Resources Survey of the Round 

Valley Indian Reservation, Mendocino and Trinity Counties, California 

National Park Service KM Prehistory Archaeological survey 

Reservation near Cove

Article Strayer, Sandra 2011 Ribar High 2 Ground Stone Tool Analysis Proceedings from the Society for 

California Archaeology annual meeting 25 

CR Prehistory Ground stone tool anal

archaeology in Humbo

Paper Strumpf, Gary D. 1998 Gold Mining in Siskiyou County 1850-1900 Occasional Paper No. 2. Siskiyou 

County Historical Society, Yreka, California 

UK History Inventory and descripti

County. 

Report Sullivan, N. 1990 Black Butte Lake, The Human Biology of 

Cemetery 2, CA-TEH-10 

Hornet Foundation, California State University, Sacramento 

SV Prehistory Excavation of 269 hum

Cemetery 2. Analytical paleodemography, skepathology, craniometric

Report Sullivan, Tammy, Eric 

W. Ritter, Richard Silva, James Barnes, John Hitchock, Richard Jenkins, James Rock, Claude Singleton, Kathleen Moody, Larry Alexander, and Ann Wagner 

2005 An Archaeological Study of the Yreka Trail, 

Siskiyou County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Northern California Resource Center, US Forest Service, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and Siskiyou County Historical Society 

UK History Collaborative study of t

Road between BLM, FoResource Center. "Surdefinition of the Yreka Tdifferent reasons why ihistory..." 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 56 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Paper Sundahl, Elaine 1976 Churn Creek: A Possible Early Lithic Locality in 

Shasta County, California 

Paper presented at the 10th annual meeting of the Society for California Archaeology 

SV Prehistory Society of California Ar

paper presentation of aCreek in Shasta Count

Thesis Sundahl, Elaine 1982 The Shasta Complex in the Redding Area, 

California 

Department of Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Thesis study of CA-SH

Shasta Complex sites. analysis (projectile poinartifacts, obsidian sourradiocarbon data, buria"A hypothetical model fthe Shasta Complex peon archaeological, ethnstudies" 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1985 Archaeological Investigations at the 

Spattercone Site (FS 05-14-61-308) in the Medicine Lake Highlands Northeastern California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

UK Prehistory Damage evaluation of 

Spattercone site. Analysourcing and hydrationissues: Site function; Cof Grasshopper Flat ob

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1985 An Archaeological Evaluation of the MumboJumbo Site (CA-TRI-622) in Northern California Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California KM Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TRI-6

Mumbo Creek. Analyticstratigraphy, obsidian hResearch issues: Chrodistribution; Cultural aff

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1986 Cultural Resources of the Shasta Lake Pool 

Area, Shasta County, California 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Survey of the Shasta Lsites recorded. 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1986 Archaeological Investigations in the Jones 

Valley Area of Shasta Lake, Shasta County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Impact assessment at 

Pasture site (FS 05-14Obsidian sourcing and historic artifact assembEffects of inundation on 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1987 Archaeological Testing on Cable Creek, South 

Fork Mountain Sites 05-14-52-375 and 05-14-52-406, Trinity County, California 

Hayfork Ranger District, Shasta Trinity National Forests 

KM Prehistory Testing at 05-14-52-37

Creek. Analytical data: hydration and sourcing Chronology, cultural sesettlement/subsistencehigh elevation sites. 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1988 Cox Bar (CA-TRI-1008): A Borax Lake Pattern 

Site on the Trinity River, Trinity County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

KM Prehistory Borax Lake Pattern on 

(CA-TRI-1008). AnalytiGeoarchaeological studhydration, lithic assembChronology; PaleoenviSubsistence patterns; E

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 57 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1990 Test Excavations at CA-SHA-499, The 

Chirpchatter Site, Shasta County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Testing at CA-SHA-499

Analytical studies: Lithiobsidian sourcing and 

Article Sundahl, Elaine 1992 Cultural Patterns and Chronology in the 

Northern Sacramento River Drainage 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 5:89-112 

SV Prehistory Review of archaeologic

patterns and chronologValley. 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1992 Archaeological Investigations in the Squaw 

Creek Drainage, Shasta County, California, Vol. 1: Overview 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF, SV Prehistory Synthesis of excavatio

499 (The Chirpchatter 

537, CA-SHA-864 (The 1598, CA-SHA-1601 (HSHA-1870 by the Shasclasses. Analytical studobsidian sourcing and Chronology; Settlemenprocurement; Cultural iboundaries; HypotheticSquaw Creek Drainage

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1993 Archaeological Excavations in the Bend Area, 

Tehama County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

TEH-1526. Analytical shydration, radiocarbon residue analysis, lithic Research issues: Chrorelationships. 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1996 West Redding Archaeological Project: CA-SHA1556 and CA-SHA-1738, the Quartz Hill Sites Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

SHA-1738 (Quartz Hill Radiocarbon data, obsfaunal analysis, shell aComparison of the makelements of artifact asssufficient differences in economic strategies bepeoples occupying the differences in toxemic 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 58 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1997 Archaeological Investigation into the Prehistory 

of the McCloud River, Shasta and Siskiyou Counties, California 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1998 West Redding Archaeological Project: 

Excavations at CA-SHA-1991, Shasta County, California 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 1999 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA2611/H, The Moccasin Creek Site 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 2001 Archaeological Investigations at CA-TEH-1783, 

The Jelly Mound Site 

Book Sundahl, Elaine 2004 Archaeological Investigations at CA-TEH-847, 

Upper Massacre Mound 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 2006 CA-SHA-484: A Wintu Village on Stillwater 

Creek 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-1

SIS-595 (FS 05-14-61-1614 (FS 05-14-61-441 1751 (FS 05-14-61-452SIS-1619 (FS 05-14-61597 (FS 05-14-61-44 FSIS-593 (FS 05-14-61-(FS 05-14-61-32 Ash C14-61-8 Ah-Di-Na). Anahydration, radiocarbon faunal remains, lithic aChronology; Economic Ethnic migration; CultuRiver. 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Obsidian sourcing and protein residue analyseanalysis. Research isspatterns; Ethnic/culturaModels of cultural histo

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation at CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: Lithiand hydration, radiocaranalysis. Research issuEconomic use patterns

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Test excavations at CA

site. Analytical studies: analysis (including sheResearch Issues: Cultuidentity; Site function a

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Analytical studies: Obsradiocarbon data, faunChronology; Economic relationships; TechnoloRitual use; Intersite cul

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SHA-Analytical studies: Lithiassemblage. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 59 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Sundahl, Elaine 2009 Archaeological Investigations at CA-TEH-1781, 

The Lost Salmon Site 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

Analytical studies: Obs

radiocarbon data, botabead, lithic analysis. ReEconomic, Settlement relationships; Spatial aRitual use; Inter-site cu

Report Sundahl, Elaine, and 

Eric W. Ritter 

1997 West Redding Archaeological Project: Chinese 

and Native American Occupations at CA-SHA1544/H and CA-SHA-1969/H 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluations at two mul1544/H, CA-SHA-1969use and mining-related habitation by Overseas Investigations carried oCollege Cooperative A

Report Sundahl, Elaine, and 

Gay Berrien 

1986 Test Excavations at two Prehistoric Sites (FS 

05-14-54-127 and FS 05-14-54-130) on the Big Bar District, Shasta-Trinity National Forests 

U.S. Forest Service KM Prehistory Test excavation of two 

the Squaw Camp Site 14-54-130). Analytical obsidian sourcing and 

Report Sundahl, Elaine, and S. 

E. Clewett 

1988 Test Excavations at CA-SIS-888, Butte Valley 

Wildlife Area, Northeastern California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

UK Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SIS-8

Wildlife Area. Analytica

and hydration, radiocar

Report Sundahl, Elaine, and S. 

E. Clewett 

1991 Archaeological Investigations in the Salt Creek 

Drainage, Shasta County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies: Obsdata. Research issues: Subsistence Patterns. Ritter on glass trade be

Article Sundahl, Elaine, and 

Winfield Henn 

1993 Borax Lake Pattern Assemblages on the ShastaTrinity National Forests, North-Central California Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 15(1):73-90 KM, SV Prehistory Comparison of the arch

Trinity area with "Borax 

Article Sundahl, Elaine, Eric W. 

Ritter, and Bruce H. Baxter 

2000 St. Rose Catholic Church, French Gulch, 

California: An Archaeological Investigation 

Publications of the Shasta College Museum 1 

SV History Salvage archaeology o

damaged by a fire in 19discusses the inventory 

Report Sundahl, Elaine, Trudy 

Vaughan, K. D. Tyree and Rebecca Newland 

2001 Archaeological Investigations at Crestline 

Damnation Prehistoric Site 

Coyote and Fox Enterprises, 

Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Analytical studies are lstudies and lithic analy

Article Swezey, Sean L. and 

Robert F. Heizer 

1977 Ritual Management of Salmonid Fish 

Resources in California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 4(1):2-29 

KM Ethnography Review of northern Ca

to anadromous fish. 

Thesis Tamez, S. 1981 An Archaeological Overview of the North Coast 

Range and Northwestern California 

M.A. Thesis, San Francisco State University 

CR Prehistory Cultural resources ove

Coast Ranges, emphasand development of symodels and site typolog

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 60 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Texier, Bruno J., Mark 

D. Selverston, and Margaret J. Markwyn 

2013 Stone House Bar and Deep Gulch Placer Mine 

(CA-BUT-2569H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

and Deep Gulch PlaceBend portion of the Notechnical report discussevaluation of 29 histori

Report Texier, Bruno J., Robert 

G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2009 Cummings-Eakle Hop Ranch Complex (CABUT-1940H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

gold minding in the mid

SV History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Ranch Complex. Historeport discusses the evcomplex. 

Report Texier, Bruno J., Robert 

G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Hutchinson/Feather River Railway Lumber 

Railroad (CA-BUT-1889H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Hutchinson/Feather Rivon the north side of the The technical report disevaluation of the abandassociated features wh

Report Texier, Bruno J., Robert 

G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2015 Fischer Homestead Complex and Placer Mine 

(CA-BUT-393/H, Formerly CA-BUT-2652/H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

logging and lumber railLumber Company. 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Homestead Complex aOregon City. Technicahistory and the evaluat

a mid-19th to early-20t

Report Theodoratus Cultural 

Research 

1980 Cultural/Historical Overview: Six Rivers National 

Forest 

Theodoratus Cultural Research. Prepared for Six Rivers National Forest, Eureka, California 

scale mining occupatio

CR Prehistory History, ethnography, a

research in the Six Riv

Report Theodoratus Cultural 

Research 

1981 Native American Cultural Overview, ShastaTrinity National Forest Theodoratus Cultural Research. Prepared for Shasta-Trinity 

National Forest, Redding, California 

KM Prehistory Major literature review 

Forest, focused on the range of resource type

Report Theodoratus Cultural 

Research 

1984 Ethnographic Inventory for Public Law 95-341, 

North Central California 

Theodoratus Cultural Research. Prepared for Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

KM, UK, Ethnography Ethnography and ethno

SCF, SN, SV Nomlaki, Wintu, Shasta

Indians, Yana, and perKarok, Lassik, Nongatl

Report Tibbetts, Deborah 2016 A Study of Historic Transportation Routes in 

Tehama County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF, SV History A study of transportatio

County. Such routes inLassen trail in associat

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 61 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Tiley, Shelly 2011 Rebuttal to the Beckham Report Regarding the 

Mechoopda Indians 

Tiley Consulting; Edited by Far 

Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

SV Ethnography Rebuttal to the argume

(2006) that the MechooRancheria is not a "Tribreferences to the Mechcontact and post-conta

occupation. 

Report Tiley, Shelly, and 

Shannon Tushingham 

2011 Native American Ethnogeography, Traditional 

Resources, and Contemporary Communities and Concerns—Cultural Resources Inventory of Caltrans District 1 Rural Conventional Highways: Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Lake Counties 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR, KM Ethnography Native American Ethno

1 (Del Norte, HumboldtCounties). Research isLinguistic distribution aEthnogeography; TradContemporary commun

Article Todt, Donn L., and Nan 

Hannon 

1998 Plant Food Resource Ranking on the Upper 

Klamath River of Oregon and California: A Methodology with Archaeological Applications 

Journal of Ethnobiology 18:273-308 

UK Ethnography Ethnographic, biogeog

experimental data used food resources at precoRiver. 

Report Tordoff, Judith D. and 

Dana McGowan Seldner 

1987 Dutch Gulch Lake Excavation at Thirteen 

Historic Sites in the Cottonwood Mining District 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento 

SV History Excavations at the Cot

complex. 

Report Tordoff, Judith D., Mary 

L. Maniery 

1986 Analysis, Evaluation, Effect Determination and 

Mitigation Plan for Two Chinese Mining Sites in Butte County, California 

Public Anthropological Research SN History Evaluation of two 19th 

CA-BUT-882 and CA-Bhistoric artifact assembResearch Issues: EthnAcculturation/assimilatcultural contact; Subsisorganization; technolog

Report Tordoff, Judith D., Mary 

L. Maniery 

1989 Data Recovery at Two Mining Sites in Butte 

County, California 

PAR Environmental Services, 

Inc., Sacramento, California 

SN History Data Recovery of two 1

sites, CA-BUT-882 and 

historic artifact assembResearch Issues: Chroorganization; Accultura

Report Tordoff, Judy 2013 Historic Context for Mining along the Trinity 

River 

AECOM KM History Examination of Trinity R

Book Treganza, Adan E. 1954 Salvage Archaeology in Nimbus and Redbank 

Reservoir Areas, Central California 

Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey 26. University of California, Berkeley 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology a

58 at the Nimbus and Rstudies: Lithic analysisnut, glass), human remdescription and excava

Report Treganza, Adan E. 1957 Archaeological Investigations at the William B. 

Ide Adobe, Red Bluff, California 

University of California MS #260. Berkeley 

SV History Archaeological investig

Adobe in Redbluff, Cal

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 62 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Treganza, Adan E. 1958 Salvage Archaeology in the Trinity Reservoir 

Area, Northern California 

Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey 43. University of California, Berkeley 

KM Prehistory Salvage excavation res

CA-TRI-70, CA-TRI-11out as early as 1952. Sexcavation results. 

Report Treganza, Adan E. 1959 Salvage Archaeology in the Trinity Reservoir 

Area, Northern California: Field Season 1958 

Reports of the University of California Archaeological Survey 46. University of California, Berkeley 

KM Prehistory Salvage excavation res

CA-TRI-70, CA-TRI-11includes site descriptiostudies. Expansion of eTreganza 1958. 

Report Treganza, Adan E. 2001 Salvage Archaeology Along Clear Creek and 

Cow Creek, Shasta County, California 

Archives of California Archaeology no. 27 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology o

CA-SHA-184 and CA-SBurial analysis, lithic ananalysis. 

Report Treganza, Adan E., and 

Martin H. Heicksen 

1960 Salvage Archaeology in the Whiskeytown 

Reservoir Area and the Wintu Pumping Plant, Shasta County, California 

Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State College, San Francisco, California, Bethany College 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology a

and Anderson Area, CoReservoir Area (CA-TEassemblage, burial anaMortuary practices disc

Book Treganza, Adan E., 

Martin Heickson, and Wallace Woolfenden 

1969 The Archaeology of the Black Butte Reservoir 

Region, Glenn and Tehama Counties, California 

San Francisco State College Anthropology Museum: Occasional Paper 2 

SV Prehistory Salvage archaeology in 

region at CA-GLE-10, C

descriptions and discusequipment. 

Report Treganza, Adan E., 

Robert L. Edwards, and Thomas F. King 

1967 Archaeological Survey and Excavations along 

the Tehama Colusa Canal, Central California 

Frederic Burk Foundation for Education and the US National Park Service, Western Region 

SV Prehistory Excavation of sites (CA

TEH-22, CA-TEH-23) aCanal. Analytical studie

and human remains an

Report Treganza, Adan, C.E. 

Smith, and W.D. Weymouth 

1950 An Archaeological survey of the Yuki Area University of California 

Anthropological Records 12: 113-128 

KM Prehistory Archeological survey o

times. Includes the Edevalleys of the Eel Riverpatterns, house pits, quornaments, and burials

Article Treganza, Aden E. 1964 An Ethno-archaeological Examination of 

Samwel Cave. 

Cave Studies 12 SV Prehistory Examination of Samwe

Book Tucker, Wilma and Don 

Tucker 

1992 Mendocino - From the Beginning: Twenty Million 

Years of History of a Small Town 

- CR History Overview of the History 

Article Tushingham, Shannon 2005 An Ancient Campground Redwood Currents CR Prehistory A local prehistory of the 

State Park River for the 

Thesis Tushingham, Shannon 2009 The Development of Intensive Foraging 

Systems in Northwestern California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR, SV Prehistory Dissertation on intensiv

on salmon fishing and northwestern California

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 63 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Tushingham, Shannon 2013 Archaeology, Ethnography, and Tolowa 

Heritage at Red Elderberry Place, Chvn-su'lhdvn, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park 

California Department of Parks and Recreation Archaeology, History and Museums Divisions, Publication Number 30, Sacramento 

CR, KM Prehistory Tolowa, history and the

from a single locality wRedwoods State Park (TcuncuLtun), or Red E

Article Tushingham, Shannon 

and Colin Christiansen 

2015 Native American Fisheries of the Northwestern 

California and Southwestern Oregon Coast: A Synthesis of Fish-Bone and Implications for Late Holocene Storage and Socio-Economic Organization 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 35(2):189-216 

CR Prehistory Synthesis of fish bone 

located in southwesterCalifornia. 

Article Tushingham, Shannon 

and Robert L. Bettinger 

2013 Why Foragers Choose Acorns before Salmon: 

Modeling Back-loaded vs. Front-loaded Resources 

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 32:527-537 

CR Prehistory Poster comparing back

(acorn vs. salmon) reso

Article Tushingham, Shannon 

and Jennifer Bencze 

2013 Macro and Micro Scale Signatures of HunterGatherer Organization at the Coastal Sites of 

Point St. George, Northwestern Alta California 

California Archaeology 5(1):37-77 CR Prehistory Quantitative assessme

Richard Gould's 1966 mcomponents at CA-DNtwo different adaptive sforaging system in the village-based system in 

Article Tushingham, Shannon, 

Amy M. Spurling, and Timothy R. Carpenter 

2013 The Sweetwater Site: Archaeological 

Recognition of Surf Fishing and Temporary Smelt Camps on the North Coast of California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 33(1):25-38 

CR Prehistory Archaeological evidenc

construction of temporaDNO-22, CA-DNO-3351031, CA-DNO-1032, CSmelt procurement couresearch. 

Report Tushingham, Shannon, 

William Hildebrandt, Julie Garibaldi, and Allika Ruby 

2008 Archaeological Test Excavations and Sensitivity 

Assessment for Jedediah Smith Campground, Redwood National and State Parks, Del Norte County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR Prehistory Test excavations of at 

campground (CA-DNO333, CA-DNO-334, CANorte county. Analyticaobsidian hydration and floral and faunal remainChronology; Regional suse of interior rivers); Dforaging systems; Houssystems; Cultural contihistoric period. 

Report Tveskov, Mark, Kelly 

Derr, Nicole Norris, and Richard Silva 

2001 Archaeological Investigations of the Siskiyou 

Trail: Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Jackson County Oregon 

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Southern Oregon University 

UK History Survey of the Siskiyou 

Oregon-California Trail(1920s), The First AmeRush and State of JeffeTransportation (i.e. railArchaeological survey National Monument. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 64 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Tyler, Kathy and Eric 

Ritter 

2013 McAdams Deadwood Chinese Mining Camp CASIS-5097 Northern California Resource Center UK History Excavation at McAdam

Camp, CA-SIS-5097H. assemblage archival aIssues: Chronology; Spuse; Dietary/subsistencConsumer choices; IndAcculturation/assimilat

organization/demograpage; Health and hygienDraft report with many 

Thesis Tyree, Kathleen D. 1992 Debitage Variation as a Measure of Adaptive 

Strategy: A Study of Three Lithic Assemblages from Shasta County, California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

SV Prehistory Analysis of debitage te

"Shasta Complex" and CA-SHA-992 (Hartnell)CA-SHA-266 (Middle Mobjective proposes an 

Report Tyree, Kathleen D. and 

Elaine Sundahl 

2002 Prehistory of CA-SHA-1544, The Middle Mule 

Pond Site, Shasta County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Site, midden deposit. Aanalysis, soil/sediment analysis, faunal analysanalysis, radiocarbon, sourcing. Research isssubsistence; Ethno-lingstrategies. 

Report URS 2008 Historical Archaeological Evaluation Report for 

CA-SHA-4169/H, -4171H, and -4172/H, Buckhorn Grade Improvement Project, Shasta and Trinity Counties 

URS Corporation KM History CA-SHA-4169/H (Gree

4171H (Double Heade4172/H (Sawpit Gulch Remington Homesteadassemblage and featurTechnology; Historical cultural groups; WomePolicy. 

Report Van Bueren, Thad M. 2013 Archaeological Investigations near the Northern 

Outpost of the Mendocino Reservation in Mendocino County, California 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State 

CR Prehistory, 

History 

Analyzes collection frothe archaeological inve

1855-1866 Mendocino CA-MEN-455H, CA-ME3581H). 

Other Van Dyke, Walter 1891 Early Days in Klamath Overland Monthly 17:104 Second 

Series 

CR History Description of lifeways 

California in the 1880's Dyke. 

Report Van Tilburg, Jo Anne, 

Frank Bock and A.J. Bock 

1987 The Church Rock Petroglyph Site: Field 

Documentation and Preliminary Analysis 

Occasional Papers of the Redding Museum No. 4 pp.66 

SV Prehistory Discusses the rock art 

Rock Petroglyph Site. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 65 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1981 The Archaeology of the Hazel Creek 

Multicomponent Site, F. S. # 05-14-59-238 

Mt. Shasta Ranger District, 

Shasta Trinity National Forest 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Mitigation of FS 05-14-Discusses excavation shistoric components. 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1982 Partial Mitigation, Rattlesnake Hill Aboriginal 

Site, F. S. # 05-14-59-209 

Mt. Shasta Ranger District, 

Shasta Trinity National Forest 

SV Prehistory Mitigation of FS 05-14-

Discusses lithic analysdiagnostic obsidian frag

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1983 Archaeological Investigations at the Racetrack 

(CA-TRI-243), South Fork Mountain, Trinity County, California 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding, California 

KM Prehistory Investigations at CA-TR

obsidian hydration and 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1984 The Archaeology of the Salt Flat Ethnohistoric 

Complex, (CA-TRI-862), Trinity County, California 

Shasta College Archaeology Laboratory 

KM Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Limited testing at CA-TComplex, a multicompoAnalytical studies: Lithiremains, historic artifaccloth etc.) 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1985 Historical Archaeology on the Lamoine Lumber 

and Trading Company Railroad Logging System, Shasta County, California 

Mt. Shasta Ranger District, 

Shasta Trinity National Forest 

SV History -

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1985 Archaeological Investigations at Two Historic 

Camps of the McCloud River Lumber Company and the McCloud River Railroad 

Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Redding, California 

SV History National Register evalu

railroad logging camps County. 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1986 Archaeological Investigations at a Sacramento 

River Mining Camp (CA-SHA-1450), Shasta County, California 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Small-scale excavation 

mining camp; no reseaevaluation. 

Report Vaughan, Trudy 1992 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-47 

and CA-SHA-236 on the Sacramento River, Redding, Shasta County, California 

Coyote and Fox Enterprises, 

Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Testing at two sites (CA

Includes flotation result

Report Vaughan, Trudy 2001 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-2830, 

The Win River Casino Site, at the Redding Rancheria, Redding, Shasta County, California 

Coyote and Fox Enterprises, 

Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Test excavations of a S

including human remai

Report Vaughan, Trudy and 

Elaine Sundahl 

2002 Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-891 in 

the McConnell Arboretum of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, Redding, Shasta County, California 

Coyote and Fox Enterprises, 

Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

analysis, obsidian hydrissues: Site integrity anSubsistence. 

Chapter Vaughan, Trudy and 

Eric W. Ritter 

1992 Historical and Archaeological Investigations of 

the Horsetown Mining Complex, Shasta County, California

In Gold and Lumber: Two Papers 

on Northern California History and Archaeology, Cultural Resources Publications: 

SV History Historical and Archaeo

Horsetown Mining ComCalifornia discusses goCalifornia with evidenc

History/Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

(trenches, rock work, a quarry, adits and tailing

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 66 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Vaughan, Trudy, Elaine 

Sundahl, and Eric W. Ritter 

2011 Leopardman Archaeology: Test Investigations 

at CA-SHA-2048 West of Round Mountain, Shasta County, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF Prehistory Evaluation of CA-SHA-

Obsidian sourcing and stratigraphy, lithic analyfunction; Cultural-historcultural materials matc

Report Vaughan, Trudy, Elaine 

Sundahl, and K.D. Tyree 

1994 Archaeological Test Excavation at CA-SHA2027, Nobles Trail Road, Shasta County, 

California 

Coyote & Fox Enterprises, 

Redding, California 

SV Prehistory Test excavation at CA-

Nobels Trail Road. Anaanalysis and obsidian s

Report Waechter, Sharon A. 

and D. Craig Young 

2015 Archaeological Evaluation Report for Site CASIS-329 for the Randolph C. Collier SRRA 

Water/Waste Water Project (Water/Sewer; EA 02-4E670; EFIS 0212000031-0) and OSHA Break Room (EA 02-4G300; EFIS 0213000099-0) 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

UK Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-SIS-3analysis, faunal analyssouring and hydration, issue: First long-term hCanyon; Timing of Incrfishing; Establishment Prehistoric/ethnohistorAbandonment of perma

Report Waechter, Sharon A. 

and Thomas M. Origer 

1992 Archaeological Investigations at Pilil (CA-MEN1793), on the Black Butte River, Mendocino 

National Forest 

Consulting Archaeologists, Cotati, California 

KM Prehistory Small excavation at CA

Butte River. Includes oanalysis. 

Report Walker, Mark K. and 

Michael Delacorte 

2015 Supplemental Archaeological and Historical 

Resources Inventory Report, Oroville Facilities Relicensing FERC Project No. 2100 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Archaeological and hisLake Oroville. 

Report Walker, Mark K., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, and Mark D. Selverston 

2011 DRAFT: John McKinstry Smith Ranch Complex 

(CA-BUT-2522/H and CA-BUT-1861H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Technical report of CA

2522/H. Discusses the components of the Johcentury ranch complex

Report Walker, Mark K., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, and Mark D. Selverston 

2011 DRAFT: Frerichs Homestead Complex (CABUT-194/H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Technical report on site the historic-era componearly-20th century artifacomplex of Ludwig and 

Report Walker, Mark K., M. 

Phil, Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2011 DRAFT: Hubbard Flat Ethnohistoric Settlement 

and Goat Ranch Complex (CA-BUT-448/H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Settlement and Goat Rreport of the site history era component, a agricdating as early as 1850

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Bruno J. Texier, Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Craig Area Logger Artifact Deposits (CA-BUT2395H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Artifact Deposits, locate

Area. The technical repthe elation of mid-20th 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 67 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, and Mark D. Selverston 

2013 Gray Boy Chromite Mine (CA-BUT-2116H): Site 

Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Chromite Mine, on the Feather River. The techhistory and elation of thbriefly during World Wa

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, and Mark D. Selverston 

2013 Lime Saddle Placer Mining Complex (CA-BUT1559H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Placer Mining ComplexMemorial Park on the WThe technical report disevaluation of a late 19tsluicing complex. 

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2013 Loafer Creek Tributary Placer Mine (CA-BUT1879H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Tributary Placer Mine. the site history and eva

placer mining operation

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2013 Big Bend Mining Tunnel Outlet and Labor Camp 

(CA-BUT-1986H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN History Evaluation of CA-BUT-

Tunnel Outlet and LaboCanyon. The technical history and evaluation between 1882 and 188

Report Walker, Mark M., M. 

Phil, Margaret J. Markwyn, Robert G. Douglass, and Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Edel Consolidated Mining Complex and 

Jackson Bar Isolated Dwelling (CA-BUT1886/H): Site Technical Report 

Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University 

SN Prehistory, 

History 

Evaluation of CA-BUT-Consolidated Mining CIsolated Dwelling, downThe technical report disevaluation of the histormining-related features 1940. 

Report Walker, Mark M., Robert 

G. Douglass, Margaret J. Markwyn, and Mark D. Selverston 

2014 Potter Ravine Mining Complex (CA-BUT391/H): Site Technical Report Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University SN History Technical report of CA

Mining Complex, locateRavine Creek. The repand evaluation of the hcomplex of 13 loci of m

Chapter Wallace, William J. 1978 Hupa, Chilula, Whilkut In California, edited by Robert F. 

Heizer, pp. 164-179. Handbook of North American Indians 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 

CR, KM Ethnography Discussion of the Hupa

culture. 

Article Washburn, Dorothy K. 1987 A Neighbor Factor: Basket Designs in Northern 

and Central California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 9(2):146-173 

CR, KM, UK, SCF, SN, SV 

Prehistory, Ethnography 

Analysis of basket desCalifornia. 

Article Waterman, T. T. 1917 Ishi, the Last Yahi Indian Southern Workman 46:528-537 SN Ethnography Biography of Ishi, a Ya

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 68 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Article Waterman, T. T. 1920 Yurok Geography University of California 

Publications in American 

CR Ethnography Ethnography and geog

Archaeology and Ethnology 16(5):177-314 

Report Waugh, Georgie 1995 Historic Property Survey Report Proposed 

Bridge Replacement and Curve Realignment on State Highway 36 in Tehama County, California 

California Department of Transportation 

SV Prehistory Evaluation of CA-TEH-

TEH-679), occupationastudies: Obsidian sourcradiocarbon dating, fauassemblage, and lithic Chronology; Economic patterning; Ethnic affilia

Report Wee, Stephen 1980 Brief Historical Overview of Interior Humboldt 

and Mendocino Counties. In Levulett, Valerie A., Talbot B. Ruhstaller, and Linda A. Bell (1980). Class III Inventory of Northwestern California Timber Tracts Within Sustained Yield 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR, KM History Historical overview of in

Mendocino Counties. 

Report Wee, Stephen R. and 

Julia Costello 

2001 Historic Roads, Mine Tailings, and Water 

Systems in Lower Oregon Gulch 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

KM History Evaluation of historic-e

(Pawtucket Ditch), CA-20), and CA-TRI-1569Hdescriptions and artifacissues: Mining sites; W

Report Weitze, Karen J. 1981 Historic Research Evaluation Report, 

Sacramento River Canyon 

Caltrans District 2, Redding, 

California 

SV History Relatively detailed histo

limited to the project arSouthern, north of RedRiver). Calls out severathemes relevant to the potential historic-era siwagon roads, railroads

Thesis Welch, James R. 2000 Sprouting Valley: An Historical Ethnobotany of 

the Potter Valley Pomo Based on Research by Dr. John W. Hudson 

M.A. Thesis, Department of 

Interdisciplinary Studies (Ethnobotany), Sonoma State University 

KM Ethnography Study of John W. Huds

study of Potter Valley PResearch issues addrerelationship s between 

Book Welch, James R. 2013 Sprouting Valley: Historical Ethnobotany of the 

Northern Pomo from Potter Valley, California 

Department of Geography, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas 

KM Ethnography Historical ethnobotany 

Discusses reconstructi

knowledge, cultural and historical encounters. LValley Pomo plants, plaand applications. 

Book Wells and Chambers 1882 History of Butte County Harry L. Wells, San Francisco SV History History of Butte County

Book Wells, Harry L. 1881 History of Siskiyou County, California D. J. Stewart & Co., Oakland KM History History of Siskiyou Cou

Thesis Wheeler, Barbara 1994 A Functional Analysis of the McKee Uniface in 

Northern California 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Chico 

CR, KM, UK, SV 

Prehistory Functionality of the Mc

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 69 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Paper Whistler, Kenneth W. 1977 Wintun Prehistory: An Interpretation Based on 

Linguistic Reconstruction of Plant and Animal Nomenclatures 

Proceedings of the 3rd annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society 

KM, SV Prehistory Paper presented on W

nomenclatures. 

Chapter Whistler, Kenneth W. 1979 Linguistic Prehistory in the Northwest California 

Culture Area 

In A Study of Cultural Resources in Redwood National Park pp.11-26, edited by P Bickal 

CR Prehistory Linguistics of prehistor

Report Whitaker, Adrian R. 2006 2005 Archaeological Investigations in the King 

Range National Conservation Area 

University of California, Davis CR Prehistory Investigations at five si

300, CA-HUM-278, CAthe King Range NationAnalytical studies: Lithiobsidian hydration and (mammal, bird, shellfisDocumentation of coassites; Marine versus tetime. 

Thesis Whitaker, Adrian R. 2008 The Role of Human Predation in the Structuring 

of Prehistoric Prey Populations in Northwestern California 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

CR Prehistory Dissertation creating a 

dynamics of mussel, sehuman predation. Testarchaeological data froHumboldt County. 

Report Whitaker, Adrian R. 2009 Data Recovery Report for the Punta Gorda 

Rockshelter, A Well Preserved Coastal Shell Midden in Humboldt County, California 

University of California, Davis CR Prehistory Data recovery at the Pu

Humboldt county. Analbone tool artifacts, faunshellfish, bird), and radissues: Chronology; Hupopulations 

Article Whitaker, Adrian R. 2009 Are Deer Really Susceptible to Resource 

Depression? Modeling Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) Populations Under Human Predation 

California Archaeology 1:93-108 CR Prehistory Discusses consequenc

deer populations. 

Report Whitaker, Adrian, and 

Shannon Tushingham 

2011 Archaeological Boundary Testing and Site 

Stabilization Plan at the Point Saint George Management Area, Del Norte County, California 

Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., Davis, California 

CR Prehistory Evaluation of the Point 

Area (CA-DNO-11). Andata, lithic analysis, fauarchaeobotanical, and issues: Regional settleforaging systems; HousPrehistoric exchange son pinniped and mollus

Article Whitaker, Adrian, and 

Shannon Tushingham 

2014 Quantitative Assessment of EthnographicallyIdentified Activity Areas at the Point Saint 

George Site (CA-DNO-11) and the Validity of Ethnographic Analogy 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 34(1):1-16 

CR Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Test the validity of ethnarchaeological record aDNO-11). 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 70 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Chapter Report Report Report Article 

Whitaker, Adrian, and William R. Hildebrandt 

2011 

Whitaker, Adrian, Tod Hildebrandt, and Christopher Kimsey 

2011 

Whitaker, Adrian, William R. Hildebrandt, and Michael Darcangelo 

2009 

White, Gregory G. 1989 White, Gregory G. 1991 

Why were Northern Fur Seals Spared in Northern California? A Cultural and Archaeological Explanation Archaeological Testing and Mitigation at Six 

Sites along the PG&E Garberville-Laytonville 60kV Transmission Line, Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, California Data Recovery Report for the Fountain Slide Repair Project, CA-SHA-4410/H (P-45-004410), Shasta County, California A Report of Archaeological Investigations at Eleven Native American Coastal Sites, Mackerricher State Park, Mendocino County, California New Finds on the Mendocino County Coast 

In Human Impacts on Seals, Sea CR Lions and Sea Otters: Integrating Archaeology and Ecology in the Northeast Pacific, Edited by Todd J. Braje and Torben C. Rick, Chapter 9. pp. 197-219. University of California Press Far Western Anthropological CR Research Group, Inc., Davis, California Far Western Anthropological SCF Research Group, Inc., Davis, California California Department of Parks CR and Recreation, Cultural Heritage Resource Protection Division 

Newsletter of the Society for CR 

California Archaeology 25(1):1;16-19 

Prehistory Prehistory Prehistory Prehistory Prehistory 

History of sea lion huntthe Stone Lagoon archprehistory to European Test excavation at six sLaytonville (CA-MEN-33098, CA-HUM-1229, C1231). Analytical studiesourcing and hydrationResearch issues: CultuCoast Ranges; Residesettlement patterns; LitInterregional exchange Evaluation of CA-SHA-Obsidian sourcing and archaeobotanical, lithic historic artifact assembChronology; Subsistenexchange; EthnolinguisIntertribal relationshipsInvestigations at MacK429, CA-MEN-2230/H, CA-MEN-425/426, CA-MEN-416, CA-MEN-42830). Analytical studiesand shell artifacts, historadiocarbon data, obsidfauna (especially shellfResearch issues: ChroSeasonality; Shellfish a

Newsletter article repor

MacKerricher State Paassemblage, 2) Occurr80, 3) foraging theory mpattern, and 4) analysis each occupation had a

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 71 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis White, Gregory G. 2003 Population Ecology of the Prehistoric Colusa 

Reach 

Ph.D. Dissertation, University of 

California, Davis 

SV Prehistory Dissertation addressing 

paleoenvironmental rec

corridor through the SaCA-COL-246/H, CA-COCA-COL-247. Analyticaradiocarbon data, and issues: Hydrologic, geochange; prehistoric humpatterns of the late QuaPrehistoric human settl

Report White, Gregory G. 2003 Cultural Resource Overview and Management 

Plan, Sacramento River Conservation Area, Tehama, Butte, Glenn, and Colusa Counties, California. Archaeological Research Program Report No. 50 

California State University, Chico SV Prehistory, 

History 

Cultural resource overvSacramento River Conissues: Significance anpopulation density; Paland paleoenvironment. 

Report White, Gregory G. 2015 The Loveliest of Places: A Study of the PreMansion Historical Resources of Bidwell 

Mansion State Historic Park, Northern Buttes District, California Department of Parks and Recreation 

Sub Terra Consulting, Archaeology and Paleontology, Chico, California 

SV History History of the Bidwell M

issues: Prehistoric NatEarly historical Native A1852); Early Rancho de Rancho expansion and Discusses archaeologimansion. 

Book White, Gregory G., 

James West, and Jack Meyer 

2005 Archaeological Overview and Assessment and 

Archaeological Research Design, Lassen Volcanic National Park 

Archaeological Research Program, California State University, Chico 

SCF Prehistory Cultural overview and s

Volcanic National Parksettlement patterns; Pr

in the intensity of park archaeological visibilitydemographic forcing; Cchange; Resource inte

Article White, Gregory G., 

Terry Jones, James Roscoe, and Lawrence Weigel 

1982 Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Concave 

Base Projectile Points from the North Coast Ranges, California 

Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 4(2):67-79 

CR, KM Prehistory Small projectile point ty

of Clear Lake basin. 

Report Whiteman, Erik 2009 An Archaeological Investigation and National 

Register of Historic Places Evaluation of the Saddle Ridge Site, Headwaters Forest Reserve, Bureau of Land Management, Humboldt County, CA 

Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University 

CR Prehistory Test excavations at the 

Saddle Ridge Site. Anamacrobotanical remainresidues on lithics, obsdating. Research issuesettlement pattern recochange; Exchange and 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 72 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Thesis Wiant, Wayne C. 1981 Southern Yana Subsistence and Settlement: An 

Ecological Model 

M.A. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento 

SCF Prehistory, 

Ethnography 

Southern Yana SubsistResearch Issues: Propthat is based on a revieethnographic, and arch

Article Williams, Samuel J. 2014 Quantitative Approaches for Identifying 

Archaeological Site Occupation Types: A Case Study from Late Holocene Mendocino County, California 

Proceedings from the Society for California Archaeology annual meeting 28:381-389 

CR Prehistory Comparison of site fun

and the Bird Runner Si

Other Wilson, Dale 1998 The Oregon to California Trail California 

Segment: Ashland, Oregon to Sacramento, California 

Oregon-California Trails Association 

UK, SV History Historic overview of the 

(Ashland to Sacramenttour guide and itinerary 

Report Winthrop, Kathryn R., 

and Anne Chambers 

1988 Poor But Not So Poor: The Depression Era in 

Western Siskiyou County 

Winthrop Associates Cultural Research 

KM, UK History Historical overview and 

Great Depression and County; archaeology othe Depression era. Ap“metropolitan,” “dependeconomic patterns and economic exploitation. 

Report Winthrop, Kathryn R., 

and Dennis J. Gray 

1985 First Spring Archaeological Test Excavation 

(CA-SIS-425), Siskiyou County, California 

Winthrop & Winthrop UK Prehistory Test excavations at CA

National Forest. Analyttool analysis, artifact desourcing and hydration

Report Winthrop, Kathryn R., 

Dennis J. Gray, Robert H. Winthrop 

1987 Oak Knoll Historic Data Recovery Project Sites 

05-05-51-49 and 05-05-51-50, Klamath National Forest 

Winthrop Associates Cultural Research 

KM History Test excavations at two 

05-05-51-49 and 05-05Artifact inventory and faoral histories. Research model; Dependency m

Chapter Wohlgemuth, Eric 1989 Archaeobotanical Remains In Prehistory of the Sacramento 

River Canyon, Shasta County, California, Center for Archaeological Research at Davis, edited by Mark E. Basgall and William R. Hildebrandt pp:H1-H37 

SV Prehistory Discusses plant macro

variability at the Sacramsubjected to flotation aCA-SHA-1175, CA-SHA

Chapter Wohlgemuth, Eric 1992 Plant Macrofossils from CA-SHA-47 and CASHA-236, Redding, California In Archaeological Investigations at CA-SHA-47 and CA-SHA-236, 

Redding, Shasta County, California, by T. Vaughan pp.105-140. Coyote & Fox Enterprises 

SV Prehistory Paleobotanical investig

flotations samples from from CA-SHA-236. 

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 73 of 74 
Appendix A. Annotated Bibliography of Cultural Resources Documents. 

Type Author Year Title Publisher Zones Topic areas Notes 

Book Woodrum, Barbara 2009 Fluming the Hogback: Historical Resources 

Related to The Empire Flume, Tehama County, California 

Cultural Resources Publications: Archaeology/History, Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SCF, SV History Study of the historic Em

1873) and its role in the California lumber industo be used in combinatSome evidence that the Overseas Chinese wor

Report Woodrum, Barbara 2009 Historic Overview of the Shasta-Yreka Road. 

Appendix 6 in Report on Implementation of the Shasta-Yreka Road (CA-SHA-2806H) Historic Properties Treatment Plan 

Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

UK History The history of the Shas

030-0187/CA-SHA-280Rush and post-Gold Rutowns of Shasta and Y

Report Woodrum, Barbara 2011 Middle Creek Road Historical Background In The Middle Creek Road (CASHA-2667H) Historic Property 

Treatment Plan Implementation, by E. Ritter. USDI Bureau of Land Management, Redding, California 

SV History Historical background f

Creek Road site for the Plan. 

Report Woods, Clyde M. 1985 Ethnographic Report for the Pit 3,4 and 5 

Project, Shasta County, California: An Inventory of Native American Cultural Resources and 

Wirth Environmental Services, San Diego, California 

SCF Ethnography -

Related Concerns for Lake Britton and Portions of the Lower Pit River 

Thesis Woolfenden, Wallace B. 1970 A Study in Historic Sites Archaeology Master’s thesis, Department of 

Anthropology, California State University, San Francisco 

SV Prehistory, 

History 

Thesis examining the a

component cemetery s46. Both sites include eartifact assemblages. 

Thesis Zancanella, J.K. 1987 A Study of Projectile Points from the East 

Central Sacramento Valley, California 

Masters thesis, Department of 

Anthropology, California State University, Chico 

SCF, SV Prehistory A synthesis of recorded 

east-central Sacramen

Zone: CR - Coast Ranges, KM - Klamath Mountains/High North Coast Ranges, SCF - Southern Cascade Foothills, SN - Sierra Nevada, SV - Sacramento Valley 

Page 74 of 74