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r Y I f 14 ' (1977: 129-131) and others mention flights of ducks covering a square mile. Throughout the valley were countless elk, deer, antelope, and grizzly bear. The Yokuts hunted all of these creatures, as well as ground squirrels and many other creatures. Latta (1977: 393-450, 473-516) may be consulted for further details regarding Yokuts subsistence. It is generally conceded that with the exception of Kroeber (1925) , Latta (1949, 1977) made the most outstanding study of Yokuts ethnography. Born in the "Westside" area along the San Joaquin River, Latta spent most of his adult life gathering Indian lore, recording stories about Murietta' s gang (Latta ' 1980) , and collecting other historical material. However, in spite of being "on the scene, " so to speak, as a local resident, and having the advantage of knowing many elderly Native Americans, even Latta could not obtain much information concerning Yokuts occupation of the Westside area along the San Joaquin between the river and the crest of the Coast Range. Regrettably, by the time that scholars such as Kroeber and Latta tried to obtain reliable ethnographic information, most of the Native Americans who could have provided it had passed away. The destruction of the Native American tribal cultures in the Central Valley between the years 1776 to 1900 has been discussed by Cook (1943 , 1955, 1960, 1962) , Heizer and Almquist (1971) , fi . Holterman (1970) , Hurtado (1988) , and Leonard (1928) . Local Ethnographic Background t4 � a According to Latta (1949:81) , the group of Native Americans that may have occupied the general vicinity of the project area are. the Cholbumne Yokuts. He provides the following information: F South of the Hulpumne were the Chol-butene. They ranged from about present Byron Hot Springs south as far as Lone Tree Creek. Hospital (Ospetal) Creek was south of their range. In summary, having reviewed the principal ethnographic literature pertaining to the proposed project region and area, it. is evident that the earliest ethnographic documentation (Powers r 1877) , the comprehensive ethnographic data obtained by Kroeber (1925) , local information gathered by Latta (1949, 1977) , and the synthesis prepared by Wallace (1978) , can not provide the detail required to ascertain the location of specific village sites that might be located within proposed project areas. From the archaeological point of view, the ethnographic a literature suggests that imperishable features and artifacts such