SU0012813 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

# y A portion of the remains of a "Hairy Mammoth" was discovered in Tulare {township} on Sec. 21, T. 3 . S. , R. 6 E. It was found by the parties who owned the land, in digging a well, at the depth of fifty-two and a-half feet from the surface. They came upon the bones, lying upon the ground that carried water. Some of the hair of the monster was still preserved; it was of a coarse texture, resembling the hair in a horse's mane, and was about eighteen inches in length. It is to be regretted that scientific search was not made at the time, or some preservation made of the bones. + Regional Ethnographic Background The proposed project area is located within the former territory of the Penutian-speaking Yokuts (Kroeber 1925:474-543) .- The 925:474-543) :The Yokuts occupied an area extending from the crest of the Coast. (Diablo) Range east into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, north to the American River and south to the upper San Joaquin River. The principal ethnographic sources for the region include Kroeber (1925) , Latta (1949, 1977) , Powers (1877) , and Wallace (1978:462-470) . ' Kroeber (1925:474-543) , who collected a great deal of valuable information regarding the Yokuts, states: The Chauchila are the first Yokuts tribe to have no upland neighbors of their own stock, the southern Miwpk now being the easterners. They are also the last tribe, until Stockton is reached, concerning whom anything definite is known. In the Plains along the Merced, Tuolumne, Stanislaus and Calaveras Rivers, on the east bank of the lower San Joaquin, and perhaps on its west side also, were Yokuts. There are some names extant; but whether of tribes or towns, or where these were located, is doubtful. . .At the present time, when an old Indian can be found who remembers a few words of the Yokuts speech of his father or grandfather, he has usually forgotten the name of the tribe, or, if he remembers this, is in ignorance or in patent error of its former location. A similar darkness reigns concerning the Wintun, Maidu, Miwok, and Costanoan groups once on or near San Francisco Bay. In short, regrettable as the fact is, we can scarcely hope ever to have wholly accurate or full information concerning these tribes. Wallace (1978 :462-470) also discussed the Yokuts, but was unable to provide much information regarding village locations. Wallace states: No large section of California is so little known ethnographically as the lower or northern San Joaquin ` Valley. The lack of information concerning the aboriginal