Nome Cult Trail

History of the 1863 Relocation

"My grandfather got caught.....at Cherokee. An army of people and miners came to round up and drive off all Indians...the soldiers came and took women, girls, boys, everybody to a corral at Chico. There were about 400 to 500 Indians driven to Chico by soldiers on horseback."

- Leland Scott

The removal of the Indians from Chico to the Nome Cult Reservation in 1863 is one of the many forced relocations following the establishment of reservations in northern California in the 1850's. Several different tribes were moved to the Nome Cult Reservation after it was established in Round Valley in 1856. "Nome Cult" comes from the Sacramento Valley Wintun's term nome kechl or "western tribe."

Most of those removed from Chico were Maidu from the northern Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills, but members of other tribes were also relocated. In September 1863, 461 Indians were marched under guard from Chico to the Nome Cult Reservation, nearly 100 miles across the Sacramento Valley and rugged North Coast Ranges. Only 277 Indians completed the journey. Some were killed, a few escaped, and others were left behind.

Although the path itself has disappeared, we now call this route the Nome Cult Trail. The most grueling part of the trail passed through what today is the Mendocino National Forest. The Nome Cult Trail was a tragic chapter in our state's history; it is also a story about the resilience and strength of California Indians. It is an important legacy for their descendants and for all Californians.

"....soldiers came on horse's and set the West people's [Maidu] roundhouses on fire. If anyone ran away the soldiers shot him, and if he did not run away they probably shot him anyway...."

-Coyote Man

Timeline

1849 Gold Rush spurs massive immigration and settlement of California. Native people forced off their lands; their numbers dwindle from killing and disease.

1850 California passes "An Act for the Government and Protection of Indians," permitting the slavery of Indian children.

1856 Nome Cult Farm established in Round Valley, Mendocino County. Two years later it becomes a reservation. Indian people from all over Northern California are forcibly sent to Nome Cult Farm.

1858 During the winter, more than 150 Indian people at Nome Cult Reservation are massacred by non-native settlers.

1861 Civil War begins.

1862 Nome Lackee Reservation in Northern Sacramento Valley abandoned. Soldiers establish a military post in Round Valley to protect Indians on the reservation from white settlers. The post is later named Camp Wright.

1863

JUNE: The much publicized killings of three children from the Hickok Valley, by Indians seeking vengeance for Indian people killed by settlers, enrages Butte and Tehama County settlers.

Citizens of Chico petition Governor Leland Stanford for men and means, and Army to assist in "quelling these Indian outrages." Indian people from many northern California tribes brought to Chico and detained.

Five Indian men hanged at Helltown east of Chico on suspicion of "committing depredations upon property."

JULY: Two children form the Lewis family in Butte County killed by Indians incited by the Helltown hangings. These killings touch off another wave of violent reaction against Indian people.

A "citizen's group" meets at Pence's Ranch to take action to end "Indian troubles" in Butte and Tehama counties. They adopt a resolution calling for the removal of every Indian in the area to the reservation in Round Valley within 30 days. Those not surrendering will be killed.

AUGUST: Camp Bidwell established in Chico with five officers and 102 enlisted men. Lt. Colonel Ambrose E. Hooker assigned as commanding officer. 435 Indians captured in the foothills and brought to Chico.

SEPTEMBER: Captain Starr of the California Volunteers commanded to serve as "escort to Indians en route to the Round Valley Reservation." 461 Indian people held at Camp Bidwell begin 100 mile journey to Nome Cult Reservation. Capt. Douglass of Camp Wright reports: "...all the Indians that were sent or brought on the reservation from Chico about 10 days ago are in an almost dying condition through sickness and gross neglect...I was informed that nearly 200 sick Indians are scattered along the way for 40 miles..."

OCTOBER: Lt. Col. Hooker informs his superiors that "..a part of the route [to the Nome Cult Reservation is] over almost impassable mountain trails.. [and] it became necessary for Capt. Starr's command to dismount and pack their horses over a great portion of the route with those who were either too old, too young, or too sick to march." Of the 150 left at Mountain House, [t]his body will go to the reservation in small parties and join their tribe as fast as they are able to move... The Indians now remaining in the [Sacramento] valley are all peaceable, quiet Indians, who are owned or employed by the farmers or rancheros on whose lands they live.... As to the mountain Indians in this vicinity, their number and character has been greatly exaggerated."

Some Indians escape the reservation but are returned if captured.

1864 More rumored "Indian troubles" in Chico vicinity due to friction between established landowners, who have had the advantage of Indian labor, and newer landowners who have not.

1865 Civil War ends.

Indians continued to escape from the reservation. By the late 1870's, they are generally left alone and not returned to Nome Cult.

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