1853 – late fall, Burnt Ranch Massacre, settlers kill Tolowa/Yontocket, Smith Riv., No. CA–450-600
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard January 6, 2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–450-600 CA State Parks. Tolowa Dunes State Park Draft Resources Summary… 2010, p. 10.
— <600 Corrigan, Hilary. “In Focus: Tolowa Dunes.” Del Norte Triplicate, CA. 4-2-2007.
–450-600 Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival. 1990, p. 206.
— >450 Calla, Susan. “Tolowa Coast Trails. Del Norte Co.…” NPR, Jefferson Public Radio.
— ~450 Smith, Chuck. “Anthro 6 – An Introduction to California’s Native People.”
— 450 Spencer, A. “Tolowa vigil reflects on massacre.” Del Norte Triplicate, 12-26-2011.
— 450 Tolowa Dee-ni’. “Living in the Center of the Universe.” Tolowa Coast Trails. 2010.
— >150 Norton, Jack. Genocide in Northwestern California. 1979, pp. 41-43.
— 100’s Collins. Understanding Tolowa Histories: Western Hegemonies… 1998, p. 36.
Narrative Information
Bledsoe: “In the spring of 1853 a man called California Jack, accompanied by several others, started from Crescent City on a prospecting tour, intending to visit some place near Smith’s River. A short time afterwards an Indian was seen in town carrying a revolver with the name, ‘California Jack,’ engraved upon it. Surmising that the prospectors had been murdered by the Indians, a party of citizens attacked the Indians on Battery Point, near town, killing the one who had the pistol and several others. A company was immediately organized to search for the supposed murdered men. The camp of the prospectors on the banks of Smith’s river was easily found, and further search resulted in the discovery of the bodies of the men, all bearing marks of violence by the Indians. After the punishment of the Indians at Battery Point, a large number of the survivors removed to a rancheria near the mouth of Smith’s river, known as Yontocket ranch. But the feeling in Crescent City against them was too in tense to subside without a further punishment being administered. A company was formed, and procuring a guide who had some knowledge of the country, they with difficulty made their way through the forests, and arriving at a point near the ranch, prepared for the attack on the Indians. Of the manner in which the attack was made, no authentic information can now be obtained. It is well known, however, that the fight ended in a disastrous defeat to the savages, a large number being killed, while the whites escaped with little or no loss.”[1] (Bledsoe. History of Del Norte County, California… 1881, pp. 19-20; in Gould. “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’…” Journal of the Folklore Institute, III, 1966. )
CA State Parks: “Tolowa Dunes State Park (TDSP) is located on the northwest coast of California in Del Norte County, just south of the Oregon border. TDSP is an integral part of 11,000 contiguous acres of protected public lands that stretch from Point Saint George to the mouth of the Smith River. TDSP contains some of the finest wetland and dune habitat on California’s norther coast. Located far from urban centers, TDSP is positioned adjacent to the Pacific Coast between the mouth of the Smith River and Crescent City….Established in 2001 to protect one of California’s largest undeveloped coastal areas….
“To the Tolowa, for whom the Park was named, this area is known as Yan’-daa-k’vt or Yontocket, and is the center of their world and the birthplace of creation. The former village sites, archaeological remains, features, and religiously significant places have been integral components to their way of lives for thousand of years as evidenced by archaeological data….
“The discovery of gold on the Trinity and Klamath Rivers inspired thousands of miners to flood the region in the 1850s. The contact period was devastating to local Indian populations. The Tolowa suffered four horrific massacres in the 1850s. One such incident took place one night at Yontocket during a religious celebration where the majority of the tribe was gathered. On the third night of the celebration approximately 30 Americans encircled the village and indiscriminately slaughtered 450 to 600 people, including numerous women and children. Only three survivors were reported. One of the survivors told of how the morning after he found the Yontocket Slough ‘red with the blood of his people.’ (Bommelyn 1985[2])….
“The Tolowa are speakers of the Athabascan language and are more closely related to the Athabascans of coastal Oregon than to the interior Athabascans, the Hupa and Chilula….
“The Burnt Ranch Massacre
“Curtis wrote that ‘With the Tolowa of Smith River, there was trouble almost from the very beginning’ with violence recorded as early as 1851 (Curtis 1925:91). In 1853, the first of a series of devastating massacres occurred at the sacred village of Yontocket, the largest Tolowa settlement at the time. That winter, a large number of people were gathered for a World Renewal Dance. At dawn, on the third day of the ten day celebration, an armed group of men from Crescent City who suspected the Indians for the murder of several prospectors, set fire to the houses. Men, women and children were gunned down as they fled the burning houses. Hundreds died, and only a few Tolowa survived the massacre. One man survived by escaping to a nearby slough. He took cover for hours, and later reported: ‘…I could hear them people talking and laughing. I looked in the water, and the water was just red with blood, with people floating around all over.’
“One Tolowa account of the tragedy was given by Amelia Brown to Gould:
I just hear this, I wasn’t there myself. They (the Indians) had one old sweathouse, only used this at certain times. They was having a big time. The people were gambling, the people from Pebble Beach and even Tututni (Athabaskan speaking Indians immediately to the north of the Tolowa). They had a big celebration there one night. The white people were all around, they just watched. Then they set fire to the place. Women try to get away, they grab ‘em and throw ‘em in the fire. Take pot shots at ‘wm when they try to run. Just two men got away. They ran down to the slough, dived in, swam along underwater, take breath, dive again till got away to a little island there. Later on these men fought with the whites. This was at the village of Yonktakut, that’s how got the name, ‘Burnt Ranch.’ (Amelia Brown in Gould 1966b:35-36[3]; Tushingham 2006[4]).”
(California State Parks. Tolowa Dunes State Park Draft Resources Summary & Reclassification. “The Burnt Ranch Massacre.” Sacramento: State of California Natural Resources Agency, 8-25-2010, pp. 3, 9-10, 13-14.)
Calla: “With a population that once exceeded 10,000, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ thrived here until the 1850s when the Gold Rush drew fortune seekers and white settlers to California’s north coast. As the push to colonize the West and establish statehood for California gained momentum, tensions grew between the newcomers and Indians. Starting in 1851, California’s first governors actually made appropriations for the extermination and eradication of California Indians. The Tolowa Dee-ni’ still recall how in the winter of 1853, while hundreds gathered for a World Renewal Ceremony (Nee-dash) at Yontocket, one of the largest, yet little known, massacres recorded in United States history occurred. More than 450 men, women, and children were killed.” (Calla, Susan. “Tolowa Coast Trails. Del Norte County’s Coastal Dunes and Wetlands, Ancient Footsteps.” NPR, Jefferson Public Radio.)[5]
Collins: “A well-remembered massacre occurred in the late fall of that year [1853], at the village of Yontocket on Lake Earl, north of Crescent City. During a winter dance, probably a ten-day World Renewal Dance, an armed contingent of Crescent City settlers attacked, killing a large number of dance participants, and burning the village to the ground. As might be expected…settler and Indian accounts of the massacre differ. A local historian (Bledsoe, 1881)[6] wrote simply that ‘a large number’ of Tolowa were killed, while the attacking force suffered few or no casualties; conversely, Tolowa oral accounts suggest that hundreds died, that only one or two ceremony participants escaped (Baumhoff, 1955-61:226;[7] Bommelyn and Humphrey, 1989;[8] Gould, 1966b;[9] Slagle, 1985b, part I:21-24)[10].” (Collins, James. Understanding Tolowa Histories: Western Hegemonies and Native American Responses. NY: Routledge, 1998, p. 36.)
Lope: “The first killing took place at Burnt Ranch, three miles south of the mouth of the Smith River, at the rancheria called Yahnk-tah-kut, a name perpetuated by the district school house name. Here a large number of Indians were caught during a ceremonial dance and ruthlessly slaughtered. The Indians say this was the first killing…”[11] (Lope, Sam, in Richard A. Gould, “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’: A Study in Comparative Ethnohistory,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, III, 1966.)
Richards: “What I’m telling you now, I didn’t see that; that’s too far back. They told me They had a [B]ig [T]ime, right over there; that was the biggest reservation there was. They had a big time that night [the term “big time” used here and elsewhere is the standard Tolowa way of referring to a dance, usually the famous ten-night dance, comparable to a fiesta in Southern California as an integrative ceremonial event], and the white people got there about that time. The white people got all around them, around that farm, along that big slough. Most of them got on the other side, and when the Indian come across they get hint The others started in around that house. Every time someone go out, never come back in. People in there began to think, ‘What’s the matter, never come back?’ ‘cause when they get down there they kill ‘em. Afterwards somebody went out and set fire to all the houses; every house was burning. They set fire to the house, the Indians’ house. You could see them just cutting heads off. They stick them things (knives] into them; pretty soon they pick them up and throw them right into the fire. Some of ‘em tried to get away, run down the slough. Soon as they get down there, if they don’t get ‘em right away, they get ‘em from the other side when they come up. Shoot ‘em right there, waiting for them. One fellow say: ‘I set there while everyone goes out, they jump out and you hear a shot. Hundreds and hundreds in the house trying to get out. Pretty soon I hear fire and everybody squealing round, all try to get out.’ And, he said: ‘I got down in the corner of the house. I was a young fellow, I was a scout. I thought to myself — if you gun me I’ll get one of you before you get me. This is my last chance, I’m going to try. I had one of them big elk hides; that’s what they use for a coat, that’s what they used to use long time ago, you know.’ So he says: ‘I took that and a big long knife tied round here (pointing to wrist) with buckskin so I can’t lose it. One went out, and I thought I’m going to go right behind him. He (a white man) shot twice, and I threw this thing right out, this big hide. The white man shot and said ‘I’m coming,’ knocked two, three of them head off.’ He said: ‘I went down there in the slough, bullets hit all around the top above head. I don’t know how long I stayed under the water. After a couple of hundred yards right under water I get up to get a little air, and I could hear people talking. The slough was just like light all over from fire, from the houses burning there. I stayed there two, three hours till daylight. All quiet down, and I could hear them people talking and laughing. I looked in the water, and the water was just red with blood, with people floating around all over. I got back, and another fella was down there. He say he got away and come there. I looked around, it looks awful, he says, what the white man did to us.’ We never fight them, they fight us — we just tried to get away from them. They sneak up on us.”[12] (Richards, Eddie. “The Indian Narratives,” in Gould, Richard A. “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’: A Study in Comparative Ethnohistory,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, III, 1966.)
Smith: “All across California, groups of anglo males formed “volunteer armies” and would periodically swept down on peaceful Indian villages, indiscriminately killing women, men, and children. In 1853 in northern California a group of citizens from Crescent City formed one of these “companies” and dressed like soldiers they surrounded the Tolowa village of Yontoket. Here, at the center of the religious and political world of the Tolowa people, some 450 Tolowa had gathered to pray to a universal spirit for beauty and order &to thank God for life. Suddenly the anglos attacked – a Tolowa man tells the story, years later:
The whites attacked and the bullets were everywhere. Over four hundred and fifty of our people were murdered or lay dying on the ground. Then the whitemen built a huge fire and threw in our sacred ceremonial dresses, the regalia, and our feathers, and the flames grew higher. Then they threw in the babies, many of them were still alive. Some tied weights around the necks of the dead and threw them into the nearby water.
Two men escaped, they had been in the Sacred Sweathouse and crept down to the water’s edge and hid under the Lily Pads, breathing through the reeds. The next morning they found the water red with blood of their people.”
(Smith, Chuck. “Anthro. 6 – An Introduction to California’s Native People: American Period.” Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA.)
Spencer: “Sometimes the best way to overcome a tragedy is to face it head-on. On Wednesday night, the third annual Candlelight Vigil honoring the Tolowa Dee-ni’ (people) killed at Yan’-daa-kivt (Yontocket) in the 19th century attempted to move past the pain by acknowledging the massacre. The vigil offered a time to reflect on the more than 450 Tolowa killed in 1853 by white settlers pushing into the area, but it’s also a time to give thanks to the surviving ancestors who kept the Tolowa people in existence.
“‘The people that went through this horrible massacre, the second largest in United States history, they did not die in vain,” said Smith River Tribal Chairwoman Kara Brundin-Miller. “They made us stronger for it, and I feel like it has brought us all together again.’ Under a star-soaked sky, with the sound of waves crashing in the background, almost 50 people gathered around a bonfire, electric candles in hand, to remember the Tolowa people that lived at Yontocket.
“Tribal council member and resident historian Loren Bommelyn told the tale of the Tolowa massacre and the Tolowa’s relationship with Yontocket, located within present-day Tolowa Dunes State Park, a place the Tolowa believe to be the center of their spiritual world. ‘All people have a story of genesis,” Bommelyn said. “This is our genesis place.’ The Tolowa believe that Yontocket is the site where the Creators made the first redwood and the first people.
“For thousands of years, the Tolowa Indians on the North Coast, numbering at least 10,000 people, gathered annually at the Yontocket village to celebrate Nee-dash, a world renewal ceremony, Bommelyn said. The 10-day ceremony is held during winter solstice, because that’s when days start growing longer, Bommelyn said. Tolowa people would come from as far as present-day Humboldt Bay and Port Orford for the ceremony, Bommelyn said.
“During the Nee-dash festival of 1853, white settlers set fire to the plank homes of Yontocket, then shot at the Tolowa while they ran from the flames, Bommelyn said.
“In 1851 the California legislature allocated at least $1 million for militias that hunted down Indians, Bommelyn said. That same year, the first governor of the state of California, Peter H. Burnett, announced to the state legislature ‘That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected.’ The state would reimburse militia men for every Indian scalp they brought back. Smith River Rancheria has 11 receipts showing reimbursement for Indian scalps, Bommelyn said. ‘They were paid to execute the Indians and than they could turn around and buy the land with the money they made,’ Bommelyn said in a phone interview.
“The Smith River Rancheria and some other anthropologists have declared the destruction of native populations in this region a holocaust because it was organized under a government, Bommelyn said.
“After the Yontocket massacre and destruction of the village, the Tolowa founded a new village between present-day Lake Earl and Lake Tolowa called Etchulet, meaning large land peninsula. The 1854 Nee-dash ceremony was held there, but once again white settlers came for Indian scalps, this time killing around 100 people, Bommelyn said.
“From 1851 to 1856, around 8,000 Tolowa people were killed, then another 1,834 were marched to a reservation, which was more like a concentration camp, in Oregon, Bommelyn said. The few hundred that remained were eventually sent to reservations at present-day Klamath and Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, Bommelyn said. ‘The fact that the Tolowa people somehow managed to survive such a catastrophic destruction of our people is really a miracle,’ Bommelyn said.
“The vigil honoring the Yontocket victims and survivors was started to help the tribe overcome feelings about the slaughter. ‘We believe that if you hold something in the darkness, it grows, but if you bring it to the light, it diminishes,’ Bommelyn said. Bommelyn and others shared the pain of knowing about the massacre and the marginalization experienced from growing up Indian — all part of the healing process. ‘I’m a firm believer that the wounds of our past will never heal if we can’t talk about it or address them,’ said Suntayea Steinruck, Tribal Heritage Preservation Officer.
“After the vigil at Yontocket, attendants met at the Lake Earl Grange to share a meal, stories and watch a documentary made in the 1970s about the Tolowa people. The tribe expressed optimism about the shift towards acknowledging their ancestors’ past, and hopes to continue to spread knowledge of the massacre. ‘The difference between our holocaust and the holocaust of World War II is that people were taken to trial, people were hung, people committed suicide for it, history was written to protect what occurred there,’ Bommelyn said at the vigil. ‘But our story has never been told, has never been brought to justice’.” (Spencer, Adam. “Tolowa vigil reflects on massacre.” Del Norte Triplicate, CA. 12-26-2011.)
Thornton: “The Tolowa…date the first of…[three] massacres in 1853, and they say that between 450 and 600 Tolowa people were killed then (Bommelyn, 1983[13]; also Heth, 1976[14])….” (Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival. 1990, p. 206.)
Tolowa Dee-ni’.: “One day during 1853 a man saw two soldiers fighting at Lake Earl. One soldier killed the other. When the witness returned to Yan’-daa-k’vt, he expressed concern that our people would be blamed for the soldier’s death. That fall, many gathered to attend Nee-dash. There the local minutemen militia fell upon Yan’-daa-k’vt. 450 of our people died there. The slough ran red with their blood. The flames of the burning houses reached higher as even the babies were thrown to their deaths.- Tolowa Dee-ni’.” (Tolowa Dee-ni’. “Living in the Center of the Universe.” Tolowa Coast Trails. 2010.)
Sources
Bledsoe, Anthony. History of Del Norte County, California, with a Business Directory and Traveler’s Guide. Eureka, CA: Humboldt Times Press-Wyman & Co., 1881.
California State Parks. Tolowa Dunes State Park Draft Resources Summary & Reclassification. Sacramento: State of California Natural Resources Agency, 8-25-2010. Accessed 8-8-2012 at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:GgU3DSrSqc0J:www.parks.ca.gov/pages/21299/files/tolowa_resource_summary_classification_draft.pdf+%22Yontocket+massacre%22+1853&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjUMqU4j_uSeV_QHw4B7V77GQTYQJyVaxNxalNaO5N2EFairH6J7CgZ_4ZUJVj3e3e_-kGQU4OIM4zKEsEaPnvFagWf3AHLwZuiEqc28iynYtnkJ4msivsY8hzgeUH8zbcxTzPj&sig=AHIEtbS8g3oGugHTme0nfdsk5aL-WVTtNQ
Calla, Susan. “Tolowa Coast Trails. Del Norte County’s Coastal Dunes and Wetlands, Ancient Footsteps.” NPR, Jefferson Public Radio. Accessed 8-22-2012 at: http://www.ijpr.org/Feature.asp?FeatureID=1865
Collins, James. Understanding Tolowa Histories: Western Hegemonies and Native American Responses. NY: Routledge, 1998. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=R2TaMy43cZUC&printsec=frontcover&vq=achulet#v=onepage&q=achulet&f=false
Corrigan, Hilary. “In Focus: Tolowa Dunes.” Del Norte Triplicate, CA. 4-2-2007. Accessed 8-22-2012 at: http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/In-Focus-Tolowa-Dunes
Gould, Richard A. “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’: A Study in Comparative Ethnohistory,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, III, 1966. Accessed 8-22-2012 at: https://eee.uci.edu/clients/tcthorne/anthro/gouldburntranch.html
Norton, Jack. Genocide in Northwestern California—When Our Worlds Cried. San Francisco: Indian Historian Press, 1979. Accessed 1-6-2024 at: https://archive.org/details/genocideinnorthw00nort/page/n4/mode/1up
Smith, Chuck. “Anthro 6 – An Introduction to California’s Native People: American Period.” Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA. Accessed 8-8-2012 at: http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/anth6_americanperiod.html
Spencer, Adam. “Tolowa vigil reflects on massacre.” Del Norte Triplicate, 12-26-2011. Accessed 8-8-2012: http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/Tolowa-vigil-reflects-on-massacre
Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. University of Oklahoma Press, 1990, 292 pages. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=9iQYSQ9y60MC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Tolowa Dee-ni’. “Living in the Center of the Universe.” Tolowa Coast Trails (website). 2010. Accessed 8-22-2012 at: http://tolowacoasttrails.org/tolowa.html
[1] Gould writes about Bledsoe: “At the time he wrote this account, Bledsoe was a prominent northern California businessman and a recognized expert on business law. He was elected to the California State Legislature from Humboldt County in 1890 and was re-elected twice thereafter. In his writings he clearly regarded the Indians as an obstacle to the expansion of white civilization in northern California during these early days. The dominant theme of the two histories which he wrote of this region(4) is the triumph of white pioneers in the face of bitter and often treacherous opposition from the native populations. It is to his credit that Bledsoe did not treat the Indians with the sharp disdain and abuse so common to many other writers of his era, but there is never any question that Bledsoe’s interests lay solidly with the whites and not with the Indians.”
[2] Tolowa Tribal council member and resident historian, Loren Bommelyn.
[3] Gould, Richard A. “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’: A Study in Comparative Ethnohistory,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, III, 1966.
[4] Tushingham, Shannon. Management Plan of Cultural Resources Located in Tolowa Dunes State Park on file at North Coast District, California State Parks, Eureka, CA, 2006.
[5] Susan Calla serves as the Tolowa Dunes Stewards Education & Interpretation Coordinator.
[6] Bledsoe, Anthony. History (of) Del Norte County, California, with a Business Directory and Traveler’s Guide. Eureka, CA: Humboldt Times Press-Wyman & Co., 1881.
[7] Baumhoff, Martin A. “Californian Athabascan Groups,” University of California Publications, Anthropological Records.
[8] Bommelyn, Loren and Bernice Humphrey. Xus We-Yo’; Tolowa Language, 2nd Edition. Crescent City, CA: Tolowa Language Committee, 1989.
[9] Gould, Richard. “Indian and White Versions of ‘The Burnt Ranch Massacre’: A Study in Comparative Ethnohistory,” Journal of the Folklore Institute, 3.1:30-42, 1966.
[10] Slagle, Allogan. Huss: The Tolowa People. A Petition for Status Clarification/Federal Recognition Prepared for submission to the United States Department of Interior (Vol. 2: History). Arcata, CA: Center for Community Development, Humboldt State University, 1985.
[11] Gould on Sam Lope: “While Sam, age 77, was one of our important informants, he unfortunately suffered a heart attack which put him in the hospital during the latter part! of our study, making it impossible to obtain a narrative directly from him. The narrative presented here was obtained from him when he was much younger, and, while it is a fairly complete account, information is lacking concerning the context of this interview in 1923. This account shows obvious signs of editing, particularly in the sentence structure (which is simply too fluent, even for Sam!).
Sam, the “youngster” among our informants, obtained most of his knowledge about early Indian practices from his grandfather. Sam is well versed in songs and ritual, and he speaks Tolowa moderately well. Owing to a fairly thorough white education, he speaks English well and has consciously sought to reject many of the older Indian practices. He lacked the firsthand experiences of Eddie and Amelia but nevertheless proved to be an excellent informant. The account given here thus represents a basically Indian version but with a pronounced overlay of white background and editing.”
[12] Gould on Richards: “Eddie, aged 87, was the son of an Indian (Tolowa) woman and a white man. He was raised initially as an Indian and learned to speak Tolowa, an Athabaskan language, at this time. His mother died when he was about six years old, and Eddie was then sent by his father to a white boarding school, where he remained until he was about twelve years old. Then he returned to Smith River where he lives today. Although he disclaimed being a “real Indian,” Eddie did point out that he could remember the stories told to him by his relatives and claimed to have actually spoken to one of the survivors (an old man by then) of the Burnt Ranch Massacre. Because of his white education, Eddie was unusually articulate in English and, we discovered, spoke easily into a tape recorder. We elicited this narrative twice from Eddie, the second time two weeks after the first. The account presented here is the second one, which has been transcribed verbatim from the taped presentation. It should be pointed out, however, that this second telling was identical in all respects, aside from minor points of diction, to the first. This, of course, suggests a certain stereotyped character to the account in the mind of the informant and indicates that this narrative has begun to assume the character of oral tradition. The context of these narratives is also important. In each case Eddie gave this account when trying to portray his feelings of bitterness to ward the whites for their early treatment of the Indians in the area. He quite consciously used this account to illustrate these emotions, and, as the narrative shows, he could be eloquent in telling about these injustices.”
[13] Source is Thornton’s personal communication with Tolowa Tribal council member and resident historian, Loren Bommelyn.
[14] Professor Charlotte W. Heth, University of California at Los Angeles.