Wintu Documentation

This is a map of the vast land area on which the nomadic Wintu people once lived. This area was also rich in gold and other minerals of great value to Europeans. When white settlers found gold on this land, it was quickly taken up by prospectors. Naturally, competition for land use raised tensions as mining towns and industry started popping up everywhere and Wintu lands were shrinking. These mining towns not only destroyed and polluted the land, they also destroyed the livelihood of the Wintu people. 

Reads:

"Discharge notice for the, Trinity Rangers, 2nd Brigade, 6th Division, California Militia. Section 1. The sum of fifty-two thousand five hundred and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-six cents ($52,527.86) is hereby appropriated, out any money in the General Fund not otherwise appropriated, for the payment of the indebtedness incurred by the expedition against the Indians in the Counties of Humboldt and Klamath during the year A.D. eighteen hundred and fifty-eight and eighteen hundred and fifty-nine. Section 1 represents the primary goal in the mind of the government at this time in california. This force was mustered at Pardee's ranch on redwood creek in humboldt county."

This article, which went into print exactly one hundred years after the events of the Bridge Gulch Massacre, details some of the area’s rougher characteristics during it’s early days as a mining town. Included in the text is a brief account of resident John Anderson’s death, supposedly at the hands of Wintu tribesmen, and the brutal killing of over 150 native Wintu by miners and the local militia. Due to the age of the article, the author still depicts Indians as a nuisance to the white inhabitants of the region. However, he admits that the slaughter was “barbarous”.

Gravestone for Ellen Clifford

A collection, translation, and preservation of stories, songs, tales, legends, and memories, in the original Wintu language, of Grace McKibbin, descendant of a Wintu Bridge Gulch Massacre survivor, transcribed and compiled by linguist Alice Shepherd.