Chimariko

Chimariko language

The Chimariko were a Native American group living primarily in a narrow, 20-mile section of canyon on the Trinity River in Trinity County in northwestern California.

The Chimariko were profoundly affected by the destructive practices of gold seekers during California Gold Rush (during the 1850s). One of the major issues involved the disruption of the salmon population that was the main food source of the Chimariko. In the 1860s, conflict between Chimariko and white miners led to almost total extinction of the entire population. The surviving Chimariko fled to live with the Hupa and Shasta. The Chimariko language probably became extinct sometime in the 1930s. It is extensively documented in unpublished fieldnotes which John Peabody Harrington obtained from the last speaker, Sally Noble, in the 1920's.^[1]

Population

Estimates for the pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially. (See Population of Native California.) Alfred L. Kroeber (1925:109, 883) proposed that the 1770 population of the Chimariko, together with the New River, Konomihu, and Okwanuchu groups of the Shasta, had been about 1,000. Specifically for the Chimariko, he estimated an 1849 population of 250. Shirley Silver (1978:205) put the aboriginal population at "only a few hundred".

References

1. ^ Luthin, Herbert (2002). Surviving through the Days. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520222700. 

See also

• Chimariko traditional narratives

External links

• Native Tribes, Groups, Language Families and Dialects of California in 1770 (after Kroeber)

References

• Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 78. Washington, D.C.
• Silver, Shirley. 1978. "Chimariko". In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 205-210. Handbook of North American Indians, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.