, and one who was accorded the respect of his fellow
pioneers. His story consists of a series of verbal recollections which
were written down in manuscript form by a friend, the Rev. Orange
Clark, who visited his ranch in 1851. The Clark manuscript, together
with other material, has been secured and published by Professor
Charles L. Camp (1923).
Yount seems to have discoursed at length on the local Indians (1923, p.
55). His description of the tribes follows (I have omitted the
explanatory parentheses inserted by Camp).
"Within a distance of no more than One Hundred miles in length &
twenty in width, including the Napa Valley, were five distinct
nations, no one of which could converse together ... without an
interpreter ... The names of these five nations were as
follows--The Napa, the Ouluke, Caymus, Conahomanes & Miacamus, the
last named tribe inhabited the region of the Hot Springs of that
valley...."
Four of these names are clear. The fifth, Ouluke, is very probably
Tuluka of Barrett. Since these five groups are sharply defined by the
Napa Valley and since Yount obviously was talking about that area, his
size estimate was excessive. He says 100 miles by 20, whereas the
valley actually is about 40 miles in length from the Bay to Mt. St.
Helena and perhaps on the average 15 miles in width, from the crest of
one range across to the other.
With regard to numbers Yount says (1923, p. 56):
"It is not yet eight years [evidently referring to the year 1843]
since the above named valley swarmed with not less than eight
thousand human beings, of whom there are not now [1851] left as
many hundreds.... The poor remnants of all the five tribes above
named now mingle & wander up and down the valley promiscuously
together...."
There is also an account of the destruction of the Caymus (1923, p.
59). A great many, if not most of them, were killed by being burnt in a
sweathouse. The guilty parties were stated to be two Indians from San
Rafael, but the motives were obscure. This event occurred some time
during the later days of Yount's tenure, for, continues the manuscript,
"at a period long previous to the tragical event above related, Yount
embarked in erecting a small flour mill...."
Although Alexander Taylor, in his Indianology, mentions some of the
subtribes of the Wappo, he gives no useful population data. On the
other hand, John S. Hittell talked about the Napa
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