Lycia's
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Lycia's Great Maidu Aunt |
Lycia's Great, Great Grandmother |
Maidu Dancers |
Maidu - Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria
The
Maidu peoples lived traditionally in the north-central part of California,
along the eastern tributaries of the Sacramento River, south of Lassen Peak. In
the early 19th century, there were around 9,000 Maidus. There are three groups
of closely-related peoples usually called the Maidu: the Maidu of Plumas and
Lassen counties, the Konkow of Butte and Yuba counties, and the Nisenan of
Yuba, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, and El Dorado counties. Their languages (Maidu,
Konkow, and Nisenan) are of the Penutian family, and were probably mutually
unintelligible. Their traditional way of life extended from the valley
ecological type, dependent on marine resources and vegetables, to the foothills
ecological type, the classic California way of eating acorns and small game.
Gold was discovered in California at Coloma, in the heart of Nisenan territory,
and gold miners overwhelmed this traditional Maidu territory in the 1850s.
Today, there are approximately 2,500 Maidu people who live primarily on the
rancherias of Auburn, Berry Creek, Chico, Enterprise, Greenville, Mooretown,
Shingle Springs, and Susanville, as well as on the Round Valley Reservation.
More information . . .
Federally Recognized American Indian Tribes