The Geography of the Mariposa Indian War
Russell CP. The Geography of the Mariposa Indian War. Yosemite National Park
When early in 1849 gold miners began to swarm into the country just west of the present Yosemite National Park, they invaded a territory which was fairly populous with Indians. Two of the great linguistic groups of the state, the Yokuts and the Miwok, were represented by this population of natives. The east-west boundary line between the Yokuts and the Miwok passed just south of Yosemite, and the two subtribes or bands which were especially responsible for the precipitation of the Mariposa Indian War, the Chowchillas and the Yosemites, came in the first instance from the Yokuts and in the second instance from the Miwok. On the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Fresno, Merced, Kings, and Kern Rivers, and around Tulare Lake, was an Indian population numbering some 23,000. However, as the white population increased and every valley and stream course was taken over by the miners, the Indians began to resent the "squeeze". On the night of December 17, 1850, the Chowchillas and some of the Yosemites attacked the J.D. Savage establishment on the Fresno River and killed three of the attendants. The Yosemites, previously, had displayed their hostility by attacking Savage's Merced River post at the mouth of the South Fork.