Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California -Native American Indian Tribes - Over 2,000 articles on native american indians, their culture & traditions.

Over 2,000 articles about native americans of the US and Canada First Nations.

Submit your own articles about american indians without knowing any HTML here
Are you ready?

Today's Top Story:

Traffic Ranking

Privacy Policy

Any information collected on our site is used for internal purposes only and will not be shared or sold to third parties!

Your transactions in our store are secure

Videos of the Week

Native Genocide
Native american history song by Baby Gurl with photo collage 4:22 minutes

Healing Heart of Humanity
Humanity Healing Network invites you to embrace a revolutionary concept. 4:39 minutes

Native American Chicken Dance
A native american chicken dance performed at a pow wow. 3:37 minutes

Leonard Peltier ~ Americas Mandela
The story of the more than 60 men and women who died during the "reign of terror." How all that relates to the case of Leonard Peltier. 11:58 minutes.

TNB->Maidu Indians: Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California

Posted on Friday, July 20 @ 20:59:24 PDT

Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California .. KEYWORDS: enterprise rancheria maidu indians california indians california indian tribes rancheria indians

The Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California originally lived in northeastern California’s mountain meadows and valleys.

Stumble It!

Here they collected great quantities of acorns that they dried and made into flour. During the salmon spawning season they netted or speared, dried and stored enough of the fish to last them most of the year. While the men hunted deer, elk, bear, geese, ducks and quail during the year, the women collected seeds, nuts, berries and wild plants. Maidu men also collected wild tobacco to smoke during special ceremonies.

Shelter for the Maidu depended upon where they lived. Those living in the foothills built earth-covered houses; while those who lived in the mountains built cone-shaped dwellings covered with bark. While away from their villages on hunting trips, the Maidu constructed temporary shelters covered with grass and twigs. Small settlements were built close together to form villages. A network of foot trails connected the villages. A ceremonial lodge was constructed in the largest and most central of the villages.

Maidu clothing reflected the temperate climate of this region. Men wore buckskin breechcloths, and occasionally no clothing at all. Maidu women wore double-sided buckskin aprons or aprons made of woven plant materials, and basket-like caps. Women also wore leggings and grass-insulated moccasins in the winter. Robes of bearskin, deerskin or mountain lion skin were also worn in winter. As an added display of beauty, Maidu women pierced their ears, while the men pierced their noses.

In 1844, most of the land to which the Maidu were native was given in a grant to a white settler who was a cattle rancher. The cattle destroyed the Maidu’s food sources, and many died of hunger. More Maidu people perished during smallpox epidemics brought to the area by white gold miners. Survivors of the epidemics resorted to eating livestock in order to prevent starvation. White settlers hunted down members of this group and killed them.

In a treaty signed by the Maidu and federal officials, ancestral Maidu lands were signed over in exchange for the safety of a reservation. The government failed to honor this treaty and ordered soldiers to remove the Maidu from reservation lands. One hundred and sixty-one Maidu were forcibly marched from their reservation to Round Valley in northern California. During this march thirty-two people died.

Today the Maidu’s descendants live on small reservations in California or in communities near these reservations. One of these is the Enterprise Rancheria.