Land History

“Old Man Coyote made a sweathouse (Roundhouse) at a place called Thamnoyo. When he had finished the house, he procured a great many feathers and placed them in the house. He then willed that they should become people and soon there were a great many people there…” An oral history written down by S. A. Barrett about a “place” one mile east of the old Hopland Rancheria.

Indigenous peoples have a deep and continuing connection to this land and its waters for over 10,000 years -- spirit and wisdom are embodied in this place. The region supports a rich diversity of plants and animals and, when cultivated through Indigenous stewardship, people did not need to travel far to find food and small individual communities persisted near one another. They practiced ways of living as part of the entire community of life and respecting its spirit. Many sacred practices and traditions are deeply rooted in the spirit and stories of the land where the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) and surrounding ranches operate today. 

European colonization, from its very inception, brought destruction to Indigenous communities through systematic persecution, destructive ideologies of private property and resource extraction, and the introduction of infectious diseases. There are published accounts including one from Dr. Victoria Patterson (Kaplan) who spoke with Frances Jack, a Tribal Elder of Hopland, describing a time on the Old Rancheria when all her family members fell ill to the flu, and her mother was too sick to attend her grandmother’s funeral.

Colonization, state sanctioned genocide, forced abandonment of village home sites, and continued systematic racism impacted Indigenous livelihoods, language, culture, and spirituality; yet new altered lifeways evolved -- a testament to the tenacity and strength of the Hopland People.

Shóqowa People and the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians

Many members of The Hopland Band of Pomo Indians are descendants of the Šóqowa and neighboring communities who retain a strong spiritual connection to their ancestral lands. Their ancestors, who survived rampant genocide and enslavement, were rendered politically and economically defenseless against the government’s legislative and military power.

In 1880 they were forced from the village of Šanél and some were relocated, along with people from neighboring villages as far west as Yorkville, to 10 acres of land on the Foster Ranch, a mile north of old Hopland along Old River Road, referred to as the Apple Tree Site or the Old Rancheria.

In 1904, Arthur Foster executed his power as a white businessman to persuade powerful political allies to force the Indigenous people from the Old Rancheria. Using monies from the Congressional Acts of 1906 and 1908, the Federal Government purchased a farm from Jesse and Edna Daw for a new living site which is still much of today’s Hopland Reservation.

It was, and continues to be, difficult for Indigenous people to thrive in the Shanél Valley after they were forced off the fertile land and away from freshwater sources. Many Pomo people had to take on work that violated their cultural practices and spiritual connections, thus impacting their emotional wellbeing and building resentment. Some Pomo, mostly women, took to commercial basketmaking to earn a livelihood, as Pomo baskets are known to be among the finest in the world and are still popular among collectors.

In 1908 the Federal Government granted several parcels of land for small rancherias in Mendocino County and some of the families from the Hopland area moved to a 1600-acre Rancheria above the Shanél Valley. At that time people could move across the landscape more freely than today where even access to the Russian River (or P̓daṭʰél) is limited. “Like most local land features the river itself is a relative and a being of Power,” says Ramón Billy, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Hopland Band of Pomo Indians.

In 1953, the Federal Government initiated the Termination Acts to get Indians to relinquish their lands from federal oversight and privatize their holdings. In exchange, the tribes were promised roads and water infrastructure that was never delivered. This period of termination forced the division of land into private deeds and some parcels were sold to white settlers. 

In the 1970’s, Tribes throughout the United States challenged their terminations. Hopland Band of Pomo Indians was one of the first local tribes to be restored to federal trust status.

California’s assimilation into the Union began in 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed with the Republic of Mexico. Land taken from Indigenous people and granted by the Spanish and Mexican governments to the colonizers of Alta-California persisted under US law.  

Lands at the base of the Hopland REC were part of a sixty-eight thousand acre grant given in 1844 to Fernando Feliz, a retired Spanish army official, by the Spanish General Michel Micheltorena prior to Mexico’s victory over Spain. Although Feliz had minimal interest in reaping the potential profits his massive swath of land was nearly guaranteed to provide, this place came to be known as Rancho Sanel and today encapsulates much of the Russian River Valley and the majority of contemporary Hopland.

The discovery of gold in California in 1849, as well as the development of the railroad, accelerated Westward expansion across California in the name of “manifest destiny.” This movement spurred a wave of federal and state legislation to grab land such as the California Land Act (1851), the Homestead Act, (1862), and the Morrill Act (1862). 

As part of this land grab, the US Army forced many Indigenous California tribes to sign treaties with the state, surrendering their land and accepting eviction to designated reservations assigned by the government. The treaties were never ratified as they were abandoned by the US Senate in 1851 and have come to be known as “The Lost Treaties.” Without any formal agreements or protections from the State, much Indigenous land was stolen and occupied throughout Mendocino County and the rest of California.

Feliz sold nearly every parcel of his land to the new immigrants. These settlers were eager to establish homesteads and develop business ventures and converted the land to farms and ranches in and around Rancho Sanel and contemporary Mendocino county. Some of the first settlers to whom Feliz sold his land went on to develop the town of Old Hopland and renamed natural and geographical features in honor of these colonists such as McDowell Valley and Dooley Creek. 

After Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act in 1862, nearly 11 million acres of expropriated Native lands, acquired by the federal government through outright seizure or unratified treaty, were donated to many states to sell in support of the establishment of state universities to advance agriculture and applied sciences. These Land Grant Universities were intended to make higher education more accessible but did not historically address socio-economic barriers, including systematic racism, to provide equitable access.

States went on to sell these lands, including 1.7 million acres in California, to fund 52 of some of the nations’ top universities and education and research institutions, including the University of California, who continue to build on these financial gains. 

The Hopland Research and Extension Center sits on unceded Indigenous land. Thirteen of the land parcels were acquired and sold in support of the Universities of Florida and Georgia as part of the Morrill Act. 

By 1859, there was a saloon in the town of Old Hopland established by colonists Knox, Willard, and Connor and Harrison opened a store near the village of Šanél. When the California Northwestern Pacific Railroad started running along the west side of the Russian River the business center grew and migrated to where Hopland is today, on Highway 101. 

Legacy ranching and farming families began to stake their claim to land around Hopland to grow hops, stone fruit, sheep, and some of the area's first vineyards. The best-known dairy and foul operations in the county were owned by A.W. Foster and operated out of Foster ranch, referred to in one account as “the finest and best improved [ranch] in the county.”

The Poor family still farms next to the Hopland REC. In 1888, John Samuel Poor Jr. left his settlement in Massachusetts and came to Mendocino County by railroad and horse to establish a homestead. He was able to purchase 160 acres of land above Old Hopland for just $17.

“I was talking with my uncle John Poor and all we know is that my great grandpa George Poor (John Samuel’s son) owned property above Coon lake, possibly from Higgins [who was the original owner a few of the Morrill Act parcels], and thinks he sold it to Pratt because he was offering a lot of money. George was also quarter owner of Beasley flats but Beasley bought him out,” says Troy McWilliams, Senior Agricultural Technician at Hopland REC. McWilliams family still has vineyards and livestock in the area, and some of his ancestors' fruit trees can be enjoyed at HREC. 

In the 1930s, rancher Roy L. Pratt purchased land from the Poor family who owned 600 acres and other colonists to make up a 5,200 acre ranch which he then sold to the University of California in 1951. The University bought the land from Pratt for about $135,000 along with a handful of Pratt’s livestock and his tractor that remained in use for years. 

There is much to appreciate about how Indigenous people steward the land and waters that make up this place, and have done so since time immemorial. Archaeological evidence is widespread across the area. In fact, housepits may have existed along a small body of water that generally persists year-round. 

Visitors to HREC can easily view curve-line petroglyphs in the shape of oval markings that range in size from 10-30 centimeters in diameter carved into large boulders. While they fit a pattern observed in other Mendocino County locations, the function of these petroglyphs is uncertain to university researchers. Also found on the site were obsidian and chert flakes, tools, bone fragments, net-sinkers, shell beads, obsidian drills, and mortar and pestle fragments. Archaeologists have also found several large chert quarries, where Native people harvested bands of chert out of schist boulders. 

The Center’s rich mosaic of ecological resources, made up of complex hydrological systems, diverse microclimates, and a wide variety of wildlife and plant communities make it a fulfilling place to learn about and apply environmental stewardship. Today, HREC hosts diverse events and programs in order to provide the Hopland community and wider region with opportunities to engage with and learn from and about the land. These efforts include developing programs with the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in order to increase access to the site and its natural and human resources.

Educational and research events like school field trips, field classes, self-guided hikes and workshops about land management and restoration are offered year-round for all who are interested in exploring the property and learning more.

Changes are underway, including developing opportunities for tribal members to hunt, exploring ways to engage with tribal youth, and enabling land access for Indigenous educational and material gathering purposes. Indigenous community members have also been generously sharing the importance of traditional ecological knowledge with UC California Naturalists in training at HREC. 

We welcome opportunities to collaborate with Indigenous peoples in the area to advance education and stewardship. 

 Band of Pomo Indians Hopland  Accessed April 2021

Barrett, S.A. The Ethnogeography of the Pomo and Neighboring Indians, The University Press, 1908 Accessed April 2021

Carpenter, A.O. A History of Mendocino County, Sanel Township Accessed April 2021 

Kaplan, V.D. with F. Anderson, C. Christy, P. Hunter, F. Jack, I. Martinez, an D. Rapport. Sheemi Ke Janu: Talk from the Past, A history of Russian River Pomo of Mendocino County. Ukiah Title VII Project, Ukiah Unified School District, 1984 Accessed April 2021 

Methods

The general procedures for compiling this story map can be found  here .