1787

Northwest Ordinance enacted.  This Ordinance laid the groundwork for white  settlement beyond the Allegheny Mountains by guaranteeing fair treatment to Indians and asserted that Indian land and property would never be taken from them without their consent.

9-17-1787

Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution states, "...To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes;"

1821

Plan of Iguala adopted.  This Act was adopted by the Mexican government and guaranteed citizenship and protection to California Indians and their property.

1832/1833

Indians are infected with a deadly disease to which they have no immunity.  Thousands die.

1847

Pierson B. Reading acquires a Mexican Land Grant and becomes the first permanent white settler.  He uses Indians as his laborers.

1848

Gold discovered by Pierson B. Reading in Clear Creek.  He uses Indians as laborers to collect the placer gold.

2-2-1848

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo adopted.  California became a possession of the United States by the enactment of this treaty.

1849

Gold Rush is in full swing.  Thousands of miners have arrived and are competing with the Indians for food - fish and deer.  The miners are also chasing Indians from the waterways where they are mining prohibiting them from catching salmon.

1849

First known verbal treaty made with white men.

4-22-1850

Indenture Law passed.  The Act for the Government and Protection of Indians was enacted which provided for the indenture or apprenticeship of Indians of all ages to any white citizen for long periods of time.  Was a common practice from 1850 until 1863.

1851

Treaties are made by the federal government with Indians all over California, Shasta County included.  THe first and only written Shasta County treaty was made in Cottonwood at Major Reading's rancho and called for, among with things, the establishment of a 35-square mile reservation.  The reservation never materialized.

1852

Cottonwood Treaty rejected by the Senate.

5-26-1852

Fort Reading established on the west side of Cow Creek a short distance north of its mouth at the Sacramento RIver.

3-26-1853

First reports of widespread starvation among the Indians.

1854

The Nome Lackee Reservation was established.  Shasta County Indians were captured and forcibly taken there.

6-1855

Miners invade the Castle Crags area resulting in the Battle of Castle Rock.

1856

Nome Cult Farm established.  Shasta County Indians were captured and forcibly taken there.

7-1-1857

Fort Crook established at Fall River Mills.

1859

Pit River War commenced.

9-8-1864

Mrs. Catherine Allen was killed by Indians.  Mrs. John Jones was killed the following day.  Settlers banded together and retaliated killing hundreds of innocent Indians in an attempt to exterminate all Indians.

10-8-1864

Millville Resolutions were drawn up demanding the immediate removal of all Indians on the east side of the Sacramento River and death to those who did not leave.

8-20-1866

Mrs. Marie Dersch was killed by Indians.  Settlers again banded together and retaliated by killing hundreds of innocent Indians in another attempt to exterminate all Indians.

1871

Ghost Dances (religious dances) commenced being held by the Indians in an attempt to bring back the good days.

1872

The railroad arrived.  Many sacred sites were dynamited in the Sacramento River Canyon to make way for the tracks.

1887

The Allotment Act (aka the Dawes Severalty Act) was enacted.  This Act called for the breaking up of communal tribal landholdings and allotted 160 acres of reservation land to family heads.  It was an attempt to force Indians into the white man's landholding system of private property ownership.

1891

School attendance at Indian schools was made compulsory by the Indian Service.

1898

The Curtis Act was enacted.

1918

Indian children were allowed to attend public schools.

1921

Indians seek legislation to allow them payment for lost lands.

1924

Indians received citizenship.

1924

Indians received voting privileges.

1934

The Wheeler-Howard Act (aka the Indian Reorganization Act) was enacted.  It offered tribes an opportunity to reestablish corporate governments under certain regulations previously outlawed by the Allotment Act of 1887 and the Curtis Act of 1898, repealed the Dawes Act and stopped allotment, and provided a revolving loan fund to stimulate tribal economic development.

1938

Construction began on Shasta Dam and resulted in the last major displacement of Indians in Shasta County.  Those who lived in the path of the coming waters of Shasta Lake were paid for their land and forced to move.

1975

Indian Self-Determination and Assistance Act was adopted.