California Surveyors Forums

Have have you checked with Tom?

Tom Tauchus
BLM Indian Lands Surveyor
Pacific Regional Office
Real Estate Services
2800 Cottage Way
Sacramento, CA 95825
916-978-4313 (Office)
916-647-7199 (Cell)
916-978-4327 (Fax)
ttauchus@ca.blm.gov

You might also contact the San Manuel Band of Indians and/or the Pechanga Tribal Office. Both tribes are very interested in historical data for tribes and bands in California and may be able to provide you with information.

Another source would be the #@*& County Historical Society. They are quite active and may have additional historical information and photos of the Indian Burial Mounds in that district.

Try your local College or try the local planning agency and ask for a Cultural Resource referal. There is a source for all cultural sites in the state, CCCRI, or something like that. ( Calif. Center for Cultural Resource Info?) or something close to that.

Dave, a couple of things.

Each tribe buries different. I know in East Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi they do use swamp land if that is all they have. The Choctaw removed the skin so that the spirits could exit and then burned the bodies, after that, the remains where disposed of by burial or floating in swamps. I can’t imagine them building mounds in the swamps, but I could imagine someone calling it burial ground just to have an excuse not to go in. I would say your first step would be find out what tribe was there at that time and then hunt down their custom.

Also there is a good book that explains how maps and their features got their names. I don’t have it front of me, so I do not know who wrote it but the books name is: “From Squaw Tit to Whorehouse Meadow”