Joe McGinnis (Wiyot from the Bear Creek branch), Nicole McGinnis (Hupa Tribe), and their daughter, Tea

Population Numbers and Declines

Year    Population or Change
1770   1,000 to 3,300

1858    State militia unit (Trinity Rangers) killed Northern California Natives rampantly for 5 months and were mustered out of service. –North Coast Journal

1860    Twelve massacres over 2 to 5 days by lynch mob of European settlers –North Coast Journal

2004  477

1860 Wiyot Indian Massacre

Indian Island, Humboldt Bay, California

In the early hours of Feb 26 1860 the Whites began their 2 day massacre (up to 5 days by other accounts) on at least 12 CA Indian sites. Dulawat village on Indian Island, on the lower Eel River, at least two locations on the South Spit, at Table Bluff, in the Fortuna area, in the Rio Dell area, at Humboldt Point, several ranches on Elk River, and the village of Kutserwalik at Bucksport.

Cousins Matilda and Nancy Spear gathered up their three children at the start of the massacre and hid with them on the west side of the island. Afterwards, they found seven other children left alive. They put the entire group in a canoe, rowed them across the bay, and then walked to Matilda’s husband’s homestead in Freshwater.75 Nancy later described the massacre to her nephew: “They came like weasels in the night, crawling on their bellies. We were without any men to protect us. We had never fought the white men and had thought they were our friends.”
– (The Matilda & Nancy Spear Memorial Foundation. Brochure. Photocopy in the “Indian Island Massacre” file, Humboldt County Collection, Humboldt State University Library, Arcata.)