Bear River Native Americans

The Bear River Native Americans traditionally inhabited the rugged drainage area of Bear River in today’s Humboldt County on the coast of northern California. Culturally and linguistically they belong to other Athapaskan-speaking indigenous groups of California, such as the Mattole to the south. The Bear River tribe historically intermarried with the Mattole, Sinkyone, and Nongatl, and worked with the Mattole in maintaining resource claims against the Wiyot. Trade and exchange with the Hupa was a common practice, as angelica root, wild tobacco, and abalone shell for hill grass and pine nuts were common items. Early sources indicate that the Bear River tribe had little non-Native contact in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, by the 1850s Euroamerican settlers had virtually eradicated the Bear River peoples. The surviving Bear Lake peoples were forced onto the Smith River Reservation in northern California and southern Oregon. Although the 1990 US Census counted no Bear River Indians, they had federal recognition as the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria of California.

Name: Bear River. The Bear River called themselves Mattole Niekeni.

Location: Northern California along the Bear River.

Population: 1,276 before Euroamerican contact; 23 in 1937; none registered in the 1990 US Census.

Language Family: Southern Athapaskan.

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