Graton Rancheria
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The Graton Rancheria was a 15.45 acre property in the coastal hills of northern California, about two miles northwest of Sebastopol. Its current address is 10091 Occidental Road, Sebastopol, California [Map [1]]. The site is about 1.5 miles southwest of the hamlet of Graton, population 1,815 in 2000. The area is a few miles west of Santa Rosa, the largest of Sonoma County's nine cities and the County seat, population 147,595 in 2000.
The federal government established the Graton or Sebastopol rancheria in 1921, for the benefit of “Marshall and Sebastopol bands of homeless Indians”. But no one lived there in 1921, and by mid-1937, no Indians had occupied the land. Only a handful of people lived there between 1937-52, and just three men lived there in 1952. Two of them were Pomo, and the third was 1/4 Shasta, from Siskiyou County.
The three residents voted unanimously in 1959 to terminate government ownership of the rancheria, and to receive the land as their own private property. The government completed transfer of the property to them or their heirs in 1966.
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[edit] History
Prior to 1921, the hilly and heavily timbered 15.45 acre property, consisting of 3 small tracts, was the private property of Joseph and Louisa Corda (as recorded in both a July 6, 1920 Department of the Interior letter, and in the records of the County of Sonoma, Book 310, page 180). None of the early letters about the purchase mention any residents on the Corda property when the government bought it; and during the first 16 years after the U.S. government purchased the property (1921-37), no one lived there. Between 1921 and its termination in 1966, there were never more than three assigned residents on the rancheria. One of them was a Shasta Indian, from a federally recognized tribe in Siskiyou County.
The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1936 was enacted in order to begin restoring Native American tribes. Sacramento Indian Agency Superintendent Roy Nash wrote to Washington in 1936 to advise the Indian Agency that there were no Indians living on the “Sebastopol” (Graton) rancheria, therefore there was no one to vote on the Act.
In field notes made upon a visit to the rancheria in 1952, Agency representative Leonard Hill confirmed that "This rancheria is not organized under IRA." The official IRA voting records from that period list no Coast Miwok, Graton or Sebastopol tribes.
Sacramento Indian Agency Superintendent Roy Nash, in a June 9, 1937 letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, stated “The purchase was intended ‘for use and occupancy by the Marshall and Sebastopol Bands of homeless California Indians’, but said bands never occupied the tract, nor has any Indian ever lived on the tract from date of purchase up to now.”
Nash asked, “Am I limited to Indians of Marshall and Sebastopol bands, or their descendants? I think decision should be that any landless Indians may be located on these unused California tracts.”
Andrew Sears, a native of the town of Sonoma, was given a land assignment on the rancheria on March 19, 1937, becoming the rancheria’s first resident. BIA Agent G.T. Nordstrom, in notes made during a June 24, 1952 visit to Graton rancheria, indicated that of those living on the rancheria, only Andrew Sears had been granted an assignment to live on the property.
Arthur Faber, an Indian Agency (BIA) employee, made application for his mother in 1945. Mrs. Laura Faber was then living in Lake County. Mrs. Faber was given an assignment in 1946, lived in a tent cabin on the property, and moved out in 1950.
A BIA document entitled “Graton Reservation (Sebastopol), dated “4-21-51”, states that there was “1 family, 3 people” living on the rancheria, gives the number of residents as “4”, and mentions only Andrew Sears as a resident.
At its peak in 1952, the property had a “House occupied by Andrew Sears... (and Fred Everill)”; a “tent occupied by Frank Truvido....”; three “small tent houses constructed by Arthur Faber for his mother....”, which according to Mrs. Faber had been unoccupied since 1950; and an “incomplete house occupied by Lawrence Bellman....”.
[edit] Termination
By 1954, the Eisenhower administration began to terminate forty-one small California federal land holdings (the “rancherias”) with the approval by vote of the occupants, and to convey them to the occupants' private ownership. In 1952, the records show that just three assignees occupied the Graton land: Frank Truvido, Fred Everill (a Karok Indian from Siskiyou County), and Andrew Sears. Lawrence Bellman by then was living in Inverness, in Marin County, and had not lived on the rancheria for more than a year. A Frank and Carrie Drake were also living in a cabin at the time, but had “no approved assignment”.
Greg Sarris, Chairman of the modern Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, speaking to Congress on May 16, 2000, said:
- “In 1958 when they came by and did a census at the height of the harvest season, when no one was around, they found three families and with the Rancheria Termination Act, offered those three families or three designees, the right to buy the land, and, in essence, terminate the rancheria as trust land.... (and) without the vote or the consensus of the rest of the members.”
The Point Reyes Light quoted Sarris in its December 14, 2000 edition, saying “Congress...dissolved federal recognition of the tribe in 1958 after deciding wrongly that all the Rancheria’s members were dead”. But the record does not support Sarris’ statements.
In fact, there were no other “members”; and official assignees and distributees Frank Truvido, Fred Everill and Andrew Sears voted 3-0 in 1959 to terminate the Graton rancheria, supporting conveyance of the land from federal to their private ownership. The September 17, 1959 referendum and the individual ballots show each man's signature.
Frank Truvido sent a very pleasant hand-written note to a Mr. Lowe in the Sacramento office of the BIA, which the BIA stamped as “RECEIVED Nov 20 1959 Sacramento” . Mr. Truvido wrote: “Graton Rancheria 10091 Occidental Road Sebastopol Calif. Mr. Lowe. Dear Sir I have written Mr. Scudder [Hubert B. Scudder of Sebastopol was the district’s Congressman] that we are in favor of the Termination Bill, and we a hopeing that this Bill passes this January. All the members of this Rancheria signed this letter to Mr. Scudder. Thank you Mr Lowe for doing your best for us indians. Sincerely yours, Frank Truvido Graton Rancheria Sebastopol, Calif”
Many field visits were made between 1951 and 1959, at various times of the year, to determine who lived on the rancheria property. In fact, it was after a 1952 field visit that it was learned that Frank Truvido did not yet have an official assignment.
It was Frank Truvido, Andrew Sears and Fred Everill who provided the field agents with the information used to determine who was living on the rancheria. There were only three "distributees" on that land, and hardly anyone else ever lived there at all. Anecdotal evidence from Sonoma County Native Americans supports the fact that there was never any “tribe” at the Graton rancheria--and no residents but Truvido, Sears and Everill when the vote was taken.
During the seven years after the distributees voted in favor of termination, no one challenged the Termination Act process. No one challenged the votes of Truvido, Everill and Sears to terminate the government’s ownership of the rancheria, and make it their private property.
Fred Everill and Andrew Sears died in 1960, leaving only Frank Truvido and his daughter living on the property. (Gloria Armstrong, Truvido's daughter, still lives in the original cabin, on the original acre the government gave her father. Her daughter Lorelle Ross lives there with her, and is Vice-Chair of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.)
Court records show that appropriate probate hearings were conducted to locate the heirs of Mr.Everill and Mr. Sears. (Each of these men had many heirs, and the bulk of the Rancheria property went for payouts to the lawful heirs and probate costs. Some of those heirs and/or their heirs may now be among the members of the FIGR.)
Each distributee or his heirs received about one acre of land, with a neatly-built cabin that was typical in rural Sonoma County at this time. The one acre plot and cabin was their own personal property, with 12.45 acres remaining as "community land", to be commonly owned by all three.
They received not only the rancheria land, but also improvements such as a septic system, a well, and modern bathrooms, kitchens, etc., for the rancheria houses. This work was done free of charge to the distributees. In addition, conservator arrangements were made for Frank Truvido, who was having difficulty managing his affairs.
Each distributee or his heirs received letters in February 1965, and again in December 1965, which advised them of “...the approximate value of the property received and that the property was tax-free at the time of distribution and further that from the date of recording at the time of recording in the county records the same taxes apply to the property as apply to property generally.” The transfer of land to private ownership was completed in 1966.
The Archives make clear that "rancherias" were very different from "reservations". The Indian Agency’s Charles E. Kelsey was setting up rancherias whose inhabitants were not considered "wards" of the government, as were reservation Indians; they were not under the authority of an agent and the usual chain of command; nor was land distribution under the control of a tribal council. The rancherias were for "scattered" Indians, and the term "scattered" is found repeatedly in the archives.
Dr. Stephan Beckham of Lewis and Clark College, a renowned expert on West Coast Indians, stated in a personal email that:
- "There appears to be widespread misunderstanding in California about rancherias. They were federal fee lands (not reservations) where homeless Indians (and others) lived without paying taxes. The Rancheria Termination Act ended the non-taxed status and distributed the land and assets to residents. It is possible to argue that "restoration" of the rancherias was nothing more than restoring the non-tax status of the former federal fee lands."
[edit] The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
The modern Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, formerly the Federated Coast Miwok, takes its name from the Graton Rancheria. FIGR Chairman Greg Sarris testified before the House Resource Committee that “15.45 acres were purchased in Graton for our members. Seventy-five members moved on in 1920”. But neither the FIGR nor its predecessor existed in 1920, nor can Sarris and the FIGR claim to speak for the “Marshall and Sebastopol bands of homeless Indians”.
Almost 100 years of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) documents, obtained from the National Archives in San Bruno, California, make clear that there never was any Graton Rancheria “tribe”, “tribal” structure, government, or political entity during the forty-five year history of the “Graton” or “Sebastopol” rancheria (1921-66). At no time in the rancheria’s history was there any government-to-government relationship between the U.S. government, or the State of California, and any residents of the Graton Rancheria.
