B- California Indian Villages, Towns and Settlements

A complete listing of all the Indian villages, towns and settlements in California, beginning with B, and as listed in Handbook of Americans North of Mexico.

Badwisha. A Mariposan tribe on Kaweah River, California, said to have lived near the Wikchamni. Mentioned by Hoffman in 1886 as formerly on Kaweah River, but then at Tule Agency.

Bamom (salt water). A former Maidu village at the site of the present Shingle, Eldorado Colorado, California. (R. B. D.)

Bankalachi (Yokuts name). A small Shoshonean tribe on upper Deer Creek, which drains into Tulare lake, south California. With the Tubatulabal they form one of the four major linguistic divisions of the family. Their own name is unknown. (A. L. K. )

Bantas. A village of the Cholovone east of the San Joaquin and north of the Tuolumne River, California. ¹

Batawat. A division of the Wishosk formerly living about the lower course of Mad River, northwest California. In 1851 McKee said of them: “This band has been permitted to live at their present rancheria only upon condition that they confine themselves to the immediate neighborhood of the mouth of the river, and not come into the town.”

Bauka. A former Maidu village on the right bank of Feather River, near Gridley, Butte County, California. (R. B. D.)

Bayu. A former  Maidu village at Sandy gulch, Butte County, California. It was located by Powers on Feather River, and there may possibly have been a second village of the same name at that place. (R. B. D.)

Bidamarek. An indefinite division of the Pomo of California, the name being applied by the  Pomo of upper Clear lake to the inhabitants of the region west of them on Russian River, as distinguished from the Danomarek, or hill people, of the same region. Gibbs, in 1851, mentioned the Bedahmarek as living with the Shanelkaya in a valley apparently at the source of the east fork of Russian River; and McKee, in the same year, gave the Medamarec, said to number 150, as inhabiting with the Chanetkai the hills dividing the waters of Clear lake from Eel (sic) River. (A. L. K.)

Bis. A Chumashan village west of Pueblo de las Canoas (San Buenaventura), Ventura County, California, in 1542. ²

Boalkea. A  Pomo village, speaking the northern dialect, in Scott Valley, west of upper Clear lake, California. Gibbs, in 1851, gave them, under the name Moalkai, as one of the Clear Lake groups, west of the lake, with a population of 45. (A. L. K.)

Bohnapobatin. (Bohnapo-batin, ‘western many houses’). The name applied by the Pomo living in the region of Clear Lake, California, to those living along the upper course of Russian River. ³

Bokea. A former Pomo village situated in what is known as Rancheria Valley, on the headwaters of Navarro River, Mendocino County, California. (A. L. K. – S. A. B.)

Bokninuwad (in part from bok, ‘to find’). A Yokuts tribe formerly living on Deer Creek, Tulare County, California. They ceded lands to the United States by treaty of May 30, 1851, and went on a reservation on Kings River. (A. L. K. )

Bolbone. A subdivision of the Cholovone, the northernmost group of the Mariposan family, residing east of San Joaquin River and north of Tuolumne River, California. (A. L. K.)

Bolinas. A name formerly applied to the people living in the region of Bolinas Bay, south of Point Reyes, Marin County, California. Taylor ⁴ gives Bollanos, an incorrect spelling of Bolinas, as the name of a small division of the Olamentke (Moquelumnan stock) formerly “near Bollenos Bay, Tamales Bay, Punto de los Reyes, and probably as far up as Bodega Bay.” (S. A. B. )

Bruno’s Village. A former village in San Diego County, California, said to be Luiseno, but possibly Diegueno or Agua Caliente. ⁵

Buesanet. Mentioned in connection with Choinóc (Choinok) as a rancheria north of Kern River, California, in 1775-76. It evidently belonged to the Mariposan family and lay in the vicinity of Visalia, Tulare County, California. ⁶

Buldam. A former Pomo village on the north bank of Big River and north of Mendocino, Mendocino County, California. (S. A. R.)

Bushamul. A Nishinam village formerly existing in the valley of Bear River, California.

1. Pinart, Cholovone MS., B. A. E., 1880.[↩]
2. Cabrillo (1542) in Smith, Col. Docs. Fla., 181, 1857.[↩]
3. Gibbs (1851) in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, III, 110, 1853.[↩]
4. Taylor, California Farmer, Mar. 30, 1860[↩]
5. Hayes quoted by Bancroft, Native Races, I, 460, 1882.[↩]
6. See Garcés, Diary, 289, 1900.[↩]