The Dye Creek Ranch has a rich and storied history. Before white settlers came to Northern California, this region was home to the Yani and Yahi Native Americans. The first known crossing of Dye Creek by white men happened in 1828 when Jedidiah Smith and his party forded it on a beaver trapping excursion up the east side of the Sacramento River. When settlers came to stay decades later, they essentially exterminated the natives. In 1867, there was a massacre at Campo Seco cave, where 33 Yahis were killed. This event, along with the Kingley Cave massacre of 1870, marked the end of the so-called "Mill Creek Indian Troubles." In 1911, Ishi, the last primitive Indian, walked into Oroville. Ishi's home range included the Dye Creek Ranch.
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Ishi |
Several years later, one of the Dye Creek homesteaders, John Apperson, packed Ishi back into his homelands and Ishi taught his companions his culture and how he hunted and fished. Among these persons in company of Ishi were Pope and Young. In essence, Ishi taught these two men how he used a bow and arrow. Much of our modern day archery information stems from what Ishi taught his white companions.
The Ranch is named after Job Dye (1807-1883), who obtained a land grant from Mexican Gov. Micheltorena in 1844, called the Rancho de Los Berrendos. The land grant to south was granted to Toomes and it was called the Rancho del Rio de Los Molinos. The rough boundary was the actual Dye Creek drainage. Portions of both these land grants are now incorporated into the Dye Creek Ranch. Dye sold off his holdings, and by 1882 Joseph Crane owned the complete Dye Creek drainage.
Other landowners and homesteaders on the Dye Creek Ranch include such prominent local names as Lassen, Magnussen, Lyon, Ruffin, Stover, McKenzie, Facht, Speegle and Keeler. Many of the old buildings of the homesteads still survive today.
Starting in 1967, archaeological digs happened under the supervision of UC Davis Professor Jerry Johnson. Among his many discoveries, he found 18 Indian graves a short distance up the Dye Creek drainage. His excavation at the Campo Seco site has also shined light on how the Yahi and Yani Indians lived in this region for centuries.
Click here for an article from the San Francisco Chronicle regarding Dye Creek Lodge.
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Rooms & Lodge Amenities
