Big Bend, California
|
Big Bend Madhesi Valley |
|
|---|---|
| census-designated place | |
 Location in Shasta County and the state of California |
|
| Coordinates: 41°1′11″N 121°54′28″W / 41.01972°N 121.90778°WCoordinates: 41°1′11″N 121°54′28″W / 41.01972°N 121.90778°W | |
| Country |
 United States
|
| State |
 California
|
| Area | |
| • Total | 5.824 sq mi (15.083 km2) |
| • Land | 5.735 sq mi (14.853 km2) |
| • Water | 0.089 sq mi (0.231 km2) 1.53% |
| Elevation | 1,701 ft (514 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 102 |
| • Density | 18/sq mi (6.8/km2) |
| Time zone | Pacific (PST) (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP code | 96011 |
| Area code(s) | 530 |
| FIPS code | 06-06475 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0256886 |
Big Bend of the Madhesi Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) and the indigenous homeland of Madhesi tribe, located in Shasta County, northeastern California.
The population was 102 at the 2010 census, down from 149 at the 2000 census.
For several thousand years prior to the 19th century, Big Bend was the heart of the territory of the Madhesi tribe (pronounced Mah-day-see) tribe (or "band") of Pit River Native Americans. The Madesi is one of nine bands (also called "tribelets") that spoke the Achomawi language. (Early anthropologists mistakenly called all nine bands in the language group "Achomawi," although only one of the bands was actually called Achomawi.)
The Madesi band's territorial region included Big Bend and the surrounding area of the Lower Pit River (Ah-choo'-mah in the Madesi dialect, which has few or no speakers still living), and several of its tributaries, such as Kosk Creek (An-noo-che'che) and Nelson Creek (Ah-lis'choo'-chah). The main village of the Madesi was on the north bank of the Pit River, east of Kosk Creek, and was called Mah-dess', or Mah-dess' Atjwam (Madesi Valley), and was directly across the river from the smaller villages that surrounded the hot springs on the river's south bank, which were called Oo-le'-moo-me, Lah'-lah-pis'-mah, and Al-loo-satch-ha.
The Madesi people enjoyed great abundance of food sources, which mainly consisted of acorns, deer, salmon, and other fish from the river.
The Big Bend area is so remote and isolated that the Madesi was one of the last indigenous peoples of California to be invaded and pushed out of their ancestral homeland. Until the 1850s, the valley where Big Bend sits (now commonly called the "Madesi Valley") was relatively unknown to Euro-Americans, and rarely visited by outsiders. By 1860, however, USA military forces of the Pitt River Expeditions and white settlers had killed or captured and relocated most Indians in the entire Pit River region.
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