stimates, then we had better be prepared to
reject most historical testimony. We may then base our calculation on
75 Indians for the Bale ranch, 400 for the Caymus ranch, and 600 for
the Salvador ranch. The Juarez and the Higuera ranches contained a
"large number." Since the largest number actually given is 600, we may
with safety consider that 300 would represent a "large number." A
"still larger number" could reasonably be 400. The total then becomes
2,075. Menefee, however, is careful to state that this included only
the Indians who were "in some sense" permanently located, and puts the
unattached number in the "thousands." The latter can of course be
scaled down drastically. Hundreds would be a good substitute, with a
possible total of one thousand. The outcome then is that the Indian
population of Napa Valley as a whole in 1843 was about 3,000, or
identical with Yount's minimum estimate.

What was, now, the population aboriginally? The mission baptisms are of
no use to us since the Indians in 1843 included most of the
ex-neophytes in the area. That there had already been a profound
reduction at that time is unquestioned. The north shore of the Bay had
been subject to military, clerical, and civilian incursion since the
beginning of the century. Lethal epidemics had swept over the country
repeatedly. Massacre and slaughter had been the rule rather than the
exception. Indeed, the open valley through Sonoma and Napa up to
Calistoga had suffered more seriously than any other area except
perhaps the delta of the Sacramento River. A population reduction from
the aboriginal level by one-third prior to 1843 would not be out of
line with the apparent facts.

The estimates for the period 1840-1845 derived from Yount, Hittell, and
Menefee included the Central Wappo with the more southern groups. For
the Central Wappo the ethnographic sources and the mission records
indicated an aboriginal population of 450 or 500. However, it is
probably advisable to disregard this small division as a separate
entity and include it with the remaining Wappo and the Suscol Wintun.
If we then take Yount's minimum estimate of 3,000 for the Napa Valley
south of Mt. St. Helena and if we assume a one-third decrease in
numbers from aboriginal times to 1843, the final estimate for the area
becomes 4,500.

The figure just derived is of course considerably greater than would be
indicated by either the ethnographic village lists or the mission
baptis