Land area
Land of the Bat-si, Che-no and others in California, ceded 1851 (area 291)
- 1851
Ceded to the United States
By California Treaty G: Bidwell's Ranch, Chico Creek, 1851 (unratified)
In the record
Land outside the reserve that the Mi-chop-da, Es-ki-un and other bands were to give up under an August 1851 treaty that was never ratified. The area covers about 3.5 million acres in what is now California.
The 1899 record names Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty the Senate never ratified. The OSU treaty page marks it Unratified, and Prologue says the Senate rejected all 18 California treaties.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
Working with these nations
- Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria Nation government 450 acres (2026), first ancestral land return in the Big Chico Creek watershed
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council Nation government Land conservation and return of coastal Sinkyone lands to tribal stewardship (nearly 5,000 acres protected) Give on their site Website
- Koy'o Land Conservancy (Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe) Nation government Restoring traditional homelands to tribal members Website
- Kumeyaay Diegueno Land Conservancy (KDLC) Nation government Acquiring and preserving sacred and culturally sensitive lands in Kumeyaay aboriginal territory Give on their site Website
- Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation Nation government About 900 acres returned Dec 2025
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 4
- Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians of Californiamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians of Californiamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheriaas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Mooretown Rancheria of Maidu Indians of Californiamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Agreements recorded for this land 1
Located in 1
Sources
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 291
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1851-08-01
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Bat-si; Che-no; Es-ki-un; Ho-lo-lu-pi; Mi-chop-da; Sim-sa-wa; Su-nu; To-to; Yut-duc
- States
- CA
- Counties
- Butte; Plumas; Sierra; Tehama; Yuba
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- California 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium