On Sunday at about 3 p.m., two- or three-dozen participants in the annual Nome Cult Trail Walk passed through Orland. The event was in observance of the tragic 1863 military-enforced relocation of Native Californians from Bidwell Ranch in Chico to the Round Valley Reservation in Covelo. The trek was more than 100 miles in length, over mostly very difficult terrain through Butte, Glenn, Tehama, and Mendocino Counties. The original walk took place from Sept. 4 to Sept. 18, 1863. The Konkow Maidu who were forced out of Butte County suffered beatings, whippings, and starvation. Many died of thirst. One witness to the atrocities said, “… about 150 sick Indians were scattered along the trail for 50 miles … dying at the rate of 2 or 3 a day. They had nothing to eat … and the wild hogs were eating them up either before or after they were dead.” Of the 461 Konkow Maidu who left Chico, only 277 arrived at Round Valley. Glenn County Observer photos by Larry Judkins.
The Glenn County Observer 