Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation

When the reservation was established, the Yuki people (as they came to be called) of Round Valley were forced into a difficult and unusual situation.

The Yuki had to share their home with strangers who spoke other languages, lived with other beliefs, and who used the land and its products differently.

From years of intermarriage, a common lifestyle, and a shared land base, a unified community emerged.

Between July, 1856, when Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Thomas J. Henley, requested official designation of the valley as Nome Cult farm, and the granting of his request in 1858, Round Valley slowly filled with farms and ranches despite its reservation status.

Relations between the various Indian groups, settlers and white employees of the reservation reached a state of extreme hostility.

However, in 1920, allotees were allowed to "fee patent" their land: to receive a deed to it by giving up its trust status and accompanying benefits, such as freedom from taxation.

The Indians of Round Valley jointly elected a tribal council and wrote a constitution both of which still function.

Along with this alteration in tribal management, a whole range of new regulations intended to halt the loss of land from the Indian Community was also instituted.

The IRA repealed the Allotment Act and Indians on the Reservation were deprived of the legal ability to buy and sell land, hold deeds and to take out loans.