United Auburn Indian Community - History

History

The UAIC is the successor to the Auburn Band, largely Maidu and Miwok Indians. These indigenous communities of California Indians resided near Auburn, California and survived the depredations of the 19th century as one cohesive band.

This territory offered UAIC ancestors abundant year-round food sources. Food gathering was based on seasonal ripening, but hunting, gathering and fishing went on all year, with the greatest activity in late summer and early fall.

Seasonal harvests were both communal and personal property and much activity and social behavior centered on them. Status, sharing, trading, ceremonies and disagreements were important adjuncts to the gathering and distribution of food. Grasses, herbs, and rushes provided food and material for clothing and baskets. Seeds were gathered by the use of a seed beater and tray. They were then parched, steamed, dried, cooked into a mush or dried for storage.

Bear hunts were ceremonial. Black bears were usually hunted in winter, where lighted poles were used to drive them from their dens. Grizzlies that lived on the valley floor were greatly feared and rarely hunted.

The social-political organization of the Auburn Band was headed by a chief, who saw to the welfare of his people by restraining them from trespassing, arbitrating disputes and serving as official host at ceremonial gatherings. The division of labor was such that men hunted and fished, built houses and made weapons and traps and performed ceremonies. Women gathered plant food, prepared and cooked all food, prepared animal hides and made clothing, baskets and cared for the young. Children were separated by sex and trained in their respective roles at the age of eight.

The historic existence of the Auburn Indian Community is documented in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' correspondence dating back to the early 1900s. In 1917, the United States government purchased 20 acres (81,000 m2) of land near Auburn, California, that was put in trust for the Auburn Band and formally established a reservation, known as the Auburn Rancheria.

However, with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act (“IRA”), 25 U.S.C. § 671 et seq., in 1934, a dramatic shift in Federal Indian policy occurred, whereby Congress moved away from assimilationist Indian policies towards policies of self-governance. The governmental structure allowed by the IRA placed the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in charge of elections among Indian tribes to allow each tribe to accept or reject the tribal reorganization provisions of the IRA. In 1935, the 36 adult members of the Auburn Band voted 16 to 5 to reject the IRA.

The United States Congress enacted the Rancheria Act in 1953, which terminated federal trust responsibilities to the Auburn Band, among many other California Indian tribes. Only a 2.8-acre (11,000 m2) parcel of land with a park and a church and park remained after the government sold the Auburn Rancheria land. In 1967, the United States terminated their recognition of the Auburn Band.

President Richard Nixon ended termination policy in 1970. In 1978, during the 100th United States Congress, both the United States Senate and House of Representatives created a new federal Indian policy based on Native American self-determination.

On July 20, 1991, descendants of the historic Auburn Band reorganized their tribal government and adopted the Constitution of the United Auburn Indian Community (UAIC), which they presented to the BIA on August 30, 1991 with a request that the Bureau “formally recognize the United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria.” An Act of Congress passed the Auburn Indian Restoration Act, which restored the Tribe's federal recognition in 1994. A provision in the act permits the tribe to purchase lands in Placer County to create a new reservation.

Following a federal appeals decision in September 2002, the U.S. Department of the Interior took into trust the 49-acre (200,000 m2) parcel of property that the Thunder Valley Casino is built on today.