The fight for federal recognition began not in the 20th century, but in 1851, when the U.S. government sent agents to negotiate treaties with California Native Nations during the height of the gold rush. 

On July 18, 1851, Nisenan leaders met with federal officials near the confluence of the Bear and Yuba Rivers to negotiate what became known as the Camp Union Treaty. 

For some Nisenan leaders, who were already facing unprecedented violence, displacement, and ecological devastation, engagement in treaty-making was seen as a possible path toward survival and stability – a way to protect their people and remain within their Ancestral Homelands by working within the systems being imposed upon them. 

In this agreement, the Nisenan identified twelve square miles (about 7,680 acres) between what are now Penn Valley and Rough and Ready as their reserved territory. They chose the land deliberately for its biodiversity, water access, and alignment with seasonal lifeways. In return, the United States promised livestock, building materials, farming tools, cloth, and other resources necessary to “civilize” the Nisenan and support their transition to life on this newly designated land base. 

However, deeper examination of the treaty process reveals that it was fundamentally flawed and deeply manipulated. Federal agents treated California Native Nations as a single homogenous population rather than distinct social and political communities, and the negotiations themselves were shaped by settler interests rather than Tribal governance structures. 

Individuals presented as “chiefs” or Tribal representatives were not always recognized leaders within Nisenan Cultural systems, and were instead acting in alignment with settler economic interests rather than Tribal authority. In some cases, those selected to sign on behalf of the Nisenan, such as hu’k Weymeh, had been elevated by settlers or federal agents, while legitimate leaders and entire Nisenan communities were excluded from the negotiations altogether. One signatory is even believed to have been a white settler, signing under the name “Wallumhook,” which translates to “white chief” in the Nisenan language. 

Even as the legitimacy of the treaty process itself is called into question, the United States still bore the responsibility to honor the agreements put forward. Instead, in a closed-door session and under pressure from California’s newly established government which sought continued access to valuable agricultural and mineral lands, the US Senate refused to ratify any of the 18 California treaties. These documents were then sealed and hidden from the public for more than 50 years, and not rediscovered until 1907. 

For the Nisenan, the failure of the United States to ratify the treaties was not immediately known. The agreements had been presented as binding, and despite the deeply flawed and exclusionary nature of the negotiations, some Nisenan leaders understood the treaty as a commitment that would be honored. In the face of ongoing violence and instability, working within the treaty system was seen as a way to secure a future for their people and maintain a presence on their Ancestral Homelands. 

Acting in good faith, many Nisenan families followed the terms of the agreement and relocated to the designated lands, trusting that the promised protections and resources would be provided, with the hope that cooperation might offer safety. Instead, the opposite occurred. 

As Nisenan people moved onto the treaty lands, settlers moved into the territories they had left behind, claiming land, resources, and sacred sites. At the same time, because the treaty was never honored, white squatters and miners also moved onto the designated reservation lands themselves, subjecting Nisenan families to continued violence, intimidation, and displacement. 

Rather than providing protection, the treaty process intensified instability and exposed the Nisenan to genocide. 

The consequences of this broken and disingenuous process were immediate and devastating. Without legal protections, settlers continued to claim Nisenan lands and waterways with impunity. Violence escalated, and the Tribe was left landless and vulnerable within their own Ancestral Homelands. 

This betrayal – shaped by manipulation, exclusion, and the prioritization of settler economic interests – formed the foundation of the structural erasure and legal limbo the Tribe still faces today. The United States’ failure to honor the Camp Union Treaty marks the first major rupture in the Tribe’s sovereignty under U.S. law, but not in their inherent sovereignty as the Original People of this land.