SALINAS

The Salinas River flows from the Coast Range in western California in south-central San Luis Obispo County northwestward to Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean in Monterey County. The river, the name of which means “salt” in Spanish, was once the heart of the homeland of the Salinas, pronounced suh-LEE-nus, or Salinan Indians, from its watershed to the coast. The various Salinas bands spoke Salinan, classified as a language family with three distinct languages, probably within the Hokan phylum. Based on dialectal variations, three subdivisions are defined: San Miguel Salinas on the river’s upper course; San Antonio Salinas as far north as inland Costanoan territory; and Playano Salinas along the coast between the CHUMASH to the south and ESSELEN to the north.

Salinas lifeways were similar to that of other CALIFOR NIA INDIANS, with sociopolitical organization revolving around villages and economy relating to hunting, fishing, and gathering without agriculture. Like many of the other central California tribes, the Salinas practiced the Kuksu Cult (see WINTUN). The Salinas designed a musical rasp, a rhythm instrument consisting of two notched sticks, unlike those of their neighbors. They also, unlike other California Indians, were known to lend one another shell money at 100 percent interest a day.

The earliest recorded contact between non-Indians and the Salinas occurred in 1769, when a Spanish expedition under Caspar de Portola explored Monterey Bay. The Mission San Antonio de Padua was founded in 1771, in a valley between the coast and the mountains, and the Mission San Miguel de Arcangel in 1797, near the juncture of the Salinas and Nacimiento Rivers. The new way of life imposed on the MISSION INDIANS by the Spanish—forced labor, rape, disease-related deaths, and cultural and religious impositions—took its toll on the Salinas. Tribal numbers declined steadily in the 19th century, and the Salinas are considered extinct politically, although there are some individuals who claim partial Salinas ancestry.