Camilo Ynitia’s Adobe

Camilo Ynitia’s adobe home, dating from the late 1830’s, represents a period when the Wiwok were abandoning their traditional dwellings in favor of more sheltered adobe houses. Encouraged by his friend Mariano Vallejo, Ynitia sought and received title from the Mexican government in 1843 to 8,800 acres around Olompali village. He raised over 600 head of cattle, cultivated grain fields and a small vineyard, and became a successful rancher through trade with the Mexicans, the Russians, and early American settlers. In 1852 the United States Government confirmed his land grant, making him the only Native American in Northern California to have his land grant ratified. The only skirmish of the Bear Flag Rebellion took place here on June 14, 1846, when Mexican soldiers fought the Bear Flaggers from Sonora in the short-lived Battle of Olompali, which resulted in the death of a Mexican officer.

California · United States