Research on the Maidu Indian Tribe to better understand their creation stories and the role these myths played in their society.

1.The name Maidu simply means "the people" in their native language of Penutian. The Maidu lived in California, along various streams and tributaries in the Sacramento Valley and the surrounding foothills. Some were based by the Feather River, in the area that is now known as Butte County, others by the rushing waters of Nevada County yet others in the eastern drainage area of the Sacramento River, near Chico and Mount Lassen. However, the Maidu …

…were left empty. Very few Maidu peoples survived. Those that died had more hardships ahead. With the discovery of gold in 1848, thousands of men poured into the region to find their fortune. The fertility of the valley floor was soon recognized and people began taking the lands and using them for other purposes. The environment in this territory was altered forever, and the Maidu that had survived were forced into a new way of life.