Modoc

Modoc , Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American languages ). They formerly lived in SW Oregon and N California, particularly around Modoc Lake (also known as Lower Klamath Lake) and Tule Lake. Modoc culture was similar to the culture of the Klamath , but the Modoc did not rely as heavily on the wokas, or water-lily seeds, for food. There was considerable trouble between the Modoc and the early white settlers, with atrocities being committed on both sides. The Modoc were finally constrained to live (1864) on the Klamath Reservation in Oregon, but most of the tribe was dissatisfied. In 1870, Chief Kintpuash, or Captain Jack , led a group back to California and refused to return to the reservation. The attempt to bring them back brought on the Modoc War (1872-73). After the Modoc War, the Modoc people were divided; some were sent to Oklahoma (where a few remain) and some to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. The Modoc in Oregon share lands with the Klamath and Snake. In 1990 there were some 500 Modoc in the United States.

Bibliography: See V. F. Ray, Primitive Pragmatists: The Modoc Indians of Northern California (1963), R. H. Dillea, Burnt-Out-Fires (1973).

Modoc Indians, tribe of southwest Oregon and northern California. In 1864 the Modoc and the Klamath ceded their territory to the U.S., removing to the Klamath reservation in Oregon. In 1870 a chief known as Captain Jack led a part of the tribe back to the California border, and in the subsequent Modoc War (1872–73) two peace commissioners were killed. After the Indians were overcome and their leaders hanged, the tribe was divided, part being sent to Oklahoma and the rest to the Klamath reservation. Joaquin Miller wrote a colorful but romantically imaginative account supposed to tell of his Life Amongst the Modocs (1873).