The first people who lived in Nevada County were the Maidu Indians. They gathered acorns and wild plants and caught fish and game. The women were skilled basket weavers. They were migratory, traveling down to the Sacramento Valley and up to the High Sierras. Because of this frequent wandering to search for food, it prevented the development of a complex social structure.

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The Maidu Death Ritual consisted of burning the bodies of the dead along with their brush houses and belongings. On the anniversaries of the deaths, the mourners exchanged shell money and burned exquisite baskets.
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Maidu myths tell of a kindly creator god. The Kuksu Society, through which the Maidu men worshiped spirits, held initiation dances with masked participants in elaborate feather costumes.
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Today, you can still see by the rushing streams in Nevada County large granite rocks. Look carefully, and you can sometimes find smooth rounded holes that were worn into the rocks by Indian women grinding the acorns.
 

.. LINKS TO SITES ON AMERICAN INDIANS & THE MAIDU .. Maidu Indian Home Page D-Q University Native Thought Network Story of the Maidu Indians Maidu Food Walk Maidu Information Acrons Indian Tribe/Language Index Native American Web Links National Congress of American Indians Home Page. Native American Tribute