Coyote Valley Reservation

Nestled in the foothills alongside the east fork of the Russian River, Coyote Valley was one of several valleys running along the river’s many branches. In the 1800’s, it was described as being “all brush,” a “bare trace of land, where nothing grew, no trees or shrubs, just grasses.” However, a thriving population of Indians lived in this valley long before settlement occurred and still inhabited the area when the first non-Indians came.

In 1835, Spanish troops lead by Captain Sepulvedo Vallejo came to procure Indians from Coyote Valley and the surrounding area, to work on houses and forts being built at Sonoma, followed soon after by expeditions to procure Indian children as slaves. Coyote Valley, Calpella and Redwood Valley were “settled” sometime early in the 1850’s as part of the township of Ukiah and hence divided into grants of land and farms.