California

The area in green on this map depicts the original distribution of grizzlies in California before Europeans arrived. This map and a thorough history of grizzlies in California can be found in Storer and Tevis (1955). They estimated that about 10,000 grizzlies once occupied California.

The decline of the California grizzly began during the Spanish colonial period. Bear numbers increased as free-ranging cattle provided an easy food source, but eventually, killing of grizzlies by cattlemen and the spread of human populations reduced their numbers. Grizzlies were often captured for sport by vaqueros using only horses and lariats.

"Roping the bear" was painted by James Walker about 1876 from notes made in the 1840's at Santa Margarita Rancho in San Diego County. Bear and bull fights were a significant Spanish cultural event that degenerated in later years into tawdry public spectacles as miners and other Americans began to domi

After the gold rush, as firearms became commonplace, the grizzly population began its spiral to extinction. By about 1880 grizzlies no longer inhabited the lowlands. T

This painting, "Return from the bear hunt" by William Hahn was painted in 1882. It is in the M.H deYoung Memorial Museum in San Francisco and serves as the frontispiece for Storer and Tevis' book.

Murray, John A. 1992. The Great Bear - Contemporary Writings on the Grizzly. Alaska Northwest Books. Seattle Washington. 245 pages.

Storer, G.I, and L.P. Tevis Jr. 1955. California Grizzly. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. 335 pages. Recently reprinted (1996) with a forward by Rick Bass.

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