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This microhistory takes place on or involves the Ancestral lands of the Maidu (including the Mountain Maidu), Washoe, Nisenan, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla People of CAlifornia.

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BB.1860.1 was an American Black Bear killed near Jamison City in Plumas County, California, United States on or about May 9th in the Spring of 1860. BB.1860.1 was a “Cinnamon Bear,” a subtype of American Black Bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum). As an encounter which describes an animal’s death, this Bear has been assigned a Unique Animal Number (UAN). This Bear’s history represents an encounter which impacts one or more predator agency physically, and is so classed as a Tier 1 event.

“A few days previous to this adventure, a cinnamon bear was killed near Jamison.”

BB.1860.1’s microhistory was first circulated in the La Porte Messenger and later, the Nevada Democrat, both Californian newspapers in conjunction with that of GB.1860.1, a Grizzly Bear (the “adventure” above referenced, which occurred on or about the 12th of May, 1860). Only this penultimate line of the Nevada Democrat article, itself a recirculation from the original story in the La Porte Messenger, provides the microhistory of BB.1860.1. It establishes BB.1860.1’s microhistory as previous to that of GB.1860.1 and sets it within important context for Bear ecology. The interlinkage of BB.1860.1 and GB.1860.1’s microhistories may suggest a historical incidence of sympatry, an ecological condition which describes the presence of two distinct but related species in the same environment likely to encounter one another as a result of their overlapping habitats.¹

BB.1860.1’s microhistory represents a single predator animal and involves an unknown number of human actors, livestock, and domestic or companion animal involvement. While trends within this data set suggest likelihood that BB.1860.1 was an adult Bear, BB.1860.1 was of unknown sex, in unknown health, and the motivation for its killing is unknown. This Bear’s relationship to maternity is unknown. Likewise, Length and weight data are unknown for BB.1860.1.

Figs. 2, 3: Description of “Jamison” from the Illustrated history of Plumas, Lassen & Sierra counties, with California from 1513 to 1850. San Francisco, Fariss & Smith. 1882, 242. “No Visible Evidence of Copyright” (Public Domain). History of the “Jamison claim” from Hutchings’ Illustrated California Magazine, 1859, Hutchings & Rosenfield. Page 53. “Not in Copyright” (Public Domain).

The minimal details about BB.1860.1’s microhistory are supported by geographic and environmental context. The microhistory’s proximity to the settlement of Jamison interlinks BB.1860.1’s history with those of 19th Century extractivist industries such as mining, and involved social groups of the American west, including hunters, miners and prospectors.

The geographic locus near Jamison suggests the involvement of the Sierra Nevada Forests ecoregion and Temperate Conifer Forests biome, and a relationship to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and fresh water, Feather River system. Jamison’s relationship to Jamison Creek, and the middle fork of the Feather River, may also offer environmental context. While this microhistory has no direct relationship to winter rest period, it does intersect the period of normal activity following winter rest, which may help to further historicize the seasonality of this Bear’s engagement with these environments.

Figs. 4 and 5: detail from Keddie’s map of Plumas County, California, Keddie, Arthur W. (Arthur Walter), 1892. Jamison city can be seen to the left of the centerfold in the closer image. Library of Congress. Public Domain. Accessed via Wikicommons.

Local, species-relevant prey species are not referenced in BB.1860.1’s microhistory, and its relationship to human retaliation is unknown. This microhistory has an unknown relationship to human injury and no known relationship to human fatality. BB.1860.1 is not known to have been involved to bloodsport.

The American Black Bear was most recently assessed by the IUCN Red List in 2016, and is currently classified as a species of Lower Risk or Least Concern (LC) with an increasing population trend. The IUCN considers the Black Bear to be “extant,” or “resident” in modern Plumas County, however, the organization notes regional extirpation at the margins of the Sierra Nevada mountains local to the site of BB.1860.1’s microhistory.²

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The sources or actors in this microhistory are in dialogue with the following microhistories on pmn:

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Notes:

1. “A Bear Story,” Nevada Democrat, May 30 1860, Volume 7, Number 35 (Nevada City, CA); La Porte Messenger, 1860 (La Porte, California).
2. Garshelis, D.L., Scheick, B.K., Doan-Crider, D.L., Beecham, J.J. & Obbard, M.E. 2016. Ursus americanus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41687A114251609.  https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T41687A45034604.en. Accessed on 04 June 2025. “Population-level threats exist in only a few isolated places, and relate mainly to habitat fragmentation and conflicts between bears and people.”

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Cite This Page

Chicago

Caroline Abbott. “BB.1860.1.” Predator Microhistory Network. Accessed [Month, Day, Year]. https://predatormicrohistorynetwork.org/2025/06/05/bb-1860-1/.

MHRA

Caroline Abbott, ‘BB.1860.1, Predator Microhistory Network, https://predatormicrohistorynetwork.org/2025/06/05/bb-1860-1/. [Accessed Day Month Year]

MLA

Abbott, Caroline. “BB.1860.1.” Predator Microhistory Network, [Publication Day, Month, Year], https://predatormicrohistorynetwork.org/2025/06/05/bb-1860-1/. Accessed Day Month Year.

APA

Abbott, C. [Year, Month Day]. BB.1860.1. Predator Microhistory Network. https://predatormicrohistorynetwork.org/2025/06/05/bb-1860-1/.

Feature image: Detail of “Prospecting on Feather River,” California Lettersheet Collection, Kemble Spec Col 09, courtesy, California Historical Society, Kemble Spec Col 09_B208. No known copyright restrictions (Public Domain). Accessed via Wikicommons. Support the Wikimedia Foundation Here.

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