Bald Hills
The Chilula allied with the Hupa against the coastal Yurok. "Chilula" was English for the Yurok "Tsulu-la," people of Tsulu, the Bald Hills. Locally they were known as the Bald Hills Indians. Their villages were located on or adjacent to lower Redwood Creek, from the inland edge of the heavy redwood belt to a few miles above Minor Creek. All but one of the village sites were on the east side of Redwood Creek, where the hillsides received more sun and the timber was not so dense. A few were as much as a mile or more from the stream, but most were close to the watercourse. In summer they left their homes to camp on the highland prairies of the Bald Hills. In Autumn they either camped on the Bald Hills or crossed Redwood Creek to gather on the western slopes.
The trails from Trinidad and Humboldt Bay to the gold camps on the Klamath and Trinity crossed the Bald Hills, and the Chilula had seen but few whites, before they found themselves in conflict. Fighting between California volunteers—supported by United States regulars—and the Indians continued until the 1860s. Rounded up, the Chilula were either placed on the Hoopa Reservation or sent to Fort Bragg. Blood feuds took their toll, and by 1919 they had wasted away. Only two or three households remained in their old haunts, while the few families remaining on the Hoopa Reservation assimilated.
Six sites in the Bald Hills near Redwood Creek are associated with late 19th century cattle and sheep ranching. The Lyons' Ranches Rural Historic District includes eight structures dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each structure has been stabilized, and some of the structures are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
