Fort Bidwell Indian Agency (California)

Indian Tribes Associated With This Agency
Paiute

History
The Fort Bidwell Agency was established in 1898 as an Indian school. It soon was assigned agency duties for the Pit River and Paiute Indians of Modoc County, California. The school was closed in 1930 and the agency responsibilities were transferred to the Sacramento Agency in 1931. Fort Bidwell continued to operate as a subagency to Sacramento until at least 1940.

Records
Many records of Fort Bidwell Agency have been transferred to the Pacific Regional Archives of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in San Francisco. These agency records include many administrative files which have few references to individual Indians. However, the following records identified by Archives records inventories, may have great value to the family historian:


 * Pupil register, 1908-1930
 * School census records, 1913-1930
 * Tribal census records, 1910-1929
 * Allotment records

Microfilm copies of ...Narrative and Statistical Reports... for the Fort Bidwell Agency, 1907-1931, are included in National Archives Microcopy M1011, Roll 48, available in the National Archives system and in the collections of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, beginning with their microfilm number 1724266.

Annual Indian Census Rolls were taken at this agency for 1915-1930. These rolls have been microfilmed by the National Archives as part of their Microcopy Number M595, roll 137. Copies of these records are also available at the National Archives, their Regional Archives, and at the Family History Library and its family history centers (their microfilm number 576492). These census rolls are also available online at Ancestry.com's subscription web site.