The Native American population in what is now Glenn and Colusa Counties was approximately 10,000 before the first Europeans arrived.
Most of the Native Americans spoke Wintuan languages, with the Nomlaki being the main people in the Stony Creek area.
Native people inhabited independent villages, with only a loose central tribal structure that existed mainly to facilitate trade.
Villages were either clustered along the Sacramento River or in foothill valleys like those of Stony Creek; due to a lack of water there were no settlements on the alluvial plain, which also served as a dividing line between the "river Indians" and "foothill Indians".
In dry years, when forage was scarce at lower elevations, thousands of natives migrated to temporary settlements along upper Stony Creek.
Although the Native Americans practiced no agriculture, they frequently set brush fires which promoted the growth of certain plants they gathered for food.

The beginning of European settlement was immediately prior to the California Gold Rush.
During this time, Stony Creek was also known as the Capay River.
The first known non-natives to visit the area were a party traveling from Oregon to Sutter's Fort in 1843.
Near a village on Capay River, one of the group members killed a Native American, provoking native warriors to attack them some time later.
John Sutter sent a force of fifty men to "punish" the natives and with the result that "great numbers of them were killed."
The following year, General John Bidwell explored Stony Creek from a point west of Colusa down to its mouth, for the purposes of locating suitable land grants for settlers.
On July 4, Bidwell camped on a hill across Stony Creek from the present day town of Elk Creek, where a monument has been erected in his honor.
Fur trappers soon came to the area to catch beaver, which at the time were plentiful on Stony Creek, but they got into trouble with the Native Americans there and retreated in haste.

A party led by Peter Lassen in 1845 (for whom Lassen County is named) quarried grindstones on a tributary of Stony Creek, which "they took down the river for sale at Sutter's [Fort] and San Francisco."
That tributary is now called Grindstone Creek.
General Bidwell remarked that "these grindstones... were doubtless the first "civilized" manufacture in Colusa County, if not in the entire northern part of the state."
In 1846 Monroeville was settled at the mouth of Stony Creek, and it grew significantly in population during the Gold Rush.
One of the first steamboats to ply the Sacramento River, the California, was wrecked at a bend not far from the mouth of Stony Creek.
Uriah P. Monroe salvaged the remains and used the lumber to build the Monroeville hotel, which became a popular stop along the main Sacramento River road.
A battle soon arose between Monroeville and Colusa, further south, to determine the county seat of newly formed Colusa County.
In 1853 Colusa was officially made the county seat and Monroeville was abandoned; many residents left for St. John (founded 1856), and later Hamilton City, founded in 1905.

In 1851 the Native Americans and US government signed a treaty establishing a reservation for "the tribes or bands of Indians living... on the Sacramento river from the mouth of Stone creek [sic] to the junction of Feather and Sacramento rivers, and on Feather river to the mouth of Yuba river."
However, the treaty was not ratified.
In the next few decades repeated epidemics of introduced diseases decimated the Native American population.
Many native children were kidnapped from their villages, to be sold as domestic servants or farm laborers.
Less than 5 percent of the native population remained by 1907, when the federal government granted them a small area of land north of Colusa.

The upper Stony Creek area saw significant mining activity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
By 1894 the Whitlock and Oakes mines were extracting large amounts of chrome ore, near the eponymous settlement of Chrome along upper Stony Creek.
The Oakes mine operated as late as World War II (as th
The Native American population in what is now Glenn and Colusa Counties was approximately 10,000 before the first Europeans arrived. Most of the Native Americans spoke Wintuan languages, with the Nomlaki being the main people in the Stony Creek area. Native people inhabited independent villages, with only a loose central tribal structure that existed mainly to facilitate trade. Villages were either clustered along the Sacramento River or in foothill valleys like those of Stony Creek; due to a lack of water there were no settlements on the alluvial plain, which also served as a dividing line between the "river Indians" and "foothill Indians". In dry years, when forage was scarce at lower elevations, thousands of natives migrated to temporary settlements along upper Stony Creek. Although the Native Americans practiced no agriculture, they frequently set brush fires which promoted the growth of certain plants they gathered for food.
The beginning of European settlement was immediately prior to the California Gold Rush. During this time, Stony Creek was also known as the Capay River. The first known non-natives to visit the area were a party traveling from Oregon to Sutter's Fort in 1843. Near a village on Capay River, one of the group members killed a Native American, provoking native warriors to attack them some time later. John Sutter sent a force of fifty men to "punish" the natives and with the result that "great numbers of them were killed." The following year, General John Bidwell explored Stony Creek from a point west of Colusa down to its mouth, for the purposes of locating suitable land grants for settlers. On July 4, Bidwell camped on a hill across Stony Creek from the present day town of Elk Creek, where a monument has been erected in his honor. Fur trappers soon came to the area to catch beaver, which at the time were plentiful on Stony Creek, but they got into trouble with the Native Americans there and retreated in haste. 
A party led by Peter Lassen in 1845 (for whom Lassen County is named) quarried grindstones on a tributary of Stony Creek, which "they took down the river for sale at Sutter's [Fort] and San Francisco." That tributary is now called Grindstone Creek. General Bidwell remarked that "these grindstones... were doubtless the first "civilized" manufacture in Colusa County, if not in the entire northern part of the state." In 1846 Monroeville was settled at the mouth of Stony Creek, and it grew significantly in population during the Gold Rush. One of the first steamboats to ply the Sacramento River, the California, was wrecked at a bend not far from the mouth of Stony Creek. Uriah P. Monroe salvaged the remains and used the lumber to build the Monroeville hotel, which became a popular stop along the main Sacramento River road. A battle soon arose between Monroeville and Colusa, further south, to determine the county seat of newly formed Colusa County. In 1853 Colusa was officially made the county seat and Monroeville was abandoned; many residents left for St. John (founded 1856), and later Hamilton City, founded in 1905.
In 1851 the Native Americans and US government signed a treaty establishing a reservation for "the tribes or bands of Indians living... on the Sacramento river from the mouth of Stone creek [sic] to the junction of Feather and Sacramento rivers, and on Feather river to the mouth of Yuba river." However, the treaty was not ratified. In the next few decades repeated epidemics of introduced diseases decimated the Native American population. Many native children were kidnapped from their villages, to be sold as domestic servants or farm laborers. Less than 5 percent of the native population remained by 1907, when the federal government granted them a small area of land north of Colusa.
The upper Stony Creek area saw significant mining activity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1894 the Whitlock and Oakes mines were extracting large amounts of chrome ore, near the eponymous settlement of Chrome along upper Stony Creek. The Oakes mine operated as late as World War II (as th
Stony Creek (Sacramento River tributary)