"Some of the assemblymen thought California Indians didn't exist any more," said Eisenbise, a Vallejoan and member of the Mewuk tribe.

In fact, Eisenbise pointed out, there are now more Native Americans in California than any other state, including Oklahoma.

Educating the public is a constant challenge, she said, and that's one reason why Eisenbise gave her stamp of approval to "Discovery, Devastation, Survival: California Indians and the Gold Rush," the latest exhibit at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.

Though the wall panels of text, photographs and figures lack anything remotely technological or interactive, that's OK, said Eisenbise, a Berkeley social worker.

"When you see these, you can relate to it better than just reading it in books," she said. "Indians are visual people. It's like, 'So this is what Indian people look like.'"

The traveling exhibit, which debuted in 1997, explores the effects of the Gold Rush on the Sierra Nevada environment and the mistreatment and enslavement of Native Americans during that time.

"Miners, soldiers and militiamen descended up on some of our villages, destroyed our homes, burned our food and clothing and killed men, women and children. They were not punished and often rewarded with a bounty."

Norman "Wounded Knee" Deocampo read the words, looked at illustration of Indian villages, and shook his head.

"It's a sad thing what they did to Native American peoples," said Deocampo, another local Mewuk. "It's still a sad thing because they're still taking Indian land. It's modern times but it hasn't changed. This brings tears to my eyes."

Eisenbise said the exhibit was equally disturbing to her.

"It makes me angry, mad, sad and everything," she said. "It comes to materialism and greed. That's where the Gold Rush came from. We hear about black slaves because i'ts in the history books. But we don't hear about Indian people being slaves."

"Treaties signed by ancestors were broken, new laws passed that would make us slaves. Our land was destroyed. We could no longer survive as we have for thousands of years."

"What I was taught in school is that they came and discovered gold at Sutter's Fort," said Deocampo. "Many Indians were wiped out from the Gold Rush. I do know that. Everyone should knaow the history of indigenous people in this country and what we gave."

"In 1848, 150,000 Indians lived in California. Ten years later, 20,000 survived. We were deprived of all rights, enslaved or reduced to starvation or killed. Perhaps the greatest curse the miners brought was sickness for which we had no cure. The period known to the rest of the world as The Gold Rush was, for u, nothing short of genocide."

Midge Wagner, a member of the Vallejo Inter-Tribal Council and one of the founders of the Vallejo Pow-Wow, said by phone that she hoped the exhibit would bring to light the abuse of Native Americans during the Gold Rush.

A video she had previously watched about the Gold Rush and Indians "really opened my eyes," Wagner said. "You hear how cool the 49ers were and about their struggles opening up the West and all that. Really what they did was devastate the Indian people."

Jim Kern, executive director of the museum, was excited to bring the exhibit to Vallejo "even though it doesn't relate specifically to tribes in the Vallejo area."

"There were many aspects of how Native Americans were impacted by the arrival of whites," said Kern, adding that it's been a learning experience for him.

"I was surprised to see that there are ongoing issues facing tribes today that grow out of the same kind of things," Kern said. "It's not as serious as murder and disease, but it's still issues that confine the Native American community."