In the early 1900s, the creation account of the Native American Maidu people, whose ancestral lands are located in northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was documented in Volume 17 of the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. During the mid-19th century, amid the Gold Rush, the Maidu people had significant encounters with European settlers. The extent to which these interactions influenced their creation narrative is unclear.

The Maidu account is notable for its anthropomorphic description of the creator, the inclusion of co-creators, mention of a “sky rope”, mention of a raft on the primordial waters, the growth of a sacred tree, the onset of physical entropy on the earth, and most importantly, an account of the creator visiting and imparting important instructions to the First Man, instructions which the First Man subsequently imparts to the Maidu people.

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