Burning over the Columbia Bayou
The area of the south bank of the Columbia between the Sandy and Willamette Rivers is of particular interest to the tribes who once lived there. Historically, there…
Tag: columbia river
Records of the Cascades Watlala Removal to Grand Ronde
Joel Palmer’s letters during his superintendency lend themselves to a timeline for the removal of most tribes. Palmer penned orders and received reports from his Indian agents, sub…
Palmer’s Ledger of Vouchers for the Willamette Valley Treaty
In Record Group 75 (Bureau of Indian Affairs) microfilm are many millions of records of the tribes as they were being managed by federal Indian agents. The M234…
Encounters with Chief Kiesno of the Columbia
Chief Kiesno was one of the most powerful chiefs on the Columbia at the time of the fur trade and American settlement. He was related to tribes throughout…
Waukikum Treaty of 1851
Treaty between the Waukikum tribe and the United States, negotiated by Anson Dart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The treaty negotiations at Tansey Point on the Columbia River were…
Dart Introduces the Clackamas Treaty to the US Senate
Anson Dart departed from Oregon in late 1851 after completing the negotiation of 19 treaties in Oregon with tribes. Dart had replaced the Willamette Treaty Commission in June…
Baleful Gifts of Civilization: Smallpox Epidemic 1853
It is well recording in numerous sources that diseases from Europe came with the exploring Whitemen and infected millions of the indigenous peoples of the World with…
Modeste Demers Ethnographic Descriptions of the Tribes, 1839
Modeste Demers was assigned with the Oregon Territory, in 1837, at the same time as Francois Norbert Blanchet and they traveled together overland to their assignment in canoes…
Blanchet’s Mission to Vancouver, 1841
Reverend Blanchet traveled to Fort Vancouver after his mission to the Clackamas. In Vancouver, there was much more orderly town life, the chapels in the fort being served…
Blanchet’s Mission to the Cascades, 1841
Blanchet’s mission to the Cascades is perhaps his first visit to this location. His interactions with Tamakoun, also later called Tomaquin, are quite revealing of the tribe…
Blanchet’s Mission at the Walamette Village, 1841
The following is report from a Notice, Notice No. 4, part of a series of reports of the Catholic missionary Francois Norbert Blanchet (September 30, 1795 – June…
Nichaqwali Watlala peoples at Blue Lake
The Nichaqwali people, a Cascades/Watlala Chinookan band, lived at the juncture of several cultural groups that lived in the larger region of the lower Columbia and who interacted…
Timeline of Treaties and Removals in Western Oregon
1850 June, the First treaty in the North West Coast and West Coast, a Treaty of Peace negotiated with General Joseph Lane and the Takelma- Rogue River Tribes…
Fishery Politics with the Yakima Reservation Peoples: 1890s
Chilluckittequw: In what was to become Skamania County, the first residents called themselves Chilluckittequw (Ruby and Brown) and they lived along the rivers that drained into the Columbia…
Lower Chinookan Treaty Territories in 1851
The Columbia River has been divided into different culture areas by anthropologists since the 19th century. They are Upper, middle and lower Chinook areas, or sometimes written…
Ongoing Chinook Territorial and Recognition Claims, Pt. 1
The Chinook Nation is still seeking recognition in 2018, despite having one of the oldest and longest relationships with the United States of any tribe on the West…
William Slacum’s Chart of the Columbia River 1837
As a spy in the Oregon Territory, and a Navy man, William A. Slacum was tasked with documenting the possessions of the British, but he also worked extensively…
History in the Vouchers: Joel Palmer’s Expense Journal
I have spent much time on Palmer’s and other early settler’s and explorer’s letters that I have gained a good understanding of the history of the tribes. Some…
Joe Lane 1849 : Report of the Tribes and Bands of the Oregon Territory
General Joe Lane was an early politician and war hero for Oregon. He served as the Indian Superintendent for Oregon as well as Governor of the territory in…
Clackamas Fishing Culture
The Clackamas were major fisher people in the Willamette and Columbia. The Willamette Falls is second only to Celilo in the lower Columbia for fishing for salmon.…
Drucker’s Records of Clackamas Villages
The Clackamas (Tlakamas) lived along the Clackamas river and along the lower Willamette. Their villages and associated territorial claims extended from Willamette Falls to the Willamette Slough. Schol…
Native Kinships and Wealth among the Middle Chinookans
Native kinships are incredibly complex. They do not follow the nice neat patterns of kinship that Americans have adopted from their European ancestors. Native peoples did not only…
Early History of the White Salmon Reservation
One of the shortest lives reservations was the White Salmon Reservation, on the north bank of the Columbia River across from Hood River. The Reservation Continue reading
The Willamette Valley Treaty (Treaty with the Kalapuya, Etc.) Signed January 22 & Ratified March 3, 1855
The Willamette Valley Treaty was designed to remove the tribes from western Oregon, from lands desired by American settlers. When the treaty was finally signed, on January 22th,…