Month: August 2018

Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, treaties5 Comments

We are Treated like Slaves and are Starving: Siletz Chiefs send their Remarks to the President 1862

David G. Lewis, PhD

  In the 1860’s the western Oregon reservations were still struggling with feeding all the Indians despite promises by Indian agents, and the treaties, that when they removed, there would be plenty of food. This was a persistent problem that was not solved until at least the 1870’s. As mentioned in other essays, Grand Ronde likely had a little bit better situation, as they had secured treaty payments from 7 ratified treaties. While at the Siletz Reservation, the tribes removed there did not have claims to all of these treaties, as suggested in annual allocations of funding. Regarding one large … Continue reading We are Treated like Slaves and are Starving: Siletz Chiefs send their Remarks to the President 1862

Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indiansLeave a comment

Fort Yamhill in Maps and Plans

David G. Lewis, PhD

Fort Yamhill, on the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, was established in March 1856. A detachment of troops, dragoons -mounted infantry- were assigned to the fort to keep the Indians on the reservations and to keep the white people off the reservation and away from the Indians. Too often, the tribes were being attacked by the white militant settlers, and too often the tribal people were influenced by liquor, and other inducements, to sell all they had to whites. The Indian office and the military set about to remove the tribes from direct contact with the whites, and to establish a … Continue reading Fort Yamhill in Maps and Plans

Kalapuya, presentations, Radio and Video, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Tribal Environmental Health Summit 2018: presentation and video link

David G. Lewis, PhD

  I participated in the last tribal Environmental Health Summit at OSU. Tuesday, June 26, 2018 11:40-1:00 pmLunch plenary (starting at 12pm) Lunch and Regional PlenarySpeaker: David Lewis, Ethnohistory Research, LLC Title: “Traditional Land Management of the Kalapuyans”   This is not a direct link: navigate to the 2018 presentation and push the right arrow to find the video. Traditional Land Management of the Kalapuyans   Continue reading Tribal Environmental Health Summit 2018: presentation and video link

Anthropology, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Chelamela and Chemapho Kalapuyans

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Long Tom River and its tributaries was the original homelands to two major tribes of Kalapuyan Indians, the Chelamela and Chemapho tribes. The Chelamela occupied the upper or southern part of the watershed from the Coast Range to the Willamette at Eugene, and from the Calapooia range to the Reservoir. The Chemapho occupied from the Coast Range to the Willamette and from the Reservoir to just before Philomath at the north. The tribes lived in permanent villages in the middle to upper reaches of the watershed along tributaries to the Long Tom River. The foothills of the Coast range … Continue reading Chelamela and Chemapho Kalapuyans

Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, treatiesLeave a comment

Meacham’s Final Appeal to Fairly Pay the Tribes Removed to the Coast Reservation.

David G. Lewis, PhD

Albert B. Meacham was an Indian agent in the 1860’s and 70’s and oversaw some changes in the reservations. He attempted to give the tribes some voice in this situation, worked to get the tribes to adopt western medicine, and began warning the tribes that their treaty funding was about to end. In short, he seemed to care about the tribes and his reports suggest that he deeply cared about what the tribes had gone through for some 16 years.  He even wrote a book of his experiences, Wigwam and Warpath, which addresses nearly all of the tribes in Oregon. … Continue reading Meacham’s Final Appeal to Fairly Pay the Tribes Removed to the Coast Reservation.