Month: April 2020

General History, Native Issues, trade2 Comments

How the Trade and Intercourse Acts Aided Colonization of Native Lands

David G. Lewis, PhD

Foreword As an instructor in Native Studies and anthropology, I get bombarded with having to explain why native peoples on the reservations live the way they live. People just do not understand why Native peoples live in such poverty and simply remain, seeming victims of their own culture. Students are surprised to discover that tribal people are not allowed to have an industry or commerce unless they gain approval from Congress to trade their goods beyond the reservation borders. Some tribes in the past have gained approval, Menominee and Klamath for Timber products, and Osage for oil are some of … Continue reading How the Trade and Intercourse Acts Aided Colonization of Native Lands

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

An Early Account of Native People Near Falls City

David G. Lewis, PhD

Each archive I enter I find new information about the native peoples of that county. Generally, the stories are of early encounters with a few native people, experiences seeing native people around town, and other adventures. A few stories, really journal accounts, suggest aspects of tribal culture. This is one of those accounts. I collected this account some 10 years ago when visiting the Polk County Museum in Rickreall. I had seen the museum from the street numerous times at its location next to a fairground. Rickreall is kind of a valley crossroads with a population of mainly farmers. Highway … Continue reading An Early Account of Native People Near Falls City

Anthropology, General History, Kalapuya, Oral History, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley4 Comments

Agent of Rebirth, Kalapuyan Culture in Linn County

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Kalapuyans, for their part, accepted the settlement of the whites at first, as they saw the great wealth in new things brought to them, metals, fabrics, weapons, and beads for jewelry were much sought after. But as always, there was settlement which brought came diseases, competition for food and land, and competing cultural worldviews. Tribal people would see the Whitemen, “Bostons,”  first as wealthy neighbors, where they could count on them in times of need, while the white settlers saw the tribes mostly as a nuisance, and would not share their property, food, or goodwill with the Indians. The … Continue reading Agent of Rebirth, Kalapuyan Culture in Linn County

columbia river, treaties, Washington Territory1 Comment

Waukikum Treaty of 1851

David G. Lewis, PhD

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 all arranged by Robert Shortess who was appointed special subagent. Dart was assisted by Henry Spalding agent, and Josiah Parrish sub-agent. The treaty was among 19 treaties negotiated by Dart and the Willamette Treaty Commission in 1851. None of these treaties were ratified by Congress. Dart accompanied the treaties to Washington, D. C. and gave the Senate a means of moving forward, by notifying them that all lands in the Willamette Valley … Continue reading Waukikum Treaty of 1851

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, treatiesLeave a comment

Commissioner Brunot Lectures Tribal Chiefs on Moral Living, 1871

David G. Lewis, PhD

In 1871, the BIA had just gotten some direction from President Ulysses S. Grant, in fact, a change in national Indian policy, to go ahead and train the Indians to be civilized so that they may earn their way to citizenship. The reservation at Grand Ronde had just been surveyed in preparation for land allotment, and the school system was not working well. for about a decade the protestants in Oregon had been operating a manual Labor school, the on-reservation boarding school and children had been dying. So the Indians were discouraged and were not sending their children to die … Continue reading Commissioner Brunot Lectures Tribal Chiefs on Moral Living, 1871