Month: May 2021

Missing Pages: Additional Signatory Tribes to the Willamette Valley Treaty

May 25, 2021

For more than 166 years the following pages were missing from the history and legal record of the Grand Ronde Tribe. It appears that sometime in early March 1855 Joel Palmer secured additional signatories to the Willamette Valley Treaty from two Molalla tribes and two other tribes on the Columbia River, The Klatskania tribe (Clatskanie) … More Missing Pages: Additional Signatory Tribes to the Willamette Valley Treaty

War of Extermination & Help Planning the Reservation

May 18, 2021

Sometimes I find remarkable letters that sum up all I have been thinking about what was happening in the 1850s between the tribes and the settlers in Oregon. Joel Palmer’s letter below, from December 1, 1855, does exactly this. Palmer, as I have written about previously, was very concerned to protect native peoples and was … More War of Extermination & Help Planning the Reservation