Category: Grand Ronde Reservation

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

Dave Yachkawa becomes Tualatin Chief 1864

David G. Lewis, PhD

Information about the inner lives of the tribes in the 1860s is very sparse. A few federal reports exist but not a whole lot of information about the lives of the tribes besides a few complaints and details about food supplies and weather. But a few years ago a document surfaced at the Oregon Historical Society library that we call the Pass Book. The book is a ledger that is in the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Collection. I was teaching at PSU in 2011 in the evening and decided to visit the archives in the hours before my class.  The … Continue reading Dave Yachkawa becomes Tualatin Chief 1864

assimilation, education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Personal History, Termination, treaties1 Comment

Development of Tribal Cultural Identity at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

A good number of people have over the years shown some confusion about the identity of the tribal members at the Grand Ronde tribe. Many natives and non-natives still do not understand the impact of the removal of the people from their lands, their assimilation to American society, and the somewhat unique situation of being terminated in 1954.  It is not that termination is unique to Grand Ronde, because 109 tribes were terminated nationally, but there are few other reservations that can claim 27 to 35 tribes and be terminated, leaving many people without federal status and related to so … Continue reading Development of Tribal Cultural Identity at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation

Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, Siletz ReservationLeave a comment

The Second Plague: Indian Reservations

David G. Lewis, PhD

Much has been written about the impact of pandemics on indigenous populations. Columbus and his exploratory contemporaries brought slavery (some tribes had slavery already) and conquest to the new worlds, and that conquest was greatly aided by the fact that the conquistadores passed on numerous illnesses, diseases and viruses, to these new worlds. These illnesses attacked virgin populations of indigenous peoples who for the first time had to contend with new strains of influenza, smallpox, malaria, measles, and other illnesses that carried away millions of people to their graves. The estimated worldwide deaths by epidemics are in the 90 million … Continue reading The Second Plague: Indian Reservations

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

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