Kalapuya

Promise of Citizenship and Informal Allotment at the Grand Ronde Reservation

In 1869 President Ulysses S. Grant gave a short inaugural address as he entered his presidency. The address briefly mentioned that he would support a path to citizenship for Native American peoples. “The proper treatment of the original occupants of this land–the Indians are deserving of careful study. I will favor any course toward them which tends to their civilization and ultimate citizenship.” (March 4, 1869) This short statement caused a storm of policy changes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The policy change enabled the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to direct his Superintendents to begin preparing the Indians on  reservations for citizenship through allotting the Indian people with land so that they may be inspired to help themselves gain progress towards civilization. Previous to this policy change, the tribes were living in poor conditions with few inducements to become like white people. The promises of the treaties, and of agents, of a better life in the reservations, had not

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Tribal Environmental Health Summit 2018: presentation and video link

  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  

Chelamela and Chemapho Kalapuyans

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 had permanent villages, while the temporary fishing and root gathering encampments were down on the flatlands near the Long Tom and Willamette. The tribes practiced a seasonal round lifeways, with permanent winter villages above the flood plains, and annual temporary encampments in known cultural locations for root digging, berry picking, hunting, and fishing activities. The tribes used canoes for efficient

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Pee-You Kalapuyans of the Southern Willamette Valley

In the 1850’s, settlers came to Oregon and renamed many valleys, features, and places. Many of them brought names from the eastern states, place-names like Portland, Springfield, and Albany. At least one of the Oregon tribes was also renamed by early settlers. The Mohawk Valley was named by Jacob Spores in about 1849, after an eastern U.S. Algonquian tribe the Mohawk people and their valley in upstate New York. Spores was one of the earliest settlers, and lived at the outlet of the valley, on the McKenzie River. The Kalapuyan Tribe from that valley was clearly named after the new valley name by settlers and treaty negotiators. It was quite common for tribes to be named after the placenames given the valleys by settlers (for example Rogue River Indians- after the Rogue River Valley, or in this example it could go the other way). This has lead to some confusion as some local histories have assumed that Mohawk Indians, perhaps

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Stories of Change Among the Clackamas at Grand Ronde

The Clackamas Come to Grand Ronde Reservation Preparing to Leave The Clackamas are addressed in letters as living in small encampments near Oregon City. They likely had a small site at Wilamet village on the Clackamas, and a small reserve on the west side of the river at the falls. Victoria Howard’s family appear to have lived away from Oregon City as when they are removed, they first go to Oregon City. From there they would walk up the portage to Canemah and catch a steamer, or in this story a barge, to Dayton. They had to leave most of their large possessions, losing these things. Tribal peoples had no rights, and so did not have rights to keep possessions, nor could they sue for the value of their possessions. Horses and houses were valuable possessions, but Indian people were severely discriminated against by the Americans, who would immediately take the things they left behind and occupy their houses. When

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