This basket was given to the Mission Mill Museum in the 1970s, probably 1974, by the McGilchrist family, they gifted a collection which was then put on display in an exhibit. The basket is still in the museum (see photos) but appears to be more worn than in the 1974 newspaper photos. The repair work … [Read more…]
Wapato (mamptu- Kalapuyan) is a primary root crop of the Kalapuyans and Chinookans. It was probably the second most used food plant in the valley. There were vast fields of wapato in the “Portland” area where the plant grew in the sloughs, and marshes alongside the Columbia, in the Willamette Slough, and in the island … [Read more…]
Recently, I was made aware of another alternative story of the Battle of Battle Creek. Previously, I published an essay about stories of Klamath and Kalapuya warriors involved in the Battle Creek incident. But, as this history has been well revisited by newspaper editors and other writers over the last 180 years, there are additional … [Read more…]
The settlement of Eugene and the whole southern valley settlement centers was guided by advice from the Kalapuyans and the presence of seasonal wetlands on the plains. Two of the first noted settlers Eugene Skinner (Eugene) and Elijah Bristow (Pleasant Hill) both made important decisions based on the environmental factors they saw in the prairies … [Read more…]
The Tualatin Plains The Tualatin Plains was a vast oak savanna. From General Land Office survey field notes there was noted a large number of oaks and oak brush on the Tualatin plains. The whole of the area would have been in the model of an oak savanna with inclusions of other environments, similar to … [Read more…]