Category: Oral History

General History, Oral History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indiansLeave a comment

Nestucca Accounts of the Great Fire of 1845 and First Encounters with White Men

David G. Lewis, PhD

There are numerous oral histories from tribal people in Oregon about catastrophic events, fires, volcanic eruptions, floods, tsunamis. Many of these stories are fantastically imagined and are likely stories of long ago historic events. These stories feature giant animals and figures like Coyote who is consistently tricking humans in some manner, and the action of tricking helps humans learn the lessons of Coyote. Stories in Oregon of creation and earth changes many-times feature Beaver who is pursuing his role of creating ecosystems on river systems. Coyote and Beaver fighting together, in Wasco and Wishram oral histories, created the Columbia Gorge, … Continue reading Nestucca Accounts of the Great Fire of 1845 and First Encounters with White Men

Anthropology, General History, Oral History, Oregon indians, Umpqua Valley3 Comments

Native Details of the Battle of Hungry Hill

David G. Lewis, PhD

As noted by Dr. Mark Tveskov in his 2017 article “A “Most Disastrous” Affair: The Battle of Hungry Hill, Historical Memory, and the Rogue River War” (OHQ Vol. 118, no. 1- find the full text on Academia.com) the battle was one of the most famous for Oregon and perhaps the most disastrous for the Oregon Territorial volunteer militia troops. Tveskov tracked down many accounts for his narrative from newspapers and military sources and was able to show how the descriptions of the battle were altered by some of the narrators. Tveskov remarks that it is likely the case that the … Continue reading Native Details of the Battle of Hungry Hill

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

Anthropology, Oral History, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley2 Comments

La’tiwi, Northern Molalla, Placenames and Housing notes

David G. Lewis, PhD

Phillip Drucker’s field notes from the 1920s and 30s had him questioning many Native people from the region, from Grand Ronde and Siletz. Many of these people were not living on reservations. His Molalla notes are brief compared to his work on the Tolowa and Clackamas. They are embedded in with Coos and Tolowa and Rogue River notebooks. Drucker’s Molalla (La’tiwi) informant was Kate Chantel, a well known Molalla woman, and sister to Henry Yelkas, a well known Molalla chief. They lived for a time at Dickie Prairie, apparently the village name is Mokanti, south and east of the present … Continue reading La’tiwi, Northern Molalla, Placenames and Housing notes

General History, Native Issues, Oral History, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation2 Comments

Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

Digging through previously collected digitized documents, I found several accounts of removal of the tribes to the Siletz Reservation. These are worthy of commentary for the historical origins of many of the details emphasized. Its apparent that oral accounts are in many ways more accurate than written histories. A good number of early written histories were produced by non-native writers, who did not ask native people about their perspectives on their histories. This was quite common, and so most early histories and many recent histories who do not access more than one perspective tend to privilege a specific bias. Many … Continue reading Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation