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…]
Chief Kiesno was one of the most powerful chiefs on the Columbia River at the time of the fur trade and American settlement. He was related to tribes throughout the lower Columbia region. He is well documented in numerous encounters with a number of explorers, fur traders, and settlers. His time spanned the whole of … [Read more…]
Foreword As an instructor in Native Studies and anthropology, I get bombarded with having to explain why native peoples on the reservations live the way they live. People just do not understand why Native peoples live in such poverty and simply remain, seeming victims of their own culture. Students are surprised to discover that tribal … [Read more…]
Horatio Hale’s created what may be one of the earliest ethnographies of the tribes of the Pacific Coast. Remarkable as it is, Hale’s ethnography is both interesting and disappointing. Much of his analysis of the Native peoples of Oregon shows his western bias and he does not hide it at all in his analysis. A … [Read more…]
In the earliest lore of the City of Salem, the location was an Indian village named Chemeketa, next to Chemeketa Creek. Before this village was known by Americans, by this name, in 1812, William Wallace and others of the Pacific Fur Traders built a trading post just north of the village of Chemeketa which they … [Read more…]