Category: Washington Territory

columbia river, treaties, Washington Territory1 Comment

Waukikum Treaty of 1851

David G. Lewis, PhD

Treaty between the Waukikum tribe and the United States, negotiated by Anson Dart, Superintendent of Indian Affairs. The treaty negotiations at Tansey Point on the Columbia River were all arranged by Robert Shortess who was appointed special subagent. Dart was assisted by Henry Spalding agent, and Josiah Parrish sub-agent. The treaty was among 19 treaties negotiated by Dart and the Willamette Treaty Commission in 1851. None of these treaties were ratified by Congress. Dart accompanied the treaties to Washington, D. C. and gave the Senate a means of moving forward, by notifying them that all lands in the Willamette Valley … Continue reading Waukikum Treaty of 1851

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, Siletz Reservation, treaties, Washington TerritoryLeave a comment

J. Ross Browne Investigation as Reported to the SF Herald, 1857

David G. Lewis, PhD

Special Indian Agent J. Ross Browne famously came to the Northwest reservations in 1857 and wrote reports of the conditions of the tribes on the reservations. The following appears to be the results of Browne speaking with a reporter in San Francisco for the Herald in October 1857. Revealed are additional details of the reservations and his interactions with tribes and tribal chiefs, with whom he held councils with. Sacramento Daily Union October 16, 1857 INDIAN AFFAIRS IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON TERRITORIES. Our readers will be interested in a perusal of the following account of the present condition of the … Continue reading J. Ross Browne Investigation as Reported to the SF Herald, 1857

colonization, columbia river, General History, Kalapuya, Native Issues, Washington Territory, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Modeste Demers Ethnographic Descriptions of the Tribes, 1839

David G. Lewis, PhD

Modeste Demers was assigned with the Oregon Territory, in 1837, at the same time as Francois Norbert Blanchet and they traveled together overland to their assignment in canoes and on horseback, in Hudson’s Bay trading party.  Along the way, Demers and Blanchet take time to have short missions with the tribes and baptize more than 100 people. Demers set up his initial residence in Fort Vancouver and spent three months learning Chinuk Wawa (Jargon), which was the language the missionaries used to instruct nearly every tribe they encountered in the region. In the following early report of the tribes encountered … Continue reading Modeste Demers Ethnographic Descriptions of the Tribes, 1839

columbia river, General History, Oregon indians, treaties, Washington Territory2 Comments

Fishery Politics with the Yakima Reservation Peoples: 1890s

David G. Lewis, PhD

Chilluckittequw: In what was to become Skamania County, the first residents called themselves Chilluckittequw (Ruby and Brown) and they lived along the rivers that drained into the Columbia between Beacon Rock and about Hood River. They spoke a language later classified as the Upper Division of Chinookan and could communicate with other tribes that lived along the Columbia from The Dalles to the mouth at the Pacific. Explorers Lewis and Clark (1805) called them the Smock-shops and other observers dubbed them Sahellellah, Shahala, Ninuhltidihs, and Kwikwuilits. American settlers named them the Cascades. (http://www.historylink.org/File/7811) Context The Cascades/Watlala peoples of the middle … Continue reading Fishery Politics with the Yakima Reservation Peoples: 1890s

columbia river, eastern oregon, General History, Rogue Valley, Umpqua Valley, Washington Territory, Willamette Valley4 Comments

Joe Lane 1849 : Report of the Tribes and Bands of the Oregon Territory

David G. Lewis, PhD

General Joe Lane was an early politician and war hero for Oregon. He served as the Indian Superintendent for Oregon as well as Governor of the territory in 1848 and 1849, and in 1850 participated in battles and conflicts in southern Oregon, famously making peace with the Rogue River Confederacy in the first agreement of Southern Oregon, a treaty of peace.  In 1853, he leads another battle with the Rogue River tribes, at Evans Creek and forms another peace agreement with the confederacy at Table Rock. Previously, Lane had been engaged as an officer in the U.S. Army during the … Continue reading Joe Lane 1849 : Report of the Tribes and Bands of the Oregon Territory