Records of the Mountain Molalla are very limited. Besides a few records of the tribe living around Pleasant Hill, at Lost Valley, there is nearly nothing known of their culture and territory. They were interrelated with the local Kalapuya peoples, of the Yoncalla (Komemma), and with the Klamath peoples, and likely related to the other … [Read more…]
The Clatskanie are a tribe that is not well known to many scholars in the region. There are rare documents about them, and many people, I feel, have assumed they have gone extinct. Some years ago, when I was a student at UO, I recall organizing and attending the University of Oregon Pow wows (1990s), … [Read more…]
Reading early descriptions of the Tualatin Valley, they are all focused on the valley’s potential in agriculture. This theme is similar throughout the Willamette Valley; settlers and farmers did not think about the valley in any other way but for its readiness for agriculture. Considering this all-consuming focus, the traditional native nature of the land … [Read more…]
Dairy Creek sign In the past 2 years, I have worked on signage projects in the Portland area for agencies of the city or state. In 2025, I consulted on a sign for the Dairy Creek project on Sauvie Island. Over the period of several months, I met with people in the West Multnomah Soils … [Read more…]
A set of news clippings from the 1870s is helping to hone in on where the Indian encampment was in Albany, OR. Previously, it was said to be on an island near Albany. But the murder of Charlie, by Jim Kirk, a native man, who apparently grew up on the Kirk Homestead in Brownsville, elicits … [Read more…]