The journals of the US Exploring Expedition from 1841 contain information about the Kalapuyans and their stewardship activities, as well as the character of the valley. The US Exploring Expedition arrived in Oregon in the Spring of 1841 from their travels through the South Pacific. They came to Fort George (Astoria) and after the Peacock floundered in the Ocean, the members of the ship’s crew and scientists split into two separate expeditions. Charles Wilkes led the expedition north along the Columbia, and Emmons led the expedition south through the Willamette Valley and eventually to Sutters Mills (Sacramento).
While the southern expedition was waiting to collect its members, Wilkes briefly joined them and traveled as far south as the Kalapuya village of Chemeketa- later renamed Salem. He visited the Methodist Mission and settlers in the vicinity. Wilkes then climbed to the top of the Yamhill divide and then traveled north to join his companions on the Columbia. Southern expeditionary leader naval Lieutenant George Emmons, and his companions James Dana (geologist), Henry Eld (midshipman), George Colvocoresses (midshipman), Alfred Agate (Artist), William Brackenridge (botanist), William Rich (botanist), Titian Peale (Naturalist), Simeon Stearns, and others, traveled south, guided by Joseph Meek (fur trader, explorer, guide, and later Marshal of the territory). They traveled quite slowly compared to other travelers owing to the constant ranging of their horses, who had to venture far away from the encampments each evening to find forage for grazing. This would delay the travelers for hours, sometimes half a day or more before they could travel. The cause of the horses wandering was that the prairies had been recently burnt by the Kalapuyans and there was no grass to graze upon. This was the same difficulty that Douglas encountered in 1826. The expeditionary accounts suggest the fires burned into the thickets, likely oak groves and thickets alongside creeks and streams where the vegetation was moister and would hinder the fire from continuing, and there they would find forage. Journal entries in fact detail that the expedition could see smoke in the distance, presumably caused by fires set by local tribes, suggesting they may be a day or two north of the Tribal people setting fires in the valley.
The main published book of the expedition was written by Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the US Exploring Expedition Volume 5. When analyzing the Dana and Eld journals in their original handwritten script, they include many details that did not make it into the official Wilkes publication of the expedition. It may be that these journals were never accessed by Wilkes. There were reported difficulties between Wilkes and the naval officers of the expedition. As such Dana, Eld and others offer a unique and largely unpublished set of accounts of the character of the valley and Tribal encounters of the expedition.
Emmons Diary
Dana Journal
Eld Journal
Colvocoresses Jounral
Kalapuya Man
The Southern Expedition