The upper McKenzie River, in Oregon, has been a vast wilderness and a tourist fishing location for the past 100 years. Some 30% of the clean water in the Willamette River comes down the McKenzie. In the latter part of the 19th century, gold mining began and brought more people to the area. Then, hot … [Read more…]
Essays written in preparation for my Comprehensive exams, nearly 20 years ago. Anthropology and Government Policy Part of the government’s role regarding Indian people was to figure out what to do with them. Historically, the European nations and formed contracts and relationships with Indian tribes. Most of these contracts were based on trade. The United … [Read more…]
Sylvester Woodbridge, a Presbyterian pastor, may have been one of the first to suggest a plan for the initial California Reserves. This certainly helped the effort for writing treaties with the tribes in 1851. Sylvester Woodbridge, January 23rd, 1850 Benecia, California (Recd. 18 March 1850) To General Zachary Taylor President of the United States Memorial … [Read more…]
In April and May 1856 Joel Palmer hired 60 men to be the Grand Ronde Guards, to build a fence and control access and egress to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. They were all laid off in early May, likely due to the fact that threats from settlers upon the Indians did not happen. In … [Read more…]
Recently, I came upon a number of postcards of soldiers at the Grand Ronde Reservation. It was a common practice to turn photos into postcards in those days. On Ebay these images were available for purchase. Image 808 is labelled Grand Ronde 1911 on the back. And this image, I assume it could be … [Read more…]