Tag: abiqua

General History, Oregon indians, trade, Willamette Valley2 Comments

The Battle of Abiqua, Second Battle of the Willamette Valley

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Battle of Abiqua In February 1848, six months after the Whitman Massacre, the settlers in the Willamette valley were very tense, concerned that the tribes would gather together and attack.  Many of the men had volunteered for a militia and were in eastern Oregon for the Cayuse War, so additional citizen militia were established in the valley. Ralph C. Geer was the captain of one company, while Don Waldo was the captain of another. The situation became much more tense when 80 Klamath Indians, friends of the Molallas, came into the Molalla area, to Dickie Prairie, and began harassing … Continue reading The Battle of Abiqua, Second Battle of the Willamette Valley

General History, Oregon indians, treaties, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley25 Comments

Molalla Chief Crooked Finger, the Battle of Abiqua and the 1851 Molalla Treaty

David G. Lewis, PhD

Crooked Finger (Loshuk), the Molalla  Chief, lived in an upland valley in the foothills of the Cascades, above present day Scott’s Mills. This area is called Crooked Finger’s Prairie even today. Loshuk received his American name Crooked Finger when as a boy he was playing with a rifle and it went off, disfiguring his hand. In his time he was renowned for speaking against the American settlement of his land and set about to harass Americans whenever he could as partial retribution for the losses his tribe was sustaining. Some reports suggest that he drank heavily of a rum from … Continue reading Molalla Chief Crooked Finger, the Battle of Abiqua and the 1851 Molalla Treaty

General History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley2 Comments

We Would Prefer to Remain in Our Own Lands, The Molalla People

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Molalla tribes, North, Santiam, and Umpqua valley (southern), were traders between the Chinookans to the north, the Klamaths to the south and the Paiutes to the east and the Kalapuyans in the west of their territory.  Their name is a corruption of the Chinook Wawa word “ulali” meaning berry or huckleberry.

molalla map Continue reading “We Would Prefer to Remain in Our Own Lands, The Molalla People”