The following contains sections of an essay in the 1903 Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, that lays out some important narratives of the Santiam and Calapooia Indians in the late 1840s. Since 1843, American pioneers were coming into western Oregon on wagon trains to settled in the Willamette Valley. These settlers took advantage of the previous decade’s horrendous illnesses, likely malaria, that caused the death of some 90-97% of most tribes. The Kalapuya tribes were much reduced by the epidemics and could no longer protect their territorial rights from encroaching settlers or other tribes. Like the Americans, and French … Continue reading Encroachment of Americans into Brush Creek Valley