Tag: Chemawa

Anthropology, General History, Native Issues, Uncategorized, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Socialites and Indian Baskets: Success of Harwood Hall at Sherman and Chemawa

David G. Lewis, PhD

I have always been confused as to why there is a Chemawa Jr. High in Riverside CA. The word Chemawa is from the Kalapuya tribes of the Willamette Valley and designates a village just north of Salem, Oregon. As well there is a Native boarding school, Chemawa Indian School, that began in 1880 located north of Salem that is still operating.  In recent research I found there was a pre-existing Chemawa Park in Riverside which predated Sherman Indian Industrial school by one year (1901), and Chemawa Jr. High, built within the former park, which is still operating as Chemawa Middle … Continue reading Socialites and Indian Baskets: Success of Harwood Hall at Sherman and Chemawa

education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Siletz Reservation, Uncategorized5 Comments

History of Early Oregon Indian Education

David G. Lewis, PhD

In the 1850s, the United States made treaties with confederations of western Oregon tribes consisting of over sixty tribes consolidated on two reservations. In following decades, the U.S. government implemented on-reservation and off-reservation boarding schools in order to assimilate Indian children into American society. The initial educational protocols were based on those developed by religious missionaries in the early settlement periods for the Oregon Territory. In fact, for the first couple of decades of the reservation, missionaries were assigned to each reservation to manage the schools. At Grand Ronde, the school was run by Catholic Reverend Adrian Croquet, a missionary … Continue reading History of Early Oregon Indian Education

California Natives, General History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized1 Comment

Memorial on behalf of the Indians of California, 1850

David G. Lewis, PhD

The appeal below, suggests the reservation system for the tribes of California. Pastor Woodbridge’s detailed memorial addresses what scholars today are discovering about the 19th century tribes. The Tribes were not simply savages as suggested for some 100 years of histories written about the region, but instead they were losing resources and food sources and would periodically, forced by hunger, raid the American farms and ranches for food. They were undergoing massive environmental changes and cultural adjustments. At the same time they were being starved, they were under a constant barrage of attacks from the Americans who killed indiscriminately. The … Continue reading Memorial on behalf of the Indians of California, 1850

General History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Kalapuya Village of Chemaway

David G. Lewis, PhD

Previous to the settlement of the Oregon Territory the Chemawa (Chemaway) village was located a few miles south of the Village of Champoeg. Little is known about this village. The area did not become a major settler community and as such did not get the attention of larger settlements like Champoeg or Chemeketa (Salem).  Its likely that the remaining Kalapuya people were subsumed by the Kalapuya villages at Champoeg or Chemeketa. It was common during this time, after the malarial epidemics (beginning 1829), which cause a dramatic population decline (90-97%),  for the Tribes to choose to confederate together at the … Continue reading Kalapuya Village of Chemaway

General History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley5 Comments

The Kalapuya Village of Champoeg

David G. Lewis, PhD

Champoeg is a monument to early Oregon settlement by French- Canadians and Americans from the 1820s to the 1850s. Champoeg, situated on the edge of the French Prairie, the breadbasket of early pioneer Oregon territory, served as a center of community governance, as a cultural center and as a trade port where shipments of grains and other trade goods (fleece, wheat, timber, vegetables) would be sent downriver to Oregon City. There these products may be processed in mills and factories (powered by the Falls) into flour, lumber or woolens and be shipped to world markets. Champoeg was the community which … Continue reading The Kalapuya Village of Champoeg