Tag: coos bay

coos bay, General History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, treaties, Umpqua Valley4 Comments

Preparing for Purchase, First Indian Agent in Coos Bay, 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

When Joel Palmer was appointed to Superintendent of Indian Affairs in May 1853 he had a good working knowledge of the tribes but had never visited the southern Oregon coast. He began to scope out and plan how southwestern Oregon was to be managed as there were numerous tribes in that region. His first effort was to halt the Rogue River War which was raging in the area of the gold mines of southern Oregon. Palmer teamed up with General Joe Lane to bring the war to a swift end with a treaty of peace (9/8/1853) and a treaty of … Continue reading Preparing for Purchase, First Indian Agent in Coos Bay, 1853

colonization, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oral History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, treaties3 Comments

Conditions of the Alsea Indians and the Salmon River Encampment 1876-1878

David G. Lewis, PhD

As addressed in previous essays, in about 1875, most Indian annuities for the Western Oregon tribes ended because the 20 year payments were exhausted. This is true for the Siletz Reservation, for the handful of tribal people who could claim a ratified treaty, and for the Grand Ronde Reservation, where nearly all of the people fell under a treaty. The Molala treaty had not been ratified until 1859 so they have payments until 1879, while all of the Coastal Tribes did not have a ratified treaty and so they had no annuities. Because of this, the southern portion of the … Continue reading Conditions of the Alsea Indians and the Salmon River Encampment 1876-1878

colonization, coos bay, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Kalapuya, Oral History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, treaties, Umpqua Valley8 Comments

War on the Umpqua Tribes and Removal to the Umpqua Reserves

David G. Lewis, PhD

Much has been written and published of the Rogue River, Modoc, and Yakima Wars in the Oregon Territory. These wars were, by-and-large, reactions of the tribes to extreme attacks on their land, and their survival.  There were a number of other such conflicts that did not reach the status of war for historians. In the Umpqua Valley there is such a history of attacks on the tribes. In 1855, within the Umpqua Valley was the Umpqua Reservation, at the forks of Calapooia Creek and the Umpqua. The reserve was thought to be created in the Treaty of the Cow Creek … Continue reading War on the Umpqua Tribes and Removal to the Umpqua Reserves

columbia river, coos bay, General History, Kalapuya, Oral History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, trade, Umpqua Valley, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Trade Between the Interior and the Coast; Kalapuyans, Klikitats, Coosans

David G. Lewis, PhD

Previous to the Americans and the British In Oregon, the tribes had numerous interrelationships with one another. Trade was a major part of the lives of all tribes. Some tribes had vast resources, but only in a few items were they specialized. The Chinookans, had vast amounts of dried salmon because of owning the best salmon fishing sites on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, as well as access to all of the trade items in the Columbia River Trading region, a vast trade zone which stretched from the mid-west American plains to the Pacific Coast. While the Kalapuyans had lots … Continue reading Trade Between the Interior and the Coast; Kalapuyans, Klikitats, Coosans

General History, Oral History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation5 Comments

Places that Floated, When the World Burned, & Dry-Land-Stranded Whales

David G. Lewis, PhD

Our tribal lands have seen innumerable natural disasters over the millennium.  Native people tried to interpret what was happening and preserved the history of the events in our oral histories. In the ethnographic era, (1870s-1940s) many of these stories were written down and preserved before, it was feared that, all languages and cultural traditions were going to be lost. John Peabody Harrington, an ethnographer, collected many stories from peoples in Oregon and he spent a good amount of time on the southwest Oregon coast. His records for the Coos Bay area are substantial. Broadly, there is a growing interest at … Continue reading Places that Floated, When the World Burned, & Dry-Land-Stranded Whales