Clackamas Fishing Culture

  The Clackamas were major fisher people in the Willamette and Columbia. The Willamette Falls is second only to Celilo in the lower Columbia for fishing for salmon. At the falls is also an extensive Lamprey eel run as well. The Clackamas also  appear to have had permanent settlement at all of their fishing villages year round. Their version of the seasonal round would have their seasonal fishing villages and camps swell by dozens if not hundreds of additional peoples when the fish were running.     Two notations about fishing villages in Drucker rate mention here. the first is … Continue reading Clackamas Fishing Culture

Drucker’s Records of Clackamas Villages

The Clackamas (Tlakamas) lived along the Clackamas River and along the lower Willamette. Their villages and associated territorial claims extended from Willamette Falls to the Willamette Slough. Scholars still debate the full reach of the Clackamas territory. At Willamette Falls there were villages on both sides of the river below the falls, one village above the Falls at Canemah and one village down by where the Tualatin River enters the Willamette. There were additional villages near the Clackamas estuary and at Milwaukee. There was a village on an island in the Willamette. Some of these villages at the falls are … Continue reading Drucker’s Records of Clackamas Villages