This is a letter from Beel Fern, son of Chief Halo, who was of the Yoncalla Kalapuyans, a tribe of the Umpqua Valley. He may have as well been of the upper Umpqua tribe due to intermarriage between tribes that was common in Oregon. It was common on the reservation to simplify tribal ancestry to the river valley where they originated from.  (Interestingly, if he stated his name as “Beel”, would the scribe compose B.L.,  or did he write the letter and write the abbreviation of his name as B.L.?) Beel and his family lived for decades on the Applegate … Continue reading Beel Fern Letter of 1882: From The SWORP Collection