The Kalapuya Village of Champoeg

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

Luckimauke Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855

The Luckimiute (Luckimauke) Indians occupied an area from roughly the town of Rickreall south to Corvallis, on the west side of the Willamette River. They principally occupied the Luckimiute river and tributaries. The best records are those of Jesse Applegate’s “Recollections of My Boyhood” book. Applegate arrived in 1844 as a young boy with his family and first settled in Salt Creek just west of Rickreall. The Applegate house still stands at Salt Creek. Applegate writes, “the native population in our neighborhood was a tribe of the Kalapooya and near and far, even to the sea, were the Tillamook, Tawalatin, … Continue reading Luckimauke Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855

100,000 Native Foresters Made the World in Oregon

One hundred and sixty years ago, before native people were taken to reservations in Oregon, there were hundreds of native communities in all areas of Oregon. They were the remnants of an estimated 100,000 native people in Oregon before epidemics caused the collapse of the tribal cultures. In the year 1800, there were many hundreds more native communities scattered throughout the land. These communities disappeared under epidemics and the weight of colonization by American settlers. By 1850, there were dramatically fewer native communities with most communities the surviving remnant people from the epidemics. They condensed together for safety and security … Continue reading 100,000 Native Foresters Made the World in Oregon