Tag: kalapuyan

Personal HistoryLeave a comment

Summer Cycling at Minto-Brown Island Park

David G. Lewis, PhD

This summer, I have been returning to mountain biking in the local park, Minto-Brown Island park. I used to mountain bike a lot, when I lived in California. I would take excursions to parks in and around Sonoma County. Bolinas Ridge, Annadel, Sonoma Mountain were my favorite parks to visit. Annadel was my very favorite, with many different trails for serious cyclists, lots of hills and lots of fast downhills. I did tons of road riding too, throughout the county, to the coast, along the coast highway and doing the Highway 12 route, through the Valley of the Moon. I … Continue reading Summer Cycling at Minto-Brown Island Park

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Eliza Young: Brownsville Basketweaver

David G. Lewis, PhD

  Eliza Young (Indian Eliza, Liza), was a native of the Mohawk Valley. The Mohawk Indians, were originally called the Peyu (Pee-you, Pe-u) Kalapuyans and were re-named by settlers after the river was renamed by early settler Jacob Spores. The Spores family had come from New York in 1847, the original homeland of the Mohawk Seneca peoples, and brought that name with him. It was a practice for settlers to  rename their new settlements with names they brought from their original settlements from the east. Eliza appears to have been orphaned, likely as a result of the epidemics, perhaps malaria, … Continue reading Eliza Young: Brownsville Basketweaver

Anthropology, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Chelamela and Chemapho Kalapuyans

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Long Tom River and its tributaries was the original homelands to two major tribes of Kalapuyan Indians, the Chelamela and Chemapho tribes. The Chelamela occupied the upper or southern part of the watershed from the Coast Range to the Willamette at Eugene, and from the Calapooia range to the Reservoir. The Chemapho occupied from the Coast Range to the Willamette and from the Reservoir to just before Philomath at the north. The tribes lived in permanent villages in the middle to upper reaches of the watershed along tributaries to the Long Tom River. The foothills of the Coast range … Continue reading Chelamela and Chemapho Kalapuyans

Anthropology, General History, Kalapuya, Oregon indians, treaties, Willamette Valley6 Comments

Pee-You Kalapuyans of the Southern Willamette Valley

David G. Lewis, PhD

In the 1850’s, settlers came to Oregon and renamed many valleys, features, and places. Many of them brought names from the eastern states, place-names like Portland, Springfield, and Albany. At least one of the Oregon tribes was also renamed by early settlers. The Mohawk Valley was named by Jacob Spores in about 1849, after an eastern U.S. Algonquian tribe the Mohawk people and their valley in upstate New York. Spores was one of the earliest settlers, and lived at the outlet of the valley, on the McKenzie River. The Kalapuyan Tribe from that valley was clearly named after the new … Continue reading Pee-You Kalapuyans of the Southern Willamette Valley

columbia river, eastern oregon, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, Willamette Valley6 Comments

Houses of the Oregon Tribes

David G. Lewis, PhD

The question of what sorts of houses the Kalapuyans had has again surfaced. Over the years this question has been of prime importance. Many Americans, ignorant of the diversity and variability of Tribal cultures have assumed that tipis were the houses for all American Indians. This notion has informed generations of Americans and has been reinforced by media and Hollywoodian images of Native societies. In addition, the extreme focus on the Indian cultures of the American Great Plains by American society (wars, buffalo hunting, studies, religions) has caused the notion of the tipi to become somewhat larger than reality. The … Continue reading Houses of the Oregon Tribes