Tag: Oregon Tribes

Articles Concerning the history and culture pf the tribes

General History, Native Issues, Oral History, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation2 Comments

Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

Digging through previously collected digitized documents, I found several accounts of removal of the tribes to the Siletz Reservation. These are worthy of commentary for the historical origins of many of the details emphasized. Its apparent that oral accounts are in many ways more accurate than written histories. A good number of early written histories were produced by non-native writers, who did not ask native people about their perspectives on their histories. This was quite common, and so most early histories and many recent histories who do not access more than one perspective tend to privilege a specific bias. Many … Continue reading Erroneous Tropes in Narratives of Removal to the Coast Indian Reservation

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, Siletz Reservation, Umpqua Valley, Willamette Valley1 Comment

Significant Dates and Places in the History of the Western Oregon Tribes

David G. Lewis, PhD

All tribal nations have significant dates and places that their peoples recognize on their calendars. These dates can be the signing of treaties, the creation of reservations, or the anniversary of some event. For federal actions, like treaties, signing of executive orders and enacting of Congressional Acts, these events cause major changes to the tribal peoples, they were agreements, not unlike contracts that ceded 19 million acres to the federal government in exchange for two reservations and other benefits. For the western Oregon tribes there are many of these significant dates and places. The estimated 60 tribes had seven ratified … Continue reading Significant Dates and Places in the History of the Western Oregon Tribes

General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation3 Comments

Lost Cattle and Ox Hides: Starvation on the Coast Reservation 1856-60

David G. Lewis, PhD

Among the most amazing realizations I have had as a Native of the tribes of Oregon and scholar of tribal history is how pervasive starvation was once the tribes got the reservations. The Federal government and their agents were wholly unable to feed the tribal peoples once they were removed to the reservations. Then the people were not allowed to hunt as their weapons were taken away in case they revolted against the federal agents. The people were not allowed to leave the reservation to find food, as they were imprisoned on the reservations. The tribes were not given the … Continue reading Lost Cattle and Ox Hides: Starvation on the Coast Reservation 1856-60

columbia river, General History, Oral History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley4 Comments

Kalapuyan Eyewitnesses to the Megaflood in the Willamette Valley

David G. Lewis, PhD

Native oral history is based on actual historic events of their tribal past. For the Kalapuyans this is also true. Some  15,000 to 12,000 years ago a series of megafloods occurred (upwards of 40 in some theories) in western Oregon. The glacial dams created by the glacial masses which reached the Columbia River during this period, caused a  massive lake or series of lakes to form up to Missoula, Montana, which scholars call Lake Missoula. When the earth began warming, the glaciers began receding causing cracks to form in the ice dams. A series of catastrophic breaches of the dams … Continue reading Kalapuyan Eyewitnesses to the Megaflood in the Willamette Valley

General History, Oregon indians, Umpqua Valley, Uncategorized5 Comments

Reconnoiter to Row River 2017

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Row (Rou) River feeds into the Willamette River just about where Cottage Grove is today. In mid-March I took a short trip up the Row River to figure out just about where the Chief Halotish village might be. I drove and stopped when I saw an interesting landmark. I took many pictures of landscapes and hillsides that would have been a common site to the Yoncalla Kalapuyans before their villages were abandoned in the mid-19th century. It occurred to me that since the landscape’s hills and many upland prairies appeared to be undeveloped and not heavily forested that they … Continue reading Reconnoiter to Row River 2017