Tag: population

columbia river, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Rogue Valley, Siletz Reservation, Umpqua Valley, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley1 Comment

Early Counts of Western Oregon Tribal Peoples

David G. Lewis, PhD

The tribes of the western Oregon were quite numerous, previous to contact with traders and explorers to the North West Coast. Outsiders, brought numerous diseases which were the greatest factor in eliminating their large populations. The first diseases were likely small pox and influenza. Lewis and Clark’s expedition (1805-1806) encountered victims of small pox in 1805 on the Columbia. By 1830, malaria was a factor in Oregon, with epidemics happening as early as 1829. Malaria was likely the most destructive of all of the diseases and caused some 90%  decline in populations, such that by 1850, the tribes of the … Continue reading Early Counts of Western Oregon Tribal Peoples

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation, Uncategorized9 Comments

Sickness Issues from the Trumpet: Health Conditions at the Early Western Oregon Reservations

David G. Lewis, PhD

“The Doctress said she distinctly saw the sickness that afflicted the tribes issue from the Trumpet which I sounded to announce the hour of school, and settle like a mist upon the camp; and should I sound it, in a few days all the Indians would be in their graves- The camp desolate! I was not such a monster as to sound it again, so the Indians “still live”. “John Ostrander When the western Oregon tribes were removed to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in 1856 they were already greatly reduced in population. Anthropologist’s have estimated that from 90 to … Continue reading Sickness Issues from the Trumpet: Health Conditions at the Early Western Oregon Reservations