Tag: tolowa

General History, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Siletz ReservationLeave a comment

Joel Palmer Returning Indians and Feeding Natives, Siletz 1871

David G. Lewis, PhD

Joel Palmer was the Indian Agent at the Siletz Agency in 1871 and had responsibilities, as emphasized in his 1871 journal, over continuing to removing Indians from the Southern Coast to the Coast Reservation, some of whom had run away from from the reservation earlier. 1871 removal of Tolowa and Chetco to the Coast Reservation. In November Palmer began to gather the necessary supplies together to remove some few Indian families from the coast. Palmer was also engaged in trying to figure out how to feed the people already on the reservation, these two responsibilities split his time significantly. The … Continue reading Joel Palmer Returning Indians and Feeding Natives, Siletz 1871

education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Siletz Reservation3 Comments

Surviving Oregon Native Languages; Online Sources and Links

David G. Lewis, PhD

  Oregon Tribal Languages have been endangered for over 100 years. From an original base of some 100 languages and dialects, the number of surviving languages with speakers has dwindled to about eight. Most tribes do not have many elder speakers and the language programs are constantly searching for funding to help the languages survive to the next generation. At least five tribes have active language stabilization and restoration programs and several tribes teach their language (s) in community groups. A few tribes have a language taught in regular school classrooms. The most advanced by far is the Chinuk wawa … Continue reading Surviving Oregon Native Languages; Online Sources and Links

California Natives, General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Uncategorized12 Comments

Klamath River Reservation and White Privilege, 1856

David G. Lewis, PhD

Continuing with the ndnhistoryresearch series on the massacres of the Tribes on northern California and Southern Oregon coast, I have found a few more documents that address the removal of the tribes to the Klamath River Reservation and their rights and conditions. These reports are from the microfilm copies of the correspondence series for the California Indian Agents. In the mid-1850s, there was an early plan to create three reservations for Indians of California. In 1851, the three Indian superintendents of California (Barbour, Wozencraft, and McKee) divided the state, north, center and south, and dutifully traveled from Sacramento through their … Continue reading Klamath River Reservation and White Privilege, 1856

California Natives, General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Uncategorized12 Comments

The Most Persistent Attempt to Exterminate the Tribes, Beginning with the Yontocket Massacre 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

As related in my previous essay about the Chetko Massacre, there was a massacre of the Tolowa in 1853. The Palmer account suggest the previous massacre was the work of the same 8 or 9 men who destroyed the two Chetko villages in March of 1853. Annette Reed, a Tolowa descendant (Tolowa Dee-ni Nation),  and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Sacramento State University, suggests that the way in which the history was written is suspicious. The pioneer account from the History of Del Norte County (Bledsoe), suggests that it was the Tolowa’s own fault that the massacre happened. In the … Continue reading The Most Persistent Attempt to Exterminate the Tribes, Beginning with the Yontocket Massacre 1853

General History, Native Issues, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, Uncategorized12 Comments

Massacre at the Chetko Villages, 1853

David G. Lewis, PhD

The following is a direct transcription of a report from Joel Palmer of the Chetco Massacre of 1853. This is a well-known massacre on the southern Oregon Coast, and referenced in many of the ethnographies and Native histories of the area. In the account Palmer describes a grisly scene of a successful attack on two Chetko villages, burning the men in their houses, shooting many, and completely destroying both villages over a period of two days. Some people survive this account but life for them will never be the same. Palmer references an attack and massacre of the Tolowa villages … Continue reading Massacre at the Chetko Villages, 1853