Tag: waldo

General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Personal HistoryLeave a comment

Revisiting the Schools I Attended

David G. Lewis, PhD

As a native person, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and a descendant of the Santiam, Takelma, and Chinook peoples of western Oregon, I have noted that many of the schools I attended were named for prominent persons in the settler community many of whom had interactions with tribes. I first noted this when engaged in my Ph.D. research and found that Douglas McKay was the Secretary of the Interior who pushed for termination legislation for tribes. It is instructive to me to understand what was the attitude of these prominent men towards Native peoples in the … Continue reading Revisiting the Schools I Attended

General History, Oregon indians, treaties, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley25 Comments

Molalla Chief Crooked Finger, the Battle of Abiqua and the 1851 Molalla Treaty

David G. Lewis, PhD

Crooked Finger (Loshuk), the Molalla  Chief, lived in an upland valley in the foothills of the Cascades, above present day Scott’s Mills. This area is called Crooked Finger’s Prairie even today. Loshuk received his American name Crooked Finger when as a boy he was playing with a rifle and it went off, disfiguring his hand. In his time he was renowned for speaking against the American settlement of his land and set about to harass Americans whenever he could as partial retribution for the losses his tribe was sustaining. Some reports suggest that he drank heavily of a rum from … Continue reading Molalla Chief Crooked Finger, the Battle of Abiqua and the 1851 Molalla Treaty