Tag: Wilkes

Ethnobotany, General History, Kalapuya, Traditional ecological knowledge, Willamette Valley5 Comments

Seasonal Wetlands and Minto-Brown Island Park

David G. Lewis, PhD

It seems important to tribes that if they are truly to become restored, and decolonized, they need to be culturally restored by helping to decolonize their lands and traditional resources at the same time. Tribes did not independently become culture but there are important interactions with their land and its resources that helped develop their cultures. Therefore, tribal restoration and environmental restoration are linked elements in decolonization. But there is also many other reasons for restoring traditional landscapes, for the safety and security of the many peoples who now live here, for the health of the land and the planet, … Continue reading Seasonal Wetlands and Minto-Brown Island Park

General History, Kalapuya, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Traditional ecological knowledge, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

The Southern Exploring Expedition and The Kalapuyans

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Charles Wilkes Exploring Expedition came to Oregon in August 1841. The expedition split into two parties with some of the expedition venturing up the Columbia, and a number of the scientists and naval men (The naval men were dispossessed from their duties due to the sinking of the Peacock.) traveling down the Willamette Valley and through the interior valleys into California. Wilkes’ journal is a summary of the journey but does not include all of the details from the journey as many of the officers and scientists kept their own journals. I took note of details that address the … Continue reading The Southern Exploring Expedition and The Kalapuyans

colonization, columbia river, General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians1 Comment

Blanchet’s Mission to Vancouver, 1841

David G. Lewis, PhD

Reverend Blanchet traveled to Fort Vancouver after his mission to the Clackamas. In Vancouver, there was much more orderly town life, the chapels in the fort being served by the Anglican priests. Nevertheless, he is likely politely invited to give sermons in the various chapel locations. The Chapels are likely based on the highly segregated populations at the fort, one for the officers, one for the white laborers and one for the Natives who provided the vast majority of labor for the fort, yet most were never allowed to enter the fort and lived instead in the Kanaka village. Blanchet … Continue reading Blanchet’s Mission to Vancouver, 1841

Anthropology, General History, Kalapuya, Oregon Coast, Oregon indians, trade, Willamette Valley1 Comment

Ethnography of Oregon Indians 1841: Horatio Hale of the U.S. Exploring Expedition

David G. Lewis, PhD

Horatio Hale’s created what may be one of the earliest ethnographies of the tribes of the Pacific Coast. Remarkable as it is, Hale’s ethnography is both interesting and disappointing. Much of his analysis of the Native peoples of Oregon shows … Continue reading Ethnography of Oregon Indians 1841: Horatio Hale of the U.S. Exploring Expedition

General History, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley5 Comments

The Kalapuya Village of Champoeg

David G. Lewis, PhD

Champoeg is a monument to early Oregon settlement by French- Canadians and Americans from the 1820s to the 1850s. Champoeg, situated on the edge of the French Prairie, the breadbasket of early pioneer Oregon territory, served as a center of community governance, as a cultural center and as a trade port where shipments of grains and other trade goods (fleece, wheat, timber, vegetables) would be sent downriver to Oregon City. There these products may be processed in mills and factories (powered by the Falls) into flour, lumber or woolens and be shipped to world markets. Champoeg was the community which … Continue reading The Kalapuya Village of Champoeg