Tag: Willamette Valley

colonization, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Kalapuya, Oral History, Oregon indians, Willamette Valley1 Comment

The Cabbage Head Decoy and other Linn County stories of the Kalapuyans

David G. Lewis, PhD

Fear of the Kalapuyans Fearing of “Indians” in the 1850s in Oregon was a real and powerful thing among the white settlers. tribal people did not live like white people, dd not obey the laws of the United States and seemed to have their own harsh forms of justice. As such the humanity of the tribes was severely questioned and dismissed in numerous settler narratives of the region. Settlers and other used stereotypical characterizations fo the savage and heathen tribes to revalue and dehumanize them. once sufficiently dehumanized, tribes could then be destroyed and removed from the path of American … Continue reading The Cabbage Head Decoy and other Linn County stories of the Kalapuyans

assimilation, General History, Kalapuya, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Methodists in Oregon

David G. Lewis, PhD

Reverend Jason Lee established the first Methodist Mission near Champoeg in 1835. By 1839 the mission had been damaged by flood waters and Lee established another farm and school in what is now downtown Salem. Lee had the sawmill built first, and with the sawed timbers built first the grist mill then his house on Broadway at the Liberty interchange along Chemeketa Creek (Mill Creek)( the house is now situated at Willamette Heritage Center) and then the mission school, at what is now Willamette University. Many of the students at the first mission were taken off of the French Prairie and … Continue reading Methodists in Oregon

General History, Oregon indians, trade, Willamette Valley2 Comments

The Battle of Abiqua, Second Battle of the Willamette Valley

David G. Lewis, PhD

The Battle of Abiqua In February 1848, six months after the Whitman Massacre, the settlers in the Willamette valley were very tense, concerned that the tribes would gather together and attack.  Many of the men had volunteered for a militia and were in eastern Oregon for the Cayuse War, so additional citizen militia were established in the valley. Ralph C. Geer was the captain of one company, while Don Waldo was the captain of another. The situation became much more tense when 80 Klamath Indians, friends of the Molallas, came into the Molalla area, to Dickie Prairie, and began harassing … Continue reading The Battle of Abiqua, Second Battle of the Willamette Valley

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, treaties, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley2 Comments

Equability of the Willamette Valley Treaty

David G. Lewis, PhD

Three days after signing the Willamette Valley Treaty (January 22, 1855) with the tribes of the Willamette Valley and Columbia River, Joel Palmer Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon,  sent the treaty to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Manypenny. Palmer sent with the treaty an accompanying letter explaining the treaty and documenting the other promises he made to the tribes to get them to sign their lands away and remove. In large part, it was unethical for Palmer to make additional promises to the tribe to get them to sign an agreement that they could not even read. In addition, … Continue reading Equability of the Willamette Valley Treaty

General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Uncategorized, Willamette Valley2 Comments

The Temporary Reservation on the Guilford W. Warden DLC, Yamhill County

David G. Lewis, PhD

Guilford W. Warden  was an emigre into the Oregon Territory in 1850. He had a donation land claim in Yamhill County near the South Yamhill River and Salt Creek. It was claim number 1822, was 638.89 acres, and was located in the GLO map grid of Township 6, Range 5.  This land claim was surveyed in 1858 and has associated journal recordings of the DLC. He married Lydia Ann Goodrich of Polk County in 1851. Joel Palmer, the Indian superintendent for Oregon, appears to have established a temporary Indian reservation on the Warden DLC in 1855.     Contemporaneous with … Continue reading The Temporary Reservation on the Guilford W. Warden DLC, Yamhill County