History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 30

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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Canoes, women, weapons of war and the chase, and the skins of animals formed the most valued property of these savages, and were articles of trade. Wealth was estimated in strings of shell money like the wampum of eastern aborigines, but this money was here known as alli-as-chick or ali-qua-chick. This circulating medium was a small white shell, hollow and valued at from five to twenty dollars. Hence the monetary standard of these savages was variable like that of more civilized nations, but was probably a source of less confusion and speculation. White deer skins and the scalps of red-headed wood peckers seem to have been articles of great estimation,

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possessing fictitious values depending upon the dictates of fashion. These articles were the insignia of wealth and were sought after by the Indians as seal-skin gar- ments and diamonds are affected by the higher classes of white society. " Wives, also, as they had to be purchased, were a sign of wealth, and the owner of many was thereby distinguished above his fellows." To be a chief among the Klamaths or Rogue Rivers pre-supposed the possession of wealth. Power was not hereditary, and the chief who became too old to govern was summarily deposed. La-lake, the peaceable old chief of the former tribe, was compelled in his later years to give place to a younger man. Each village had a head man who might be styled chief, who held his power in some way subordinate to the main tribal chiefs, but whose actions in most ways were not regulated by the head chief. A new settlement being formed a chief was elected who held his power until deposed by his subjects or until death removed him. Frequently from a multiplicity of candidates for the chiefship two were chosen, who together ad- ministered the affairs of the tribe, the divided authority appearing to have been con- sistent with peace and friendliness. One of the two was usually styled peace chief, the other war chief. A well-known example of this is seen in Sam and Joe, brothers, and respectively war chief and peace chief of the Rogue Rivers. However, it does not appear that the duties of the two were in any case divided, or that the occurrence of war necessitated the intermission of the peace chief's authority. As the case of the two chiefs mentioned, Joe, probably a more skillful warrior, assumed the conduct of warfare in 1853, and possibly in 1851, though the latter fact is not fully ascertained.

The Indians of Southern Oregon and Northern California were a filthy race, viewed from a Caucasian standpoint, but probably did not surpass other aborigines in that respect. Their habits of life were such as to render them subject to parasites of all sorts, so much so that an Indian deprived of the presence of pediculus would be an anomaly. "The Rogue Rivers bathed daily ; yet they brought out with them the dirt which encased their bodies when they went in. Their heavy, long and thickly matted hair afforded refuge for vermin which their art could not remove. To destroy in some measure this plague they were in the babit of burning their houses occasion- ally and rebuilding with fresh materials."

The Umpqua region and the coast between the Siuslaw and Coos bay were inhab- ited by the Umpquas and minor related tribes. These possessed many tribal divisions of which the names have mostly perished. Ultimately they belonged to the extensive family called by Bancroft the Chinooks, a division of the Columbians so-called. An- ciently the Umpquas were a tribe of importance and strength, though individually far inferior to the Klamath family. This is true in regard to physique and mental quali- ties. In stature the men rarely exceeded five and a half feet nor the women five feet. Both sexes were heavily and loosely built, and were much deformed by their squatting position, and had every appearance of degeneration. Their faces were broad and round, their nostrils large, the mouth wide and thick-lipped, teeth irregular, countenance void of expression and vivacity, yet often regular.

As to clothing, the Umpquas were not in any way peculiar. The men wore no covering in fair or warm weather, but in severe seasons adopted a garment made of the skins of animals. Females wore a skirt of cedar fibres fastened around the waist and

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hanging to the knees. In cold weather they wrapped a robe of sea-otter or other skins about the body.

Fish formed a staple article of diet with the Umpquas, salmon and salmon trout being the principal varieties, which were, and still are, abundant in the Umpqua river and its tributaries during certain seasons. The fish, being caught in some approved Indian fashion, was roasted before fires. Being cut into convenient sized portions, it was impaled on a pointed stick, first being stuck through with splinters to prevent it from falling to pieces. Thus broiled the fresh salmon or trout formed a very welcome and toothsome addition to their limited cuisine.

In times before the coming of the whites the Rogue Rivers and Shastas had fre- quent wars with the Umpquas, but finally, through mutual interest, effected a coalition. From this time the power of the latter tribe began to wane. In the decade ending in 1850, the Klickitats, a powerful and restless tribe from beyond the Columbia, entered the Umpqua valley, having conquered all the Indians whom they met in the Willam- ette valley, and subjected the Umpquas also to defeat. They occupied a portion of the latter's country and became the dominant tribe northward of the Rogue river valley. The Klickitats were equally renowned in trade and war, and their services were in re- quest by the whites at various times when other tribes were to be fought. In 1851 sixty Klickitat warriors, well mounted and armed, offered themselves to assist in the war against the Rogue Rivers, but their presence was not desired. Similar to these were the Des Chutes, a small but active tribe, who, under their chief, Sem-tes-tis, made expeditions for purposes of war or barter from their homes east of the Cascades as far as Yreka, where, in 1854, they assisted the whites against the Shastas. In some of their characteristics the Klickitats irresistibly bring to mind the early Jews, whose mi- grations, success in war and love of barter form strong points of resemblance to this Indian tribe's peculiarities. Some few of the Klickitats yet remain in the eastern part of Douglas county, where they own and till farms, and are useful members of that community.

As regards the origin of these tribes, only conjecture is at hand. Not enough is known on that topic to serve for the foundation of a respectable hypothesis, although the common origin of all North American tribes has been taken for granted. From facts which have come under his notice, Judge Rosborough, formerly Indian agent in Northern California, is of the opinion that there have been three lines of aboriginal migration southward through Southern Oregon and Northern California, namely : one by the coast, dispersing toward the interior; secondly, that along the Willamette valley, crossing the Calapooia mountains and the Umpqua and Rogue rivers, Shasta and Scott valleys; the other wave coming up the Des Chutes river and peopling the vicinity of the lakes. As an evidence of the second movement it is known that all the tribes inhabiting the region referred to spoke the same language and confederated against their neighbors, particularly the Pit river Indians, who arrested their course in the south. The traditions of the Shastas show they had driven a tribe out of their habitation and occupied it themselves.

The Klamaths have been known among themselves and surrounding tribes as Muck-a-lucks, Klamaths, Klamets, Luuami (their own name), and Tlamath. The Rogue Rivers, according to various authorities, called themselves Lo-to-ten, Tutatamy,

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Totutime, Tootouni, Tootooton, Tutoten, Tototin, Tutotutna, and Too-toot-na; all of which may be regarded as the same word, uttered variously by individuals of different tribes, and reproduced in writing as variously. For the purposes of this history their ordinary designation, Rogue Rivers, will be adopted, inasmuch as they have attained a celebrity under that name, and as it in consequence conveys a readier meaning than either of the native words the use of which, in addition, carries a suspicion of pedantry. Tribal designations among the Indians, it is to be observed, were and are exceedingly indefinite and troublesome to the student. For example: tribes of restricted numbers frequently call themselves by the name of their head chief; and the tribal name is fre- quently used indifferently with that of the chief. The Klamaths, for a time called themselves, and were called by their white neighbors La-lakes. Their principal chief also bore that name, and by it was known to a large part of the State. The name, be- yond doubt, is la-lac-meaning, in French, the lake, and was applied by French or Canadian travelers or trappers, in allusion to the great Klamath lakes, upon whose shores these people dwelt. Adopted by the natives, this foreign word was applied to the tribe and to the great peace chief, who became in his day the most eminent of his race. The habit of loosely applying their designations has made the study of Indian traditions and history very difficult indeed, and is probably the most fruitful source of error which presents itself in the pursuit of aboriginal archeology.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE EARLY EXPLORERS ATTACKED.

Jedediah S. Smith's Journey Through Northern California and Southern Oregon -- First Knowledge of the In- dians -- Locality of Smith's Defeat-Turner-Gay-Ewing Young -- Wilkes' Exploring Expedition-Fremont's Expedition Across the Plains -- Attack by Modocs -- Travel Through Southern Oregon-Indian Outrages in 1850 and 1851.

It is pertinent to the subject to introduce here the account of Jedediah S. Smith's remarkable trip through Southern Oregon, from California to the Hudson's Bay Com- pany's settlements at Vancouver. It will thus be seen that the spirit of hostility against the whites was developed at the very moment of the latter's first appearance in the country ; and we shall see that this spirit of hostility was kept alive until the In- dians' expulsion from the country, twenty-eight years after. [For full details of this affair see pages 118 to 122 of this volume.]

The evidence shows that Smith followed the coast line in his first trip northward to Cape Arago, and doubtless he with his two companions continued along the coast as far as the Columbia, for the interior he could have known nothing of, since even the Hudson's Bay people had not made explorations in that direction. While every one

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Cotady

A. G. Walling, Lith. Portland, Or.

RESIDENCE OF DR. J. B. LEE. Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon.

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accords to Smith the distinction of having led the first white men into Southern Ore- gon, there is much left to conjecture in regard to numerous important details of his passage. The exact spot where his camp was destroyed by Indians is not known, nor its approximate situation. Certain manuscripts ascribe an island in [or near] the Umpqua as the place of the tragedy ; while others mention Cape Arago as the locality in question. The fact that an important tributary of the Umpqua has been named Smith river does not settle the question, while from certain facts the presumption is in favor of Cape Arago. At any rate the Umpqua Indians (who are well known to have inhab- ited the vicinity of the mouth of that river) are characterized by an indisposition to acts of violence, while the natives of Coos bay, and more particularly of the Coquille country, achieved quite a reputation as murderers of stray parties of whites, as will appear in another part of this book. These considerations render it likely that Smith's party was attacked at some point further south than the generally accepted locality, though the question-an interesting one-deserves and should receive full investiga- tion.

Under such circumstances Southern Oregon began to become known to the world, and for a long series of years remained unsettled by civilized men, the only objects of the few white persons who entered its bounds being the pursuit of fur-bearing animals or else urged through these dangerous solitudes by the exigencies of travel. The Hud- son's Bay Company's agents were quick to take advantage of the information brought by Smith, and parties of hunters and trappers were sent forth to systematically explore and in some sense occupy the country. This occupation extended no farther than the construction of a permanent post at the junction of Elk creek and the Umpqua river, where Elkton is now situated. This post, called Fort Umpqua, served as the head- quarters of the company's employees throughout the section embracing the Umpqua, Rogue, Klamath and Upper Sacramento rivers.

In June, 1836, as is credibly told, a party of whites, including George Gay, well known in Oregon's early history, Daniel Miller, Edward Barnes, Dr. Bailey, J. Turner, and his squaw, - Sanders and - Woodworth, and a man known as Irish Tom, were attacked near the mouth of Foot's creek (below Rock Point) on Rogue river, and Miller, Sanders, Barnes and Irish Tom were killed, while the others, badly wounded, made their escape. As narrated by J. W. Nesmith, in Transactions of Oregon Pio- neers, 1882, the circumstances were as follows : "The party was under the leadership of Turner and was on a trapping expedition. About the middle of June they were encamped at the Point of Rocks [Rock Point] on the south bank of Rogue river. Several hundred Indians dropped into camp, but Turner thinking there was no dan- ger took no precautions, and the natives most unexpectedly attacked the party with clubs, bows and knives. They got possession of three of the eight guns with which the whites were armed, and for a time the trappers fought them with fire-brands, clubbed guns and whatever came handy. Turner, a big Kentucky giant, seized a fir limb from the fire and fought lustily. He released Gay who was held down by the savages, and finally the assailants were driven from the camp. Dan Miller and another trapper were killed on the spot, while the six survivors were all more or less wounded. The latter took to the brush, and without horses and deprived of all the guns but two, traveled, fighting Indians by day and walking by night, making their way northward. 24

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Dr. Bailey was wounded by a tomahawk blow which had cleft his shin. Sanders' wounds disabled him from traveling, and he was left on the South Umpqua, while " Big Tom " [Irish Tom] was left on the North Umpqua. The' Indians reported to Dr. Mclaughlin, of the Hudson's Bay Company, that both men soon died of their wounds where they were left. Turner, Gay, Woodworth and Dr. Bailey ultimately reached the settlement on the Willamette.

Two years later, or in 1837, a party of Oregonians proceeded to California to buy cattle to drive to the Willamette. They secured a drove, and returning passed through the Umpqua and Rogue river valleys. The party was composed in part of Ewing Young, the leader ; P. L. Edwards, who kept a diary of the trip; Hawchurst, Car- michael, Bailey, Erequette, DesPau, B. Williams, Tibbetts, Gay, Wood, Camp, and about eight others, all frontiersmen of experience. While encamped at the Klamath, on the fourteenth of September, 1837, Gay and Bailey shot an Indian who had come peaceably into camp. This act was in revenge for the affair at Foot's creek, but that locality had not by any means been reached, and the Indians' crime of 1835 was re- venged on an individual who, perhaps, had not heard of the event. The act was deeply resented by the Indians throughout the whole section, and the party met with the greatest difficulty in continuing their course. On the seventeenth of the same month they encamped at Foot's creek, and on the next morning sustained a serious attack of the savages, narrated thus in the diary of Edwards :

SEPTEMBER 18 .- Moved about sunrise. Indians were soon observed running along the moun- tain on our right. There could be no doubt but that they were intending to attack us at some difficult pass. Our braves occasionally fired on them when there was a mere possibility of doing any execution. About twelve o'clock, while we were in a stony and brushy pass between the river [Rogue river] on our right, and a mountain covered with wood on our left, firing and yelling in front announced an attack. Mr. Young, apprehensive of an attack at this pass, had gone in ad- vance to examine the brush and ravine, and returned without seeing Indians. In making further search he found them posted on each side of the road. After firing of four guns, the forward cattle having halted, and myself having arrived with the rear, I started forward, but orders met me from Mr. Young that no one should leave the cattle, he feeling able, with the two or three men already with him, to rout the Indians. In the struggle Gay was wounded in the back by an arrow. Two arrows were shot into the riding horse of Mr. Young, while he was snapping his gun at an Indian not more than ten yards off. To save his horse, he had dismounted and beat him on the head, but he refused to go off, and received two arrows, probably shot at his master. Having an- other brushy place to pass, four or five of us went in advance, but were not molested. Camped at the spot where Turner and party were attacked two years ago. Soon after the men on day guard said they had seen three Indians in a small grove about three hundred yards from camp. About half of the party went, surrounded the grove, some of them fired into it, others passed through it, but could find no Indians. At night all the horses nearly famished as they were tied up. Night set in dark, cloudy and threatening rain, so that the guard could herdly have seen an Indian ten paces off, until the moon rose, about ten o'clock. I was on watch the first half of the night.

Here Mr. Edwards' diary breaks off, leaving untold much of interest to the gen- eral reader. As regards the skirmish at Foot's creek, just narrated, there is a doubt of it were it not succeeded by still more severe ones, inasmuch as the record of Wilkes' exploring expedition suggests further calamities to Young's company. Lieutenant Emmons, U. S. N., commanded a detachment of Wilkes' expedition, which left Van- couver for Yerba Buena, in September, 1841, J. D. Dana, the great scientist, being of the party, as well as Tibbetts, who was with the Young party. This man informed

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his new associates that the Young expedition was defeated by the Indians who killed one white, and wounded two others who died when they reached the Umpqua. " He showed great anxiety to take his revenge on them, but no opportunity offered, for our party had no other difficulty than scrambling up steep paths and through thick shrubbery."

In the work just referred to the natives about the Oregon-California line are spoken of as " bad Indians" -as if that were their common designation. Hence, we infer that they had, even at that date, acquired a sustained reputation for hostility to the whites. Such a name does not afford any clue to their real character, however, but only suggests a spirit of opposition to the whites with whom they came in contact. This opposition probably in most cases took the form of hostility. On other and more occasions it may not have exceeded that form of independence known to the early set- tlers as " insolence." This, be it remarked, was a favorite word with certain whites and infinitely recurs in the accounts of the early contests. It is only by the context that one can judge what the expression really signifies. To characterize an Indian as insolent, in certain cases meant that he was on the point of murder, at others that he had refused to allow white men to outrage his family. Such expression of inde- pendence or freedom or even of self-defense were all included in the then comprehen- sive term, insolence. Concerning the years preceding 1850 there is a dearth of information, whence not only are we unable to array many facts, but the power of drawing inferences pertaining to what is known is lost, whereby a discussion of the aboriginal character in the light of the earlier events is impossible.

In May, 1845, J. C. Fremont, with his exploring expedition, arrived in South- ern Oregon, having come up the Sacramento and Pit river valleys, and traveled by way of Goose, Clear, and Tule lakes to the west shore of Klamath lake, where he camped for a few days. His force consisted of about fifty men. On the ninth of May, Samuel Neal and M. Sighler rode into camp with the information that a United States officer was on their trail with dispatches, and would fall a victim to savages if not res- cued, the two messengers having escaped only by the fleetness of their horses. Taking five trappers, four friendly Indians and the two messengers, Fremont hastened to the rescue, and at sun-down met Lieutenant Gillespie, guided by Peter Lassen and bearing dispatches from the United States government to Fremont. The place of meeting was sixty miles from Fremont's camp on the lake, which they had left in the morning. They camped that night in the Modoc country, near Klamath lake, and then it was that the savage Modocs committed the first of the long series of hostile acts which have marked their dealings with the whites. Exhausted as they were, the men lay down to sleep without setting a guard. The Modocs were not slow to take advantage of the opportunity. Late in the night, the watchful Kit Carson heard a dull, heavy thud as of a falling blow, and called to Basil La Jeunesse, who was sleeping on the other side of the camp-fire, to know what was the matter. Getting no answer, and seeing moving figures he cried, "Indians, Indians!" and seized his rifle. Quickly, the trappers, Lucian Maxwell, Richard Owens, Alex. Godey and Steppenfelt, with Carson rushed to the aid of the man attacked. The Indian chief was killed and his followers fled, but La Jeunesse, Denne, an Iroquois and Crain, a Delaware, were dead. This camp was on Hot creek, in Siskiyou county, California.

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An examination of the trail in the morning showed that the attacking party num- bered about twenty, and Lieutenant Gillespie recognized the dead chief as an Indian who had on the preceding morning given him a fine fish, the first food he had tasted for forty hours. On the eleventh of May Fremont left his main camp and started for California, to begin the war of independence which resulted in its conquest by the United States. A detachment of about fifteen men was left at the scene of the mid- night attack to punish the perpetrators should they return to it. Two Modocs were killed and scalped there, and the men rejoined the main party. Ten men of the advance guard, under Kit Carson, came suddenly upon an Indian village on the east bank of Klamath lake, and charged into it at once, killing many braves and burning the rancheria, but sparing the women and children. Years afterward a Modoc chief related these occurrences to Lindsay Applegate, and in response to questions, said the Indians made the attack on Fremont because these were the first white men who came into the country, and they wanted to kill them to deter others from coming.

Even prior to the Fremont explorations considerable migration to and from Cali- fornia began to take place through Southern Oregon. As yet there were few people settled south of the Willamette valley, whence came the greater number of the trav- elers, and the route was a very dangerous and difficult one. Time and distance had even magnified the sufficiently dangerous character of the Indians, and it required a considerable degree of daring to venture upon the journey. However, no dangers could have daunted such travelers as in 1848-9-50 set out for California, intent upon mining, although their passage through this region was usually attended with fighting and many times with loss of life. Tradition relates the murders of several men near Foot's creek and the robbery of their camp wherein was gold to the value of many thousand dollars ; but the time, place and names are inextricably confused. Of course all travelers went heavily armed, and as far as possible in strong numbers. J. W. Nesmith in a letter to the compiler of this account, says: "I first saw Southern Oregon in 1848, when, with thirty-two companions, I set out from Polk county to go through to California. The Indians were all hostile from the Umpqua mountains to the valley of the Sacramento, and there was not a day during our march between these two points that we did not exchange shots with them, though we had no engage- ment with them that could be called a battle."

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 30

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: