USA > Oregon > Pioneer days of Oregon history, Vol. I > Part 7
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break through and escape to the mountains and there would be small show to have abundance of meat in the wigwams that winter. It would not do to take any chances, therefore capable men were put in charge of all the dangerous places in the line, to prevent the occurrence of mishaps. The young were drilled carefully in the work they had to do, the older ones went over it in pantomime many a time, every feature of the game was rehearsed, so as to qualify every one to perform his part perfectly.
It was always a famous time with the Indians when this great hunt came off. Every man was at his post the night before, so that when morning should dawn no time would be lost, and all the territory enclosed by the circle of warriors began to blaze with a girdle of flame. Driven by the flames, the battle went on. Occasionally the enclosed victims would seek to escape. The only security for their safe keeping was the solid wall of fire, and the highest skill was manifested when this fire was kept alive and no escape was possible. Sometimes a sharp wind arose ; then it was necessary to guide the elements and keep them under subjection and control. The grand battle sometimes went off quietly and steadily and the object was attained without disaster. Sometimes an elemental strife won, perhaps the wind blew fiercely, and perhaps the fire raged beyond easy control. The possi- bilities were carefully calculated in advance and pains taken to plan operations early in the fall of the year, when storms were not frequent and game easily controlled.
When the circle of fire became small enough to hunt to advantage, the best hunters went inside and shot the game they thought should be killed. The cordon of men by this time was close enough to hail each other. The true hunter
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knew the animals that should be preserved for breeding pur- poses and was careful not to injure such. They preserved the best males, the very young and best animals, with care. They could always find enough to answer their purpose with- out exterminating the game. As we have already mentioned, the hills and prairies of Western Oregon used to abound in game, and as early as 1812 the Astor Company kept a corps of hunters on French prairie to furnish fresh meat to the Astoria people. Then the whole region we have alluded to swarmed with wild deer, bear and elk. As late as 1852, I remember that game was so abundant in the red hills, within a few miles of Salem, that I could always start up a deer on my own land in half an hour's tramp, and sometimes a black bear would be met. Then the hills and prairies had already commenced to grow up with a young growth of firs and oaks, because the Calapooias no longer were there to burn off the face of the country and keep it clear to the vision. The great fall round-up compassed two particular objects. One was, to keep down all undergrowth, so that hunters could see game from a great distance ; another, that no hostile war party could approach unseen. This was the chief object, but they also made it the occasion for a grand hunt to secure an ample meat supply for the winter.
The Willamette valley now has eight great agricultural counties, naturally divided, so the system pursued must have had at least that many several districts. The care with which the Indians used fire, to prevent its spread, is shown by the fact that at the present time nearly half of the mag- nificent forests of fir, spruce and cedar from the Cascade summits to the sea, including the Willamette region, are de- stroyed, timber that would represent untold millions in the
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future and have been a source of vast wealth-could it have been saved-for the world will soon have use for it. When we recognize the slight provocation needed to send a whirl- wind of fire through the resinous forests of the region, we can understand the wise care of the natives. To-day, look- ing along the western slopes of the Cascades from this val- ley, we see their once green sides, fifty miles away, where rank on rank of dead and burned trees complain to heaven of the ruthless hand of men, supposed to be civilized. In the coast range it is the same. Those who lived here in the summer of 1849 tell of seeing the heavens flame-lit until a pall of smoke settled on the world that almost smothered communities. It is usually the case that summer skies here are so wrapped in smoke that tourists can catch no gleam of the snowy peaks they come so far to see. Every year this pall of smoke is less dense, only because there is less forest food for cruel flames to feed on. We can afford, then, to respect the care and provision the wild denizens of the past were capable of to preserve for themselves and their posterity the various bounties they received from the kindly hand of Nature.
Dr. Mckay said the Indians had not only bows and ar- rows for war equipment, but war clubs and slung-shot for close quarters. The clubs were of thorn, or other heavy and knotty wood, and the slung-shots were even more formidable and easily carried. I have one that is preserved from the outfit of upper Columbia tribes, made of a cow's tail for a handle, with a stone of the desired weight sewed with sinews into the butt. This has a leather loup to go over the horn of a warrior's saddle, as well as to slip over the hand if he chose to wear it on his arm. Seizing it by what was once the
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flowing tail-and which is left on for use as well as orna- ment-the warrior could use this weapon with prodigious force. They made no lances at Clatsop, save for spearing fish. The Clatsops were a little difficult at first, but in time became serviceable allies of the fur company.
East of the coast line, occupied by the Chinook tribes, and east of the coast mountains on the north of the Columbia, in Washington, and extending to the Cascades, corresponding to the Willamette valley of Oregon, was the domain of the Cowlitz Indians. They had little space on the Columbia, but occupied the wooded valleys and the mountain ranges for an hundred miles north. They fished some, but were chiefly hunters and meat eaters, for there was immense sup- ply of game in that region, as well as vast stores of acorns, roots and berries.
The Waukanississe were numerous bands, who had large villages on the Columbia and lower Willamette, located on both banks of those rivers below Washougal and the Sandy, as far down as Kalama. Sixty miles on both sides of those rivers, and several large towns were on Sauvie's Island-that for over twenty miles lies between the flow of the two rivers -as well as on the smaller islands of the Columbia. There were at least a dozen of these villages, containing hundreds of people, and some almost a thousand. They were busy and energetic, rich and prosperous, for Indians, for they traded far and near, as well as fished and hunted. These In- dians had an advantage over those on the Atlantic, as they could fish in their streams for the best salmon the world knew, that were more plentiful than can easily be believed, while the game of the mountains was also close at hand.
The Waukanississe bands were really the Multnomahs,
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after whom the river and the region was named, and the county that includes Portland bears the same name. If the great commercial city of the Columbia region had been named Multnomah, there would be proper respect shown for one of the great tribes who occupied the country, as well as retained the name the beautiful Willamette bore in its twenty miles of majestic flow from the falls down to where it meets the greater flow of the Columbia. A name, too, that would have been full sounding and melodious.
The Multnomahs lived in villages that were the constant scenes of busy industry, for they were always manufac- turing articles for domestic use and foreign trade. In one place they had their pleasant airy summer houses, and in another made their more comfortable winter homes, for they never lived all the year in the same place; indeed, the con- stant winter rains made necessary very different homes from those used in the pleasant summer time, that were partly ex- cavated and walled with logs and then well sodded.
It requires no stretch of fancy to imagine the scene as Dr. Mckay described it ; they possessed all the lower Willamette, and the greater Columbia, from the Cowlitz to Cape Horn. Every few miles-actually in sight of each other-beautiful locations along these shores were crowned with their villages where thousands of busy people had pleasant homes. Hunt- ing parties were coming and going by canoes on the rivers, for they had no horses to ride. The old and young tended the fisheries, for they caught the salmon in traps that could be tended by the feebler class, while vigorous men went off to hunt in the mountains. Sometimes an immense sturgeon might find its way into a fish trap and be a difficult customer to handle, for they often weighed hundreds of pounds, but
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ordinarily the fisherman had little trouble. The women were always busy, curing fish or meat, tanning the skins, making garments, or baskets, hats, and various articles that were useful at home, or that could be traded to eastern customers. They made thread, twine, cord, nets, cloth, matting, sacking, all out of the native plants, curing the wild milk weed and saving the fibre to spin and weave by their aboriginal ap- pliances. The finer nets were of the wild flax that grows east of the mountains, where they made trading voyages to exchange products and manufactures with friendly tribes there.
The making of canoes was quite an industry, for immense cedars grew on the river shores below the Cascades. These made the best of boats, and were not generally found east of the Cascades. As they had no horses, or country where a horse was necessary, they had canoes for all purposes of travel, and could go near where they desired by water, then make short land excursions to reach the spot. The man who made the best canoe, or invented some new kink as to stem, stern, or paddle, was as famous as Ericsson used to be, or as Edison is to-day. It is safe to say that the Wa- kanississes were the most important people in Western Ore- gon, for they were independent, enterprising, busily at work all the time, progressive, and shrewd traders withal, so that from their own standpoint they were rich, for they possessed abundance, and that was, in a Wakanississe sense, wealth and prosperity.
Imagine yet more ; that you see the rivers alive with great canoes doing the commerce and the travel of the tens of thousands who made the population of the Multnomahs ; some going in friendly mood to exchange visits with friends,.
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and others, loaded with goods, wares, and merchandise of their own manufacture, boating their products up or down to find the desired market. Imagine the villages along the shores crowded with young and old; see scores of canoes hauled up on the beach, other scores going on hunting ex- cursions, as far by canoe as possible, then on foot to where their hunting grounds were, close to lordly St. Helen's ; other canoes, loaded, are working upstream to make the portage at the Cascades, then, sweeping up the beautiful and moun- tain-shadowed middle river, to reach the populous region at The Dalles of the Columbia, there to trade for what they desired. Even in 1850 there were great canoes on the broad rivers where now they are not even to be seen, or are rotting, abandoned on the river shore.
They were proud that they were numerous, prosper- ous and powerful. Sometimes they went two hundred miles south, to try the chances of war with the Umpquas. In one of these raids they captured two bright Umpqua boys they traded to Governor McLoughlin, but as a usual thing they were peaceable and had no quarrel near home. There is al- ways a reason for things, and the reason for the prosperity of the Multnomahs was, that they had a great chief who governed them wisely and managed them so they all be- lieved in him. Indian nature is human nature, and Keisno had as good a knowledge of it as was necessary to make his people achieve the height of Siwash prosperity. He died soon after Dr. Mckay returned from the east, having fin- ished his education. Keisno was tall for an Indian, large formed, had a broad face that carried a pleasant smile and a good eye that seemed made to read character and make friends. His influence extended a long way from home, for
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other tribes respected him and often deferred to his opinion where difference arose. It was due to his magnetic rule, vigorous character and influence, that his people were so prosperous.
Governor McLoughlin, who knew a good man whenever he found him, soon saw that Keisno was one to make a friend. Probably the chief owed much to McLoughlin's advice, but it is only sensible men who know enough to follow good advice when it is given. There was always a plate for Keisno at Vancouver and he was made welcome whenever he came there. Such was his happy life, for his own race honored and trusted him, and the whites humored and feasted him. In course of time he grew so placid and well disposed that he no longer got up excursions against Wascos or Umpquas to capture slaves. They captured many with peaceful trade, for quite a number of outsiders offered them- selves and were adopted into the tribe.
The Calipooia Indians occupied the Willamette valley above Oregon City and were a numerous and rather warlike people, though they never carried on war with the whites. Their great local centre was at the falls of the Willamette, now Oregon City, with villages in favorable locations all through the valley. Bands of Calipooias occupied the val- leys and points easy to build homes, and near good foraging grounds. The Chemeketas, for instance, made their winter quarters at Salem, which was why they called it "Cheme- keta," a name that means "our old home." They fished in the Santiam, hunted in the Cascade Range, near by, and dug camas roots on the low prairies and swamps. Berries they found wherever fires had ravaged the mountains. Their range we have described. Other bands had good ranges also.
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There was immemorial usage to confirm the title, that was not often questioned. It is not necessary, and space will not admit of touching all the points occupied by Calapooia bands at this time. The Willamette valley was a common home for numerous bands constituting one great association. Keisno's people were the strongest, because they were com- pact, cohesive, and consolidated under his wise command. The Calapooias had the mountains to range in to some ex- tent, but those, again, were in the hands of a bold race that claimed them for their home.
The Molallas had possession of the western slope of the Cascades and claimed the rugged ranges as their inheritance. They were hunters, and fishers of mountain streams, living chiefly on dried meats, fish, mountain roots and berries. In the foothills of the mountains, from the Columbia River southward to the Klamath, the oldest tradition locates this peculiar people. When the time comes I will tell the tradi- tion, and it will be found of interest. Yet to the south, across the summit range that yields the farthest flow of the Willamette, the Umpquas occupied the valley of the river with that name. Yet south from them, the Rogue River tribes were fierce and untamable in the beautiful but remote region of that river. Each of these was isolated from the world by high mountains, so that outside tribes seldom made any trouble. The Rogue Rivers especially were very war- like.
As for languages, the tribes we have indicated had each a language of their own, to wit : Chinook, Cowlitz, Wakan- ississe, Calapooia, Molalla, Umpqua, and Rogue River. The Chinook jargon was made to order for a common tongue, very simple, not complicated, easy to pronounce.
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The Rogue Rivers spoke the Shasta language, and must have been of the same family as the great Shasta nation that were near them in Northern California.
Since the above was written, the writer has learned from Mr. O. C. Applegate, who has been for many years agent at the Klamath and Modoc reservation, a very interesting fact as to the origin of the Shastas and Rogue Rivers, who have the same language and are nearly related. He says it is a well-proven fact that these tribes at a remote day came from the east, and were an offshoot from the Apache nation, as their languages are nearly identical. So they seem to have had warlike ancestry and came naturally by their heroic natures. When we remember that the Calipooias also came from the south, and conquered and drove the Multnomahs from their old home, the beutiful Willamette valley, it will be seen that transmigration of tribes was continually going on, and offers a theme for interesting study.
As the tribes of Northern California and those of Western Oregon, adjoining the Sacramento valley, all spoke a similar dialect, and appear to have had a similar origin, it seems very probable that they are derived from the Apaches, whose language furnishes the basis for all their tongues.
CHAPTER XIV
INDIANS AND MISSIONARIES
THE Calipooias-it is said-claimed that the missionaries told them they owned the land and the whites had no right to settle it and not pay them for it, so they would go to those on the outskirts and demand pay for the land. The first settler on the Calipooia gave chief Louis a steer. Twenty men from the Santiam took Hamilton Campbell for inter- preter and went there. Louis said if the steer wasn't a "cultus potlatch" he didn't want it, so he gave the steer back again.
The Indians who had tried to catch old man Delany's horses were tied up and Delany whipped them. Then that company went down Mill Creek to Grier's place and whipped two that had stolen with forty strokes with a. hazel. In that way they kept the Calipooias down. They were a very poor lot ; would hunt rats when deer were plenty. In 1853 I could find deer on my own place, five miles south of Salem. Some of the settlers thought the Indians were wrongly influenced by missionaries.
The missionaries would take an Indian for four years and then give him an outfit for farming for himself. Sampson wanted, when his five years was up, to take his team and plough to his own people on the Santiam; but they induced him to farm the mission land, and he did so, but when his grain was threshed it was put into the mission granary and
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they had to pay skins and furs to get it. That was probably only to pay something for storage.
In early days there was a race track on the Clackamas for the Indians ; hundreds of skulls were scattered about the Willamette Falls, at Oregon City.
PROVOCATION OF THE BLACKFEET
While the Blackfeet were treacherous and at war with all the world around them, there was occasion and excuse for this fight. One of the half-breeds in Sublette's Company was holding friendly parley with the Blackfeet, and as they were smoking the pipe of peace, he ordered the chief he was talking with to be shot; the Blackfeet were avenging his murder. No doubt they avenged that crime on many other white men ; that infamous act resulted in the death of forty men at that time and wounding of others. Such crimes by irresponsible persons preceded most of the Indian atrocities from the very beginning of settlement. The murderous treachery of such mongrels of civilization-dregs of human- ity-as this at Pierre's Hole in 1832, caused hecatombs of victims-men, women and children-to be offered up to sate the vengeance of the Indian, who was generally more sinned against than sinning.
EASTERN TRIBES
East of the Cascades the tribes were different from those of the Lower Columbia and Willamette. The Klickitats made themselves felt on the west as well as the east, but their actual home was north of the Columbia, near the river, east of Mt. Adams. South of the Columbia, near that river, were
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the Wascos, Teninos, John Days, Celilos and Warm Springs bands, who, in a measure, affiliated. North of the Klicki- tats, and affiliated with them, were the Simcoes, and Yaki- mas, also near to the Cascade Range. The chief nations on the Columbia and Snake Rivers were the Cayuses and Walla Wallas, to the south of those rivers; the Nez Percés were east of these, in what is now Idaho. North yet, in Eastern Washington, near the British line, were the Okano- gans, Colvilles, Spokanes and Cœur d'Alenes, who had com- munication with each other and were friendly. On the very head-waters of the great rivers the Flatheads occupied the Bitter Root and other valleys of Montana, west of the Rockies, and affiliated with their neighbors, the Nez Percés. Both of these tribes had implacable foes in the Blackfeet, to the east of the Rocky Mountains. The tribes south of the Columbia were all enemies of the Snakes, who occupied Southeastern Oregon and Southern Idaho. The Klamaths had their homes east of and near to the Cascade Range, in south-middle Oregon, not far from the California line ; while close to California were the Modoes.
Alexander Ross-who was for many years at Okanogan, to the far north-in the book that gives his experience tells many interesting things that apply generally to the tribes of the Upper Columbia. He says the Okanogans had a tra- dition that they came originally from an island on the ocean that broke loose and drifted to America, so the mainland was peopled. They believed in a good and evil spirit and a future state where rewards and punishment were meted as deserved. They offered prayer to the Supreme Good Spirit on solemn occasions, but had no regular worship. On re- ligious festivals the chief solemnly smoked a pipe of peace,
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holding east to the rising sun, drawing three whiff's ; then to the west, to the sun's setting ; then to the heavens, then to the earth, each time drawing three whiffs. The chief officiates for the whole tribe in such ceremonies. They believe the world will have an end. Other tribes Mr. Ross became ac- quainted with have similar belief. In my own service among the Indians it seemed that they gave more attention to deprecating the evil influence of the bad spirit than to recognize benefits received from the Supreme Good.
The chief badge of authority was a white wolf skin, fan- tastically painted, hung from a pole near the lodge. He inherited by descent, but exercised fatherly care rather than despotic authority. Each band had its hereditary chief, and majority vote elected the war chief. The former rose at dawn and went through the village declaring the duties of the day, and matters were conducted as thus planned ; a peculiar shell was everywhere used as money.
Polygamy was the worst evil. A great man must have several wives. Young women wore a peculiar garment made of deer skin. The Okanogans were usually agreeable, unas- suming, and had mild dispositions. A passion would soon blow over; they made warm friends, steady, sincere, brave and shrewd; hunters wore caps of wolf or bear skins, and went on all fours to get within reach of game; they played the wolf best of all, and in a wolf skin would frisk about as natural as life.
Marriage alliances between children were common ; pres- ents were exchanged to seal the bargain, that corresponded to the means of the contracting parties. A youth of fifteen would pay his addresses to a girl of twelve, perhaps, by en- tering the family wigwam at night and would make a fire.
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If he is welcome the mother gets up and wakes her daugh- ter, who sits up with the young man for a brief interview. After a few such nocturnal adventures the young man goes in the daytime to see the father and takes along the purchase price for the young lady, according to the rank of the par- ties-horses, robes, skins and things needed for the occasion. Some near relative accompanied him and they sat opposite the lodge door. If all is satisfactory they are asked in and the pipe is passed around. One side of the lodge is put in order, a new mat is spread and the young man seated on it ; then the father and mother take the young girl by the arms, place her by her intended and they are considered man and wife. The pipe goes round again, and as they smoke they take turns expatiating on the renown of their respective families. But sometimes the young lady rejects the suitor thus agreed on and quarrels follow. This ceremony was for the first marriage; if the man has other wives there is no ceremony ; he just takes them as they come.
The superstition of the Indians of the Upper Columbia involved all the transactions of life; they believed that the souls of the good go aloft to the Sahulla Tyee, while those of bad men remain on the earth and commit all possible evil. Against these evil spirits they direct all their efforts. Every man who was especially capable they believed was so because he was "Big Medicine," as was illustrated by an incident of the Cayuse war. The Indian doctors told them they were able to exterminate their foes, so not hesitate to go and meet them and not wait for them to come to the beautiful Uma- tilla country, as they did not want it polluted with dead car- rion. So the Cayuses and Umatillas met the Bostons at Sand Hollow, near Butter Creek, expecting to rid the earth
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