The Native Kalapuyan Indians, Migrant Men, and Migrant Women :: American History

The Willamette River valley The Native Kalapuyan Indians, Migrant Men, and Migrant WomenIntroduction The setoff true white settlers of the Willamette Valley, men, women and children who made the arduous journey from Missouri to the shoemakers last of the Oregon Trail, encountered little resistance from the native cosmoss of the Valley. Disease, spread to the native tribes by transient explorers and traders, helped make possible the settlement of the Willamette Valley by these pioneers, almost without resistance. Further, the continued wave of white settlers that poured into this plentiful valley completed the founder of the existing Indian culture. Unlike the areas that the pioneers had just traveled through (those intermeshed by the Rogue and Nez Perce Indian tribes) there never was a Willamette Valley Indian War. The Kalapuyans, natives of the Valley, were peaceable people who manifested a very different showcase from the Indians east of the Cascade Mountains.1 The at titudes of many men and women settlers to the Willamette Valley regarding the native population are best reflected in a statement by Leslie M. Scott in The Oregonian Always it will be a source of blessing that the destruction of the Indians of the peace-loving Northwest by diseases spared the pioneers the horror of a reinforced and malignant foe.The combined efforts of men and women and the lack of resistance from the native peoples, resulted in the successful settlement of white Americans in the Willamette River Valley. The following essay represents a collection of knowledge about the Willamette River Valley during the 1830s thru 1860s, with a focus on understanding the native populations, the white men who traveled to and laid birdcall to the Valley, and the women who supported these men throughout the journey to and settlement of the Willamette River Valley.Part I Those who gave so much for so little The story of the Indians of the Willamette River ValleyThe Willamette Val ley, the fertile trough of land nestled between the Coast Ranges and Cascade Mountains of northwest Oregon, marked the geographic end of the Oregon Trail for pioneer Americans and immigrants to the Pacific Northwest. We should not forget that this land Mackey, Harold, PhD. The Kalapuyans A source book on the Indians of the Willamette Valley, Mission Mill was also the home of a native people, the Kalapuyans, who had engaged this valley for about 10,000 years before the arrival of Euro-Americans in the too soon 19th century.