History of the Watershed
For more than 9,000 years before Europeans first settled in the Willamette Valley, the Luckiamute (Lakmiut) band of Kalapuya (Calapooia) Indians lived along the Luckiamute River and its tributaries from Rickreall south to Corvallis. Like other Kalapuyan bands, the Luckiamute subsisted on foods harvested directly from nature, including roots from the camas lily, nuts, seeds, berries, fish and wild game. Skilled at weaving and carving, the Luckiamute used a wide array of plant materials and animal skins for making baskets, clothing, reed mats, jewelry, musical instruments and ceremonial carvings. Far from a passive subsistence economy, the Luckiamute intensively managed the landscape in order to maintain the foods and materials they relied upon. One of the tools they used in landscape management is fire. In order to clear unwanted vegetation and encourage the growth of the plants they needed for food, medicine and handicraft, fires were deliberately set every year. Not only did this burning keep the overgrowth in check, it also controlled pest populations, encouraged new growth that attracted deer and elk down from the hills, promoted bumper crops of acorns, and prevented destructive fires by removing excess plant debris.
Prior to contact with European explorers and traders, the Kalapuyan population is believed to have numbered as many as 15,000 people. However, along with the arrival of Europeans in the late 1700’s, came an onslought of devastating diseases. Over the next 60 years, catastrophic outbreaks of smallpox and malaria wiped out over 95% of the native population in the Willamette Valley, leaving only 600 survivors by 1849. In 1851, a Luckiamute representative signed a treaty with the federal government that proposed a Luckiamute Reservation on a small tract of land within their traditional homeland near the present-day towns of Pedee and Monmouth. But this treaty, like those negotiated with the other Kalapuyan tribes at this time, was never ratified. In fact, the proposed land had already been granted to European settlers the year before without ever having been rightfully ceded.
On January 4, 1855, the Kalapuya along with representatives from the Molala and Clackamas Chinook met in council at Dayton and negotiated a treaty with Joel Palmer, Oregon superintendant of Indian Affairs, who promised medical care, schooling, vocational training and other resources. As a condition of the treaty, the tribes were moved to the Grand Ronde reservation. Life on the reservation, however, was far different from what had been promised by Palmer. Inadequate shelter, insufficient food and lack of medical care resulted in hundreds of additional deaths within the first year. At the time of the move, in 1870, there were 36 members of the Luckiamute. By 1910, that number had dwindled to 8. Uprooted from their traditional lands and lifestyle, confederated with other tribes, and decimated by disease, the Luckiamute had lost their unique tribal identity. Then, on 1954, the federal government enacted the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act and terminated its trust relationship with the Grand Ronde, including all of the bands and tribes of the Kalapuya descendants along with all other Western Oregon tribes.
Due in large part to the ratified treaties with the Willamette Valley tribes, including the Kalapuya Treaty of 1855, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR) succeeded in their bid to restore their treaty rights and revive their community in the 1980’s. Following their restoration in 1983, treaty obligations were again recognized, allowing for much-needed health and human services benefits for tribal members and for the renewal of government-to-government negotiations on a variety of issues. Today, there are an estimated 4,000 Kalapuya descendants, most of whom are enrolled with CTGR and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (restored in 1977).
Prior to contact with European explorers and traders, the Kalapuyan population is believed to have numbered as many as 15,000 people. However, along with the arrival of Europeans in the late 1700’s, came an onslought of devastating diseases. Over the next 60 years, catastrophic outbreaks of smallpox and malaria wiped out over 95% of the native population in the Willamette Valley, leaving only 600 survivors by 1849. In 1851, a Luckiamute representative signed a treaty with the federal government that proposed a Luckiamute Reservation on a small tract of land within their traditional homeland near the present-day towns of Pedee and Monmouth. But this treaty, like those negotiated with the other Kalapuyan tribes at this time, was never ratified. In fact, the proposed land had already been granted to European settlers the year before without ever having been rightfully ceded.
On January 4, 1855, the Kalapuya along with representatives from the Molala and Clackamas Chinook met in council at Dayton and negotiated a treaty with Joel Palmer, Oregon superintendant of Indian Affairs, who promised medical care, schooling, vocational training and other resources. As a condition of the treaty, the tribes were moved to the Grand Ronde reservation. Life on the reservation, however, was far different from what had been promised by Palmer. Inadequate shelter, insufficient food and lack of medical care resulted in hundreds of additional deaths within the first year. At the time of the move, in 1870, there were 36 members of the Luckiamute. By 1910, that number had dwindled to 8. Uprooted from their traditional lands and lifestyle, confederated with other tribes, and decimated by disease, the Luckiamute had lost their unique tribal identity. Then, on 1954, the federal government enacted the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act and terminated its trust relationship with the Grand Ronde, including all of the bands and tribes of the Kalapuya descendants along with all other Western Oregon tribes.
Due in large part to the ratified treaties with the Willamette Valley tribes, including the Kalapuya Treaty of 1855, The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR) succeeded in their bid to restore their treaty rights and revive their community in the 1980’s. Following their restoration in 1983, treaty obligations were again recognized, allowing for much-needed health and human services benefits for tribal members and for the renewal of government-to-government negotiations on a variety of issues. Today, there are an estimated 4,000 Kalapuya descendants, most of whom are enrolled with CTGR and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (restored in 1977).
Information for this article was obtained from:
Beckham, Stephen Dow. "History of Western Oregon Since 1846." In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 7. Northwest Coast. Ed. Wayne
Suttles. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990, 180 - 188.
Lewis, David. “Luckiamute Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855,” Published by Ethnohistory Research, LLC. May 15, 2016.
https://ndnhistoryresearch.com/2016/05/15/luckimauke-band-of-calapooia-indians-reservation-1855/
Ruby, Robert, et. al. “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific NW,” University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
Beckham, Stephen Dow. "History of Western Oregon Since 1846." In Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 7. Northwest Coast. Ed. Wayne
Suttles. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990, 180 - 188.
Lewis, David. “Luckiamute Band of Calapooia Indians Reservation 1855,” Published by Ethnohistory Research, LLC. May 15, 2016.
https://ndnhistoryresearch.com/2016/05/15/luckimauke-band-of-calapooia-indians-reservation-1855/
Ruby, Robert, et. al. “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific NW,” University of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
