Benton County, Oregon - Chapter 20: Indians of Southern Oregon, 1885

Chapter 20: Indians of Southern Oregon

Relative Importance of the Subject - Material for Writing History - Common Origin of Indian Wars - Brief Account of Indian Tribal Affinities - Modocs, Klamaths, Shastas and Rogue Rivers were Related - Habits of Life - Umpqua Indians - Decadence - Invasion of Klickitats - Sources of Information - Aboriginal Designations.

Among those episodes which lend interest to the history of Southern Oregon, the series of hostile acts which we collectively style the Rogue river wars, undoubtedly, possess the greatest interest. The period of the occurrence of these events is so comparatively recent that their recollection is yet fresh in the minds of many who participated therein, and there are persons not yet beyond the middle years of life to whom they were once a present reality. To write a history of those wars is the task which the writer now assigns himself, confident that the collection and preservation of the existing memorials and recollections of the stirring scenes of Indian hostility will prove a work of public and acknowledged value. For such a work ample materials exist ; official documents, reports of military attaches, newspaper accounts, memorials of governing bodies, the acts of legislative assemblages, but chiefly the personal recollections of eyewitnesses, make up a vast mass of evidence extraordinarily perfect in scope and thoroughness. From such resources the compilation of a history sufficiently detailed to interest those previously acquainted with its subject, and sufficiently ample in scope to form a useful addition to the records of the Pacific coast, would seem an easy task requiring but the common attributes of the historical writer - industry and conscientiousness. Under such circumstances it has seemed possible to trace with considerable minuteness the occurrences of the wars ; and it will probably be more in consonance with the desires of the readers of this book if the writer describe in detail this interesting contest, instead of confining himself in the manner of a philosophical dissertation, to those salient instances in which the tendency of the age is most strikingly manifested.

It will doubtless occur to the attentive reader who rises from a perusal of this account, that there was nothing extraordinary in this war ; that there were no distinguishing circumstances connected with it that raise its history above the account of an ordinary Indian war ; that it was a struggle, similar in all respects, save names, time and place, to each of those innumerable contests by which the American settler has won his way to the possession of his home, and driven forward the bounds of civilization from State to State, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In no essential does it seem to differ from the desperate and bloody contests waged against the Indians of Massachusetts, of New York, of Ohio, of Florida, of Kentucky, and of a dozen other States, where the blood of the early settlers was poured out in vindication of the grand principle of Caucasian progressiveness. For the white and the red races are equally unconformable to each other's habits of life, and meet only to repeat the old story of white conquest and native subjection. Still there is much in each individual account of stern and bloody Indian warring to enchain the reader's attention, unwearied by the hackneyed repetition of sanguinary fight or hair-breadth escape. So we find it in the Rogue river wars ; a generation has passed, but the oft-told story of a woman's heroic defense of her hearth, or the terrible massacre of innocents, has rather gained than lost in interest, and every brave Tecumseh, King Philip, Red Jacket, Black Hawk or Osceola is matched in the exploits of Old John, Joe, Sam and Limpy, humbler savages though they were, and living in a prosaic age which has not told in song their deeds.

To discover romance or any elevated qualities in an Indian distance is required. Thus separated from living aborigines by the breadth of a state, Fennimore Cooper was enabled to give those inimitable portrayals of the American Indian which through half a century have been unrecognized. Other writers have found their keynote in a depreciation of the savage ; but the people of southern Oregon, long ago sated of the Indian, will join the writer in denying to him any useful or civilizable qualities, but will make partial amends by conceding to him - at least to the tribe of Rogue Rivers - bravery and steadfastness on the battle-field, and patience and perseverance in the worst straits to which he was reduced by war. To make a less acknowledgment were to do discredit to the troops by whom the red men were conquered, and to those others who sustained and repelled their assaults during the years of hostility. To render this much of justice to an enemy who can no longer ask it, is befitting, nor does it detract from the credit of the stronger race. It seems a creditable and worthy thing that a man should have so strong a sense of right that, disregarding the feelings of friendship and his own personal prejudices, he could write or read the truth under all circumstances. In an attempt to tell the exact truth this account was composed ; in the same spirit may it-be read.

The principal tribes with whom our history has to deal were the Rogue Rivers, Shastas, Klamaths, Modocs and Umpquas. Among the first four are found strong race affinities, and they spoke dialects of the same language. Their localities adjoined, their intercommunication was frequent, and in time of war they often fought side by side. For a detailed description of these savages, see Mr. Bancroft's work on the Native Races of the Pacific Coast, wherein is embraced an enormous quantity of information bearing upon the subject. The four tribes first mentioned abode in the contiguous valleys of the Rogue, Klamath, Shasta and Scott rivers and their affluents, and in the vicinity of Klamath, Tule, Clear and Goose lakes. The country about the three latter belonging exclusively to the Modocs, whose habitations were mainly in California. The Rogue river valley was occupied, previous to the advent of the whites, by the powerful and important tribe known by the name of the river. Branches of the tribe, more or less corrupted by intermixture with the neighboring Umpquas and others, lived on the Illinois, Applegate, Big Butte and other tributary streams, always paying to the head chief of the tribe the allegiance customary to the aboriginal headship. Along the Klamath river and about Klamath lake dwelt a strong tribe, generally known as the Klamaths. The Shastas had their home about the base of the great mountain of that name. These four tribes, apparently equally numerous and powerful, formed, with others, what Bancroft has styled the Klamath family. " This family is in every way superior to the more southern tribes. In physique and character they approached more nearly to the Indians of eastern Oregon than to the degraded and weak tribes of central California. The Rogue River Indians were an exception to the general rule of deterioration on approaching the coast, for in their case the tendency to improve toward the north held good ; so that they were in many respects superior to those of the interior.

" The Klamaths formerly were tall, well-made and muscular, with complexions varying from black to light brown, according to their proximity to large bodies of water. Their faces were large, oval and heavily moulded, with slightly prominent cheek bones ; nose well set and eyes keen and bright. The women were short and sometimes quite handsome, even in a Caucasian sense." Powers, in the Overland Monthly, wrote of the Klamaths : " Their stature is a trifle less than Americans ; they have well sized bodies strong and well knit. With their smooth skins, oval faces, plump and brilliant eyes, some of the young maidens - barring the tattooed skins - have a piquant and splendid beauty." Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Archaeology, says : " Many of the women were exceedingly pretty, having large, almond shaped eyes, sometimes of a hazel color, and with the red showing through the cheeks. Their figures were full, their chests ample ; and the young ones had well shaped busts and rounded limbs." On the other hand most travelers have failed to remark any special beauty in these tribes, and some have characterized the women as " clumsy, but not ill-favored."

As for clothing, the men of the Klamath family anciently wore only a belt, sometimes a breech-clout, and the women an apron or skirt of deer skin or braided grass. In colder weather they threw over their shoulders a cloak or robe of marten or rabbit skins sewn together, deer skin, or among the coast tribes sea-otter or seal skin. They tattooed themselves, the men on the chest and arms, the women on the face in three blue lines extending perpendicularly from the centre and corners of the mouth to the chin. In some few localities, more especially near the lakes, the men painted themselves in various colors and grotesque patterns.

Their houses were of designs common to many tribes. Their winter dwellings, varying with locality, were principally of two forms, conical and square. Those of the former shape prevailed most widely and were thus built: A circular hole, from two to five feet deep and of variable width, was dug. Round this pit or cellar stout poles were driven into the ground, which being drawn together at the top, formed the rafters of the building. A covering of earth several inches deep was placed over the rafters, a hole was left at the top to serve both as door and chimney, to which rude ladders composed of notched poles gave access. Some houses were built of heavy timber form- ing a bee-hive shaped structure. The temporary summer houses of these tribes were square, conical or conoidal in shape, by driving light poles perpendicularly into the ground and laying others across them, or by drawing the upper ends together at the top. Huts having the shape of an inverted bowl were built by.driving both ends of poles into the ground. These frames, however shaped, were covered with neatly woven iule matting, or with bushes and ferns. The ground beneath was sometimes scooped out and thrown up in a low circular embankment.

The men of the tribes were usually practiced hunters. A portion of their food during a great part of the year was the wild game of the forest, and this they approached and captured with considerable adroitness. The elk, too large and powerful to be taken by bows and arrows, was sometimes snared; and the same fate befell the deer and antelope. The bear was far beyond the power of the natives when their only weapons were the bow and arrow, but after their acquisition of the white man's rifle, they have hunted bruin with success. The last grizzly bear ever seen west of the Cascades was killed in 1877, by Don Pedro, a Klamath, near White Rock Butte, east of Roseburg.

Fishing was a more congenial and more productive occupation than hunting. Its results were more certain, and in the prolific waters of the Klamath and Rogue, more abundant as well. Several methods were in vogue for taking fish. Sometimes a dam of interwoven twigs was placed across a rapid so as to intercept the salmon in their periodical visits to deposit their spawn. Within niches suitably contrived the fish collected and were speared. These dams often required an immense amount of work in their construction, especially if upon a large stream. On Rogue river the fish were speared by torchlight in a manner similar to that in use in Canada and the far north. Many trout were taken from small streams by beating the water with brush, whereby the fish were driven into confined spans and dipped out. Bancroft says : "When preserved for winter use, the fish were split open on the back, the bones taken out, and then dried or smoked. Both meat and fish, when eaten fresh, are either broiled on hot stones, or boiled in water-tight baskets into which hot stones are thrown to make the water boil. Bread is made of acorns ground to flour in a stone mortar with a heavy stone pestle, and baked in the ashes. Acorn flour is the principal ingredient, but berries of various kinds are usually mixed in, and frequently seasoned with some high-flavored herb. A sort of pudding is also made in the same manner, but it is boiled instead of

The Indians gathered a great variety of roots, berries and seeds which they made use of for food. The principal root used was the camas, gi^eat quantities of which were collected and dried during summer and stored for the coming winter's provision. This is a bulbous root much like an onion, and is familiar to nearly every old resident of Oregon. Another. root called kice or kace was held in high esteem; it was bulbous, about an inch long, of a bitterish taste like ginseng. The ip-ar e-pua or e-par root was a prominent article of diet and grew abundantly upon the banks of the Rogue and other rivers. There were several varieties of grass seeds, the huckle-berry, black-berry, salmon-berry, squaw-berry, manzanita-berry and perhaps others, which entered into the diet of the Indian generally, or as governed by the locality in which they grew. At Klamath lake the pond lily grows in profusion ; and its seeds, called wo-cus by the savages, formed an article of diet of which they were very fond. The women, as is invariably the case among the North American Indians, performed all the work of gathering these comestibles and of preparing them likewise. The men were not in any degree an exception to the general rule of laziness and worthlessness. Their only active days were when in pursuit of game or their enemies. Wars among these Indians were of frequent occurrence, but were Hardly ever long or bloody. The casus belli was usually lovely woman. Wicked sorceries inflicted by one people on another were also causes of war. If one tribe obstructed a salmon stream so as to prevent their neighbors above from obtaining a supply of food the act often provoked war. No scalps were taken, but the dead foeman was decapitated - a fate meted out to all male prisoners, while the women and children were spared to be the property of the conquerors.

Their bows were usually about three feet long, made of yew or some other tough wood ; the back was an inch and a half in width and was covered with the sinews of the deer. The arrows were about two feet long, and occasionally thirty inches. They were made of reeds, were feathered and had a tip of obsidian, glass or iron. They often made their arrows in two sections, the front one containing the tip being short and fastened by a socket so contrived as to leave the tip in a wounded animal, while the longer and more valuable feathered section dropped upon the ground and could be found in the fleeing animal's trail. Poisoned arrows seem to have been in use, especially among the Modocs, who used the venom of the rattlesnake for the purpose. They macerated the reptile's head in a deer's liver which, putrefying, absorbed the poison and assumed the virulent character itself. Arrows dipped therein were regarded as capable of producing death. There is no record of these poisoned arrows having been used with fatal effect on a white man, but there is no good reason to suppose that in the absence of remedies a wound <5f this sort would be otherwise than fatal.

The Indian women ingeniously plaited grass, tule or fine willow roots into baskets, mate, etc. The baskets constructed for cooking purposes would retaia water and were even used as kettles for boiling that fluid. Stones, heated very hot, were thrown into the vessel, whereby heat was communicated to the water. Canoes were made from the trunk of a tree, hollowed out and shaped by means of fire. Pine, fir and Cottonwood were the species used, and the completed vessel was blunt at each end, and those made by the Rogue River Indians were flat-bottomed. The tree having been felled by burning off, or being found as a windfall, was burned off to the required length and hollowed out by the same agency. Pitch was spread on the portion to be burned away, and a piece of fresh bark served to prevent the flames from spreading too far. These canoes were propelled by means of paddles. Such constructions of course lacked the requisite lightness and grace of the b.irch-bark canoes of the fareastern Indians, nor could they equal them in speed or handiness.

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 skius and the scalps of red-headed wood peckers seem to have been articles of great estimation, 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 garments 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 feilows. ,, To be a chief among the Klamathsor Rogue Rivers pro-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 administered the affairs of the tribe, the divided authority appearing to have been consistent with peace and friendliness. One of the two was usually styled peace chief, tha 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 occasionally and rebuilding with fresh materials."

The Umpqua region and the coast between the Siuslaw and Coos bay were inhabited 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. Anciently 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 qualities. 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

Indian Wars

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 frequent 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 Willamette 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 Kliclytats were equally renowned in trade and war, and their services were in request 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 migrations, 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,

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 frequently 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, beyond 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 archaeology.

Jedediah S. Smith's Journey Through Northern California and Southern Oregon - First Knowledge of the Indians - 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 Company'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'^ first appearance in the country ; and we shall see that this spirit of hostility was kept alive until the Indians' 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 ss 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