Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-11-04
Decay Of Oregon Indians.

Decay OF oregon Indians.
When the first trading ship entered the
Columbia river, its shores were bordered
with Indian villages, from the Cspcs to tho
Cascades, and from the Cascades to the
Dalles; and 80 on, TO it's source. They
were we'll clad in skins and cloth made Of
cedar-bark. They had abundance of food,
in the game which the land aud water sup
piled, besides roots and berries in ample
variety. In oil respects, they were pros.
porous and contented, though savage race.
The settlement of the fur companies in
their midst dated tho commencement of
the destruction which has come upon them
so overwhelmingly. Gradually diseases,
with whose character they we're previou ously
entirely unacquainted, and vices, Of which,
as savages, they had heretofore been inuo-
cent, were introduced among them. Then
followed epidemics, caused by the malaria
arising from the breaking of the ground
by the whites for agricultural purposes
In the year Of 1929, five years subseq uent
to the settlement of Vancouver BY the
Hudson Bay Company, thirty thousand
natives wcro estimated to have died from
malarial fever in the Columbia river and
Willamette valleys, west Of the Cascade
mountains.
The Indians understood nothing of the
cause, or treatment of the diseases; aud,
although the gentlemen at the Fort did
all they could to save life, yet with such
numbers needing assistance, aud with the
native ignorance and supertition against
them, very little, comparatively, could be
effected. From this period on, the Indians
Of Oregon have decimated with rapidity.
Well may they say, that they are like the
snow that tho sun melts from the hillside,
while the whites who replace them are
like the grass that follws the melting snow
In 1882, when Nathanie Wyeth visited
Oregon, with the view Of establishing a
salmon fishery on the Columbia, he built
an establishment, which he named Fort
Williams, on Wappatoo, or Sauvie's Island,
on the side bounded by the Lower Will
lamcttc river. Both the island and the
opposite shores of the main land are fer
tile aud beautiful, made richly productive
by the annual overflow Of the Columbia.
The island was especially priced by tho In.
dians, on account ofa root called "wappa.
too," which grows in great abundance on
it, aud is highly esteemed by them for
food. In 1882 Wyeth found some villa
gcs bordering on this portion of the Will.
lamcttc, that still numbered a thousand
warriors. Estimating that there was one
warrior to family Of five, it will be seen
how populous must have been this portion
Of Western Oregon.
But populous as it then was. it was desc.
late compared to what it hal been ten
years before. All along those fertile shores
we're abandoned villages. So close to.
gcther were they that rifle ball might
have been shot from ono into the other,
and they we're built Of huts three or more
tiers deep. When Wyeth saw them, only
the bones Of the victims of the pestilence
were to be found in the deserted inhabi-
tatious. There is little hope for the pal.
eontologists who are looking for the bones
Of prc-Adamitc man, when lapse of only
forty years has ctfectually effaced all traces
Of the thousands of skeletons that lined
the river banks Of Oregon just previous to
its colonization by American settlers.
The advent among the indians of mis-.
sionaries, in 1885, did not improve their
condition. Of the few who could be iu-
duced to alter their nomadic habits, nearly
all died. The children and younger per-
sous taken into the mission school, although
they displayed an aptitude for learning,
aud even seemed to comprehend the vital
truths Of ofChristiauity, perished like wild.
wood flowers set in the sunny parterres Of
agarden. The causes are evident: Change
Of diet, change of dress, and malarial poi
sons from the up-turned sods of the mis-
Sion farm. Tho missionaries themselves
suffered much from intermittent fever and
chills but the disease proved fatal to the
Indians, while the White Mems constitl.
tions were able to throw il off. BY this
time, too, worse than malarial poison was
working on the veins Of the natives, result.
ing from their intercourse with vicious
class Of men-the dregs Of the white races
-aoated to their shores, by chance, in
trading ships, or seeking here adventures
more exciting than civilized countries af.
forded. From these causes-to which may
be added the deprivation Of their old means
Of subsistence, and natural habits and re-
erestions-the Oregon Indians have been
reduced from many to few.-Operlaxd
Monthly. ..-.L, % - :. ~. :, ~, ~, .
1qA~ Thess 10 not man on earth, how.
ever humble, who is o blank; there is not
one man in society Who is not either blot
or blessing you cannot be neutral neu-
trality in moral character, is absolutely i'm
possible. You have therefore to take your