The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1920-04-29
STORY OF INDIANS
CASCADE BATTLE


| ground is now a part of Hood River
county and because Mr.. Hines is well
known to pioneers, the article, origin
ally printed in the Portland Spectator.
is repeated here.
Since the Goth Of March, just passed
marks the sxty-fourth anniversary of
| the conflict between the Indians and
the American settlers in Oregon and
| Washington territories at tine Cascades,
| the nearest point to Portland at which
| the opposing forces met in battle, it
seems worth while TO present brief
outline of the struggles with the abor-
igines from the earliest times insDre-
gon up to and including the year 1858.
The first Indian disturbance in Ore
gon was the Cayuse war of lS4S. occa.
stoned by the massacre of DR.. Marcus
Whitman. his wife and IL others on
November 20 30, lS47, at the American
Board mission, six miles west of the
present city of Walla Walla, Wash.
This was brought to speedy conclu.
sion by the middle of the summer Of
lS48 by volunteers called into service
by George Abernethy, provisional gov
ernor of Oregon. pending the establish
ment of territorial relations with the
United States and the coopertion of the
Hudson's S Bay Company, British cor
poration having its headquarters at
Fort Vancouver. The five leaders of
the Indians responsible for the massa-
ere were secured. duly tried, convicted
and hanged at Oregon City, June 3.
1850.
The real dark and bloody ground"
Of Oregon was IN Douglas, Josephine
ard Jackson counties, where leginning
in the summer of 1851 there was deal
Of trouble, caused pr marily by wan
dering, irresponsible miners in search |
Of gold. who entered those counties
from California. They mistreated the
Indians and got away, leaving innocent |
settlers to suffer. This was known as
the Rogue River war, and was more or |
less intermittent until late in 1856. |
Frequently in 1853 small parties Of
immigrants were cut off b. sporadic |
parties of lndiars, chieflJ along the |
s. axe river in southern adho and east
ern Oregon. The most notable in re
spe.t to numbers and the atfOcity of its
treatment was the Ward party. which
on August 20, 1854, few miles east of
Fort Boise. was attacked and II out of
rs several Of whom were women and
children, were tortured to death, and
their bodies shamefully mutlated
During the summer of 1855 coalition
of all the Indian tribes between Cali
fornia and British Columbia and the
Missouri and Pacific ocean was formed
to create barrier through which the
white race could not pass.
With the arrival of Mai. Isaac |.
Of 10 |
the first governor of the newly created
territory of Washington, by virtue of
the organic act which passed congress
on March of that year, the relation
of the Indians with the Boston men,"
as citizens of the United States were
called, as distinguished from the king
George men" connected with the Hud
sons Bay Company, became veXed
question 49, really international in its
scope.
Settlement of radically divergent in
terests, represented by two distinct ma
in the same field, which bv
a treaty in 1918 had been occupied
jointly bv both powers without preiu
dice for % years, and then settled by
mutually satisfactory to
both high contracting parties without
any reference to the rights of third
aborigines--was the problem
that confronted Gov. Stevens. Begin
ming in 1926 the Hudson's Bay Com
pany successor of the Northwest Com
pany which began business here in De-
cember, 1879. had been doing a sue
cessfu business in all the area known /,
as the "0regon Country" up to June
l5, 1876. in the territory south of the
Columbia, and was in active operation
in the section north of the Columbia
when Washington territory was Great ;
ed. Many of the officers ard employees
Of this company had taken Indian wo y
men for wives, to large extent in ac
cordance with the wishes of the com {
pany managers for the double purpose '
Of extending trade and to secure the
necessary labor to carry on the bust
ness. Under these conditions it may
readily be seen why the tendency of
the Indians was TO regard with much
favor the great Hudson's Bay Com
pany, the management of which had
been largely paternal under the wise
as well as just administration of its :
affairs from 1926 to 1876 by DIR. John f,
chief factor. The Indians ,
to considerable extent looked upon Z
the Boston men" as interlOpers whose {
sole purpose in entering this country
was to dispossess them OF their lands.
While the chief managers Of the com l
pany cannot be Justly charged with {
encouraging the Indians to take that s
view, man of the subordinates, espe- I
cially those having Indian wives and '
did do so.
In 1854 Gov. Stevens, under direc- I
ton of the Indian Department at {
Washington, ID. c., began making
treaties with the numerous Indian j
tribes in his jurisdiction, and in follow {
ing instructions the Indian title had to s
be extinguished, and reservations set !
apart for future homes, with annuities
agreed uDon to be paid at stated peri c
DDS. After these pTelimnsries had I
been agreed to- all the country aside t
from the area required for reservations
was thrown open for the white settlers [
10 choose from, and this before the
treaties were ratified by officials in $
" Washington. Naturally. such action
aroused suspicion among the Indians. !
An Indian chief named Leschi, who I
lived a little way from the donation !
lain that was secured by my father, I
i've miles east Of Olympia, perhaps the s
most powerful chief in the Puget
Sound country. and certainly the
greatest orator, began a pilgrimage :
among the various tribes in the Pacific {
Northwest on both sides Of the Cas- !
.ade mountains in order to arouse them 5
10 act in concert and drive the invaders s
Dut. By tue middle Of the year 1855 J
he breaking point came, beginning q
With the massacre of George w. Mat q
ice andtOther Americans near COlville.
iov. Stevens sent Indian Agent A. j.
Bolton 10 the Yakima reservation to 5
stem the rising tide OF Indignation ana {
L was supposed he had succeeded. but
,n his way back to Ths Dalles. accom- {
panied by presumably friendly Indians, q
le was murdered on September 2S. as Z
lear as can be determined. q