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River People of the Middle Columbia

 
Cascade Indian woman, Whylick Quiuck. Photo by Edward S. Curtis. Courtesy of the University of Oregon   Paul Kane watercolor, "A Cascade Indian."Courtesy of the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas
     
Several loosely related Indian bands known as the Cascades occupied and used the land spanning from the mouth of the Willamette River eastward past the Cascade Rapids. Bonneville Dam now obscures three series of rapids where the Native Americans fished and controlled travelers' passage through and around the rocky rapids. These groups, which spoke a dialect of the upper Chinookan language, included the Watlallas, the Clah-clah-lahs, and the people who lived just north of the outlet of the Washougal River, sometimes identified as the Washougally.

The Cascades peoples, organized primarily in independent family groups, fished salmon from the rivers, and gathered berries, nuts, and roots from the land. They hunted deer, elk and mountain goats in the hills and mountains. Among the nutritional plants they collected was the camas flower's bulb, which was plentiful in the Camas and Washougal area.

Cascade Indian traditions


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Part I - The Cascade Indians & Early Town History
Part II - Mill Town
Part III - Growth and Change

 

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Oral History Archive <> Document Archive <> Bibliography
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