An Oregon Story:
From Rivers to Reservoirs:
The Last of the Lumbermills:
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The Kalapuyans:
Willamette Valley Indians
Drawing from Charles Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838,1840,1841,1842
The first people to live in the Willamette Valley Basin were the Kalapuyans, a loosely related group of about 3,000 Indians who occupied the Willamette River drainage area south of the Oregon City falls. Tufted hairgrass and bluegrass covered the valley floor growing to several feet in height. Indians refered to these grasses as "kalapuya" and when Euro-Americans traveled through the valley, they used this name to identify the Indians who lived there. Indians foraged the valley's fields for camas and wapato and hunted its whitetail deer, elk, and water fowl. Floods annually renewed a landscape that supported roots, birds, and mammals. But the Kalapuyans did not merely take the foods that grew naturally. They also altered the environment to encourage it to produce their preferred food sources more efficiently. The Kalapuyans transformed the valley through fire.
William Hartless's account of a valley forest fire
