Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/131



CHAPTER III

1792—1840

THE INDIANS, THEIR FAMILIES. TRIBES AND DISTRIBUTION — THEIR ANCIENT STO.NIi

AGE DESCENT ANB IMPLEMENTS — THEIB MYTHS, HABITS AND RELIGION TllKlK

NUMBERS AND WEAKNESS THE JARGON LANGUAGE — THE INDIAN IDEA OF LAND

TENURE.

Wlien the wliite man discovored Oresi'on lie found a lar^c population of In- dians scattered in groups, families and tribes over the entire country from the Rocky monntains to the Paeilic ocean, and from California np to the Alaska line. The first comers detected no differences among these people of the forest and plain. They were all simply Indians. As time and experience brought the In- dians more and more under the observation of traders and naturalists, marked differences were discovered, and such distinction as the various tribes themselves maintained and enforced. By the study of the langiiage and dialects of these families and tribes, and by investigation of their beliefs in the supernatural, and their regulation of the social and family life, scientists versed in the principles of ethnology were able to arrange and segregate this apparently heterogeneous pojiu- lation of wild men into such a classification as would be intelligible to students of Indian life. This has been accomplished for this history, and for the first time given to the general reader not only in printed form but also on a map of the location of all the Indian families described. For this invaluable service the history is indebted to the Rev. J. Neilson Barry, of Baker, Oregon, and a mem- ber of the Advisory Board of the History for the Inland Empire Section.

THE INDIANS OF THE OLD OREGON COUNTRY

There were fifteen ki"ou])s or families of Indian tribes in that part of the Old Oregon country which is now occupied by Oregon. Washington and Idaho.

I. THE ATHAPASCAN FAMILY

(1) Kical-hi-n-qiiii tribe, so called Iiy the ("liinooks. meaning "'at a lonely place- in the woods:" tiii'>- livrd nn the AVillo]>ab river. I^rwis cdunty, AVasliiiii!:- ton.

(2) Tlalsldiiiii. lived on the Clatskanie riviM-. Columbia county. Orc^dn: a warlike tribe ; the early Hudson's Bay trappers did not dai'e to jiass their posses- sions in less numliers than sixty armed men.

(3) J' III jt-qiui, lived on the rm|U|ua river. Douglas counly. Oregon.

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