Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Grand Ronde, OR
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1915)
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN H. E. WADSWORTH, Superintendent VOLUME 18 DECEMBER, 1915 NUMBER 3 SHERIDAN'S OREGON HOME FAMOUS GRANDE HONDE LANDMARK RAZED AROIyD Hamstreet, in the Oregonian, tells of historic events in the Grande Ronde country in a time now long gone, as follows: Where Oregon pioneers built a blockhouse for protection, where 1500 Indians were gathered for safe keeping, where Phil Sheridan gained his first practical experience as a soldier, where soldiers built roads, cut wood and drilled, lies buried some'of Oregon's earliest and most interesting history. It is the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation. Thousands of persons pass through this historical place yearly, by auto and team, bound coastward, for it is on the well-known Portland Tillamook run, and little realize that they are passing signposts point ing back to Oregon's earliest history. Nor do they realize that here wras where one of the Civil War's most notable heroes first gained his soldier experience after graduation from West Point, And this his torical place was all the result of the Rogue River Indian War. On the Rogue River in Southern Oregon lived the Rogue River In dians, Cow Creeks, the Umpquas and Shastas. In 1858 these Indians made war on the white settlers. It took three years for the soldiers to quell this uprising with the result that the Government formed a reser vation eight miles by 12 miles in extent in Yamhill County to confine" these Indians. At the same time other Indian tribes were gathered in and the free Oregon country disappeared as such to these natives. There were gathered on the reservation 1500 Indians representing 12 different tribes, the Rogue River, Shasta, Cow Creek, Umpqua, Oregon City, Clackamas, Molalla, Wapato, Yamhill, Santiam, Salmon River and Tillamook. Of these 1500 who were originally brought to the reservation there are 23 living. All the tribes are now extinct with the exception of the four that waged the Rogue River war. The oldest of these living In dians are Dick Cook, Solomon Riggs, and Widow McCauy. The first