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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1879)
THE WEST SHORE. August, 1879 "HK 1 am 01 mi. UMPQl AS, II V OBXi JOSH'II I.ANK. In 1849, while Governor and ex-offi-cio Superintendent of Indian Afikin, I made I trip through the Umjiia valley for the purpose of seeing the various trilies of the I'mpqiias, to find out their numbers, ami disposition and capacity for war, arms ami implements, ami if ssiblc their temper ami feelings to wards the whites, who would very soon Infill to make settlements in their iH'iiutiful vallev ; and to make known to them (hat thev iiiusl not in any wav Interfere with, or attempt to hurt or harm American citizens in passing or repassing through or settling in the Umpqua valley. One other object 1 hail in view ami very much at heart; that was o I'm, I ami bring to justice one of the Umpqua Indians, who had in a mot! treacherous and wilful man- dm murdered one of the Immigrants of iStfi a Mi. Newton, who, with his wife, separated from all others of the paitv, had camped within a mile ami a half of where the city of Roseburg now stands. Mrs. Newton was not dis turbed hut left entirely alone in a sav age country for a time, hut before manv dajri was found and cared for, ami brought lo the settlements hy a party of thai Immigration, I had the pleasure in '49 of an acipiainiance with Mrs. Newton, and found hei to he .111 esti mable lady. Subsequently she was married to Mr. Pow ers, now of Astoria. I searched faithfully and dilligcntly (I the murderer, hut could gel no in- loi mation liom the Indians as to where he could he found ; they seemed to know nothing of or SDOUl the had In dian and 1 had to give up the search ami return without him. This I did very reluctantly, M conclusions ahout the Umpquas were that they wen um a warlike 0 dangerous people, that we need not ex pect much, if any, trouble from them. Well, wc dkl not until s; and '50, when a general war w as bag hy all the Indians north and south of the Co lumhia river, the I mp.pi.is joining in and doing much harm. At that lime 1 wa in Washington City J however, Col. James K. Kelley, Col. James W. Ncsmith, Col. I.amciick, Ross Miller, James 1). Huinett, and other gallant spirit, did hrave and good service, and made many "good Indians" hy killing . r them in battle, Govs. Curry and I. 1. Stevens acted with much energy and good sense, and succeeded admirably, notwithstanding the opposition of the commander of the department. In iNs, the war was brought to a suc cessful termination, peace was con cluded with all the tribes, and the (Jmpquas were taken to the Grand Roude reservation. Now commences a brief history of my experience with the last of the Umpquas that made trouble in this valley. Soon after my rc-clccton to Congress in the year 1N57, I mounted my horse and with my rifle on my shoulder set out for a hunt on the spurs of the Cascade range of mountains. My wife accompanied me on her rid ing pony. We stopped at the house of Thomas Uedgcrwood, who had married our widowed daughter-in-law, Mrs. Jane Lane, This house was ten miles east of Roseburg, then the out side settlement in this direction. In a day or two I killed some four fine bucks, and was about to start out for more game, when word came that a party of Indians, supposed to be Ump quas, had shot and killed two fine American mares, then worth $250 each, belonging to Mr. Gillmorc, an old man and very worthy citizen. 1 hurried off to see the dead animals, and to satisfy myself whether or not they had been killed by Indians. On close examination I found inockasin tracks, some twigs broken and dropped in a way that satisfied me that the mischief had been perpatrated hy Indians. This w as the first evidence that I had of any Indians living in the valley; hut direct ly we learned of other outrages: houses "est of the South Umpqua had been rohlicd and burned, horses and cattle had been killed and one man hot and wounded, and yet the Indians had not been seen at that time. Many men had farms, but no wife or family : the Indians all the time on the watch, would rob and tire the houses while the owner was absent at work or look ing after his cattle, or engaged at other out door employment, and in that way had done, and were doing, a great h.ir m to our people. I at once deter mined to hunt out these Indians, if it took all summer. We readily made up a party, consisting of David tiilmorc, son of the old gentleman whose mares had been killed, Tom Lcdgcrwood, Jesse Barker, Capt. Wm. Martin and myself, all woodsmen, and who knew how to track an Indian or buck or other animal, and set out on the track, which we found was not easily fob lowed. In a day or two we found that they had crossed the South Umpqua and were heading west, evidently aim ing for the coast range of mountains. The hills and mountains we found cov ered with dense forest, and in fact all the country was covered with brush and heavy foliage. We had lost the trail, and to find the Indians was about as difficult apparently as finding a needle in a haystack. I very soon dis covered that some of the party had work at home that could not be neg lected, consequently I proposed that we return to the settlements, and I would make a new start. There were at that time a small band of Klamath Indians living on the North Umpqua, who had never taken part in any war against our people. Their chief was known by the name of Samson, a strong and very active Indian. My party were disbanded, but I did not go home, hut went to Samson's village, told him my business, and agreed lb give him and two of his best warriors two dollars each per day during the time that wc would be engaged hunt ing out the bad Indians ; and without delay we set out. Now my party con sisted of Capt. Martin, John Fitzhugh, GUmore, Jack Burnett and the three Klamaths. After two camps, and on the third day of our search, Samson found signs, stopped and said, "we will find them on this creek" a branch of the Coqullle river. The track was followed on with great care hy Samson, his two warriors, and (Jilmorc and Burnett, all swift on foot. Before dark they came on them in camp; our party, however, w ere discovered, and the enemy broke for the dense brush. Samson and his two warriors dropped their guns, and with their tomahawks in hand darted into the brush at almost lightning speed, and directly returned with two prisoners one was an active middle aged man, the other a young squaw the balance succeeded in making their escape, closely pursued by our young men. They proved to be Umpqua, a party of seven men and two squaws, who had stolen away from the reserva tion and returned to their old hunting grounds for the avowed purpose of de