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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1879)
THE WEST SHORE. June, 1879 164 the left buna of the South Fork of the American river, at a place called by the Indians, Calloomak, by the Califor niuns, Colomu, 107 milch northeast of San Fruncisco, in a straight line. The mill-kite was probably one-fourth of a mile below the present village of Co lomu. The river at thin point curve between two ranges of hills, and the spray from it rapidly fliding waters is viiblc in the picture above its shallow banks. The mill beside it was owned by Sutler Marshall, and constructed as nearly to completion us it ever reached, by the latter in the autumn of of 1(47, The mill has long since van ished, having been destroyed or ucd by the miners, or carried away by travelers n mementoes of the place where the ureal modern discovery of gold was (Irst made. These specimen are now to be found in many an East ern household, and remind one of the beginning of a new era in '.he wealth of mankind. Thi discovery of ((old also hastened thai in Australia and else where. In (he centre of the engraving is the mill Itself, which look entirely in keeping with such a structure on the Pacific coast : year ago. The two miner! licsidc the race may be seen pointing down to the very sjot where lames V. Marshall picked up the very tirl nuggel of gold, on lauuary lUth, lSS. 'I hi nugget was, by him, pre sentcil in Mr. relet I.. w enter, in whose possession it still remains. A t'KNTl'RV Alio A ccntuiy since the Willamette val ley lay bathed in lunlighl or in shadow , as night and day, sun and cloud, turn 1 ii 1 and w inlet, came ami went, mid through ils length the Multnomah's were supreme. It w as thus from an c i v III days. The Molallas occupied the mountains to the east, and from the great Colombia to the shores of the Klamalh the) knew (he mountain paths, hunted dm, beat and elk, and slew the wildcat and panther. They lived the life that was ulleicd them b the great langes and deep goiges, and the mountain torrents s.mg the suites that lulled their sleep. Their hocnOS 11. on live mountain shores of Klam ath lake ami their medicine men gath etcd inspired wisdum ami the spirit of prophesy as they worshipped the tin-.11 Spirit ami studied the wonder of na ture by the mystrnous and high. walled waieis of Crater Lake. Hut from where the Culipooia ridges crossed from range to range to form Ihe southern boundary of the Willam etie floods, to where the river leaps over the rinks and then broadly flows on lo Join the Columbia, through all the valley and rolling hills that fill the intervale from east to west, where val- eys border the Rickrcalor Luckimutc, or wind in among the ranges where tin- Bandana flows down with many irandus, as well as on all other streams that leave the encircling hllll to wind, like threads of silver, through attendant vales, lived, loved, hunted and fished the great people of the Multnomahs. The grass was untrodden on the prai ries and grew runk upon the borders of the streams, and the wild clover scented the hillsides, only cropped here and there by Indian ponies that antedated the white man's coming. The Indian, a century ago, had no home hut his lodge and no clothing save that inane irom smoKC tanned skins; bows and arrows did noiseless laughter among the deer, and answered for war when needed. They found the wild deer on every side and salmon tilled the streams. Life was not labor with Ihe Multnomahs, and they so ived until the spirit of peace oppressed them and they almost forgot the arts of wai . From the south, over the mountain wall that shuts off Unipqua waters horn the most beautiful ol all Western alleys, came the Calipooias. They spied out the land in its almost untrod den beauty, and the first comers carried back a rumor of its wonderful riches. They were ambitious ami warlike and poured over the rim of the basin and commenced a war for possession. l'hc sun shone dow n no longer on only scenes of beaut) and homes of peace. The whistle of the arrow's flight had the dread accompaniment of the buttle cry and fierce wanshoop. The snowy peaks looked down on savage Combats and saw the Multnomahs re cede and give up the land, until in time they tallied at the north, where the mists of the falls rise, and the voice of the river sounded in anger. Tin RMght in vsin along these rockv ledges, ami again receded to make their last stand on the shres where, to-day, wc watch the great ships wend their way inland from the ocean. So the Multnomahs fdd from the earth. Their name would be forgotten if the ages had not revived it at our bidding. The Calipooias ruled in their stead, and their's were the green pas tures, the fishing grounds and the ranges where the wild deer roved. History is uncertain as to the past of the nations who lived here before us, but the tra ditions of the Indians, handed down through earliest sources obtainable, give us the general fact that the Mult nomahs owned the beautiful Willam ette valley, and that the Molallas were mountain dwellers; that the Calipooias came from the south and drove out the peaceful residents. Of old, the commerce of the West. em tribes resulted in great fairs, held at Yainax, beyond the Klamath lakes, to the east, on Spraguc river. Here the Pitt river Indians brought their wonderful bows and arrows for sale, for tradition among Klamaths and Mo docs still tells how the Pitt river tribe, in Northern California, were skillful artificers in aboriginal weapons of war. Here, at Yainax, the great tribes sent emissaries to plan peace or to make war, at the base of a butte so named, that stands in the Sprague river valley. Within sight of that butte I have held long talks with Modoc and Klamath chieftains, who have woven the tradi tions of their tribes into form lor my satisfaction. At the great Yainax fair the Molulla brought his contribution of skins and furs; the Columbia river In dians their smoked salmon; the Klam aths their stores of roots and food and dried meats; the Cayuscs and Net Pcrccs their swift-footed ponies. All contributed, so that here were repre sented the interests of an immense ter ritory, where trade and commerce in cluded all things known to the wants of Indian life. Here bonfires blazed at night while the tribes held high fes tival; the race course, by day, called out all the passions of savage nature, as it docs the vices of more civilized peo ple; and the gambling scenes, by day and night, possessed all the fierceness of avarice and passion that human na ture is capable of. The Multnomahs made their last stand on the shores of the Lower Wil lamette. We have the word of caiiy comers, who belonged to the fur com panies, that three-quarters of a century ago Indian villages thronged the shores of the rivers where the Willamette