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