Smoke Signals September 15,2007 Smoke Signals
SEPTEMBER 15, 2007
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CANNING contined
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to stay together and all members
men, women and children, as well
as extended family members who
lived in the household left the res
ervation to work in the Willamette
Valley's agricultural fields.
The stories are legion, with many
Tribal members laboring in camps
throughout the summers in Indepen
dence, Corvallis, Salem and Kugene,
tending and harvesting beans, straw
berries, hops and other crops.
Many men joined the ranks of
Oregon loggers and persevered as
leaders, and were among the best
timber employees in the Pacific
Northwest, ei
ther in the for
est or mills.
In the 1930s,
after the Great
Depression and
the Indian Re
organization Act of 1934,
the Bureau of
Indian Affairs
devised a plan
to help Indian
people assimi
late into Amer
ican society.
The Reha
bilitation Pro
gram (1935)
was intended
to help Indians
create an industry on their reser
vations where they could subsist
under their own efforts.
Various projects under the Re
habilitation Program hired a clerk
(Eula Hudson) at Chemawa, erect
ed community buildings in Siletz,
Grand Ronde and Coos Bay, built
houses for Tribal members and then
assembled the equipment for the
Community Canning project. These
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Original label
projects provided work for Tribal
members and it was hoped would
build the necessary foundation for
a self-supporting industry.
At Grand Ronde and Siletz, can
ning was the chosen industry. At
both reservations, canneries were
constructed in the community
centers where tin cans and glass
jars were used to can the many
types of fruits (berries, apples,
peaches, tomatoes, prunes and
pears), vegetables (beans, peas,
carrots, beets and corn) and meats
(salmon and beef)-
The first year's experiment dealt
exclusively with wild blackber
ries and 79 gallons were picked at
Grand Ronde.
The blackberry
jam was sold
to two exclu
sive markets
in Portland
and netted the
project a $104
profit, attract
ing the Grand
Ronde Indians
back to the pro
gram the fol
lowing year.
Many Trib
al members
planted new
fields to supply
the resources
to be canned.
Soon after the
start of the program, which was
overseen by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs throughout its history, a
label was created for the wild black
berry jam. The only two known
examples of the label in existence
are in the bureau's Portland office
and files in the National Archive's
Seattle office.
Wild blackberries (Rubus ursi
nus) were a commodity traded at
local markets,
according to
newspapers.
Grand Ronde
Elder Nadine
(Mercier) Mc
Nutt says that
the Portland
Journal was
the main paper
read at Grand
Ronde. In 1939,
the Portland Journal reported that
a crate of wild blackberries sold for
about $1.20.
McNutt says that the Gay Mocca
sin jam was advertised in the Port
land Journal by J.C. Penney's as a
seasonal and exotic commodity.
Of the process, remembered by
Laverne Bean, McNutt and other
Elders, blackberries were growing
wild in the local forest thickets and
children were employed to gather
them by the bucketfuls, each of
which fetched a reported 25 cents.
Children would bring blackber
ries to the Community Center
(Governance Hall) and women
would cook the blackberries and
can them. Tribal Elder Sharon
Hanson remembers having to wipe
the jars down in preparation for the
labels. The jars were then sold to
local stores and businesses.
McNutt remembers a roadside
stand and sales to Union Pacific
Railroad. In the bureau's Portland
office records, there are receipts
from Union Pacific, J.C. Penney's
and Sunriver Resort.
In the bureau's Portland office, re
cords from Chemawa Indian School
show that children were planting,
harvesting and canning there as
well. The extension of the program
to Chemawa appears to have been
in support of the reservation can
ning operations, with the Bureau of
Indian Affairs hoping to train young
Oregon blackberry
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men and women in some of
the life-skills and industries they
would need when returning to their
reservation.
After hearing about the Gay Moc
casin jam, Grand Ronde Cultural
Department staff members began
researching the history of this
tribal commodity and industry. A
film documenting Tribal industry
projects across the United States,
"Rebuilding Indian Country 1933,"
was found that shows cannery
scenes that are arguably from
Grand Ronde or Siletz. (On the
Internet at Google Video)
!n June a team of Cultural Divi
sion researchers traveled to Se
attle and found at least four boxes
files related to this industry. In
the files were two original copies of
the Gay Moccasin label, a rejected
revision of the label, and several
dozen pictures from Grand Ronde
and Siletz related tq the industry.
Grand Ronde Elders continue to
remember details of the cannery.
Recently, Elders described how
people would harvest their crops
and go to the cannery and can their
goods at one time well after the
commercial sales ended. It remains
unclear when commercial sales
ended, but it probably occurred just
before the Tribe's termination.
In the 1980s, Elders said that the
Gay Moccasin jam was revived as
"Moccasin" jam and gifted to the
various state officials who helped
with the Restoration bill.
Photos courtesy of the
Cultural Resources Department
Grand Ronde Community Hall in the 1 930s
contemporary
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The wild blackberry, along with Himalayan, Lo
ganberry and other Old World varieties, are an es
sential part of the genealogical origin of the modern
Marionberry, created in 1956.
The wild blackberry was "found" by Oregon berry
growers in Stayton in 1925, where it became a mar
ketable commodity.
The Grand Ronde Cultural Resources Department
is currently looking for a jar with the original "Gay
Moccasin" label for its collections, as well as the
recipe.
Call Cultural Resources Department Manager
David Lewis at 503-879-1634 if you may have any of
these items, stories or other canning products made
at Grand Ronde.
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THE INDIAN Ien 0F GRAND RONDE (Cont'd) I
Jul7 1 fco November 13, l9A3 I
u Vegetables Meat & n.u I
a. Mary iHeh.n. at & Flsh it I
ii o. ,a Murphy I
I iirs. Jack Uurpny 32 I
I Jr.. Pete MurphJ I '
I Mrs. Cino Nelson 193 & I
I Pecknam 213 71 53 I
Mrs. Ernie Petite 31 2U I
Mrs. Eula Petite 275 I
Mrs. Rebecca Petite 93 21 U3 I
' Mrs. Dollie Pipette 2 I
Mrs. Franceg Por(.er 83 3 I
Jr. Franklin Quenelle 9 7o 5; I
Mrs. Leonard Quenelle 57 J 25 I
A. Riebach 120 gQ I
Mrs. Vernon Riebach I
Mrs. Clara Rigg3 21, lno 37 I
School 3 30A 64 I
Mrs. Edgar Simons 532 180 JJ? I
Jfr. Williara Siamons 67 I
Mrs. Celia Smith 29 28 I
Mrs. Turner 1 case 200 11A I
Mrs. Lena Vivette 116 229 I
Mrs. Blanche Warren z I
Mrs. A. iverth ' tf 110 I
Mrs. Mabel Wilson 127 5 n I
Womens' Club 21 73 I
26. 52 I
Total amount canned , ' " I
6305 - 177x I
Grand Total u 1Vk 1776 3057 I
1 ease of jam I
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One day's work of canning in Grand Ronde.
Cans stacked in a pyramid.
Ladies canning at the Tribal Community Hall.