Status of Indigenous Peoples

Luke Morris
Aug 16, 2015
3 min read

The indigenous peoples in the area of Eugene are the Kalapuya Indians. They lived across the fertile Willamette Valley between the Coast Range Mountains and the Cascade Mountains, yet they never named the entire Valley anything specific. Often times, they named landmarks by what they saw or felt so many of the names they did distribute throughout the valley did not stick. Their territories ranged from near present day Portland to just northeast of Roseburg. The Kalapuyas lived in stable winter homes and migrated over the valley during the temperate months. Their neighbors whom they traded regularly with the Molalla and Cayuse people in addition to various tribes from Northern California, Oregon coast, and the Columbian River. Due to the vast camas resource in the Willamette Valley, the Kalapuya became experts in making dried camas cakes and traded them with many other Indian tribes at various places and events. Like the majority of indigenous tribes, the Kalapuyas were hunters and gatherers. Men hunted and fished for game including salmon, trout, eels, birds, small game, deer, bear and elk. Women gathered food sources such as hazel nuts, berries, tarweed seeds, and wapato.

By the time white settlers arrived, the valley was an open grassy area with secluded white oaks and various trees. The land was so open because the Kalapuya often burned the grasses of the valley to clear brush and make the valley a more suitable environment for game and vegetation they depended on for survival. Also, they used fire in circle deer hunting and to harvest tarweed, burn grass, kill great numbers of grasshoppers, remove undergrowth in oak groves, make acorns more visible, and to remove brush. (Gray). Land management was is something they had to work on and many would consider their land uses pre-agricultural society.

The territory of Eugene wasn’t inhabited with white settler until 1846 when Eugene Franklin Skinner claimed the base of Skinner butte. Before Skinner came to the area, Skinner Butte was known as Yapo-ah by the Kalapuya tribe. Skinner wasn’t a fan of the name, so he changed it to Skinner butte. With advice from the Kalapuya tribe Skinner developed the land into a city and many notable landmarks are named after him.

Arguably Eugene’s best public park, Alton Baker Park, has a rich history with the Kalapuya tribe as they were the first people to have inhabited the area. Alton Baker Park served as location which the tribe came to depending on the season for ripened crops. As previously mentioned, the tribe moved about the Willamette Valley regularly. “When Amero-Europeean settlers arrived in the area during the 1840’s, Kalapuya territory became increasingly divided as settlers began to claim and live on their lands” (Weid). The eastern area of Alton Baker Park is an example of the open space that existed prior to the arrival of Amero-European settlers, and is a great look at what the Willamette Valley appeared to be some 150 years ago.

The loss of land and the spread of viruses from the white settlers hit the Kalapuya tribe hard. Sadly, they were unable to recover from it. By the 1850’s the tribe had lost a substantial percentage of their people and their population fell 1,000. At the tribes peak they had roughly 15,000 people (Gray). The tribe still exists today, but in very limited numbers. The settlement of the 1840’s destroyed the culturally as well. For example, the Kalapuya language had nearly been completely destructed as only 140 words remain. 11 of the surviving words have been inscribed at various places around the park, to pay tribute to the lost tribe.

Many places in Eugene have been named after someone or something significant to the town’s growth and success. As for the Kalapuyian Indians, their native histories have created stories and facts about Eugene that have allowed it to expand and grow agriculturally, educationally, and politically. In return of the many well-known histories the Kalapuyian share with this town the indigenous name lives on. Within Eugene's city limits there has been a brewing company named 'calapooyian brewing' as well as an alternative educational facility holding the name Kalupuya High. Even one of Eugene's neighboring towns was once named Calapooya directly reflecting the Willamette valleys first inhabitants and connecting with the calapooyia river. Most frequently known would be the Calapooya mountain range that spreads throughout lane county and connecting Douglas county running on for sixty miles.