Kalapuyan History
Pre-1800s
1800s
1900s
2000s
The Kalapuya are the native people of the Willamette Valley; Newberg and Yamhill County reside on Kalapuyan land. Their descendants still live in Oregon and many count themselves part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The original Kalapuya were not one monolithic group, but different groups that spoke related languages.
The people generally lived by hunting and gathering. Men fished and hunted using obsidian arrows and spears; women and children gathered nuts, berries, fruit, and roots including camas and wapato. They also participated in trade networks with other native people, often serving as a liaison between Plains groups and Coastal groups.
Kalapuya Timeline
C. 12,000 BCE/Time immemorial: Kalapuya ancestors settle in Oregon.
C. 1700s: Horses and other European goods are introduced to the trading networks.
Pre-1800s: As many as 15,000 Kalapuya live in Oregon, largely in Tualatin/Yamhill, Santiam/Marys River, and Yoncalla.
1805-1830: After contact with Europeans, population is cut in half, largely due to disease; population would drop to around 600 by the middle of the century.
1830s on: Chinuk Wawa, also known as Chinook Jargon, is a common trade language spoken throughout the West Coast. A blend of Chinook, French, English, and other languages, it is at times a creole and a pidgin.
1851: First treaty between Oregon and the Kalapuya. The treaty was not ratified because white settlers had already claimed the land that had been proposed as a reservation.
1855: The ratified treaty with the Confederated Tribes of the Willamette Valley promises a reservation, money, education, health care, and safety. However, most of the treaty would not be honored until 1889.
1856: The Kalapuya, Molalla, Clackamas, Multnomah, and others are removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation. Until 1924, it is illegal for native people to leave the reservation without a pass, though many do anyway.
1877: Kinai and Bakhawadas (both members of the Tualatin) work with U.S. government linguist Albert S. Gatschet to document the languages and traditions of the people living at the Grand Ronde reservation.
1880: After years of poverty, many living on the reservation are able to gain self-sufficiency. However, by 1900, only around 300 of 1,200 people remain. Promises made in the treaty are not honored until 1889, after the passage of the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887.
1924: Native Americans are finally granted full citizenship, and no longer have to give up tribal affiliation to become US citizens.
1954: The Kalapuya tribe is terminated, along with other Western Oregon tribes. Reservation lands are sold, services removed.
1970s on: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde begin reviving Chinuk Wawa, starting first with informal classes, then later offering immersion classes, publishing a dictionary, and offering courses through Lane Community College.
1977-1983: The Kalapuya are restored.
2014: Chachalu, the Grand Ronde Tribal Museum and Cultural Center, opens.
2017: Publication of My Life, by Louis Kenoyer: Reminiscences of a Grand Ronde Reservation Childhood. Kenoyer, also known as Bakhawadas, last known speaker of Northern Tualatin Kalapuya, died in 1937 before his narrative could be fully translated into English. Scholars Jedd Schrock and Henry Zenk finished the translation.
2019: “This IS Kalapuyan Land” exhibition opens at Five Oaks Museum, Hillsboro, OR.
General Indigenous History in Oregon
Pre-1800s CE
1800s
1900s
2000s
11,500 - 10,500 Before Present (BP)/9,500 - 8,500 Before Common Era (BCE): The earliest evidence for human habitation in Oregon. The diversity of languages spoken by indigineous people suggest the Pacific Northwest was one of the first areas to be settled. Lack of written records and the effects of the environment have made it difficult to trace the history of the area’s peoples prior to the arrival of Europeans, though many tribes have long oral traditions.
6,000 BCE: The archaeological record suggests that the Rogue River, Umpqua, Chasta, Kalapuya, Molalla, Salmon River, Tillamook, and Nestucca peoples had already settled in their traditional territories.
5,700 BCE: Eruption of Mount Mazama and creation of Crater Lake; this event would be important for the lore of the local people, the Klamath.
3,000 BCE: Evidence of permanent settlements. The Pacific Northwest was often one of the most densely populated areas of the Americas. Celilo Falls is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities, until its submersion in 1957 by the Dalles Dam.
1500 BCE: Salishan speakers arrive in Northwestern Plateau region, an area that includes parts of British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and California
1300s Common Era (CE): Ancestors of the Shoshone and Paiute emigrate to The Great Basin, an area that includes parts of Nevada, Oregon, California, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah.
1700 CE: Tsunamis and earthquakes dramatically alter the Oregon coast, and the lives of the people living there.
Native people use controlled burning to alter the landscape, including creating prairies in the Willamette Valley.
C. 1730 CE: The horse is introduced to Eastern Oregon.
1790s CE: British explorer George Vancouver anchors near the Rogue River, and meets some of the Native people.
Pre-1800 CE: At the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806), peoples living in Oregon included: Chinook, Clatsop Chinook, Tillamook, Nehalem Tillamook, Siletz, Yaquina, Alsea, Kalapuya, Siuslaw, Lower Umpqua, Hanis Coos, Miluk Coos, Upper Coquille, Lower Coquille, Coastal Rogue, Tututni, Chetco, Atfalati, Bannock, Cayuse, Clackamas, Coos, Klamath, Klickitat, Latgawa. Modoc, Molala, Multnomah, Northern Paiute, Sahaptin, Santiam, Shasta, Takelma, Tenino, Tolowa, Umatilla, Wasco, Wishram.
1805 CE: The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches Oregon. In November, they reach the coast, trading with Chinook and Clatsop peoples
1811 CE: Native Hawaiians arrive on the Tonquin to help build Fort Astoria in Astoria, OR. By the 1820s, Hawaiians live and work in Fort Vancouver, Vancouver, WA.
1830s CE: Initial meetings between white explorers and native peoples are peaceful, but conflict soon arises. In 1834, Michel Laframboise and later Ewing Young kill Rogue natives.
C. 1840 CE: Chinuk Wawa, also known as Chinook Jargon, becomes a creole, meaning this mixture of Native American and European languages is now the native language for some people.
1844 CE: The Cockstock Incident leads to the exclusion law forbidding free Blacks from living in Oregon Territory. A dispute between Wasco native Cockstock and free Black James D. Soule escalated into a fight that left three dead. White settlers feared more conflicts. Parts of the law were invalidated by the 14th Amendment (1868), but wasn’t formally repealed until 1926 and all racist language was finally removed in 2002.
1850 CE: Oregon Territorial Governor Joseph Lane negotiates a peace treaty with Apserkahar of the Takelma, promising the protection of Native American rights and safe passage for whites.
1853 CE: Table Rock Reservation established, but closed in 1856; inhabitants moved to other reservations.
1855-1856 CE: Rogue River Wars, conflict between the US and groups known as Rogue River Indians. At the conclusion of this war, the Tolowa and other groups are removed to reservations.
1855 CE: Establishment of Coast Indian Reservation; it is now part of the Siletz Reservation.
Warm Springs Indian Reservation created.
Umatilla Indian Reservation created.
1857 CE: Establishment of Grande Ronde Reservation (now known as Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon).
1864-1868 CE: The Snake War, conflict between the US and groups known as “Snake Indians”: Northern Paiute, Bannock and Western Shoshone. Conflict arose as white settlers encroached on Native lands, passing through on the Oregon Trail, setting up homesteads, and mining gold. The war is concluded via peace talks. Though overshadowed by other conflicts, this is the deadliest of the Indian War conflicts.
1872 CE: Establishment of Malheur Indian Reservation. It was closed in 1879, in part because of pressure from white settlers to take over the land.
1878 CE: Bannock War, conflict between the US and Bannock and Paiute tribes. Natives had felt pressures from white settlers for years, suffering attacks and dramatic changes to their way of life. A reservation is set up as protection, but only exacerbates good shortages and other problems. Bannock warriors attack white settlers, who retaliate. At the war’s conclusion, natives are moved to reservations in Oregon and Washington, far from their ancestral homes.
1879 CE: Establishment of Warm Springs Reservation.
1887 CE: The Dawes Act grants citizenship to Native American men who accept land allotments from the federal government (and who live separately from their tribe/adopt a more European-American lifestyle); in 1906, the Burke Act no longer requires Natives to leave the reservation. People considered to be of “mixed blood” might receive better land but are required to accept US citizenship and renounce tribal status.
1900-1930 CE: Peak of Native Hawaiian immigration to Oregon and Washington; Hawaiians mainly work in agricultural positions.
1924 CE: The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 grants citizenship to all Native people; the courts had not recognized automatic citizenship for Natives under the 14th amendment.
1954 CE: The US Government issues a series of termination acts, no longer recognizing tribes, restricting or disposing of federally held property, and ending federal services. The Western Oregon Indian Termination Act terminates 61 tribes.
1977 CE: Siletz Restoration Act; federal recognition of the tribe is restored.
1982 CE: Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians Restoration Act; federal recognition of the tribe is restored.
1983 CE: Grande Ronde Restoration Act; federal recognition of the tribe is restored.
1984 CE: Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians Restoration Act; federal recognition of the tribe is restored.
1989 CE: Coqille Indian Tribe Restoration Act; federal recognition of the tribe is restored.
1994 CE: Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians opens Oregon’s first casino.
1998 CE: Tamástslikt Cultural Institute opens; it tells the story of westward expansion from the Native American point of view.
2001 CE: Thanks to the work of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passes a bill mandating the removal of the word “squaw” from place names.
2007 CE: The Oregon Legislature honors Gladys Thompson (d. 2010), the last fully fluent speaker of Kiksht, an Upper Chinook language.
2015 CE: Cities in Oregon, including Portland and Corvallis, begin adopting Indigenous Peoples’ Day.