[03] Who Settled in OR pre-1950?

Natives
The first peoples to inhabit the area were nomadic hunter-gatherers that lived in small bands. Native tribes that settled in Oregon include the Chinook (pic to right), Tillamooks, and Nez Perce (to name some familiar ones). The ones on the coast took part in fishing activities where food was stored and harvested in summer and fall. The Chinookans carved canoes and made wooden spirit figures at grave sites. The Tututni and Chetco of the south coast bartered for raw materials. Western Oregon Indians had connections of trade and commerce reaching into northern California and to coastal Washington and British Columbia. They were involved in the flow of dentalium shells, elk hide armor, slaves, and surplus foods. Their lifeways echoed the strong traditions of art, ceremony, social class distinction, emphasis on wealth that ran for hundreds of miles along the North Pacific Coast.

The people living between the Cascades and Rocky Mountains fished, gathered fruit, and hunted deer and elk. They had to rely on seasonal migration between rivers and upland areas. Their environment included summers that were hot and windy and winters that were cold and windy. Women picked berries in the nearby mountains and men ran down deer in the snow to secure meat and hides for clothing and moccasins. They dipped, clubbed, netted, and speared salmon and wind-dried them in curing sheds along the river.

The peoples of the Great Basin traveled in extended family groups or as bands for communal hunts. Great Basin residents had a mixed economy. They hunted, fished, trapped, dug, and picked food resources. They moved based on the seasons to search for subsistence.


Nez Perce Tribe




The first official recorded visit of the Oregon coast is in 1792 by Robert Gray. He was an American trading captain who came upon the Columbia River. His find was further investigated by William Broughton, a British Army lieutenant. He sailed up the Columbia River George. Eventually, a fur trade grew in the area between American and British entrepreneurs and native peoples. Such things they traded were beaver and sea-otter pelts, tools, weapons, and cloth.

By 1805, Lewis and Clark explored the area and found the site of present day Astoria. After their journey, many white pioneers (fur trappers and traders) came to claim the land for the US. Around the 1840s, many people began to pour into OR. Pioneers came from the east coast Border States and merchants came by ship lead to the population explosion that lead to the development of the OR Territory in 1848 and eventually statehood.




The British Hudson's Bay Company, led by Dr. John McLoughlin, became the dominant force in the economy. This fur-trading company directed activities throughout the region and built the original capital of the Oregon Territory in Oregon City at the northern end of the Willamette Valley. In 1846, the British renounced claims in the area when signing the Oregon Treaty.

A major migration into the area happened in 1843 when pioneers traveled the Oregon Trail to settle in the Wullamette Valley. They depended on agriculture to make a living and wheat became a staple. In 1851, US surveyors divided the land into townships. This land measures 6 miles on each side, divded up into 36 sections, and each section had 640 acres.

In the 1870s, railroads were extended into the state. Waterway use became ineffective because of the availability of transport over the land. When automobiles were manufactured, the urban growth of the state began. Because of Oregon’s lush forestry, the logging industry came and the majority of logging activities take place in the state to provide for the rest of the country.



Sources
History of Oregon
Oregon Blue Book
General Oregon State History
Travel Guide: Fodor's Pacific Northwest