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    Messrs. Editors.---Having just returned from an expedition up the Klamath River and its tributaries, I give you a brief statement of the diggings in that remote region, as far as I was able to learn by my own exertions. After several unsuccessful attempts to cross the mountains from Trinity River to the Klamath in a direct northerly course, we were compelled to follow the Trinity down to its junction with the Klamath. At the mouth of Trinity, we found three large Indian villages, with houses built of planks split out of redwood, and covered with redwood boards, in a manner which indicated that those Indians possessed more intelligence and culture than any other tribe we had yet met with in California. The Indians themselves were of a more warlike disposition, and possessed the faculties of the most expert thieves of any large city. While we were unpacking our mules, they stole, notwithstanding our closest attention, our axe, crowbar, blankets, the knives out of our very belts; they seemed to have a wonderful desire for iron. We being only 14 in number, open revenge or hostility would have proved fatal, as we were completely surrounded by several hundred Indians, who had their bows and sharp-pointed arrows ready. However, we got off safely, and found our way up the Klamath over a rugged and rocky trail, where the best of mules lost their foothold sometimes, and rolled down the precipices. After four days' very fatiguing journey, we arrived at the mouth of Salmon River, where we intended to stop and prospect, and, if favorable, go to work. The result of our prospects were not so flattering as we anticipated—the gold being deposited in small quantities from two to three cents the pan. Sometimes a crevice in a rock would yield $50 to a day's labor; but this good luck was seldom met with. Some of the bars paid as high as an ounce per day to the man, but then the gold was in the topsoil, and therefore soon worked out. As near as I could find out, this seems to be the case with most all the rivers on the Coast Range mountains; few bars would pay, the gold being chiefly found in the topsoil, and rich crevices scarce. From this very reason you can account for so many disappointments met on Trinity. A few individuals have done well in a canion, in a crevice, or in some bar that had not previously been worked out. The gold being all in the topsoil, men would work out their claim in a short time, and then be obliged to seek other places. Moving about will not do in any mines, and especially in such as Trinity and Klamath, where the worst of mountain trails makes the moving very tedious, difficult, and expensive. It is no small matter to take your bundle on your back, and carry your provisions over mountains which require hours to ascend, and hours to go down again. As for dry diggings, we have not been able to discover any, nor have we been able to find any flats, or even gently descending ravines, where the gold is most apt to lay. Mountain joins mountain, and the gulches are very rocky and steep; that is, as far as we were able to ascend the river. There may be a better-looking gold region at the head of Klamath and Shasta River, which empties into the Klamath, above Salmon River; but our provisions giving out, we were obliged to return. Since our return, parties have started up to Shasta River, and no doubt the public will be informed, ere Iong, how that remote region will reward the enterprise of the prospecting miner.
    On our return from the Klamath, at its junction with the Trinity, we found the Indians very hostile; and not feeling very good humored after having lost so many useful articles, we determined this time to give them their just due. After having appointed an old mountaineer for our captain, we attacked their village and succeeded in routing the Indians. Most of them took to their canoes, which they manage with great dexterity, and effected their escape; some, however, we were able to take prisoners, so as to recover our stolen mining utensils and clothing; and some had to pay with their life for exasperating the whites by their depredations. We had ample opportunity to witness their great skill in shooting arrows, which frequently fell among us from a distance of 250 yards. The deadly fire of our rifles kept them in awe, and since this little affray, we have heard from parties, which ascended the river afterwards, that the lesson we taught them stopped their marauding, and the Indians now behave more peaceably and are more friendly to the whites. Still I would recommend to persons who start for that region to be well armed, and not trust these Indians, nor allow them to come into camp, for they are treacherous and warlike, and would not hesitate to kill a small party. Salmon fish abound in the river, and for a few strings of beads, we secured many an excellent meal of the most delicious salmon in the world.
Sacramento Transcript, September 11, 1850, page 2


    Friday, Oct. 17th.--. . . Mr. Roach and Mr. Charles McDermit had recently also ascended the 'Batinko," or Indian Creek, a branch emptying from the west, two or three miles above, and heading in the Siskiyou Mountains, between the Klamath and Rogue's River. From thence they crossed to the head of Cañon Creek, which runs into a larger stream, now called Illinois River. Of this last there has been much dispute; some supposing it to be a distinct river, emptying into the Pacific near the Oregon line. The better opinion, however, seems to be that it is a fork of Rogue's River, which it enters ten or twelve miles from its mouth. Upon it is a large and fertile valley. The country upon Rogue's River itself is spoken of with great praise by all who have seen it, as containing fine farming valleys. The Indians of the Illinois Valley are said to speak the language of this part of the Klamath (the Shasta), and not that of Rogue's River. We were further informed that Joe, the head chief of the Rogue's River Indians, the same with whom Major Kearny had his contest during the past summer, and who is now living in peace with the whites, at the ferry on the Oregon trail, claims the Shasta tribes as properly his subjects, although they yield him no allegiance. Be this as it may, the fact of a pretty intimate connection between the Indians on the upper part of both rivers, is clear. We heard of one custom prevailing in the Illinois Valley, which is different from the practice here: that of burning the bodies of those killed in battle, instead of burying them, as they do in cases of natural death.
George Gibbs, "Journal of the Expedition of Colonel Redick McKee in the Summer and Fall of 1851," in Ethnological Researches Respecting the Red Man of America, Part III, Philadelphia 1853, page 155


    SHASTA.--At the time of the Rogue River war the Shastas, or Shasteecas, became involved in the rebellion of their neighbors, and after their defeat the warriors of both tribes were removed, with their families, to the Grand Ronde and Siletz reserves in Oregon. Hence, they almost entirely disappeared from their old homes in the Shasta and Scott valleys, which are drained by affluents of the Klamath River, and also from their homes on Klamath River, from Clear Creek upwards. Nouns form their plurals by adding oggára, ukára, many, and the language does not sound disagreeably to our ears. We know this vocalic tongue only through a few words, collected by Dana; the Smithsonian Institution owns three vocabularies. The Scott's Valley band was called Watsahéwa; the names of other bands were T-ka, Iddoa, Hoteday, We-ohow.
    PIT RIVER.--The Pit River Indians, a poor and very abject-looking lot of natives, live on upper Pit River and its side creeks. In former years they suffered exceedingly from the raids of the Modocs and Klamath Lakes, who kidnapped and kept them as slaves, or sold them at the slave market at Yánex [Yainax] in Southern Oregon. Like the Pomos and most other Californians, they regard and worship the coyote-wolf as the creator and benefactor of mankind. Powers calls their language "hopelessly consonantal, harsh and sesquipedalian, very unlike the sweet and simple tongues of the Sacramento River." Redoubling of the root seems to prevail here to a large extent. A few words from a sub-dialect are given by Mr. Bancroft, which do not differ materially from the Palaik (or mountaineer) vocabulary printed in Transactions of Am. Ethnol. Soc., vol. II, p. 98. After a military expedition to their country, General Crook ordered a removal of many individuals of this tribe to the Round Valley reserve, where they are now settled. Pú-su, Pú-isu is the Wintoon name of the Pit River Indians, meaning eastern people. According to Mr. Powers' statement (Overland Monthly, [May] 1874, pp. 412, sgg.), the Pit River Indians are subdivided in: Achomáwes in the Fall River basin; from achoma river, meaning Pit River. Hamefcuttelies, in Big Valley. Astakaywas or Astakywich, in Hot Spring Valley; from astakày, hot spring. Illmawes, opposite Fort Crook, south side of Pit River. Pácamallies, on Hat Creek.
    KLAMATH.--The watershed between the Sacramento and Columbia River Basin consists of a broad and mountainous tableland rising to an average height of four to five thousand feet, and embellished by beautiful sheets of fresh water. The central part of this plateau is occupied by the Klamath Reservation, which includes lakes, prairies, volcanic ledges, and is the home of the Klamath stock of Indians, who inhabit it together with the two Shoshoni tribes mentioned above. The nation calls itself (and other Indians) Máklaks, the encamped, the settlers, a term which has been transcribed into English Múckalucks, and ought to include all the four divisions given below. About 145 Modocs were, after the Modoc War of 1873, removed to Quápaw Agency, Indian Territory. The language is rich in words and synonyms, only slightly polysynthetic, and lacks the sounds f and r. They divide themselves into: Klamaths or Klamath Lakes, E-ukshikni, from e-ush, lake; on Big Klamath Lake. Modocs originally inhabiting the shores of Little Klamath Lake, now at Yánex [Yainax]. The Pit Rivers call them Lútuam; and they call the Pit Rivers Móatuash or southern dwellers. Kómbatuash, grotto or cave dwellers, from their abode in the Lava Bed caves--a medley of different races. Some Mólele or Molále, renegades of the Cayuse tribe, have recently become mixed with Rogue Rivers and Klamaths, and have adopted the Klamath language in consequence. No Klamath sub-dialects exist, the idioms of all these tribes being almost identical. Klamaths and other Southern Oregonians communicate with other tribes by means of the Chinook jargon.
    THE TINNÉ FAMILY.--The Tinné family of languages, which extends from the inhospitable shores of the Yukon and Mackenzie rivers to Fraser River, and almost to Hudson's Bay, sent in bygone centuries a powerful offshoot to the Rio Grande del Norte and the Gila rivers, now represented by the Apache, Lipan and Návajo. Other fragments of the Tinné stock, represented by less populous tribes, wandered south of the Columbia River, and settled on the coast of the Pacific Ocean; they were the Kwalhioqua, Tlatskanai, Umpqua, Rogue Rivers (or Rascal Indians) and the Hoopa. Following them up in the direction from south to north, we begin with the Hoopa.
    Hoopa.--The populous and compact Hoopa (or better, Húpô) tribe has its habitation on the Trinity, near its influx into Klamath River, California, and for long years kept in awe and submission the weaker part of the surrounding tribes and clans, exacting tributes, and even forcing their language upon some of them, as upon the Chimalaquays on New River, the Kailtas on Redwood Creek, and upon the two Pomo bands above mentioned. Powers holds their language to be copious in words, robust, strong in utterance, and of martial simplicity and rudeness. The Wylakies, or, Wi Lakees, near the western base of Shasta Butte, speak a Hoopa dialect. No information is at hand to decide whether the Lassics on Mad River, the Tahahteens on Smith River, and a few other tribes, speak, as the assumption is, Tinné dialects or not.
    Rogue River.--The Tototen, Tootooten, or Tututamys tribe, living on Rogue River and its numerous side creeks, Oregon, speaks a language which is, like the majority of Oregonian and northern tongues, replete of guttural and croaking sounds. According to Dr. Hubbard, whose vocabulary is published in Taylor's California Farmer, this nation comprised in 1856 thirteen bands, consisting in all of 1,205 individuals. (See article Shasta.) The appearance of the numerals, the terms for the parts of the human frame, many other nouns and the pronoun, mine, my (ho, hwo, hu), induced me to compare them with the Tinné languages. They differ considerably from Hoopa and Taculli, but singularly agree with Apache and Návajo, and Tototen has, therefore, to be introduced as a new offshoot of the coast branch into the great Tinné or Athapascan family of languages. The Smithsonian Institution owns two vocabularies, inscribed "Rogue River," two "Tootooten," and one "Toutouten."
    Umpqua.--The Umpquas live in and around Alsea sub-agency, on the sea coast, together with the Alsea, Sayústkla and Coos Indians. Their idiom is softer than the other branches of the Tinné stock. Further north we find two other small tribes of the same origin, whose languages were studied only by Horatio Hale, of Wilkes' exploring expedition. One of them was the Tlatskanai, south of Columbia River; the other, the Kwalhioqua, at the outlet of this stream, both extremely guttural. On account of the smallness of the tribes speaking them, these idioms have probably become extinct; their owners merged into other tribes, and were identified with them beyond recognition. They roved in the mountains at some distance from the coast and the Columbia, living on game, berries and esculent roots.
Albert S. Gatschet, "Indian Languages of the Pacific States and Territories," in W. W. Beach, ed., The Indian Miscellany, Albany 1877, pages 438-441


    The principal tribes with whom our history has to deal were the Rogue Rivers, Shasta, Klamaths, Modocs and Umpquas. Among the first four are found strong race affinities, and they spoke dialects of the same language. Their localities adjoined, their intercommunication was frequent, and in time of war they often fought side by side. For a detailed description of these savages, see Mr. Bancroft's work on the Native Races of the Pacific Coast, wherein is embraced an enormous quantity of information bearing upon the subject. The four tribes first mentioned abode in the contiguous valleys of the Rogue, Klamath, Shasta and Scott rivers and their affluents, and in the vicinity of Klamath, Tule, Clear and Goose Lakes. The country about the three latter belonging exclusively to the Modocs, whose habitations were mainly in California. The Rogue River Valley was occupied, previous to the advent of the whites, by the powerful and important tribe known by the name of the river. Branches of the tribe, more or less corrupted by intermixture with the neighboring Umpquas and others, lived on the Illinois, Applegate, Big Butte and other tributary streams, always paying to the head chief of the tribe the allegiance customary to the aboriginal headship. Along the Klamath River and about Klamath Lake dwelt a strong tribe, generally known as the Klamaths. The Shastas had their home about the base of the great mountain of that name. These four tribes, apparently equally numerous and powerful, formed, with others, what Bancroft has styled the Klamath family. "This family is in every way superior to the more southern tribes. In physique and character they approached more nearly to the Indians of Eastern Oregon than to the degraded and weak tribes of Central California. The Rogue River Indians were an exception to the general rule of deterioration on approaching the coast, for in their case the tendency to improve toward the north held good; so that they were in many respects superior to those of the interior.
    "The Klamaths formerly were tall, well-made and muscular, with complexions varying from black to light brown, according to their proximity to large bodies of water. Their faces were large, oval and heavily molded, with slightly prominent cheekbones; nose well set and eyes keen and bright. The women were short and sometimes quite handsome, even in a Caucasian sense." Powers, in the Overland Monthly, wrote of the Klamaths: "Their stature is a trifle less than Americans; they have well-sized bodies, strong and well knit. With their smooth skins, oval faces, plump and brilliant eyes, some of the young maidens--barring the tattooed skins--have a piquant and splendid beauty." Gibbs, in Schoolcraft's Archæology, says: "Many of the women were exceedingly pretty, having large, almond-shaped eyes, sometimes of a hazel color, and with the red showing through the cheeks. Their figures were full, their chests ample; and the young ones had well-shaped busts and rounded limbs." On the other hand most travelers have failed to remark any special beauty in these tribes, and some have characterized the women as "clumsy, but not ill-favored."
    As for clothing, the men of the Klamath family anciently wore only a belt, sometimes a breechclout, and the women an apron or skirt of deer skin or braided grass. In colder weather they threw over their shoulders a cloak or robe of marten or rabbit skins sewn together, deer skin, or among the coast tribes sea otter or seal skin. They tattooed themselves, the men on the chest and arms, the women on the face in three blue lines extending perpendicularly from the center and corners of the mouth to the chin. In some few localities, more especially near the lakes, the men painted themselves in various colors and grotesque patterns.
    Their houses were of designs common to many tribes. Their winter dwellings, varying with locality, were principally of two forms, conical and square. Those of the former shape prevailed most widely and were thus built: A circular hole, from two to five feet deep and of variable width, was dug. Round this pit or cellar stout poles were driven into the ground, which being drawn together at the top, formed the rafters of the building. A covering of earth several inches deep was placed over the rafters, a hole was left at the top to serve both as door and chimney, to which rude ladders composed of notched poles gave access. Some houses were built of heavy timber forming a beehive-shaped structure. The temporary summer houses of these tribes were square, conical or conoidal in shape, by driving light poles perpendicularly into the ground and laying others across them, or by drawing the upper ends together at the top. Huts having the shape of an inverted bowl were built by driving both ends of poles into the ground. These frames, however shaped, were covered with neatly woven tule matting, or with bushes and ferns. The ground beneath was sometimes scooped out and thrown up in a low circular embankment.
    The men of the tribes were usually practiced hunters. A portion of their food during a great part of the year was the wild game of the forest, and this they approached and captured with considerable adroitness. The elk, too large and powerful to be taken by bows and arrows, was sometimes snared; and the same fate befell the deer and antelope. The bear was far beyond the power of the natives when their only weapons were the bow and arrow, but after their acquisition of the white man's rifle they have hunted bruin with success. The last grizzly bear ever seen west of the Cascades was killed in 1877, by Don Pedro, a Klamath, near White Rock Butte, east of Roseburg.
    Fishing was a more congenial and more productive occupation than hunting. Its results were more certain, and in the prolific waters of the Klamath and Rogue, more abundant as well. Several methods were in vogue for taking fish. Sometimes a dam of interwoven twigs was placed across a rapid so as to intercept the salmon in their periodical visits to deposit their spawn. Within niches suitably contrived the fish collected and were speared. These dams often required an immense amount of work in their construction, especially if upon a large stream. On Rogue River the fish were speared by torchlight in a manner similar to that in use in Canada and the far north. Many trout were taken from small streams by beating the water with brush, whereby the fish were driven into confined spans and dipped out. Bancroft says: "When preserved for winter use, the fish were split open on the back, the bones taken out, and then dried or smoked. Both meat and fish, when eaten fresh, are either broiled on hot stones, or boiled in watertight baskets into which hot stones are thrown to make the water boil. Bread is made of acorns ground to flour in a stone mortar with a heavy stone pestle, and baked in the ashes. Acorn flour is the principal ingredient, but berries of various kinds are usually mixed in, and frequently seasoned with some high-flavored herb. A sort of pudding is also made in the same manner, but it is boiled instead of baked."
    The Indians gathered a great variety of roots, berries and seeds which they made use of for food. The principal root used was the camas, great quantities of which were collected and dried during summer and stored for the coming winter's provision. This is a bulbous root much like an onion, and is familiar to nearly every old resident of Oregon. Another root called kice or kace was held in high esteem; it was bulbous, about an inch long, of a bitterish taste like ginseng. The ip-ar e-pua or e-par root was a prominent article of diet and grew abundantly upon the banks of the Rogue and other rivers. There were several varieties of grass seeds, the huckleberry, blackberry, salmonberry, squawberry, manzanita berry and perhaps others, which entered into the diet of the Indian generally, or as governed by the locality in which they grew. At Klamath Lake the pond lily grows in profusion; and its seeds, called wo-cus by the savages, formed an article of diet of which they were very fond. The women, as is invariably the case among the North American Indians, performed all the work of gathering these comestibles and of preparing them likewise. The men were not in any degree an exception to the general rule of laziness and worthlessness. Their only active days were when in pursuit of game or their enemies. Wars among these Indians were of frequent occurrence, but were hardly ever long or bloody. The casus belli was usually lovely woman. Wicked sorceries inflicted by one people on another were also causes of war. If one tribe obstructed a salmon stream so as to prevent their neighbors above from obtaining a supply of food the act often provoked war. No scalps were taken, but the dead foeman was decapitated--a fate meted out to all male prisoners, while the women and children were spared to be the property of the conquerors.
    Their bows were usually about three feet long, made of yew or some other tough wood; the back was an inch and a half in width and was covered with the sinews of the deer. The arrows were about two feet long, and occasionally thirty inches. They were made of reeds, were feathered and had a tip of obsidian, glass or iron. They often made their arrows in two sections, the front one containing the tip being short and fastened by a socket so contrived as to leave the tip in a wounded animal, while the longer and more valuable feathered section dropped upon the ground and could be found in the fleeing animal's trail. Poisoned arrows seem to have been in use, especially among the Modocs, who used the venom of the rattlesnake for the purpose. They macerated the reptile's head in a deer's liver which, putrefying, absorbed the poison and assumed the virulent character itself. Arrows dipped therein were regarded as capable of producing death. There is no record of these poisoned arrows having been used with fatal effect on a white man, but there is no good reason to suppose that in the absence of remedies a wound of this sort would be otherwise than fatal.
    The Indian women ingeniously plaited grass, tule or fine willow roots into baskets, mats, etc. The baskets constructed for cooking purposes would retain water and were even used as kettles for boiling that fluid. Stones, heated very hot, were thrown into the vessel, whereby heat was communicated to the water. Canoes were made from the trunk of a tree, hollowed out and shaped by means of fire. Pine, fir and cottonwood were the species used, and the completed vessel was blunt at each end, and those made by the Rogue River Indians were flat bottomed. The tree having been felled by burning off, or being found as a windfall, was burned off to the required length and hollowed out by the same agency. Pitch was spread on the portion to be burned away, and a piece of fresh bark served to prevent the flames from spreading too far. These canoes were propelled by means of paddles. Such constructions of course lacked the requisite lightness and grace of the birchbark canoes of the far eastern Indians, nor could they equal them in speed or handiness.
    Canoes, women, weapons of war and the chase, and the skins of animals formed the most valued property of these savages, and were articles of trade. Wealth was estimated in strings of shell money like the wampum of eastern aborigines, but this money was here known as alli-as-chick or ali-qua-chick. This circulating medium was a small white shell, hollow and valued at from five to twenty dollars. Hence the monetary standard of these savages was variable like that of more civilized nations, but was probably a source of less confusion and speculation. White deer skins and the scalps of redheaded woodpeckers seem to have been articles of great estimation, possessing fictitious values depending upon the dictates of fashion. These articles were the insignia of wealth and were (as) sought after by the Indians as sealskin garments and diamonds are affected by the higher classes of white society. "Wives, also, as they had to be purchased, were a sign of wealth, and the owner of many was thereby distinguished above his fellows." To be a chief among the Klamaths or Rogue Rivers presupposed the possession of wealth. Power was not hereditary, and the chief who became too old to govern was summarily deposed. La-lake, the peaceable old chief of the former tribe, was compelled in his later years to give place to a younger man. Each village had a headman who might be styled chief, who held his power in some way subordinate to the main tribal chiefs, but whose actions in most ways were not regulated by the head chief. A new settlement being formed, a chief was elected who held his power until deposed by his subjects or until death removed him. Frequently from a multiplicity of candidates for the chiefship two were chosen, who together administered the affairs of the tribe, the divided authority appearing to have been consistent with peace and friendliness. One of the two was usually styled peace chief, the other war chief. A well-known example of this is seen in Sam and Joe, brothers, and respectively war chief and peace chief of the Rogue Rivers. However, it does not appear that the duties of the two were in any case divided, or that the occurrence of war necessitated the intermission of the peace chief's authority. As the case of the two chiefs mentioned, Joe, probably a more skillful warrior, assumed the conduct of warfare in 1853, and possibly in 1851, though the latter fact is not fully ascertained.
    The Indians of Southern Oregon and Northern California were a filthy race, viewed from a Caucasian standpoint, but probably did not surpass other aborigines in that respect. Their habits of life were such as to render them subject to parasites of all sorts, so much so that an Indian deprived of the presence of pediculus would be an anomaly. "The Rogue Rivers bathed daily; yet they brought out with them the dirt which encased their bodies when they went in. Their heavy, long and thickly matted hair afforded refuge for vermin which their art could not remove. To destroy in some measure this plague they were in the habit of burning their houses occasionally and rebuilding with fresh materials."
    The Umpqua region and the coast between the Siuslaw and Coos Bay were inhabited by the Umpquas and minor related tribes. These possessed many tribal divisions of which the names have mostly perished. Ultimately they belonged to the extensive family called by Bancroft the Chinooks, a division of the Columbians so-called. Anciently the Umpquas were a tribe of importance and strength, though individually far inferior to the Klamath family. This is true in regard to physique and mental qualities. In stature the men rarely exceeded five and a half feet nor the women five feet. Both sexes were heavily and loosely built, and were much deformed by their squatting position, and had every appearance of degeneration. Their faces were broad and round, their nostrils large, the mouth wide and thick-lipped, teeth irregular, countenance void of expression and vivacity, yet often regular.
    As to clothing, the Umpquas were not in any way peculiar. The men wore no covering in fair or warm weather, but in severe seasons adopted a garment made of the skins of animals. Females wore a skirt of cedar fibers fastened around the waist and hanging to the knees. In cold weather they wrapped a robe of sea otter or other skins about the body.
    Fish formed a staple article of diet with the Umpquas, salmon and salmon trout being the principal varieties, which were, and still are, abundant in the Umpqua River and its tributaries during certain seasons. The fish, being caught in some approved Indian fashion, was roasted before fires. Being cut into convenient-sized portions, it was impaled on a pointed stick, first being stuck through with splinters to prevent it from falling to pieces. Thus broiled, the fresh salmon or trout formed a very welcome and toothsome addition to their limited cuisine.
    In times before the coming of the whites the Rogue Rivers and Shastas had frequent wars with the Umpquas, but finally, through mutual interest, effected a coalition. From this time the power of the latter tribe began to wane. In the decade ending in 1850, the Klickitats, a powerful and restless tribe from beyond the Columbia, entered the Umpqua Valley, having conquered all the Indians whom they met in the Willamette Valley, and subjected the Umpquas also to defeat. They occupied a portion of the latter's country and became the dominant tribe northward of the Rogue River Valley. The Klickitats were equally renowned in trade and war, and their services were in request by the whites at various times when other tribes were to be fought. In 1851 sixty Klickitat warriors, well mounted and armed, offered themselves to assist in the war against the Rogue Rivers, but their presence was not desired. Similar to these were the Des Chutes, a small but active tribe, who, under their chief, Sem-tes-tis, made expeditions for purposes of war or barter from their homes east of the Cascades as far as Yreka, where, in 1854, they assisted the whites against the Shastas. In some of their characteristics the Klickitats irresistibly bring to mind the early Jews, whose migrations, success in war and love of barter form strong points of resemblance to this Indian tribe's peculiarities. Some few of the Klickitats yet remain in the eastern part of Douglas County, where they own and till farms, and are useful members of that community.
    As regards the origin of these tribes, only conjecture is at hand. Not enough is known on that topic to serve for the foundation of a respectable hypothesis, although the common origin of all North American tribes has been taken for granted. From facts which have come under his notice, Judge Rosborough, formerly Indian agent in Northern California, is of the opinion that there have been three lines of aboriginal migration southward through Southern Oregon and Northern California, namely: one by the coast, dispersing toward the interior; secondly, that along the Willamette Valley, crossing the Calapooia Mountains and the Umpqua and Rogue rivers, Shasta and Scott valleys; the other wave coming up the Des Chutes River and peopling the vicinity of the lakes. As an evidence of the second movement it is known that all the tribes inhabiting the region referred to spoke the same language and confederated against their neighbors, particularly the Pit River Indians, who arrested their course in the south. The traditions of the Shastas show they had driven a tribe out of their habitation and occupied it themselves.
    The Klamaths have been known among themselves and surrounding tribes as Muck-a-lucks, Klamaths, Klamets, Luuami (their own name), and Tlamath. The Rogue Rivers, according to various authorities, called themselves To-to-ten, Tutatamy, Totutime, Tootouni, Tootooton, Tutoten, Tototin, Tutotutna, and Too-toot-na; all of which may be regarded as the same word, uttered variously by individuals of different tribes, and reproduced in writing as variously. For the purposes of this history their ordinary designation, Rogue Rivers, will be adopted, inasmuch as they have attained a celebrity under that name, and as it in consequence conveys a readier meaning than either of the native words the use of which, in addition, carries a suspicion of pedantry. Tribal designations among the Indians, it is to be observed, were and are exceedingly indefinite and troublesome to the student. For example: tribes of restricted numbers frequently call themselves by the name of their head chief; and the tribal name is frequently used indifferently with that of the chief. The Klamaths for a time called themselves, and were called by their white neighbors, La-lakes. Their principal chief also bore that name, and by it was known to a large part of the state. The name, beyond doubt, is la-lac--meaning, in French, the lake, and was applied by French or Canadian travelers or trappers, in allusion to the great Klamath Lakes, upon whose shores these people dwelt. Adopted by the natives, this foreign word was applied to the tribe and to the great peace chief, who became in his day the most eminent of his race. The habit of loosely applying their designations has made the study of Indian traditions and history very difficult indeed, and is probably the most fruitful source of error which presents itself in the pursuit of aboriginal archaeology.
Albert G. Walling, in David D. Fagan, History of Benton County, Oregon, Portland 1885, pages 178-184


    It is the aim of the writer to give in two articles a sketch of some of the tribes that formerly lived at the head of the Klamath River, down that stream to its mouth, and up the coast to Rogue River, up that stream to and in the valley above, in which their customs, superstitions, manufactures, internal commerce, villages and shell heaps will be noted. According to the best information to be obtained from the old men of the middle Klamath Indians, there were three distinct tribes on the river, but not including the Shastas, who occupied a short stretch of the stream immediately west of the Modocs. Beginning at the Klamath lakes, but not including Lalake's band at Klamath Marsh, there were the Modocs, signifying head of the river; Carocs, the middle river, and the Eurocs, lower river. The latter extended to the mouth, and for a few miles on the coast above and below. At Crescent City, eighteen miles up the coast, the general name of Cocpee extended to and included Smith River and valley. Above that to Chetco River, and up to Pistol River, Chit, or Chetco, was the name acknowledged by the old natives. Smith River and to the mouth of Rogue River, the general name of Chetcos seems, from the best information available, to apply to all the villages intervening. From the source of the Klamath to a stream coming into it about twenty miles above Cottonwood Station was the country of the peculiar and distinct tribe of Modocs, different in language and customs from the other tribes below to such an extent that there was, from the earliest times, up to the period of the annihilation of all of their tribal distinctions, a bitter and endless war. The different bands or villages usually had a local name to designate their particular locality, the Shastokas, or Shastas, who lived on the river of that name, being the most numerous of these bands. Being neighbors of the Modocs on the west, they were the principal ones to suffer during those endless feuds. The Modocs did not tattoo their women, but their neighbors were compelled to resort to that custom to protect their women from the Modocs, who were inveterate thieves of that part of the other tribes. The old Indians of other tribes have related how these thieves of female children used formerly to lie in wait and capture many of the female infants of their neighbors and convey them to distant parts and rear them up as their own; that it was an occupation of a certain class of Indians to do this kind of business, by which they accumulated much property and were held in high repute by the others of the tribe who were able to purchase these infants to add to their harems. These children would soon be indistinguishable among their captors, and the tribes on the west resorted to the custom of marking them in such a manner that the tribe to which they belonged could be at once
and, if possible, the child reclaimed by his tribe; even should it grow up to womanhood the marks would remain to tell the place of birth. This custom of tatooing extended to the Shastas in Shasta Valley, Scott Valley and across the Siskiyous into the valley of Rogue River and down that stream to its mouth and down the coast to the mouth of the Klamath and up that stream to the Shastas, so that all the tribes west of the Modocs, between Scott Mountains and the Umpqua Range, to the coast, had adopted the custom, but each tribe or locality had a form distinct from the others. These marks were usually three in number, one dropping from each corner of the mouth and one down the center of the chin. Sometimes more marks were [illegible] after the figure of a leaf, as the Carocs, who had the tattoo like the leaf or the fern. The tribes within this section, east of the Coast Range, where the rainfall was not great, did not build permanent villages, nor of any size or durability, but wandered from place to place in the summer months, living in temporary shelters of brush, mats and skins, but as winter approached they erected stronger lodges of upright poles, tied together at the top and spread at the bottom, so as to contain the desired space. Over and around these poles mats and skins were drawn, which formed a warm shelter from the seldom inclement winter storms. Each section of the country named usually had some native articles of commerce with the surrounding tribes; if not, then the inhabitants acted as the medium of commerce between their neighbors. It was exceedingly difficult for the white man to gain accurate information from the Indians in regard to anything that was not in sight, as it was and still is the habit of all savages to agree with the questioner if possible, or to give such answers as seemed to be the most acceptable, irrespective of the truth. Baron von Humboldt gives an amusing instance of this, which fully illustrates the annoying peculiarity. During his travels in South America, and while sitting with a native chief in a small grotto down the center of which ran a little stream of water and was soon lost to view around a curve of the bank, he said to the chief: "Is it not true that this stream of water runs around that bank yonder, then circles around and comes back down through the grotto?" "Certainly it is," said the chief; "if it does not do so, how is it possible that it keeps on running all the time?" Great care therefore was necessary in listening to answers that a false impression was not obtained. During the
many of the settlers on the Klamath River were observant of the native inhabitants, and by long years of acquaintance with them gained their confidence sufficiently to secure a correct statement of their peculiar superstitions. From one of these men, who yet resides on the Klamath, and was for years an official of the late Klamath County in California, the writer obtained much of the information contained in this and previous articles. The superstitions of all the tribes in Southern Oregon and Northern California were much the same, differing only in a few minor details. I shall take the Indians of the middle and lower Klamath as a sample, for they tally well with the Modocs, Shastas, Rogue Rivers, and exactly with the tribes on the immediate coast. From their central position they were no doubt influenced by other outlying tribes, and will, therefore, best indicate the habits and superstitions of the whole. In all also a general conformity was observed, except as to articles manufactured and their houses. The nearer they approached the coast the larger and more substantial were their villages. The Indians seen today do not compare with those of early days in any particular; then they were a fair sample of manhood. Says Powers in his report regarding these Indians: "The Klamaths have well-sized bodies, erect and strongly built; the face in early manhood is nearly as oval as the Caucasian; cheekbones not over prominent; eye bright, well-sized and freely opened straight across the face; chin and forehead nearly on a line." The primitive dress of the women was a chemise of braided grass reaching, usually, from the waist to the knees, the material for which they obtained on the coast; or one of buckskin, thickly hung with marine shells and with beads manufactured from bone. The dress of the men was much more scant, almost universally consisting of a buckskin belt around the loins. In their primitive state both sexes bathed their bodies punctually every morning in cold water, and kept themselves generally in a cleanly condition, but their immediate surroundings, and their houses, were always wretchedly filthy. There were no ceremonies of marriage, but the affair was conducted entirely on a money basis. The men did much work besides the hunting and fishing. They built their houses and manufactured canoes when they could obtain the lumber. The Modocs on the upper river derived much benefit from the lower Indians in furnishing them with bows, which they manufactured from the small limbs of the juniper trees. The Coast Indians at Crescent City also manufactured bows from the yew, which were more highly prized than were those made from juniper. There was some barter between the tribes, but
which consisted of the red scalps of the woodpeckers, white shell beads with a hole in the center and strung together like a string of white buttons, periwinkle shells, and long, white, smoothly polished tusk-like shells which were the most valuable, the value of which was determined by measuring them on the joints of the middle finger. When the whites first came into the country the Indians freely paid $5, and often as high as $10, for the largest woodpecker scalps, and for the small ones generally $2.50. The tusk shells would bring from twenty-five cents to $2, according to length of shell, the shortest being about one, and the longest about four inches in length. Their unit of currency was a string of these shells the length of a man's arm, with a certain number of the shorter shells above the elbow, and a certain number of the longer ones below. For an arm's length of this money the Indians would give from $40 to $50 in gold. The white shell beads usually sold for $5 per yard, periwinkle shells $1 to $1.50 per yard, and fancy marine shells strung together, $3 to $15 per yard. These different kinds of money were called by the general name of alaquah-chick, which, literally understood, is "Indian money." Alaquah was the common name for Indian, while chick denoted money. When the whites went among them the Indians called the American money wah-geh-chick; wah-geh was the common name name for white men. The Coast Indians had the monopoly of all the shell money except the tusk shells, which came from the north coast and were probably known to the interior Indians as soon as they were to those on the south coast. The Modocs, Shastas and the tribes north of the Siskiyou Range monopolized the woodpecker scalp business, so that probably no one section was more prolific in money resources than another. Wah-geh, the name by which the Americans were designated on the lower Klamath and along the coast, up to the mouth of Rogue River, was, according to the traditions of the Chetco Indians, obtained as follows: A great many years ago the ancestors of the Chetco Indians and their near neighbors came down from the north to their present country and found it inhabited by
one of which was of robust stature, very numerous and exceedingly warlike; had large canoes and often went out to sea in them to fish and gather mussels from the distant rocks. The other race were less numerous, of a smaller type, and had white skins and were called wah-gehs, or white men; they were peaceable, timid and unwarlike. The ancestors of the Chetcos made immediate war upon the superior race, which lasted a long time and was cruel and exhaustive. At last the Chetcos prevailed and drove the natives further south, where their industry was soon lost. The Chetcos made slaves of the wah-gehs and waxed fat on the products of their labor. At last, when the Chetcos, after a long indulgence in feasting and dancing, were asleep, the wah-gehs deserted the country, and where they went was beyond the knowledge of their masters. After the lapse of a very long period of time, and the white men made their appearance on the coast, the natives thought that the wah-gehs had returned, larger in stature, more intelligent, and armed with new but deadly weapons. And so the white men are yet called by the few old ones remaining the old name of wah-geh. Along the coast from below Humboldt Bay to Rogue River, the beach is thickly strewn with driftwood, among which are redwood logs, and whole trees even, which have been tossed on the waves and thumped and ground on the pebbly beach till denuded of limbs and bark, and from such large trees the natives formerly manufactured their canoes. Cutting the trunk of a suitable tree into the desired lengths by means of fire and long-continued hacking with stone axes, chisels and adzes, they split a slab from one side a desired depth into the log, by means of elk horn and yew wedges. Turning the split side of the log uppermost, they spread pitch along the surface where it was desired to remove the wood for the purpose of hollowing out the canoe, then setting fire to the pitch the native shipbuilder would squat by the side of his work and regulate and aid the slow work of the fire. Redwood is notable for being almost inflammable when wet or green, and the very poorest fuel when dry, so that to burn and roughly gouge out an ordinary canoe of eighteen feet in length by three in width required the labor of a month. The largest of
occupied a master builder and one assistant a whole year to complete his vessel, beginning with the rough log and floating the finished craft upon the sea. In these large boats, and they were often forty feet in length and from six and a half to eight feet beam, they defied the combers on the river bars, and with but few exceptions came out victorious. Carefully and with scientific exactness--never a fault or flaw--the old carpenters wold pudder--burning, scraping, polishing with soapstones--till a canoe of real beauty of finish, design of curves and moldings of mathematical exactness, would be turned out from his primitive yard on the sand. When completed, they sold for a price corresponding to our money of from $10 to $100 each. Their villages were generally placed on a commanding spot, if any such were near the desired location. Sometimes on the river banks, the land would all be level, and in such cases the village site was selected at the base of the nearest bluff. The tribes from the mouth of Salmon River, on the Klamath to the coast, built permanent houses, and invariably in villages. Never was a single house built, as the white man does, alone, and far from neighbors. As before said, their villages were built on an elevation. There was a first row of houses on the edge of the bank, with a space of about ten feet of level ground in front, which was neatly paved with small, flat stones. The ends of the houses were invariably to the front. Back of the first row of houses a street of about twenty feet in width was left, and then another row of houses built, and so on as long as any additions were required to the town. Their houses were of varied dimensions, but an average house was 16x20 feet. A hole was first sunk in the ground about three feet narrower on all sides than the contemplated dimensions of the building. These excavations were usually four feet deep. Then wide redwood boards, generally two feet in width, and four or five feet long, were set up on end all around the excavation, and three feet back. These boards were split from large timber, after the expenditure of much time and labor, and carefully and neatly smoothed off with stone adzes; regular on the surface, and straight on the edge. A double course of these board=s lapped so as to break joints, formed the woodwork of the sides and ends of the houses. The end boards were carefully beveled on the upper end to correspond to the contemplated
which was invariably a quarter pitch. From the apex of the end boards was a half-flattened pole extending the length of the building, forming a ridgepole upon which rested the roof boards, fashioned and put on like the sides, with a lap, so as to keep out the rain. The door was a round hole in one end just large enough to admit the body of one individual at a time; their fire was placed in the center of the excavated hole, around which mats were often spread, constituting a not uncomfortable domicile. They slept on the floor around the fire, while on the bank of the excavation and inside of the side boards, they placed all their plunder not in use and their stores of food. That there are communities of people classed among the civilized, possibly of the enlightened as well, who live in no better or cleanly habitations, I will quote from Powers as a proof: "These smoke-blackened hamlets are thick along the Klamath and reminded me constantly of the villages in the canton of the Valois, only the Indians' cabins have only one story. On this account the Indian dwelling is more like the chalet. And they are every whit as clean, as comfortable and as substantial as those very sennhütten, wherein is manufactured the world-famous Emmethaler cheese, for I have been inside of both and I know whereof I speak." The ancient mode of burial among all of the tribes below the Columbia to Humboldt Bay was similar. The same holds good with the interior tribes 100 miles back, but further inland the custom materially changes, for the climate is drier, and the extra care to protect the bodies from excessive moisture was not required.
    The lower river and coast tribes buried their dead close to their villages, so as to be better able to prevent possible desecration, and to have their friends and relatives near them. The grave was a hole about three feet square and four or five feet deep. The sides were lined with split boards, usually redwood, two inches thick. Into this the corpse was placed in a sitting posture, surrounded by all [the] individual property which was prized the most by the dead that could be inserted into the cavity; the remainder, if any, was placed above the ground, on top of the grave. A board was placed over the head of the corpse to protect it, and then dirt was filled in till the space was full. A village burial place was, when possible, selected in front of the village. When death had taken away a relative or friend, their names were never afterward mentioned. The mere mention of the name of a dead relative was considered
and the highest crime that could be committed against another. They believed in the immortality of the soul. That the good sometimes came back in the form of birds and animals which were liked by the Indians, or were not dangerous or repulsive to them. The Klamath and Coast Indians were sure that the souls of bad Indians congregated in the grizzly bears, and no inducement was ever known to be sufficient to cause an Indian to even taste the meat of a grizzly. All Indians like to die and be buried where born, and be surrounded by their friends, for their names will never be mentioned; for the mere mention of a dead man's name causes his body to turn over and groan, and not be able, for a long time after, to recover his usual quiet and spiritual rest. They believed in Shaman, who was God, or old Medicine Man, and all or nearly all their propitiatory dances and ceremonies were notably analogous to those of the natives of eastern Siberia. Erman, in his travels to that country, says that he found satisfactory evidences of a connection by traffic on the coast between the natives of that country and the American Indians. He also found a similarity between the Hungarian language and that of the eastern Siberian tribes, and between the latter and those of the American shores, more particularly of the Algonquin tribes. Ledyard also says: "When I stood on the banks of the Obi and observed the natives in all their aspects, I could not convince myself that I did not have the natives of North America before me." The Indians of the coast always selected a spot near the mouth of a river for a village, where there were groups of rocks in the water near the shore, or at other sheltered spots where there were enough rocks to break the volume of the surf into fragments, so that they could obtain a good landing for their canoes. This is indicated all along the coast at these points by the size of the shell heaps, the rank vegetation where old shell heaps have decayed in the far distant past, and the always present absolute necessaries for a settlement, fresh water and a landing for canoes. The ancient kjokken-moddings along the coast of Denmark and those of the North Pacific coast are similar in location, formation and composition, but differing slightly in the latter, by reason of geographical separation. At Whaleshead, a few miles above the mouth of Chetco River, at an old modding,
an excavation twenty-eight feet deep has been made, but the bottom was not reached, and the following remains were found, which corresponds well with the composition of other ancient remains of the same extent and depth, viz: The bones of whales, sea lions, deer, elk, bear, and a little lower, towards the beach, under an accumulation eleven feet deep of bones and shells, human bones were exhumed from an old burial place, which--as before stated, was the ancient and present custom--had been placed in front of the village on lower ground, and had been gradually covered up by the sliding of shells and bones from above, and the gentle but incessant settling of fine sand and dust over them by the periodical winds. The shells, which are intermixed with the other rejectamenta, were principally those of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis, or californianus) but many other minor shells were intermingled. At the mouth of Smith River was a large and very old village, when the whites first went there, which stood on the top of an extremely ancient modding. These ancient remains were in layers and became more and more indistinct as their age and depth increased, until the whole was reduced to a dark, ash-like earth in which several stone implements were exhumed, the only objects remaining distinguishable as evidence of a prehistoric population. At the mouth of Chetco, on the west bank, stands the house of August Miller, which is on the site of one of the most extensive, if not the most ancient, of the moddings along that coast; in front of the house is a point of rock about 100 feet perpendicularly below, which is covered with a fine growth of small laurel, which has grown from the nuts left there by the natives many hundreds of years ago. Between this rock point and Miller's house, 300 feet distant, is the sloping face of the modding. Level cuts into this face have been made, though not starting from the bottom, but from an apparent ten feet above, which extended many feet back into the ancient deposit, resulting in finding stone implements of war, hunting, and for other uses, embedded in that dark ash-like earth before mentioned, which was formed by the union of decayed rejectamenta of tribes inhabiting the place thousands of years before. Throwing the
from their doors over the sloping bank they extended the modding, with the aid of driving sand, further from the bank of earth upon which the first houses were built, and higher in elevation; and thus age on age, village on village increased the extent of the first modest beginning, till today a pile of fertility which thousands of years would not suffice to exhaust by the ordinary draughts of nature remains as an enduring monument of a prehistoric race. On the left bank of Chetco, 3000 feet above the level of the sea, stone implements used by medicine men in their dark, mysterious incantations have been exhumed by a resident of the locality, which evidence a craft analogous to those of Indo-European sorcerers. The lack of all weapons for hunting game, except bows and arrows, caused the natives to resort to ingenious methods to trap the deer and elk, by which they secured a sufficiency, while supplemented by fish and fowls, which they never failed to have in their season. Their elk pits filled the woods and valleys, and often the unwary wah-geh walked into them as he threaded the tangled forests or groped through the matted fern, to his great disgust and not seldom grave discomfiture. Snaring ducks and other fowl was in them a pleasant pastime, and was often quite successful. A strong and wide, long net, made of twine of twisted seagrass, with meshes just large enough for waterfowl to push their heads through, was spread out in the sloughs or on the edges of the lagoons where the water was two feet deep, and held a foot above the bottom by stakes. Berries were then sprinkled over the bottom under the net, which would be seen by the fowl if any chanced to swim that way. They would be sure to dive for the berries, and so doing they would force their head through the meshes of the net, and when they attempted to return would be held down by the net, which would be drawn under the feathers, and, being in a helpless condition, would be powerless to create an alarm, and would quickly drown. When the net was sufficiently full the Indian would quietly paddle around and secure his game. During the winter months the fogs are heavy on the coast, and at just the break of day the lagoon Indians, with muffled oars, would paddle out into the midst of a flock of dozing mudhens unobserved in the fog, and before the drowsy fowls could escape they would lay about with long poles kept for the purpose among the hens, and in a few seconds have the water near them covered with the dead or crippled game. After securing what they could at once place they paddled slowly around till finding another flock, then with a few vigorous strokes with their paddles shoot out to the center and again ply their poles till the game was taken or scattered.
Oregonian, Portland, December 13, 1885, page 2


Not for those sensitive to racism or bad science:
    Along the coast of Oregon are numerous shell heaps which have remained almost unnoticed since the advent of the American people into the state. With a few exceptions no notice has been taken or examination made of the numerous remains of the ancient dwellers along the coast from San Francisco to the straits of Fuca. The Aleutian group have been examined carefully, and quite exhaustive reports made of the ancient remains found along the shores of the most important islands, especially those east of Ounalaska. The shell heaps there are more abundant and extensive, and as far as they have been examined, give evidence of extreme antiquity. From the generally suggestive theory of the advance of the inhabitants of eastern Asia to the southward long before the age of history, and thus being the progenitors of the North American tribes, the shell heaps of the north would considerably antedate these on the Oregon coast. Some there are, indeed, who differ materially with the advocates of this theory, so that the problem may remain indefinitely without a universally accepted solution. But with that this article has but little to do, and as there are abundant, extensive and very ancient piles which have been accumulated by human hands on our own coast, the writer proposes to describe them mostly from personal observation. A few months ago this matter of Oregon shell heaps had a short run in the Oregonian, and many were the theories advanced regarding their accumulation.
    Some thought that these piles of ancient refuse exhibited evidence of cannibalism, because of the finding of human bones among the rejected mass of shells. In a former article the reason for these bones being mixed with the shells was given from personal observation as early as 1851, of the general position of the burial places and the unusual disposition of the shells, bones and other rejectamenta by the Indians, who lived in villages built on the sites of some of the most ancient and extensive mounds on the coast of Oregon. That there is a probability that the primitive inhabitants along the coast were anthropophagi is admitted by many eminent antiquaries. But their existence, if at all, antedated [by] many thousand years the stratum in which the human bones were found, as stated by one of the writers noted above. These bones had been lifted out from some grave while excavating for houses or for a later grave. This guardedly advanced theory of the practice of cannibalism by the Northwest Coast tribes in very remote times will be examined further on. In the examination of evidences of
found on the shores of some of the Swiss lakes, notably of Zurich and Constance, nothing earlier than the stone age has yet been exhumed. In fact, all that has so far been found is of a more recent date than the evidences produced by the lower stratum of the shell mounds on the Oregon coast. On the shores of these lakes, under a not thick layer of mud, were found pieces of charcoal, stones blackened in the fire, cut bones and utensils of every description, giving evidence that a village had at a very remote period existed there. On Lake Pfaffikon flax and hemp stuffs, carbonized wheaten bread, canoes, and the quite positive evidence of the position of a ridge from the mainland to their pile-supported village were found. That these pile dwellings belonged to the stone age and not earlier, there is no dispute. But the cave dwellers, such as those of Thayngen, antedated them, and may have been cannibals. On the shores of Jylland and the Danish islands there are numerous shell mounds, some of which are 1000 feet long, 100 to 200 feet broad, and 10 feet deep, which are considered to be of great archaeological importance since their true nature has been discovered. In former times they were thought to be layers of debris thrown up by the waves, but after much theorizing and a few feeble attempts to examine them, Worsane and Steenstrup, after laborious research, developed the fact that they were really affaldsdynger, or kjokken moddings, which means kitchen refuse. They mainly consisted of oyster shells, and a less quantity or proportion of other mollusks, as well as gnawed bones of deer, pigs, oxen, fish, cats, dogs and the great auk (Alca impennis). Besides this debris there were stone arms, implements and coarse earthenware. In the megalistic graves, weapons, utensils and ornaments were found. In many peat beds, where successive generations of forests have been carbonized, flint instruments have been found at the lowest level. The people, then, who left these middens behind, and those who lived where now the peat bogs are found, were not older than the stone age. Their graves of diverse forms, large or giant (jettestuer) chambers, as well as smaller ones, were enclosed with granite blocks, while the ancient tribes on Point Sal, of the California coast, used sandstone slabs in the same manner as the old Danish tribes used the granite. Both these people, the Danish and Californian, covered their graves with hillocks of earth, as did also the old tribes on the Oregon coast. The only difference being that the Oregon coast tribes used redwood and cedar slabs instead of stone. This much has been said of other people and
so as to make a possible comparison with the ancient races who lived on the Oregon coast, whose existence here seems to be far more remote than that of the tribes on the Jylland coast, or the pile dwellers on the Swiss lakes. By close study of the skulls found at the latter place, it is thought that other and less developed races were driven out by those who used stone implements and left no trace of their existence behind. In the same manner, and with more convincing evidence of its certainty, it seems that a race of smaller stature, less perfect development, and living on such diet as they could secure without any other means than their unaided hands, nude, without shelter, other than such as wild animals might secure, lived on our coast thousands of years before the age of the earliest history of the eastern hemisphere, and were displaced by a sudden wave of migration from the north. As stated in a former article, the first extensive modding on the Oregon coast is at the mouth of Chetco; six miles above that is another still more extensive, and after passing by numerous smaller ones we come to the north bank of Pistol River, at the mouth, and find the most extensive one on the lower Oregon coast. These three piles will serve to illustrate what I have said regarding the late Tertiary, or early Quaternary or imperfectly developed race. There are no shell heaps except where there has been a village, no village except where there are extensive shell heaps. Along the whole of the Northwest coast the villages found by the whites were located on the tops of ancient shell heaps. At many places also, where there were no villages in existence at the time, and shell heaps were present, the ground, that is the decomposed moddings, mixed with drift sand, always presented a pitted or undulating appearance, from the following cause: When the natives determined to build a house the first thing was to dig a pit or cellar, over which they built a house, as described in a former article. The material thrown out of this excavation was, after the house had been completed, thrown back against the boards composing the sides. Now, supposing a village has been built, and from some cause was afterwards destroyed, that is to say, the woodwork was all burned or rotted away, then the pits would be left, and as time passed on and the rains beat upon them, washing down the sides, which would gradually fill them up, aided also by
blown over them by the winter winds, this undulating or pitted appearance would be exhibited. If this site should again be built upon, pits would be dug in the accumulated mass of debris or kitchen refuse, and houses built over them, and so for ages the work and gradual change went on, till today the ancient dwelling places can be distinctly traced by the abundance of luxuriant vegetation growing on the pitted and decomposed kitchen middens. In running a horizontal cut into the deep mass of refuse at the mouth of Pistol River, the writer found, after considerable search, the top of the original soil, which was a yellowish, sandy hardpan. Upon this hardpan was at the edge a few inches of greenish white sand, which increased in thickness, and became more noticeable as the cut was pushed further towards the center of the mound, which appeared to be fully thirty feet high. On the top of this peculiar sand, and at once place four inches below the surface, a few rudely fashioned stones were found. They had the appearance of having been used for the purpose of cracking shells or nuts, and for no other. Besides these rude hammers several small pieces of obsidian, having the appearance of edges formed of human hands, also the bones of small fish and animals. On the top of this was a cemented mass of small mollusk shells, fish bones and a few larger shells of the well-known mussel (Mytilus edulis) which, towards the top, became the principal shell, and forming the bottom of another stratum of shells--bones of the elk, deer, bear and birds. This last was the upper or last layer, which was deep and solid, but had the appearance of having been dug over many times in building new houses. It was mixed on top with drift sand, and is very fertile, as the garden of Mr. Dolan, which is on a part of the ancient village, amply testifies. It has been many years since then, and this peculiar lower stratum, which I have described, I thought was sand, but after it had almost passed from my mind I fortunately found a report of Mr. Dall of his researches among the shell heaps on on the Ounalaskan shores, and I find that he has thus classified these different layers or strata: 1st, echinus layer; 2nd, fish bone layer; 3rd, mammalian layer. But he goes into many intricacies of these layers that do not pertain to our coast, though there is no doubt but that the Indians of Oregon are related to those above and all to the tribes of eastern Siberia. He finds this first, or echinus layer, to be often five feet deep under many shell heaps, and after exhibiting his calculations of the quantity of echina in a cubic foot, and the
Oregonian, Portland, December 20, 1885, page 3


    Along the southern boundary, extending into both California and Oregon, were several warlike tribes, who, though not very friendly among themselves, were in general sympathy in their hostility towards the whites. On the Rogue River were several bands of the Shasta family, sometimes known by the names of their chiefs, but almost always called "the Rogue River Indians." There were two principal clans of them, the Upper and Lower Rogue Rivers; the former were led by "Joe," whom they called Apso-kah-hah (the Horse Rider); the latter were under "Sam" (Ko-ko-kah-wah--the Wealthy), a wily and avaricious old man, who generally restrained them from hostility to the whites, and managed to reap a heavy harvest of presents and profits for himself. South of these, on the Klamath River, were the Lutuami or Klamaths (Klamet, Klamac, Clammat, Tlamath), the several tribes included under the name having no close relationship. Those nearest the ocean, called the Lower Klamaths (Eurocs, Youruks or Pohliks), were a dark people, inferior to their relatives above, a distinction which is always marked between the tribes who subsist on fish and roots and those who eat flesh. Above them, on the river, were the Upper Klamaths (Cahrocs, Kahruks or Pehtsik), a finely formed, energetic, and cleanly race. The Modocs (Moädocks, Moahtockna), formerly included in the Klamaths, but really a branch of the Shoshonee stock, lived about the lakes in which the Klamath heads, and others near them, extending to the bounds of the Bannocks and Pah-Utes. In their own language they are Okkowish, their common name (pronounced Mo'-ah-dock') being a Shasta word which means strangers or enemies, a coincident signification that has doubtless caused them to be blamed for many wrongs which they did not commit. South of the Klamaths were the remainder of the Shastas (Tehastl, Chasta, Shasty, Sasté, Shasteeca), of whom a part were friendly, especially a band of the Scott's River Indians (Ottetiewas), under their chief, Tolo, who was called by the whites "Old Man" or "Charley." The Shastas, Rogue Rivers, and Scott's Rivers have all one language, and had formerly one head chief, who was accidentally killed a short time before the discovery of gold in California. After his death a contest arose as to the chief command between John, the old chief's son, Sam and Joe of the Rogue Rivers, and Scarface of Shasta, Tolo remaining neutral. When the whites began to come in they separated, each aspirant retaining supreme control of his own faction. These bands were further subdivided under various sub-chiefs, and with them had confederated the Umpquas, who lived north of the Rogue Rivers.
Jacob Platt Dunn, Massacres of the Mountains, New York 1886, pages 190-191

ATHAPASCANS NORTH OF ROGUE RIVER.